= Sponsor Ciro Santilli's work on OurBigBook.com
{scope}
<Ciro Santilli> is actively looking for donations and contracts so he can continue to work full time on <OurBigBook.com> sustainably, and develop free hardcore university-level <STEM> education for all ages!
At \b[100k <USD>], I quit my job to work full time on it for one year. During this year I will use my contacts with STEM students of a world leading university near where I live and solve as many of their problem sheets as possible, mostly by referring to OurBigBook.com articles I'll be writing. The goal is to get as much STEM knowledge as possible into the world, and highlight how flawed presencial and sequential Higher Education is, while positioning <OurBigBook.com> as an alternative way to organize humanity's knowledge. Quite grand.
Status: \b[~144k / 200k USD] reached. 1st year locked in and started 1st June 2024 to 31st May 2025https://mastodon.social/@cirosantilli/112542498271073292{ref}, 2nd year stretch goal open. A second year greatly improve chances of success: year one I solve a bunch of courses, year two I come guns blazing with the content and expand further. Donation breakdown:
* 2024-03-18: \$126,352 (!!!): anonymous 1000 <Monero> donation to self-custody wallet. Further comments: <1000 Monero donation>.
* 2024-03-13: \$1,375: anonymous 10 <Monero> donation to self-custody wallet
* 2023-11-20: \$14.563: anonymous 100 <Monero> donation to <Binance> wallet
* 2023-09: \$810: anonymous 0.032 <Bitcoin> donation to <Coinbase> wallet
* subscriptions up to 2024-01: \$143,795
More details: <Accounting method>{full}
At \b[1M USD] I retire and work on open STEM education forever.
\b[Note to potential anonymous crypto donors]: anonymous donations incur a regulatory risk. I cash out most of such donations and announce it very clearly to the government and banks. For example, at one point <1000 monero donation/Barclays regulation>[Barclays even froze my account]. But things seem manageable for now. On one hand, such donations serve as a fun test of the financial system. But on the other, if all banks reject my money or if the government decides to take it, I will write off the anonymous donation at zero.
\b[How to give]:
* one time donations:
* \b[<cryptocurrency>]: note that Ciro is not a regular crypto user, so you might want to make a smaller test donation and confirm that it worked by <contact>[contacting] Ciro before going for colossal amounts (one can dream):
* \b[<Monero>] address: \b[4A1KK4uyLQX7EBgN7uFgUeGt6PPksi91e87xobNq7bT2j4V6LqZHKnkGJTUuCC7TjDNnKpxDd8b9DeNBpSxim8wpSczQvzf]. Secret view key: 7ccaf885ff5540b0ff18927e6ac5da30130afb1eaee09ad95d3c4536a6337e0f. This is a self-custody wallet on a <ciro santilli s hardware/Dell Inspiron 15 3520>["clean" dedicated Monero laptop connected the Internet]. I check for incoming transactions from my dirty main laptop via a view-only wallet each weekend. The cash out method used is latest simplest thing that wasn't yet blocked in my country on a given week, the last time that was centralized <Cryptocurrency swapper>[swappers]https://x.com/cirosantilli/status/1771900725649371240{ref}. The fact that the cash out method changes weekly confirms that <Monero> privacy hadn't yet been broken by countries and that Monero is still one of the most useful cryptocurrencies: <Are cryptocurrencies useful?>{full}. For transparency, I announce all non-trivial transactions on social media, and the full list of transactions can be seen by anyone with the secret view key provided. I previously had different addresses, so pre-existing donations on older addresses will not be visible there.
* \b[<Bitcoin>] address: \b[3KRk7f2JgekF6x7QBqPHdZ3pPDuMdY3eWR]. This is a <Coinbase> wallet, <off-chain transactions> with no transaction fees accepted from other <Coinbase> users. This method has been tested, I have been able to receive funds from this address in 2023. Fees: non-fixed trading feeshttps://help.coinbase.com/en/coinbase/trading-and-funding/pricing-and-fees/fees{ref} + 0% withdrawal fee on top of any Bitcoin network for on-chain transactionshttps://help.coinbase.com/en/exchange/funding/withdrawing-with-a-uk-bank-account{ref}
* \b[<Ethereum>] address: \b[0x44cF8C9C015F46d3b2Df730b6492823FD7A91044]. Test transaction recommended.
* \b[#Solana] address: \b[DjdaGawoVFdqxJEqpBGsSWuR4G4MVFNiNkAEu89HuKcE]. Test transaction recommended.
