Hey Keith, set up a paypal account for donations. This might be a rag-tag group, but I bet $20 here and there from the active and lurkers alike would give you some operating capital with no strings attached.
Personally I like to understand what I am funding before I elect to give up my lunch budget for it. Post a business plan. Post quarterly updates and progress reports. If it seems worthwhile and lets me fanaticize about one day being able to give both the bastards at ComEd and Nicor the bird I WANT IT. Lord knows I am not able to do it in MY basement... -j -----Original Message----- From: Keith Nagel [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 3:05 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Another Challenge/ was RE: Gas Tax Hi Horace, Well, lets see. I've spent a better part of my adult life trying to "do" something about this. Early on, my mentor and I founded a 501(c)(3) to fund our work in the new energy technologies. The response from donors was "this is commercial, go to the VC's". The response from the VC's were, "what can you do by next quarter?" Needless to say, but for an angel or two, it was hardly worth the airplane tickets. So I go to Wall St, and do the corporate thing for a few years to build a war chest. The 90's were a good time for that you know, after the "disastrous" leadership of Clinton, an 8 year economic boom made some actual money float around, and you saw that reflected in the people here and the discussion. So I could fund my own work, and things progressed. Sadly, the last 5 years of "fiscally sound" policy of our current leaders has produced an unending war for oil, an economy still in the toilet, with no signs of real recovery ( and did any of you really believe that trickle down theory crap? Even Reagan's advisors backed away from that one. ) Can't make much progress when the fishing hole is drying up, you know. Let's add to this, that real success is going to mean _giving_ the results away to the very people who created this debacle, and you can see the problem. Look, about 4 feet from where I sit writing software, a mountain of lab equipment and technology sits largely idle. Sure, it's a passion of mine, nothing is going to stop me from working, but the occasional stolen hours do not add up to much by each years end. The truly pathetic thing is how little money it takes to keep the work going, for the cost some of my wealthy friends spend on golf course memberships I could be doing this full time and making real progress. But the ugly truth is, NO ONE WANTS THIS. Let that one sink in, Horace. Everyone pays lips service, but when it comes right down to it, NO ONE WANTS THIS. You can't have a society based on selfishness and greed and expect much else. Posting grandiose plans for publicly funded energy research is just so much crap, frankly. I know you mean well, but do you think that what you are saying hasn't been said by 100's before you? Common sense and a recitation of the facts is not going to get the job done. Forget the politicians, they're too busy jamming feeding tubes down vegetables throats fighting to impress Thomas Malloy for his vote. Don't look to these folks for the answer, or even benign neglect. They're also part of the problem. I don't expect any handouts. I do what I do because it's my passion, I love to do research. And if someone believes that the future can be better and that parting with some pocket change can make it happen, I'll crank up another 501(c)(3) and things will in fact happen again. For now, it's the snails pace and ~100 troops a month dead in the desert. Sorry for ranting, but perhaps it's time for some of these truths to be uttered in public. It's not like I have anything to lose, 'cos it's not like anyone's got the balls to put some money on the table for this stuff. Some folks say that individuals can't make a difference. Bullshit. Individuals are the _only_ ones that ever make a difference. K. -----Original Message----- From: Horace Heffner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, April 15, 2005 2:36 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Gas Tax When are people going to stop complaining and arguing and actually DO SOMETHING about energy. The following was a reasonable starting point when posted here over two years ago, and it is still a good way to use the modest gas tax proposed, or even a much larger gas tax, which is now much more appropriate as precious years have been frittered away and the situation is much worse: <http://tinyurl.com/7eqju> Regards, Horace Heffner -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.12 - Release Date: 05/04/15
