Everyone knows how much I love the new crowdfunding craze. In fact, I can’t wait until we actually get to really invest in some of these products and ideas instead of just donating for prizes. Because of that fascination, this week’s Your Money thread gives us a different look at the crowdfunding game, that of the inventor (vs the investor). The poster has an invention up on the indiegogo site and is trying to get funding, but so far, no one’s really bitten. By asking the message board their opinions, he is actually crowdsourcing his crowdfunding pitch. I love it.
Mrs. Jesus?
20
Sep
As a follow up to yesterday’s post about a possible wife of Christ, the publicity blitz has unsurprisingly brought a large number of people out against it. Some say it’s a fake or forgery (I’m not certain how many of them have actually seen the fragment or just pictures). Others want to avoid the authenticity question by saying that without a detailed record of where it came from, academics should ignore it, regardless of how interesting a “find” it may be. And the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities simply concludes it can’t be real, as they’ve never heard of it before.
Mrs. Jesus
19
Sep
I find this piece if papyrus in which Jesus begins a statement “My wife…” fascinating. And while I believe this might be the closest to original source material we have, I don’t believe this is the first reference to Jesus having a wife in the historical literature. Why? Because Dan Brown wrote a best seller about it.
Dan Brown didn’t create the theory. He used the research in the book Holy Blood, Holy Grail. But those authors didn’t create the theory, either. They just researched it more fully than anyone previously.
Not a new theory, just a new puzzle piece.
Fantasy Monday Night Football
18
Sep
We had a bad weekend, fantasy football wise. Our main running back left his game early with an injury, and it just never picked up. We came into Monday Night Football needing 58 points to even tie. Even with our quarterback, kicker, and defense playing, that’s not super likely. Except that last week, our QB and Kicker got 54 points all on their own, so there’s hope, right?
I am typing this with a little over 3 minutes still left in the game. We need 15 points to tie our fantasy game, 16 to win. It’s possible, but not probable.
Replacement Refs
17
Sep
We all know I am a football fan, and that I tend pt prefer the “violent” sports (hockey, roller derby, etc), but I also believe that you can make these games safer for the players without losing the spirit of the competition. The NFL says they believe in player safety, as well, and yet…
I don’t know much about the labor dispute with the regular NFL refs. What I do know is that the NFL chose to lock them out, necessitating bringing in replacement refs, and that, sadly, player safety has been one of the things sacrificed by that decision.
Blog Feature: Heart Like a Dog
15
Sep
Heart Like a Dog is Jodi Stone’s new site. It is a pretty place, but it’s not the way the site looks that keeps me coming back. It’s her writing. Her obvious love for her dogs, and the fact that she is honest about her training issues makes me feel less like a dog parent failure when my 3 act up.
Today, Jodi is asking for advice on how to get a dog to take a treat without the accompanying human fingers. I have a little experience in that, so was happy I could contribute to the knowledge base there.
Your Money Friday: Coming Home For College
14
Sep
With the college school year having just started or about to start, here’s you question of the week. Is it okay for a kid who went away to college to decide they want to come back home after only one semester or one year? Plenty of people return to their hometowns after college. Is 4 years “away” really that important? And if it is, what about those kids that don’t leave for college- the ones that stay local and do not move until after graduation, or the people who never live outside their hometowns? Do they never actually grow up?
Finding a Missing Monarch
13
Sep
Since I didn’t even know that King Richard III’s body was missing, I was rather surprised to hear that archaeologists in England think they may have found his skeleton. It makes sense that because he was killed in battle during the English civil War of the Roses that his body was not taken to London to be buried, but instead was buried somewhere near where he fell. It just hadn’t occurred to me that one of the monarchs of England had been “lost”.
They don’t know for certain yet if this is Richard III, but they are starting DNA tests.
Crowdsourcing Medical Care
12
Sep
If you’re a regular here, you know I’m a huge fan of crowd source funding. I like it for creating new projects at Kickstarter. I like it for making loans at Prosper. I like it for a charitable combination of the two at Kiva. And now I like it for donating to help those in developing countries get the lifesaving/improving healthcare they need through the new charity, Watsi.
Watsi is embracing the power of the good in people. It allows those who can to help pay for medical care for those who would otherwise have no chance of getting treatment.
The Space Elevator
11
Sep
I recently linked to the 16 Kickstarter projects that could destroy civilization. One of those projects was the re-birth of the Space Elevator. Michael Laine of LiftPort Group was looking for $8,000. He got $70,000.
Believe it or not, this is a problem. While $70,000 is a lot of money, it’s really nothing when it comes to the costs of building technology needed for a lift system that one day will carry things into space. He’s hoping the backing of 2,300 ordinary people will impress angel investors enough to convince them to give him the kind of money he needs.