#and they want you to send them money on paypal directly which is a thing that people do but it's not as common so i'm Hm

[alullinchaos]

stay safe y'all I'm at least 75% certain I just got an ask from a scam artist

[bitchesgetriches]

Hi! I’m still bank shopping (unfortunately) and it seems every bank sends a credit card. And I would get in a lot of trouble if it was found out that I’m getting a bank account. And the chances of me being able to sneak the card are pretty much nonexistent.

And the internet isn’t being helpful…I’ve been emailing banks to see if there’s an option to opt out, but no luck.

Maybe I should get a PayPal account for now…

Hi honey. It sounds like you might be in an abusive home situation, which has us really worried. Trying to gain some financial independence in such a situation is absolutely the right move, but we want to make sure you're pursuing everything safely.

So the first thing we advise is to get some help and resources from experts in the area of financial and domestic abuse. We

When Money is the Weapon: Understanding Intimate Partner Financial Abuse 

Now, a few options to help right away:

Get a post office box (PO Box) where mail can be sent instead of your home. Or, ask a friend if you can temporarily use their address for mail.

You might be confusing a credit card with a debit card. They're slightly different, and a debit card is just a way to access your money, not establish credit. If you can visit a bank in person, you might be able to have them issue your debt card and account details to you directly, rather than sending anything through the mail.

PayPal and Venmo are both good options for getting and storing money without a huge paper trail. But you'll still need to be careful if your concern is hiding your moves from the people you live with.

Good luck, honey. Please be safe and reach out for help from seasoned professionals, not just us nosey internet aunties (National Domestic Violence Hotline: https://www.thehotline.org/). Here's more information on opening a bank account:

How the Hell Does One Open a Bank Account? Asking for a Friend.

If you found this helpful, consider joining our Patreon

[callmearcturus]

pursuant to my vent post, i vented to punct and my brother

and as my brother is wont to do, he spotted me like half of the money for the birthday thing i want

so like an ungrateful bint i was like

Arc: someday i am either gonna A. accept my brother wants to dote on me and sometimes that means he paypals me money or B. stop venting about money bc he ALWAYS does this

to which Punct said

Punct: Yeah, it sucks that people care about you, how dare they. but truly, I think venting is valuable, and I think if you're stressed enough to vent then you should accept that people are going to want to make you feel better and that the way that makes THEM feel best is just to directly help alleviate the thing you're stressed about. You're doing them a favor by accepting more than they're doing you a favor by sending it in the first place

.... which is frankly so fucking wise and i think people who have poverty trauma and money guilt like me need to hear it

the times I have heard a friend talk about financial shit I have either offered to help out because I was in a position I could do so or I didn't offer because at that moment, I was not in a position to help out monetarily. and it's just that fucking binary.

everyone who gets upset/teary when someone paypals you money bc having money would actually help right now, we all need to remember that ppl don't do that if they can't and to not make it weird.

anyway. /back to writing

[ms-m-astrologer]

Ms M blows off steam

(And the annual plea for help)

Why, in the 21st Century, do people insist on cultural appropriation? And eco-unfriendly activities?

I have been reading a series of books (each written by a different author) about pagan-based spirituality, aimed at a Western audience (European, USA, Canadian, Australian), and just finished one which recommended working with various non-European deities. People seem to think, “Wow, what a cool practice - I want to do that, too.”

Speaking for just myself: this here 73% German-derived woman, living in the US of A, has no fucking business “borrowing” from other cultures’ pantheons. And if it isn’t your roots, then neither do you.

(I’ve done enough ancestry research to know I’m mostly from southern Germany - around the Black Forest - so when I find deities from that area, that’s where I direct myself. When there’s no equivalent, I use the rest of my Scots-Irish heritage.)

Another recommended the use of glitter for anything/everything - regular glitter qualifies as a microplastic and helps poison Mother Gaia further. No nature-based practitioner should condone such a thing.

(There are eco-friendly brands of glitter, but the author didn’t specifically refer to them - they’re too expensive for yours truly, but if that’s what floats your boat and you can afford it, go for those brands.)

In many pagan-specific books and articles, the astrology is (way) off, but that’s so prevalent I just blip over those parts.

(Example: the “zenith” is when the Sun is directly overhead - “high noon” - every single day, not just on this or that Sabbat.)

It really brings home to me how much our own experiences and our locale have to do with our practice.

+++ === *+=+* === +++

My “day job” is being a paraeducator in the public schools. It’s an hourly, not a salaried, position - which means when I’m not working (like now, in the summer), I don’t get paid. Sometimes I manage to save enough money, over the course of the academic year, to get me through the summer. Other times, I’m not so successful - inflation making food more expensive, unexpected medical bills, etc.

This summer is one of those “other times” - I could use some financial help, please! All this blog’s content is provided free of charge, because I know what it’s like to be unable to afford anything beyond basic survival (and to have to struggle just for that much), and I want to reach as many willing people as possible.

(Yes, I have adult children who could help out, and they’re both traveling pretty extensively/expensively in August - one to Amsterdam, the other to California. Plans are finalized and they’re fiscally unavailable to me in August.)

Two ways to send help:

Venmo @Mary_Brack

Paypal @MaryVBrack

I am really grateful for all of your support and encouragement! If you’re broke, too, don’t worry - just send me good thoughts. “Ms M has more money than she knows what to do with” has a nice vibe to it….

[sothasil]

Sorry if this is super obvious, but are you still doing portrait commissions for charity? If so, can you link your PayPal?

