Giving Us Hope and Googling for Good

The popular website FMyLife posts readers' horrific (and often amusing) anecdotes, which are most often capped off with "FML" (and yes, the F is what you think it is). An example is the one submitted by NoName: "Today, my girlfriend dumped me proclaiming she wanted someone more like her 'Edward.' I asked her who Edward was. She held up a copy of her Twilight book. She was talking about a fictional vampire. FML."

Some readers found this a tad depressing, so a couple months ago they started a site to counter the whine-fest. Called GivesMeHope, the site is the positive counterpart to FML, a place where users post stories of a very different nature. For example, hopefulforhumanity writes of a touching incident: "At the grocery store I work at, a young lady with a baby just got done scanning her cartfull or groceries, but both of her cards were denied and she had no cash. She quietly asked to have them put back, when the man behind her said, 'I'll pay for them' and smiled. They were total strangers. GMH."

Or one of the site favorites from MattB: "I woke up one morning to hear the birds outside my window and my mother cooking breakfast downstairs. I've never cried so much in my entire life. I had been deaf since the age of 8."

But just talking about the good in life apparently isn't good enough for the founders of GMH. They wanted to do good, too, and so they founded Givoogle, a site that allows people to raise money for charity every time they use Google. The site generates advertising revenue each time 1,000 people see banner ads on the homepage, and all those proceeds are donated to the American Cancer Society. By setting Givoogle as your home page, you can effortlessly contribute up to $75 a year.

It's a great idea. GMH.