After not having posted for 7 days, I would like to divert from my typical modus operandi to write about something a little more personal and immeasurably more important. A dear friend of mine, Michelle Maykin, has been valiantly fighting leukemia for over a year. There have been victories and setbacks both - the current battle she is facing is finding a bone marrow match for a transplant in the next 5 weeks. It's a battle I know I can help help her fight, and I ask you all to help join this battle also. Your help can take as little as 5 minutes of your time. Please read on.
Background.
Michelle has been battling Leukemia since early 2007. After her 5th round of chemotherapy, her cancer finally "went
away." For the past several months she was finally able to return to normal
life. However, just last she learned she had relapsed with her blood levels worse
off than before.
What this means: Michelle needs to find a bone marrow match for a transplant within 5 weeks.
Finding a Match.
Michelle is of Vietnamese / Chinese decent, and the probability is higher that her match will come from a person of one or both of these ethnic backgrounds. However, a match could be from any ethnic descent (even non-Asian or
Caucasian). Consequently, "Project Michelle" volunteers are targeting ALL ASIANS to
increase the odds of finding a match. By getting more people to
register to be potential bone marrow donors, we are increasing the chance of
saving Michelle and any one of the 6,000 people in the US currently
searching for a donor.
How You Can Help.
- 5 minutes: Direct your friends / family to this post to get them involved
- 30 minutes: Register, it's simple: 1) fill out a few forms and 2) run a cotton swab on the inside of your cheek
- The Ideal Way: Go to a local drive. This ensures your cotton swab samples are processed fastest. Click here for a calendar of drives
- At Home: If you can't make it to a drive, order a home kit here (free for ethnic minorities). Make sure to note that it's for Michelle to expedite the process!
- 1+ Hours: Volunteer at a drive and help people register - email savemichelle@gmail.com
- 3-4 Hours: Help set up a drive in your community (church, temple, school, workplace, etc) - email savemichelle@gmail.com
the impact cyclone nargis on burma's people as been tragic and it's impact on the geographic landscape has been tremendous.
slight aside: burma is an east asian country, bordered by china, laos, thailand, bangladesh and india. the country is ruled a military junta since 1988. this junta, named the country the Union of Myanamar, the latter of which is often used in reference to the country. recent attention on burma followed protests of the military rule by buddhist monks (begging in August '07), and the subsequent crackdown on these protesters by the ruling junta.
the people (source):
the devastation the people face is tragic alone, but combined with the ruling junta's actions to prevent aid from reaching people, it is beyond description.Burma's state media said Cyclone Nargis on Saturday killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing, but a top US diplomat said on Wednesday that more than 100,000 may have perished.
the geography - before and after photos below. note how much of country is now under water:
it's no secret that the market has loved the fed's bailout of bear stearns as it supposedly removed the systematic risk of a large u.s.-based financial institution falling victim to it's own subprime lending blunders. you don't have to look farther than the market's performance since the announcement of the bear stearns transaction to see this:
i wanted to discuss the problems with the fed's numerous rate cuts since september of last year, and how these reactive measures will ultimately prove to be in vain. instead, i came across this intelligent cartoon in this week's economist that does it for me:
