#Budget (Website Category)

[marveltrumpshate]

The Marvel Trumps Hate 2024 auction has officially begun! View auctions and place bids at marveltrumpshate.com.

Remember, we have 180 creators and 293 auctions offering all types of works and all types of universes, fandoms, ships, and characters. Follow the suggestions below to find the perfect auction(s) for you and figure out your bidding strategy:

See all of the auctions on our website

Filter auctions through several different ways (work type, rating, universe, character, ship, and gen relationship), using the tags on our tag list and our tips on finding specific auctions such as auctions offering "teen-rated 616 Steve/Tony" or "all ships in the GotG fandom" on our search guide. You can also look at special auction categories we spotlighted here

Check out our list of creators

Read our bidding guide and Bidders FAQ

Consider matchmaking if you can't find what you're looking for or pod bids if you have a tight budget but still want to bid

If you're on our MTH offerings Tumblr, click the auction link on a creator’s post to bid on that specific auction on our site

The auction will close at 11:59:59 PM ET on Saturday, October 26 (what time is that for me?). Check out the countdown here.

For more information, check out our About | FAQ | Schedule | How to Participate | Supported Organizations pages, or get in touch with us!

See our charity spotlights here:

Current Events

Environment & Natural Disasters

Health

LGBTQ+

Civil Rights Advocacy & Litigation

Women's Rights

Education

Immigration & Refuge

Equity & Access

Best of luck, everyone! Have fun and most importantly, remember that all winning bids will be going directly to great nonprofit organizations that work tirelessly to make the world a better place.

[qqueenofhades]

For creative writing purposes, can you go into what a typical day is for a professor? Like what their teaching schedule looks like, when most fit in their research time, etc?

Ahaha, well. I don't want to just say "you can completely make it up," but also.... you can pretty much just make it up, and what is the case for one professor is definitely not going to be true for another. I have known people who will send emails at 1am and/or 4am, and actually finding and fitting in research time for most academics is also "lololololol what." So I can give you a roster of typical daily academic tasks and categories, and then let you know if that if you want to throw them up in the air and scatter them around in literally whatever-the-fuck order, there is probably a beleaguered academic who has done that, but with an even worse sleep schedule. So:

Most permanent faculty at a university are hired as assistant (tenure-track) professors. Once they pass the tenure-committee review (usually about 5 years into the job) they are appointed as associate (tenured) professors. Full professors are considerably senior and/or have been in the field for a long time and have a distinguished service record, excluding various wunderkinds who get it early (but are not common).

If the faculty is just teaching one class a semester or has an irregular appointment, i.e. they step in to teach when the university needs them, they are adjunct professors. You can gain a lot of cred and/or commiserating groaning in your AO3 comments by complaining about how little money the adjunct faculty makes, how erratic their schedule is, and how there is generally little-to-no actual career advancement possible in that position, unless they manage to reapply to a permanent post.

There are also a lot of Visiting Assistant Professors (and similar title), for 2- or 3-year/non-permanent appointments. Many institutions now also offer 1-year VAPs with only a possibility of renewal for 1 additional year or not at all. Those institutions should go straight to hell.

Most professors have 3/3 teaching loads, i.e. they'll teach 3 classes per semester (assuming winter/spring semester). Others have 2/2/2 loads for trimesters (also known as quarters). It can be more, i.e. 4/4, but that's for sucky entry-level teaching-only positions and someone in that role would be unlikely to have any research or service (i.e. institutional committee or internal college) commitments. They would probably also mostly be teaching introductory or freshman-year general survey courses. It depends on how much you want to torture your fictional academic.

Free food? Yes. You will see a healthy amount of the department there, whether faculty or student.

Please remember to have your fictional academic receive approximately 50 student emails a day wherein they ask something that is clearly answered in the syllabus or on the course website, and to see how polite they can possibly be in telling said student this.

Most grading is now done online, so the red pen is only metaphorical, but you can leave SO many Pointed Comments on Canvas Speed Grader. But if you want to torture Dr. Blorbo, you can have the e-grading system suddenly stop working, so they have to grade three classes' worth of introductory freshman history essays by hand. Not based on real events.

Likewise, there will be endless bullshit with the dean's office and/or central university administration, wherein there will be so many Urgent Budget Updates and Breaking News From The Chancellor and We Regret To Inform You We Cannot Hire Someone For That Position.

Related to the budget woes: they will ask you to do things like "make sure you print on both sides of the paper!" or otherwise "economize." Contemplating murder is acceptable and encouraged.

The administrative assistant in each department holds the entire department together. They will be extremely indispensable. Your fictional academic, if they know what's good for them, will befriend that person and/or grovel at their feet. Said person is also usually responsible for scheduling classrooms, which can cause all kinds of juicy drama in the academic fandom if there is One Particular Classroom that everyone hates and lo and behold, Dr. Blorbo is stuck there yet again. They will then probably also fire off multiple passive-aggressive emails attempting to correct the problem. The administrative assistant can grant and/or ignore these requests at their discretion, depending on how much beef they have with Dr. Blorbo and/or how motivated they are to solve their problems.

Department meetings! Who asked for them? Nobody! Who has to attend them? Everybody! They go on for two hours every other week (possibly more depending on how meeting-happy your department chair is) and you will wish for death!

Likewise, the department staff sending out passive-aggressive emails about how they really NEED one more volunteer for (insert university event here). Dr. Blorbo, if they are smart, will delete these emails and pretend they never saw them, but sometimes it may be unavoidable. Bitching and moaning will follow.

For research: it really depends on what academic field Dr. Blorbo is in, since the hard sciences, etc. look quite different and I, as a humanities person, can't speak to that. Most academics aim to fairly regularly publish a piece in a peer-reviewed journal; you can check Dr. Blorbo's field to see what journals they might be trying to submit a journal article (usually max. 8000 words, sometimes more) to.

This will go through a process called Peer Review, wherein two anonymous academics review your work (also anonymized to them) to make sure that you are not talking out of your ass. It is a running joke that Reviewer 2 will always, ALWAYS be more grumpy and critical and otherwise annoying. Invoking the specter of Dr. Blorbo receiving a peer review evaluation for their article will send a shiver down every academic's spine.

