In The Turning

Wow. Read this fic overnight and ended up sleepless & in tears for the better part of an hour. It's remus/hermione but it works in context, and the pairing, while important, doesn't overshadow the amazingness of the plot. Go, read. And think.

Yay! We're a 501(c)(3)

In September, 2004, FicitionAlley learned that our application for 501(c)(3) status has been approved by the IRS in the US. This means that we have been given tax-exempt status as a charitable organizations.. As a 501(c)(3) company, FictionAlley exists for the public good rather than for the financial benefit of an individual owner or multiple shareholders. The law does not prohibit a not-for-profit from accepting money; however, all funds must be used to promote our tax-exempt purpose of education.. The primary requirement for receiving 501(c)3 status is that an organization be both organized and operated towards the pursuit of certain educational or charitable objectives that benefit the public as spelled out in section 501(c)3.

In other words, all this means that contributions to FictionAlley, as a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the United States Internal Revenue Code, are eligible for deduction when computing your income taxes in the United States; please check with your tax planner, attorney or accountant if you have any questions or for specific information, or if you are from a country other than the United States.

As a nonprofit, FictionAlley obtains most of our funding for our server bandwith, domain names, software license fees and other expenses are obtained in various ways:
1. Donations from our generous users;
2. Purchases made when anyone makes a purchase using our links to the WB Shop, Amazon and the other businesses that we're an associate for; and
3. Purchases from our Cafe Press store.
(Note: We'd love someone to help us with grant-investigation and grant-application-writing. If you're interested, email us at help@fictionalley.org !)

We don't have pop-up ads or intrusive commercials, and we don't require any contribution or subscription from fanfic authors and artists, fic readers, or those who just want to discuss writing and the Harry Potter books.

And we're not planning to, either.

However, this means that every so often, we need to do these (possibly annoying) pledge drives. Those of you who live in the US are probably familiar with the fundraisers they do on PBS every so often; think of us as something similar, although hopefully less annoying.

For the past year, we've been saving for a server - our goal was $3,500 - but as of July, 2004, Dragon.com has been hosting FictionAlley, and all FA is going to have to pay are monthly bandwith fees; thanks Dragon.com!

However, we still have those bandwith fees, license fees and other expenses; it costs about four thousand dollars a year to keep FictionAlley online.

It's easy for you to help! Even a five dollar donation makes a difference - you can do it via PayPal, or by sending a check or money order made out to FAWC (or just send cash, although we don't recommend it) to us at FAWC at P.O. Box 36082, Denver, CO 80236-0082. We can accept donations in pounds, euros, Mexican Pesos and US, Canadian or Australian dollars. If you'd love to donate in other currency, please email us at help@fictionalley.org and we can see if it's possible. We're also sometimes able to accept donations of Potter-obelia from other countries, especially Japan, in lieu of money. Again, email us and let us know.

To donate via PayPal, click here.

Donations of $5.00 or more will entitle you to bookmark pages, notepads and eligibility (if you meet the other criteria) for FA's Advisory Committees (url=http://www.fictionalley.org/members.html). If you donate ten dollars or more, you'll get a special magnet from FictionAlley.

And if you're planning on shopping through Amazon, Hot Topic or the WB Shop anyway, please use our links (http://www.fictionalley.org/fictionalleypark/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8701) to place your order. A portion of every dollar you spend at those stores is donated by the store to FictionAlley, and helps cover our expenses each month.

Again, we appreciate whatever you can do. You're not required to donate anything or shop anywhere - but we appreciate whatever you can do!

Thanks!

Team FictionAlley

(no subject)

Gacked from copperbadge:
Reply to this entry with whatever is in your cut/paste buffer. just click on the "reply" link and do a paste into the resulting box.
Anonymous posting is allowed.

---

And gacked from melodylemming:



Pass along this small tribute, copy this code.

anniesj's word to the wise

Scary. Sad. Shocking. Suppressive. If you haven't read AnniesJ's lj post yet, please, read it now.

Yes, it's from moveon but it's useful for every voter

MoveOn has put together a wallet-sized card that has all the numbers and information you need if someone tries to stop you from exercising your right to vote. You can download it now at:

http://cdn.moveonpac.org/content/pdfs/ep_card.pdf

(Requires Adobe Acrobat software to load.)

And if you're in the state of Florida and want a few more state-specific numbers, post a reply and leave me your email addy and I'll zap them to you.

As MoveOn says:

In a great majority of polling places, of course, voting will be very efficient -- even fun. Poll workers will guide you through the process. They're non-partisan, and they are there to help.

But it's likely that some precincts will be targeted for vote suppression, and that's what we have to be on the look-out for.
Since one key suppression tactic is slowing down the voting process, we have to be careful not to fall into that trap. Don't obstruct: just demand that whoever is giving you trouble step aside with you and let the voting continue.

Let me add to that by saying two things:
1. They cannot bar you from voting on a provisional ballot, which is new this cycle, and which will only be counted if the number of provisionals in your district is the same size as or larger than the margin of difference. But only vote a provisional if you are in the right precinct. Otherwise there is no guarantee it'll count.

2. If you're having a problem, see if someone is wearing a LEGAL VOTING RIGHTS TEAM button, sticker or hat, or if there's a lawyer for a candidate or party there who isn't wearing one of the above. I, and thousands of other lawyers, will be at polls working to get everyone who's legally allowed to vote, a chance to cast a ballot.

Feel free to crosspost or link! GOTV!

(no subject)

So, did arafat say, at some point in the past decade, "Israel vote to pull out of Gaza? Not in my lifetime!' Or what?