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[cblj_backup]

Good morning all, and welcome to Radio Free Monday! Now with 100% less emo on my part than yesterday. :)

HAVE SOME LINKS:

Ways to give and stuff to buy:
A friend's sister recently lost her 12-year-old son to an asthma attack, and is taking part in a sponsored climb in his honour to raise money for the American Lung Association. Have a look, it seems pretty cool!

aunty_marion let me know about a friend of hers who is not only ill but in a financial crisis -- you can find the details here. They were pretty much screwed by a credit card company (I know, shocking) and are under threat of court proceedings.

alchemia is also facing both ill health and medical bills, and is trying to raise money via site ads and sales. Just visiting the site can bring in ad revenue. (Thanks anotherslashfan!)

bluejeanius let me know about an animation studio working on an independent animated film based on a Neil Gaiman short story, The Price. She's got a post here about why this is a great idea, and if you're interested in supporting the film there's a kickstarter page here. They've got $74k of $150k raised, with a little over a week to go. (Kickstarter collects pledges, rather than donations; the project is only funded, IE you only pay, if the full goal amount is reached.)

Free stuff you can do:
dramaturgca let me know about Katie, an adorable first-grade Star Wars fan, who was bullied for liking "boy stuff". Epbot and Geek Girl Diva picked this up and suggested that Geek Girls (and Geek Women) leave messages for Katie so that she knows "different" isn't bad and that she's not alone. You can leave a message for Katie here.

flamingsword is looking for hard scifi stories about transhumanism and embedded technology. Any reccs, Cafe?

Organisations to be aware of:
The Penny Arcade boys have opened a Child's Play website for their home-grown charity; Child's Play grew out of the gaming community and brings games, books, toys, and financial support to sick kids. There's a ton of info on the site, including banners you can put on your profile and a calendar of Child's Play events.

rednwhiterose linked me to Random Acts Of Culture performing in Philadelphia with 650 choristers singing the Hallelujah Chorus. They're sponsored by Knight Arts, and it's pretty cool.

And, to end it all, Fuck The TSA:
There's been a lot of debate about backscatter devices being used in airport security, the ones that may have associated health risks and definitely show you naked. Your options are: Be shown naked to a screener, or be given an invasive pat down (you can read about what that entails at the link). It's already been discussed that the pat downs are a scare tactic to get you to use the backscatter device. You can find a lot of links about the backscatter protests and abuses here.

Here's the thing: a lot of people say make them look you in the eye. And that's great, and I agree. BUT -- there are important things to remember. If you are an abuse or rape survivor, allowing a total stranger to grope your genitals may not be an option. Don't automatically dismiss other people passing through the backscatter device as cowards or sheep. For some, it is the best of two horrifying paths. And if you think "that's too many people, they can't possibly all be traumatised" allow me to remind you that it is a conservative estimate that one in five women in this country is a rape survivor, and we don't even have good statistics on the men yet. (At least not that I could find. If you've got some, link me.)

Also, remember that the TSA guards you encounter may be aggressive, abusive, and getting off on it, and if that's the case I truly am sorry and you should file a report. But they might also be people who never fucking signed on to touch other peoples' genitals but need a job. Remember that this may be as traumatic for them as for you, especially since they're going to be doing it multiple times a day to usually hostile passengers. Admittedly, one of the goals of Make Them Look You In The Eye is to raise TSA protests about this as well, but TSA staff can't legally unionise and have limited power within their own organisation.

Taking the train is not always an option, I know. It's as expensive as flying and it takes a long time. But whenever I travel, if I can take the train, I do. The fewer butts-in-seats that the airlines get, the less likely the airlines are going to be to take this lying down -- and they do have a lot of power.

OKAY. Let's close on two lovely things:

FLYING WILDEBEEST! from cluegirl and

The Charity Logo Rainbow from Claire over at Nonprofity.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. :) You can always post items for my attention in comments here (or on any post) or email me at copperbadge at gmail dot com. If you're not sure how best to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help.

Comments

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I take Amtrak when I can, but I have no delusions I can afford to take an extra four days off and spend an extra $900 every time I want to go home to Texas :D But yeah, I train when I can.