(no subject)

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Ways To Give:

gypsylady linked to a fundraiser for Carols Vazquez and his wife, who are battling her cancer after chemo has failed her. Carlos is taking a leave to help her, but that means he must pay his insurance fees, copays, and all other expenses on his own.

snufflesdbear linked to a gofundme fundraiser for enkidnuts, who is disabled and being denied Social Security benefits, and is currently in danger of losing their home.

snufflesdebear also linked to a fundraiser for maubast, who need to raise $700 by February 5th in order to keep her home and repair a broken septic tank. You can also paypal donate at bast@ravenshadow.net.

derien linked to Mobility For Stella, a fundraiser to help provide mobility aids to a young girl with cerebral palsey and financial assistance to her family.

girlingoldboots has been struggling with legal issues pertaining to an inheritance, as well as health issues and student loans. You can read more about it at the gofundme page she has set up to accept donations; she is also selling DVDs on ebay and has handcrafts (including some lovely scarves) available for sale at etsy.

Help For Free:

tealin is experiencing some issues with a UK visa which she can't find answers to in FAQs or from relevant authorities. She's looking for people with experiencing in UK visas for Canadian citizens, "the UKBA, communicating with the Foreign Office, or Mycroft's email address".

Stuff To Know:

stgreyhounds linked a few months back to a story about Avonte Oquendo, the non-verbal teen with autism who went missing in New York. They have, sadly, confirmed his death, but haven't said yet whether it was accidental or murder. The story is pretty gristly (body parts are involved) so read with care.

Just For Fun:

spiderine has a post up about What The Eighties Were Like, for fanfic writers who are writing in that period.

daroos linked to mysciencebeta, a group of scientists willing to help writers with science questions. Right now they're recruiting not just people with questions but also scientists to help answer them!

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 (or ask for help!).

(no subject)

I am at R's place tonight for pizza and bad documentary television, despite the fact that it's zero degrees out, -22 if you factor in wind chill. I couldn't resist going somewhere with central air and hot pepperoni pizza.

We were watching youtube videos of famous court trials, because why wouldn't you, when we got to talking about "crime porn" -- cheesy, cheap documentaries that lovingly re-enact real-life murders, complete with detailed death scenes. I don't even pretend these have any value; they are probably a signficant detriment to society. But they're also fascinating, and Behind Mansion Walls is both the best and the worst of murder porn. It's hosted by a guy who is so douchey that by the third season he's being filmed against a green screen so they can project him into a cocktail party he's not even attending.

Every time a dude comes on the screen, R says "HE DID IT." Sad thing is, he's almost always right.

Now we're watching a documentary on the FBI breakin in 1971, and R pointed to a map that came on the screen and said "I've been high EVERYWHERE ON THAT MAP."

In not-at-all-news: J. Edgar Hoover was an asshole, y/y.