(no subject)

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways To Give:

starlingthefool linked to Librotraficante, which is a project out of Houston to bring banned books to students in Tucson, because apparently there's an ethnic studies ban. They're giving away books from a taco truck, and have a Kickstarter going to raise funds here.

bluejeans07 linked to a fundraiser for Gary Friedrich, the creator of Ghost Rider, who has been successfully sued for $17,000 because he claimed he had rights to Ghost Rider and Marvel begs to differ. Marvel is no longer allowing Gary Friedrich to promote himself as the creator of Ghost Rider or sell merchandise with Ghost Rider on it as well, including drawings at cons and such, which sets a dangerous precedent for artists who promote themselves in relation to their creations or sell art of licenced characters to suppliment their income. Which I don't need to tell you guys is minimal to start with. (Marvel, why you gotta be like this just when I was getting into Avengers fandom, you fucks?)

lasergirl needs help to get out of a bad living situation. She's asking for donations and also has an Etsy shop preparing to go live.

bakaknight is running a fandom Charity Give, in honor of amidala_thrace, asking fans to donate the cost of a Star Wars Phantom Menace 3-D ticket to dEBra, a charity that's working to provide information and funding for treatment and research of Epidermolysis Bullosa. (And honestly, I know 3-D is the new fad and all, but do you really want Lucas to use cheap tricks to wring another ten bucks out of you?)

kate_nepveu linked to con_or_bust, a fund that helps fans of color attend SFF cons. Its annual online auction is live this week and has lots of cool stuff like a care package of Israeli snacks, an ARC of John Scalzi's forthcoming novel Redshirts, and a print of the new cover art for the Wheel of Time ebooks. You can find more info here.

Give For Free:

queencallipygos runs a playwriting contest every year and is in desperate need of volunteer scriptreaders in NYC, preferably with theatre experience, to help out. More info is here.

tracy_rowan didn't submit this, but has a post up about the Romance Writers Ink clusterfuck, where their "More Than Magic" romance novel contest has announced they will not accept LGBT submissions. She has information, articles, and a petition to sign to demand inclusion for all.

Fans Helping Fans:

shadowenangel is looking for roommates to share an apartment in South Minneapolis, starting in April or May. She's got a full rundown of the fan-friendly, pet-friendly apartment here.

brainwane reminds us that college and graduate students can get paid to work on open source software this summer! Now's the time to start thinking about it...

News To Know:

taerowyn linked to Not MY Nude: Brown Bra Scavenger Hunt, which has now ended but which is still, I think, pretty important reading, especially the report on the responses people recieved to their inquiries to bra companies.

jonaht linked me to an article about how the Supreme Court has ruled that Congress may legally remove artistic works from the public domain and grant them copyright status. Presumably there's some kind of good reason for this, but all I can think is that Disney must have them by the balls.

xtricks linked to an article about the political leanings of Karen Handel, the former VP who is kind of blatantly, obviously responsible for Komen's recent assholery. As Xtricks points out, there's no way the board didn't know this when they hired her, which means Komen's governing board probably either shares or condones her beliefs.

altamira16 also linked to an article on Ari Fleischer's involvement in the mess.

I also want to note that I have received multiple links regarding the "pink gun" aspect of the scandal, so I don't need any more -- I made an executive decision not to muddy the waters with a side issue which is unclear in and of itself, so that discussion won't be happening here.

Claire linked to Osocio's "Campaign of the Year 2011" winners for not-for-profit ad campaigns this year. (Komen is not among them. Shock.)

Hey everyone, have a handy infographic about what you wish you'd known Before Your Job Interview!

Just For Fun:

phi linked to a fascinating post on performance and fandom and Madonna's super bowl halftime show.

bodlon linked me to LIFE IMITATING WHITE COLLAR.

Emily linked me to an awesome tumblr, Calumet 412, which contains vintage photos of Chicago and the Chicagoland area. Awesome stuff.

A reminder: There will be no Radio Free Monday next week, as I'll be traveling most of this week. I will be tossing up a post next Monday where you can comment with links you'd like to share, but if you comment before then with something for RFM, it won't be posted until the 20th.

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, brevity is the soul of RFM.

(no subject)

We're always having adventures in ( A Cheaper World )

And we have several guest strips from Whirly Geek! (That third one made me LOL hard.)

Incidentally, if you're in Chicago, Groupon has a "$5 for $10 at Forever Yogurt" today that's especially good, since the $10 comes in giftcard form so you don't have to spend it all at once. I got it last year and loved it (don't let the PR about "froth" fool you, they're just pushing their "winter feature").

Also, if you're new to Groupon and you register for the site via this link, I get $10 in credit when you buy your first coupon, since that's my recommendation link. Happy grouponing!