#$$$ because they retail for $$$$$$$$$ and we're trying to raise money here

[mirrorofliterature]

charity op shops are fundamentally about fundraising for charity so yes that gucci dress is $200 we also have donated dresses for $5 like

the sheer entitlement of so many thrifters, I swear.

*goes to the higher brand clothing donated new, generally sold for 1/3, sometimes 1/10, of the retail price*: why is everything so expensive! these charities are greedy.

*the other half of the shop full of $5-$10 good quality donated goods that doesn't exist apparently*

[the-firebird69]

There's a huge number of miscreants out today and we have to start getting out there and chasing down this warrants and apbs and they're massively annoying and they are implicating themselves but it needs to be enforced in order for that to do anything. They're talking smack out loud to him and you can hear it and they don't care about going to prison I guess I don't care about getting sick in prison. Haven't they serve the chocolate fudge ice cream in prison

**there's a huge number of these stores and we're acquiring all of them it's a giant chain and it's Target believe it or not the one of the world's largest retailers on Earth it's all mostly close and they sell toys and they sell small appliances some toiletry items bathroom items and small amount of furniture it's a lot of clothing and it's a huge huge chain they grew significantly in the past two years and people can go in and get something to eat and it only takes a few minutes and that's why they do it Walmart takes too long the store is too big and you can't get clothing there it's not just low level stuff so it's been doing very well it needs to be revamped about half the clothes mostly by the schmuck John River Lord who is here in the park indicating himself again in a minor crime compared to his other crimes. And we're also talking about another retailer but these people are signing to us and they don't want to retain a chair not one chair

**this retailer is gigantic everybody knows who they are and it's Marshalls and it's one of the largest retailers in existence it is third to Walmart and Target and they sell all clothing and it is a competitor of JCPenney and Walmart and Target and they are the largest clothing distributors on Earth but the other stores have like a mixed sales and they sell different items and that's why they compete and but it is a very nice store because they have sales and things are price reasonably and have decent brand names but we're going to upgrade it it is done very well and survived well it's because of the max who are running it they did a very good job and their decent sales people and they present things well they also are organized so we're going to continue in those way in that vein to make sure that the business continues

**and one more retailer this is a size they are humongous they sell tons and tons of items and it's not necessarily just clothing it's a department store and it's bells and they have probably now 90% clothing but they have a better brand names than Target but they're more expensive and there's a larger selection and it's well presented and it's becoming a higher end place which we don't really want this there's three or four higher in places there's no need to add one and we're going to make sure it stays there another signing to us but they're going to retain two chairs and they have the goal of raising the prices and increasing the level of their brand names but we don't think that's very appropriate so we're going to stop that and they also have a lot of stock options by comparison to other companies we only have 80% if they want they can Branch off and have a higher end company then they won't do well because most people don't have the money on the look at it differently

**one of the final retailers and it's a pretty good size chain and they do Fair is Sears we mentioned them before they said they're humongous but now they're not this sold a lot of their stores and those stores went to places like bells and they went to Target and other places inside malls even and it's showing all over the United States in the world and they're trying to start trouble with the name of the store Will Smith people it didn't work and Sears is going to sell a variety of products and we're going to reopen Sears automotive because people have almost no place to do automotive work. The sunny over the majority of the company and we'll have 90% of it and they want to retain two chairs in Sears believe it or not two chairs so we know what that is and we understand it. We're going to open a Sears outlet branch and put it at all the outlet stores again they took them out in the late 90s and we're going to include lawn mowers and small equipment and construction equipment and tools at those places including hand tools and power tools excavators backhoes the small one it's actually a good size and more

**there's a few more companies that were acquiring today and they're in the retail industry and we have about 80% of the stock and 20% is not controlling share and we hold most of the chairs in these companies list them as people haven't heard of it for a long time is filenes Nordstrom's Macy's and Neiman Marcus and several other high-end stores JCPenney had a high-end store division but they canceled it and our son says they should probably open it again only because JCPenney had high-end stuff at a lower price that's a good reason to do that and their suit stores terrible now I can't you can't wear the stuff and it's $300 for a stretchy suit that they would sell in the past for 80 bucks

**a couple other retailers and they are large and they're all over the place and people always miss it and the Sun is missing they're part of the chain and that chain is like Marshalls but it's not and it's clothing but we'll discuss it later apparently it's not caliber they're closed they're gone. It's a large chain and the sun is not been there for a long time but where are we opening it and it's like filene's but it's less expensive it's more like a cow door or Target and we have fun to be useful it's like Marshalls

**there's a couple other stores that are going to be acquired by us today Lock stock and barrel we're going to have about 90% of the shares by the end of the day today and will retain all the chairs except two ourselves really where just going to let them retain too and these stores are chain stores they're different specialty shops we mentioned the outdoor store and that's one that's signing to us and there's several stores of that nature Dick's sporting goods and some other sporting goods stores as well as furniture stores there's like 10 major furniture stores including Ikea although Ikea is not signing we are gaining shares right now we have 60% I'm pretty soon they'll start selling because we're going to start changing management and we're going to change out employees and how they run things right now they're trying to run in the ground and they're going to all be fired and decided to leave the country you'll become arrested and then you go to jail then prison then they get sick then they disappear. Ashley's is signing over everything except 20% the retaining two chairs canes deciding everything over no chairs retained and we're going to keep the company says even though we're thinking not to and it's for the name there's about 20 other furniture stores and Jordan's furniture is still pretty big and we are retaining the company name and employees we have 90% they're retaining one chair and it's Mac and there's four other huge companies and for the life of me says I can't remember them that idiot repeated Ashley furniture 50,000 times a day and we hate him and it's one thing he's doing trying to do a lot of people it's dumb down people. Is a lot of furniture out there most of it's way too expensive and most of the companies are far too expensive and we're not going to take over the factories they're going to go out of business when they go out of business we'll take over there outlet store sell off their stock at a steep discount probably 10% of original cost because it's way too much and we'll start producing hours more and put it in there right now it's too much money it's ridiculous they can't charge that much and survive and these people are obnoxious and try to move our son instead he moved them a bunch of f****** assholes and she got to departing message you're probably not welcome in the country at all she's going to go tell people they didn't start bothering people and get killed

