Dude, he's not your Little Pony. He's everybody's!
That came out wrong.
Two of you have kindly stepped up and donated to the actual homeless-helping charity/send unfogged commenters to a Veronica Mars screening fundraiser, and we're still not out of the running for being in the top 5 and getting to go to the after party type thing. But that's still only two of you. Up your game, purported liberals, unless you can't. Maybe I will have to offer some different carrots, or possibly sticks.
You certainly earned your comments today, ogged.
Ok fine. I will match any donation up to $50 with a donation to the EFF (or any other charity of your choice, except for any directly libertarian affiliated thing).
On the other hand, if you fail to donate, your children will be forced to clean out the bison slaughterhouses in the new world order.
3: I've spent $300+ this month on my own little homeless-ish teen and have basically exhausted my funds for that sort of thing, but I really hope you do well and feel bad about not contributing.
Sometimes I try to light a fire under my students' asses about taking my class seriously. What happens is that the A students assume I mean them, and the C and D students tune me out. I submit comments 3 and 6 as exhibit A.
Ok fine. I will match any donation up to $50 with a donation to the EFF (or any other charity of your choice, except for any directly libertarian affiliated thing).
Okay, I'm in. And I request that the matching donation go to Nurse Family Partnership.
Awesome Nick S. Let's do this.
And if you need a matching charity, you can never go wrong with the Dire Wolf Project. Let's focus on the important issues!
That is my son's favorite animal. I don't think he believes me when I say it is extinct.
We're in 7th place right now. A terrifyingly large number of our competitors appear to be Kristen Bell stalkers with pictures of her posing with them as their profile pics.
Sure, I'm in. Match to Food For Free. They like to use the line from Hélder Câmara: When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist, though I don't think it's painted on their trucks any more.
So, Halford, how many Kristen Bell stalkers does it take to terrify you?
topically, how many sloths do you think you could take in a fight?
Give me the link for the fundraiser again, or remind me where it is?
What if they're actually fronts for Kristen Bell? "We promised we'd do what?! We have to make sure we're the winners of this thing."
What's wrong with Kriten Bell's front?
I don't have any idea what comment 3 and following are about, but I'll probably participate if someone explains it to me.
Never mind, found it through FB. Halford -- if you want to match it to Doctors without Borders, feel free, but you don't have to.
A donation has been made in your name to the Human Fund.
So I go over to the fund raiser and it has the scroll of who gave what. Naturally, I start comparing my intended donation against what has been donated. Am i too cheap? Am I too generous? How do I fit in? Conclusion: bad brain.
Halford, if you do want to match mine, feel free to do it to the fundraiser itself. But as LB said, you don't have to.
20: Back her? I don't even know her!
I'm cracking up about Halford's profile pic.
"The meal is not over when I'm full. The meal is over when I hate myself."
OK, Halford, you can match me to Doctors without Borders.
What's wrong with Kriten Bell's front?
Nothing, of course, but maybe from Veronica's point of view there was that dialogue when she's changing her tire, right? (Right before "Sometimes I'm even persnicketier.)
Looks like the #2 team is still putting up a fight.
7 is super true of me both here and elsewhere, but I do feel guilty that I don't give to formal charities anymore. If I'm giving money it goes to the girls' relatives or kids I know from church or one of our teen boys. I know that's not a waste or anything, but other people talk about their recurring payments and whatnot and I feel like a slacker.
I don't purport to be a liberal, and won't be paid for another 3 weeks.
29 -- each, though you guys have been so generous I may need to set a cap.
You guys are amazing. We've turned Ogged's lame anecdote (kidding not kidding!) into almost $1500 raised for the homeless that will go directly towards getting them homes and support. Plus the total amount I have to give in matches to other awesome charities. Plus we're in first place and it's looking likely that some commenters will get to go to the Veronica Mars cast party, unless 5 of the Kristen B stalkers decide that they need to go all in and outbid Team Mineshaft.
You know you cried at "Vanilla wafers."
Whoa, go us! Do I get a match? I was in the early crowd.
What 26 said. I don't care about the match.
Halford, if you're still doing matching, I will designate Innovations for Poverty Action.
Halford, if you're serious about matching, I just made a $50 donation to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. It is not at all a libertarian organization. They offer assistance to the food-insecure, and they are very well-organized and efficient in their distribution.
(But if you don't care to match, that's okay, of course).
I just made a $50 donation to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. It is not at all a libertarian organization.
I think it would be pretty safe to assume that a community food bank is not a libertarian organization. But I think Halford is only matching donations to his own fundraiser.
Said fundraiser available via this comment.
"For the price of a cup of coffee, you can feed a pwned child like little Teo."
I will cede my match to Thorn, since you've already demonstrated yourself a soft touch for my local concerns. Thorn, where should Halford kick down?
