tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86442594688854832342012-02-15T22:57:00.945-08:00Silvia Liveraninoreply@blogger.comBlogger21100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8644259468885483234.post-80161598952152183482011-09-04T11:44:00.000-07:002011-09-04T11:47:23.458-07:00I was looking for new charities to support, and I have just found a very interesting one. <a href="http://www.kiva.org/">Kiva.org</a> gives very small loans to those in poverty across the world. I have given a loan of $25 to<span class="loanAmount"></span> help <span class="businessName">Miriama Maposua</span> <span class="loanUse">to purchase raw ingredients needed to make products for sale. She produces and sells baked goods on a small island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://s3-2.kiva.org/img/w800/856481.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://s3-2.kiva.org/img/w800/856481.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span class="loanUse">The amazing thing is that as it is a loan, Miriama will give me back my money within 15 months (98% of kiva loans are repaid) and then I can loan the money to someone else. The interest charged for the loan is kept by the local administration teams. </span><br /><br /><span class="loanUse">I am very impressed by this initiative, empowering poor communities. I am looking forward to seeing the loan getting paid back.&nbsp;</span><br /><br /><span class="loanUse">I have tried to google for negative news articles, feedback, comments on kiva.org, but haven't found much. I will update this post if I do hear something bad, and I will also posto about my own experience as it unfolds. </span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8644259468885483234-8016159895215218348?l=silvialiverani.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Silvia Liveraninoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8644259468885483234.post-44017816859188534782010-09-06T04:57:00.000-07:002010-09-06T04:58:09.376-07:00I decided to start my blog by sharing a link to a nice Firefox add-on that helps your productivity by blocking or controlling access to websites: <a href="http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html">LeechBlock</a>. It's quite impressive: you can block specific websites that hinder your cutting-edge research (or whatever else it is you do) on certain days of the week, in pre-specified time intervals and you can even choose to give yourself a break once in a while! For example, I have set a website that I tend to procrastinate on to be accessible for 10 minutes every 3 hours between 9am and 9pm.<br /><br />This all sounds very good, but it is as easy to set this up as it is to unblock it, one would think - and therefore remain un-impressed. However, here comes the surprise! One of the options requires you to enter a 64-digit random sequence in order to unblock the websites! I have clicked on that option just to try it out... and now the only way for me to unblock the websites that I have entered is to enter that 64-digit sequence... a huge turn-off.&nbsp; <br /><br />Starting a blog might not seem the best decision with productivity in mind... but I <a href="http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-blog-as-an-academic/">hear</a> it pays off.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8644259468885483234-4401781685918853478?l=silvialiverani.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>Silvia Liveraninoreply@blogger.com0