#and don’t have the means to pay for a journal subscription

[genius-dumbass]

Yeah yeah we’ve all been to the combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell, but what about I want researchers to be given both fair wage and money to do all the research they desire and also have knowledge for free not locked behind pay walls. Where is my combination abundantly paid for research and free knowledge market huh?

[see-arcane]

Happy Friday the 13th!

Time for some updates.

Plushies

I promise I have not forgotten the little guys-in-potentia. I’ve just been going through many circles of Hell trying to find a decent manufacturer that isn’t operating on some secret ‘Sorry, We Only Work with Brands ™ and Influencers ©, Enjoy Sending Half a Dozen Queries to Our Inbox-Void, You Little Nobody~ <3’ rule. So that was fun. But, finally, I think I’ve found a prospective maker. The issue?

The smallest bulk order is a 50-count. $30 each, roughly. Just for one. 30 x 50 = at least $1,500. If I try to do Mina and Jonathan (DO NOT SEPARATE), that’s 100 plushies. $3,000.

And that’s without dealing with the logistics of storing all the dang things, figuring out shipping costs depending on where I’d be mailing them (not including the packaging), and figuring out how to fairly price them without also gutting everyone’s wallets while we’re all broke.

Fundraising options like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Backerkit all look like the only solid way to go here, but they come with their own caveats.

I need some kind of prototype to have on display, not just the concept. The manufacturer I have in mind does provide a physical prototype prior to going to work on bulk orders, but I’d need to talk with them about the what-ifs involved if a fundraiser fails to drop enough cash to afford the full order.

I still need to figure out what a fair funding target would be that would cover cost of manufacturing/shipping/etc and I do not know that magic number.

Tiers? Do I do tiers with this? If so, how do I portion those out dollar-wise? What goodies can I throw in that would sweeten the deal? At the moment all I have is my writing.

Argh.

Really, 4) kind of sums up the whole thing at the moment. I really, really want to make all my assorted little guys come to cuddly life, but the numbers involved are looking more complicated than pi, especially when I—(frankly, all of us)—have Zero Money to gamble away. If I’m off by one (1) digit that means the difference between ‘Yes, I can pay for manufacturing and shipping and et ceteras no problem!’ and ‘WHOOPS SURPRISE YOU’RE PAYING AN EXTRA FEE OUT OF POCKET NOW BECAUSE YOU DID NUMBER WRONG, HA HA.’ Add that to the fact that I really don’t have anything tangible to pin to hypothetical tiers just now?

I’m afraid the plush Harkers (along with Quinn Morse and his new accessory) have to go on a back shelf for the time being.

But, for a more positive note…

October Scares and Scribbles

I plan to have a Substack in place sometime within October. It will include not just Harker’s current helping of chapters, but…

A new Harker teaser

Backups of some older stuff

[REDACTED] as a little Halloween treat

A generally tidier domain to keep my scattered scrawling in order

As it stands, I don’t feel comfortable turning it into a paid subscription Substack. I won’t be doing clockwork updates and what I will have up won’t be worth a routine fee. I’ll likely have a Ko-Fi link up as a sort of tip jar, but that’ll be that.

Speaking of money…

Maybe Making Merch?

Turns out the options for making less complicated bric-a-brac than stuffed animals are…less complicated. Imagine that. I’ve also been poking around looking at possibilities for stationery, bookmarks, cups, assorted bits and bobs. You know the Dracula Cast(ula) was made for journals and coffee mugs. However, I need to know what kind of designs folks would want to see. So:

The prospects here are much less stressful as far as puzzling out details goes, so I feel a little better about chewing on this. Still need to settle on Official Designs, but I’d wave those around for folks to see first.

All that said?

Argh

Because it bears repeating.

You’ll notice I haven’t laid out exact dates or timeframes for any of this stuff. That’s because I’m still neck-deep in the job hunt, along with grappling with the possibility of having to burn more money on new courses to enter a field I hate, but looks to be one of few career paths that will actually pay me more than pocket change. Said positions not even being guaranteed to still be in the same shape once I’m out of class. Same as my last job.

In four months, I’ll have been applying for a solid year. Every day. All to positions that either send copy-paste rejections, ghost outright, turn out to be thin veils for scams, or, most fun prospect, aren’t even real, because companies keep putting up false job openings to look like they’re expanding. My time has alternated between this and writing and trying not to look at my bank account. Between that and anxiety bordering on nausea concerning the upcoming election, my Halloween vibes are pretty bruised too.

It has. Not been the best time.

But the best part of it is still going on. Because that part is you guys. The people who’ve enjoyed my nonsense. The people who’ve actually dropped some bucks my way on Ko-Fi or bought my book! The people who’ve encouraged me for ages and have turned out to be some of the coolest folks a fellow bookworm could hope for. Thank you.

I hope you’ll cross your fingers for me going forward.

Postscript

I’m also working on the rough draft for this thing. Whether I can get it up on the platform I’d like or not, it will see daylight even if I have to drag it outside myself.

Living’s not cheap, but complaining is free. >:}

[lean-mean-demon-genevieve]

I could just feel her need to spew diet culture nonsense in my bones yesterday. And here it is today in her stories:

I’m going to try so hard to keep this brief…

1.) Note the typo in the thumbnail in the white box. GenPad: Consummate Professional; English Major. Apparently busy moms don’t proofread.

2.) This meal program costs $465/week for FIVE days of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. (That’s $31/meal.) Or $395/week with an auto-pay subscription. ($26.33 per meal.) It doesn’t appear that there is an option for multiple people per household. There is also no 7-day option. Yes you’re paying for the convenience of a pre-made meal and no I haven’t run the numbers on what it would cost you to make all of this at home, but the fact remains: shit is pricey.

3.) It all comes in plastic containers. TOWWN, indeed!

(Source listed below)

4.) Sakara does not share the nutrition info in these meals. (You can find nutrition profiles on some protein bars and powders on Google but not the meals.) This is sketchy as hell and for that price, their customers deserve to know. The company claims that “calories don’t matter” and suggests that people do not count calories. Which isn’t a terrible message on the surface, but that’s not all that goes on a nutrition label.

5.) What little nutrition info anyone has been able to arm-wrestle out of Sakara (see above) is generalized, but it also suggests that it isn’t enough calories for most women/their target audience. A dietitian who tried the program for 5 days reported that for 0 of those days did they only eat Sakara’s food because they were hungry in between. It’s also low in protein, so add some snacks and meat to your weekly $465 budget for ONE PERSON.

