You're correct Bill - we (well, I) knew exactly what "404" meant, having been a programmer since 1972. As I was writing the announcement in the evening of December 15th, 2011, after having signed the paperwork earlier in the day, I looked for an amount that wouldn't be too much to ask for, but also didn't need everyone on board. It was the mortgage divided by $25 a month. Part of number was indeed the notoriety of it, and the number does stick with us.
On a similar note, while the balance of $1.3M seems like a lot, if we were to divide that by our current 9,213 membership that comes to $141.11 per person. If there were only some way that everyone would take up this challenge, perhaps with their tax returns this year, we could pay this off in a month. Wm Shrewsbury, President National Speleological Society -----Original Message----- From: Texascavers [mailto:texascavers-boun...@texascavers.com] On Behalf Of Mixon Bill via Texascavers Sent: Wednesday, May 11, 2016 4:19 PM To: Cavers Texas Subject: Re: [Texascavers] Join the NSS and Team 404 Actually, Stephen, they knew about 404 when they came up with that name. I guess it was just the number of $25 a month recurring donations they needed to cover the mortgage payments. Or maybe they thought using 404 made it memorable because of the number's notoriety. During the campaign, they tended to brag about how far toward the 404 goal they were, but that was often based not on number of participants but on total dollars. Some people signed up for more than $25 a month. Good for them. The form for signing up for Team 404 is at http://caves.org/donate/HQ_Donation_Form.pdf. (Our "Team 404" does actually come up on Google, if you have the extraordinary patience to proceed to the fourth page. Lots of others seem to like Team 404, too.) Note that, as invariably on promotions about the building, the picture there is completely phony. That protuberance on the front is something they imagine they might build after they pay off the mortgage and raise a lot more besides, which of course will take a lot more than just the cost of keeping up the payments. Commercial mortgages are not self-amortizing. -- Mixon ---------------------------------------- What great comfort is there to be derived from a wife well obeyed!—Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers ---------------------------------------- You may "reply" to the address this message (unless it's a TexasCavers list post) came from, but for long-term use, save: Personal: bmi...@alumni.uchicago.edu AMCS: a...@mexicancaves.org or sa...@mexicancaves.org _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers _______________________________________________ Texascavers mailing list | http://texascavers.com Texascavers@texascavers.com | Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/texascavers@texascavers.com/ http://lists.texascavers.com/listinfo/texascavers
