I’m shocked, awed, and overwhelmed tonight!
At least a HUNDRED blogs from every aspect of the political spectrum have taken part in this swarm of goodness. I want to take a moment to thank Chuck Adkins, a blogger at the Town Hall Blog Community and other places for picking up my plea, and spreading it far and wide through the Conservative
‘sphere. He’s right— this isn’t about politics, but I had to start somewhere.
It will be days before I get everyone thanked properly. But, I’m starting right now, and every day, I will post another set of Thank Yous, until either my fingers fall off and my eyes go blind, or I get to the end of the list. Let’s hope for the latter.
OK. Let’s toss around some numbers:
2,600 people visited this place over the last two days. I average ~90 on a normal day.
If 1/2 of those visitors donated $10 to the Mid-South Red Cross or the Mid-South United Way, we raised $13,000 from this site alone. TODAY.
If everyone came to make a $10 donation, we raised $26,000.
If everyone who came by made an average donation of $15, we raised $39,000.
If everyone came by and gave $20, then we raised $52,000.
—NOW.—
I’m still trying to sift out repeats in the Technorati site, perhaps others who use Technorati more than I do, can help me get down to the actual number of unique participants, I sure would be thankful.
Wandering around, I have noticed that many of the posts look sorta like this (Blogger’s abstract interpretation):
Monkeyfister lives in Memphis, says the storms were terrible. Here’s where to donate:
American Red Cross
Mid-South Chapter
1400 Central Avenue
Memphis, TN 38104
901-726-1690
And:
United Way of the Mid-South phone in a donation at (901) 433-4300.
I’m going to make an assumption, and figure at least another 2,000 people (considering the readership numbers of some of the bigger blogs that linked in, and the sheer volume of small-bloggers) hit those links directly from those pages, instead of coming here to do that. I noticed the storm coverage was pretty heavy on CNN, today, and that many people understand the situation enough, now. Applying the same formula as above, we get:
2,000 x 10= $20,000
2,000 x 15= $$30,000
2,000 x 20= $40,000
For thumbnail totals of:
$39,000
$46,000
$69,000
$92,000
That is one hell of a spread.
In my heart, I think that these are safe minimums. All I can say is this far exceeds my humble expectations, and I’m calling this a smashing success.
You statistics geeks might want to put the calipers on my assumptions, but I think that I may be low-balling that 2,000. Digby’s 26,000 readers, C&L’s 62,000 readers, The Raw Story’s readership… Even IF every single person who made a donation actually came to this blog to make their donation(s), and the first set of numbers are it, it’s still a fat sack of cash getting out to people in need. I’m not even counting in that percentage that might have donated more than $20. I think that I am definitely in the ballpark.
I am completely in love with every single one of you right now. I asked— you answered. Many dollars were raised. Many PEOPLE are getting help. BRAVO ZULU If there is ANYTHING that I can do to help you in a similar stead, I’m here to be tapped.
THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
It’s time for me to get down to linking, and Blogrolling.
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Naw, thank YOU monkeyfister
Everything all right over your way? I forget exactly where you are but iirc you’re farther west than I am. We totally lucked out here; Jackson to the west got …well, everybody’s seen on CNN what they got (and it’s worse than what TV has had on anyway; they just looked at Union U and not the rest of town) and Macon Co. where the worst of the deaths were is E-NE of us, and we got a moderately nasty thunderstorm is all. Some branches down (I live in the woods, this is not exactly unusual) and hail but not even enough to dent in the ol’ car roof. Whew.
Anyway, you were out with the RC numbers and your appeal at least a full day before I saw the first listing of them on CNN. If they had anything at all it was the national RedCross number rather than the local one and as usual the local is a better choice.
Damn fine work there neighbor. I saw Skeletor came through today; if we can just avoid the Bozo in Chief tomorrow we may get through this dreadful event without further calamity.
Added detail on TN tornado activity
This wasn’t the Jackson one (if it had traveled from Jackson to Hardin Co., on the ground, I would be waaaay Over the Rainbow instead of writing here tonight) but was the one that hit Hardin County. Per National Weather Service, minor emphasis added:
An EF-4 is, gulp, just one level down from as bad as it gets according to the current Fujita scale. Like hurricane categories the Fujita is under evaluation to see if higher classifications need to be added. It was previously thought to be impossible for wind to move any faster than an F-5.
As an added point from one who didn’t miss this by much, those of us who are highly-wired-up news junkies may not appreciate that many people, particularly in rural areas, are not constantly tuned in to a news outlet. The fact that the NWS had ordered tornado watches and warnings is entirely useless if there are no public sirens available and used in cases like this.
And lots of them. That area is very hilly and accoustic echoes and shadows are common.