Mega Bytes
A graphic artists' cookbook produced by

 This electronic cookbook was compiled to raise awareness of community and global food needs and individual support for hunger relief efforts. Thus, it's being offered for download as charityware. To officially "own" your copy, you are asked to comply with one of the following conditions:
 1. Contribute $5 to $10 to a local food pantry, food drive, mission, or other hunger relief program.
 2. Contribute $5 to $10 to a global food or hunger relief program. Several are listed on the Planet Preset Internet site, at http://www.fgi.net/~rossprag/hunger.html. I have attempted to identify a variety of charities suited to both the churchgoer and the non-religious humanitarian.
 3. Contribute at least two hours to a local hunger relief effort or a global hunger relief fundraising program. Your local library, church, United Way, Chamber of Commerce, or equivalent agencies can help you locate such programs. This form of payment may comprise serving supper in a soup kitchen or mission, collecting food for a local pantry or mission, participating in a hunger walk or run, or mounting an educational campaign aimed at raising awareness of hunger and nutritional issues.
 In addition, I would ask my fellow graphic artists either to download and post the graphic link art provided on the page on their own site through at least the month of December, or add a text link to this page or an appeal for hunger relief to their own site. I plan to offer this cookbook for the next several months. Any help is appreciated.
 Your "registration" of this book is totally on the honor system. Exercise your conscience and your knowledge of the serious needs faced by many of the planet's populations.

How to use this book
 Mega Bytes is in Acrobat .pdf format — an all-purpose, Mac/PC format that is word- searchable and relatively interactive. Also included in the downloadable .zip file below is a readme.txt file that includes all the information on this page. I have included on this page as well a link that will enable you to download the free Acrobat Reader — an incredibly useful tool for accessing a variety of documents, catalogues, and reports. You should have this program, and it don't cost you a thing!
 Once you have unzipped the contents of the zipped file, store cookbook.pdf in a personal folder, create and copy a shortcut, and paste in on your desktop to facilitate easy and immediate access (this is if you're on a PC; Mac, I believe, has similar capabilities). All recipes listed on the Menu contents page are easily accessed with a click on the dish's title — .pdfs allow linking of elements, similar to Internet hyperlinking.
 There are 18 recipes arranged in the Menu by course and in the body of the cookbook by the contributing artist. The recipes were contributed by both U.S. and other artists, but all have attempted to translate ingredient specifications to U.S. measurements.
 This book can be viewed on the home computer or printed either in total or by individual page for use in the kitchen. Enjoy, and bon appetit. Hopefully, that warm feeling you'll soon have inside is the result of knowing you helped fill a few stomachs.
Martin Ross, Proprietor, Planet Preset

NOW, DOWNLOAD YOUR COPY...
 

Here are some national/international charities I'm suggesting to help. In choosing some national and international organizations, I attempted to select both non-church-based and broad-based interdenominational charities; I've found some folks feel a strong connection between giving and religion, while some may be uncomfortable with a religious connection to food relief. I received some suggestions for very specifically targeted charities and ways of guaranteeing payment of charityware donations, but I think for the first year, anyway, let's just trust people to do the right thing. If you have other thoughts, let me know, please. And thanks for your consideration and help.

CARE is one of the world's largest private international relief and development organizations. Founded in the aftermath of World War II, CARE enabled Americans to send more than 100 million CARE Packages to survivors of the conflict in Europe and Asia. CARE has become a leader in sustainable development and emergency aid, reaching tens of millions of people each year in more than 60 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.

America's Second Harvest is the U.S.' largest domestic hunger relief organization. Through a network of over 200 food banks and food-rescue programs, it distributes food to 26 million hungry Americans each year, eight million of whom are children.

CROPWALK, sponsored by the interdenominational Church World Services, supports long-term development in more than 80 countries, assists in disasters and famines, helps meet the special needs of refugees, shares more than $3,000,000 annually to support local hunger fighting efforts across the U.S. I participate in this one every year -- heavy emphasis on food-based research.

Share Our Strength is one of the U.S.'s leading anti-hunger, anti-poverty organizations. The organization began in the basement of a row house on Capitol Hill in 1984 among a handful of chefs to cook for fundraisers. Today, it mobilizes thousands of individuals in the culinary industry to organize events, host dinners, teach cooking and nutrition classes to low-income families and serve as anti-hunger advocates. In addition, literary professionals conduct benefit readings and contribute works to Share Our Strength books. The group now builds creative partnerships with a range of industries, including retail, financial services and music, with the aid of individual donations.

Save the Children has had more than 60 years of experience working hand-in-hand with families and communities around the world. The program, which is most famous for helping families sponsoring individual children in need, works in 18 states across the United States and in 46 developing nations around the world.