Pookie Contributes $25 to Cryptogon and Issues a Challenge
January 15th, 2007UPDATE: ASTONISHING CRYPTOGON AND FARMLET READER RESPONSE TO POOKIE’S CHALLENGE
When I checked email this morning, I thought something had gone very wrong PayPal’s notification system. Nothing was wrong! A tsunami of contributions came in from around the world.
Results are below the initial post!
* * *
If you are one of the few people who have supported Cryptogon by sending cash, buying goods on Amazon, signing up for hosting on Blue Host or any of the dozens of other options for support that I’ve presented here over the years, I sincerely appreciate your efforts.
The following message, however, is intended to be read by the rest of you, the thousands of regular readers who NEVER do anything to support Cryptogon.
Pookie is now the top contributor to Cryptogon. Along with her January contribution, she asked me to allow her to issue a challenge to all regular Cryptogon readers who don’t do anything to support Cryptogon and/or Farmlet.
Pookie highly values Cryptogon and Farmlet. Pookie is not impressed by the level of support that Cryptogon and Farmlet are receiving. Pookie knows that Becky and I are just scraping by. Pookie does not want to see less—or lower quality—content here because Becky and I have to spend our time working away from home. This would upset Pookie.
She wrote:
Pookie here, the donor formerly known as anonymous. I’ve just sent in my regular monthly donation to keep Cryptogon and Farmlet afloat, but here’s what I’m gonna do to keep your own self-respect afloat. How many of you freeloaders out there regularly get the shit scared out of your sorry asses from reading Cryptogon and then get the warm fuzzies and a renewal of faith by switching to Farmlet? Ya’ll know that kind of roller coaster ride is better (and cheaper) than drugs, so let’s show our freakin’ appreciation! I can’t believe I have to resort to conventional fund-raising ploys, but if you can pull it together and donate a total of $500 (or more) to Cryptogon and/or Farmlet within a 2-week period, I will match the $500. So stop whining and send in ten bucks. Now. Don’t even knock your brain cells together to think about it. Make the bitch (that’s me, you chumps) fork over the dough.
How about them apples?
I have to deal with reality. If Becky and I aren’t able to make the investments in the farm that are necessary to get things fired up, that’s my fault. Cryptogon takes up WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too much time, considering what I have to show for it at the end of the month. Farmlet requires much less time, and will stay up no matter what happens. Cryptogon, however, hangs in the balance.
I’ve been up to my antics for nearly five years on Cryptogon. I have a wife now. We have a farm. We have cows and goats and a large garden! The bottom line is that we need to make investments in the infrastructure on our farm.
Whether we get that stuff done with Cryptogon, or not, is up to you. Lots of you need to kick in a little bit, or a few of you need to try to catch Pookie. Some of you refuse to use Paypal. That’s fine. Click on any Amazon link or banner on Cryptogon and make your purchases as you normally would. Need webhosting? Blue Host is excellent and they pay me $65 if you sign up with them.
Whatever you do, it needs to add up to a minimum of US$500 per month on this end. Pookie’s challenge for this month is a great test to see if it’s doable at all. If it’s not doable, with the number of you reading out there, it means that Cryptogon isn’t viable and I’ll need to do something else. No hard feelings. That’s just the way it is.
I’m really curious to see how Pookie’s challenge goes. If you value this resource, know that it lives or dies by your actions.
UPDATE: CRYPTOGON AND FARMLET READERS RESPOND TO POOKIE’S CHALLENGE
The response from Cryptogon and Farmlet readers to Pookie’s challenge has been unprecedented and astonishing.
Let’s tabulate the results so far. Below are the initials of the contributors, the amounts of their contributions and any comments they included with their contributions. As far as I can tell, contributions came in from the U.S., Britain, France, Australia and New Zealand.
NB sent $50 and wrote: “Suck it pookie!”
RF sent $25.
AS sent $30.
PR sent $50.
GM sent $50.
AH sent $25 and wrote: “It’s been awhile since I last contributed, but you’re still a daily read. Hope this helps and thanks for putting out such great stuff.”
CB sent $10 and wrote: “Responding to the Pookie challenge.”
KL sent $20 and wrote: “Hi Kevin, thanks for the good work, this is an overdue contribution. Kurt (of LivingGreenFarm.org – thanks for linking to us on Farmlet).