If Dr. Blorbo has recently finished their PhD, they may be working on converting their PhD thesis into an academic monograph. The most horrible part of this process, hands down, is reviewing proofs to make an index. Don't ask me how I know this.

However, academic monographs take a lot of time and work and most academics are mostly focused on publishing journal articles, book chapters (in collected volumes) or editing/working in collaboration with other projects.

Likewise: Dr. Blorbo will have to write book reviews. This is accomplished by the very scientific method of subscribing to various industry publications and/or email lists that will sometimes send out lists of books that need to be reviewed and solicit people to sign up. You will then receive a hard copy of the book (usually) and have 3 months or so to read it and write a review. The first 2 months of this, give or take, will consist of the book sitting untouched on the academic's desk as they remind themselves that they still have plenty of time to do it.

There can, however, be INCREDIBLE beef in book reviews, and while the standards of professional courtesy dictate that you don't go great-guns-flaming calling someone else in your field a moron (in more technical language), sometimes it is unavoidable.

Do they get paid for any of this extra intellectual work? Lol. No. No they do not. They don't get paid enough for their actual job.

Dr. Blorbo will inevitably hear some Hot Gossip about what nonsense has recently happened at which field-specific conference (where academics go to present research papers and network with other academics and make regrettable decisions at the open bar). They will then rush to secretly text all their other academic friends with OOH JUICY ACADEMIC DRAMA. Their friends will do the same whenever the opportunity arises to reciprocate.

Removing the coffee machine from the break room/faculty kitchen is grounds for mutiny.

Anyway. I am sure there are many, MANY more, but if you want an authentic slice of long-suffering academic life for Dr. Blorbo, this is all a good place to start.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Don Moynihan at Can We Still Govern?

An exhausted Bradley Boone, the assistant Fire Chief at Pensacola, took to Facebook on Saturday. As his community was recovering from Hurricane Helene he asked viewers for help. Not with aid or supplies. They had plenty of that for now. But to dispel the rumors that were making it harder for him to do his job. These rumors include that 150 people were missing, that the community was overrun with violence, that there were not sufficient food and water, that roads which were in reality in need of repair were being shut to limit the flow of help, and that FEMA was unwelcome. He said he had spent a large chunk of his day talking to citizens face-to-face to dispel the rumors. Boone is an example of how emergency responders have become one more category of public service worker who have discovered that they now have a second job they did not sign up for. Alongside librarians, teachers, public health officials, election officials, and law enforcement, emergency responders must now also be misinformation experts. They have to spend their days separating facts from reality for constituents who are being lied to via right-wing conspiracy theorists. FEMA set up a website to battle misinformation. Some of it comes from the usual suspects, like foreign adversaries such as Russia, seeking to sow mistrust, or professional conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones. But many of the lies (that FEMA is only offering $750 to disaster victims, running out of money, that FEMA money has gone overseas) comes directly from the people who could be in charge of the national disaster response next year.

JD Vance, Trump, and Fox News are key conveyers of the $750 lie. ($750 is intended to cover up-front costs, but citizens can apply for tens of thousands of dollars more in relief for property damage).

Trump said that Biden refused to talk to the Governor of Georgia, part of a pattern of discriminating against red states. But earlier in the day, Governor Kemp described the conversation he had with Biden the day before, and praised Biden’s support: “He offered that if there’s other things we need, just to call him directly, which — I appreciate that. But we’ve had FEMA embedded with us since a day or two before the storm hit in our state operations center in Atlanta; we’ve got a great relationship with them.” Other Republican leaders have issued similar praise of the responsiveness of the administration.

Trump: “They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season.” Yeah, this is also untrue. But fun fact: Trump raided the FEMA budget to redirect money towards his immigration policies, including building a wall.

The misinformation, and much worse, is coursing through social media because much of social media has given up on policing lies, and some social media (e.g., Truth Social, Elon Musk’s X) see a strategic advantage in lying about the disaster. This false post from Elon Musk was viewed 28 million times. No community notes.

[...] We could be angry here about the hypocrisy. Trump says Biden does not want to deliver disaster aid to Republicans. Biden not wanting to visibly help swing states like Georgia and North Carolina, right before an election, doesn’t make much sense. But it fits with Trump’s own attitudes about disaster response. Multiple Trump aides say he was reluctant to allow FEMA support go to blue states. “One of his first questions would be: Are they my people?” according to a former aide, Stephanie Grisham.

But setting aside the hypocrisy, we should care because conspiracy theories affect the competence and quality of service delivery. I used to do research on disaster response. One thing that was clear is how important it is to have a functional national crisis response agency, and how dependent the response is on human factors. FEMA itself is not a large organization: it organizes and relies on a broader network of responders, and on the trust of the public. Take that trust away, and their ability to help people collapses. Competence really matters for disaster response like few other government functions. You can't bluff your way through it. You can’t learn the job as you go along. Mistakes are costly. Musk’s Cybertruck is on its fifth recall in the space of a year, while the boss spends his day on social media. His status as a natural disaster schmuck emerged when he promised to rescue a group of kids in Thailand stranded in a cave with a tiny submarine. When a cave diver who advised the successful rescue mocked the impracticality of Musk’s plan, Musk labeled him a pedophile, and hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on him.

[...] There is a basic asymmetry here. Democrats would certainly attack missteps by a GOP President failing in disaster response. The failure of Hurricane Katrina marked a key point in the decline of President Bush’s popularity. Trump was criticized for his sluggish response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and for pushing his appointees to violate scientific and ethical guidelines when releasing public information about the path of hurricanes to align with his Sharpie additions to a map. But that criticism was grounded in reality. Instead, the GOP simply turns to conspiracy theories rather than engaging in troublesome facts. More climate-driven disasters are coming. This is the future. Trump won’t acknowledge or prepare for this reality. Indeed, Project 2025 has proposed that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should be “broken up and downsized” because it is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Another top notch post from Don Moynihan, this time addressing the hydra of lies and conspiracy theories about FEMA and the response to Hurricane Helene (and Milton).

