Support autism research!

Last May, my brother Tyler and I encouraged dozens of our friends & family to donate to our team in Walk Now for Autism, a charity event planned by Autism Speaks.  Thanks to the support of those generous folks, our team contributed over $1,000 to autism research.

This May, I’m participating in Walk Now for the third time, and my goal is to beat last year’s fundraising total.

Autism has a higher profile now than ever before, due to increasing rates of diagnosis in children and debates over the causes of the disease.  Many new parents have been spooked by hearsay and flaky anecdotal “evidence” linking autism to vaccinations.  (The scientific community vastly agrees there is no connection.)  It’s easy to see why searches for the cause, and cure, have become more desperate: autism now affects 1 in every 110 American children, and 1 every 70 boys.  And those numbers are on the rise.

As the brother of an autistic adult, I know the toll autism takes on its victims and their families.  It’s essential that we increase our understanding of autism as soon as possible.

Please donate to my team here:

http://www.walknowforautismspeaks.org/chicago/as

Yes, I know that once again the minimum donation you can make on the site is $20.  If you can donate $20 or more, AWESOME, thank you!  If you want to contribute a smaller amount, I will still think you are a rad person and I will want to be your friend.  You can use the printable donation form to mail your payment, you can send me money via PayPal (paypal@johnhorstman.com) and I can donate it for you, or you can bring a donation to Lucy’s table at one of the following conventions:

• MoCCA Fest, April 10-11 in NYC
• C2E2, April 16-18 in Chicago, IL
• Stumptown Comics Fest, April 24-25 in Portland, OR
• TCAF, May 8-9 in Toronto, Canada

Thanks in advance for your help!  The walk is on Sunday, May 15th, and I’ll be sure to post an update before then.

Chicago Walk Now for Autism 2010 home page

Support autism research!

Last May, I joined 17,000 walkers on Soldier Field for Chicago’s Walk Now for Autism.  Together we raised almost $1.5 million to support autism research and to raise awareness about this increasingly common disorder.  (One in every 150 kids born today is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder.)  I was proud to raise $400 in honor of my older brother, Luke, and I’m really grateful to all those who contributed to this cause.  Seriously!  So grateful!

This year, I’m trying to push myself a little further.  My brother Tyler and I have set a combined goal of $1,000 for this year’s event.  If you take a look at our current total, you’ll see that we have a long way to go (on account of the fact that we haven’t promoted this thing at all so far).  Please help us reach that goal!  Anything you can give will be appreciated, probably more than you’d expect.  I will appreciate you so much that it might make you a little uncomfortable.

Please donate to my page here:

http://www.walknowforautism.org/chicago/johnhorstman

Yes, I know that the minimum donation you can make on the site is $20.  If you can donate $20 or more, AWESOME, thank you!  If you want to contribute a smaller amount, I will still think you are a rad person.  You can use the printable donation form to mail your payment, you can send me money via PayPal (paypal@johnhorstman.com) and I can donate it for you, or you can bring a donation to Lucy’s table at the Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, OR, this weekend, where I’ll be working as a booth babe.

Thanks in advance for your help!  The walk is on May 16th, I’ll be sure to post an update before then.

Chicago Walk Now for Autism 2009 home page

I'm so sick of this, I could literally kill someone

Yesterday's Dinosaur Comics addressed our society's widespread inability to use the word "literally" correctly.  Today, in an interview on Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Hillary Clinton described America as being "literally over the oil barrel" with regard to our energy policy. Et tu, Hillary?

One easy way to make the world a better place is never to misuse the word "literally" again.  If that proves too difficult, you can always play video games for charity.  What?  Huh??  Yeah!

FreeRice is a vocab-building game that will donate 20 grains of rice through the UN World Food Program every time you can pick the correct definition for a word.  The difficulty level moves up and down based on your answers, and there's no limit to how much rice you can donate.  Philanthropic logophiles rejoice!

What's that you say?  Big words are for bookworms and college professors and Noah Webster?  Perhaps you should try FreePoverty instead.  The game lists off cities and landmarks from around the world and you have to mark their locations on a world map.  The more accurate you are, the more clean water is donated to people living in extreme poverty.  Do you know where the country of Moldova is?  What about Namibia?  Learn how bad your geography is with FreePoverty!

* * * * * * *

For all interested parties: about 15 pictures from our last party can be viewed in the below slideshow.  Everything labeled "vs. pinata" is a video; click on the thumbnails to see them.