JK sent $10 and wrote: “Thanks Kevin & Pookie.”
SP sent $51 and wrote: “Keep up the good work.”
NH sent $100 and wrote: “Dear Kevin, I recently discovered Crytogon and was immediately drawn into the archives for long periods of time. Your efforts over the past 5 years and the example you are documenting on Farmlet are much appreciated. I don’t know whether you’ll decide to continue Cryptogon just from a mental energy standpoint (let alone a financial standpoint) given your new life, so consider my contribution to be for past efforts. The best to you and your wife.”
Wolfpigeon sent $40 and wrote: “An appreciative contribution from wolfpigeon.”
PA sent $100 and wrote: “pookie—crazy name, crazy gal! Long time listener, first time caller :)”
IL sent $104.79 via Farmlet.
RS sent $20 and wrote: “I couldn’t resist being in on the first day of the Pookie challenge. Good luck and take care.”
KL sent $50 and wrote: “I’m long overdue, my friend. Thanks for all the good subversive work. Your cows are GORGEOUS, and my wife (the small ranch manager) is especially impressed.”
I’m showing US$735.79 in response to the Pookie Challenge in under 24 hours! She had allotted two weeks for you to do it! You guys not only reached the goal to secure Pookie’s matching funds, you exceeded it by 47%. Again, IN UNDER 24 HOURS!?!
This is what I call a not-so-old-fashioned barn raising. Literally. We need to build a small barn to raise calves and milk cows. This is part of the investments in the farm that I was talking about… Man, it’s on for sure now!
Becky and I are in a bit of shock over this entire thing. It’s going to take us a bit of time to frame a coherent response to all of you. Meanwhile, I’ve skipped a couple of beats of the Internets to keep track of all of this, so I better get back to work.
UPDATE #2: POOKIE’S REACTION
Pookie has prepared a stament:
Clearly, some Cryptogoners and Farmlettians wanted the Bitch to Pay! And that’s damned decent of them – those 16 or so “Challenge A-Listers” now have the distinction of no longer being under the dire threat of a verbal dope-slapping by Pookie. Yes, they have been issued a reprieve and no doubt are Happy Campers sporting beatific smiles. May they always get laid. But there are a hell of a lot more regular readers than 16, so if each of the rest of you stops picking your nose and forks over a mere $10, that’ll take care of funding Cryptogon for the rest of the freakin’ YEAR, and then I can stop YELLING at you lowlives, pack up the circus, and get back to my life of dissipation and squalor, secure in the knowledge that my fellow Cryptogoners can creep out of the woodwork occasionally and show some balls.
Pookie has initiated payment of her matching contribution of $500! All I can say is that it has been an incredible 24 hours, and “Thanks” to all of you.
UPDATE #3: CONTRIBUTIONS CONTINUE — EVEN AFTER CHALLENGE
BS sent $25 via Farmlet and wrote: “It’s true you’re a strong worker and due for a raise – unfortunately there’s been an across the board spending freeze until the end of the quarter – nothing’s going through – my hands are tied. But I don’t want you to go away empty handed – so I’m going to give you a couple bucks out of my own pocket. This should keep you going until I can go to bat for you with the boys down at corporate – and I will go to bat for you – you’re my guy. Good? Are we good? Good.”
AZ sent $20 and wrote: “Cryptogon is one of three sites I visit near daily. I and my wife, like you and yours are struggling on our own plot of land here in Canada, we’re heating entirely with woodstoves and I’ll be building my own wind turbine in the summer, not to mention preparing the biodynamic garden. Anyways, here’s a small token for your work. Cheers, AZ”
AH sent $25.
JG sent $10.
Ktulu sent $20 and wrote: “Hello from France. Keep up the good work.”
MW sent $20.
VH sent $25.
Count me in for $500 USD cash. Please post again the instructions on how to send to you.
Hi George,
Your offer is remarkable. I appreciate it more than you can possibly know. Do you want to wait and see how close the other readers get to reaching the $500 ammount of Pookie’s challenge? So you don’t have to do all of the heavy lifting by yourself?
I hoped that the burden would be spread around, with lots of people sending $5, $10 and $20, etc. But if you want to answer Pookie’s challenge on your own, brother, let it rip.
