Deliver Us From Swedish Furniture » Plug

Kiva.org – Better than Charity

tulip — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 04:36:39 +0000

I have to admit I am not a big fan of most large charities. They have their role in large scale catastrophies, but in general they have problems with wasteage and the way many operate is less ‘teach a man to fish’ and far more ‘give a man a fish’ so a reliance culture ensues. OK, this is a bit harsh and probably far less true than it used to be, but recently I have found the idea of micro-finance more interesting.

The idea behind this is that you lend, through an intermediary, to a person or small company in the developing world for a specific need they have that will allow them to better their situation. This can be a loan to buy stock, buy a new piece of equipment etc. This allows people to build up their business which means less reliance on outside help. On top of this you get a return on your money, which you simply loan back out to other businesses or take out of the system if you need it.

There are several people now doing this, but the one I have been using is Kiva. With this you can divide up your money among many people, thus if one fails you do not lose all your money, so it even has diversification built in – looking down the current list of people wanting money there are people from Peru to Azerbaijan, Carpenters to Photographers. Anyone would think this was actually a good investment, so you can pretend to be a Dragon while helping people help themselves….other cliches are available on request

British Gymnastics at World Championships

tulip — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 13:08:59 +0000

OK, this is time for a very blatant plug! My cousin, Becky Wing, is on the British Gymnastic team who are competing in the World Championships this year and have exceeded pretty much everyone’s expectations. They went along looking to qualify for the team event in the Beijing Olympics and ended up 6th, making it through to the Team Final’s on Wednesday, the first time they have ever done this!

So huge congratulations to all the team from me and go kick some serious bottom on Wednesday!

Oh yeah before I forget Becky has got a website detailing her gymnastics career to date, so drop by and say ‘hello’…

Sweet on Geeks?

tulip — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 01:16:33 +0000

So, when you see Bill Gates announcing the latest service pack for Vista, does a little shiver run up and down your spine? How about when Steve Jobs gets all technical about the iPhone? Well don’t worry, there is the place just for you its called Sweet on Geeks.
I had a quick look and it must be said the folk there do spend a bit of time on their profiles, my favourite was Beth from Palo Alto, who described herself as a “mockery professional.” God there are a few on there actually that are pretty cool….sod it, where is my credit card

The Premiership is still a month and a half away….

tulip — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:10:39 +0000

The Premiership kick-off is still a month and a half away I’ve almost been tempted to watch the cricket, but with the Windies playing so badly it’s not exactly been edge of the seat stuff, so it’s left me with nowt much to waste time with. To help out, one of my friends is beavering away setting up this new Fan Banta site. It’s currently just a teaser site, but there is the usual array of prize give-aways and a fiendishly difficult ‘Spot the Import’ quiz. First time through I only got 10, but after some thinking, pondering and, OK cheating, I got a few more but still not even close to half marks…

Mmmmm doughnuts…chocolate…fizzy pop…

tulip — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 13:18:49 +0000

Now I don’t know about you, but I like snacky things, especially chocolate related ones, so imagine my (turkish) delight to find the definitive guide to the cutting edge of snack based pleasure that is SnackSpot.

The fact it is run by a guy I was at school with has got nothing to do with it of course….

Does our little dictator want his tummy tickled?

tulip — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 13:40:26 +0000

Wanted to plug this site, I mean anyone that comes up with a selection of shirts including Benito Pussolini and Puppy Dog Duvalier can’t be all bad can it? Well maybe in a ‘bad dog’ sort of way, but one where they can wag their tails and look at you with those big soppy eyes and you’ll forgive them a little bit of mass genocide.