Stephen Downes

"Every month, Ocampo-Gooding and nine others in Ottawa pledge $100 of their own money. Then, they get together and cut a $1,000 cheque for a project they like." What I like about this is that the definition of "awesome" is wide opemn, and that the money is given with no strings attached. "If you build a giant tricycle that shoots fire, that sounds awesome ... and was actually a proposal in Portland," he says, rhyming off some of his recent favourites. "If you write us saying you want to build animatronic giant teddy bears to put in daycares, that sounds awesome. If you want to host ginormous murder mystery party with hundreds of participants with pieces written for each one, we want to (help you) do that." Too cool. I want to do that.