Just click the PayPal “Donate” button on the upper right hand side of the page.
Kevin
Within the next few days, I will chip in another 20.00 contribution. The service you provide is worth every penny, and has been for a number of years now.
With the group of international clowns in control, who else has the guts to provide constant reporting of their antics.
Check out their latest trick. “We didn’t taunt Ali, we merely ripped his head off with a rope. Whys everyone getting so upset?”
I was going to send a little money to Farmlet the day that I said I hoped you would resist going out to get a job, only to find that I did not have my wallet at that time.
So let me join the challenge, even though I really don’t like the typical “beg-a-thon” challenges that I hear on NPR. Even though I appreciate Pookie’s challenge, I did intend to send some appreciation before the challenge.
“Good intentions are like a crying baby in church. They should be carried out immediately.”
I have been working on my 10 acres for over 20 years now and I know how much things cost. Just the cost of fencing wire has doubled, and the quality has dropped remarkably. The last field fence wire that I bought was so lightweight that I could hardly believe it when I started to unroll the wire, but I had already bought it before I discovered that fact.
I do enjoy reading your sites, and check them daily.
Don’t do this web page then.
No, seriously. If you need the time for farming, to the farming. Don’t do this web page.
And in particular, don’t do this web page because people paid you. Do this web page because you want to. Because you sincerely want the story to get out. Your readers can tell.
That’s why I have no ads on my blog and don’t even have a donate button. I do my blog because I want people to know, not because I want to make money off it.
I’d link more to you if you didn’t have all this “please donate” stuff on your web page. People can dismiss your content much more easily if you appear to be a beggar. The conjures images of the bum at the street corner, in particular with some conspiratorial content you have here. And it’s a real pity that people think like this, but many do.
Cryptogon,
I too enjoy your site and typically check it twice a day. Its a valuable site, and I’m glad it’s here. I would love to contribute, but at the moment I’m flat broke. I’m in school full time and am unemployed to boot. If I don’t get a job soon, I may have trouble making the rent until the next financial aid check comes in March. When things improve, I’ll send something your way.
-Ann
Now, aren’t you special, Fefe, in that you “don’t even have a donate button” on your blog. That kind of self-proclaimed purity and integrity takes my breath away. Really. I am agog and getting all tingly with the amounts of your “sincerity” wafting my way. Warms my heart, it does, to read your encouraging words to Kevin to pack it all in instead of seeing if readers are willing to help pay for a service they’ve been getting free thus far. I’m with you, Fefe, my luv — unlike YOU, Kevin sold out like so many other poor sods who have to make a living somehow. Shame on the “beggar” for not giving us many more years of valuable research and information at no cost to us. And shame on me for trying to help a fellow conspirator with my ridiculous challenge. I *now* want to be like you, Fefe, and will do my best to scupper any chance Kevin might have to pay some bills. Now *that*’s sincerity.
And Kevin did say that it was going to get interesting, now didn’t he?
Being relatively new to these “blogs” I was, admittedly a little surprised at the “donate” button at first. (Not just here, but on other sites as well.) I did think that the main motivation of a “blog” was to get one’s opinion out, for whatever reason and discussion that might follow.
Farmlet was my draw to actually contribute, because in many ways, I have been there, am still there, and have gone through much of what lies ahead of Kevin & Becky.
Also, being new to blogosphere, I always wonder who is actually on the other end. I feel that Pookie is a female resident of a British country. I am a male of English/Irish descent living on a few acres in the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas, USA.
Working in a small city during the week as a bookkeeper.
I will be watching with interest to see how things develop.
George
Pookie is an international woman of mystery. Maybe she will reveal more about herself. Maybe not. This is the nature of Pookie. I have suggested to Pookie that she should have her own site, and that people would be very interested in reading about her adventures…
Jaysus! This is too funny. Far be it from ME to dispel any mystique surrounding the Cult of Pookie. But just think about it — any person who presumes to barge in and starting insulting people and telling them to pay up is most likely … American. Eh?
I just picked up on the words/phrases, “other poor sods” “shame on the beggar” and “scupper”
scup·per
–verb (used with object) British.
1. Military. to overwhelm; surprise and destroy, disable, or massacre.
2. Informal. to prevent from happening or succeeding; ruin; wreck.
Or just perchance, and probably not, the mother, aunt, or other concerned extended family member of Rebecca? N’est ce-pas?
