Post subject: Help send dwangoAC (and asassyknitter) to AGDQ 2015
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Update: Our trip itself is now funded thanks to the generous contributions of those listed below; any other contributions we receive will be used for hardware and games for console verification. Hi, I'm dwangoAC, and I would be honored to again serve as the presenter for TASVideos runs at AGDQ 2015 with a goal during our runs of raising $25,000 for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. Unfortunately, my wife (asassyknitter) and I are currently unable to fund our trip due to a series of unfortunate events involving everything from extended family members ending up in the hospital to a senile cat destroying parts of our kitchen to a blown head gasket along with a host of other expenses. It is with a humble heart that I come asking for travel cost assistance. I kept careful tabs on our expenses during our week-long AGDQ 2014 trip and I think it's worthwhile for me to be transparent about what our travel costs were, in part to help enlighten others who might be considering the trek themselves. My records show that we spent $176.19 on grocery purchases and dining out (free breakfast and occasional lunch brought in by PCF helped offset this cost). Airfare after tax was $899.60 (flying in right after New Year's always increases ticket prices). Hotel costs after tax for 7 nights at the Crowne Plaza in Dulles were $734.72. AGDQ related parking, fares, and tolls were only $18.40 (the free hotel shuttle helped). AGDQ 2014 registration fees were $75 ea = $150. That brings our AGDQ 2014 total to $2,098.91, although there were other expenses I did not capture in that number such as donations we made to PCF while at the marathon and bus fares to and from Washington, DC proper for some sightseeing. Overall, I anticipate our costs for AGDQ 2015 will be around $2,000 (the hotel will be more expensive by $20 a day but hopefully we can get airfare a bit cheaper, and the registration may be cheaper this year). I know that asking for $2,000 is, well, a lot, so I want to clarify a few things people have asked me about. First, any donations we receive will go to reducing the sacrifice we will have to make. If it came down to it, we would have to sell some games or a pinball machine we own to get the funds for the trip, and while that's not something I want to do they are assets we have that could be liquidated if necessary. Second, if you're torn between donating to the PCF and helping us get there, donate to the PCF instead; my hope with asking for donations is to use the assistance to help convince people outside of TASVideos to contribute to a cause greater than themselves and I encourage you to donate to the cause you feel most led to supporting. Finally, we will commit to tithe (give 10%) on any donations we receive and pass it on to places like the EFF, PCF, World Vision, or some other well-run charity. Yes, this means that we will have to come up with $200 out-of-pocket or from other sources to make up for the tithing but this is what we've always done and it's never turned out badly. If we somehow end up exceeding our donation goal we will donate the excess funds to the PCF during the marathon itself. I feel the extra money spent to get asassyknitter there is more than worth it - for AGDQ 2014 she knitted some really awesome custom Triforce gauntlets and a Triforce beanie toward raffle prizes and it was a huge benefit having her support and presence on stream (although we made a point later to ignore the immature nonsense Twitch chat had to say about her :). I want to thank everyone who has donated. I'll update this list as donations come in; please let me know if you would prefer to stay anonymous:
  • Derakon generously donated an Amazon gift card
  • Patashu made a much-appreciated PayPal donation
  • Mothrayas has my thanks for a PayPal donation with an encouraging message
  • Demon Lord has my appreciation for being the first to donate with Bitcoin
  • AndyDick donated Bitcoin for a TASBot win!
  • An anonymous donor made a truly staggering PayPal donation an order of magnitude above anything else!
  • An anonymous Amazon gift card came in which made asassyknitter very pleased
  • Qlex donated through PayPal - May your Tetris line come exactly when you need it to
  • A generous, anonymous Bitcoin donation came in from someone known to be awesome - thanks!
  • [your name here today as well if you want it to be! :)]
You too can help us out in a variety of ways: we gladly accept donations through Bitcoin at 1CknXDyb5jTG1Nw1hs437r6fnz7npBSEfA (consider getting a free coinbase.com wallet!) or by sending things like Amazon gift cards to ac@acbit.net. We can accept PayPal donations if that is your only method (I am not a fan of PayPal's $3%+ fees or their past abusive behavior, but beggars can't be choosers :). Anything that helps us offset our travel costs would be greatly appreciated, and if you make a generous contribution and are interested in exposure I'll gladly credit you or your business on stream. Please note that any donations toward offsetting our trip costs are completely separate from donations to keep TASVideos running. If you make a donation and there's something on this games list you'd like to have, just say the word and I'll gift it to you (these are from the various Humble Bundle purchases I've made in the name of donating to the EFF). Thank you so much for your help!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Patashu
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Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4000
Donated, good luck!
