Give back to the community

Last year, I posted about my favorite charity, Child's Play, and I think I generated almost as large an impact as I did when posting about the Colgate 360 toothbrush (still my favorite toothbrush). So this year, I'm reminding everyone about this fabulous organization. =)

Child's Play has the humble goal of making children's hospital stays a little bit better. How, you ask? Simple--the guys who founded the organization, the authors of the web comic Penny Arcade--help hospitals set up Amazon.com wish lists for games/crafts/etc that will improve the quality of life for patients. There aren't any administrative fees, and no one will harass you to give more. You may even receive a nice thank-you card from the hospital.

There are a lot of people out there who need help. We have many, many diseases that we still don't understand and that still extol a huge toll on civilization. There are people who can't afford presents. And all of these are nice causes to support.

But right now, there are hundreds of kids battling disease in hospitals around the world. Wouldn't it be great to make their stays a bit more fun by giving them toys?

The End to Cervical Cancer

Is is now possible to get vaccinated against HPV, the sole cause of cervical cancer. Talk to your healthcare provider about it. Te vaccine is now on the official schedule of vaccination shots for female patients beginning at age 12. It consists of three shots: an initial shot; one two months later; and a third four months after that. According to the CDC, "Approximately 20 million people are currently infected with HPV. At least 50 percent of sexually active men and women acquire genital HPV infection at some point in their lives. By age 50, at least 80 percent of women will have acquired genital HPV infection. About 6.2 million Americans get a new genital HPV infection each year."

Protect yourself. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.