Thank you all!

I started on this post last night, and then the news that a volunteer firefighter from Canberra, who had gone down to Victoria to help with the still-active fires, had been killed when a burnt tree fell on his tanker. And the sheer injustice of it meant that I stepped away from lj and just ranted at the universe for a bit.

The universe kept on with its merry spinning, expansion and secret-keeping on the topics of gravity and dark matter, and the firefighter's family released a stoic statement saying that they were proud of him, and that he had considered himself duty-bound to go down after the Victorian fighters who had come up to Canberra during their terrible fires some six or so years ago.

Then the Westboro Baptist Church declared that they were glad god had killed hundreds of Australians in the fires. And suddenly I felt much chirpier -- indeed, thrilled to have an Australian passport -- because when the WBC hates you, you know you are doing things right.

Thank you so very much to everyone who has done so much for the Australian Red Cross, WIRES, TREW, the RSPCA, the Salvos and every other organisation that is doing such good work helping the people and animals of the fire-hit areas. Even people who could only give a few dollars have really helped to make a huge difference.

I've just realised that I wrote donator the other day, which only goes to show that I need more regular sleep.

pir8fancier 's fic auction topped out at US$300 with the fabbo lisa3353  being the winner, sansa1970 's auction was won by flaeyr  at US$200. bryoneybrynn  has run through all of her promised fics and icons, then done even more! Which means I can't do the maths, but thank you!

syllic  the marvellous medievalist auctioned her Merlin fic for US$100 to la_la_la  and cest_what 's bandom bonanza raked in $160. abusing_sarcasm raked in some dosh for mostly Drake/Josh, while thesamanthahope  was a love and paid $50 for a faithwood  fic.

The thrill of pushdragon  fic pushed people into fits of generosity and her $12 minumums became $20s, $50s and $80s. snarkyscorp  shelled out $80 for marguerite_26 's gorgeous prose, and then earned $110 through her own efforts, thanks to siberian_tyger .

femmequixotic , who is delightful, has raised at least $500 with her fics, and mad_maudlin  has pulled in a nice sum, too.

An especial thanks to piratesmile331  who is doing a brilliant job both spreading the word and funding TREW and to the lovely lovely thisgirl_is  who accidentally put her RSPCA donation through four times and then did not cancel any of them, because she is a darling.

You have all helped to rebuild lives for people, animals, wildlife and communities.

The death toll currently stands at 201, though it's not going to stay there. At least 30 people are still missing, and the police have brought in specialists to try and identify human bodies amid the ash.

Finally, the lovely bryoney suggested that it would not hurt to remind people there's a reason everyone has been pimping the same charities. These are the big or local groups that we know are doing good work down there. Other groups are also doing great jobs, but unfortunately there are also some scammers. If you find a group that you would like to donate to but are unsure of their credentials, check them out here at Scamwatch.

Oh, no, really finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAYS to alienor77310  and captainsiri !

Thank you all!

I started on this post last night, and then the news that a volunteer firefighter from Canberra, who had gone down to Victoria to help with the still-active fires, had been killed when a burnt tree fell on his tanker. And the sheer injustice of it meant that I stepped away from lj and just ranted at the universe for a bit.

The universe kept on with its merry spinning, expansion and secret-keeping on the topics of gravity and dark matter, and the firefighter's family released a stoic statement saying that they were proud of him, and that he had considered himself duty-bound to go down after the Victorian fighters who had come up to Canberra during their terrible fires some six or so years ago.

Then the Westboro Baptist Church declared that they were glad god had killed hundreds of Australians in the fires. And suddenly I felt much chirpier -- indeed, thrilled to have an Australian passport -- because when the WBC hates you, you know you are doing things right.

Thank you so very much to everyone who has done so much for the Australian Red Cross, WIRES, TREW, the RSPCA, the Salvos and every other organisation that is doing such good work helping the people and animals of the fire-hit areas. Even people who could only give a few dollars have really helped to make a huge difference.

I've just realised that I wrote donator the other day, which only goes to show that I need more regular sleep.

pir8fancier 's fic auction topped out at US$300 with the fabbo lisa3353  being the winner, sansa1970 's auction was won by flaeyr  at US$200. bryoneybrynn  has run through all of her promised fics and icons, then done even more! Which means I can't do the maths, but thank you!

syllic  the marvellous medievalist auctioned her Merlin fic for US$100 to la_la_la  and cest_what 's bandom bonanza raked in $160. abusing_sarcasm raked in some dosh for mostly Drake/Josh, while thesamanthahope  was a love and paid $50 for a faithwood  fic.

The thrill of pushdragon  fic pushed people into fits of generosity and her $12 minumums became $20s, $50s and $80s. snarkyscorp  shelled out $80 for marguerite_26 's gorgeous prose, and then earned $110 through her own efforts, thanks to siberian_tyger .

femmequixotic , who is delightful, has raised at least $500 with her fics, and mad_maudlin  has pulled in a nice sum, too.

An especial thanks to piratesmile331  who is doing a brilliant job both spreading the word and funding TREW and to the lovely lovely thisgirl_is  who accidentally put her RSPCA donation through four times and then did not cancel any of them, because she is a darling.

You have all helped to rebuild lives for people, animals, wildlife and communities.

The death toll currently stands at 201, though it's not going to stay there. At least 30 people are still missing, and the police have brought in specialists to try and identify human bodies amid the ash.

Finally, the lovely bryoney suggested that it would not hurt to remind people there's a reason everyone has been pimping the same charities. These are the big or local groups that we know are doing good work down there. Other groups are also doing great jobs, but unfortunately there are also some scammers. If you find a group that you would like to donate to but are unsure of their credentials, check them out here at Scamwatch.

Oh, no, really finally, HAPPY BIRTHDAYS to alienor77310  and captainsiri !