Please come back to this blog next Tuesday for our fifth annual Buck-a-Hit Day. We'll give $1 to charity for every unique visit to this site that day, up to a limit of $1,000. This year, we're sweetening the pot: For every minute before noon that we hit 1,000 unique visits, we'll add another dollar. Last year, we got our 1,000th unique visit at 11:15 a.m. -- that would have meant that we'd give $1,045. If we make it by 10:00, we'll give $1,120. And so on. (All times Pacific.)

In addition, we ask that readers consider pitching in with donations of their own to our listed charities, by clicking on a button on this site that day. We have matching gifts of $1,500 lined up from Mr. Fearless ($750), Greg M. ($500), and myself ($250), and so if readers are generous, together we'll wind up giving more than $4,000 to local helping organizations.

Here are our beneficiaries this year:

We'll have our comment contest again this year. The person who leaves the best comment will get to designate where we send $250 of the pot. (Only legit nonprofit charitable organizations, of course.) This year, we'll cull out a half-dozen or so of the best comments and let readers choose the very best in a poll on Wednesday. The topic can be anything, but some suggestions are holidays, nostalgia, the spirit of giving, peace on earth...

O.k., enough of all the details. We hope to see you again on Tuesday, plastic in hand, good comments in mind, and the earlier in the day, the better.