(no subject)

Hullo all, and welcome to Radio Free Monday! Short post this week, at least compared to the last two. In a way that's positive; this is traditionally the season of giving, at least in North America, and people are already choosing what charities to support and where to divert their funds. You guys know your own heads. And if you don't, well, I'm here to help in my own small way.

Also it's a bit easier on me. :D

Helping For Free:

Last week I linked to the Characters Unite spots that some of the White Collar boys did, and minkrose let me know that they are part of a pledge drive online -- not pledges for money, but personal pledges -- so personal they let you write your own. For everyone who pledges, USA Network Television will donate a dollar to its nonprofit partners up until December 24th. This is an intensely Stateside-centric setup, because it's run by the USA Network, and the whole "stronger, more united" thing is a bit on the ehhh side for me, but it's a good cause and if you are a Statesider or willing to pretend, I encourage you to make a pledge. Organisations that stand to benefit include the American Association of People with Disabilities, GLAAD, NAACP, the National Congress of American Indians, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Helping Out People:

Gannet let me know about a friend, nirethak, who is raising money to help with reconstructive surgery for Luis Castro, a bus driver who was recently shot in what appears to be random violence. They've made the down payment, but are selling yarn and knitting patterns to help fund the rest. You can find out more info, offer to help, and check out the patterns here.

ljgeoff has a client who is trying to give her grandkids a proper holiday this year. They're below the poverty line and she has fourteen grandchildren, ranging in age from two to nineteen. They're looking for donations of gifts rather than money, primarily, including second-hand laptops for the kids who are talking about college.

ginmar is trying to find a home for Freddie, a year-old cat, housebroken, with all his shots and looking for a good family to call his own. She's located in Minnesota; you can find more info here.

Fuck The Backscatter:

This is the last week I'm posting a link collection about the TSA and backscatter devices -- I'm happy to still get links about activist events, ways to support protests, letter campaigns or petitions to sign, but I think at this point we're all aware of the shenanigans going on, and linking to story after story about people being maltreated may be a bit counterproductive. So! Here are some last few links to round out this week:

From Lorena: A woman who insisted her breast milk be (appropriately) classed as a medical liquid apparently incurred the wrath of several TSA agents, who detained her on her return trip and told her to be quiet if she knew what was good for her while they kept her from her plane.

A woman using a flannel reusable pantyliner while menstruating was subjected to an invasive search because the cloth in her underwear was "unusual".

From jonaht, a link to some of the new "fuck the backscatter" clothing available out there: fig leaf underwear.

supergreak let me know that there has been legislation about this: the American Traveler Dignity Act.

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 (PMs are kind of a bad way to reach me; email or comments are much preferable). If you're not sure how best to proceed, here is a little more about what I do and how you can help.

(no subject)

This morning I was very sad to stumble over an article about "Gentleman Hackers" only to find that it was not, as I hoped, about hackers who wear waistcoats and are unfailingly courteous in their dealings with one another. Instead it's about independently wealthy tech geeks who fund experimental tech projects for the sake of having something to do, like Gentleman Farmers used to.

Which in itself is pretty neat, don't get me wrong, but not nearly as neat as, say, a pair of hackers about to go dine at their club before a night at the opera.

I am going to bomb you all with links today, apparently, because I'm cleaning out my research bookmarks for Trace and I feel like I should share this stuff, since it's reasonably awesome. Mainly I wanted to share this image, because I love it, and if I could make it the cover of Trace I would, because it makes me think of Neal and Noel:

It's a pair of young Russian prisoners, taken from an exhibition of prison tattoo photography and art, which you can get to by clicking the photo (please be aware: very much NSFW, some of the art shown there). Someone also linked me to Preserving the Criminal Code, which is a slideshow of "harvested" tattoos preserved in formaldehyde, some of them quite exquisite and some also NSFW. My favourite is the skull with the snake, though I rather like the little pornographic ones too.

The tattoos actually led me onwards to imprisoned artists like Alfredo Santos, the "mystery muralist" who painted gorgeous murals about California's history in the mess hall of San Quentin Prison while he was incarcerated there for heroin possession in the 1950s. I also found Donny Johnson, who is serving three life sentences in solitary confinement at Pelican Bay (also in California) for murder and assault; he paints postcard-sized art using M&Ms for pigment and his own hair for brushes.

And now, back to my skeleton crossword. I haven't done one of these in forever, I forgot what a total butchery I make of them.