Damn, and I even checked to see if it had been linked in this thread.
Okay, I made up for it by donating. Halford, you can send my match to Bean's Café.
Please give, and give generously ("the price of a really large cup of coffee, or a small house in South Africa...") to WROARF (aka www.thirdworldsavesfirstworld.com).
(I love Trevor Noah: I'm sorry, but I just do.)
Done. Please match to GiveWell if you're still matching.
I should really get around to watching VM one of these days. You people are impressively intense about it.
It's on my list to check out after I see The Wire and Arrested Development.
Anyway, I mostly use my free time to focus on better understanding events in the Ukraine and world peace in general.
I really want to hear how Kristen Bell responds to a lengthy explication of Halfordismo.
Donated. I'm really sad I'm missing all the VM excitement. Ironically I'm flying through LAX that Thursday night.
For people thinking you should watch VM, it's currently available for streaming on Amazon Prime. I'm not sure how long that will last after the movie.
Also, everyone make fun of me now, I didn't realize that Halford was a pseud. I must be the only person who knew that Von Wafer was "celebrity" but didn't know who Rob Halford is.
62: I didn't know it either; or rather suspected a pseud but didn't know the reference, or that it even was a reference.
62: It took me years, and someone had to mention it explicitly. That it was supposed to be a pseud would literally never have occurred to me. I'm going to be thrown to the lions under Halfordismo, probably.
I really want to hear how Kristen Bell responds to a lengthy explication of Halfordismo.
Halford isn't planning on going, but you could go, meet Kristen Bell, and take it upon yourself to explain Halfordismo . . .
62: It took me years, and someone had to mention it explicitly.
Same here.
I know who the singer of Judas Priest is, as any right-thinking person does, but thought "Robert Halford" was such a strange choice of pseud that it must coincidentally be the unfoggetarian's real name.
I find these American-style pancakes almost unbearably exotic.
I am amused. It is so interesting to see mundane parts of American culture as others see it. Pancakes...Exotic!
(The reference to maple-flavored syrup does sadden me. That isn't exotic. That's just wrong.)
I'm going to start calling them "drop scones". That seems exotic.
Maybe not. Scones don't taste good.
Halford isn't planning on going, but you could go, meet Kristen Bell, and take it upon yourself to explain Halfordismo . . .
Some of the precepts will be anathema to a vegan/vegetarian, though.
62-64: I didn't realize either until Halford and I corresponded offblog. My boyfriend, by contrast, got it immediately.
For a long time, I was impressed he would post under first and last name.
"bottomless" coffee, which the waitress flung into my cup from a glass pot with a practised jolt of her shoulder.
This sounds far more athletic and dangerous than my usual diner experience.
This sounds far more athletic and dangerous than my usual diner experience.
Sure does. Truly an impressive experience, with pancakes. I wonder if there is a market in the UK for American Diners in style of a teppanyaki place? Thrilling!
How can "no tossing" be considered a positive feature? Tossing pancakes (or parathas or other such things) is one of the few ways I have of impressing my children.
65: I can't go either. I missed that Halford wasn't planning to go. So who is going?
If you still have any money left, Halford, you could match my $50 with a donation to the Homeless Families Foundation -- https://homelessfamiliesfdn.ejoinme.org/MyPages/Donations/tabid/290872/Default.aspx
I find these American-style pancakes almost unbearably exotic.I am amused. It is so interesting to see mundane parts of American culture as others see it. Pancakes...Exotic!
There's an anecdote in Lionel Trilling's Matthew Arnold of Arnold's visit to America, and how Americans, defensive and prickly in the presence of the apostle of culture, enjoyed observing that he picked up the pancakes he was served with his hand.
No amount of surgery would make me resemble either Trilling or Auden: I'd have to try for Garry Wills.
Ok, it was all a scam. But that high end prostitute was awesome, so it's not like your money went to nothing at all.
Halford's client list must include half a dozen international warlords, if he feels guilty enough to match all these donations.
80: Think of it from the other side. Halford makes a bunch of $50 donations to the charities we pick, and in exchange we make matching donations to the charity he picks, at better than a 1:1 rate. Actually this is a good deal & I might copy that trick.
More seriously, I'm stunned and just incredibly overjoyed by how generous you were. We are now at over $2100 raised for the homeless which is amazing by any standard and roughly $1000 more than our nearest competitor. I'm now committed to about $1000 in $50 matching gifts, which is enough to hurt but in a good way, much like crossfit (for cash flow reasons, I may space the matches out over about a 2 month period, but I will do the matching gifts). So that's at least $3100 raised for good causes, which is an incredible result from our little band of weirdos.