[oftlunarialmoon]

Online Games for Age Regression - Free to Play Internet Games for Agere on a Budget

Ciao lovelies! Today’s blog post topic was requested by Bee via our request form! I am working my way through the others, thank you all for your suggestions so far! Today I’ll be sharing a collection of links I’ve found to online games you can play for free! A lot of age regressors are out here on a budget after all, and not all of us can afford to buy new games all the time. But playing our same old games can be boring after a while. Luckily with the ideas below, you can have plenty of free online games to try the next time you are small and bored! Alright, let’s dive into this list!

I want to begin the list with Educational Game sites. These will have a learning component in the games, as they’re intended to help teach kiddos cool new facts about the world! On this section we have:

Educational Games:

Cool Math Games https://www.coolmathgames.com/

USA Mint (currency) Learning Games https://www.usmint.gov/learn/kids/games

Math Playground https://www.mathplayground.com/

NASA Kids Club https://www.nasa.gov/learning-resources/nasa-kids-club/

National Geographic Kids https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/games

Animal Jam https://www.animaljam.com/en

ABCya! Learning Games https://www.abcya.com/

The next section I’ll go into are game sites based on tv, like shows or networks specifically.

Television Games:

Nick Jr https://www.nickjr.com/games

Nickelodeon https://www.nick.com/games

Disney https://disneynow.com/all-games

PBS https://pbskids.org/games

Cartoon Network https://www.cartoonnetworkhq.com/games

Boomerang TV https://www.boomerangtv.co.uk/games

Sesame Street https://www.sesamestreet.org/games

This next section is my favorite, and I’m sure tons of you will realize exactly why, and maybe you’ll have similar nostalgic memories. But let me lay out the scene here. Picture this, you’re in your room/computer room and it's friday night, you’ve just had pizza for dinner, Rihanna is playing on the radio and you’re about to do your favorite activity- dress up games! So nostalgic…

Dress Up Game Sites:

Doll Divine https://www.dolldivine.com/

Azaelea’s Dolls https://www.azaleasdolls.com/

Girls Go Games https://www.girlsgogames.com/

Picrew https://picrew.me/

Pastel Katto https://pastelkattogames.com/

Girl Games https://www.girlgames.com/

Dress Up Games https://www.dressupgames.com/

Meiker https://meiker.io/

eGirl Games https://www.egirlgames.net/

Dress Up https://www.dressup.com/

Lastly, here’s some more online games that I couldn’t figure out a special category for:

Unsorted:

Webkinz https://www.webkinz.com/

Chess Kid https://www.chesskid.com/

Poptropica https://www.poptropica.com/haxe/play/

Kidpix https://kidpix.app/

Webkinz Guide https://webkinzguide.com/wiki/Main_Page

Sanrio Daily https://www.sanrio.co.jp/dailyapps/

CBC Kids https://www.cbc.ca/kids/games

Landing https://app.landing.space/@kasaimoonfox

Wordle https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

I hope you found some new games today! Thank you again to Bee for suggesting this idea!

Thank you all for reading! If you’d like to find more OFT content, check out our official sites:

OFT Website: https://www.onlyfunthings.org/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/onlyfunthingsblog

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/onlyfunthingsblog/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@onlyfunthingsblog

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2McunegwpRjgAEz3Snc8wA

Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/lunariamoon/shop?asc=u

Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/oftlunaria

Gumroad: https://lunarialmoon.gumroad.com/

Email: onlyfunthingsblog@yahoo.com

Tumblr: https://oftlunarialmoon.tumblr.com/

Amazon Affiliate: https://www.amazon.com/shop/onlyfunthings

Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/OFTMerch

Thanks again for reading, please remember to stay awesome and love yourself!

[canonkiller]

asking here for the extra reach but does anyone know any recipe blogs or cookbooks of vegan recipes that AREN'T all about how a plant based diet will make you lose weight and that meat is evil?

It's the easiest way to find lactose free meals but so so so many of them are convinced that having filling and tasty meals is a sin matched only by using any animal product and it's like, man, I really don't need calorie counting and PETA bullshit when I'm just trying to avoid Milk Purgatory

EDITING TO ADD: the recommendations :)

Buddha Gate Monastery recipes page and other Buddhist monastery websites (recommended by @radishwizard )

Budget Bytes dairy free category (recommended by @parrot-parent and friend)

The Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen (recommended by @i-am-l-ananas )

Rainbow Plant Life (recommended by @sassy-eggs )

@najia-cooks recipe blog (recommended by @night-dark-woods )

Vegan (ish) cookbook by Jack Monroe (recommended by @roxierockatansky )

[gothprentiss]

hey. hey. i cannot make any inroads on your ethics but hey. hey listen. if you nod along with posts like this one

look into how this stuff is processed sometime 👍

i mean, full disclosure: i do genuinely think “i love animal products ❤️ they’re biodegradable” is kind of antivegan cope because, you know, no one ever seems to be talking about natural plant fibers versus synthetics in these contexts— despite the fact that, on average, they comprise significantly more of your wardrobe and significantly more of your short-term, short-life garments— but also, and more importantly: i do not know what kind of beautiful little production chain is being imagined here, but the idea that you go from sheep or cow or so on to your wardrobe to the compost heap to fresh soil in 5-15 years, zero environmental impact, is really out of touch with most factors of consumption. leather for example can be biodegradable, but a lot of processed leather takes significantly longer to decompose— not as long as pvc, but longer than you use it for— due to the nature of its treatment. if you buy leather goods you are virtually never buying untreated leather; tanning is a chemical process with pretty significant environmental consequences. if you are getting for example a wool coat, the odds that you can afford a 100% wool coat as opposed to a wool-synthetic blend are pretty low; same with sweaters. so maybe you thrift a leather jacket or a vintage 100% wool sweater and get some use out of it. you buy a pair of leather shoes and feel good about it. hey, their treatment and soles probably biodegrade too right? and without any lasting impacts on the environment? and maybe you overcorrect for “vegan item!!” fast fashion greenwashing and end up with items which are pretty much exactly as non-biodegradable as their plastic equivalents, and exactly as short-lived because the quality of low-budget manufacturing these days seems to be constantly getting worse.

i don’t mean to scaremonger or whatever— there really isn’t much of a way out of this unless you have some serious cash to spend. but the idea of a totemic Ecologically Good category of material is obviously out of touch with how most people in the world get their clothes and loudly praising a product which is not actually in practice guaranteed to be better than its plastic substitute is oddly common on this website. cmon there isn’t even a character limit. there’s space to actually say something useful

[mariacallous]

Russia’s State Duma has approved the federal budget for 2025, along with spending plans for 2026 and 2027, according to a statement posted on the Duma’s website on Thursday.

