December 28, 2004

Tsunami

The death toll from the Indian Ocean tsunami has topped 59,000, and could double as disease and starvation take their toll on the decimated region. There's not much to say except pray and give. I'll be providing links in the days to come. Pray and give - and hug your children, your spouse or your parents a little longer tonight.

UPDATE: Amazon.com has set up a donations page for the American Red Cross. Do what I just did - after you donate, refresh the page several times and watch the collected amount rise rather rapidly as many other people do the same.

Blogs are playing a very important role in both disseminating information (and pictures and video) from the tsunami zone and in organizing fund-raising for relief efforts. I direct you to ScrappleFace, Instapundit, and Hugh Hewitt for further info on that, with more links to come.

Speaking of Hewitt, if you haven't yet ordered your copy of his new book, Blog : Understanding the Information Reformation That's Changing Your World , you should. Four of my readers already have, and more will. The book rose as high as #62 on Amazon's best-sellers chart without so much as one word of publicity in the mainstream media, thanks to widespread promotion in the blogosphere, thus proving the book's central point (the blogosphere is outperforming the old media and undermining its monopoly in the marketplace of ideas). Click the ad in the right sidebar to order your copy today.