= 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!
For \b[200k <USD>] I will quit my job or not get a new job and work on <OurBigBook> full time for a second year to try and kickstart \b[The Higher Education Revolution]. Status: \b[~44k / 200k USD]. At \b[2M USD] I retire and work on open STEM forever. How to donate: <sponsor>{full}.
I first quit my job 1st June 2024 to work on the project for 1 year after I reached my initial 100k goal mostly via a <sponsor/1000 Monero donation>. For a second follow up year, I increased my requirement to 200k USD to give me more peace of mind. So the total donation so far is \b[144k], and if I reach a total of \b[300k USD], then I'll work on the project for a second year. A second year greatly improve chances of success: year one I improved my tech, year two I come guns blazing to solve courses and expand further.
At \b[2M USD] I retire and work on open STEM projects forever. At these timelines, I can't guarantee it will be specifically on education technology specifically all the way, but I guarantee that whatever it is it will be open and extremely well explained as usual.
> It's necessary to be slightly underemployed if you are to do something significant - <James Watson>
Total donations to date \b[~144k USD]. Donation breakdown:
* 2024-03-18: \$126,352 (!!!): anonymous 1000 <Monero> donation to self-custody wallet. Further comments: <1000 Monero donation>{full}
* 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}
\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[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 UK 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[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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