Is Turkey Special?

It's gratifying to note an uptick in anonymous interest in a post at this web site, a few years ago, about Turkey, the home of the hacker who ruined my e-mail by "upgrading" to Yahoo Neo THAT LOUSY SCUM. I wish this hacker everything the law can do to him and a few things it can't, including glaucoma, 'cos anybody who inflicts Yahoo Neo on a fellow human deserves to lose his eyesight in a way that hurts. Anyway, the question may have been asked: Is this web site especially interested in Turkey?

Not exactly. We don't have close friends or relatives there. Occasionally I post from Wise, Virginia, which is the "sister city" of Cesme in Turkey, and that's about the extent of my interest. I try, not always succeeding, to read the world news that I receive, and express moral support for disaster victims wherever they may be. Sometimes I find the time to do this online, sometimes not. Some foreign countries have labels of their own on this web site, and some are lumped together by continent--one reason why Turkey has a label of its own is that Europe and Asia are one continent, separated by culture rather than an ocean, and Turkey is sort of in between.

So why, back when this site was being built, when I was still transferring the earlier posts over from Weebly, did I post a long appeal for Red Crescent/Cross donations for Turkey, with lots of color pictures? Why haven't the many other charitable causes for which this web site has expressed moral support received that kind of attention?

It's a fair question, and deserves truthful answers. Here they are. Turkey happened to be the scene of the disaster covered in that day's news. I happened to want to test two things that day: (1) how well Morguefile pictures would show up on this site--it wouldn't be fair to use Morguefile pictures as a main attraction, but now and then they come in handy--and (2) whether adding color pictures to the post attracted more readers. The post convinced me that (1) Morguefile pictures work beautifully on this site, and (2) adding them attracts neither attention to my writing nor, so far as could be discerned, support for the charity.

So I've not bothered to construct such elaborate appeals on behalf of other charities, since then. I've done the keyword thing (which was less obtrusive, in among the pictures, in the appeal on behalf of Van, Turkey) on behalf of a couple of books and business ventures, and Zambia. Most of the time I just mention that a charity is out there, throw in a link, and post the piece. If I were to find that more elaborate appeals accomplished more on behalf of the cause, I'd do more of them.

Unfortunately (here comes that nag) most of you readers don't seem to be sending much e-money to much of anything--this web site, or other web sites. Maybe you just haven't got any. Maybe some of you really are living on US$200-500 per month, as I currently am. And maybe some of you just need to be nagged, or prodded with sticks, or something. This would be a vastly better web site, more balanced, more pictorial, more books, more animals, more humor, more human interest pieces, more authoritative law and political posts, and probably better writing, if it were better sponsored. If this web site's Paypal account isn't working, which so far as I can tell it isn't, you need to send e-money to mine, which is linked to my personal e-mail account, which you access via our collective e-mail account, salolianigodagewi@yahoo.com.

And this web site recommends sending some money to other charities, as well as our own Cornerstone Communications (which could have a physical store, at last, this summer). Some people say that when you give away ten percent of your income, the universe naturally rewards you with more income. Obviously that's not a scientific statement; if it's true, it depends on individual psychology, so nobody can say how well it'll work for anybody else. Try it for yourselves. Draw your own conclusions. You're not obligated to support any or all of the charities discussed at this web site, if you prefer to support other ones, but it is gratifying to me when you support "ours."