News from Pledge Central.

I swear I’m putting up a couple posts today that have nothing to do with the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose drive to fund science and math classrooms. However, there have been some developments since the last update, and I thought you ought to know about them.

1. Although PZ Myers and his minions met the goal of the Pharyngula challenge days ago, it shambles on like a zombie, now at more than 250% of the challenge goal. Way to go, unholy army of the undead!
2. ScienceBlogs readers have so far donated $10,307.86 to the drive. Among other things, this means we’ve secured the entire $10,000 that SEED put up in matching funds! So, the classrooms get $20,307.86 from us (so far). Way to bleed our hosts of funds!
3. Sandra Porter of Discovering Biology in a Digital World has joined the fun with a challenge of her own. And, she has generously contributed some prizes: an Exploring DNA Structure CD-ROM, a Kissing DNA T-shirt, a Green Fluorescent Protein mug, and a pack of 10 Twirling Telomere magnets. (The updated list of fabulous prizes, in its entirety, below the fold.)

UPDATE: I’m sad to report that DonorsChoose is not set up to receive funds from outside the U.S. Believe me, if it was up to us we’d take your money (funny-colored though it might be). We appreciate your generosity, and we’ll make sure to work out a way to include our non-U.S. readers if/when we do something like this again.
Excellent start, people! Have a gander at the challenges that are still open, and let’s see if we can help some more kids get the kind of experiences with math and science that they deserve.

• A Blog Around the Clock
• Adventures in Ethics and Science
• Aetiology
• Afarensis
• Cognitive Daily
• Discovering Biology in a Digital World
• Evolgen
• Gene Expression
• Good Math, Bad Math
• Island of Doubt
• Mike the Mad Biologist
• Neurotopia
• Questionable Authority
• Scientific Activist
• Stranger Fruit
• Terra Sigillata
• Uncertain Principles
• World’s Fair

Fabulous Prizes!
When Donors Choose sends you a confirmation email, forward it to: sb.donorschoose.bonanza@gmail.com This is your contest entry. Randomly drawn donors will win:
Subscriptions to Seed magazine
ScienceBlogs mugs
Exploring DNA Structure CD-ROM
Kissing DNA T-shirt
Green Fluorescent Protein mug
Pack of 10 Twirling Telomere magnets
What We Believe But Cannot Prove, edited by John Brockman
The Republican War on Science, by Chris Mooney
Rebuilt: My Journey Back to the Hearing World, by Michael Chorost
Subscriptions to TIME magazine
Blogging in a Snap, by Julie Meloni
Viruses vs. Superbugs, by Thomas Hausler
Galileo’s Daughter, by Dava Sobel
The Scientific Renaissance: 1450-1630, by Marie Boas Hall
Causality: Models, Reasoning, and Inference, by Judea Pearl
Paleoanthropology (1st ed) by Milford Wolpoff (gently used)