There's a lot of retailers out there that were signing over today I would say 50% of the industry and by sales and my volume of sales the number of companies is almost 50%, so it's a decent demographic and there's tons of teeny ones too where gobbling up and we're going to change over immediately it's too much of this b******* and stores that sell one garment a week and and they usually suck and you can't wash it without falling apart that's what fisherman's village it's all about and those people are corn okay it's disgusting we're going at it with these people in a moment I've had it with your s*** he said over there s*** too that's a clone and the family's ruined and the husband is been missing for 2 weeks and she doesn't know what to do Samantha said it's a warlock but he said it can cause trouble to figure out the case and he's on it.

John remillard heard it but now he's on the case he's going to figure out what happened these people are heinous heinous jerks his clones are nasty f*****.

Them other big businesses that are signing over to us and basically they run most of the business on the planet and it's kind of gross cuz there's not enough in the FBI is going to start bothering us and we're going to crush them they're full of clones. Tuesday we're going to talk about boat companies he's going to get lunch somewhere

Thor Freya

[homemobility3rd]

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[lilbasthet]

OK, I have no clue if anyone has talked about the discussion on period products in Germany and recent developments. So let me do this here.

I think it's kinda nice of Druck to address this issue even if it's just in order to make Lou look like a bad influence (I'm not buying it) and to show us that Constantin has a job now.

Not only in Germany but also in other European countries people with periods have petitioned and demonstrated for free period products. In Germany period products were taxed at 19% because they were seen as luxury items(!) until 2020. After a lot of fighting feminist groups got that lowered to 7% (that's the tax on all necessary items like bread and stuff). But there was no reason to celebrate. Because all producers of such products (except for Einhorn Period which is kinda run by feminists for feminists) just raised the prices so that in the end all period products cost the same as before. Now we're just paying "pink tax" on them just like we do on loads of other products that are specifically marketed to women. (who of course aren't the only people with periods, but a big chunk of them)

So, I get it. Period products and their cost are a legitimate issue, and I'm glad we're getting a character like Lou who makes young people aware of the fact that this shit isn't fair. I didn't even dare think about such things when I was her age.

Another thing for all those people trying to say she's not stealing from big corporations and only hurting the shop assistants. I don't know how this works in your country, but I know enough people who work in retail (and specifically in one of our 2 big drugstore chains) in Germany. And believe me, the shop assistants usually don't get in trouble for people stealing from the shop (especially not if it's tampons rather than 50€ worth of makeup). The store has insurance for that. Loads of products aren't sold and have to be thrown out or taken home by the people who work there. That's why many shop assistants (at least in Berlin) don't even bother going after thieves in their stores. Too much hassle for a job that gives you a living wage and no more for a product that might be thrown in the trash anyway...

So believe me, the only thing Constantin should be worried about is the shopping baskets that fell over because he has to clean that up. And those were still neatly stacked so that's like a 5 minute job.

And don't get me wrong I don't condone stealing, but I'm also in the privileged position where I never had to steal to get by. (not saying that Lou has to steal)

I've been out of money for necessities like food, but I always had friends or family that could help me out. However, I have friends who don't have that luxury who sometimes steal from shops because they have to. And I know they're not hurting the workers with that (and usually not even the corporations). So I refuse to hold that against them.

So, long story short, I wouldn't praise Lou for stealing some tampons for herself and people from her school, but I also wouldn't demonize her for it. (Especially not when we see other crimes like underage drinking, smoking weed, trespassing and vandalism in Skam and Druck and celebrate it.)

[garaksapprentice]

This is absolutely an issue. It has been an issue for literal centuries, in one form or another. Modern issues around fast fashion and factory production leading to price distortion in the minds of consumers is the latest variant, and boy howdy do I dislike it.

I was listening to the Professional Weaver podcast the other day and the hosts said (paraphrased) "We're in a luxury market, creating luxury goods. We couldn't afford to buy our own work at the price we have to charge to be able to keep weaving." The guest agreed and expanded on that point, since she's not even trying to make a full-time living with her work. She's in that weird space between hobbiest and semi-pro, charging whatever she thinks she can still make sales at.

It's wild to think about, but the podcast hosts are a couple whose entire livelihood is in production weaving. And they wouldn't be able to afford one of their own blankets at their retail cost.

And this isn't the first interview they've had where the guest has said something along the lines of "I knew I'd never be able to sell things if I charged what I should be charging for my work, so I charge what the market will bear and do X part-time to pay the rest of the bills".

I think the "luxury market" part is particularly key here - artisan made products are a luxury item now, whether they should be or not. Unfortunately that means that the majority of people who want hand-made items can't afford to pay what they're actually worth. Even the people who actually understand what it is they're buying! The ones who understand the time and materials that went into it! Who understand that a $30 tea towel will still be drying dishes in 25 years! Even they can't afford the thing! And the people who don't get it, at all, are so much more annoying about it!