* \b[<TransferWise>] tag: https://wise.com/pay/me/cirod3[]. It shows as "<Ciro Duran Santilli>" and that's correct. No fees apparently? Love it!
* \b[<PayPal>]: https://paypal.me/cirosantilli[]. Note that <dots in Gmail address> are ignored, and it is perfectly normal if the <email> you see has some extra dots in it. Fees: 2.9% + 0.30 GBPhttps://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-fees#fixed-fees-donation{ref}.
* monthly subscriptions of 1<Dollar>[[$]]/month or more on either:
* \b[<GitHub Sponsors>]: https://github.com/sponsors/cirosantilli[]. Fees: 0% for individuals, up to 6% for organizationshttps://docs.github.com/en/sponsors/getting-started-with-github-sponsors/about-github-sponsors{ref}
* \b[<Patreon>]: https://www.patreon.com/cirosantilli[]. Fees: 8% pro plan + 1% <PayPal> withdrawal capped at 20 USDhttps://support.patreon.com/hc/en-gb/articles/11111747095181-Creator-fees{ref}. We are waiting to reach the cap to withdraw!
Symbolic 1 dollar/month donation are extremely welcome to signal your interest! This way if a certain critical mass of sponsors is ever reached (~100?), Ciro can start to more actively asking slightly higher amounts to really try to achieve full time self sufficiency.
* larger grants/contracts from filthy rich individuals or organizations: contact Ciro as mentioned at: <contact>{full} to discuss.
Ciro is interested in contracts/voluntary work that would be compatible/synergic with the <OurBigBook.com> project. Some possibilities include:
* interacting directly with classes of university students to help them learn the class subject, while at the same time spreading the university knowledge outside of the university walls
* one-to-one mentoring of individuals of any age that are looking to make an impact in the world, and not just pass their <exams>
* fixing specific bugs in related projects Ciro has experience in. These could be either via one-off contracts, or on platforms such as:
* https://www.bountysource.com/people/25676-ciro-santilli
And if you have a different preferred payment mechanism not listed above, please <contact>[contact Ciro], and he will set it up.
Ciro's current ambitions require him to remain in developed countries, because Ciro wants to <what poor countries have to do to get richer>[document advanced science and technology] by liaising with top universities, and there is not nearly as much high technology in poor countries. Remaining in developed countries is also a required due to family reasons.
\b[If you would like public acknowledgement for your support, Ciro will very gladly give it, just let Ciro know how you'd prefer it]. Due to <Ciro Santilli's campaign for freedom of speech in China>, many supporters have chosen to be anonymous, and that is totally fine, not everyone is interested in politics, or has a situation where going public is acceptable, so we don't have a standard setup yet, let's build it together. A acknowledgement section at the bottom of this page would be a minimum, but I for larger donations we could add a your advertisement in a locations such as:
* near the top of of the <accounts controlled by Ciro Santilli>, e.g. one of <Ciro Santilli's Twitter accounts>, https://github.com/cirosantilli or https://stackoverflow.com/users/895245
* near the top of https://cirosantilli.com
100k USD/year is a semi arbitrary amount that sounds nice. My last day job total compensation as of 2024 was about 150k USD/year.
\Video[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JOJYx0mmhg]
{title=Intro to the <OurBigBook Project>}
{height=500}
\Video[http://youtube.com/watch?v=MRhAljmHq-o]
{title=<OpenGL> GPU GLSL fragment shader real time v4l2 Linux webcam <computer vision> box blur vs <CPU>}
{height=500}
\Image[https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cirosantilli/media/master/Ciro_Santilli_in_lab_coat_playing_with_pippete.jpg]
{title=<Ciro Santilli> playing with a <pipette> at the <University of Cambridge> circa 2017}
{description=
Although totally disqualified for it, Ciro would really like to understand and explain cool scientific experiments in insane detail <Ciro Santilli's Stack Overflow contributions>[much as he does with computer software], related:
* <Doing physics means calculating a number>{full}
* <When in doubt, choose the course that has the most experimental work>{full}
* <Videos of all key physics experiments>{full}
* <Oxford nanopore river bacteria>{full}
Maybe if he ever gets enough credibility, such opportunities would actually materialize. It could be a bit like <Periodic Videos>, but for <molecular biology> and <physics>, and backed by <OurBigBook> text/tree with minimal openly licensed videos. The fact that such opportunities are essentially impossible outside of the boredom of the university system is something we should really change about education.
}
{height=700}
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