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So, somehow "day off" translated to "day that does not exist" in my head, and I totally forgot that it was Monday and therefore RADIO FREE.

But it's not like I made a bunch of other posts or anything, so that's all right. :D

BOOSTS!

About a year ago I signal-boosted a call for photography models for a project of luckyckljw's, and the project won her a photography scholarship. As she told me in her email, "The body of work I created for that scholarship is a very honest look at beauty, femininity, and womanhood." Currently her work is on display at the Bath House Cultural Center in Dallas, but has been heavily censored, she suspects due to the subject matter of the images as well as their size. She's not asking for a letter campaign or a petition signing; she just doesn't know what to do. She's asking for suggestions at her journal, and a bit of moral support probably wouldn't go amiss either.

One of our cafe members also contacted me this week about a project going on at the Social Robotics Lab at Yale University. She's currently running an online experiment called "So You Think Keepon Is Dancing?" which is about our perceptions of dance. Participation in the experiment involves watching videos of a cute robot dancing to music and answering questions about them. In the interests of full disclosure she told me that responses are anonymous but IP addresses are logged to preserve data integrity (to prevent bots or the suspicion of bots!) and participants must be 18 years old. The survey is here, if you all are interested. I had fun taking it, and the music was catchy :D

This has been Radio Free Monday! Thanks for your time.

(no subject)

I am engaged in a war with the spambots. SPAMBOOOOOOTS! *fistshake*

This particular brand of bot is one of those ones that make you feel as if you're not even special enough to get spammed, you're just a test run to make sure the software's working. They leave a serial number in the subject line and a single sentence in the body of the message, no links, no ads. My favourite this time around is "Jonny was here" on a Doctor Who fanfic. I've now decided the Doctor's true name is Jonny.

I also had a tiny existential crisis today, incited by my parents making cinnamon rolls. They sent me an email with a photo of the cinnamon rolls and a text message to let me know I needed to read the email, so I logged out of Copperbadge and logged into my non-fannish gmail account.

I was logging back into Copperbadge when I looked at it and thought, huh, it's getting a little worn, isn't it? After all, I've had the same username the entire time I've been in fandom, or at any rate since I came back to fandom. I've had the same default icon for eight years, almost, surely people are tired of looking at that by now. I've had the same blog layout on LJ for almost that long, disregarding small tweaks here and there. Technically it's Refried Paper with colour adjustments but Octogenarian Lawyer is what it's been called at times.

Anyhow, I sat and thought for a while about what the hell new name I would pick if I did pick one, and what kind of new icon I'd have and all the rest. It's kind of nice to think about but in the end I'm pretty much a creature of habit and I've just got the damn thing broken in. Plus, as I am occasionally reminded, I've reached the point where both Sam Starbuck and Copperbadge are a brand, and I've always believed if you have a good brand you don't mess with the logo.

Besides, I can't for the life of me come up with a better default icon. :D

(no subject)

This is a blog post about scarves.

When I moved to Chicago, I had never lived anywhere that it was cold enough for the warmth benefit of a scarf to outweigh the fact that they're kind of a pain in the ass. I had spent the first twenty-five years of my life believing that scarves were, in essence, an affectation donned by people who were more patient with their clothing than I am.

Then one day in Chicago it was suddenly -20 degrees. That day I looked around me at my fellow Chicagoans and I thought, you know what would be really nice right now? A motherfucking SCARF.

The thing is, if you're twenty-five and have never worn a scarf, they can be intimidating. You don't know where to go to buy them, or what kind to buy, or how to put them on. So I didn't buy a scarf.

Fortunately, the gods sent me a scarf.

I walked into a bank one day to deposit my paycheck, and when I came out of the bank there was a grey scarf sitting there on the pavement. I picked it up and sort of stood there like an idiot for a while, waiting for someone to say "Hey, that's my scarf!" but, when nobody did, I wrapped it around my neck and immediately felt 1. strangled and 2. warm with a side of 3. awesomely stylish. It's my favourite scarf. It has POCKETS in it.

But when you are twenty-five and new to throat insulation, you're not in the habit of scarf-wearing. You don't stop, before going out in the snow, to think Hey, do I need a scarf? Why would you need a scarf? You haven't needed one for the last twenty-five years!

Which is how I ended up one day that same year, at an offsite for my company, eating lunch with my colleagues and thinking, shit, I should not have left my scarf at home. My throat is going to be very, very cold.

When I went to the bathroom there was a cheap white scarf hanging on a hook there. So I stole it.

I'm not proud of my theft, but in the end someone else stole that scarf from me a year later, so all's fair in love and neckwear.

I now know many ways to tie a scarf, depending on the weight of the material, the temperature outside, and how much you think you can get away with in public. Sometimes you need two scarves! Fortunately I own ten. Many of them were gifts from people who probably heard more than they really cared to about my newfound passion for scarves.

And that is what I have to say on the topic of scarves.

Scarves: They keep your neck warm!