The draft budget, submitted by the government on September 30, allocates 13.5 trillion rubles ($133.7 billion), or 6.31 percent of Russia’s GDP, to “National Defense” in 2025 — marking a record-high level in the country’s modern history.

Spending on the related category of “National Security and Law Enforcement,” which includes the armed forces as well as salaries for prosecutors and investigators, will total 3.5 trillion rubles ($34.6 billion) in 2025. Together, these categories account for 41 percent of the federal budget.

Funding for the military and security forces exceeds the combined expenditures for education, healthcare, social policy, and the national economy.

[didanawisgi]

Here are the studies that you simply never hear about:

Paul Thomas (2020) had 0 autism cases in 561 unvaxxed patients total. For patients who followed the CDC vaccination schedule, there were 15 autism cases in 894 patients. The Fisher exact test p-value is 0.0008 which is stunning. The OR was infinity, with a 95% lower confidence limit of 2.3. See also this excellent article about the study which points out that “unvaccinated children are healthier in several metrics and enjoy 25 times fewer pediatric visits.” The bad guys were able to get the paper retracted by claiming the higher rates of autism among the vaccinated were due to more office visits. The problem with that criticism is that the reason for retraction was later disproven in a subsequent paper!

Hooker (2021): 5.03 odds ratio for autism in the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated.

Mawson (2017): 4.2 odds ratio for autism in the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated (666 in this study)

Geier (2013): 2.1 to 3.4 odds ratio in the VSD database depending on age at injection. Higher odds ratio when older. That study, published in the peer-reviewed literature, was done using a two-phase methodology used by the CDC. It showed that the HepB vaccine was strongly associated with autism. They looked at each of the 3 injection times and in all cases the OR was high and the p-value was low! The study has never been retracted. After Brian Hooker found this signal in VSD, his access was immediately revoked by the CDC with no explanation. Nothing like being open to data transparency is there?

Garner / Control group (2022): 82 odds ratio for autism in the vaccinated vs. unvaccinated. “For those with zero exposures to post-birth vaccines, pre-birth vaccines, or the K shot, the total rate of autism in the entire CGS is 0% (0 of 1,024)” Doing an OR calculation relative to my survey of 10,000 children: OR=82 CI:5.1197 to 1315 z statistic: 3.114 Significance level. P = 0.0018. See also the Control Group website.

Lyons-Weiler (2022): The study was too small to assess autism risk, but showed better health outcomes among the unvaccinated than the vaccinated in other conditions. See this article which notes that the unvaccinated had better compliance to their wellness checks than the vaccinated which eliminates a common argument that anti-anti-vaxxers use. It says, “the unvaccinated families made their well-child visits with greater frequency than the vaccinated families.”

Liz Mumper study: She reduced the incidence of autism in her practice by 6X limiting the vaccines given to kids. How does the medical community explain this? A 6X reduction is huge. She also replicated Paul Thomas’s work.

A new study of 50,000 kids (submitted by Tony Mawson for publication but not yet published) shows the same odds ratios for chronic diseases as the Hooker and Mawson studies. The dataset is very large.

The Generation Rescue (GR) study that was done on June 26, 2007 showed that vaccinated kids were significantly worse off in every category they looked at. “For less than $200,000, we were able to complete a study that the CDC, with an $8 billion a year budget, has been unable or unwilling to do.” Where is the CDC survey? Nowhere to be found! They simply don’t want to do it. Read the survey and see this article for more information. GR couldn’t tamper with the study or manipulate the results because it was done by a third party survey firm with no conflicts of interest. If the drug companies didn’t like the result, they could have easily commissioned a different polling company. But they didn’t!!! Or maybe they did and simply chose not to publish the results because they were so bad. In any event, the lack of a poll showing the opposite of the GR poll is very very problematic for the “safe and effective” narrative.

There is a failure on behalf of the other side to cite a single study that shows the opposite of what these studies show, e.g., that the fully vaccinated are either as healthy or healthier than the fully unvaccinated.

[myconetted]

ppl don't understand moderation at scale and it shows

a lot of ppl on this website don't seem to understand tumblr is a pretty big website and big websites are hard to moderate.

like yeah it's obvious to you when there's a bad post that violates AUP or there's a perfectly good post that got incorrectly flagged. like duh. just ban terfs and don't ban transwomen.

but how many posts do you see a day, a thousand or so?

well it's a little harder when there are 13 million posts published per day, approximately 3-5% of them require moderation* (4% = 520k posts), and your automated tooling is anything less than 99.5% accurate (i.e. more than 1 misclassification every 200 posts). that accuracy would produce 2600 posts per day that require human review. if there are 4 human reviewers working 8h/day doing nothing but moderation, they'd have a budget of 44 seconds** to spend on reviewing a given post. and that's likely an underestimate of the workload***.

there are gonna be some mistakes. if you make your automated stuff less trigger happy, more bad things like terf shit falls through the cracks. if you make it more trigger happy, marginalized people start getting flagged for calling themselves faggots or posting boygirltits. if you rely less on automation, then you need humans; if you use humans, they cost a lot more, they're way slower, you're exposing more people to traumatic shit every day, and they're still gonna make mistakes.

to be clear: i think it's true that on aggregate, marginalized people are disproportionately affected by moderation mistakes. but that's not a tumblr-specific thing, and i don't think it's reasonable to expect tumblr, a 200-person company with 300 million monthly active users, to somehow solve a problem that none of twitter/facebook/reddit/youtube have managed to solve with literally thousands of engineers. should they do better? yes. absolutely. but that's not my point.

my point is: when you see the mistakes, i'm sitting here begging and pleading for you to consider it might be due to the logistical reality of social media moderation at scale rather than conspiracy or malice.

thanks 4 coming 2 my ted talk. footnotes under the cut.