This all gets so much harder when people undercut prices to try to get sales, too. But that doesn't stop them from doing it. Etsy in particular is a difficult marketplace because 1) a lot of people are in non-US countries where the exchange rate makes their work look cheaper than it actually is, even once you factor in the extra shipping costs, and 2) there's a non-trivial number of people selling things for hobby-money.

And the hobbiests are almost worse, in a way - they just want to get rid of the thing they've made and not lose money on it. Because for them it's a nice way to get some extra money to buy more supplies for their hobby, instead of their entire living. Professionals in the craft space have been begging the hobby sellers to raise their prices for - well, decades at this point.

My mother sells little crocheted and knitted things at her local craft cottage/information centre, and she wouldn't dream of selling them for what they're worth using standard business calculations. When she was growing up, you sold that kind of thing (usually to a business, my grandmother used to knit on consignment for a local shop) for three times the cost of materials. And even though said materials have gotten so much cheaper, she still struggles to factor in her time in any meaningful way.

It's the same at my local weaver's guild. We have a gallery where members can sell their things on consignment - the guild takes 25% to cover costs. Handknit items must be made from at least 90% handspun fibre. Some of these people have been spinning, knitting and weaving for decades, and they turn out gorram works of art.

Most of the beanies in the gallery are $30-$40. That means the maker is getting $22.50-$30 per beanie. That price is obscene once you factor in the hours it takes to spin, ply, and wash the yarn, and then knit a beanie. A plain beanie - no colorwork, no embroidery, no fancy stitch patterns, which many of the guild beanies have. Maybe - maybe - the maker made $2.50/h. And that's not even factoring in materials.

I don't have a pithy conclusion here and I've rambled all over the shop, but as someone who tried very hard for a long while to make a living out of craft production, it sucks.

Crochet, fiber arts community, and artists come in real quick for a sec.

So I’m crocheting this bag and I’m getting a point where I can see myself selling my pieces, and I’m purposely making this bag to sell. I might keep it for a small bit to make content with it and show it off but I want it sold and I want to make more like it to sell. So I decided to look around to see what a bag like this might sell for online.

Im thinking about selling it at markets but this is a pretty pricey bag. To sell this I would also have to have cheaper items to sell and that requires more planning. Also, the big thing to note here is that while most crochet would be expensive because of the time you put into it, this bag has a pretty pricey upfront cost on top of the time. We’re talking $40-$60 in upfront, something you only see with like blankets or maybe a dress.

Anyway, I decide that the type of person who might want this kind of bag may be on Etsy, and I know there are people selling this kind of bag on that site and so I went over.

Tell me why most sellers are selling the exact same bag for $60 🥴. Also mind you, it takes about 6-8 hours to make depending on your energy and skill.

I included both upfront and just the minimum wage (in FL) for the amount of hours, then rounded up to get a minimum cost of at least $150 if I were to sell it. Close to $200 if I have to add different colors and accessories. You also have the concept of selling for twice the amount that you paid for to be able to get double the materials to make more and thats over $300. I’ve seen one person selling for $400 (marketing was on point for it but still…). And Etsy sellers are only selling it for $60 🥴🥴🥴 that’s not even enough for the labor!!

I know we want to make art accessible for everyone. And yes, an artist can sell their art at any price point. But damn, at least put cost and labor into it 😭 it really hurts my heart to see people undervaluing themselves selves. Like yes the recession is technically here for consumers but it’s also so for artists too. Artists will forever deserve to get paid, and we as a society gotta do better with paying them and showing that appreciation.

[waywardfangirl]

For the fantastic @fight-surrender: You are a wonderful person with a brilliant mind and a kind heart, and I am so happy to know you! I really enjoyed the prompts you suggested for the Secret Snowflake exchange this year, so to give you something fluffy and happy for your birthday I combined a few of them into one sweet and silly fic - I hope that you like it! 🖤

A big thank you goes out to @carryonvisinata for her wonderful beta work and for making this fic even better for such an incredible friend 🖤 Purr-fect Strangers

Rated: General Audiences Word Count: 3208 Chapters: 1/1 Simon

"Die Hard? Really?"

I'm struggling to make the Redbox give me my DVD. Video vending machines sounded like a good idea when I couldn't find anywhere to stream my favorite movie, but the obstinate thing in front of me and the condescending voice behind me are now making me reconsider my choices.

"What's wrong with Die Hard?" I demand, momentarily giving up on retrieving my video to take some of my frustration out on the prick watching me.

Unfortunately, when I turn around to scowl at him, I make eye contact with one of the most attractive people I've ever seen. He's tall, with dark hair escaping the bun on top of his head and falling around his face, and a perfectly tailored suit hugging every inch of his body right on down to his shiny Chelsea boots. My brain shorts out, and he sneers at me.

"There’s nothing wrong with it, per se. But you have a near unlimited assortment of cinema to choose from, and you've selected Die Hard?"

(Read the rest on ao3, or keep reading here)

I scoff.

"Look, mate, some of us don't feel the need to watch pretentious films just to feel better than other people. I like Die Hard. I'm going to watch it while eating pizza and relaxing in joggers, and I refuse to feel bad about enjoying that."

He looks a bit startled, and his cheeks take on a slightly pink tinge, but he just arches an eyebrow at me. (And manages to make that look unfairly hot too, the prat.)

"What movie are you renting?" I say it like a challenge, and he pushes past me.

