Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS

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I was challenged by Super Author Jonathan Maberry to do the ice water challenge to raise money for ALS. I’d seen something about it online, but didn’t now what the deal was. Apparently you do it, and then challenge three people who have 24 hours to do it to, or they donate money to ALS research.

http://www.alsa.org/fight-als/ice-bucket-challenge.html

As those of you who read this blog know, I’m always willing to do stupid crap for charity! I didn’t do it within 24 hours (last day of summer vacation and taking the kids mini golfing was far too important) but I did it this morning. So I am happy to be donating money.

In turn I challenged International Film and Television Star Nick Searcy, Comic Book Legend Chuck Dixon, and because Super Author Jim Butcher threw a cup at me on Saturday I’m throwing a bucket at him. 🙂

 

Salt Lake ComicCon - Booth and preliminary schedule
No, Tor.com, GenCon Isn’t Racist. A Fisking.

31 thoughts on “Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS”

  1. I do have to marvel at how illogical people are. Instead of giving money you waste clean water so you can challenge other people to give money or take the ice bucket. Why not skip the vid and water dumping and just give money while challenging 3 other people to also give money?

    Apparently we humans like a challenge to the point that logic is cast aside and as Forbes has noted (http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2014/08/19/think-the-ice-bucket-challenge-is-stupid-youre-wrong/) bring in $15.6 million for the ALS Association, which is considerably more than it’s usual intake.

    Power too it. Hope you enjoyed the Ice shower. I know I do.

    1. I’d have donated money either way. It seems kind of silly to do a charity thing and not give money. But I figure the important thing is that it gets attention for something that normally doesn’t, and people are having fun. I’m always in favor of people having fun… Well, as long as those kids stay off my lawn, obviously.

    2. Eh. I waste more “clean water” when I flush the toilet than I used when I did the challenge. I also made sure to encourage people to donate as well as dump.

      Donate, because really, that’s what this is for.

      Dump, because it’s silly fun, and it would be churlish not to participate if challenged. If you want to bring in some headology, this gives people an excuse to be silly and connect with others at a time when the world can seem very dark and serious and divided.

    3. Everything can be seen as a waste to a killjoy.

      My dear friend is suffering from ALS and has enjoyed following the challenge immensely.

      Thanks, Larry, for helping.

    4. It’s not illogical at all. It’s a clever marketing tool designed to get people to tune in to a cause by watching humorous antics conducted by others. It’s a bit like a charity dunking booth, but better, because it leverages various human impulses to amplify the power of their networks. Further, it relies on specifically calling out people, so there’s an element of challenge, honor, and courage.

      I think it’s brilliant.

    5. There are some claims that this is making the current California drought worse than it would otherwise be. I don’t know how accurate that is (I wouldn’t think it was using *that* much water), but it’s something to consider if you live in that state.

      1. That sounds ridiculous. 5 gallons of water per person is a tiny amount in the grand scheme of things, but damn it that is making my auditor senses tingle. Shoot. Have to think about it for a second.

        Let’s say we need to water a field. We want to put one inch of water on an acre of alfalfa. What is that in gallons? There’s 43,560 feet in an acre. 522,720 inches. Or to make it easier, 1/12 a foot x 43560 and that’s 3630 cubic feet of water. That’s a lot of freaking water.There’s 231 cubic inches in a gallon. I think a cubic foot is 1728 cubic inches. So to cover an acre in one inch would be 27,154 gallons.

        Looking at the USGS to check the math: http://water.usgs.gov/edu/earthrain.html Bingo. Wish I would have just thought to check that first and save me one minute of Excel.

        We used to grow alfalfa when I was a kid. We used the more inefficient flood irrigation method back then as opposed to sprinklers. This was a LONG time ago so I couldn’t remember how much we used, but a quick google search of inches per acre of alfalfa says 8. So let’s run with that. 27,154 gallons times 8 inches = 217,232 gallons of water per acre.

        California has a population of approximately 38 million people. Assuming that EVERY SINGLE ONE of them dumped a full 5 gallon bucket of water on their head, ALS would be cured next week, but more importantly they’d use 190,000,000 gallons of water, and assuming they’d all been too stupid to do it on their lawn that needed water anyway, that’s a huge waste.

        Except we know that we need 217 thousand gallons of water for one acre of alfalfa, and divide that by the total used by all those charitable Californians and that’s approximately 874 acres!

        So basically, the only way this could be making the drought in California worse was if their entire agricultural industry was about double the size of the farm I grew up on.

        In other words, bullshit. I threw all that together in a couple of minutes, so my math might be wrong somewhere, but unless I’m off a couple of orders of magnitude (guessing not EVERY Californian is going to use a full 5 gallons either) Myth Busted. 🙂

      2. My initial reaction was that some people will believe anything, especially when being scolded about “the environment!”. Then I read Larry’s nice break-out of the actual numbers, and I’m about to post it on Facebook, so I don’t have to constantly, and in exasperation, go explain it to other people.

  2. You know, this challenge doesn’t seem all that challenging. How hard is it to pour ice water over your head? I’m just saying. We should make it harder. With, like, an obstacle course and maybe monkeys or something.

    I did enjoy that “Refreshing!” at the end! LOL

  3. The International Lord of Hate does a challenge for… charity? This doesn’t sound evil at all. I refuse to believe it.

    He is probably just trying to give Jim Butcher hypothermia.

  4. This started back in the winter with a bunch of cowboys challenging each other. To jump in lakes and creeks from the back of their hosses. In the middle of winter. Originally, it was donate 10 and dunk yourself, or donate 100. Cowboys tend to be cash poor, so it was indeed a challenge. As I recall, when my daughter did it back in the winter, it was for the childhood diabetes foundation, as that is where her heart is.

    Anyway, it is a good thing, and brings attention to some good causes. Go Larry!

  5. Kudos to anyone who can pour a bucket of ice-water over themselves and comment, “Refreshing!”

    Well done.

  6. Huh. I’ve been mis-pronouncing your name all this time. I thought it was Kor-EH-uh, not Kor-EE-uh. Learn something new every day:-).

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