Breadpig is on a rally car, a Mongol Rally car. As it speeds through Europe on its way to Mongolia, we’re wishing the team well.

Exploding Marmalade plastered our porcine hero on the side of their car in exchange for some moral support and a donation to Mercy Corps. We were thrilled to oblige on both counts. Thanks for carrying our banner, gentlemen!

They’ve just gotten started, but it looks like they’re already in Romania at the time of this writing. Here’s their latest update, but since it’ll already be old news by the time you read it, you’d better follow them on twitter:

On the road since last Friday and so far we are doing well.We have covered 1466 miles and are currently in Brno, Czech Republic and should be making our way today to Budapest, Hungary and then onto Romania.

We have had a great first few days on the rally from the launch at Goodwood, UK to the Czechout Party in Klenova Castle.

Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to our teammate Pedro and dropped him at Gatwich after the launch.We know he wanted to come all the way and we wish him and his wife all the best with the new arrival.
All the teams have now dispersed each going different routes and this will become the real challenge.We are still experiencing very good road conditions and hope to well into Romania.

The Berlingo is doing well and has now been christened Bertie.We have only had to change one tyre and re-attach the exhaust but other than that Bertie is loving the road.

We handed breadpig ally, Room to Read, a check for $52,961.78 on the last day of 2009, now we have to decide where to invest it.

And what better way than to let you, the breadpig legion vote on where we should build? Based on just the xkcd book tour, you all gave enough to build an xkcd school in Laos ($32,000) that opened earlier this year. Now with our publisher profits from the sale of the book, we’ve got some more literacy to spread (and hopefully produce many new potential buyers of xkcd: volume 0).

Last year’s breadpig profits from xkcd: volume 0 are enough to build one of each of the following: (1) School Room, (1) Reading Room, and (1) Local Language Publishing Program.

Help us decide! Voting is limited to once per day, you wonderful cheaters, you — get your votes in before May 17th at noon Eastern and by all means lobby!

The mathematically-inclined of you will notice that these 3 projects total $54,000. Breadpig is making up the ~$1,000 difference with some of the xkcd book profits we’ve already earned in 2010.

Room to Read established its School Room program to provide children in the developing world with better access to appropriate learning spaces. The School Room program sets high standards and expectations while partnering with local communities to meet specific village needs in building primary and secondary schools, and in some cases, preschools. They’re currently only funding schools in 4 regions of Sri Lanka, which we’ve explained in greater detail here thanks to a breadpig legionnaire, Nimmi Ariyaratne.

UNESCO identified having access to a “literate environment” as one of the critical factors in supporting literacy development.  If children do not have regular access to engaging books and other reading materials to practice their literacy skills, they are less likely to become lifelong readers and learners. Room to Read seeks to address this issue by establishing children’s libraries in communities where poverty, ethnicity, or other social and cultural barriers put children at a significant educational disadvantage.

In schools that lack enough classroom space to house a library, Room to Read constructs a stand-alone library building complete with book in various languages as well as English language books, furniture, and book shelves. Room to Read also provides three years of training and support to teachers who will manage the library.

Room to Read is significantly increasing the quantity and diversity of children’s books published in local languages by sourcing and publishing new children’s literature in every country where we work. The Local Language Publishing program is committed to providing children with materials that will inspire them to read, expand their minds, and develop a lifelong love for reading and learning.

(Unfortunately, there is little information on the Matale District)

Nuwara Eliya
Population density: Around 400/km2
Nuwara Eliya is in the central province, which ranks second poorest out of the nine provinces in Sri Lanka for absolute poverty. A large percentage of the district’s population engages in manual labor on tea estates. These workers belong to the minority ethnic group of “Indian Tamils.” Estate workers are often geographically isolated, and also excluded from the mainstream economy and society. They usually live in very poor housing, sometimes entire families in a single room, often without even basic facilities and sanitation. They are among the least represented and most marginalized (both socially economically) groups in Sri Lanka. Nuwara Eliya had one of the lowest rates for computer literacy in the country and one of the highest rates of under nutrition and stunting among children. There is a significant lack of schools, educational equipment, libraries, and computer facilities in the remote areas of Nuwara Eliya. Few international and national NGOs operate in this area.

