Hello, kittens. While we have your attention we’d like to draw your attention to a very helpful initiative posted over on OpCovid19: Lifeline Tablets.
In These Troubled Times™ when we cannot be together physically, it can be all too easy to forget about those who cannot connect with their friends, family, and loved ones online. We literally cannot see them. Lifeline tablets aims to bridge the digital divide for Covid-19 patients by supplying specially-configured tablets so that they can take their place on the Internet, the digital Agora of our time.
Lifeline Tablets exists to put mobile tablets in the hands of those who need them the most. And we’re starting with COVID-19 patients. For just under $100, we supply kits that include a pre-configured mobile tablet, hands free gooseneck stand, and headphones with mic. As a registered US nonprofit, donations to Lifeline Tablets are tax deductible.
We may not be able to give our loved ones a hug if they’re quarantined, but at least if they are able to get online, they do not ever have to be alone. Lifeline Tablets can help to make that happen. Head over to their website to check them out and donate, subscribe to their newsletter, share the link, and follow them on social media.
‘Tis well known around these parts that we (this is the Royal We, you understand, unlike the Royal Wee, which is quite another thing entirely) enjoy a good pub. Occasionally, we even enjoy a terrible pub. The Pub as a social institution is near and dear to our hearts (yes, we has one…or several, if you count the ones buried in the basement). The Pub as a dispensary of alcohol is near and dear to our liver, and indeed, responsible for most our extra padding and a large number of our bad decisions over the years.
But enough about US!
Let us all, all of us, bow down to the true Queen of the Pubs. Contemporary Ireland may or may not be so hot on Queens as a group, but this specific one they must adore. And there can be no question that she will lead the country some day officially, as she leads and speaks for it now in an unofficial, volunteer capacity.
Behold the six-year-old Queen of All Pubs.
The six-year-old [unnamed, but surely it’s a grand Gaelic name] daughter of Jamie Moynihan would like to go to the pub, please. She cannot. BUT WHYYYYYY?
She has her makeup done and everything. Minnie got to go to the pub (for her dad’s birthday). Why can’t she go to the pub? The big kids go to the pub, and she’s SIX! SIX, Mummy!
“It’s my weekend off.”
If her mom lets her go to the pub, “I won’t go to the bingo anymore.”
This kid gets out a LOT more than I do.
Somebody crown her already, please. Can we drink to that?
Cheers to the Queen of Pubs!
Editor’s Note:
There, wasn’t that a fun little blog post? Delightful, delightful, if I do say so myself (and who else is gonna, I axe yez?). Now that I have your attention, I would like to draw same attention to some very important raincoasterish business, and that is
The Queen of Pubs can have my spot at the bar for the next 60 days at least, because this little cancer survivor is going to be doing what I’m doing now, which is sitting in an armchair drinking icewater with ginger bitters in it. Eating healthy things like vegan cabbage rolls. Taking vitamins and supplements. Working out. And, most importantly, raising money for the Canadian Cancer Society, which I will be doing by pointing you directly at the link to donate, a link of which you will avail yourselves, I am sure.
As always, sharing is caring, so whether or not you donate, sharing the link to one or more of your social networks would be greatly appreciated. My goal this year is to raise $500, and looks like I’ve already got my first donation. Start off the New Year doing something good for the world. Look, I have to suffer (have you ever tasted flat ice water with ginger bitters side-by-side with a good Scotch? Lemme tell you, I’m suffering) but you don’t. Not even with a guilty conscience.
Put out for me, Internet! Put out for the cancer patients! Put out for the Queen Of Pubs!
This is my almost-brother-in-law, Dan Sparling, boyfriend to The Sister for lo, these 23 years, and many thanks are due him for taking her off our hands. He’s spending his weekend doing the Ride for Dad through scenic southern Ontario, raising funds to fight prostate cancer.
We raise funds through large scale one-day motorcycle, snowmobile, watercraft and ATV ride events and through ongoing public fundraising throughout the year. TELUS Ride For Dad events take place in multiple cities across Canada, representing every Canadian province. To learn more about a ride in your city, please click here.
Since 2000, the TELUS Ride For Dad has donated more than 13 million dollars to the Prostate Cancer Fight Foundation, charitable number 85133 3179 RR0001, to support prostate cancer research and awareness in the communities where the funds were raised – we give where we ride!
Dan’s already met his goal of $500, but if you’re feeling generous and like possibly saving the lives of any of the prostate-having men you know and are fond of, click through and kick him a few bucks. God knows, it’s hard work touring the scenic countryside on a motorcycle on a beautiful spring day. Eh?
So it sprinkled! They earned their money! NOW GIVE THEM SOME!
