The Universal Patronage Project

More about money

oafactory — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 01:59:16 +0000

From WIRED
This is how the good old USD stacks up:

Rate of Exchange One US dollar translated into various virtual currencies.*
Social Network Massively Multiplayer Role-Playing Game Digital Marketplace

* 10 Facebook Credits >>>
* 125-170 WOW Gold (World of Warcraft) >>>
* 80 Microsoft Points >>>
* 10 Project Entropia Dollars (Entropia Universe) >>>
* 6 Q coins (QQ.com) >>>
* 250 Linden Dollars (Second Life) >>>
* 1,500,000 Star Wars Galaxies Credits >>>
* 6 Habbo Coins (Habbo Hotel) >>>
* 10 Twollars (Twitter) >>>
* 100 Nintendo points >>>
* 1,000 IMVU credits >>>
* 80 hi5 coins >>>
* 5 Farm Cash (FarmVille) >>>
* 5.71 WildCoins (WildTangent WildGames) >>>
* 2,000 Therebucks >>>
* 100 Whyville Pearls >>>
* 25,000,000 ISK (EVE Online) >>>
* 0.75 Mahalo Dollars >>>
* 4 Zealies (Dogster) >>>
* 10 Ven (Hub Culture)

* Values are approximate. Not all currencies are pegged to the dollar, and many are not intended to be exchanged for cash.

100 people +

oafactory — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:37:04 +0000

So Phase 2 is going well – we just reached and passed the 180 member mark on the facebook group page.

Keep spreading the word everyone!!!

100 and counting

oafactory — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 02:23:20 +0000

Hey so we just reached and passed the 100 member mark on the facebook group page!!

Thanks & keep spreading the word!!!!

Phase 2

oafactory — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:31:48 +0000

So as all projects do, this one has continued to grow and change. The most significant thing that has happened is the decision to launch Phase 2: I’m in the largest portrait ever made.

So join the group and spread the word!!

Support the Arts: One Brushstroke at a Time

oafactory — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 12:50:01 +0000

Welcome to the Universal Patronage Project.
As an ongoing project this site will continue to grow, so please continue to check back for updates.
Scroll down for recent blog posts. For general information on the project, click here.
You can also donate.

Happy Birthday FB!

oafactory — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 15:55:48 +0000

According to Mashable, today marks the 6th birthday of what we have come to call Facebook.

As you may have noticed, we fell off the wagon with this project awhile back. Lots of excuses, but in reality, I think it comes down to a simple truth: we’re afraid of the project. Not conceptually – I think we’re both fascinated by it. But in actuality.

Neither of us are really big telephone users. And begging for money is scary. Scarier than we anticipated. It’s one thing to talk about it in theory – quite another to actually begin calling people that you know and asking them to give you something. Especially when that something happens to be the most culturally valuable abstraction – hard cash.

But since it’s FB’s bday, it seems the least we can do is to get something going. My personal goal for tonight is just to call ONE person that gave us their phone number.

Hope to talk to you soon.

Donation #1

oafactory — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 17:39:58 +0000

We received our first official donation today from a man named Robert Sweeney. It happened in a way we didn’t expect: a game of Wii golf.

Robert currently lives in Jackson Hole, WY. He’s a ski instructor. He was in Chicago on family business and we got together for lunch and just to generally catch up. He brought up the UPP, insisting that he wanted to participate.

“But I don’t really want to do it over the phone. And now that I’m here in town, I have an idea: let’s make this interesting.”

Of course, we were intrigued.

“How about a game of skins?”

I had no idea what skins was – but come to find out it’s a betting game in golf; each hole worth a particular amount of money. (I’m sure there is more detail, but I’m not interested and not going to research it) Anyhow, Cash and Robert proceeded to play an afternoon round of 18 holes at Pebble Beach – on our Wii, in Fishbowl.

The donated amount was 120 USD.

Define: Friends #4

oafactory — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:12:27 +0000

Think you’ve got a handle on all your “friends”? Check out why one guy thinks you’re wrong.

Define: Friends #3

oafactory — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:23:11 +0000

The second appeal has not produced as many hits on the blog or phone numbers so far. It has however, gotten a different tone of response from the people that have replied. Much more “charitable” – for instance one person related a story of someone sending them money on Christmas when their spouse was out of work and how that had made their holiday.

“I don’t have much,” she said. “But it made the kids Christmas.”

Wow. This was from a “new” fbf – someone that I haven’t seen in a number of years, but that I went to grade school and high school with. For some reason that made me feel a little weird.

So too did the response from a fbf who we actually know pretty well saying that she hoped if we needed money – or anything else – that we would be comfortable enough to just call and ask her for it.

Not sure how this will affect our next appeal, but here’s some thoughts:

Should we remove people from the email list that have already written back?
Should we be more or less forthcoming with our personal financial situation?
What role should/ does pity play in this particular equation?
What role does ART play in it?

Lessons: #1

oafactory — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:11:40 +0000

Last week I learned that you can only send an email to 20 people on fb at one time. This morning while looking at people’s responses, I learned that fb also limits the number of words that you can write in those email messages. So instead of starting with a thank you to the people that had sent us their numbers so far, our 2nd appeal started with a Suze Orman quote!

Can’t decide if that’s funny, karmic, annoying, or just plain sad.