Some competition for PH4H

Someone has taken our idea and made it a reality. Courtesy of the guys at Freakonomics:

Does panhandling work better through the web? A Houston father and son team thinks so. They gave a homeless man named Timothy Dale Edwards a sign to hold while panhandling; it directed passersby to his website, PimpThisBum.com. In less than two months, the site has garnered $50,000 in pledges and donations. The project’s creators believe its success has to do with the sign’s humor and the faux-tactless domain name. We’d like to suggest another reason: appeals for money encouraging credit card use are far more effective than appeals calling for cash, according to a a recent study. Somebody please notify Gay Talese.