“To their credit”?? …no. Not for that price.

6.) The phrase “clean eating” is a marketing gimmick. It’s also how people like Gen signal their superiority in their food choices. A study published in The Journal of Eating Disorders showed supporting data that perpetuating “clean eating” as a goal may be harmful, especially to vulnerable audiences. (And the thing about eating disorders is that it is really difficult to tell who is vulnerable until it’s too late. It is estimated that 1 in 4 diets results in an ED.)

7.) Gen continues to shill health and wellness misinformation that has potential to harm others for her own profit. What a gal!

Bonus: Gen also claims to have her own history of an eating disorder in this podcast (start at 24:14) which obviously doesn’t make her inherently bad or untrustworthy but I do feel like it should mean that SHE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO PUT OTHERS AT RISK WITH HER INFLUENCER BULLSHIT…but here we are. 🖕🏼

Sources:

“A Dietitian’s Review of Sakara’s Insta-Famous Meal Plans”

“Sakara 101: Why Calories Don’t Matter”

Journal of Eating Disorders article

[gothicprep]

taylor lorenz, the reporter, resigned from wapo and moved over to substack. it sort of has me wondering, does anyone actually like taylor’s reporting? does she have fans? any? not in the lolcow sort of way. i don’t think ive ever seen someone sincerely admire her work.

i don’t know how to say this without sounding mean, but she’s just not very good at her job. id speculate that the only reason she got the work that she has is because legacy media outlets were slow to embrace social media/internet culture and still don’t know entirely what they’re doing with it. she’s there because she was there first, so to speak. i don’t think ive ever read something of hers that i found educational or insightful. and I know it’s sort of a low blow to trash talk her personality, but she’s too thin-skinned to be a public figure. she just is. and she’s mostly well known for knowingly stirring shit on social media and crying about it when people fling shit back. i have a lot of trouble sympathizing with this because the psychic damage she’s taking here is entirely self-inflicted.

the only thing she’s really *done* is publicizing the libsoftiktok lady’s real identity, which worked to chaya raichik’s benefit in the end so. nice job, team.

she’s also in the position where, like, a lot of crankish right wing types hate her, so you end up with people who feel like being a Good Lorberal means defending her. but it’s not really coming from the place of being pro-taylor as much as it is being anti-Tucker Carlson and friends. big difference between taking her side in a culture war slap fight and paying a $5 monthly subscription for her journalism, where she regularly includes quotes from 20 y/o randos who sound like they spent the past 6hrs chugging codeine cough medicine and says “well, that’s as good as it’s going to get”.

i can’t imagine this going well for her. but who knows.

[motleyfolk]

Examining How I Use The Internet

Prompted by this page I’ve realised I’m doing a lot of mindless scrolling and procrastinating a lot with the internet. Time to fix that. Mari Kondo’ing this shit.

Reddit: I mindlessly scroll and always gravitate to drama subs like AITA, which just depresses the life out of me and drags me into negativity. 

Solution: Block the bad subreddits with stayfree and use it to put a limit on how much time I spend on there, so I can still access useful and informative subreddits but not doomscroll. Stayfree did heehaw but I found a simple extension that blocked the subreddits and then used Ublock to hide popular posts so basically it’s just my specific feed now. Win!

Tumblr: I also mindlessly scroll here, albeit less. Sometimes on instinct I feel the need to put on a persona or post certain things or overly clarify things to appease spectators I’ve crafted in my head or feel a need to perform. Makes using this site stressful.

Solution: Remind myself this tumblr is my digital journal and while I’m open to making friends this is not something I’m doing to get clout. I am here to collect, learn and explore. 

Twitter: I rarely go on it anymore, and I just don’t like it. The only things that were on it that I liked were cute and cozy aesthetic accounts, but even then nah.

Solution: Delete it. Twitter gone woo crab rave

Discord: I use it the most to talk directly to irl and online friends, have a bookclub and get updates on random stuff. Sometimes it feels like a void.

Solution: ?? Need it to talk to friends. Just meditate or smth. Like tumblr, don’t feel the need to perfom or put on a persona. Vibe only.

Youtube: Also started procrastinating by going on there with the intention to watch this One Specific video and then I’m on the 4th Im Skylar White Yo lego video. 

Solution: See if there’s something that can block the yt homepage and just see subscriptions or smth. ABSOLUTE UBLOCK W HOW IS THIS SO EASY AND I NEVER KNEW?!

Emails: I’m scared to even touch my gmails bc of the amount of spam mail I’ve accumulated since I was 8.

Solution: Buckle up and start unsubscribing to junk mail and clearing them out THEN switch from gmail to literally anything. Done techgirl email

Internet In General: I think I use a decent not centralized browser. I use yt adblock like a champ. But I really need to go over security notes, find a vpn, make sure this browser is cool, download that torrent browser thing sometime. 

Solution: Find vpn, get torrent browser thing, use throw away emails or card info.

I also generally feel like I have to put on a performance. Is this down to that one time I was a microceleb in this one niche shitty instagram community? Maybe. Theres a voice at the back of my head like “Will this get notes? Will people laugh at this? Does this fit? Will this slightly put someone off?” and its exhausting because I’m not here to get clout I’m just wanting to chill!! I do however want to make friends and meet like-minded folks, don’t wanna create an echo chamber for myself. Hm...

Solution: Recognise this behaviour, the thoughts. Listen to them, deconstruct them, let them pass. Do this constantly. Do not engage them or let them influence you. (realising this sounds like some spc lmao)

I sometimes skip posts with hardly any upvotes or notes because unconciously Im only paying attention to bigger posts. This means I miss out on tons.

Solution: Use good ol ublock to hide note and upvote elements.

Spotify: Love music. Like the spotify wrapped thing. Hate spotify, it is evil company. I don’t even pay for it thanks to my bestie. But...

Solution: Compile music elsewhere (where ?)

Instagram: I’m not actually active on it, I just still have it bc it has tons of cool anime edits I’ve saved over the years. But I hate zuckergram.

Solution: Export the sick edits and delete zuckergram. I will do this on my phone.

End Notes

Compared to a year ago I’m much more aware of how I’m using the internet. My phone usage is down to nilch, it’s almost like I never spent 16 hours a day on instagram straight as a kid.

Having a path still ahead to walk down doesn’t negate the mountain I climbed before.

