New Tommy Ill

Yeah, two days in a row for Tommy Ill. I'm feeling sorry for whoever gets the Google alerts. "Ah look, that crazy chick is blogging about Tom again".

Whatevs, I like the music, and once again, Brian Hainsworth has directed a choice as video which features zombie-head volleyball which should totally be an actual sport. Bring on the Zombie apocalypse, I want to spike a head.

You can check out the video over at Cheese On Toast who are currently hosting an exclusive premiere. No doubt it'll be on high rotation on music channels soon.

Girl in Stilettos

A few months ago I discovered the song, Girl in Stilettos by Annah Mac. It's cute, poppy and unusual. I fell in love with it pretty quickly. (I say 'discovered' but I think I heard it on The Edge. This is not me being a cool hipster and digging bands before they even know they exist.).




Then Tommy Ill released his EP Nostalgia, Zebra, and he'd taken Annah Mac and made it super, super cool. It's far and away better than the original and I hate myself less in that I like this version more than the original. In fact, this remix is officially my favourite song at the moment. Take a listen and then download Tommy Ill's mix tape for FREE here.

OMG Radiohead!

The two bands I have wanted to see more than anything else since I discovered good music have been Portishead and Radiohead.

Last year I saw Portishead, and today I bought two tickets to see Radiohead live at Vector Arena.

That means that by the end of this year I will have seen every concert on my bucket list.

Holy God I am excited!!!

Collapse!

Over the past year or so, I've been coming closer to the belief that someday - and my personal belief is that this will happen in my lifetime - society as we know it will collapse.

What do I mean by that? Well, I don't know the hows, and the contributing factors are numerous, but in a nutshell, I mean that everything our society is based on - from global trade supplies through to centralised infrastructure like internet, power, water and sewerage - will cease to operate. Chaos rules all.

It's a big topic, and for the most part it's a topic I've only ever really hinted at on this blog. But lately I'm beginning to recognise signs, and see others awaken to the issues, and now, I would like to begin talking about it.

I'd like to begin by getting you, my reader, to imagine a post-collapse world. Don't worry about how it happened, or how you survived, just imagine you live in that world, let's say 30 years from now (there are numerous great thinkers who believe that is a realistic scenario). Society began collapsing 5 years ago, the stores have been thoroughly raided. You can't even find a tin of beans.

There is no internet, both because there is no infrastructure to support it, like electricity companies and ISPs, and because computers break. Have you ever had a computer that's lasted for more than 10 years? Even the computers I have taken the greatest care with have never lasted that long. Without people designing, researching and building these things, as well as people buying, selling and maintaining them, they don't exist. There is no internet. With this in mind, realise that the only resource available to you is memory. You can probably find books, but your main resource is your own memory, and the memories of those around you. With no internet, Google cannot save you.

You don't work in an office. The thing that allows us to work in offices, expand our society, and get paid a wage is food production. If food production lines close - because population has been severely reduced, and global trade ties do not exist - then you are responsible for finding your own food. Can you do that without suppliers to buy it from?

What food do you eat? There are no big ships bringing in shipping containers filled with goods from overseas. There are no factories producing cheese and milk. There are no trucks bringing them to your local supermarket. There is no-one providing these services, so you're on your own, kid. Even the greatest of millionaires are in your position.

Can you use the resources provided to you - your surroundings - to find enough food and water to survive? Are you able to grow food? Are you able to forage it? Are you willing to hunt, kill, butcher and cook your own meat?

Are you able to find water sources pure enough to drink from? The taps don't work - everyone is too busy trying to survive to maintain water supplies. Pipes are broken and rusted, and the water reservoirs they draw from are not monitored, and therefore probably not fit to drink from.

Where do you live? Our modern houses are built to be temporary and require regular maintenance. Are you able to re-roof your own house? You can't pop down to Bunnings for a roll of corrugated iron, so what are you using to re-roof your house with?