Back when I thought I might get like 4 $10 donations and one $50 one, my plan had been to just give the tickets to whoever donated the most. But so many of you have donated, and so much, that we need another selection mechanism. So I guess I'll make an executive decision among those who donated and are interested in going, based upon some intuitive tallying of (1) level of VM fandom; (2) commitment to actually going; (3) donation level and (4) willingness to send me nude selfies. I have absolutely no interest in or intention of going myself. It does seem like we're far enough in first place so that unless the stalkers go crazy we'll have two tickets to the cast party. If you gave and want to go, let me know here or privately.
Finally, it's probably time for one of the FPPs to take down the link in the prior thread. If you'd still like to donate that would be incredible and awesome; either contact me on FB or if you don't know how to do that let me know here and we can figure out a way.
Thank you weirdos!!
Thank Ogged, really -- I think the priming with the story about the guy in front of his store was what made it take off. Worked for me, anyway.
Let me explicitly say that I have no interest in attending anything having to do with Veronica Mars, and wouldn't be out on the West Coast anyway. But I hope we've got some Kristen Bell stalkers who will appreciate it.
I have no interest in the Veronica Mars part either.
I think the priming with the story about the guy in front of his store was what made it take off. Worked for me, anyway.
Funny, for me the VM tie-in was a motivator. I think of VM as an unfogged thing, so it tapped into my general feelings of good will for the blog (even though I also haven't watched VM).
That said, LB gave more than I did, so maybe the story about the guy in front of the store was a better motivator . . .
For me VM was a motivator, both because I like VM, but also because I already gave $75 for making the movie so I don't really have an excuse not to also contribute to her charity of choice. Plus since I'm one of the VM boosters I felt like if people who cared less about VM were giving I should too.
Ironically I'm flying through LAX that Thursday night.
Even if you're just flying through, it's best not do anything sincerely in LA. People will tear you to pieces.
Not interested in VM, I just respond to peer pressure, and don't feel obliged to match, but if you want to I nominate philabundance.org.
No interest in VM, won't be near L.A.
If you're still matching, Halford, you could just put another $50 into the original VM screening fundraiser
Not interested in VM, and I don't respond to peer pressure. Just doing my part to impoverish Halford.
I wonder if it's like ebay bidding where the intense fans will wait and then raise the amounts of their own donations by a lot at the last minute. VM covered this strategy in the episode You Think You Know Somebody, so the fans should be well aware of it.
Look, two of you had better go to the VM cast party, or else I'll go and get Kristen to autograph all of my RIAA fan merch.
95 -- there's definitely a chance of that. There are two people who seem to be outbidding each other by $1 every few hours to stay in fifth place and get the coveted last spot at the cast party. This seems like some bullshit to me since the point here is donating to an important charity, not getting your superfan stalker orgasm on and the cheapest possible price, but whatevs.
Anyhow, even if all we've done is made the superfan stalkers give a lot more to the homeless in order to go and possibly touch the hand of Kristen Bell, we've still done awesome work.
I wonder if it's like ebay bidding where the intense fans will wait and then raise the amounts of their own donations by a lot at the last minute.
Even better since this would result in 5 people giving an extra $1K+ that they wouldn't otherwise have given.
Ok fine. I will match any donation up to $50 with a donation to the EFF (or any other charity of your choice, except for any directly libertarian affiliated thing).
So...my "1% going Gault super yacht fund" charity won't make the cut? Damn, because I already donated $100.
But seriously, I applaud all the generosity of unfogged commentors. I am going to plead grad student poverty, but the guilt of being selfish and uncaring is now resting on my shoulders.
Gave - no need to match, no interest in VM. Passed on paying the optional processing fee, so gee, I found five dollars.
Can we delegate our options to another unfoggedteer? I do like the idea of neb or Trapnel or some truefan going.
So, I was walking home today and, while waiting to cross the street, I noticed an old man standing on the grass who was persistently but subtly signaling me. I went over and found out that he was unable to move for fear of falling over and the small wave he was making the most violent movement he could. He wanted me support him as he walked home. We set off at maybe five feet a minute. Apparently, I am visibly shitty at that, because a passing doctor stopped to see what was the problem.
The doctor, being trained and all, was more practical than I was. He started to ask some questions which revealed that the guy had no idea where he was, what year it was, or who is president. So, I was escorting a guy who couldn't walk to a place we couldn't have located. Big government sent an ambulance, because neoliberalism.
I'm glad that KB chose a charity that is doing good and important work. Aaron Paul did a fundraiser through Omaze for a charity called the Kind Campaign, where the big raffle prize was flying out to watch the final episode of Breaking Bad with him. I had not previously heard of the charity, but the donation page described it as "an internationally recognized movement, documentary and school program based upon the powerful belief in KINDness that brings awareness and healing to the negative and lasting effects of girl-against-girl 'crime.'" So even though I don't think that "girl-against-girl 'crime'" is one of the most pressing of the world's problems, I donated a small amount because I wanted a chance to win the trip but also because I figured the Kind Campaign was probably doing some sort of good work, even if not on the most important issue, and I figured Aaron Paul must have had some good reason to support it.