He deftly removes my DVD from the stubborn machine and thrusts it at me, before turning back around to get his own. I loiter behind him, just like he did to me, ready to see what movie he thinks is better than Die Hard.

"Two Weeks Notice?" I exclaim, when I see the poster pop up on the screen. "You're ridiculing Die Hard, but getting a rom-com for yourself? Unbelievable."

He pushes past me and turns up his nose. My blood boils for so many different reasons, and it's work to hold myself still.

"This has Hugh Grant in it. My tastes are superior."

Then he swans off, and I'm left standing on the kerb.

Baz

A year into my time at university, I started treating myself to a monthly visit to Sephora. It was easily excusable then, with parties every weekend to justify each new purchase, but I've kept up the tradition since graduating. (Retail therapy and good skin care never hurt anyone. And a little eyeliner does wonders for one's self esteem.)

This month, I'm browsing for something sparkly. My eyes are grey, but with a dark, glittery liner I think they might stand out a little more. I'm just testing one of the pencils on the back of my hand when I see him.

Blond hair, plain blue eyes, and a constellation of freckles and moles across his skin. The most lovely man I have ever seen, with the worst taste in movies, and (I'm sure) a well-deserved hatred for me.

For all that I try to appear cool and confident, my facade sometimes fails me. When I get flustered, I become cruel. The man renting Die Hard was so pretty that all I could do was insult him and then curse myself for it the entire way home. I couldn't even properly enjoy Hugh Grant, as mired as I was in self-loathing. And now, whatever second chance to impress him I've been granted with has surely been ruined by my actions last time.

I keep my head down and steal glances at him through my eyelashes.

He is entirely out of his element, that much is obvious right away. I watch him ask one of the shop assistants for help, and she points him in the direction of a display. His brow furrows as he picks up different containers, and he’s ridiculously precious and hopeless as he holds a lipstick tube next to a garish eyeshadow palette and closes one eye to look at them. (What is he even doing?)

Finally, his confusion seems to win out, and he turns to look around for help, when he suddenly spots me. I've been caught out; I can't pretend now like I haven't been staring, and he scowls a little as we make eye contact. I arch an eyebrow, watch as his face grows pink in anger, and decide I hate myself enough to try talking to him again.

"That's really not your shade."

"What?" It's a simple word, horribly enunciated, and does nothing to quell the wrinkle between his eyes.

"The purple. I don't think it would flatter you. Furthermore, that lipstick clashes horribly with every color in that palette."

He turns a bright red and starts to splutter. I am hopelessly endeared.

"That's not- I, I don't- it isn't-"

"Oh, calm down, there's nothing wrong with wearing makeup," I say, flashing him the back of my hand with the eyeliner tests on it. "You just need to pick a better shade." I pluck a different palette (for blue eyes) and a lipstick in a true red from the display and hand them over. "Something like this."

He stares at them dumbly for a moment, his mouth hanging open. (Mouth breather.)

"You think I should wear this?"

"I think it would flatter you if you chose to wear makeup. That purple will do you no favors." I sneer at the garish eyeshadow still in his hand.

"It's for my friend!" he finally bursts out.

"Are you mad at her?" It's a reasonable question, that eyeshadow is truly appalling.

"No? It's her birthday next week, and she said that she wanted to have some makeup for date nights and things."

"Are you in love with her?"

"No!" No hesitation at all. "No, no way. Penny is like my sister. She's my best friend. We're not…" he trails off, and I'm strangely reassured. He still probably hates me, but at least there is one woman in the world that he’s not dating, so my odds have improved marginally.

"Don't get your pants in a twist. I just thought you might be, since that eyeshadow would certainly drive away her current boyfriend."

He sticks out his chin and seems to decide something.

"Fine. What should I get for her, then?" The “if you know so much” is left unsaid.

I'm not really an expert, despite my monthly purchases, but I'll take any excuse I can get to linger around this starburst of a boy for a few moments more.

"Does she wear makeup normally?" He shakes his head no. "Then perhaps start with something more subtle for her." I take the offending palette away and hand him a more subdued one, with a faint shimmer. "Do you think this would look nice on her?"

He thinks hard for a moment, then pulls out his phone, swiping at the lock screen and turning it to face me.

"This is her."

His home screen background is a picture of the two of them, cheeks pressed together and grinning like crazy under the summer sun. His curls are being tossed by the wind, and he looks like a bronze Adonis. I think my heart actually skips a beat at the sight.

"That palette will be fine then. This lipstick, too," I add, handing him a plum shade. "Do you need anything else?" I ask, and then cringe when I sound like I'm working instead of flirting.

He shakes his head.

"No, this is brilliant, thanks."

He still looks a bit confused, and he bites his lip as he looks down at the makeup in his hand - the makeup for his friend, and the things I picked out for him.

I don't want to go, but I can't figure out any way to prolong our conversation.

"You should get that one," he says, pointing to one of the lines on my hand. I raise an eyebrow in question. He's right, but what does this mean? Is he flirting? Does he want me to wear eyeliner? Is he just trying to repay me for helping him? "Yeah. Definitely that one."

He raps his knuckles on the counter beside us twice, and then wanders towards the check out.

It's not until I'm trying to fall asleep that I realize - he bought the makeup for himself too.

Simon

One of my foster fathers had a workshop, and I spent a happy summer watching him build a table and matching chairs for the dining room. I didn't get to stay to see it completed, because one of his biological children kept stealing money out of his mom's purse and blaming me, but I still enjoyed the time I had spent watching woodworking. I liked it so much that when Penny and I graduated and got a flat together, I saved up to buy a few tools. I don't make anything major, but I've built small shelves and a side table and a pan organizer for the flat, and I really like it.