*AFAIK Tumblr doesn't publicly report this statistic, so this is an informed under-guesstimate. On Reddit, 6% of all content was reported/flagged in 2021. I assume Tumblr and Reddit have similar enough content profiles for me to say "ehhh 3% lower bound, probably."

**Calculated by (60 / (P / (M * W * 60))) where P is number of posts to review, M is number of moderators, and W is hours worked per moderator per day. 60 / (2600 / (4 * 8 * 60)) ≈ 44.

***This is a reductive picture for the purpose of demonstrating scale. In real life, the calculus for how long can a moderator spend on a given post is more complicated because of things like prioritization for specific kinds of AUP violations (eg CSAM is higher priority than porn), classification accuracy that isn't uniform across categories (eg hit rate for gore is probably different from porn or hate speech), regulatory requirements (like mandatory reporting for CSAM and government takedown requests), different pipelines for user reports versus tool-based reports, yadda yadda. My goal is to show that even the underestimate is quite burdensome.

PS: I don't work for tumblr and I never have. I just work at a place that does things at scale and faces similar issues and I'm very passionate about online communities.

[carriesthewind]

Thanks so much for your writeup of the 2 Stupid 2 Sanction case. OMG.

As a reference librarian in a special library (i.e. not an academic or public library), the database access of this case has been -fascinating- to me. I regularly struggle with the challenge of how to provide access to materials to my patrons, when we have limited access and an even more limited budget. This case is an absolutely TEXTBOOK in what NOT to do.

Regarding the apparently wonky access to different categories of cases in Fastcase, I can provide a little professional insight, as I have spent FAR too many hours trying to decipher database providers' pricing guidelines. (But, DISCLAIMER: I am not a law librarian and hold my colleagues who are in absolute awe. So I don't have any direct experience with the database in question, just 15+ years of trying to wrangle these kinds of databases in general.)

It is conceivable that Fastcase could be setup in such a way that Schwartz et al. had access to ALL of the 2nd Circuit cases and some of the 5th Circuit cases. Research databases are nearly always broken out into "collections" and you can often pick and choose which collections you have access to, depending on how much money you fork over. I have absolutely seen instances where content I expected to be in one such collection was actually found in another (looking at you, Oxford Scholarly Editions…). This can happen for a variety of reasons: when the content was acquired by the database provider, what kind of distribution rights they were able to secure, or even who was doing the ingesting of that content.

None of which are relevant for Fastcase.

Acquisition and distribution rights are a non-issue for case law (particularly US Federal case law), and the inherent nature of the structure of the court system creates pre-made "collections" for the database to be organized into.

This is supported by Fastcase's own website. On their "Coverage" page, they helpfully break out the different content that they can provide access to into exactly the manner that you would expect. Each Court has its own "bucket" of content, starting from the Supreme Court and working our way down through more and more specialized courts.

So the idea that Schwartz would have access to some of the 5th Circuit cases, but not all? Pretty laughable. They should all be in the same "collection", where you'd either have access to ALL or NONE. It's hard to conceive of it as anything other a binary setup.

It gets even more laughable when you look at Fastcase's helpful Pricing Plans page.

They helpfully breakdown the content that each subscription plan would have access to. Their "Appellate Plan" (the cheapest) provides access to US Supreme Court, US Court of Appeals, and State Supreme & Appellate Court decisions and to "Nationwide Statutes, Regulations, Court Rules & More". Their "Premium Plan" and "Enterprise Plan" both provide access to all of this, PLUS US District and Bankruptcy Court decisions.

(Side note: As database pricing goes, this really is Not Bad. They seem to be making good on their claim to try to provide broader access and tools for legal research.)

Now, the scope of access for a subscriber level probably isn't set in stone; database providers can be remarkably flexible about what they provide access to if it means making a sale vs not. So despite the fact that on their public-facing information page, they give the appearance that a subscriber would get access to ALL Federal Appeals cases, it is certainly conceivable that the Firm negotiated access to ONLY 2nd Circuit cases.

But then how would they have access to ANY 5th Circuit cases?

No, it's far more likely that they had access to everything. And again, it's hard to comprehend how an "error in billing" would lead to partial access. It's generally a binary setup: either you have access to everything in your subscription, or you have access to none of it.

I'm gonna call shenanigans on the "billing error" argument as well.

And all of this is completely aside from the fact that, as you've noted several times, YOU CAN JUST GOOGLE FEDERAL CASES WTIH A REASONABLE EXPECTATION OF SOMETHING USEFUL COMING UP. (There's a whole other discussion of why these cases exist in subscription databases at all, having to do with metadata and search frameworks and site functionality, but that's another whole long thing and this is already far too long as is.)

(As as side note, whoever has written the training documentation (https://go.fastcase.com/teachingfastcase) for Fastcase deserves a goddamned medal. The line "Parentheses are the Marie Kondo of Boolean Operators: Here to bring you joy and sort similar things in similar locations." made me laugh for 5 minutes straight. I'm still giggling about it.)

Thank you for this fantastic writeup of this issue!

This was so much good information (and dam, yes, that documentation is delightful), and I don't have anything substantive to add.

If I may indulge in some brief speculation, if I had to bet on what actually happened, here is what I suspect: the Firm didn't have access to the federal Fastcase database at all (I think this because it would be such a stupid and pointless thing for the Firm representative to lie about, otherwise). But it may have been less of "billing error" and more of a, "we're not going to bother to pay for that, we are never in federal court." However, once he got the Court's order to annex the cases, he got access somehow - maybe someone else at the firm had access, or he had a friend with access, or he did actually go to a bar association library, or whatever. And that's how he downloaded the real opinions. (I think this because it seems like the simplest explanation, and it explains why he/they are so cagey about how he actually go the opinions. Because if had full access, it shatters his excuse that he thought the "opinions" were real because he couldn't check them in another source "because he didn't have a database with access to the federal reporters available.")

