evil

Matt Ruby - Just how evil is Amazon? And am I awful for being a Prime addict?
also: Gizmodo - Is Amazon Evil and Am I Evil for Using It?

what is evil? people in the article above define it as:  not capitalism, something that is out of normal, dodging taxes, and "what lies outside the boundary of the moral community."

personally, i think I would evil as purposely hurting something (or someone) purely for one's own gain. therefore, amazon (bezos) is evil, because it repeatedly hurts the environment, local economies, and its workers to make more money for itself. plus, unregulated capitalism is definitely evil and amazon is trying its best to deregulate itself. 

so if amazon is evil, are you evil for shopping with them? no, because you're not purposely hurting anything. you're inadvertently hurting the environment, local economy, and fellow humans. also doing evil things does not make you evil anywat, unless those evil actions are born of evil beliefs. most people shop on amazon because it's easy and they think it's cheaper (tho often times it's not), not because they want to underpay workers, ruin the environment, destabilize the community, etc. however, they know they're doing these things second hand through amazon, and yet continue to do it anyway. which, again, while not evil, is certainly not good.

I think the majority of middle class americans have heard of a lot of the bad things amazon does and have decided to not think about it. to not take responsibility for encouraging evil because they are not themselves actively committing evil. but every decision you make is another opportunity to reinforce your beliefs, since it doesn't really matter you think if your actions don't reflect it. I think shopping on amazon shows that you value your convenience and wallet over your moral code (because I think most people say they value the environment, the local economy, and worker's rights).

so don't do it. decide now that you ARE a moral human. that the convenience of getting something shipped straight to your door matters less than the health of planet you live on and will leave to future generations. that your wanting to save a couple bucks matters less than the health and quality of life for 800,000+ amazon employees. that your 15 minutes saved by not price comparison shopping matters less than supporting local or smaller shops which hold up our community and pay a hell of a lot more in taxes than amazon does so that you don't have to be taxed more to subsidize bezos and his legal tax dodging.

don't perpetuate evil and don't support amazon. 

february 2021 donation

I was going to "cheat" this month too and count my over $50 of recent shipping costs to mail USBs/SD cards and cameras as my donation, BUT I just realized how much money I'm getting on unemployment, so I can certainly afford to donate an extra $25 this month.

I had really wanted to get to my list from last year (heavy on abortion rights, journalism, etc.), but Texas is having a really hard time of it right now so I'm donating to West Street Recovery. I found them thru the Strategist list. they're a new org, founded in 2018 with a less than $600k operating budget so I couldn't find that much info on them, nor any financials, but I'm donating anyway since I like their mission, their structure, their website, and their instagram, ha. also, I can donate thru PayPal which covers transaction fees. I've been really trying to use PayPal more on websites, rather than giving my credit card info since I feel like it's that much safer. ...who knows if it actually is. apparently my donation will just cover an hour of staff time :)

cameras

t asked a while ago on what to do with her old working DSLR. I suggested she contact khs and cypress college since they both had photography departments when we were there, altho i wasn't sure about now. a while later, my dad told me he was going to give his old working semi-manual camera to good will or whomever did a collection next. I asked he hold onto it for a while for me to do some research, since I had a point and shoot, and was certain others did too.

turns out there are very few groups that want digital point and shoots! film cameras are still in demand, as as DSLRs but simple cameras, not so much. did find one tho: project kare, which distributes the cameras at the "Mae Ra Moe refugee camp on the Thai/Burma border and to Karen State in Burma." 

"Our annual Student Photography Project has become a highlight the students look forward to every year! Dozens of students will be excited to take your used digital cameras home to photograph their family, friends, neighbors, and interesting scenes in their community...  Cameras are rare in the refugee camp and Karen State so students are very excited just to hold a camera. Having the opportunity to take one home and take photos is awesome! We award your donated cameras to winners of the photography contest, for students who produce the most compelling photos, their overall collection of pictures."

long story a little shorter, I asked friends and put up a post on FB and ended up shipping 9 cameras. thank yous to my dad, sophia (she's asked a friend and they donated 4 total!), ting, and alex (from dragon boat).

hit a snag in the mailing tho, apparently you can't mail that many lithium ion batteries in a single box that isn't its original packaging. but anyway, I emailed the org and they said that they normally purchase extra batteries for all the cameras anyway so I should just send them without. 

