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I really got to blow some windfall moneyFollow

#1 Oct 26 2013 at 5:52 AM Rating: Excellent
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My evil grandparents died, a year apart. My grandfather's will is a tied up mess, but each of us grandchildren got a nice monetary present from grandma. The vast bulk goes to my mother and aunt, and the two of them deserve it for putting up with the soul-destroying damage they suffered from their parents. Anyway, after a life-time of not wanting anything from my grandparents, I discovered I was quite happy to take their money. I went and blew $500 on opera CDs, choosing operas by my favourite singers and composers, half that I haven't heard before. Lakme is a new favorite. The rest of the money is going into a deep green share trust that does extremely well against the general market. I'm hoping that by the time I'm dead, it's worth donating to the course I graduated from.

I thought hard about the most effective place to donate money. Education in a poor nation is probably the answer. But I know how life changing, mind altering and mind opening that particular course is. And if it makes comparatively "wealthy" people open their eyes and see their own culture, and all other people in brand new ways, then I'm hoping this has a meaningful knock on effect. That they will be wiser with their votes and their money and their actions, and influence other "wealthy" Australians in a positive way, for being the people they are who were shaped by that course.

#2 Oct 26 2013 at 6:09 AM Rating: Good
You realise that's just the bleeding heart version of trickle down theory?

Liberals will be liberals, I suppose.
#3 Oct 26 2013 at 7:47 AM Rating: Excellent
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Yeah, It would be good if someone can recommend a charity where the money isn't lost on the way to the Africans it is intended for. Maybe it's a task I can stick with my executer? Meh. What if I don't trust my executer to be good at that?

OH HEY! You are 20 years younger than me, and have relevant training! I could name YOU as my executor on my next will!!!

YES! Internet bastardry at it's finest!

Edited, Oct 26th 2013 9:49am by Aripyanfar
#4 Oct 26 2013 at 8:18 AM Rating: Excellent
HeroRATS are my current charity of choice.

They clear minefields to re-open farmland. They also sniff out tuberculosis in spit samples.
#5 Oct 26 2013 at 8:59 AM Rating: Good
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Catwho wrote:
HeroRATS are my current charity of choice.

They clear minefields to re-open farmland. They also sniff out tuberculosis in spit samples.


And they train local abandoned turtles to fight the forces of evil.
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#6 Oct 26 2013 at 10:12 AM Rating: Decent
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Catwho wrote:
HeroRATS are my current charity of choice.

They clear minefields to re-open farmland. They also sniff out tuberculosis in spit samples.

That's horrible! Sending rats scurrying across minefields to get blown up, and exposing them to TB? PETA needs to hear about this!
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#7 Oct 26 2013 at 1:59 PM Rating: Excellent
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Is this the part of the thread where I suggest you use the money to buy premium for everyone on the forum?

What, it was worth a shot!
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#8 Oct 26 2013 at 2:36 PM Rating: Good
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It seems rather pointless for you to get premium. Even batcoins would be more useful.
#9 Oct 26 2013 at 4:23 PM Rating: Decent
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Debalic wrote:
Catwho wrote:
HeroRATS are my current charity of choice.

They clear minefields to re-open farmland. They also sniff out tuberculosis in spit samples.

That's horrible! Sending rats scurrying across minefields to get blown up, and exposing them to TB? PETA needs to hear about this!


Is it really any worse than testing pretty much everything on them that we use in society, and injecting them with pretty much every disease known to man, and every trial vaccine to quell it.

Rat populations can be repopulated very quickly for practically no cost, so it kinda makes sense.

Assuming that is actually what they do, I didn't click the link and am merely +1ing away.
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#10 Oct 26 2013 at 5:33 PM Rating: Good
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Do blow off a hooker's ***.

Then send it off into a minefield and expose it to TB.
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#11 Oct 26 2013 at 5:57 PM Rating: Good
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Donkeys don't breed as fast as rats Smiley: frown
#12 Oct 27 2013 at 9:00 AM Rating: Excellent
The rats are too small to trip the landmines. Smiley: schooled Considering they cost $700 to train, it'd be a waste of money to let them be blown up every time they found a mine.

That's actually one of the reasons the rats are used instead of dogs. The rats are native to Gambia so they're used to the hotter climates where they work (unlike dogs which would easily overheat.) The rats are too light to trip the landmines - they'd have to use smaller dog breeds to get the same effect, instead of choosing breeds with superior sniffers like big dogs. Finally, a dog would take a year to fully train, but a ratty can be trained up in three to six months.

And they work for peanuts (and bananas.)

The model that they use with the ratties is all about helping the local economy in a double attack - the rat handlers are all locals who are trained (so they get jobs), and the result of clearing out the minefields means that land can be used for farming again (meaning less reliance on outside food aid.)

I think they got ranked #11 in NGOs around the world a year or two ago.
#13 Oct 28 2013 at 6:46 AM Rating: Good
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Stuff a mattress with paper currency. It's the only way to be sure.
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#14 Oct 28 2013 at 4:34 PM Rating: Good
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Get coins instead, and pretend you're Scrooge McDuck.
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#15 Oct 29 2013 at 4:35 AM Rating: Good
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At least they wouldn't be eaten by rats Smiley: bah
#16 Oct 29 2013 at 6:55 AM Rating: Good
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Ari, you should go to Italy and go to the Opera.

Wouldn't it be grand to watch Figaro from the balcony of La Scala?

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#17 Oct 30 2013 at 4:55 AM Rating: Good
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Ooooooo


oooooooo



*Head Asplode*
#18 Oct 30 2013 at 9:08 AM Rating: Excellent
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Put the money someplace where you can't easily touch it and it turns into more money.
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#19 Oct 30 2013 at 6:12 PM Rating: Good
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Aripyanfar wrote:
At least they wouldn't be eaten by rats Smiley: bah
They might, but at least afterwards you'd always know where your money and rat problems were.
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