Oh, the intrigue? But what fun!
George
Close, but no cigar, George. The inimitable Pookie just happens to *like* British words, especially “pip pip,” “toodle oo,” and “move your bloody arse!” She also likes their literature, their Yorkshire cheeses, their funny accents, their eye candy actors (Sean Bean, Timothy Dalton … mmmmmmm, babe!), the way their society women wear goofy feather hats, and their single malts, but their growing fascism, to quote that Churchill dude, is “something up with which I will not put”. In short, it’s a nice place to visit, but Pookie wouldn’t want to live there.
Hey, didn’t I also use the term “ya’ll”? Why didn’t you suspect that I hailed from your neck of the (back)woods, honey chile? No, ain’t never [
No, ain’t never [Southern USA dialect alert!!] met Rebecca, although I’m *sure* she’s a very nice person.
But I *am* a person of the female persuasion. Got *that* right, my dear. Hope you’re not a betting man, because your instincts … stink. But Pookie the Mystery Bitch is nevertheless highly amused by your conjectures.
Pookie,
I am glad that you were amused.
I am not a betting man.
I try to refrain from using double negatives.
Y’all is not spelled ya’ll.
Your intent was admirable, and successful.
Be Sweet!
George
You know, pookie, power to you. No, really.
But I challenge you to think instead of just knee-jerking. If you put ads on your blog, or ask for donations, people will think you are doing it for the money, and that automatically devalues your content. People will assume it’s not so big of a deal, because after all you need publicity so you make more money. That’s how it works. And don’t tell me you don’t understand that.
So, if you still put ads here, then you can have all the great content in the world, you’ll only convince the smart people with it. The people who were on your side to begin with.
I’m not here to toot my own horn, but go to https://cryptogon.com/2006_07_30_blogarchive.html and search for blog.fefe.de. That is my blog.
At some point you have to decide: do you do this to get the message out, or do you do this to make money. My take is: if you do this to make money, you are for all practical purposes the same as the mainstream media. And I think in most cases you will end up doing what they do now, it just may take a while for you to get there.
And don’t patronize me with the bills you have to pay. I have to pay my bills, too.
And while we are criticising each other: all this “the world is going to end soon” stuff is not helping anyone. Your regular readers know it already, and the rest will just be driven away, thinking you are a raving lunatic.
Fefe,
A site that attempts to make money shouldn’t be considered any more or less credible than a site that generates no money at all.
It’s the information that matters, and the analysis of that information.
Besides, for someone who thinks that sites shouldn’t make money, you sure like to link to several that do. On your site, right now, are links to: BBC, Spiegel, International Herald Tribune, ABC News, etc.
If you really believe what you’re advocating, you shouldn’t link to sites that make money. Because, according to your argument, if it comes from a site that makes money, it’s disinformation. So, by linking to them, you’re promoting disinformation. Why don’t you just link to sites that don’t make any attempt to generate revenue?
>>>>all this “the world is going to end soon†stuff is not helping anyone. Your regular readers know it already, and the rest will just be driven away, thinking you are a raving lunatic.
How do you know that it’s not helping anyone? Do you know what all of my readers do with the information I provide?
No.
Also, why should I care if my site drives people away? Like I’m going to change my content to win some kind of popularity contest?! HA
I don’t care what anyone thinks about me, my site, or my opinions. That’s the beauty of it being “my” site. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT, GO AWAY. It’s easy. There are billions of other websites out there for you to look at. This nonsense reasoning that goes “we need to watch what we say so we don’t alienate people” is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. It’s the gatekeeper left psyop argument.
If the “average” person thinks I’m a lunatic, I’d take that as a compliment.
Cryptogon is “the same as the mainstream media”?
Kevin, where do you find these guys?
FeFe, do you pick on ABC news and BBC for earning money, or just small, informative sites like cryptogon that have a trackrecord of excellence that spans years?
Get a life, mate!
[…] Via: The Pookie Challenge Post: […]
[…] to take a moment to say a special “THANK YOU!” to Pookie and to all of you who rose to Pookie’s mid January challenge. January 2007 was on track to becoming one of the slowest months for support in about a year, but […]
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