Do you read?

Today L. Gordon Crovitz, in his article, "The Digital Future of Books," for the Wall Street Journal, said,

"The not-so-positive case is that, at least so far, we're not giving up on books for the same words on screens – we're giving up on words. Pick your data point: A recent National Endowment for the Arts report, "To Read or Not to Read," found that 15- to 24-year-olds spend an average of seven minutes reading on weekdays; people between 35 and 44 spend 12 minutes; and people 65 and older spend close to an hour." (emphasis added)

They obviously didn't poll medical students. Right now I average 14 or 15 hours reading a day. I average 5 minutes of seeing my son (while he's awake) and 30 minutes of meaningful conversation with my wife (while she's awake).

How much do you read?

Congratulations Heifer International

Well, it's been a long time coming, but finals got in the way. Sorry.

Money's collected. Donation's been made.

Congratulations again to Sara and Heifer International -- The inaugural winner of The Bleeding Ear's "Play For A Cause" March Madness pool.

This year proved a great success. The tournament had some amazing games, our pool had some ups (MoJo) and downs (StudentsForAFreeTibet ... i.e. me). All in all, it was a lot of fun and a worthy cause was helped.

Through some generous gift matching, the $50 raised by our pool will actually be two $50 contributions! So, our actual donation raised for Heifer International is $100. Congratulations to all who played.

Here's the final results for posterity:

Many of my readers, friends, and family have expressed a desire to play next year. I expect a much larger pool, and greater gift for charity next year. What better way to watch March Madness?

***Business: Cards commemorating the donation will arrive in about a week, and receipts for tax purposes (it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization) will arrive in two weeks. I called in the order instead of processing it online so that individual receipts could be mailed and those who want to deduct their donation may do so.***

As always, TBE is more than open to ideas on how to improve this pool for next year.

Once Again, congrats to Sara from Raising My Ebenezer and Heifer International!