dirtylibrarian

I just matched nevikmoore's humble ten bucks toward the Match It for Pratchett charity drive, an effort by fans of author Terry Pratchett to match his donation of half a million pounds (about a million U.S. dollars) to research to treat and cure Alzheimer's Disease. Specifically, the money goes to the Alzheimer's Research Trust.

If you have a PayPal account - or wish to use your online bank account - the donation process shouldn't take more than three clicks. Any donation amount is acceptable and, in fact, encouraged. The Match It for Pratchett fund-raisers strive to get at least 500,000 people to donate a pound (or $2.00 U.S.) toward Alzheimer's research.

For those needing a little more background, Terry Pratchett is best known for the 35 novels in the Discworld series, stand-alone novels set in a comical and magical universe and featuring a wide assortment of mythical creatures. Call it fantasy, sci-fi, satire, parody, what-have-you. Pratchett is an excellent humorist and, as time goes on, a much needed humanist observer of war, money, belief, crime, equality and so on. I have not read all of them, but I'm getting pretty close; and when I finish, I'll move on to his other novels he has written outside of the Discworld series. The guy is crazy prolific, highly inventive and demonstrates a sharp wit. So the irony of his affliction escapes no one of his fans.

That said, he's quite well and flourishing. He "atetn't dead yet," and I hope our efforts will contribute to keeping his mind alert and fertile for many years to come. Moreover, the benefits he might derive from the products of Alzheimer's research and development should help others who share his affliction, if not his wealth and fame.

What nevikmoore said.   I love Pratchett's books...a truly delightful mix of humor and deep thoughts and engaging fantasy.  It is a painful irony that such a mind would be hit with this.

Thanks to lara7 for this neato art show in LA: Charity by Numbers.

If you are looking for something positive, to get you in a good mindset about the world this year, I highly recommend checking out this documentary. It was created by a guy who wanted to give his young daughters better answers to their increasingly difficult and depressing questions, so he found Nobel prize winners to talk to. When he got back, he started The Nobelity Project to help these visionaries, and to give people ways to make meaningful change in the world. Good stuff.