(But I want to know! Especially with what you've just laid out, I want to shake everyone involved until the truth falls out!)

[marveltrumpshate]

The Marvel Trumps Hate 2023 auction has officially begun! View auctions and place bids at marveltrumpshate.com.

Remember, we have 152 creators and 264 auctions offering all types of works and all types of universes, fandoms, ships, and characters. Follow the suggestions below to find the perfect auction(s) for you and figure out your bidding strategy:

See all of the auctions on our website

Filter auctions through several different ways (work type, rating, universe, character, ship, and gen relationship), using the tags on our tag list and our tips on finding specific auctions such as auctions offering "teen-rated 616 Steve/Tony" or "all ships in the GotG fandom" on our search guide. You can also look at special auction categories we spotlighted here

Check out our list of creators

Read our bidding guide and Bidders FAQ

Consider matchmaking if you can't find what you're looking for or pod bids if you have a tight budget but still want to bid

If you're on our MTH offerings Tumblr, click the auction link on a creator’s post to bid on that specific auction on our site

The auction will close at 11:59:59 PM ET on Saturday, October 28 (what time is that for me?). Check out the countdown here.

For more information, check out our About | FAQ | Schedule | How to Participate | Supported Organizations pages, or get in touch with us!

See our charity spotlights here:

Current Events

Environment & Natural Disasters

Health

LGBTQ+

Civil Rights Advocacy & Litigation

Women's Rights

Education

Immigration & Refuge

Equity & Access

Best of luck, everyone! Have fun and most importantly, remember that all winning bids will be going directly to great nonprofit organizations that work tirelessly to make the world a better place.

[isolated-maiden]

beauty on a budget

due to consumerism, several aesthetics/subcultures often promote certain products as “staples” or “necessities.” the idea that some products — especially those at prices not everyone can go out of there way to buy — are needed to belong in a community is stupid. if you would like to engage in the style associated with a specific aesthetic/subculture, but are unable to buy expensive products, here’s a guide you can use!

fashion

thrift stores: an obvious choice for a relatively* cheap price (*relatively because some stores have been raising prices above what usual shoppers are comfortable with)

tips for thrifting: be patient & check every aisle; take glaces at the floor below racks to see if something is being hidden by an employee; keep in mind that you can modify what you buy; wash ALL clothes you buy before adding them to your wardrobe

target/walmart: if you sign up on their apps/websites, you can get access to coupons relating to their clothing departments & learn about sales

skincare + hair

TIP: keep in mind that everyone’s hair type and skin type is different; pay attention to what your hair and skin need

target/walmart: if you sign up on their apps/websites, you can get access to coupons relating to their beauty departments & learn about sales

walgreens/cvs: can be cheaper in comparison to supermarkets; signing up on their apps/websites can give you access to coupons & sales

tjmaxx/ross/marshalls: SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper in comparison to supermarkets & drugstores; contains k-beauty brands

skincare recommendations: cerave, cetaphil, store-brand products

hair recommendations: not your mother’s, dove, suave, ogx, aussi

makeup + nails

target/walmart: if you sign up on their apps/websites, you can get access to coupons relating to their beauty departments & learn about sales

walgreens/cvs: can be cheaper in comparison to supermarkets; signing up on their apps/websites can give you access to coupons & sales

tjmaxx/ross/marshalls: SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper in comparison to supermarkets & drugstores; contains k-beauty brands

makeup recommendations: e.l.f., wet n wild, maybelline, nyx

nail recommendations: KISS nails (each pack comes with a small tube of glue), essie, sally hansen, olive & june

fragrance

TIP: buy a body wash that matches a prominent scent note among you fragrances (ex: vanilla wash for strawberry poundcake and vanilla bean noel)

target/walmart: if you sign up on their apps/websites, you can get access to coupons relating to their beauty departments & learn about sales

bath & body works: a bit pricier, but signing up on their app/website can give access to coupons (XX% off, one product FREE or $X) and sales (all products in this category are $3-5)

tjmaxx/ross/marshalls: have a small fragrance section; either legit or dupes

fragrance recommendations: bodycology, philosophy (clearance store), beloved, dove, tree hut, body fantasies

do NOT use vaginal cleanser: the chemicals used in vaginal cleanser are harsh on the vagina’s PH level; furthermore, the vagina cleanses itself, so don’t waste money on something that harms your body

[viktorviolettaenterprises]

SIG-Sauer Pistols CC Collection

Began in 1975, with an aquisition of a German arms factory of J.P Sauer und Sohn GmbH by the Swiss SIG AG, SIG-Sauer produces many variants of pistols including : 

SIG P220

The very first patent since the joint of these two companies. Launched in 1975 to fill the position of the police issue sidearm. Also this model is a principle of the next SIG-Sauer pistol designs.

SIG P226

Issued in 1985 as a development of P220 with advanced features. Actually participated in US DoD's XM9 program, but instead the Beretta 92F was chosen. Later acquired by the US Navy as M11. One of Original "Wonder 9" Member who Successfully toppled the Revolver's Domination during 1980s inside Law Enforcement and Military alike.

SIG P228/P229

A compact variant of P226 basically some length was chopped from the barrel and slide, as well as from the grip. The P229, was developed especially for the US market and is assembled in the USA using both German and US-made parts. It’s identical to the P228 except for a heavier slide. The P229 slide is made by machining a bar of steel as opposed to stamping and forming from sheet steel. The heavier slide on the P229 is necessary because of the comparatively more powerful calibers used in this pistol.