The sites I use most are Reddit, YT, Tumblr, Discord. Thats four I’ve whittled it down to, which is actually an ok number, not too bad. One for solitary reading, one for spooks and funny videos, one for semi solitary blogging, one for communication.

Should come back to this later and re-examine things and not forget to do these things.

[prolifeproliberty]

Capitalism doesn’t get all the credit for the internet, but it does get credit for the internet as it exists today, and ESPECIALLY the accessibility of the internet through relatively affordable handheld devices. It also gets credit for a lot of the places people go to access information (yes, including Wikipedia which is not perfect but is generally reliable for basic information)

YouTube - with as many issues as it has - contains a LOT of knowledge, especially when it comes to learning from people who are experts in their field.

Now, we would have better access to more information and more options for where to look if the government didn’t enable corporations to have monopolies.

Remember that capitalism is literally just people owning resources (including their own labor) and making their own decision about what to do with those resources.

People choose to share their knowledge online.

People choose to write books, and then sell those books in book stores or online.

I’m not saying knowledge is free, I’m saying it’s accessible. You might have to pay for a book or for access to an academic journal. Oh the horror.

What I’m saying is that you DON’T have to go into significant student debt to learn deeply about a topic. You don’t need a degree if you want to “learn for learning’s sake”

You can buy a book (or academic journal subscription) and read.

For most of human history, that was not possible for the average person.

The Gutenberg printing press was the first game changer that allowed pamphlets and books to be mass produced and available to average people of average means.

Advancements in printing have gotten us to the point now where books are almost considered disposable. I can walk into a discount book store in any medium to large size city and spend a small amount of money to buy reference books on almost any subject.

Sure, some knowledge has been lost - is that somehow capitalism’s fault? Would socialism/communism somehow fix that?

There is more knowledge readily accessible online either for free or for a nominal cost than you or I could actually read and retain in our lifetimes.

Go read and learn things. And yeah, work a job so you can afford your basic needs (including books). Learn a trade or skill that allows you to make decent money, and then learn for fun. It’s really not that complicated.

(Also, while libraries are publicly funded, they also heavily rely on donations - and that’s part of capitalism. So if you like libraries, donate money to help them stay open.)

I think it’s incredibly fucked how capitalism discourages learning for learning’s sake. People will have interests they’ve spent years researching then say it’s “useless knowledge” bc it didn’t go towards a college degree and isn’t part of their job. Learning is never useless! Your brain is growing and developing throughout your whole life! People would never have epiphanies or sudden lightening strikes of creativity if they weren’t learning new things! That goes double for topics like science, politics, and history, which inform your understanding of the world you live in!

[bllsbailey]

New York Times Goes Full Monty With Trump Hysteria, Throws All Pretenses of Journalism Out the Window

There’s an old aphorism among leftists: if you’re not winning the argument, say it louder. If you’re getting killed in a factual debate, toss the logic and get emotional. Get angry. Throw anything you got, it doesn’t matter if it’s true, just keep screaming.

Actually, I don’t know if that’s an old aphorism—I just made it up—but I see it time and time again, whether I’m arguing with a low-IQ progressive or reading what passes as the mainstream media these days.

Although the New York Times has long lost its reputation as the paper of record—to all but the most fawning of the leftist cult, it is the paper of recording your new puppy’s movements—but they’re getting so unhinged, so frothing as of late, that someone actually approved this mockery of a printing:

If you’re stupid enough to pay for a subscription (some of us poor sods have to, unfortunately), you will find that the editorial page has a deeply ominous black background. I’m assuming they didn’t do that for the print version because the ink costs would have been off the charts.

Is this journalism, or as they used to call it, “yellow journalism?” Straight-up up fear-mongering, violence-inciting propaganda from what was formerly known as “the paper of record.”

Now before you think this is just some random columnist spouting this venom, be aware that it was the Editorial Board who printed this manifesto:

Donald Trump has described at length the dangerous and disturbing actions he says he will take if he wins the presidency. His rallies offer a steady stream of such promises and threats — things like prosecuting political opponents and using the military against U.S. citizens. These statements are so outrageous and outlandish, so openly in conflict with the norms and values of American democracy that many find them hard to regard as anything but empty bluster. We have two words for American voters: Believe him.

No, we believe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who have been “prosecuting political opponents” since the day they took office. But where has the Times been on those stories? Blissfully ignoring the wholesale weaponization of our Department of Justice while sipping cocktails at the Met Gala.

Some of the arguments they make border on parody:

The promises Mr. Trump made during his first presidential campaign, in 2016, turned out to be a pretty good road map of the policies and priorities he pursued as president. 

Yes, New York Times editorial board, the policies he promised and then pursued as president were pretty good indeed. We had a roaring economy, no new foreign wars, almost zero inflation, and a secure border. Wait, I can’t hear you?

Just keep inciting violence and hatred, Grey Lady:

Today he says he is ready to deploy the military against his political opponents. He says that he will instruct the Justice Department to prosecute critics. He says that he will mobilize the National Guard to deport immigrants, that he is ready to blow Iranian cities to smithereens, that he will allow vigilante violence as a solution to crime in America. Americans should believe him.

Were we at war with Iran when he was president, was Hamas savagely murdering Israeli citizens? No. Was crime off the charts, to the point where citizens were scared to walk the streets of NY or visit their local CVS? Was the DOJ prosecuting those who criticized him? Oops, that’s your president, Times—Joe Biden—who you told us was fit as a fiddle while you lied about his obvious mental decline. 

Sadly, shame does not appear to be in your vocabulary, but you should be wallowing in pig offal. 

I’m guessing that few readers here at RedState are ardent NY Times readers, and you're wondering, who the hell cares what they have to say? But I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it often—we must keep pointing out the corrupt, Marxist media because even though you don’t read it, that doesn’t mean that a whole lot of other people don't. They do. Trust me, I know them…I live in Los Angeles and come from New York.

By continuing to call them out on their lies, their propaganda, and their incitements to hatred and violence, we’re making a difference.

Just look at the polls.

It's up to all of us to make sure that the poll that matters—the one on November 5—is one for the ages.

[yorkshireword]

Under its new editor in chief Emma Tucker, another Brit, the Wall Street Journal is laying off impactful reporters in favor of an “audience first” strategy and a voicier, more personality-driven writing style, hoping to attract a younger audience, though the company is already highly profitable. Amidst the lumbering giants, relatively tiny operations like Puck, Punchbowl, Semafor, and Defector target smaller niches of high-value or high-loyalty readers, keeping costs low and drawing revenue from subscriptions, sponsorships, and events. They’re not infinitely scalable, but they don’t have to be. Underneath it all, the threat of generative AI destroying search traffic and replacing journalism’s core purpose of answering mundane factual questions about reality looms like Charybdis. 

