NYTimes: Instant Ramen Saves Lives

In college (and in bachelor pads everywhere), cup noodles often become a dietary staple. Any sort of instant food, but especially instant ramen, is generally not good for the body, as it is usually full of preservatives, artificial flavoring, and the like. Make no mistake -- I have a box of ramen sitting in my closet right now. It's not a completely terrible thing; it's actually pretty decent as far as junk food goes. It's just not something one should consume too often.

This article, however, vindicates instant noodles for a completely different cause (certainly a much better one than college students pulling all-nighters):

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/weekinreview/20noodles.html?ref=asia

Cup noodles for tsunami relief! (I wouldn't mind sending my box of ramen to Japan and buying something more like carrot sticks. Also, Japanese cup noodles are probably a sight healthier than what we have here.)

The Breaking Light (Vienna Teng)

Vienna Teng/Alex Wong have a new single out! (It's been out for a while, but I only just realized that I neglected to mention it.) It can be found on Alex's website:

http://alexwong.bandcamp.com/track/the-breaking-light-live-at-yoshis

All proceeds go to disaster relief in Japan, so go get yourself some awesome music and help out the Japanese!

Another cool tidbit: it was recorded live (with a bit of audience participation), and I, along with a number of Stanford friends, were at the show at which they recorded it. *grins*

Donate via Text Message to Help Japan

 Note (03/12): Because this is an actionable item, this post will stay at the top of the blog for a week.

I'm sure you all know about the situation in Japan right now. Here are a few quick and easy ways to help:

Text "REDCROSS" to 90999 -- donates $10 to Red Cross efforts
Text "TSUNAMI" to 50555 -- donates $10 to Convoy of Hope efforts
Text "JAPAN" or "QUAKE" to 80888 -- donates $10 to Salvation Army efforts