Then I later found out that Aaron Paul's wife is the founder of the Kind Campaign, and I felt like a bit of a chump. I think there should have been a disclosure on the donation page about the connection (although I, of course, could also have done more due diligence before donating). At any rate, the fundraising drive ended up earning about $1.8 million, and I can't help feeling that Aaron could have picked a charity that could have done more good with that money.
103 -- sure! I like that idea too. But be forewarned that my whimsical, capricious, probably unfair decision making process for allocating the tickets will be a foretaste of the reign of Halfordismo.
My friend's charity has a special event where apparently you're supposed to go do some random nice thing tomorrow. Moby's effort counts I think even though it's a day early because he really brought the randomness.
Isn't it "grrrrrrrl-against-grrrrrrrl crime"?
107: I'm going to start working mini-mental items into casual conversations.
Will it even be possible for Halford to transfer both tickets to the afterparty? The rules repeatedly say "winner plus a guest", which makes me wonder.
... in fact, it made me wonder enough that I emailed the listed address to ask, so hopefully I'll get an answer on that.
Also, the contest stays open until noon on the Friday before the (Sunday) screening/party, which would make it a bit difficult for out-of-towners to plan around, in case of intense fans going nuts at the last minute. Although I suppose someone in, say, the Bay Area could just rent a car or take a bus.
110: you do realize that's a serious copyright violation, right?
113 cont'd: churlish to the max though it is for me to talk about this during Halford's unironically admirable moment of grand munificence, no, really.
The AMTS doesn't appear to be copyrighted and is much shorter. So, win-win.
Damn it Trapnel, I was explicitly relying on ambiguities in the terms and conditions to avoid the transferability issue! It seems like what happens is that they announce a winner, an email gets sent to me, and then I provide them with the full names and contact info of the two people, who have to show their ID. If you get an email saying I have to go myself, I guess I have to. Also tbh if they are pains about this I'm pretty sure that I can resolve the issue with a phone call.
the contest stays open until noon on the Friday before the (Sunday) screening/party, which would make it a bit difficult for out-of-towners to plan around, in case of intense fans going nuts at the last minute.
Yes, this is true. At a minimum, we'll have two tickets to the private screening of the movie. But we might not know until the last minute if we can go to the cast party, if there are superfans who decide to e-snipe the five remaining places (at a cost of well over $1000 now, awesome work guys) at the last minute. Still, our lead over the competition is so huge that I have to think we're at least pretty safe.
Well played, 'tariat. Also, kudos Halford.
I have no interest in VM or in going to this event.
The second-place team just added $200, so I guess we didn't stun everyone else into submission.
Yeah, how dare these assholes think they can donate money to the homeless like we do.
The rules repeatedly say "winner plus a guest", which makes me wonder.
It should be whoever makes the best "I'd rather be spelunking" face.
I just tried to donate but got an error message: "could not connect to host". I'll try again later.
If anyone was worried by 111/116, relax: there's no problem with transferring tickets.
This is apparently the first two minutes of the VM movie. Clearly pitched to those without any prior knowledge of the back story.
Count me in for any VM-related activities in LA, and as before, happy to defer to anyone who's traveling or wants to challenge my expressed level of truefandom.
Re ticket selection, so far the only nude selfie I have is from McManus, and he didn't even donate to the charity.
Here's a movie I made. I'm not entirely naked, but it should do the trick.
It was an extremely bad idea to open that at the office, I must say.
If you're at the office on a Saturday evening, I think you should be able to do that sort of thing.
Why essear spends his Saturday nights photocopying his butt! Or he would, if there was a photocopier. Instead he just rubs up on the espresso machine.
I considered a NSFW warning but since you already knew it was a movie version of a nude selfie I feel OK with my decision.
I was expecting you in underwear talking about philosophy or something. Also windows media player froze and wouldn't close or minimize at a particularly bad time. Fortunately nobody was around.
But yes it's just one of many, many poor decision I've made wrt Internet use in the workplace.
Catherine's VM rewatch blogging seems pretty serious. Did anyone tell her about this opportunity?
Hover to see the URLs in links, people!
(Or on mobile devices, long-press and hope your app shows you enough of the URL in the "open new tab" dialogue for you to figure out what it leads to, I guess.)
Hrmm. ... oh, heck, I could do a last-minute car rental.
Unauthorized reproduction
HA!
That was where I thought it was going, but then it went beyond.
OK, trapnel seems serious about it. I think Catherine would be a good candidate too.
Hrmm, I suppose I should say that it's kinda NSFW.