I never do this. I never, ever do this. But I’m doing it now because AnonymouSky is both one of the most important Anons in the sense of working, getting the word out, and supporting worthwhile Ops, and because he is like this:
In 12 hours his GoFundMe has raised most of the $8,000 needed for life-saving brain surgery. This is legit. This is not frivolous. Sky was in a car accident which led to him getting a scan which indicated a potentially fatal growth in his brain. He’s had two rounds of chemo and the tumour has shrunk by 60%, which is an outstanding result. It is now small enough and limited enough to be operated on, which was always the goal. That’s where the money comes in.
The GoFundMe says:
Greatings fellow Anons.
One of our most dedicated and loyal Anons, who you may know AnonymouSky, Sky, Starseed or @AnonStarseed on Twitter is currently facing the physical trial of his life. Sky has been involved in more Anonymous causes than can be listed, and has been a regular and important contributor to @YourAnonCentral. Recenetly, Sky was in an automobile accident where he suffered a broken leg and a severe head injury. As a result of this accident, the hospital where he was admitted performed an MRI scan, during which they discovered a malignant tumor in his brain.
Following the scan, Sky’s family and friends pooled everything they had together in order for him to begin chemotherapy.The first round of chemotherapy that Sky went through was very positive. However, the tumor had not shrank far enough to where it would be safe to operate. However, Sky was strong enough to be able to go through another round of chemotherapy. After the last round of chemotherapy, Sky’s brain tumor has decreased in size by over 60%. This is an incredibly positive development. The tumor is now small enough that it can be removed by surgery.
This is where we are calling on Anyonymous, and anyone else who cares, to help. Sky’s samily and friends have taken the maximum amount of credit that they can to help with his surgery. All the money has been spent. Sky is scheduled for surgery in 8 days, but won’t be able to receive it if he doesn’t have the money to cover the costs. The good news is that the doctors are positive that there is over a 90% chance that this surgery will be successful and save his life.
To put this in perspective, Sky currently lives in a region where the average income is 180 – 200 Euros a month. His local support network has run dry of funds. Thus, we ask you to donate anything you can to the following addresses:
If you use bitcoin, please donate any bitcoin you can spare to 1MgVTLHVJ13UxL2x4WH9tsVr4VypvTdVsn.
Again, we cannot emphasize stronger that time is of the essence here. Sky’s surgery is scheduled in 8 days. T
Let us show that “we are legion” and “we do not forget” truly means something. Anonymous simply would not be what it is today if it wasn’t for the actions of Sky, along with the rest of you that have made this movement so unique and special. Please help us continue in that tradition by keeping one of our beloved alive. Any amount in donation helps.
Thank you,
Anonymous
Again, I know shitloads of people who have fundraisers, but AnonymouSky is in a class by himself. He is, to the extent that anyone who is part of a collective movement, important. He has done more for important Ops than virtually anyone else I know, and we should all support him. From the speed this fundraiser is growing, it looks like we agree on that.
Edited to add
For those nay-sayers who think this is a scam, go on. Keep your money. At least there is something in your life that brings you joy. Having gone through cancer treatment myself, in a country with socialized medicine, I can tell you that no, not all costs are covered; it ate up my life savings at a rate of $1300 every two weeks until everything was gone. I have known Sky for many years, have never known him to ask for money, and if I were not 100% sure this was both legit and a good cause I would not have posted this. You’ve no idea how many of my friends’ fundraisers I do not post. I get perhaps three requests a week. Nobody requested that I post this. I was just alerted to it, investigated it, and found it to be real. Sky is good people, and he needs help. Give it to him or walk away, but if you spew bile, expect it to bite you on the ass. Remember what they say about expecting us.
I’d better get started on a screenplay, because this is the most perfect straight-to-the-big-screen story I’ve heard in simply ages.
The Dogecoin Foundation, an actual charitable foundation based around a satirical cryptocurrency named after an actual dog meme, yes, really, has come to the rescue of the actualJamaican Bobsled Team, who are actually going to be in the Olympics again.
IF they can ever get there.
The Jamaican Bobsled Team, who are actually called The Jamaican Bobsleigh Team because, I dunno, it’s cuter? have qualified to compete in the Sochi Winter Olympics that start next month in Russia. They are the team made famous by the John Candy movie Cool Runnings, the fictionalized story of how they made it to their first Olympics, back in 1988.
Money has always been as scarce with the team as snow in Jamaica, but this time it’s the Interwebs to the Rescue!
A Crowdtilt fundraiser has gathered more than $20,000 towards the costs of competition (travel, support for families back home, etc) and now the internet’s favorite Shiba Inugallops in with a shocking $30,778 raised in just 24 hours.
raincoaster 