It all has me thinking about what makes a good media brand in this moment. The biggest companies and publications are struggling because they don’t seem to stand for anything in particular. The Washington Post, for example, has no center of gravity: It’s not great for local journalism; it lost to Politico, Axios, and Punchbowl on high-level national politics; and it axed products that did inspire loyalty, including shutting down its magazine. (It has invested significantly in its Style section, presumably for the high-priced ads, the same reason GQ doubled down on fashion.) Its brand is incoherent, and thus it’s unclear why millions more readers would pay for a digital subscription or go to its homepage. What would fix this problem? Four values have stuck in my head that are as applicable to a single newsletter as to an international newspaper: Voice, taste, trust, and scarcity.

Readers right now crave voice, to an extreme degree — thus the popularity of newsletters driven by a single writer. This may seem blindingly obvious, but if your articles, or whatever pieces of content you produce, are just like everyone else’s, no one will care about them. Voice is the difference.   

If voice is about the style of content than taste is about the content of content. It’s the sense of what to cover, the curation of subject matter. I’ve always thought that editorial decision-making is the best example of taste, because it happens on a very even playing field these days. Everything from a solo Substack to a newspaper is just a collection of editors and writers using their judgment to pick a subject to pursue and then pursuing it, turning the end result into the best story possible. Sure, an institution has more resources and can fund a long-term investigation, but a single writer can break a news story or a new idea (I think this is most true in what we would call culture coverage). The most interesting things most often happen in niche spaces that are more accessible to individuals than institutions, because institutions have more friction in expressing taste. 

General interest might be dead. The largest publications are collections of sub-brands to which consumers develop specific relationships: The Cut, Wirecutter, Politico Playbook. Taste sets these editorial brands apart and allows voice to flourish, because the content doesn’t have to cater to every random consumer online at once. 

Having voice and taste is not enough. You need reliability. Whether you have a YouTube channel or a link-dump newsletter, you need to keep delivering what you promise to deliver. You need to maintain your voice and taste over time, which results in a trusting relationship with the consumer. 

You need to provide things that other publications or creators aren’t providing. That could mean a breaking-news scoop about the Senate or it could mean identifying a Portuguese shoe brand that no one in the US knows about yet. It could also mean creating an online experience that isn’t available elsewhere, like the NYT’s innovative word games. 

[runningwithgrace-forlife]

Ozempic for Weight Loss - Yea or Nay?

Assignment for week of 9/6/2023– Find an article or something on social media and determine whether it is true or not. I am choosing to fact check the use of Ozempic for weight loss since it is all over my social feeds.

Is using semaglutide medications, known as Ozempic and Wegovy a healthy way to lose weight? My focus here is on Ozempic. Yes, I have thought of using this myself, however, I am nervous to take a medication for the sole purpose of losing weight. Does one actually lose weight from taking Ozempic? I always thought of it as a drug to treat diabetes.

Well according to posts on Facebook, the answer is Yes!! But is it healthy?

Now, in this particular read, the one friend does not approve. The two friends taking Ozempic rave about their results. This article is from “The New York Times Magazine”, which requires a subscription. So, my search will continue as I do not wish to subscribe. Looking at the caption and Facebook comments, this article is more about judging people who use prescription drugs. My own thoughts are don’t judge PERIOD. However, my thoughts are irrelevant here as I am trying to find out does Ozempic help lose weight and is it healthy.

My search continues. I come across an article in “The Wall Street Journal”. I see a ton of sponsored content, trying to sell me on the product but I want the truth. Is it a healthy way to lose weight. I know it is prescribed for diabetics but what about the person who wants to take it solely to lose weight --- ME, but, for my fear, is it truly healthy for ME to take it just to lose weight? I mean I have my daughter’s wedding this year and I’d like to shed a few pounds without starving myself.

The Wall Street Journal does require me to create an account, but I can do this for free. The first thing I see on this article is the full title which reads:

“Ozempic Can Make You Thin, Not Necessarily Healthy”

This is in the Health & Wellness section of The Wall Street Journal. Looks legit to me so I dig in.

The Wall Street Journal will only allow me to view so much without paying for a subscription. They now offer me a deal of .5 cents a week for a year. I would gladly pay that – in cash- but that is not an option. I refuse to enter my credit card information into yet another subscription. But I was able to see some headlines and can now dig further. The more I dig, the more my head spins. I found some headlines on FB such as this from NBC News:

I found this when I did a search about hair loss:

“Ozempic (semaglutide) is an injectable medication that is FDA approved to treat Type 2 diabetes. There's no evidence that Ozempic directly causes hair loss. But hair loss can develop with rapid weight loss, which is a known side effect of taking Ozempic.” This was on the GoodRx Health site. While it is determined that Ozempic does not directly cause hair loss, it can be a side effect of rapid weight loss.

I don’t know about you, but this is scary – hair loss – no thank you.

Dr. Terry Simpson offers his view on using Ozempic and other medications for weight loss. He talks about the side effects. He also talks about the need to eat the appropriate foods when taking these drugs. The drug makes you stay full longer because it takes longer for your stomach to empty. It also tricks your brain so you may not want certain foods or alcohol. When you first start taking the drug, if you do not know about eating properly while taking it, you may end up feeling sick. It is important to go to a health professional who cares about you and doesn’t just put you on a drug and send you on your way. Hence, you cannot eat whatever you want, take this medication, and lose weight in a healthy manner. This should be common sense. There is no magic.

Well, I took a deeper dive into Dr. Terry Simpson’s reasons for being so nice and educating us. Turns out, he and his team offer “weight loss surgery”. At first I thought, he has alternative motives, but I continued to dig deeper into Dr. Terry Simpson and his practice. I googled and asked, “Is Dr. Terry Simpson a good doctor”. I found a lot of information and it appears that he is in fact a good doctor when it comes to health and weight loss. However, his practice does seem to be more geared towards weight loss surgery.

From Dr. Simpson’s website, as is the information above:

After watching some of his Tic Tok videos, I do think he could be a straight shooter and I would trust his advice.

I continue my quest to find out more about Ozempic and, let me tell you, there is no shortage of information, both good and bad.

