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J. M. needs help.

2:44 AM

@ChrisK \[ScriptZero] might be a good character to use instead of 0 for your vector.

10 hours later…

wesen

1:01 PM

thx @b3m2

thx @b3m2a1

there is indeed some interesting spelunking to be done there

halirutan

1:17 PM

@gwr @Kuba @J.M.needshelp. Have we settled on a solution regarding the funding?

J. M. needs help.

1:38 PM

@halirutan After exchanges with PayPal, and inquiring with my bank before the weekend, I think Western Union might still be the most expedient route, unless your bank's direct transfer has lesser charges.

N.B. some people have already wired to my account, but considering delays, I think they'll only show up Saturday at the earliest.

1 hour later…

gwr

2:53 PM

@halirutan @Kuba @J.M.needshelp. Since it seems possible to do, albeit with some downsides, I would prefer a transparent funding initiative to Western Union transfers. J.M. has not gone into more detail but I am also asking myself whether there is something more long lasting that we can do - after all it is a repeated case, is it not? (maybe a case in point for crowd funding?)

halirutan

3:25 PM

@gwr The initiative was transparent the last time as well. Since some people couldn't transfer with Western Union, I was the broker and collected from many people. It wasn't too much work. However, my idea for an official fundraising is somewhat different. I repeat what I wrote Szabolcs:

I wanted an official donation page because I really wanted to
make this more public. After all, it is already public since JM posted
it on his blog. I am confident that we could reach far more people with
a real donation campaign and maybe we can fix things for a bit longer
than only for the current medical bill.

We should not forget how many people JM helped over the years. Just
take sum the "people reached" on Mathematica.SE and Math.SE. If we only
reached a tiny fraction of them, things could get out of hand (money-

@gwr I looked over youcaring what you suggested and it looks good to me.

J. M. needs help.

3:59 PM

@halirutan Just as a PSA: Lent is a holiday here, so I won't be able to ask around with banks until Monday next week.

@gwr I understand your concerns; I will look into things next week, but I have not had a happy experience with asking for files and documents from my bank, even though they are good at handling the little money I have in there.

That's why I was trying to avoid anything involving sending account statements and other sundry docs to third parties whenever possible. Were it any easier, maybe PayPal would have been the most convenient, since they have an even lower transfer fee than Western Union.

halirutan

@J.M.needshelp. Beside the point how exactly the money transfer takes place, would you in general be OK with a fundraising on a site like Youcaring?

gwr

4:31 PM

@halirutan I am totally d'accord.

J. M. needs help.

4:48 PM

@halirutan Sure, as long as it minimizes my need to go through bureaucratic hoops just to get funds.

halirutan

@J.M.needshelp. I have no experience whatsoever but my feeling is that it would be better if one of us creates the donation page. This might have the advantage that this campaign goes under the slogan "Help a friend in need". Additionally, the one responsible can simply transfer (even partial amounts before the end of the campaign) through Wester Union. So no bureaucracy on your side.