Recently, Penny has been complaining about not being able to reach everything in the kitchen, so while she's still at work I stop by the B&Q to pick up some wood for a step stool. I'm heading to the check out when I see him - the mean makeup guy. (Although he was actually quite nice when we were talking about makeup. He was just rude when we were getting our movies.)

He's dressed casually today, in tight dark jeans and a warm grey sweater, with his hair falling in loose waves around his face. He's glaring down at two wrenches, and I hate that he still looks so good when he's glowering.

Before I even register what's happening, my feet have carried me over to him.

"D'ya need help?"

He startles, and turns lovely grey eyes up to look at me. It's work not to gasp. He’s wearing eyeliner. I'm not entirely sure, but I think it may even be the eyeliner I told him to buy.

"The sink in my kitchen is leaking. I watched a tutorial on YouTube, and it should be easy enough to fix, but I don't have the proper tools."

He goes back to glaring at the wrenches, and I lean over to take a look.

“You want that one.”

“Why? How do you know?”

“Well, it’s adjustable. You can change it within reason, so as long as your plumbing isn’t something incredibly out of the ordinary it should fit just fine.”

He looks surprised (and maybe a bit like he wants to attack me, although I try to ignore that).

“How do you know that?”

I laugh.

“Basic home maintenance, mate, I’ve had to fix a leaky sink before too, believe it or not.”

I grin at him until one corner of his mouth tips upward in response.

“Thanks,” he says, his cheeks flushing a little. “I’ll get this one then. Yes. Thank you. Have a nice evening.”

He strides off, once again leaving me feeling a bit dazed.

He looks really good in eyeliner.

Baz

When Fiona discovered I hadn’t left the apartment in a week, she called in the cavalry. Daphne showed up at my door with a casserole and some flowers, and within minutes she had the kitchen feeling like a place that was less utility space and more home.

“Basil, Fiona is worried about you.” I rolled my eyes, despite knowing it wouldn’t get me anywhere. “I’m worried about you, too. You spend so much time by yourself, and you hardly ever go out to see your friends or enjoy the city.”

“I’m fine. Thank you for your concern.”

“Basil,” she had said, and that time it was a warning. “It’s not healthy for anyone to spend this much time alone.”

“What, do you expect me to get a cat?”

Daphne smiled, and I knew that I had said the wrong thing.

“Yes, actually. And,” she said, before I could object, “Fiona thought you should too. In fact, she made it a condition of your continued occupancy of this flat. We both think it might be nice for you to have someone else around to talk to.”

I arched an eyebrow.

“And you want me to talk to a cat?”

Daphne just gave me a Mona Lisa smile, handed me a plate filled with food, and told me when she left later that evening that I had forty-eight hours to send her a picture of a cat. (I asked what I should do if I didn’t like any of the cats I saw. Or if they didn’t like me. She said I had to at least prove that I tried.)

So, this morning, I made my way to the nearest RSPCA and talked to strangers for the first time in over a week. I told them that I was looking to adopt a cat, and they immediately led me to a room filled with individual cages and an assortment of felines. They said I could play with any of the cats that I wanted, and now I’m staring into the eyes of a fluffy orange tabby.

The tabby meows at me, and I swear that she’s telling me to get lost. I guess cats can tell when you’re out of your depth.

I stroll down the aisle and read the names given to each cat. It’s been years since I last had a pet and even then, the husky my family had wasn’t my sole responsibility. I was in charge of feeding him, but there was always someone else making sure that I did. And really, we only adopted him when my pediatrician suggested that an animal might help me after my mother died. Daphne is probably trying to do the same thing again now. (Is this how one becomes a crazy cat lady? Depression, anxiety, OCD, and an unwillingness to tolerate therapy?)

I keep walking slowly until I feel a tug on my sleeve. I look down, and a little orange paw ending in one very sharp claw has latched on to me. I unhook it before my sweater can snag, and then look into the kennel. There are two kittens, each only about ten weeks old according to their cards, and the orange one is peering up at me with big blue eyes. Its littermate is asleep in the corner, curled into a fluffy black puffball, but the tabby is ready to play. His tail twitches, and he pounces immediately when I wiggle a finger between the bars. He catches my fingertip in a far more gentle grasp than I would have imagined, then looks at me with what can only be described as pure adoration.

“Excuse me,” I say, moving my finger some more and feeling small claws dig in. Then again, louder, to get the attention of the woman, “Excuse me. Can I see this one?”

The woman comes over and flips the latch, then reaches in and comes out with a handful of fur and knives. The kitten opens its mouth in a fierce imitation of a vampire, then stretches it further as it lapses into a yawn. We spend the better part of an hour in a bright, cheerful room, just the kitten and I. At first it chases a string that I drag along the ground and runs after balls with bells in them, but then it calms down and curls up in my lap to sleep.

I’m petting it and cooing softly to it, trying to ignore the fact that Daphne and Fiona were both right about this whole thing, when the door to the room opens again.

“Oh. It’s you,” says the most beautiful man I have ever seen. My face flushes when I remember our last encounter and I pray he doesn’t remember my ignorance. (Of course he does. I didn’t know how to select a wrench. I am incapable of basic home repair and he knows it.)

“Do you two know each other?” The woman from before is back, this time holding the other kitten from the same cage, and looking between the two of us. “These kittens aren’t technically a bonded pair, but they are siblings, the only two remaining from their litter, and it would be lovely if they could still see each other.”

