While they are careful to refer to it in business-like terms, the city of Portland (Maine) has taken to accepting donations. Since when did government become a charity? Don’t they already have enough of my money? Well, I guess Portland doesn’t have all that much since I don’t live there, but my sister does. Something tells me she’s not going to be all that generous. I think I’ll be counting down the hours to the apocalypse if I start to see donation jars on the parking meters next time I’m downtown.
This does give me an idea, though. If the city of Portland can beg for donations (sorry, “establish public-private partnerships”), why can’t I? Anyone feel like helping to fund my trip to Montana? I’ve been meaning to get to Vienna (Austria, not Maine) so I’ll gladly take donations for that. This is all for the public good, of course. The Montana trip is for a conference (though I will be playing hooky for a day to go fly fishing on the Gallatin River) and the Vienna trip would be to spend some time working with Zeilinger’s group. Since quantum computing and quantum information are the future of technology, there is a public element to it. Checks can be made out to me and mailed to my office address…