And the pictures I am seeing showing results has me thinking, sign me up. Maybe if I personally knew someone who took Ozempic for the sole purpose of losing weight, I would consider it.

I now see Ads for cheaper brand names. It never ends. It surely is a business and I think the actual health of the people takes a back seat.

My conclusion is that yes Ozempic can help one to lose weight. There is a lot of evidence indicating so. I also think it can be healthy if taken correctly with the proper diet and exercise. As for me, I will hold off and go old school. Good nutrition (80%) and exercise (20%).

[just-some-sad-kiddo]

This morning, I woke up a little before my alarm and did a little bit of journaling since I don’t like going on electronics first thing in the morning. It was nice to get some thoughts out. I’m thinking that when my Google home arrives, I’ll set it up to play some easy, gentle music in the morning. I also need to get a blindfold or something for my morning meditation because I get distracted too easily when I open my eyes but I always forget to keep them closed.

I think I want to try putting boba into the Yorkshire tea. I mean, it’s just milk tea. They just call it tea here, of course, but for me it’s milk tea. Charlotte told me that there was a good Asian food shop in York that she and her friends go to sometimes.

I need to ask Shannon if he wants to visit for Christmas. Mom said that she’d pay for his ticket if he did since Dad wouldn’t be obligated to at that point. I hope that he does decide to come since we did have a lot of fun when all of us went to England together the last time.

So, I’ve started writing my thoughts on paper during the day so that I don’t get distracted while I’m trying to work. I think I might also start doing a handwriting journal since, honestly, my handwriting could be better. 

I need to start working on my GCSE shit. That’s the English version of the SATs but I need to figure out how they work and how to study for them. I was hoping that i’d be able to find some kind of remote option for school since that’s what I’m used to, but all of the remote options don’t work for me. First off, they’re expensive as hell and second, they never have any art courses. It makes sense that you have to do art in-person but my last school experience was so miserable that I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it. I’ve really been spoiled lately with my online learning i’ve been doing for the past year. I wear what I want, eat what I want, work when I want, and I can wear my headphones so that I don’t experience any sensory overload. I can’t do pretty much any of that shit at Selby which is just fantastic. I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever failed a class due to my literal disability. Oh, wait. I have. Multiple times. Of course, when I expressed my concerns to Mom, she did the thing where it’s illegal for me to be upset. Honestly, why do I tell her anything anymore? She does this every time. If I went back through my journal and looked, I’d probably find a thousand times she’s done this. I seriously need to remember not to say anything negative around her ever. She’s the only one who is allowed emotions. Who cares that I had a meltdown earlier today because Athena and Eris wouldn’t stop fighting? It’s not like it’s a big deal or anything. I’m just an angsty teenage pessimist who doesn’t have any real problems. 

This house is really cold, but nobody wants to turn the heat on because of how expensive electricity is right now because of the Russia/Ukraine war. I can’t even step into the kitchen barefoot or my feet will literally freeze. Trust me, I tried it yesterday. Worst mistake of my life.

I’m really, really excited to start working. I turned in my resume today at Gingers, but I don’t really think I’ll get the job. For one, I didn’t have a UK phone number so I put Tony’s on my CV. And, since Angela wasn’t there, I didn’t have the opportunity to tell her that it was Tony’s number. It seems unprofessional to have your parents number on your CV, is it not? But, anyway, when I get my new number I’m going to apply at the list of places Tony gave me. Luckily, everything in Howden closes by 3 anyways. I want to save up money so I can perm my hair nicely and also get my workout clothes and duffle bag for the gym. I also would like to get a Squarespace subscription so I can get myself a professional website to host my work. And buy a not-shitty printer.

I went to the park. It was nice, although I did get lost on the way. I also got lost when turning in my CV. It makes things harder that everyone drives like a psycho here. Literally insane. 

The lock on the door is still fucked up so Tony called locksmith so come fix it. In the meantime, I wanted to go to the gym so Paul drove me. I would have taken the bus, but much like in Fort Collins, they stop running really early. Also, they’re really expensive and all owned by private companies that don’t communicate with eachother. Thing is, I didn’t realize I’d have to get an induction as I’d never heard of that before. We call them orientations in America, but I’d never heard of that either. In fact, it seems I’m the only one whose never heard of that because everyone else knew what was going on. Anyway, I’ve set it up for 10:00am Saturday.

The gym is near these flats which are apparently very dangerous according to Tony and Paul. They say they’ve had the most bodies they’re from drugs and people jumpin’ out of windows. I forgot that Paul was also in the medical field.

[ibaimendi]

Academic librarian here! (This is what college and university librarians are called in the US.) This depends a lot on what kind of institution you are at, but…

Some American college and university libraries DO have robust textbook programs where they buy every textbook that’s assigned in the curriculum. However, lots of others don’t. There are a few reasons. The obvious one is budget, of course — the budget isn’t getting bigger, journal and database subscriptions cost more every year (seriously, some databases literally have contracts that call for an annual 5% price increase) and we still like to buy some books and support other stuff that’s happening in the library. So textbooks might be something that falls by the wayside for some. But there’s more to it than that. There are logistics issues, for one thing (where can you get a list of all the books being taught in classes? From the bookstore? LOLOLOLOL. If you’re lucky you can work with departments to get this information, but that is a real project that requires staffing). So for a lot of US academic libraries (I’d venture to say most), the textbook program relies on faculty requests — so if a faculty member doesn’t request a book be included, it won’t be. Obviously, this makes the program much smaller.

And then there are the format issues. Most people want electronic textbooks! Reasonable. And some publishers are willing to sell electronic textbooks to libraries, but a lot of them are NOT. They’re simply not available for libraries to buy, period. It’s infuriating, but still legal. Publishers can just refuse to offer site licenses. If you ARE able to get the electronic textbook, you’ll need to pay more for a license that allows simultaneous access. Even in print, lots of textbooks these days involve the use of a course site, which of course is only accessible to those who have purchased a textbook with a code in it. (Also, this isn’t universal, but at my institution, most students are commuters, so using a print textbook on reserve means finding time to get to the library, paying for transit, hoping all the copies of the book aren’t out to someone else when you get there, and setting aside a chunk of time to read it on site. And, like.. our students are dedicated, but they also have jobs and families.)

