Hi all. As some of you would remember, I am organising a public event as part of my PhD. The project now has become bigger than I planned and I need to raise some money to cover expenses. Some of the funding applications I submitted failed and I am only partially funded for this project. I thought asking for donations (to people I know) would be a reasonable thing to do. But I can't decide how to write the copy for the donations page on the website. I don't want it to sound very needy. Can you suggest a few phrases? // Also, do you think it would be appropriate to send the link to supervisors, university workers etc?

OK DanB. I won't put a Sound on/off button, and play the annoying jingle constantly on the page. And the only way to turn the horrible jingle off could be to click the "donate" button.

Thanks for the brainstorming session DanB. I will now look for a programmer who could write me a piece of code for the page to freeze everything on users' computer until some money is donated.

I received a really funny one this week. The person with a very long name that I cannot remember (erased the email now), is the only living relative of the latest king in some country that I've never heard of. He was very keen to share this king's money with me. The only thing I would need to do is to send him my bank details and a signed document autohorising my bank to accept this person to act on my behalf. Do you think I was silly to erase the email? Do you think I now missed a life-time opportunity?

Yes DanB, I am still punishing myself by hitting my head to the wall every 5 minutes since I erased the email. But I'm sure there will be another genuine philanthropist sending me offers in a day or two. Shall I forward one to you? You can buy the house that you've always dreamt of.

How about opening a new university and selling cheaper diplomas than Belford. Suggested names:
University of Scamshire
Conford University
Conland Institute of Art