This isn’t intended to be a complete list. Nor is it a random assortment. There’s actually a point to this list; stay to the end.
- “Doctor Who”. Sorry. Never got into it when I was young, too old and too much baggage and cannon for me to get into it now. Nothing personal: if that’s your thing, may the good Lord shower blessings upon you and keep you safe in his arms.
- PayPal. There’s a market opportunity for someone to come along and say “Look, we’re just like PayPal, except we have real customer service and we’re not as big a bunch of scum sucking dogs.” Seriously, given PayPal’s history (try here, here, and here for some examples) anyone who uses them for anything important might as well be playing Russian Roulette with a .45 automatic.
- Alzheimer’s disease. The only thing I can imagine that’s worse than watching someone you care about slowly lose their mind – indeed, their very self, the essence of what makes them human – from Alzheimer’s is having that happen to you personally. I hate Alzheimer’s disease.
So what’s the relationship? A guy named Steve Berry, working with an illustrator named Ben Morris, has put together a book called Behind The Sofa, which is described as containing over 100 celebrity memories of “Doctor Who”. I don’t recognize everyone in it, but Neil Gaiman, Philip Plait, and Rick Wakeman might be selling points for some folks. You can check out the book at their website, here. The hardcovers are apparently sold out (unless you buy the Slitheen package) but the ebook is available for a mere £4.99. Doing the currency conversion online, that’s $7.80. You can just barely, maybe, get a decent lunch in Austin for $7.80; two tacos at Torchy’s and a drink will set you back that much.
And 100% of the profits are going to Alzheimer’s Research UK. (Do I trust these people? Well, I figure anyone who crosses Neil Gaiman is either too stupid to run a proper scam or has a death wish, so yeah, I trust them.)
So if you like “Doctor Who”, or if you’re indifferent to “Doctor Who” but have been touched by Alzheimer’s, this might be something you want to support. It certainly seems to me to be something that deserves wider publicity. I hadn’t heard about it until…well…remember I mentioned PayPal? Yeah. Not good.
(Hattip: @newsycombinator.)