​In caveman days, if you wanted to give someone something, it usually meant you had to go outside. Back then, being outdoors had about a 10% survival rate, so giving was reserved mostly for daredevils and idiots. During the dark ages, the only giving going on was of the bacterial kind, so the whole endeavor was generally pooh-poohed. In the eighties, giving was replaced by trickling down, and most people forgot how to do it altogether. Thanks to the Internet, not only is it better to give than receive, nowadays, it's almost as easy. Because Christmas is all about giving, we've listed a bunch of charities you can donate to from the comfort of your computer.

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​On Monday and Tuesday an event went down in the Flatiron Pedestrian Plaza that involved a number of presumably happy couples lip-locking under what is reported to be "the largest pair of mistletoe in the world" measuring 10 feet tall, each with a 2-foot-wide "ball" of mistletoe. No one got hurt! 8,327 [correction: 16,654] people were enticed to kiss underneath these large green things in conjunction with FindYourFacemate.com, an online dating service that uses facial recognition software to pair people up. (Research shows that people are more likely to be attracted to others whose facial features are similar to theirs, but we'll allow you to explore that on your own, minus any relatives.)

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​This Saturday, the NYPD and FDNY are occupying (ha!) Madison Square Garden for a good cause. The NYPD Fighting Finest will fight the FDNY Bravest in the Battle of the Badges, a boxing match for charity. The boxing match is happening just a week after Veterans Day and benefits former soldiers. The proceeds will go to Long Island's Lt. James Byler, who lost both of his legs fighting in Afghanistan.

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​The New York Comedy Festival has arrived. The festival turns eight this year, and will hopefully celebrate with humor children of that age can't understand. While always a showcase for chuckles, the first day of the festival has a higher purpose: supporting injured soldiers through the Bob Woodruff Foundation.

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Kocy's fundraising page

​Mary Kocy, who describes herself as "a middle-aged woman who can't walk in two-inch heels," will be doing something relatively unheard of, that is, water-skiing around Manhattan on September 18 (with a rain date of September 25) to raise money for veterans facing traumatic brain injuries or post-traumatic stress disorder in an effort she's calling "One Good Turn Around Manhattan." Her goal is to raise $50,000; she's currently at $8,135. She just learned to water-ski last summer.

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Mikey

​Today in deplorable crimes: Mikey is a 5-year-old boy who was diagnosed with an unidentifiable brain and spine tumor in September of 2008. He's undergoing his third chemo treatment at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and his mom, Christine Lograno-Weinstein, is running a fund-raising effort with the help of volunteer-driven charity St. Baldrick's called "Hope is in the (h)Air," to raise $20,000 for cancer research. Recently, a volunteer collecting donations at a Take a Toy/Make a Donation table briefly left his post outside a residence in Donagan Hills, Staten Island. He returned, to his shock, to catch a woman stuffing all the bags of stuffed animals and the donations jug in her car.

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Did HRC steal the name or idea for their bus tour from the NOM defector, or is it a coincidence?

​Last week, we broke the story that Kitty Lambert, one of the very first lesbians legally married in New York State, would be joining NOM defector Louis Marinelli, once a staunch opponent of gay marriage, on a national marriage equality bus tour.

Curiously, within hours of our story and Marinelli's announcement (via his new group, the National Organization for Marriage Equality), the Human Rights Campaign announced their own very similar bus tour, launching the same week.

Coincidence? Marinelli says no. HRC says yes.

Regardless, it may keep one of the most significant people to flip on this issue from being able to hit the road as a convert.

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​The modern-day flush toilet, a norm for those of us in countries that have the infrastructure to support modern-day flush toilets, is actually not affordable in much of the developing world, a situation which leads to general yuckiness, along with diarrheal and other diseases, not to mention, death. What to do about this? Bill Gates is on the case! The Gates Foundation recently put forth a challenge to assorted universities around the world "to reinvent the toilet as a stand-alone unit without piped-in water, a sewer connection, or outside electricity--all for less than 5 cents a day." They're giving $41.5 million to the creation of such. Current proposals include"toilets powered by heat, microwaves or solar panels." [LAT]

​Last month, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation got in a lot of trouble when they backed a merger between AT&T and T-Mobile, after their full relationship with Ma Bell was exposed. GLAAD had received $50,000 from AT&T in donations and had a former AT&T executive and lobbyist on its board. The organization sent out a letter opposing net-neutrality before attempting to withdraw that letter.

In the aftermath, GLAAD's Executive Director and multiple board members resigned. Now, GLAAD has flipped on net-neutrality again, releasing a statement supporting an open internet, as well as declaring a neutral position on the AT&T deal.

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Steven Thrasher

Jacobs at the Don't Ask, Don't Tell repeal signing ceremony

​Last week, we wrote about how the Courage Campaign won $50,000 from the Pepsi Challenge, and our concern about the ways in which Pepsi was able to use an LGBT advocacy group to market its product in the non-profit arena. It seemed especially alarming given how the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation had imploded just a few weeks before, after its $50,000 donation from AT&T tainted its actions. (UPDATE: GLAAD has formally withdrawn its endorsement of the AT&T deal.)

Rick Jacobs, the founder and chair of the Courage Campaign, reached out to us shortly after the story was posted. Surprisingly, he thought there was a "zero percent chance that you're not absolutely right that this is a way for Pepsi to advertise." But he also maintained that it was a very different situation at the Courage Campaign than at GLAAD.

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