Physicists Are Cheap

Alternate title: I Have an Overdeveloped Sense of Responsibility, Which Is Going to Get Me in Trouble Someday.

So, it's October, which means the annual DonorsChoose fundraising challenge is upon us. I really don't have time to do a good job of this, but having raised a whole bunch of money for them in the past, I felt bad not participating. So, I planned to do an apologetic blog post saying "I'm too busy, but give to the challenge of one of these other blogs on ScienceBlogs." Only, it turns out, there aren't any ScienceBlogs bloggers signed up.

Then I said, "Well, I'll just steer people to the challenge page for one of the other blogging physicists out there." Only, it turns out, none of the physics blogs I read has a challenge entry up. Hence the post title.

So, in order to prevent my chosen profession and blog platform from completely letting down the side, I put together a challenge page for myself. Because, really, it'd be a shame not to. Especially given the way that the lunatics running the government are forcing school budget cuts all over the place. Students and teachers in public schools need all the help they can get in these tough economic times, so if you've got a few bucks to throw their way, please donate.

I really, really, really do not have time to do anything major in support of this. I can't even promise to write blog posts answering questions for donors, as I usually do, because I just don't have the time. I will offer two signed copies of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog as incentives-- one to the largest individual donor, and one to a donor chosen at random from all contributors-- but other than that, it's all down to your individual generosity.

If you've got a few bucks to spare, and want to help science education, go through this list of science-related requests, and donate to one of them. If you don't, well, maybe next year.

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You could make that ...scientists are cheap. I was attending the American Geophysical Union conference and chatted up a local service worker. I asked if he appreciated the business from a large conference. "Not this one -- these guys don't tip very much..."