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[cblj_backup]

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Before we start, Candice wanted me to thank everyone for their votes in her Dark SKy Astronomy Festival video contest -- she and her friend won the trip to the festival in Jasper, Alberta!

Ways To Give:

Australia is dealing with some fairly severe fires at the moment, and several people reminded me to post links. One of the most reliable places to donate to help at this point is the Australian Red Cross, but highlyeccentric linked to Wildlife Information Rescue's bushfire appeal and National Animal Rescue Groups, which is co-ordinating animal evacuation and rehousing. If you can offer help and wish to, you can fill out the form here.
iamshadow linked to an updating map of the fires on the RFS website and regular updates on ABC News.

Amanda's family is suffering a flea infestation without a lot of cash to fix it. They have a gofundme open to raise money for flea fogging, as well as for medication and treatment for their cats, who are having severe reactions to the fleas.

Pip linked to an indiegogo campaign to raise money for Ph.D research into fantasy languages: how they work, and how an author can create a good one without years of linguistics study. Unfortunately without the funding, Pip can't engage in the study at all.

Stillpoint Cards and Comics in Fall River, MA got in touch with me to link to a gofundme they're holding to help get over a rough patch from an unexpectedly high electricity bill. They're an awesome looking book/comic/gaming store, and they're offering some nifty rewards for donation, especially above the $20 level, such as a custom made "softee" like this Christmas Cthulu.

Just For Fun:

derien linked to an article about street artist Banksy, who set up a street stall in New York a week ago and sold original works (worth about $40K each) for $60.

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 to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help (or ask for help!).

Comments

[frenchroast.livejournal.com]

Another suggestion for the fleas, if you've already tried bathing--I moved into a house that had a horrible flea infestation, and my poor cat was plagued for months. Baths, combing, Frontline + multiple fogging efforts wasn't working, and (not being made of money) I begged my vet for something else. She had me use Capstar and Program Oral in combination. They're pills that the cats take, and they're safe for kittens as long as they're more than 2 lbs. One pill kills the fleas, one sterilizes the fleas so that the flea eggs don't hatch. Vet had me stagger her treatment (packaging for Capstar says take one per day, I did one every 4 days); the Program flea sterilizer is just once a month, so that was already staggered, but the infestation was over in just a couple weeks (I still kept giving her the Program until it ran out, just in case). If nothing else, using Program ensures that the flea infestation will stop b/c it stops new fleas from hatching.

You can almost certainly get them from the vet, but when my mom had an infestation about a year ago after bringing in a new kitten, she found it online so she could avoid paying for the vet fee. None of our cats had any side effects other than relief from fleas.