As I type this, a small group of dedicated gamers is playing a marathon of Mario games nonstop. Why are they doing this? To benefit the Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play provides toys, games and books to sick kids in children’s hospitals worldwide.

The more donations they receive the more levels they play. The gang has played through all the classic Mario games, and is currently chewing through one of the newer Mario titles, Super Mario Galaxy. So far they have raised over $26,000 and I hope they reach their final goal of $156,611.19.

A hospital is a terribly scary place to be for anyone, let alone a child. Help make a sick kid’s hospitalization a little more bearable by donating to Child’s Play during the Mario Marathon or any time of the year. Please give, because it truly does make a difference.

So my question to you is, do you have backups? Ma.gnolia didn’t. If they did have backups, my guess is they failed step 5 on the path to the tao of backup. While I have both local and off site backups (that yes, I test on a frequent basis…it’s all about restores!), I had overlooked my bookmarks. Luckily, they are safe and sound on del.icio.us. I might not be so lucky next time though. If you’re a del.icio.us user as well, I suggest you export a copy for safe keeping. Then take a moment to think about what else you have stored, and stored solely, in the cloud. Make sure you add those things to your backup procedures.

Speaking of a risk analysis deficit, there must be a major one on the interstate. Every time I’m driving along, I notice when going from a 65 mph zone into a 55 mph zone most people seem to maintain their previous speed. People who wouldn’t go over the speed limit, or were only going 5 mph over had no problem with suddenly going 10 or 15 mph over. Hello?! What’s wrong with people? Maybe it’s just because I’m sort of in that risk mindset, but it seems rather silly.

Of course, if you’re being really risk adverse you’d probably take the bus instead!