Hi!

I just made a loan to someone in the developing world using a revolutionary new website called Kiva (www.kiva.org).

You can go to Kiva's website and lend to someone in the developing world who needs a loan for their business - like raising goats, selling vegetables at market or making bricks. Each loan has a picture of the entrepreneur, a description of their business and how they plan to use the loan so you know exactly how your money is being spent - and you get updates letting you know how the entrepreneur is going.

The best part is, when the entrepreneur pays back their loan you get your money back - and Kiva's loans are managed by microfinance institutions on the ground who have a lot of experience doing this, so you can trust that your money is being handled responsibly.

I just made a loan to an entrepreneur named Gulnuroy Zakirloeva in Tajikistan. They still need another $925.00 to complete their loan request of $1,025.00 (you can loan as little as $25.00!). Help me get this entrepreneur off the ground by clicking on the link below to make a loan to Gulnuroy Zakirloeva too:

http://www.kiva.org/app.php?page=businesses&action=about&id=50744

It's finally easy to actually do something about poverty - using Kiva I know exactly who my money is loaned to and what they're using it for. And most of all, I know that I'm helping them build a
sustainable business that will provide income to feed, clothe, house and educate their family long after my loan is paid back.

Join me in changing the world - one loan at a time.

Thanks!

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What others are saying about www.Kiva.org:

'Revolutionising how donors and lenders in the US are connecting with small entrepreneurs in developing countries.'
-- BBC

'If you've got 25 bucks, a PC and a PayPal account, you've now got the wherewithal to be an international financier.'
-- CNN Money

'Smaller investors can make loans of as little as $25 to specific individual entrepreneurs through a service launched last fall by Kiva.org.'
-- The Wall Street Journal

'An inexpensive feel-good investment opportunity...All loaned funds go directly to the applicants, and most loans are repaid in full.'
-- Entrepreneur Magazine

I missed somebody's birthday yesterday - was it wordweaverlynn's??? If so, my apologies and best wishes - and if it was someone else's, let me know!

Happy birthday to the suave and debonaire zoje_george! I am full of admiration for you. Blessings for the new year.

Many happy returns to averygoodun, a fine writer and all-around Good Person.

Proving yet again - if any proof were needed - that ratphooey is superfabulous.

Thanks, S.

Awww, thanks, y'all.

Now will someone tell me how to get a dirty t-shirt off a very stubborn toddler? Hello?

A blessed Yom Hashoah. May none of us ever forget.

It's BEAKER, people!



Grabbed from the cocoajava_cafe comm.

I'm really not going to admit to you how old I was when I realized that the Bee Gees sang like that because they wanted to. I thought they had no choice.

...

...

...


Okay, it was like last year. SHUT UP.

Because those penguins aren't going to fly themselves to the tropics, people.




I...I love them.

Penguins! Brighten your day with some truly extraordinary penguins. Hosted by Terry Jones, bless him.



I'm all happy now.













...


April Fool!

I opened my fruit cup and it has WATERMELON! I can't express to you how happy this makes me.

...

Yeah, I know. But c'mon! WATERMELON!

...

It hit nearly eighty yesterday.

Put that shovel down. Yes. Back away from the shovel. I'm just sayin'. :ducks, flees:

SILLY.

Ganked from dickgloucester:

Or, of course, there's QI, the not-a-quiz-show Our Mr Fry hosts. I'm addicted. Yes, I am, and I'm not ashamed. Even though you can't even BUY it in this country, DAMN YOU BBC

I'm all about the Groucho this week.

Just so you know.

(I'm looking at YOU, Ms. ratphooey)

Okay, y'all,

You know how I have a bad back and fat little feet with cocktail-wiener toes? Which makes shoes hard to fit? And because I lecture I need good support?

Maybe you do too. Need good support, I mean.

These shoes are pretty damn affordable considering there is no break-in time and they are like walking on pillows. Big supportive happy pillows.

And they look even better on than they do at Zappos.

I just bought me another pair of the same ones (the black ones), after having walked a month in the first pair (the copper ones).

Just sayin'.


http://www.zappos.com/n/p/dp/19562197/c/108780.html

Oh, Mitt. "We need to deal with competitors for our jobs...in countries like Asia and India."

Mitt, you big dork. Read the TelePrompTer.





___________
As Stephen Colbert asked, "Is Mitt Romney retarded?"

I keep mixing up Gov. Bill Richardson with Horatio Sanz.

You ever been so tired and hungry that you were too tired to make lunch? Even though you were (really) hungry? That's me.

From the ever-handsome, talented and witty beatnikside there cometh:



Coooooooool.

ETA: Or, alternatively:



Hee!