SIG Pro

Sig Sauer's Attempt on Modernizing their Sig Sauer Series to make it relevant for current Polymer frame Pistol Trend and stay relevant in Military Industries. The SIG Pro is a series of semi-automatic pistols developed by SIG Sauer in Exeter, New Hampshire. It became the first polymer-frame handgun from SIG Sauer and one of the first pistols to feature a built-in universal accessory rail and interchangeable grips. Offerings in the series are chambered in .40 S&W, .357 SIG, or 9×19mm Parabellum. As of March 2020, only the SP 2022 variant is still listed on the SIG Sauer website. The SIG Pro was marketed as a lightweight. and compact alternative to the "legacy" SIG Sauer handguns in an increasingly competitive and budget-oriented law enforcement market. SIG P320 (M17 And M18 )

A further development of previous model SIG P250 which issued by SIG Arms Inc. USA. Released in 2014 as a SIG participation in the US DoD's XM17 next sidearm program. After some evaluation,  this model won the contract and acquired as M17 in the US Army in 2017. US Marine Corps acquired it's compact variant known as M18. The full-sized model was designated the M17, and the shorter length carry model, the M18. The guns have subsequently been adopted by the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Space Force. The pistol replaces the Beretta M9, as well as several other handguns across the services. There are two color variants, coyote brown and black, for both the M17 and M18, though almost all have been produced in brown.

The SIG Sauer P365

Modern Derringer is here.. with superior compact size over the smallest modern Handgun that ever known, Glock 42 (5.8 inch on P365 Vs 5.94 inch on Glock 42) also the Best Seller on "Concealed Carry" Category in United States. perfect for anyone who looking for smaller Pistol as Third Sidearms or Perfect pistol for Political Assassination 3:)

SIG Sauer P365 is a striker-fired subcompact semi-automatic pistol manufactured by SIG Sauer, intended for everyday carry. It is offered with Tritium XRAY3 Day/Night Sights and two 10-round magazines; one flush fit and the other with an extended finger tab, and a stainless steel frame with polymer grip module. It is primarily chambered in 9×19mm Parabellum and is rated for +P (higher pressure) ammunition while utilizing offset double-stack magazines. A variant chambered in .380 ACP was introduced in February 2022. The P365, which replaced the P290RS, is produced in Newington, New Hampshire. In both 2018 and 2019, it was the best selling handgun in the United States.

Shoutout To @honeyssims4 & @r-jayden For M17 Pose...

@ts4-poses @ts4-poses-masterlist @cctreasuretrove

DOWNLOAD LINK:https://www.patreon.com/posts/63376609

[transformationsproject]

Today's Legislative Updates 03/16/23

Trans rights are still under attack in the United States. Please visit our website linked below to learn about your state and contact your reps. Here's a thread of today's updates:

A bathroom bill denies access to public restrooms by gender or trans identity.

They increase danger without making anyone any safer and have even prompted attacks on cis and trans people alike. Many national health and anti-sexual assault organizations oppose these bills.

Idaho S1100 passed committee yesterday and was sent to the House floor for a final vote.

Idaho S1016 was sent to the Senate floor for a final vote yesterday.

Arkansas HB1156 passed yesterday and is being sent to the Governor.

Healthcare bills go against professional and scientific consensus that gender affirming care saves lives. Denying access will cause harm.

Providers are faced with criminal charges, parents are threatened with child abuse charges, and intersex children are typically exempted.

New Hampshire HB619 and HB368 were retained in committee yesterday and may now be dead.

Georgia SB140 passed this morning and is going to the Governor.

Schooling / Parental Rights bills force schools to misgender or deadname students, ban instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity, and make schools alert parents if they suspect a child is trans.

They remove life-saving affirmation and support for trans youth.

Iowa HF348 was sent to the Senate Education Subcommittee yesterday.

Arkansas HB1468 had its 3rd house reading yesterday.

Florida H1069 and H0999 were both sent to the House Education & Employment Committee yesterday.

In other bills that either fit multiple categories or stand on their own, we have:

Florida S0486 was sent to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Criminal & Civil Justice yesterday.

Florida S0254 was sent to the Senate Fiscal Policy Committee yesterday.

Texas HB3213 was sent to the House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues Committee yesterday.

Texas SB559 passed the Senate today and was sent to the House.

We also have good news to share!

These are either updates on positive bills which protect and affirm trans individuals or updates on anti-trans bills that have failed.

New Hampshire HB619 and HB368 were retained in committee yesterday and may now be dead.

Tennessee bills are all deferred or placed behind budget, a clear win!

It's not too late to stop these and other hateful anti-trans bills from passing into law. YOU can go to http://transformationsproject.org/ to learn more and contact your representatives!

[sachitttt]

How to Build a Stunning Portfolio as a Makeup Artist

A strong portfolio is essential for any makeup artist looking to showcase their skills and attract clients. It is a visual resume that highlights your creativity, technique, and versatility. Whether you’re just starting or looking to refine your existing portfolio, here are steps to create a stunning showcase of your work.

1. Define Your Style and Niche

Before you start building your portfolio, determine your niche. Are you passionate about bridal makeup, editorial looks, special effects, or everyday glam? Identifying your specialty allows you to tailor your portfolio to attract your target audience. While versatility is important, focusing on a specific niche helps establish your identity in the industry.

2. Collaborate with Professionals

Team up with photographers, models, hairstylists, and wardrobe stylists to create polished and professional photos for your portfolio. Collaboration benefits everyone involved, especially when starting on a tight budget. Look for opportunities to work on creative projects, such as styled photoshoots or student films, to gain experience and high-quality content.

3. Invest in High-Quality Images

A picture is worth a thousand words, and this is especially true for makeup artistry. Hire a skilled photographer who understands lighting and composition to capture your work. Clear, well-lit images with close-up shots are crucial to showcasing the details of your technique. Avoid overly edited images, as they can misrepresent your skills.

4. Showcase Variety

While focusing on your niche, ensure your portfolio demonstrates a range of skills and techniques. Include diverse skin tones, face shapes, and age groups to show your adaptability. Feature different looks such as natural makeup, bold editorial styles, and dramatic transformations to highlight your versatility.

5. Tell a Story

Curate your portfolio with a flow that tells a cohesive story. Arrange your images in a way that transitions seamlessly from one style to another, giving viewers an immersive experience. Create separate sections or pages for different categories, such as bridal, editorial, and creative projects.

