Help fund the DIY Science Zone at GeekGirlCon!

Lots of science bloggers are going to be helping out at the DIY Science Zone at GeekGirlCon (a convention for young women about geek culture) next month, including myself. Here's the DIY experiments we're planning to do with kids:

• DNA extraction made easy!
• Are you bitter? A genetic taste test.
• Magic breath! Acid-base chemistry of the body.
• CSI: GGC! Finding latent prints using ninhydrin.
• Coffee ground fossils!
• Neuron know-how! Build your own & learn how they work.
• Slime-to-go!  Make your own bag of goo.
• Making craters! Please bring your own sound effects.
• Dancing raisins!  No choreography skills required.
• Nature notebooks! A mix of art & nature.

I'm going to be doing the ninhydrin stain station. Looking forward to it.

We're soliciting donations for our efforts. Your contributions would be spent on:

1. Zone supplies (activity ingredients, tarps, cleaning supplies, etc.)
2. Zone advertising (banners, flyers, posters, etc.) - being in a high traffic area helps, but we'll still need to advertise around the con!
3. Two-day GGC badges for zone workers
4. Two hotel rooms for zone workers within a short walking distance of the con
5. Airfare assistance to zone workers needed financial help

We're offering Acts of Whimsy for donation levels reached -- you can see them here. (scroll down) The one that I am committed to doing is:

@Chemjobber is known for his ceramic duck, which is his Twitter avatar. If $300 is raised, he will change his duck's hat (and outfit?) by popular demand, no matter how silly. If we reach $750, he will answer with "Quack!" at GGC whenever someone says, "Hey, CJ!"

I have already obtained supplies to change my Twitter avatar picture, and I'm looking forward to quacking a lot at GeekGirlCon.

Here's what I am offering to you, Chemjobber reader. If you donate and tell me, I will offer you a handwritten thank you note and, for any donation of $20 or larger, a post of your choosing.

I do not love soliciting funds, but teaching science and the scientific method to kids is worthy in my opinion. Thanks for listening.