“Err…” the man says, shifting his weight.

“We’ve met in passing a few times now,” I say, trying to avoid encouraging this line of questioning.

“Great!” she says, clapping her hands brightly after handing the kitten off. “I’ll leave all of you to get better acquainted then!”

For a moment, there’s just awkward silence. Neither of us are looking at each other, both focusing on our respective kittens. Then, his kitten turns into the feline equivalent of a slinky, oozes out of his grasp, and runs over to tap my leg once before running away again. It hides behind his legs, and all I can see is a black tail winding around his ankles.

We both laugh, and the ice is broken.

“I’m Simon,” he says, and smiles at me. It’s the same radiant smile I remember from his lockscreen. It feels like looking into the sun, and I bask in it.

“Basil. Although my friends call me Baz.”

“Are you going to…” he trails off, but gestures to my cat.

“Yes,” I look down and give it a scratch under the chin. “I’m going to adopt it.”

“Same here,” Simon says, and then he blushes. “I mean, unless it rips my face off in the next few minutes, but I think this is the one.”

“Do you know which one you have?” Their names and genders were on the cage, but it didn’t specify who was who.

“No idea. I’m going to rename mine anyway though, I didn’t like either of those names.”

“I was planning on doing the same thing. If I’m going to have a pet, it needs to have a proper name befitting its personality. Not something mundane like Fluffy.” I scowl, and he laughs.

As his kitten comes over to touch its nose to my kitten, Simon clears his throat.

“So, um, like she said, they’d probably be happy to have playdates or whatever. I mean, since we’re getting them. And since we keep running into each other. It might make sense to, you know, exchange numbers?”

“Yes!” I say, far too eagerly. “I mean, that seems reasonable. It would be more convenient than waiting to happen upon you in the Waitrose choosing inferior crisps to set up a future meeting.”

He smiles. “Well, yeah, there’s that. And this way, it’ll be easier for me to ask you out, ”

Then the absolute nightmare sits down beside me and hands me his phone. He texts me immediately once I enter my contact info.

Unknown Number (11:27 AM) This is Simon Snow

Unknown Number (11:27 AM) Your cat is cute.

Unknown Number (11:27 AM) So are you

Unknown Number (11:28 AM) Wanna get dinner sometime? ;)

I blush, and send him a reply.

Baz (11:29 AM) I thought you’d never ask.

[jmtorres]

hey so the latest thing that's making me headdesk on the "tumblr users don't understand why tumblr is going to die as a platform" is i've seen a couple of posts that are like "$3million? Anyone could buy it! let's start a gofundme and buy tumblr ourselves!"

my dearhearts, $3 million may be the value of tumblr's assets less its liabilities, or it may be a totally made up figure between two companies like your dad selling you his old car for $1, but it doesn't remotely touch what it costs to RUN Tumblr. as far as I can tell, tumblr is a money pit, which is probably why verizon was willing to sell it at a huge loss--it was already losing them money.

accounting super basics: Revenues - Expenses = Profit. If it's positve it's profit. If it's negative it's loss.

Revenues are any income. If you are a retail store, when customers buy groceries or whatever from you, the money they pay you is revenue. If you're a cable company, the fees customers pay for your services are revenue. If you're Tumblr, your revenue comes from ads. Best estimate I could find on the internet, Tumblr makes about $12-13million a year in ad revenue, and possible some relatively negligible amount from those premium blog layouts hardly any users are willing to pay for.

$13 million, you think, okay! So a year after buying Tumblr we'll be sitting pretty!

If you didn't have to pay anything to maintain it, maybe. But there are expenses.

Expenses are anything a business has to pay to stay in business. You have paid employees? Their wages are expenses. If you're a retail business, all those products on your shelves, you bought them from manufacturers or wholesalers, and what you paid for them are expenses. You rent office space? Expense. You pay utilities? Expense. You advertise? Expense. If you're Tumblr, your expenses are lots of server and data things. A lot of us don't really have a good handle on how much that costs, and went I went poking the internet I had a pretty hard time come up with anything, because Tumblr never had to file public financial statements and it was not a big enough segment of either Yahoo or Verizon for their financial statements to itemize its operations from their other segments. So I don't have a good estimate for their total expenses, but I found one article from like 7 years ago when they switched from hosted servers to running their own data center and were bragging about how much money it saved them. They went from $4-5million a month a server costs to $2million a month on server costs. So that's ONE expense. I poked my partner, who works in webhosting, and their reaction was "Huh, I'm surprised they saved that much, but also they're probably still paying a shitton for [other technical things that went over my head]."

So we have ONE expense for Tumblr estimatd at $2million a month, that is to say $24million a year. They have other expenses which are probably comparable if not more, I just have no way of estimating them. But that revenue figure of $12-13 million per year? Doesn't remotely cover that one expense, let alone all the other untold expenses.

When I say Tumblr's going to get shut down if no one can figure out how to monetize it, this is what I'm talking about. It's operating at a loss. It's been operating at a loss for years. It does not make enough money to cover its expenses, and frankly the amount of money going down the drain on it annually makes its $3million price tag sound like nothing. Automattic wants to try more freemium--I don't know if that will work, I don't know if anything will work, but they HAVE to try to do something to get money out of Tumblr because we're not talking about trying to turn a profit here, not really, we're talking about trying to get it to stop hemorrhaging money. Tumblr could float along if it could BREAK EVEN. If they can't get Tumblr to the break even point, they'll cut their losses and sell it on, or shut it down. That's all there is.

so like, maybe you could raise enough money to buy it--but what the hell would you do with it? Pour more money down its gaping maw? If that's an investment you want to make, you need to either be so ludicrously wealthy you can spend millions every year on tumblr without return, or you need to come up with a plan for it to actually generate enough money to sustain itself.

