fling93 loves fishies

Katrina Bleg

By now, I hope you’ve heard about the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. If you haven’t yet donated, please do. Give to the Red Cross or to the charity I gave to, America’s Second Harvest (we already give regularly to the Red Cross), or pick a charity of your own choosing. Pretty please! With a cherry on top!

If that’s not enough motivation for you, well consider some of these:

Orin Kerr of The Volokh Conspiracy had an interesting challenge, where his donation would increase from $200 to $1,000 if enough readers promised to do the same. He’s already reached that $1,000 level, but he’s welcoming further $1,000 matches.

For a challenge that hasn’t yet reached its goal (and for those of you of a more liberal persuasion), you can contribute to the Liberal Blogs for Hurricane Relief, who have a goal of $1,000,000 (link via Liberals Against Terrorism).

If you want a more tangible incentive, consider Jane Galt’s tantalizing offer:

Being a journalist, I’m afraid I can’t afford matching funds, nor do I have anything nifty to offer like the folks at Crooked Timber have. But I’ll offer this: for every hundred dollars you donate to a recognized charity (or the Lake Providence effort), I will mail you a homemade pound cake. I’m a pretty good baker. If you donate $250, I will write a blog post about anything you like*. It’s on the honor system; just use the NZ Bear registry, or email me.

Mmmmm! Pound cake from the ever-effervescent Jane Galt! That’s a deal I couldn’t (and didn’t) turn down. But for those of you watching your belt line, the Crooked Timber offer she refers to is Ted Barlow’s promise to burn you a custom mix CD if you donate at least $100.

Me, I don’t know what I could offer. I have quite a few artistic talents, but all of them are quite unremarkable. Well, how’s this? If you donate at least $100 to a hurricane-related charity, I’ll write at least an eight line rhyming poem about you and post it here. You can see the silliness I’ve composed before. It’s not exactly fine art, but probably the best I can offer in terms of entertainment value.

We’ll go by the honor system. Just e-mail me the name of the charity and the amount, plus enough information about you for me to work with (at least your name, occupation, and a hobby or interest or two). No promises on when the poetry will be done, as I’m taking two night classes this semester. And definitely no promises as to the quality. But I’ll do my best!