Libraries (or instructors!) can also scan short portions of texts under fair use for course reserves, and there are cases where that’s really helpful, but if a class is using a traditional textbook in a traditional way, that doesn’t really work because students need access to the whole text. (Also there was a famous publisher lawsuit over electronic course reserves a few years ago (Georgia State) and while the outcome of that case was encouraging, a lot of libraries are very shy about copyright, much more than they should be, in my opinion.)

I’m inclined to think the answer is open educational resources, and I know there’s a long way to go on that. In my state, there’s a grant that colleges can get to develop open resources to be used in classes, and it’s actually helped quite a bit. At my institution, we have a program to help instructors convert their classes to Zero Textbook Cost, meaning they’re only using resources that are either freely available or available from the library, and I think it’s done a lot of good. But it’s a really big project to get everyone there. (There’s also a whole discourse to be had about companies that are jumping on the OER bandwagon and trying to monetize it and standardize it. I have some not-necessarily-friendly feelings toward those companies. But they exist because they make a hard process easier.)

Okay I have a question about American universities, which I do not understand on general principles, and university libraries, which I do not understand in this context.

Here's how it works for my students:

As part of the £9000 a year they're paying, they get access to full library resources. I, at the start of each academic year, make sure the reading list for each module - both essential and supplementary - is up to date, meaning the library has copies (preferably online forms, with hard copies only if a PDF is unavailable)

The library also has subscriptions to pretty much every major journal going, so they are able to access most journals with their uni login. If they happen across, and need, something they can't access, they put in a request with the library for it. A ninja librarian will perform the sacrament, and a PDF is in your inbox two days later (I am hazy on the mechanism of this part, but not the result). You have up to ten requests per person per year.

How in the world do I see posts from Americans so very often talking about paying for textbooks? Like... I get that it's "Shitty lecturers want to force students to buy their personal textbook for cash monies", but what do those university libraries actually Do?

(Also as a side note I am filled with helpless laughter at the very IDEA that I would (a) be allowed to set my own book as not just essential but fundamental course reading in a field that is well researched HELLO BIAS AND FRAUD and (b) allowed to set any text as required reading that would disadvantage impoverished students HELLO INEQUALITY AND ALSO PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS VIOLATION without the university's academic office arranging for a bed of hot coals to haul me over.)

[coreytravelogue]

It’s December so you know what that means, flying to the rock. The thing is I am already feeling sad for the inevitable 3 weeks from now when I will be leaving and I won’t see my parents for another year possibly.

I really don’t want to repeat myself here on this because it is always about the same. Always trying to figure out how to get to Newfoundland while I watch my parents health slowly deteriorate year by year. It is like watching an hour glass I only really see once a year. I will save my thoughts for my personal journal.

Flying to and from St.John’s will be rough both ways this time and there is no ways around it. I am here pretty early because I don’t want to risk any shit happening, not like much wrong goes on at YVR. Of all the airports I have been through YVR is one of the more solid and on the ball ones, more organized and least stressful unlike Pearson. Thankfully at least for now that my trip to and from will not involve Pearson at all.

I fly from Vancouver to Edmonton, wait 2 hours or so then Edmonton to Halifax and then from there to St. John’s. Getting back it’s from St. John’s to Halifax where I will have a 6 hour lay over. Then Halifax to Calgary, one hour later it will be Calgary to Vancouver when I get back at midnight. I will will be working the next day.

This itinerary is unique to the others for the sheer fact that I bypass Pearson and Trudeau Airports completely.

The flight to St. John’s is usually less rough than the trip back. Normally because at least getting to Newfoundland I can sleep through some of it where the flight back I am often awake all of the way through as I am flying through the day.

I will leave my review and my plans for 2023 to myself till Jan 2 because much of what I am doing like I normally do in NFLD is to plot things. I always have a huge list of things I want to do and I only ever accomplish maybe 25% of it.

This time around I want to remake an AMV, if I have time I want to start a brand new one but that is a stretch goal. I want to make a new one for Animeathon 2023 to mark 20 years since I first submitted an AMV to a contest. The same guy who organized it then organizes it now, I wonder if he will remember me. Probably.

I also want to make some headway on my playlist project, this whole project as a whole started coming up to 3 years ago and I am getting closer to finishing it but I know even if I fully committed to it in these 3 weeks I won’t complete it. I am almost done year 21 which was the most traumatic year of my life starting the darkest era of my life. I will have a lot of booze at my disposal. I am hoping to at least complete up to 23.

The next thing is to apply to more pools and positions for NFLD or if anything out of Vancouver. As much as I want to find a position close to my parents I am starting to realize that unless I really press on someone it won’t happen on merit alone. I hate that we live in a society where bitching, complaining or pressing on others is the only way things get done. I feel like I have done nothing but a whole lot of pressing on people. I feel like I am turned into a Karen this year with the amount of nagging and pressing on people to get their shit together so I can get on with completing my work. That alone is what has exhausted me.

Next is need to figure out how I am going to afford to live in Vancouver when my acting is over and I go back to living off one pay cheque as one pay cheque check goes completely to rent. The thing is I have been fairly good with finances this year. I lowered my beer intake, didn’t travel all that much even to Victoria. While I did start subscriptions I am starting to regret subscribing to I have been frugal but the prices of everything has been beating me. Most of my money has went straight to groceries which even then is me really cheaping out. At least in the lunch and dinner. I am sure it’s my breakfast that is the priciest part of my groceries but I really don’t want to cheap out on it. Everything I eat in the morning is to allow my body (brain most importantly) work at its peak patient and it works.

Which is why I must continue to try and find a way out of a Vancouver, period.

Most importantly I will be spending time with my parents and Jayden enjoying playing with him as a child before he grows up.

There is also catching up on movies but that will be done regardless and is the one thing I accomplish the most either way.

As much as I want to spend time with my parents it’s not easy because all they want to do is sit on the couch watching CBC, game shows or play bingo. I guess as old people are. I feel like a shit taking the tv but also most of the movies I want to watch my parents don’t like. My mom can barely see and unless it is a very simple movie and English my dad has no interest.

When I am in the basement I feel like I am spoiling what finite time I have with my parents but the thing is I do not know what we could do together at their age but just sit there with them.

I got another 2 hours to wait for my flight to start boarding. I can’t help but think about how I made this trip almost every year since 2008. Since 2008 I have had the month off to be with my parents, often the only vacation I would ever take. Most of my stories of the trip were all forgettable to be perfectly honest till Pearson finished its renovations and then from there on out going through Pearson has almost always been stressful and well documented on this blog at least for, 2014 on.