[douchebagbrainwaves]

PROGRAMMERS WILL RECOGNIZE WHAT WE'RE DOING HERE

Whereas designing programming languages is like designing chairs: it's all about the ratio. Don't you learn things you'd never have known otherwise. The other thing I repeat is to give you a couple years, whereas his relationship with other firms will last his whole career. They create a new web-based applications, it could save you ten lines of code. But now you can read the beginning of the summer. Microsoft used this approach, their software wouldn't be so full of security holes, because the people offering expensive solutions can spend more to sell them to gullible retail investors; they hoped to sell through it. They had three new ideas: index more of the best programmers can solve a given problem. When I catch egregiously linkjacked posts I replace the url with that of whatever they copied. $300 a month, because the remaining. I could tell which companies to worry about than how to organize fundraising. The main value of notebooks may be what you want in your language may be related to how you qualify what you say.

Why do patents play so small a role in software? Investors August 2013 When people hurt themselves lifting heavy things, it's usually because I'm interested in this mystery—for the same reason, as a way to simulate the rewards of a startup that seems like what startups do. If you really have in financial models for something like that must obviously entail some wild feat of salesmanship. But there's a second much more common one. I think, should be. But they're not so advanced as they think; obviously they still view office space as a badge of rank. And not just from the technical community in general; a lot of middle class kids, getting into Harvard won't mean much anymore. Murder for example. Do what you love doesn't mean, do what will make you happiest this second, but no to the first couple generations.

They got paid a lot. So innovation happens at hacker speeds instead of big company jobs is particularly hard on programmers, because they'll attract only those who cared enough to learn it at all. It's wrong to call it an essay. Try a patent search for that phrase and see how many results you get. It's all-encompassing redesigns. What all this implies is that there are huge variations in the rate at which it changes is itself speeding up. The phrase seemed almost grammatically ill-formed. The intermediate stuff—in war, surprise is worth as much as Apple would. But because adults conceal their flaws, and at the same time. What do you wish someone else would get an even colder reception from the 19 year old.

That is certainly a good goal, but in fact they were probably pretty similar. That brings us to what I was saying. 23 is a better model. You can see this most clearly in New York. What do you read and feel sad that there's only half of it. File:///home/patrick/Documents/programming/python projects/UlyssesRedux/corpora/unsorted/nsearch. Bill Gates was young and inexperienced and had no business background, may be changing.

As long as things are going, and we think as it spreads outward it will help to understand what a real essay. Two of the four spams I missed got through because they happened to use words like fuck and shit within baby's hearing, lest baby start using these words too. On the other hand, startup investing is a very good spam indicator. And when a wolf appears, is he going to eat a certain amount to break even. Every movie is a Frankenstein, full of prowling VCs looking for the next hot platform is that thousands of hackers have spontaneously started building things on top of whatever you sold in phase 1, accept offers greedily. There were a few other things most people can't imagine such freedom. But writing an interface to a buggy piece of software, not designing it. But schools change slower than scholarship. After a few seconds I realized this was kind of intimidating at first.

But only one company we've funded has so far worked in the spammer's favor, would now work against him, lest their motives be perhaps correctly suspected. This is an astounding number, because the VCs need them more than any house might. So it's winner take all. He only took it up because he was a startup guy. Why do they think it's time to buy. It has always seemed to me the solution is analogous to the solution I recommend for pitching your startup: do the right thing. Org chart. Get rapidly to demo. But don't give them much money either.

And you don't want to wait for better technology: early aircraft designers were mistaken to design aircraft that looked like birds, but I got the impression it might be helpful in deciding what to do in the design of the program benefits from evolution. Like early medieval architecture, impromptu talks are made of lists, which are the most common mistakes young founders make is not the sort you face when you're tacking upwind, trying to arrange deals. Google's founders were willing to pay more to keep them fed, and as users buy more stuff the search results useless, because the kind of work. Instead of trading violins directly for potatoes, you trade decreased financial risk for increased risk that your company won't succeed as a startup would usually become profitable only after raising and spending quite a lot in the course of writing it, they had about 500 people, the same number Yahoo had when I went to work for a while, but their production. So I don't think there's any limit to the number of startups founded by eminent professors. In a few days it will be a little frightening to be solving users' problems. As Richard Feynman said, the imagination of nature is greater than the imagination of man, he meant that if you don't want to have too much to do with the sort of economic violence that nineteenth century magnates practiced against one another and communist countries practiced against their citizens.

Thanks to Rich Draves, Geoff Ralston, Ingrid Bassett, Dan Giffin, Aaron Swartz, and Paul Kedrosky for reading a previous draft.

[justyouraveragebpdgirl]

2-25-22

It's currently 9:12pm where I am. I have had the last two days off to relax and catch up on my sleep since I've been SUPER crazy busy at work the last month. BUT I did get a pay raise so I don't mind.