Moneragala District
Population Density: Around 70/km2
Moneragala ranks highest in Sri Lanka in terms of absolute poverty. Over a third of the district’s population lives below the official poverty line. Over half the population lives in semi-permanent housing. About three fourths of the district’s population face severe-extreme food insecurity. Due to the political violence in the South of the country in the past, a significant number of males disappeared/died, and as a result there are still a large number of female headed households, which are among the worst off economically in the area. The district has a low number of schools when compared with its population. Many of these schools lack facilities and qualified teachers are unwilling to work in the area due to its remoteness. The district also has one of the lowest numbers of libraries. Literacy levels for the district were much lower than the national average, and the district has one of the lowest rates of computer literacy. Few international and national NGOs operate in this area, given its acute needs and large population.

Mannar District
Population Density: Around 60/km2
Much of the infrastructure in this area was destroyed during the conflict years. Over 50% of houses are estimated to have been destroyed. The district has a number of internally displaced persons, and there are still IDPs living in emergency sites. Refugees who fled Mannar during the war years have now started to slowly resettle. However they have no access to basic needs such as proper housing, education, and health facilities. There are a large number of families headed by widows as a result of the conflict. There is a high incidence of wasting, stunting and under nutrition among the children. Much of the area relies largely on food rations and aid. There are around 95 schools in the area. However there is a significant lack of qualified teachers willing to work in Mannar. There are a relatively large number of international and national level organizations working in the district, given its acute needs and post-war situation.

Matale District
Population Density: About .4/km2
Matale District is in the central province, which ranks second poorest out of the nine provinces in Sri Lanka for absolute poverty. The area has a relatively high rate of computer literacy.

OK, I’m ready to vote. Take me back to the top.

With over 25,000 copies of xkcd: volume 0 sold so far, breadpig is thrilled to announce that the xkcd school is complete!

Thanks to all of you who helped get us here. This school was built from the proceeds raised from two stops on the xkcd book tour (NYC and Mountain View). And we’re not done there!

Based on breadpig’s profits from xkcd: volume 0 sales in 2009, we’ve donated $52,961.78 to Room to Read for more schools in 2010! We’ll be letting you, the breadpig legion, vote on where and what we build in the days to come!

Ever since raising $32,000 from the fundraiser book tour, we’ve been keeping you abreast of construction as it’s progressed. And now it’s done!

Here’s the dedication plaque that adorns Kengthan Incomplete Primary School — featuring the message selected by readers of XKCD (it’s in Laotian and English).

And below are some more photos of the completed school and some of its adorable students — future xkcd readers.

Steve and I had the privilege of giving a keynote at last year’s PyCon. Watch the video [steal slides here] for Steve’s gripping account of the switch from Lisp to Python, see him artfully respond to questions about why reddit’s search is so unsatisfying, and hear me get asked if I’ll sponsor PyCon the following year (it’s near the end of Q&A, when the audience decides to give Steve a respite). I said yes, albeit while put on the spot, but it was a “yes” nonetheless.

I aspire to be a man of my word, so if you’re attending PyCon this year, be on the lookout for the breadpig booth (a very nice perk of “Silver Level” sponsorship, I might add) where we’ll be selling xkcd: volume 0. (Don’t worry, if you’re at a Python convention, yet don’t already have a copy, we won’t tell — plus, you’re saving on shipping costs, which is prudent).

Breadpig is proud to be sponsoring PyCon, especially given all that the language and community have done for reddit (open-source, btw!). Donating $3K to this foundation is just a small way of saying thanks.

After selling out (yay!) of the xkcd book, we had some printing delays over the last few weeks (sorry!) that have held up shipping for some of you. All books should have now been shipped, but if something seems very wrong, please forward your invoice to us.

After getting your feedback on the xkcd blag, Randall chose the following dedication to be inscribed on the plaque at the entrance of the xkcd school in Laos; we think it turned out quite well:

“Do not train children to learning by force and harshness, but direct them to it by what amuses their minds, so that you may be better able to discover with accuracy the peculiar bent of the genius of each.” – Plato.

This school is a gift from the readers of XKCD, an internet comic strip. The world is full of exciting things to discover. We hope you find some of them.

Here are the latest photos from the school’s construction, it’s coming along quite nicely. Breadpig is hoping to visit in January.

via blag.xkcd.com:

Sales of the xkcd book continue to be quite strong thanks to glowing reviews (thank you!). And the breadpig recently learned that we’d raised enough from our fundraising book tour to get the xkcd school built!

Now we need your help to dedicate it. You see, each school will have a permanent plaque installed with whatever Randall chooses. Leave your suggestions in the comments of his blag entry and we’ll report back to you later this week when xkcd chooses the final dedication.

