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Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday. I'll try not to cough on anyone.

Before we start, aunty_marion asked me to pass on the news of the death of a fellow-fan and cafe member, Chris Croughton, aka keristor. He was a well-known filker and sound tech and active in the UK convention scene, and he will be missed by many.

Ways To Give:

momebie let me know that drjeff is trying to provide bus passes to people in need in the Portland, Oregon area for the holiday season. He's collecting donations of passes for the TriMet and is going to give them to organizations who can then distribute them to those who would not otherwise be able to get where they need to be. (Domestic violence shelters and organizations to help the homeless and the like.) He has a blog set up for the effort here, and more detailed information on making a donation here.

chosenfire28's family has been hard hit this month with unexpected vet bills and the death of their puppy. They could use a hand covering their bills, and the email address for paypal donations is chosenfire2890 at yahoo.com.

madripoor_rose let me know that liabrown is looking for someone in Southern Ontario who wants to adopt a kitten. She rescues and socializes feral kittens, and needs to get these to a new home ASAP. Her own cat is racking up some serious vet bills (kidney failure) and she needs to cut down on expenses.

Buy Stuff, Help Out:

priscellie still has Books For Boobs auctions up! Signed books by Terry Pratchett, Kate Beaton, Jim Butcher, and more! The auction ends this coming Wednesday.

iamshadow had a contribution to last week's shopping reccs: Better World Books, where you can buy weeded stock from libraries and the money goes back into library and literacy programs.

majoline has a link to Who Made Your Pants, a UK company that sells underwear made by a worker co-op "formed to empower margnialised women by providing flexible employment, education and a social and community space".

Updates:

paxpinnae wanted to thank everyone who responded to "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Was Thirteen and Nerdy." The site jumped from ten responses to 130 in a single day. Since people have expressed interest in reading the responses or in passing them on to their own nerdy thirteen-year-olds, they're posting them (with anonymity retained) on Tumblr.

Last April, I ran an RFM blurb for via_ostiense, who was raising money for SFWAR (San Francisco Women Against Rape) by running a half-marathon. She wanted to let everyone know that she completed the half-marathon and raised $130 for the rape crisis center, with $70 coming directly from the Cafe. She wanted to say thanks for donating, and I say well done, everyone!

Anon let me know about the Save Chicago Public Libraries facebook page.

Anon (presumably a different Anon) linked to Sarah Paretsky's work to save the Chicago libraries.

Also, lannamichaels would like us to know that the Carnegie Library tax linked in last week's RFM passed!

News To Know:

Anon has informational links about the attempt to set up an Occupy encampment at Sproul Plaza, and were met with force by UCPD and Alameda County Sheriffs. There's an interesting if clearly partisan op-ed here comparing the Penn State and UC Berkeley student protests, and an article here about faculty protest over the violence at Berkeley.

Claire over at Nonprofity has a great list of Cool Charity Shirts. I have to confess the Darwin one is my favourite. She also linked me to the great and snarky website Go The Fuck To The Library.

Just For Fun:

secondsilk links to a barista at her local cafe, an award winning latte artist who has a frankly amazing youtube video up here. There's a joke going round that he wants to get more hits than Justin Bieber, so check him out!

I didn't have enough links to do a Chicago feature this week, but here's a great time-lapse photography video of the construction of the Great Tree at Macy's / Marshall Fields on State Street.

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. Remember, non-embedded links are love.

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Nobody gets sick in ( A Cheaper World! )

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I am at work! I might be dying, but I'm here!

Actually today is nice and quiet. Both my boss and my minion are absent, and everyone else is getting over a cold too, so we're all miserable together.

I've been going round with Dell Financial Services for three days, trying to prove to them that I am in fact me, since they seem to be having difficulty with this concept. It goes like this: I opened a line of credit with Dell, which was approved. I bought a laptop, and the purchase went through fine. But then apparently someone decided I'm not me, and put a hold on my line of credit, which in turn put a hold on the laptop's shipping.

I've been attempting for three days to verify to them that I am me, but it's hard going because one of them kept calling me "Mr. Starbuck" and then in the next sentence "Ma'am"; another decided my name was Dan Starbuck (this happened once before, when I tangled with the LOL Office). They continually asked for a telephone number they could call to verify my identity, and then didn't call me on any of the three numbers (cell in my name, work phone with the number clearly attached to my name in a public directory, cell registered to me through my company) I gave them.

Finally this morning I had a very long chat with a woman who seemed confused about whether or not my application was going forward. At one point I actually had to use the phrase "Okay, but assuming that I'm me..."

I did not yell at her or be rude to her, but finally when we had reached what appeared to me to be a dead end, I said, "Well, thank you for your help," and hung up before she could say goodbye. This is a very powerful weapon, to be used only in extreme cases, because if you're polite to someone and then hang up before they're ready for you to hang up, the guilt is unbelievable.

Two minutes later she called me back at my office phone, and said that since I answered the phone number I'd given them, I must be me, and she was going to be releasing the hold on my account.

So, that's a triumph of perseverance if not of logical thinking. Honestly for a while there I was beginning to wonder if I was me.

In local news, it's all about the University of Chicago today; much as I love the school, I can't deny their free speech policy this week seems...iffy.

On the other hand, a place that's been sponsoring an intellectual debate about the relative merits of latkes and hamantashen for sixty-five years can't be all bad.