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Tub
Joined: 6/25/2005
Posts: 1377
There doesn't seem to be a good way to get money from Germany to the US. * amazon gift cards purchased on amazon.de cannot be redeemed on amazon.com. I cannot purchase a gift card directly at amazon.com without a credit card, which I don't have. * direct deposits outside the european union require a personal trip to the bank, a full-page form to fill out and incur fees that are unreasonably large even for such a manual process. * I have avoided entering a business relationship with the crooks of a certain payment company, and that's not going to change. * I don't have bitcoins. sorry :(
m00
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Joined: 3/10/2004
Posts: 7698
Location: Finland
If it so happens that you don't get enough donations to go, do I assume correctly that you're going to give all that money to the AGDQ 2015 as a normal donation? (In other words, no matter what happens, if we donate, it will go either to your travel expenses or directly to AGDQ donations?)
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Please return the Donate button, with a note that it's for dwango's trip, thanks. Is it possible to return google ads and send the money to him too?
Warning: When making decisions, I try to collect as much data as possible before actually deciding. I try to abstract away and see the principles behind real world events and people's opinions. I try to generalize them and turn into something clear and reusable. I hate depending on unpredictable and having to make lottery guesses. Any problem can be solved by systems thinking and acting.
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feos wrote:
Please return the Donate button, with a note that it's for dwango's trip, thanks. Is it possible to return google ads and send the money to him too?
This is not an officially sanctioned TASVideos donation drive. Donations made to TASVideos are specifically for the infrastructure and management costs of the TASVideos website itself, and not for users who take trips or for donation drives for various (worthy) causes out there. Donations made to dwangoAC will in no way support this website itself.
Warning: Opinions expressed by Nach or others in this post do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or position of Nach himself on the matter(s) being discussed therein.
Joined: 2/3/2013
Posts: 320
Location: Germany
Tub wrote:
There doesn't seem to be a good way to get money from Germany to the US. * amazon gift cards purchased on amazon.de cannot be redeemed on amazon.com. I cannot purchase a gift card directly at amazon.com without a credit card, which I don't have. * direct deposits outside the european union require a personal trip to the bank, a full-page form to fill out and incur fees that are unreasonably large even for such a manual process. * I have avoided entering a business relationship with the crooks of a certain payment company, and that's not going to change. * I don't have bitcoins. sorry :(
Yeah, unless you have Pay"pal", you're out of luck :/
All syllogisms have three parts, therefore this is not a syllogism.
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Joined: 2/1/2014
Posts: 928
Not to be too confused but is there a reason the goal is $2000? Wouldn't it be possible to be there during the 3 segments of TAS (or are those days spread out?) and then whatever extra money you receive could go towards extra days?
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Tub wrote:
There doesn't seem to be a good way to get money from Germany to the US. * amazon gift cards purchased on amazon.de cannot be redeemed on amazon.com. I cannot purchase a gift card directly at amazon.com without a credit card, which I don't have. * direct deposits outside the european union require a personal trip to the bank, a full-page form to fill out and incur fees that are unreasonably large even for such a manual process. * I have avoided entering a business relationship with the crooks of a certain payment company, and that's not going to change. * I don't have bitcoins. sorry :(
I honestly, truly don't blame you. I'd suggest at least taking a look at Bitcoins as an alternative to the crook-infested payment company you referenced (which I already regret adding donation support for). While Coinbase recently added 13 European countries Germany was not one of them, but there are a lot of other resources for getting Bitcoins in Germany. I've been a long-time supporter of Bitcoin but that doesn't mean you have to be so feel free to ignore me. :) If you do happen to find a way to help me out that doesn't substantially inconvenience you I'd greatly appreciate it, otherwise I encourage you to donate to a local cause you support. Thanks!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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Warp wrote:
If it so happens that you don't get enough donations to go, do I assume correctly that you're going to give all that money to the AGDQ 2015 as a normal donation? (In other words, no matter what happens, if we donate, it will go either to your travel expenses or directly to AGDQ donations?)