Can you live alone? The simple answer to this one is no, you can't. You have to protect yourself from those who want your food and your house because they don't know how to do these things either. You are lucky enough that you have water, food and shelter. Many other survivors do not, and in desperate times, they are willing to take these things from you, with force. There are no police, or even laws to protect you. How can you continue to find food, and protect yourself and your shelter with that ever-present threat? You need more than one of you is how. Preferably a group. You need to cooperate and work together, and you need to trust each other.

If you are hurt, can you find adequate medical supplies? Every pharmacy was raided completely many years ago. No one is making bandages, or plasters, or Dettol. Can you find a natural antiseptic? Do you know how to prepare it? Can you treat a sore throat, or even a blister without modern medicine?

How do you get around? Many cars have crapped out with no mechanics to fix them, and even if they are capable of running and you have keys, there are no longer petrol tankers or stations. You have your own two legs. Maybe a skateboard or a bike if you're lucky - and even those require replacement wheels, and those are not readily available in stores. Are you capable of walking or running the required distances?

How will you survive without our modern comforts? Without the global supply routes, and the invisible rules and orders around us, is it possible? Will it be a free society with small communities living 'local', or will it be dictatorship and slavery? Will you be able to adapt and survive if everything you know today ground to a halt, or will you cling to old ways, dying for a cause which was only ever an illusion?

It's a big topic. I want to begin by posing these questions because I want you to know what I believe could be the future if we can't change the way our society operates. I have no doubt that this is where we are headed. Many people much smarter than I believe it, and with so many countries on the verge of financial collapse, and so many people unhappy with the status quo, I can't convince myself that it's not possible either.

Many societies have faced collapse before. The Greeks, the Aztecs, and the Egyptians are but three. They didn't see it coming, and neither are we. The difference between their society and ours is that we are interconnected at a previously unknown level. My concern is that if one domino in this global landscape falls, we all fall.

I don't want us to fall. I want kids trawling through the internet in 100 years to look back and see this post as the ramblings of a crazy person. What I know, however, is that we are completely disconnected from the natural order which surrounds us. We are on a pedestal high above the rabbits and the mice and the monkeys because we are Homo sapiens. The truth is we are animals. We live, we die, we breathe, we eat, we reproduce. We are simply a species with the ability to think, communicate, create and cooperate. We are not special. If bunny rabbits bred and clustered like we do, they would decimate their surroundings, and then begin to die as natural orders take care of an out-of-control over-population problem.

What I'm worried about is that we are about to be smacked in the face by those same natural orders. Before that happens, I believe we have the ability to use our thoughts and creative powers to communicate and cooperate ourselves out of this mess. So rather than decimate ourselves, let's really look at what is going on here. We only have one planet. One. There are no others, and if Mother Nature is pissed, she has the ability to lay the smack down on us.

Let's redeem ourselves before that happens.

New York, New York

I booked and paid for my tickets today. I'm going to New York in May.

I can't even explain how excited I am. I have wanted to go to New York for so, so long and now I am finally going.

I'm going to get to cross at least three things off my list while I'm there (picnic in Central Park, see a Broadway musical and go to MOMA). Beyond that, I'm hoping to get to a taping of something like the Daily Show or Letterman, see the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, the Empire State building and so much more.

There will be bagels and hot dogs and pizza and breakfast at Tiffany's. I can't wait!

Books I've read so far in 2012

I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I thought I might note down what I have read since Jan 1.

• The Name Of The Wind, by Patrick Rothfuss.
• The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
• The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green
• The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins
• Catching Fire, by Suzanne Collins
• Mockingjay, by Suzanne Collins
• Winter of Fire, by Sherryl Jordan
• The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green (again, it's that good)
• Paper Towns, by John Green

...and I'm currently reading An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.

I will grant you that many of those are young adult novels, but that's still quite a lot of books for me in 6 weeks. For me, anyway.

After this, I've got The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E Smith, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan lined up.

Yay books!

Sapience

I was alerted by the brilliant John Green as to the existence of this project.



