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I came across a site mentioned on BBC News website called "Free Rice." It is a slightly silly but addictive little thing that actually adds up to helping the UN feed people. Joy and I are obsessing on it yesterday and today.

Basically, they get money from advertisers. They have vocabulary words and you pick the correct defination...for each one you get right, they donate money for 10 grains of rice to feed people through the UN. So far Joy and I made it to Vocab Level 50 four times (though we always drop back down to 48 or so as we get some wrong) and have gotten more than 11,000 grains of rice....which may be only a few good bowls of rice for someone out there, but what the hell. It's fun in a nerdy way and if enough of us do it, it can have a real effect.

Hezbollah and Hammas.  Most Americans know them only as two more terrorist organizations, generally appearing in our news when they are either on the sending end of rockets aimed at Israeli towns, or on the receiving end of Israeli artillery.  

There's also been some gasping in shock that both of these radical organizations have recently been big winners in democratic elections.  The tendency from this side of the Atlantic is to look on the Hammas victory in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah's sizeable minority presence in the Lebanese government as revolting surprises (i.e. "we give these people democracy, and look what they do with it!").  

But there's more to the victories of both groups than throwing bombs, and there may be lessons applicable far outside the Middle East.

With Memorial Day coming up fast, I thought that this might be something to think about:

Veterans Day Every Day #7

David T Harris for US Congress TX 06

A FOLLOW ME TO DC community project

For any one that has followed my out-of-the-box campaign thus far, I welcome you to become familiar with our community service efforts.  It is difficult running for office for anyone but I was certain that I would use the public forum, while available, to continue something that our family believes wholeheartedly in our own lives every day.  If everyone volunteered an hour a week or contributed $20 a month to a charity, I am confident it would change the world.  

Update [2006-2-16 11:46:46 by Tom Ball]: I Edited this post to remove the Valentine's day theme because the day has come and gone but the content is truly valuable and holiday independent. Hopefully ilona won't strangle me.

Let's share our loving side with the ones who need it the most: our troops. Let's get busy and show them who really supports them, ok?

I've tried to make this as pain-free and fun as possible. Some of the action items can be done right in front of your computer screen. Other items will require you to get up and move about into the fresh air outside - maybe even mingle with other people. Still others will require you open up your wallet, if you so choose to do. No pressure there from me.

You ready to start showing the troops you care?