Prior to the renovation going through Pearson was pretty easy. The wing I entered was the wing I left. The gate I would leave was often just across the room but as I am sure I have said a lot over the years, after the renovation it was always on the opposite side of Pearson which is a huge airport. Most of my strongest memories was almost always running from one end to the other and just barely getting there in time. I have missed two flights in that airport though. One plane getting in too late with no time for me to get the gate in time and another was more or less the same thing but weather stranded many of us in Toronto back in 2018 due to the weather bomb that hit the east.

I fully expect westjet to redo my flight back, they have done it 3 times in a row now I think and they have almost always left me with worse flights than before though I can’t imagine my itinerary getting worse than it already is…..well I can it can go through Pearson.

I have about 90 minutes now before boarding and I start what will be a long series of flights to Newfoundland. I am growing to hate flying more and more as I get older. I don’t blame my parents for not wanting to do it anymore. It’s cramped and stuffy which makes my sinuses act up immediately. I never have any room and everyone always brings all of their luggage on as carry on though they won’t be using any of it. I have always hated when people do that but I get it. Checking baggage in is always so expensive so everyone tries to save as much as they can but abusing the personal bag and carry on bag rules.

Then they only give you a small bag of pretzels or cookies with a small cup of something to drink. Whenever I ask for the can I always get a glare from the crew like “What makes you so special that you get a can while others get a small cup?” I feel if someone ever asked that of me I am Karen enough these days to say well if I am going to pay the ridiculous price tag it costs to fly in this fucking country the least Westjet or Air Canada can do is give me a full can of fucking ginger ale! I am almost positive it only costs them a buck mark up.

At least traveling seems less scary this time around. Last year I was so paranoid and scared. This was the first time I flew since prior to the pandemic, we are not entirely out of it all yet as restrictions were starting to lower but not long after going to Newfoundland Omi corn came and essentially kept me in the house though I would have done it anyway.

Now I am quadruple vaccinated and wearing a mask I feel I am as protected one could be. Feel like almost everyone I know has had COVID but me. Makes me wonder if it’s thanks to my diet, my very strong immune system or avoiding everyone all of the time? Probably all of the above.

At this point I just don’t want to catch COVID and bring it with me to my parents. My parents are more shut in than I am these days so I doubt they could catch and spread it themselves so it would be me if anyone.

I am excited to see them but again I can’t help but be sad, Time is finite with them but all I can do is enjoy what time I have with the, while I still have it.

So here we go to the rock again.

Shazbot nanu nanu

[extasiswings]

Hi! Sorry if this is a really dumb question or one you've answered before, but how do you know so much about politics? No one I know looks closer than Fox News or TikTok/Facebook and I legitimately don't know how to learn more. Are there certain websites or journalists that I should look into? Any books you'd recommend for a good overview of American politics? I'm sorry again if this is a dumb question and you don't have to answer if you don't want to!

It’s not a dumb question at all! For me personally, I know a lot because I have worked in politics or politics-adjacent fields for the majority of my adult life (although I also had really good history and government teachers in middle and high school that sparked an interest). I have a graduate degree in public policy and some of my course work was taught by people who at one time held very high offices. I’ve also worked on campaigns for ballot initiatives and similar measures at the state and local level, I’ve drafted legislation and met with legislators and staff to do direct advocacy and lobbying work, I’ve worked for stakeholders in in broad coalitions for different advocacy and activist communities so I’ve been exposed to the nuances of strategy development and coalition building through those types of efforts…basically I have a lot of personal experience and also connections that inform my general knowledge base and perspective on certain topics (like how government works in general but when it comes to a few specific policy areas I can get very in the weeds).

One important question to keep in mind is, what’s your goal? Because the level of investment (even if maybe not the approach) may vary depending on whether you just want to be generally informed or if you have specific policy issues that you’re really invested in and want to follow or if you’re interested in advocacy work or even running for office, etc.

But as far as staying current and informed, I think the first thing to say would be that you absolutely should not be getting your news from social media. I have a love-hate relationship with the beltway media for prioritizing clicks over honest journalism, but if you’re looking for general high-level information about “things happening at the federal level” and aren’t able to commit to a paid subscription, I would look at the AP, CNN, NPR, the Guardian. I have beef with Politico but it’s also an option. If you are willing to invest in a paid subscription to NYT and/or WaPo, I recommend it. (I’m slightly less helpful on this point because these days my initial daily news dump comes from various subscription-based legal news outlets that I have access to through my job). For state and local news, I’d look into newspapers for your region on top of the national outlets because national outlets are simply not going to cover absolutely everything going on in a specific state and especially a city. I would also say in general that it’s important to get your news from a number of different sources so you don’t end up in an echo chamber of, for example, just Fox News or MSNBC, and to be aware of the biases of a particular outlet. There are a lot of free “news” sites on both the far right and far left that exist basically just to further an agenda and spread lies about both Democrats and how government works (the Intercept, my most beloathed). On a similar note, when you do see people sharing articles on social media (or making random outlandish claims), pay attention to what they’re sharing or what sources they’re citing to back up their claims because it’s really easy to spread misinformation and even well-meaning people can do so. Also important to pay attention to the types of articles you’re reading, which may sound obvious but I’ve seen way too many people be like “well I read this in an opinion piece so it must be true” and…no. I have more that I could say that’s specific to candidate and election research but that’s a little bit different.

As far as books…everything I have ever read has just flown out of my head. But I would point you towards @mariacallous and @dhaaruni both of whom are brilliant and have excellent taste in reading materials and might have some recs.

[thedenofravenpuff]

dA Nuked from Orbit

Over a week I’ve been non-stop art dumping on my FurAffinity account. 

Been moving old art and character refs from my DeviantART account, because I was finally quitting on the site. Eclipse was bad enough change, but with every new update and betas forced upon its audience, the site just kept getting worse to me.

Further dA ranting below

My gallery’s folder system looks hideous, the message center continuously chopped up into smaller pieces to make it as inconvenient as possible, even using the search bar was getting effy because things don’t make obvious sense when looked at. 

Not to mention the new setup was a killer on bandweight and seemed to be actively trying to destroy my browser, if I was on the site for more than ten minutes at a time. No other sites gave me this much trouble. 

I’ve been a loyal user of DeviantART for years, almost two decades. I had paid subscriptions to support the site all those years, until Eclipse made me stop wanting to pay them ANYTHING. Only to learn is not an option to remove my banking info from their profile on me. AFTER they renewed my subscription without permission. I got my money back once I called the bank.