I've updated my first post to note that if we are unable to get enough donations to offset our travel costs we will make the difficult decision to liquidate a personal asset to cover the costs (I have four pinball machines I've collected over the years that I really don't want to part with but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it came to that). We have additionally committed to tithing on any donations we receive and we will as always donate to the PCF while we are at the marathon. Thanks for your question!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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Nach wrote:
This is not an officially sanctioned TASVideos donation drive. Donations made to TASVideos are specifically for the infrastructure and management costs of the TASVideos website itself, and not for users who take trips or for donation drives for various (worthy) causes out there. Donations made to dwangoAC will in no way support this website itself.
I fully concur, and I've clarified this distinction in the first post. For the record, I don't actually see a way to donate to the site right now, although the TASVideos site donations received page is still up; I'm not sure what feos was referencing. Nach, thank you for your willingness to allow me to do this on the side!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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solarplex wrote:
Not to be too confused but is there a reason the goal is $2000? Wouldn't it be possible to be there during the 3 segments of TAS (or are those days spread out?) and then whatever extra money you receive could go towards extra days?
I don't think it's likely we'll end up with extra money, but if we do, you can be assured it will be passed on as donations at the marathon itself. I've further clarified what we anticipate the trip costs will be and what we'll do if we exceed our goal in the first post. I have no idea when the games will be scheduled but I anticipate volunteering during the marathon for various roles outside of just the TASVideos segments (probably hosting and tech station) so I'm making a vacation request for the entire week and planning on staying the entire marathon. If that changes for any reason I'll be sure to update everyone. Thanks!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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dwangoAC wrote:
We have additionally committed to tithing on any donations we receive
What? There goes the surprise from me. I'm not going to pay for your church.
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
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True wrote:
dwangoAC wrote:
We have additionally committed to tithing on any donations we receive
What? There goes the surprise from me. I'm not going to pay for your church.
The word "tithe" unfortunately has an overly religious connotation to it in the English language. To clarify, I mean that we will literally give 10% of what we receive to charities and worthwhile foundations such as the EFF or PCF. On a personal level, yes, my wife and I do give to local churches, but any money we receive from donations here will not be used for that purpose. Does that help?
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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dwangoAC wrote:
True wrote:
dwangoAC wrote:
We have additionally committed to tithing on any donations we receive
What? There goes the surprise from me. I'm not going to pay for your church.
The word "tithe" unfortunately has an overly religious connotation to it in the English language. To clarify, I mean that we will literally give 10% of what we receive to charities and worthwhile foundations such as the EFF or PCF. On a personal level, yes, my wife and I do give to local churches, but any money we receive from donations here will not be used for that purpose. Does that help?
I still disagree quite severely with the actions (or inactions) of one of those listed. If you need to go somewhere, giving my money away to expressly not do that doesn't make sense. This isn't suffered income. If I wanted those organizations to have my money, they would have it by me directly.
true on twitch - lsnes windows builds 20230425 - the date this site is buried
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dwangoAC wrote:
I've updated my first post to note that if we are unable to get enough donations to offset our travel costs we will make the difficult decision to liquidate a personal asset to cover the costs (I have four pinball machines I've collected over the years that I really don't want to part with but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it came to that).
I don't think there's need for that. I don't think anybody would blame you for not going if you simply can't afford it. (As for any unused or extra money, the most logical place to put it would to donate it to the marathon as normal. I don't even know why that would be a dilemma...)
Joined: 4/13/2009
Posts: 431
Warp wrote:
I don't think there's need for that. I don't think anybody would blame you for not going if you simply can't afford it.
I'm going to agree with that. You shouldn't feel that you absolutely NEED to come to AGDQ. The world will still turn even if you don't show up. It feels kind of horrible that you would sacrifice something you hold dear just to show up. So think of your own happiness - not just others!
Warp wrote:
(As for any unused or extra money, the most logical place to put it would to donate it to the marathon as normal. I don't even know why that would be a dilemma...)
