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Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday! This week's assortment of posts was a little unusual, so I'm dividing it up differently from normal, because otherwise it's just a jumble of Buy Stuff Help Out entries :)

Ways To Give - Organisations:

iamshadow let me know about a recent uncovery of a cat hoarder here in Illinois whose cats have been removed from the house for health reasons. Most of them are in need of medical care, rehabbing, and home placement; they're estimating $2500 in medical bills for the animals. They're taking donations at this site but PLEASE BE AWARE there are graphic images of injured cats at the site. If you're sensitive to such things the best thing to do is go to the site and hit "end" to get to the bottom of the post where the donation widget is.

knitchick1979 is a member of Team Geek, a fundraising group to support cancer research. They're selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a knitted Dalek and a Fourth Doctor scarf.

sunlitshadow let me know about Bowie Community Theatre, a 45 year old company in the DC Metro area. The theatre's summer show is Language of Angels, by Naomi Iizuka, opening July 22nd; in honor of Ms. Iizuka, they're donating 100% of the opening night's proceeds to The Global Giving Foundation to support the ongoing relief efforts in Japan. If you're in the Maryland/Dc area or know someone who is, consider a ticket!

Ways To Give, Individual:

magdalyna let me know about escherzo, who is selling books and some other goods to raise money to help out with some last-minute expenses with his top surgery. You can check out what he's selling or donate here.

thefannishwaldo is a teacher here in Chicago, where teachers have recently been beleaguered by a pile of bullshit, you don't even know, and Waldo in particular. To help make ends meet she's selling various handcrafts, including handmade soaps and pet toys, at her etsy.

dont_panic4242 let me know about Stele, who has been having a seriously rough time of it lately and is holding an online garage sale of fannish stuff, jewelery, and other items to help make ends meet. There's also a donation page.

wellowned is raising money to help with some impending bills and medication payments; her post is here, including a link to her etsy store and her google bakery store, and a donation button.

Kirsten let me know about the hand-dyed roving she's selling to help raise money for charitable causes; it's gorgeous stuff, and those of you who spin should definitely have a look.

A couple of people have been sharing round a G+ post about ShaeWow, who is raising money for her roller derby equipment via Etsy. Her embroidery and cross stitch cracks me up.

Give For Free:

firelizard5 let me know about a survey being conducted on the usability of self-publishing websites, which could qualify you to participate in a study and receive (somewhat ironically, I think) a $100 Amazon gift card.

Just For Fun:

strange_selkie told me that Truck Got Stuck by Corb Lund and the Hurtin Albertans reminds her of my life sometimes, and I cannot say I disagree.

snaxcident linked me the other day to an article about delicate, beautiful works of paper art which are being anonymously left in locations around Scotland. The latest is a dragon left at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.

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I had a decision to make yesterday between going out to the Chinatown festival and staying inside with my air conditioner. I almost made it outside, but I'm afraid in this case the AC won. Just as well, apparently yesterday was declared a Pollution Action Day and if you don't have to go outside you shouldn't. I love it when Chicago as a whole decides the best possible course of action is to spend the day inside reading fanfic. I wish I could have done that today, too.

In other news of Chicago, from an editorial by Richard Roeper in the Sun-Times this morning, regarding Our Marilyn:

So for the record: a New Jersey-born artist creates a sculpture of a quintessential New York movie from 1955 -- and it ends up in Pioneer Court on Michigan Avenue.

Did we lose a bet?

I LOLed.

I also came across an amusing link this morning to a letter a writer composed, addressed to his younger self at the beginning of his career, which made me laugh though for different reasons. Mostly it's that it was dreadful, like the worst kind of pop-inspirational free verse. But it was also that while your mileage may vary, if I had got a condescending letter from my future self fourteen years ago, I wouldn't listen to a word of it. Even if it was right. That's not to say you shouldn't listen to advice from your elders, just that I wouldn't have, and I don't know many teenagers who would have. As an exercise in taking-stock I suppose it's valid; listing off what you know and wish you'd known. On the other hand this is precisely why I don't go to high school reunions.

Besides, I just spent half an hour talking a woman off the ceiling after she called to complain about one of the hotels listed on our "recommended hotels" page for visiting events attendees, and I don't think my teenage self really needs that to look forward to.

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I really feel like I should do an in-depth review of The Filter Bubble, by Eli Pariser, but I'm not sure I even know how.

The book is about data management on the internet, in specific personal data management and how it influences what the internet shows us. It's fascinating and terrifying for about the first thirty pages, and then seems, at least to me, to consist of a mixture of repetition and stuff I already knew. I wish at some point he'd used bullet points, so let me see if I can bullet point it for you.

( The Filter Bubble, by Eli Pariser )

Final Verdict: It sounds a little manifesto-y and at times it is, but it is still good reading and especially important for those of us who spend a lot of time online. It's also more complicated than I'm making it seem, but honestly, a lot of it is repetition. I enjoyed reading it but by god I'm ready to be done with this book now.