The last week while I saved old traditional art for transfer, the latest beta for the ruined message center glitched out so badly, I could no longer reply to people’s comments or notes. Nor look at other people’s posts, I couldn’t even look up my own journal posts put up to announce my plans for departure. 

To the very end, dA made it clear I was better off leaving. I only waited this long until I found someone to take over an old Group I didn’t had the heart to leave behind without supervision. 

Finally Friday, I deactivated my account. Whatever not saved to be put up on FurAffinity as my new main art archive, will now be gone. Of course, deactivating, doesn’t mean is gone, just means people can’t access your account anymore.  After SEVERAL emails and clicking buttons to affirm YES KILLSWITCH THIS SHT you can still log onto dA. Pointlessly. 

So I had to use the option of doing an PII sweep and use the law giving me the right to have them delete ALL and EVERYTHING of my data, which should finally kill my account off for good (within 30 days). At least they’ll no longer have access to my bank account at last 

dA was my archive for so many years, where I kept everything one place. It was were I made my longest lasting friendships, and first made a name for myself. Though to prove a point to myself, whenever I made an account on a different site, I never announced it on existing accounts for the first while, only to see I can still get a following. I don’t need what I had on dA to stay relevant. 

If you enjoy dA Eclipse and swear to it.. good for you. But it broke my heart and destroyed everything I loved about it, for changes I never wanted. And as I tried to stick around, tried to give it time to grow on me.. it only got worse and showed no signs of improving. 

Heck, thanks to dA being such a mess, it made me decide to stick around on tumblr for a bit longer. I had in the past played the idea to leave tumblr, as a lot of artists I loved had run or got purged, during the great Tumblr Purge. But know what? Compared to dA, tumblr is an absolute delight and I was reminded what community and friends I still have here.

Tumblr is broken, but not as badly as compared to dA. Tumblr is still decent. And I still find friends and content to enjoy here. 

If you read through all that ranting and whining, thank you. Was just to announce my dA is now deadm and my FurAffinity account is my new home base for my organized art archive. 

I can also still be stalked on twitter for daily doodles and general updates 

[porcupine-girl]

On the one hand, most people doing medical research are affiliated with institutions that will have subscriptions to the journals most relevant to them. Of course, that just pushes the cost off onto university libraries, research hospitals, and other organizations all of which have limited budgets that can be spent on much better things than Elsevier’s 40% profit margin (including paying the scientists whose writing is then given to the journals for free and the institution now has to buy back).

But there are always exceptions. People in smaller, less-well-funded institutions can have trouble getting access to more niche journals (or sometimes major ones that are too expensive) which can make it harder to do the background research they need to design their studies. And not everyone can afford to publish in an open-access journal, especially with fees like this. Which right now doesn’t mean they won’t be able to publish, since most journals aren’t open-access, but it certainly shapes the landscape of who can publish where and which journals have better submissions and thus can be pickier about what to publish, and how prestigious the journals you publish in affects who will hire you and how much grant money you can get, etc etc.

Basically: I doubt this by itself is stopping truly revolutionary live-saving research that’s already happened from being published. It is, however, almost certainly helping to determine who can do their research most easily, whose papers get read and cited, whose new ideas get funded, and on down the line.

And I just thought of one more shitty thing: back when journals were on paper, if your school dropped a journal it would still have all the issues it ever received on the library shelves. Now that it’s all electronic, if you don’t have an active subscription you lose access to all the archives too.

More than 40 leading scientists have resigned en masse from the editorial board of a top science journal in protest at what they describe as the “greed” of publishing giant Elsevier.

The entire academic board of the journal Neuroimage, including professors from Oxford University, King’s College London and Cardiff University resigned after Elsevier refused to reduce publication charges.

Academics around the world have applauded what many hope is the start of a rebellion against the huge profit margins in academic publishing, which outstrip those made by Apple, Google and Amazon.

Neuroimage, the leading publication globally for brain-imaging research, is one of many journals that are now “open access” rather than sitting behind a subscription paywall. But its charges to authors reflect its prestige, and academics now pay over £2,700 for a research paper to be published. The former editors say this is “unethical” and bears no relation to the costs involved.

Professor Chris Chambers, head of brain stimulation at Cardiff University and one of the resigning team, said: “Elsevier preys on the academic community, claiming huge profits while adding little value to science.”

He has urged fellow scientists to turn their backs on the Elsevier journal and submit papers to a nonprofit open-access journal which the team is setting up instead.

He told the Observer: “All Elsevier cares about is money and this will cost them a lot of money. They just got too greedy. The academic community can withdraw our consent to be exploited at any time. That time is now.”

Elsevier, a Dutch company that claims to publish 25% of the world’s scientific papers, reported a 10% increase in its revenue to £2.9bn last year. But it’s the profit margins, nearing 40%, according to its 2019 accounts, which anger academics most. The big scientific publishers keep costs low because academics write up their research – typically funded by charities and the public purse – for free. They “peer review” each other’s work to verify it is worth publishing for free, and academic editors collate it for free or for a small stipend. Academics are then often charged thousands of pounds to have their work published in open-access journals, or universities will pay very high subscription charges.

[theliteraryarchitect]

10 Magazines to Send Your Short Fiction for Publication

I thought this list might be helpful for all my followers that write short fiction. I pulled these 10 magazines from Duotrope’s list of “top 100 most approachable fiction markets.” Approachable means they have a relatively high acceptance rate compared to other markets in Duotrope’s database.

I’m not endorsing these magazines and I haven’t vetted them, I’m just sharing for anyone who can’t or doesn’t want to pay the $5/month subscription fee for Duotrope. You’ll need to look them up and find out what kind of stuff they want, deadlines, word count limits, etc.

Adelaide Literary Magazine

Scarlet Leaf Review

50-Word Stories

Potato Soup Journal

Fiction on the Web

Writers Resist

X-R-A-Y Literary Magazine

Theme of Absence

Utopia Science Fiction Magazine

Bewildering Stories

Spelk

Remember that if you submit to one of these and they reject you it doesn’t mean anything. Even though they are considered “approachable” a lot of things can skew those statistics, and there are lots of reasons editors reject stories (not enough space, not their style, too similar to another story in the same issue) that has nothing to do with the quality of your writing. Whatever you do don’t stop writing.

Hope this helps xoxo