My country is in trouble, and I’m just a tiny rat dude making a marginal living writing about stuff very few folks care about. Not much I can do directly.
My 1 April Kickstarter required some unusual tests, so I produced a physical artifact of interest to a certain subset of sysadmins. I have that artifact. It’s a real thing. I have to make a couple tweaks and add tidbits here and there, but the thing exists.
You want proof it’s real? Here you go!
Folks have started asking what it is. I’m not saying until the Kickstarter launches.
I am, however, auctioning off the prototype for charity.
Yes, I’m asking folks to give money for a sysadminny thing sight unseen. The money doesn’t go to me, however! I want you to support a worthy cause. I have a choice of worthy causes: supporting Minnesota folks trapped by ICE, or helping trans folks in Kansas.
What do you get?
When you send me the receipt for your donation, I will mail you the thing and send you a Kickstarter preview link. I will also include a letter declaring that your direct financial support of charity grants you moral superiority. Once the final product escapes, I’ll ship you one of those. So really, the physical good will be unique for only a few weeks.
Intangibly, though? Ah, the intangible benefits! BRAGGING RIGHTS. You’ll know what the thing is before anyone else! You’ll have grounds to call me a dumbass before anyone else! People will call me a dumbass anyway, but your comments will be evidence-based and thus folks will take you seriously.
I will pay for standard Priority Mail shipping. That’ll be three days within the US, and a couple weeks overseas. (If you’re outside the US and want fast shipping, I’ll ask that you send me a few bucks for the upgrade. Sorry, but overnight to Germany or Australia ain’t cheap.)
All I ask is that you don’t ruin the surprise for folks. If you blab, I can’t do much. Sure, I’ll never do a fundraiser like this again and I’ll call you a jerk, but that’s about it. Unless you live within wedgie distance.
I am, of course, perfectly fine if you post something like “holy crap Lucas is a jerk this thing is a total ripoff like I’ve never seen before don’t you dare go to https://mwl.io/ks and follow it you’ll only encourage his next lame travesty.”
Bid by leaving a comment on this page.
The auction runs from now until 5PM EDT on 9 March 2026. If the bidding goes nuts in the last few minutes, I’ll leave it open until it settles down. There’s no sniping this auction at the last moment, as I want bids to escalate beyond all sensible limits.
The winner gets to pick a charity off of https://www.standwithminnesota.com/ and $a_Kansas_trans_charity_I’m_picking_with_the_help_of_folks_on_the_fediverse and donate their bid. Send me the receipt and I’ll send you the thing. I want you to be able to enjoy knowing the secret for as long as possible, so I’ll ship it ASAP.
Bid early! Bid often! Bid to be the first one disappointed!