Diana Wynne Jones (1934-2011)

Rest in peace, Mistress of Magic.
(Anybody who holds a cat like that knows old magic.)

Thank you for the dreams and fantasies and… possibilities.

Go to:
Diana Wynne Jones Wikipedia Page
Diana Wynne Jones Official Website

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Give to Japan IV

Read also:
Give to Japan I
Give to Japan II
Give to Japan III

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Give to Japan III

So I’ve been reading this blog for a year, maybe two.

Ai is Japanese. She writes about music for a living. She blogs (mostly in English) with lovely photographs of what she cooks and eats. Sometimes, she features her very adorable niece and nephew.

Her parents live in Fukushima. But her niece and nephew are staying with her now.

She is still blogging. Go take a look.

it will stop raining*

Read also:
Give to Japan I
Give to Japan II
Give to Japan IV

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Give to Japan II

If you’re in Singapore, these are the ways you can give to Japan.

1. Online sales
Many online stores are donating part or even all of their proceeds to Japan. Crafters, designers, artists and photographers are contributing their work for sale. Buy from them, help Japan.

2. Singapore Red Cross
If you prefer to donate directly, SRC accepts

SMS donations
Every SMS you send to 75772 donates $50 to Japan.

Bank transfer donations
For OCBC donations, refer to SRC’s Annex 1 for the user guide.
For DBS donations, refer to www.dbs.com.sg for information.
For UOB donations, refer to www.uob.com.sg for details.

Cheque donations
Cheques are to be made payable to the “Singapore Red Cross Society.” At the back of the cheque, please indicate:

i) Name
ii) IC/Passport No.
iii) Address and Contact Number
iv) “Japan Disaster 2011”

Cash donations
Walk in to 15 Penang Lane from
Mondays to Fridays 9.30am-9pm or
Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays 9.30am – 6pm.

All donations are non tax-deductable.

3. Cold Storage, Market Place, Giant, Guardian, Shop N Save, 7-Eleven
They are partnering with Singapore Red Cross to raise funds for Japan. Look for collection tins at the cashiers.

4. Popular, Harris, {prologue}, UrbanWrite
Singapore Red Cross donation tins are also available at all stores.

5. Takashimaya
If you’re going downtown this weekend, Takashimaya is collecting cash and cheque donations on behalf of Singapore Red Cross. Follow SRC’s format for cheque donations. Donation boxes are at Level 1 Main Entrance and The Atrium.

6. Via corporations
Some corporations are matching donations dollar for dollar. Google to find one you are comfortable with.

Read also:
Give to Japan I
Give to Japan III
Give to Japan IV

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Give to Japan I

Retail billionaire Tadashi Yanai, founder and president of Uniqlo’s parent company Fast Retailing, will donate 1 billion yen ($12.2 million) of his personal fortune towards relief efforts in northeastern Japan. An additional 400 million yen ($4.9 million) will come from the company coffers… Uniqlo will also distribute coats, jeans, towels and 300,000 pairs of its Heattech thermal underwear to victims, representing an additional $8.6 million of aid.

[Source]

That’s USD$25.6 million altogether.

In contrast, Singapore — a country, as opposed to a retail store — has donated $0.5 million.

So here’s how the cookie crumbles:

Haiti humanitarian relief aid — $50 000
Japan humanitarian relief aid — $500 000
Singapore Presidential salary — $890 700

Give to Japan. Because we can.

Read also:
Give to Japan II
Give to Japan III
Give to Japan IV

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Sunburn

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain’t goin’ away.

– Elvis Presley

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东郭先生

(Picture credit)

I need a farmer. Pronto.

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The gutless should be gutted

On behaviour:

Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defense.

– Samuel Johnson

On hate:

Hatred is the coward’s revenge for being intimidated.

– George Bernard Shaw

On love:

A coward is incapable of exhibiting love; it is the prerogative of the brave.

– Mahatma Gandhi

Except, of course, the gutless is already gutless. Whoopee.

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“The guilty catch themselves.” – Proverb; “The only shame is to have none.” – Blaise Pascal, Pensées

Only man can blush.
No other creature knows of shame.
Why have we wandered so far away
From simple honesty?

– Edwin Liebfreed, The Song of the Soul

If I am to ever write another PhD dissertation or a book, it will be on shame. “[F]or truth is truth to the end of reckoning.” So Shakespeare himself writes in Measure for Measure.

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To die to love again

Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don’t know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing.

– Anaïs Nin

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