The makers of this film are attempting to crowd-source the final $60,000 to make this movie. You can check out their story on Kickstarter. Watch the video at the top of the page.

I really want to see this movie made, and I've pledged some of my own cash to do it.

I think that you should too. You can give as little as you like - the minimum is US$1 (about NZ$1.20). There are some pretty cool things given to people who give over US$5 though.

Active Giver (Part 6)

So here are the final five. Initially, the four who hadn't provided information on payroll giving were contacted via email to ask if they support payroll giving, and to provide me with the specific details that I need to set this up. In a few cases, the charities have added benefits for regular givers (magazines, newsletters, monthly draws etc). In those cases I've also asked if, as a payroll giver giving $600 per year, I am eligible for those benefits.

Of those emails, only one charity actually responded within the space of a week. So I tried another approach and politely asked the same thing again on Facebook. Each charity has been given two weeks to reply by email, and one week to reply via social media. So, how did they do?

Forest and Bird
If I hadn't gone through this process, Forest and Bird almost certainly would have been the recipient of this donation. They do a really good job on the social media front, using both Twitter and Facebook regularly and properly. But working out how to volunteer, or how to give money is a bit confusing.

Forest and Bird took a week and a half to respond to my email, but only a couple of days to respond via Facebook. When they replied, they told me that yes, I can donate via payroll giving, and that it would qualify me for their 'regular giving program'. If my employer had any questions then they were invited to call the office.

WWF
I knew of this charity coming in, but their website and approach to social media had made them serious contenders. Like Forest and Bird, they use social media properly, and they provide heaps of links for anyone who wants to volunteer.

WWF did not respond to either my email or my Facebook post within the time allotted. (edit: however they did get back to me the day after this post was published, and after I had submitted the forms to set up the final charity. It was probably the best reply I got though. They do support payroll giving, and will be adding the information to their website.)

Kea Conservation Trust
The first charity on this list I hadn't considered before I began this project. In all honesty, they have only made it this far because they were the only charity to mention anything about payroll giving on their website. That said, while they tell you about it, they don't actually give you all the details you need (bank account, email and postal addresses) on the payroll giving section of their website. They do a fair job on social media, but the link to Facebook is RIGHT at the bottom of their webpage.

In general, they have a commendable approach to the online environment, but if I were to give my money to them, I'd really be hoping it goes to the website. Ultimately, these factors combined did not make them my favourites, and they were ruled out before being contacted.

350 Aotearoa
Another charity I'd never even heard of before this project. They have a really great website, and their Facebook page is updated regularly too - bit of a shame the Twitter feed is just blurting out the Facebook content. While I've got no problem with this, there's no engagement on Twitter, which makes the whole Twitter feed a little redundant.

That said, while 350 Aotearoa did not respond to my email within 2 weeks, they were the first ones off the mark to help me on Facebook, coming back within 12 hours. They provided more than enough information to set up payroll giving, and mentioned I was the first person to ask them. Their friendly, quick and quite enthusiastic response via social media was extremely welcome after waiting so long for a response from anyone.

Environment and Conservation Organisations (ECO) of NZ
The final charity on the list who I had not considered before taking on this mammoth task. They have an informative website and it's relatively easy to navigate. I love the idea of what they do - it's like being able to support several environmental charities instead of just one, and that really appeals to me. They have a good Facebook page, but again, they're just spouting the same stuff on Twitter with no further engagement on the Twitter platform.

When contacted about payroll giving, they responded first (via email), but did not know about payroll giving. They didn't currently have the facility set up and didn't seem to know much about it. Instead they directed me to their automatic payment system. When I replied saying that payroll giving was the only way I could afford to contribute to a third charity, they let me know that they could accommodate payroll giving, but because I was the first, they just weren't all that sure about it.

Results
I've gone through this process to come down to one charity. I've used a myriad of criteria to get to this point. While I think there are a lot of deserving charities out there, ultimately, I can only really afford one new one.