I believe the dilemma not the 10% of the donated travel money that would be donated to the charity.
Post subject: Why I'm willing to make sacrifices
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EEssentia wrote:
Warp wrote:
I don't think there's need for that. I don't think anybody would blame you for not going if you simply can't afford it.
I'm going to agree with that. You shouldn't feel that you absolutely NEED to come to AGDQ. The world will still turn even if you don't show up. It feels kind of horrible that you would sacrifice something you hold dear just to show up. So think of your own happiness - not just others!
Oh, by all means, the world would definitely still turn if I wasn't there. But keep in mind my motivations for doing this - I've lost three out of four grandparents to cancer, my wife lost her grandmother to cancer not long ago, and cancer has substantially altered the lives of several friends of ours. While I don't 100% agree with absolutely everything that the Prevent Cancer Foundation does (neither asassyknitter or I are fans of how hard they are pushing the HPV vaccine on young girls even though there have been some very serious side-effects), the organization as a whole has a reputation for actually using the money they receive to help fund cancer prevention research and outreach. Do I want to sell our personal assets to fund our trip? No, not at all. Would I do it if I had no other choice, knowing that going means a difference in how much we stand to raise? Absolutely.
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
Post subject: Re: Why I'm willing to make sacrifices
Joined: 4/13/2009
Posts: 431
dwangoAC wrote:
Do I want to sell our personal assets to fund our trip? No, not at all. Would I do it if I had no other choice, knowing that going means a difference in how much we stand to raise? Absolutely.
Well, that depends on whether or not someone else could help. But anyway, I just don't want you to feel pressed to have to attend there. But I can see where you're coming from.
Demon_Lord
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I lost my father in law to stomach cancer last year, one of the most underfunded cancer type and one of those with the worse survival chances. I just sent you some BTC, hope this help.
ars4326
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Location: Missouri, USA
One of my best friends growing up was diagnosed with leukemia at age 17. After initial treatments, he would travel back and forth to St. Jude's hospital in St. Louis for regular chemotherapy until he was around 20. He made a full recovery, but the chemo took its toll on his body (hip replacements, dental work, etc.). He is doing well nowadays, with a wife and two beautiful daughters. dwangoAC, I'm a bit strapped for cash at the moment, but if I come up with extra funds I intend to send some your way for the trip. It would be great if cures for various forms of cancer can someday be discovered and inexpensively distributed to those in need.
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
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Demon Lord wrote:
I lost my father in law to stomach cancer last year, one of the most underfunded cancer type and one of those with the worse survival chances.
My grandfather on my mother's side was diagnosed with stomach cancer at the very end right before he passed away. You have my sympathy.
Demon Lord wrote:
I just sent you some BTC
Thanks for being the first to send Bitcoin! It definitely helps.
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
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ars4326 wrote:
It would be great if cures for various forms of cancer can someday be discovered and inexpensively distributed to those in need.
It's amazing how many stories like yours are out there. I, too, hope to not only cure cancer but prevent it from happening in the first place. I'm very intrigued by some of the more creative research out of Europe about how reduction of sugar and other dietary choices can substantially change early-stage cancer outcomes and I'd love to see more research into that, but I digress. There's still several months to go so take your time, and thanks for the story!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.
NESAtlas
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Donated! I really enjoyed the TAS Block last year and thought you did a great job presenting so I will gladly donate for next time.
Post subject: I'm gifting games to donors!
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As a thank-you to everyone who has donated (and anyone who decides to make a donation), if there is a game in this list that you would like, please let me know and I'll gift it to you. These are all of the duplicate games from the many Humble Bundle purchases I've made in the name of supporting the EFF. (I may have gone overboard.) There are some really good games on that list so if there's something that interests you just let me know! I'll update the list as games are gifted out. Thanks everyone!
I was laid off in May 2023 and could use support via Patreon or onetime donations as I work on TASBot Re: and TASBot HD. I'm dwangoAC, part of the senior staff of TASVideos as the Senior Ambassador and BDFL of the TASBot community; I post TAS content on YouTube.com/dwangoAC based on livestreams from Twitch.tv/dwangoAC.