We couldn’t have done it without you. We aimed to raise $32,000 for Room To Read to construct The Kengthan Incomplete Primary School in Laos (don’t be troubled about the ‘incomplete’ part, that’s just a tricky translation from Lao to describe the education level – it’s going to be 100% complete when it’s built). It wouldn’t be very helpful if we built a school that, for instance, were missing two walls.

Our fundraising events in New York and Silicon Valley alone brought in over $30,000 in generous donations from attendees, but we were pushed [well] over the top through book sales (all of our publisher profits are being donated to Room To Read). So even if you couldn’t attend, you helped by buying a book, and even if you didn’t buy a book, you helped by spreading the word, and if you didn’t do any of those things, that’s OK, too.

You can live vicariously through some of our event photos here.

We’ll be looking for help to write the dedication plaque to be placed in the completed school next week, but in the meantime, we thought we’d share some photos from Laos. If you’re ever in the neighborhood, the xkcd school is in Salavan Province on Road No. 13 South. (Breadpig will be doing a site inspection next year once construction is complete).

Here is their current school.

Those aren’t skylights. The holes in the roof make rainy season rather challenging.

And here’s the xkcd school – already under construction!

So far so good.

It’s still missing a dedication plaque, but it won’t be much longer…

The auction got another bump from ScienceCommons before bidding ended this afternoon at $455. I trust they’ll enjoy the ROFLDNA.

This is breadpig’s second ROFL-success (last year’s ROFLaptop contest ended at $521 raised for OLPC) but this one-of-a-kind-DNA-artwork was the idea of Erik Martin, reddit community manager, troublemaker, and member of the breadpig honor guard. And the folks at DNA11 were all-stars for accommodating our rather unorthodox request — delivering a gorgeous final product.

Also, we couldn’t have done it without the great folks of ROFLCON and of course, our fabulous DNA-donating Internet celebrities:

• A.J. “HatPerson” Mazur of Lil’ Jon-Lazy Town Remix “Cooking By the Book”
• Jay “TRON guy” Maynard who needs no introduction
• Ian Spector of Chuck Norris Facts AND Mr. T Facts
• moot of 4chan
• Irina Slutsky of GeekEntertainment TV
• Jason Scott, owner of Sockington & master of TextFiles
• Charlie Todd of Improv Everywhere
• Damian Hess, AKA MC Frontalot of nerdcore hip-hop fame
• Vincent Connare, creator of Comic Sans
• Jamie Wilkinson of the FFFFF.AT Lab and Rocketboom

Thank you. The breadpig salutes you.

We kept the auction period for this ScienceCommons fundraiser to a crisp 3 days. ROFLDNA has done well thus far. Thanks to breadpig’s friends at Laughing Squid, ROFLCon, and all the wonderful people on the Twitter, we’re looking to send a nice check to a very worthy organization.

Bidding ends tomorrow (April 9th) at 14:00:20 PDT. This is a once-in-a-lifetime piece of geek memorabilia and humanities only hope for breeding a new super race of Internet meme generators.

Update! ROFLDNA also got some props from Sniffing the beaker (please keep sending in other shoutouts that we missed).

Breadpig was invited to the opening of the SF SPCA’s magnificent new facility, the Leanne B. Roberts Animal Care Center. Due to a sudden world-saving mission, Alexis & Liz visited the opening in breadpig’s stead.

How did our breaded swine end up with such an honor? Well, that’s thanks to you, breadpig legion.

At the end of 2008, breadpig donated $15,000 to the SF SPCA from the profits of LOLmagnetz.

We’ll post a full recap of 2008′s donations in the days to come, but LOLmagnetz was without a doubt breadpig’s biggest success.

This money went to help a number of orphaned dogs and cats; to show their appreciation, the SPCA kindly renamed a room for breadpig. Always a fan of food (and rather edible itself – though no one would ever try) breadpig chose the kibble kitchen. And even got a stunning full color sign!

Inside is a wide assortment of (you guessed it) kibble. Reminiscent of those cereal towers from your university cafeteria, these animals are getting fed with state-of-the-art-kibble-dispensing technology.

Oh, and here’s the obligatory puppy photo. This little girl needed some serious surgery when she arrived — something involving a colon not being where it ought to — that the SF SPCA gladly provided and she’s now on her way to recovery and, with some luck, a happy home.

I’m not trying to eat her.