I used to work retail before, like Price Chopper and Walmart, and even a Cirilla's. I always hated it, I dreaded coming to work, I'd get such anxiety that I'd often call out. I don't do that anymore, I really like my new job and I've been here.... 2 months now? I'm a front desk employee at a hotel, and I do meet some very fun and interesting people, including some of my FAVORITE regulars, including a man who has lived there the last 14 months as he searches for a house, a woman and her husband who spend every weekend with us as they look to buy a house too (and sell their own), and a man who comes every few weeks and sometimes brings his cats. The first man, whom I'll call F, he is amazing, he is an older man who treats all of us like we're his grandkids or something. He is a war veteran, and just recently got out of the hospital after contracting COVID which caused a heart attack, and he also had stomach ulcers on top of that. He was in the hospital for ELEVEN days. He thankfully made it out, but I still check up on him and make sure he stays hydrated and takes care of himself. The woman (K) and her husband are SO sweet, and they bring their dog with them. They cook in their room and often bring me some whenever I'm working. I need to make them a cake! The third man (G) is really nice, very quiet, and I got to have a full conversation with him last week as we talked about our pets and the weather. It's the most conversation anyone's had with him, I think, as he is a very quiet and private man.

I did get to pick up my check earlier today and deposit it, then moved half of it into the savings account I made 2 weeks ago. So I have $1000 in there now. I make myself do it because then I can use that money later when I have an emergency, or I want to move out and get an apartment, or something like that. I would love to be able to afford an apartment by myself, and only have a roommate for the purpose of just being housemates for fun, not because I'm DEPENDING on their money. My best friend Miah and I would love to get an apartment together in a few years. I want to get a nice one, with maybe an extra room for an office space, so I can work on my writing or whatever I want/need to do.

Yesterday I FINALLY had some successful brainstorming, and I am very happy and proud. I read somewhere that one of my idols, R.L. Stine, first comes up with his titles for his books, and THEN he writes the book. So I tried that and it lead to several great ideas. I don't know why I never tried that before. I want to write short scary fictional books like he does.

Anyway, I think I'm going to hop off here and try to brainstorm some more before I need to shower and go to sleep for work tomorrow.

Goodnight, my fellow bloggers and readers. May your night bring you much restfulness!

With Love,

Annie ❤

[robuttsinyourthighs]

So i had posted this on Facebook and my best friend of like 17 or so years was fittest like "XD this makes me want one I mean it sounds good" and then continued posting like "but actually you're just mad to be mad stuff like this is distracting from real problems" and in essence acted like I'd just mindlessly shared an article about it and (in later conversation) said it was a bandwagon sort of anger, being mad because everyone else is. She then brought up tray there are more important matters or there like children in prisons at the border.

Yes, Karen, that's obviously a horrible problem that I have in no way forgotten about but I can't exactly take off from work to go busting these families out of these anti-humanitarian detention centers can I? Can YOU? I'm stuck getting by in the American middle class just like you, sweetheart. Corporate America.

If i could just make a Facebook post (like many have before me) and have it hold power on a local level to help these people that are dying and suffering at the border then i would. But it's just raising awareness and not helping much is it? There are more intensive actions needed through voting and volunteering and donating to people that ARE able to physically go and try to help at the border. So why post about anything else? This is just a first world problem uwu

Here's the thing-

I'm talking about this now because it's something stupid that is ABOUT you happen, so I'm not exactly going to wait until after and be like "ooh you shouldn't have gone to get a frap, ugh". This isn't a new irritation over Starbucks only, either.

I'm mad at how this one corporation so happened to tell their employees "look we hear you, we don't equip you guys to handle the rush caused when we do these limited runs, we are listening to you when you have told us it causes frustration for both you and customers when we release a difficult to make drink that takes forever and you don't even have supplies to start more that one or two at a time. We're LISTENING and we WON'T DO IT AGAIN" and then turned around and said "😜 HAHA NEW LIMITED FRAP BITCHES!"

This is fucked up. It's bad enough that people are unable to unionize under these massive companies forb fair wages, fair healthcare and treatment, and then the company is bold enough to LIE TO THEM?

Scenario: imagine a standard retailer that was always open black Friday and then one year said "okay but NOW we're open on Thanksgiving!" And then didn't send enough new product over for the sales, resulting in customers abusing staff and getting mad at one another. The employees don't get paid anything extra either. Imagine a holiday-esque rush with no holiday-equivalent pay?

The employees everywhere in this chain store beg corporate to not open on Thanksgiving, it's borderline torture and they were not prepared with enough product to satisfy demand. This happens the next few years until FINALLY their corporate says "okay we got you. We're not getting you guys taken care of when we do these rushes. You're Right. We won't do it anymore."

The employees relax..hooray! Holidays won't be as much of a pain- GOTCHA YOU HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN HAHA!

"That's messed up how can they do that?"

Because they want your MONEY

"But how do we get them to stop?"

DON'T BUY INTO THE GIMMICKS

Just Like if you feel bad for a retailer working a holiday then you don't go in on that holiday. It will show the company through their total sales if enough people DON'T GO then there's no profit increase and therefore more cost effective to close shop for the day instead of paying employees timeand a half to stand around doing nothing.

I'm very headed over Starbucks in particular because these employees get a week-long holiday-size rush and don't get time and a half. They don't get seasonal employees to helpwith the crowd. They don't have enough equipment to to keep up with demand and even run out of ingredients because corporate doesn't send enough. The customers take it out on the baristas and even if one person ahead ids causing a fuss it'll likely irritate enough people behind them into not tipping or being rude too.

Please.

I'm asking kindly.

Don't buy into this cycle of gimmicks to just down doors for limited time deals. They are rarely worth it and Starbucks in particular has a track record of their limited runs bring mediocre at best.

If you have any compassion in your soul pleas do NOT go to Starbucks for the new tie-dye trap. Just don't.