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Two weeks ago I told you I was going to GeekGirlCon. I'm super excited. It'll be a Curly Hair Mafia meetup for sure (@DrRubidium and@LalSox will be there) and we'll all be geeky and dirty doing hands-on science activities in the DIY Science Zone!
Thanks to everyone's generous support we have raised a little over $3,000! That's half of our target goal of $6,000. The money will be used to cover costs of supplies plus lodging and some travel assistance for our team.
I didn't say much about it last time, but when we reach certain $ milestones we would engage in Outrageous Acts of Whimsy & Silliness.
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For every $100 raised, @DrMRFrancis will wear his Cthulhu hat in public. Photographs will be provided! UNLOCKED!
If the Royal Society of Chemistry donates $100, I'll wear a tiara and welcome my students with the royal wave to one class session.
@Chemjobber is known for his ceramic duck, which is his Twitter avatar. If $300 is raised, he will change his duck's hat (and outfit?) by popular demand, no matter how silly. If we reach $750, he will answer with "Quack!" at GGC whenever someone says, "Hey, CJ!"
Dr Rubidium doesn't like Nickleback. I mean she DOES NOT like them at all! For every $500 raised, She will listen to a different Nickelback album. Surprisingly, there appear to be 7 Nickelback albums. Just how will I prove I've listened to each album? Google Hangouts On Air! @DNLee5 will join me as she loves Nickelback. UPDATE: @docfreeride is strongly advises against Nickelback consumption and will donate to have me NOT listen to Nickelback. Mark your donation "NO NB" and you might be able to save me! It'll take "NO NB" funds equal $500 to save me from each album. [UNLOCKED! I'll be listening to a Nickelback album at 7pm CST on 9/16/13]
If Nature Publishing Group (NPG) donates $500, we'll stage a dramatic reading of a paper in Nature Methods. WITH PROPS.
If we reach $1000, we will bust out in song! We'll do a group sing-a-long video at GeekGirlCon and upload the video to YouTube. NO, we will not be doing a Nickelback cover.
What happens when you Mad Libs somebody's thesis abstract?! Hi-Lar-Ity! We'll take to Google Hangouts On Air, where @NoisyAstromer will lead us in this game of nouns, verbs, and adverbs. We'll make this happen for every $1000 we raise - using our own abstracts! [2 Thesis-Libs UNLOCKED!]
(but the first 6 minutes is safe and includes updates of the entire adventure - What the Do It Yourself Science Zone is all about and the fundraising milestones.)
When we've raised $1500, @Scicurious will write a science version of a pop song and @DrMRFrancis will perform it! I'll accompany with cowbell!
Wouldn't you want to see @Seelix's cat dressed-up as each of The Avengers? When we hit $2000, The Catavengers will happen!
For $2500, @DNLee5 will do a terrible re-enactment of @SamuelLJackson's demise in Deep Blue Sea with the help of me and @Lalsox at GGC. We're confident our shark will actually look better than the one in the movie... [UNLOCKED! @DNLee5 is learning her lines & we'll film this at GGC next month!] <<< You see this. This is what I'm doing for the love of science!
Sock puppets performing a (much shorter!) re-enactment of Prometheus, corrected for science and common sense? YES! The budget of Prometheus was about ~$130 million, but @Sargent will stage Sockmetheus if we raise a mere $3000! [UNLOCKED! Sockmetheus is in progress! Stay tuned!]
I (DNLee) agreed to a special Act of Whimsey. For a donation of $250 from Science CheerleaderI will break out and do a cheer, complete with pom poms, toe-touches, jazz hands and clumsy cartwheels. Plus a great shot out to
Science Cheer about citizen science and SciStarter.
We still have plenty of zany acts to do and money to raise. With your help you can enjoy these awesome funnez!
Will we sell-out to corporations? You know it! If you're a business and you donate $1000, we'll drop product placements in all Google Hangouts On Airs and videos. Say you're the American Chemical Society... I will personally wear your t-shirt, while drinking from your coffee mug, all while using your pen to play cowbell in our music videos. The more money you donate, the more product placement! NOTE: we're scientists, so no quack products will be featured and we've got to keep it clean, so no NSFW.
Not a corporation, but able to donate a lump sum of $500 or more? @Lalsox will knit you a set of personalized zombie dolls (see below)! Limited to five sets.
If we reach $4000, we'll do a 5 minute (or less!) re-enactment of a movie at GGC and upload it to YouTube. We'll use a reader poll to select the movie! I suspect we'll be horribly acting our way through some Nicholas Sparks adaptation...
When we've raised $5000, we'll dance a jig. Seriously, a jig. And yes, we'll be dancing it badly.
We'll faint if we raise $6000. Probably onto fainting couches, of course. A few of us won't just faint, we'll do a Leyomi Drop.
What if we have money left over? That money will be donated to science projects listed at DonorsChoose.org. Every dollar spent will be detailed on this blog, complete with receipts, screen captures, etc.