also, be sure to follow their facebook for photos from the cameras you donated! this set probably won't g up for a while since they're not planning on traveling there soon, but hopefully within the next year our cameras will be useful again :)

january 2021 donation

I'm "cheating" a bit this month. I'm counting my $80 annual national parks pass for my donation. cheating because it's not technically a donation since I'm getting membership, but I'm counting it anyway because entrance at Bryce was only $35 but I decided to get the annual pass anyway. I was going to get it at an earlier national park, but somehow none of them had anyone collecting so it was only at our last park that we got charged.

vaccinating teachers

Axios - Teachers want the vaccine, but they'll have to wait
WBEZ Chicago - Chicago Teachers Say They Won’t Put Their Families At Risk By Returning To The Classroom

this is so ridiculous. of COURSE we should vaccinate teachers before REQUIRING them to go back to work in classrooms!! people under 16 aren't even approved for vaccination yet they for sure can get sick and/or pass it along.

wtf would even be the point of not vaccinating teachers anyway? they'll start to get sick right away, need to take time off, we'll hire subs, who will also get sick, and eventually we'll be out of teachers. how is this a necessary process? 

honestly, i'm so annoyed that most countries are vaccinating the elderly and at risk before the actual essential workers, or even the rest of the working population. in america all we hear about is opening up the economy, but how can we do that if we can't go back to work or do regular things because we're afraid of getting sick? yes, vaccinating the elderly will prevent more deaths, but that's not actually useful in the long run. more useful would be vaccinating teachers, postal workers, bus drivers, people who are forced to come into contact with many people. this will slow the spread of the disease sooner than it would if we were to vaccinate older or more at-risk populations first. high on our priority list would also be essential workers like grocery store people, delivery people, agricultural workers, people who cannot work from home. they keep the world running, not retired people who can choose to stay home or go out. 

i'm not against the elderly getting vaccinated, but it doesn't make much sense to base their priority sorely on age. a more reasonable criteria would be job sector. i do understand that it's much easier to do this by age though since you can "prove" that much more easily. 

related article from Reuters: Why Indonesia is vaccinating its working population first, not elderly

an excerpt: "Younger working adults are generally more active, more social and travel more so this strategy should decrease community transmission faster than vaccinating older individuals,” he said."

I think that it may seem more moral to vaccinate the elderly first because it will prevent more immediate deaths. however, I do think that in the long term, vaccinating more "essential" and "active" people first would prevent more total deaths and long term negative effects in the world, including, yes, the global economy. 

also, this article about Age groups' contribution to COVID-19 transmission in the U.S.!!!

for angela

there's a homeless lady in our area. she's a regular; i see hear maybe once a month and she's the only one i've really noticed. probably because she's a woman. 

anyway, i found a couple pairs of brand new socks at the house and didn't want / need them, and neither did my mom, and I thought of her. I kept them in our basket of things to be donated near the front door, and eventually was able to give them to her. she accepted them, was polite, and not overly grateful, which I liked.

about a month later, she's still on my mind. it's so cold at nights and one night it poured rain. last week I saw her and asked if she needed anything. she said possibly a small blanket. I had just visited my parents (I go once a week), and didn't plan to go again until the next weekend. so I told her to come find me in a week and a half and I'd see what I'd have for her.

but I couldn't wait that whole 7-8 days tho cause it is so cold at night, and it's not like my days are so busy anyway, so I went on monday to get assorted blankets, a long wool coat from my mom, cleared out a large backpack (hers is so small), and a few other clothing items. I'd also asked ting a few days before and she donated a bunch of clothes too! and toiletries! the homeless lady is quite thin but wears a lot of layers so I don't think she'd do well with too much of my clothes. 

so we collected pretty much everything on the floor in the photo for her. (not the shoes, those are mine. the homeless lady is a size 9), plus the coat draped over the chair.

i was nervous that since I had asked her to come back in a week and a half but went early, I'd just have this sitting in our living room for a week. amazingly, the very next morning, I saw her! i had prepared the backpack for her, and added some fruit, a $40 gift card to walgreens (it was a gift to me and I never shop there), and a $25 starbucks from ting (also a gift). i offered her a choice of the blankets, said she could take them all if she wanted, tho she only wanted the smallest blanket. I've noticed that she is not one of those who keeps a lot of things in a shopping cart. she has a small backpack and a smaller tote stuffed full, but that's it. 

she seemed most appreciative of the coat and the backpack. she asked more than once that my mom didn't mind giving away the coat, and later asked me to thank my mom for it. :) ting and I both gave a good amount of thought of what to give. what was appropriate (ting gave some used but great condition socks) and sizes (I gave her new underwear in small size, but a jacket in medium of layering), and I think we dd good. 

oh, btw, I didn't think to ask her name until tuesday (today) when I gave her the stuff.