Hi John, Yes, the thought crossed my mind. I toy with the idea now and then, although I find the internet to be very specific when it comes to raising money. For example, this guy
http://www.savetoby.com/ Presumably he's getting the money for his gear, not from frantic 15 year old girls. Snopes claims this is a hoax, but why? A local girl raised about 35K this way for her credit card debts a few years ago( sushi and shoes can run you a big tab in Manhattan ). My boobs are way too small to make that work. OK, OK, I'm being too cynical. It's not a bad idea really, but there needs to be a hook of some kind. It's something Jean Louis Naudin ought to try, but I suspect given the size of his list ( largest one for this niche ) that the donations wouldn't exceed 2K. He has an angel, which is the general way of these things. Bill takes donations, and he has a more general audience than this list ( science education ) but I suspect he needs the day job, yes? It's all a matter of scale, and shock to draw the audience, that's what makes internet donation stuff work. Look at the examples I gave, those dollar values are a little more practical. Here's a better thought; I form another 501(c)(3) as a think tank and take on people from this list as the "tankers". You donate your papers and thoughts and get a tax break based on the valuation, and hopefully we raise money to do experiments. Get paid to post, from Uncle Sam (grin). Sounds good? I would actually be partial to doing this, but again without a full time grant writer or fund raiser it's likely going to be a labor of love and a distraction from what work needs to be done. Jed takes donations for his CF library, he's gotten about 2K as a result of his prodigious efforts. I think that should give you a sense of just what it would take to fund something based on this method. It's a tough slog, as Don Rumsfeld likes to opine. Jed's angel is Infinite Energy, as he explains on his site. Here's what I do now to fund my work. http://www.kpnconsulting.com/products.htm No handouts required, just buy the software and you can be assured that the money goes towards "a good thing". Plus, you get a serious tool(s) for researching the patent databases. Lots of good stuff to be found there, especially useful for evaluating new claims ( you all remember SMOT? it was patented _years_ ago. ) I'm working on the 2005 version right now, in fact. Hey, I'm a capitalist at heart. Seems crazy in today's world; Horatio Alger has long since been dead and buried. But you know that. Still, we persist. K. -----Original Message----- From: John Steck [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 5:19 PM To: Vortex-L Subject: RE: Another Challenge/ was RE: Gas Tax 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
