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iTunes Store Accepting Donations to Support Earthquake Relief in Japan and Ecuador
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Yes, very true. Since it makes it EASY for me to donate to the Red Cross, with the same ease of clicking to buy an iTunes track. In the past, the majority of potential donors (like myself) were discouraged because they had no easy way to send money to credible relief organizations.
Exactly my 1st thoughts.
Can you imagine it in reality.
Hello, I'm a multi millionaire having won the lottery and I'm sitting on more money than I know what to do with.
However, I'm not going to give a penny to charity, but if anyone would like to give me some of their hard earned money, I'll pass it onto the charity for you, so I can appear to look good.
Can you imagine what people would think of "me" if I did that?
My sister went through Katrina and she turned me off to the Red Cross. She was in the middle of it and said companies like Wal-Mart and Tide actually did a lot more good. They came in with drinking water, supplies, money and help. The Red Cross turned them away because they only allocate a certain number on dollars for each emergency and those dollars were already spent. So while the Red Cross was asking for and getting donations to "help The victims of Katrina" they were just stock piling the money. It's slimy so I donate to causes that actually are helping a specific disaster.
Lets hope that architects and structural engineers can work together to create affordable earthquake resistant materials to reduce future dangers.
What about creating crush proof safe-spaces (eg fortified cupboards) that have a battery operated emergency light with breathing mask / goggles and send out an SOS message giving GPS coordinates and and heart rates of the last person that touched the device. A two way transceiver to help communicate with buried people would also be a boon.
AJ
What about creating crush proof safe-spaces (eg fortified cupboards) that have a battery operated emergency light with breathing mask / goggles and send out an SOS message giving GPS coordinates and and heart rates of the last person that touched the device. A two way transceiver to help communicate with buried people would also be a boon.
AJ
1st, there are much better places to donate your money than the Red Cross. Not sure why Apple would partner with such a shady agency. 2nd, what do you mean you had no easy way to send money? Not an accusation, genuinely curious. Donating to any organization is pretty simple.
They probably did donate for all we know. Tim already gives his fair share.
http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-ceo-tim-cook-donates-100-million-to-charity/
http://www.cnet.com/news/apples-tim-cook-plans-to-donate-his-wealth-to-charity/
In a bit of irony for me, early in my engineering career I was a cost engineer, with a civil engineering degree & background who had interned at a local Boeing facility while in college/university. My first major cost control-related project was supporting an architect during a building retrofit. One day, during a walkthrough prior to a staffing meeting, I saw (busted, really) the superintendent working on the seismic upgrade - he was installing connectors with the wrong tool, at an acute angle, and without the required structural inspector observing the work. I took the architect aside, reported my observations, and cited the building code. The super was fired, and I was promoted to resident engineer the next day (I still had to manage the project's costs...). The seismic installation work was redone, and I have worked on many other jobs like that one as a client's representative. Some might be surprised at how much work is performed that doesn't meet code - it's as important, to me, as the design. Don't get me going on how many architects/engineers I've managed over the years screw things up...
Related to your note, I do follow material and installation trends. Picked up by the US tech blogs months after a new material/installation method was announced, it's not necessarily "pretty" and the tech is still in its investigative stages, this works IMHO for retrofit projects albeit for smaller projects: http://www.komatsuseiren.co.jp/cabkoma/en/index.html - from a company that started out making fabrics and dyes for fashion purposes. The company also created "green wall" solutions - pretty cool stuff if you check out their web site.
Japanese designers and engineers are IMHO some of the best in the world when it comes to protecting individuals from injury, what happened with the Fukushima disaster notwithstanding. Look up what has transpired since the Hyogoken-Nanbu earthquake in 1995 (shortly after I started my civil engineering career), which seems to be the event that "woke up" the Japan Society of Civil Engineers
As to "safe spaces", many offices/homes already have a suitable "space" already - a sturdy table or desk. One is as likely or more likely to be injured by falling items than by collapse of a building. A couple of years ago, I got a laugh when a colleague emailed me this US Patent - http://www.google.com/patents/US20160010355 - think about it, now the "pod" in the patent will need to support the desk AND the debris on top of it. I've been part of bridge and building retrofits, and I've experienced 4 types of earthquakes - the best plan IMHO is for each individual to stay aware, know the escape route(s), and know where and how to use the preventative/protective tools around you. In my own experience, like that experience I had in that building retrofit that led me to observe/design/inspect buildings, bridges, retaining walls, sound walls, and machine installations - designer forethought and installation observation are two keys to protecting people from injury. IMHO two of the "dangers" to persons in disasters like those in Japan and Ecuador are shoddy construction or nonexistent inspection for compliance and incompatible construction types in non-compatible areas as in construction of structure types relevant to earthquake zones.
FWIW, you've offered really great questions. Cheers!
Don't forget that you can now claim the tax deduction because you are now the one making the donation.
Hmmm....big business would never do that.
I like the idea of Apple matching donations. They have more cash on hand than the U.S. Treasury. Matching donations is the least they can do... but they are a corporation and they only have one purpose - maximum profit for the company and maximum returns for the investors. Can't fault them for it... it's how the system works.
People should bear in mind what happened the last time The American Red Cross took $1 Billion in relief money- for Haiti- and used every last dime to balance their books.