6. Keep It Concise and Updated

A portfolio should be a curated selection of your best work, not an exhaustive collection. Choose 10–15 standout images that best represent your style and skills. Regularly update your portfolio with new projects to keep it fresh and relevant, removing outdated or less impressive work.

7. Go Digital

In the digital age, an online portfolio is a must. Create a professional website or use platforms like Behance, Instagram, or Pinterest to display your work. Ensure your website is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and includes contact information. Social media platforms are excellent for reaching a wider audience and engaging with potential clients.

8. Include Behind-the-Scenes Content

Showcasing behind-the-scenes images or videos of your application process adds authenticity and highlights your professionalism. Clients appreciate seeing your attention to detail and ability to work under various conditions.

9. Gather Testimonials

Ask satisfied clients, photographers, or collaborators for testimonials to include in your portfolio. Positive feedback builds trust and credibility, making potential clients more likely to hire you.

10. Stay True to Your Vision

Ultimately, your portfolio should reflect your artistic vision and passion. Stay authentic and don’t be afraid to experiment with creative looks that express your unique style.

By investing time and effort into creating a stunning portfolio, you’ll establish a strong foundation for your makeup artistry career, attract clients, and build a reputable name in the industry.

[ads-backgrounds]

Advertising backgrounds Buy on ShutterStock

https://www.shutterstock.com/ru/g/a-stock

Revolutionize Your Advertising with Shutterstock Backgrounds

Denis Marketer (Copyright)

#Denis_Marketer

Advertising is all about making an impact. Whether you’re designing for digital platforms, print, or video campaigns, the right visuals are crucial to standing out in today’s competitive market. One of the simplest yet most effective ways to elevate your ads is by using high-quality backgrounds. Shutterstock offers an incredible collection of advertising backgrounds that can take your campaigns to new heights.

1. Why Backgrounds Matter

A background is more than just a backdrop. It sets the tone for your ad, frames your message, and captures your audience’s attention. A strong visual foundation can make all the difference between being overlooked and leaving a lasting impression.

2. Shutterstock: Your Ultimate Resource

Shutterstock provides a vast library of professional backgrounds designed to meet every advertising need. With thousands of options to choose from, you’ll always find something that fits your vision perfectly.

3. Premium Quality Guaranteed

All Shutterstock backgrounds are available in high resolution, ensuring your ads look flawless no matter where they’re displayed. Whether it’s a billboard or a smartphone screen, your visuals will always shine.

4. A Background for Every Campaign

From bold and colorful gradients to subtle, minimalist textures, Shutterstock has backgrounds for every style and industry. This variety allows you to adapt to the unique demands of each project.

5. Save Time with Ready-to-Use Designs

Why waste time creating a background from scratch? Shutterstock’s ready-made options save you hours of effort, giving you more time to focus on your core message.

6. Perfect for Any Platform

Whether your ad is destined for social media, a website banner, or print media, Shutterstock backgrounds are versatile and easy to integrate into any format.

7. Customization Made Simple

Shutterstock’s backgrounds are not only stunning but also customizable. Add your branding, text, or images effortlessly to create a cohesive and professional look.

8. Elevate Your Brand Identity

Using high-quality backgrounds demonstrates your brand’s attention to detail and professionalism. This enhances your reputation and builds trust with your audience.

9. Ideal for All Industries

No matter your niche—be it fashion, technology, or food—Shutterstock has backgrounds tailored to suit every industry’s unique needs.

10. Boost Engagement with Visual Appeal

Attractive visuals are proven to increase engagement. Shutterstock’s striking backgrounds help draw viewers in, encouraging clicks, shares, and interactions.

11. Stay Ahead of Trends

Shutterstock frequently updates its library with the latest design trends. This ensures your ads always feel fresh, modern, and relevant.

12. Affordable Solutions for Every Budget

With flexible licensing options, Shutterstock makes premium backgrounds accessible to businesses of all sizes. High-quality visuals don’t have to break the bank.

13. Trusted by Professionals Worldwide

Top advertisers, designers, and marketers rely on Shutterstock to power their campaigns. Join the countless professionals who trust this resource for their creative needs.

14. Easy-to-Use Platform

Finding the perfect background is simple with Shutterstock’s user-friendly search tools. Filters for color, style, and category make the process quick and efficient.

15. Gain Inspiration

Browsing Shutterstock’s extensive library is a great way to spark new creative ideas for your advertising projects.

16. Enhance Your Storytelling

A compelling background helps set the stage for your message, enhancing its emotional impact and making your story resonate with your audience.

17. A Professional Look Instantly

Even small businesses can create ads with a big-budget feel using Shutterstock’s premium-quality backgrounds.

18. Tailored for Ad Campaigns

Many Shutterstock backgrounds are specifically designed for advertising purposes, making them ideal for creating compelling, eye-catching campaigns.

19. Scalable for Any Project

From small-scale ads to large-scale campaigns, Shutterstock backgrounds deliver consistent quality across every size and medium.

20. Improve Conversion Rates

Effective advertising leads to better results. By using stunning visuals, you can increase audience interest and boost conversion rates.

21. Easy Licensing Process

Shutterstock’s licensing agreements are straightforward and designed with advertisers in mind. Use your backgrounds worry-free.

22. The Perfect Complement to Your Message

Shutterstock backgrounds enhance—not overshadow—your ad’s content. They’re designed to highlight your message, not compete with it.

23. Showcase Your Creativity

With endless options at your fingertips, you can experiment with different styles and approaches to find the perfect match for your campaign.

24. Get Started in Minutes

Shutterstock’s intuitive platform makes it easy to find, download, and start using your chosen backgrounds immediately.

25. Don’t Miss Out!

Ready to elevate your advertising? Shutterstock backgrounds are the ultimate tool for creating professional, eye-catching campaigns that leave a lasting impression.

👉 Visit Shutterstock today and explore their stunning collection of advertising backgrounds. Transform your campaigns and captivate your audience like never before!