So, who is it?

• Kea Conservation Trust were ruled out for varying reasons explained above.
• WWF ruled themselves out by not replying to me in the alloted time frame.
• ECO Aotearoa have been ruled out as, despite wanting to support them, their response has been a little aggressive, and just rubbed me the wrong way. They didn't necessarily do anything wrong, but someone else did it better.
• Forest and Bird, ultimately, have only lost out because their competition was faster and friendlier.

Which means... 350 Aotearoa will be the recipient of my monthly donation.

There are still a couple more posts in this series to go - one on the lessons learned during this project (there were lots), and a profile on 350 Aotearoa - what they do, and why they 'won'.

The Active Giver (Part 5)

Just under two weeks ago, I sent 4 charities an email to ask about whether I can donate to them via payroll giving. Just under one week ago, I asked the 3 charities I hadn't heard from the same question via Facebook. I'm still waiting to hear from one of them. I really want to give them the full two weeks, so I'll post my per-charity rundown on Tuesday, but I thought it might be worth talking about why, out of over 3500 charities, they made it this far.

Firstly, every single one of them works towards a cause I think is worthy. The environment is important to me. Despite all our work in space, we only have one planet. I already support more humanitarian causes, and I wanted to support an environmental one too, because that's what I'm interested in. There are many worthy charities out there - many of whom were not on my list to begin with. Their appearance as part of the final 5 is not a reflection on all the other worthy charities who don't appear on it.

Secondly, they all had the ability to communicate to me on the web. Some did it better than others, but these charities have all allowed me to find out who they are, what they do, and how I can donate to them. I realise an enormous number of charities are run by volunteers - who may not believe the web is worth bothering with - but at the same time, I'm probably one of a growing number of donors who search out this information on the internet. While many may not (and, I cannot stress this enough, probably shouldn't) go to the lengths I have gone to, I dare say many will find a charity because they are interested in a cause, and Googled it.

It's worth noting that of 217 charities, only one provided information on payroll giving on their website. This experience has taught me there are many, many reasons for this. For two of the four charities, I was the first person who had asked. There is evidence to say that there have been difficulties launching the scheme (it has a rather poor takeup rate by the looks of things). Some of the people I have interacted with as a result of this project have hinted that there might difficulty of doing the paperwork and setting up the systems associated with payroll giving on the charity's behalf. I've pondered this before, and I still think it is a daft situation if true. Ultimately, the scheme is the thing which is allowing me to afford to support a third charity in the first place.

Finally, they are committed to communicating via social media. They have Facebook and/or Twitter accounts, and they keep them updated. Their methods differ, but they all have a presence to communicate with me on these platforms. By messaging them on Facebook, I've been able to look at how well they use it as a communication channel. .

Ultimately, there are lots of factors I've used to choose my final list, and many of them are dictated by who I am, and what I value. I began this journey with a goal to find a charity, but what I'm really looking for is a charity that suits me, and my preferences.

I hope in the process, I've created something thought provoking for charities, their advocates and the policy makers. I have absolutely gone the long way around with this project, but three of the five finalists are charities who were not even on my radar before I began - that alone is worth it.

Lovely

If there is one thing I really, really want in life, it's my own self-sustainable property.

I'd like to raise chickens, sheep and goats, operate a large garden, and an orchid filled with at least one tree of every fruit that I can possibly grow. Pretty much every plant I have planned in my head (and trust me, there's a lot of them), is useful - either for it's physical (bamboo), edible (fruit and veges), or medicinal (flowers and herbs) properties. All, except one.

I absolutely must have Wisteria.

Source: s-p-r-i-n-g.tumblr.com via Kat on Pinterest

It has no other use but to look pretty. We had this at our house growing up, and when it flowered it was so, so beautiful.

I was reminded of my love for Wisteria by Pinterest. I'm quite enjoying making scrapbooks for my fabulous future property there at the moment. If you're interested, you can follow me.