Hello! I am currently busy with a bunch of em' actually :)

I am currently working on five, and have gotten more requests in the meantime. I will try to do as much as I can, and am slowly messaging the latest requests to warn them about the potential wait times. If it becomes at some point undoable for me, I will make a post to signal a hiatus or end of the commissions.

I am not comfortable publicly linking my paypal, but will send invoices in private chats with my clients. My usual commission process is as follows:

I chat with the client until they give me enough details I need for the illustration. This is where I give the price gauge for the commission.

I send a first sketch for approval, covering things like composition, pose, sometimes colors depending on the process.

Once approved by the client, I start working. I notify them when I am done and ask for the money. I do not accept money until I am finished with the piece, but I do not show the piece until I have been paid.

Once paid, I show the final piece, tweak things if need be (if the tweaks are significant and require me redoing some parts entirely, I can ask for more upfront) and send the client the full resolution files via their preferred method, usually email.

The charity commissions make this a bit difficult for cases like yours, as I encourage people to directly donate to the campaigns I am helping to avoid losing money to transfer fees. I usually do not accept upfront payment, but in this case I am not sure how to proceed - saying "donate upfront please!" goes against the personal guidelines I use for private commissions, which I set up based on how I work and client/artist trust, but would be much better for the families, as they need the money as fast as possible to survive. I encourage giving them money if you can, regardless. These are innocent people trying to escape a deadly situation.

It's a bit of a tricky situation - I want people to donate immediatly, but currently cannot guarantee being able to draw for you in return due to the amount of work I am already on, especially not as fast as usual.

If you would like a portrait and to pay via paypal, you will have to wait a little for me to complete my current commissions until I can take yours, with a slim chance I will unfortunately not be able to work with you.

I understand if this is a setback, as it boils down to not being able to fullfill the paid service I'm advertising. I will work so I do not leave behind anyone who's commission I have already accepted, and will not take money until I know I can complete the associated commission as to not pay anyone pay for nothing.

[androdragynous]

what are invoices when it comes to commissions? also, how do receipts for commissions work? im a minor so idk anything about either

An invoice is a type of payment method that, simplified, involves sending someone a form that tells them how much they owe you and they pay you through that form. PayPal has invoicing built in, which is how most artists I know use them, but you might have also seen a similar system in situations like... shipping import charges, where you can pay online using the information on a printed form included with your package.

Basically, using an invoice means you as the artist have full control over the amounts you're sent, and you can also attach files, include your terms, show or hide your personal information (if you don't want to show random people your legal name on PayPal, you can hide it when sending an invoice but you can't when having someone transfer you money directly), set payment plans / partial payment amounts, and so on. An invoice on PayPal also automatically generated a receipt when used - so you've basically got proof of exactly what was paid for and when. (And there's no risk of your PayPal account being flagged if someone sends you money they shouldn't through Friends and Family transfers, or puts keywords in the note that automatically trigger the moderation of the platform, both of which can freeze your account and make any money in it completely inaccessible.

(Side note: Do not use PayPal as its own bank account. Do not store money there. Set a relatively low amount to keep in there and always transfer anything more than that into an actual bank account as soon as you can.)

Receipts are important for taxes (everyone's favorite). If you're making money, you have to prove where that money comes from, and it's way easier to be able to pull up your invoice history rather than to go through Every PayPal Transaction for the year and try to remember which ones were business and which ones weren't. I have done this! It sucked. In short, it's just good to have a paper trail of who has paid you, what they paid for, and confirmation that you did the work that was paid for. If you're ever called on to provide that evidence and don't have it, it's just really goddamn annoying.

I'm no banking expert so my word isn't law or anything, and I've glossed over a lot of the details, but essentially invoices + receipts are pretty key tools for Just Making Shit Easier on yourself, and they're relatively straightforward to use once you understand what they are.

(Even if you're under 18, depending on your area, if you sell art you should look up the guidelines for when you have to start filing taxes about it - looking at you, closed species adopt artists - because money is money, even if you're using a parent's PayPal (do not get a PayPal under 18. It is a Real Legal Reasons thing and if you are found out your account will be frozen. Don't do it.))

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

On November 25, 2024, I took Cacoa to the vet for a Solensia injection. She's 18-years-old and has painful arthritis, hence the treatment. I thought her life would improve.

I was very wrong.

Her body tanked. Here are the results from the blood work and urine sample. The short version is she's severely anemic and no longer producing blood cells. As for why, the vet thinks it's due to how Solensia works and the possibility of Cacoa having cancer. She had blood work done on November 11th, and it was completely normal. This is no longer the case. The vet thinks her body was managing the cancer and the drug shut that part off and suddenly cancer flooded her body.

Her total bill, from the checkup on the November 11th all the way through today is $1418.33

I'm having a huge holiday sale in my shop right now. Use the link below to receive 45% off your purchase. All proceeds will be used to pay off Cacoa's bill. I have quilts starting as small as coasters in my shop, as well as original paintings. At the current prices, two paintings will cover this large bill.

If you would rather donate, please use the link below and mark it as Friends and Family.

You may also donate using this:

All I wanted to do was relieve her of her pain. If I had any idea this would happen, we would've just continued living as we were.

Update: she died, here at home, on November 28th, the same day Jasper died two years ago. She's gone.

I have no idea how I'll manage my grief. 2022 was a horrific year. 2024 has been a shit year. Her health was in decline, with an anal gland rupturing into an abscess, then crystals in her urine, less energetic, less walking around all day, more sleep and sleeping on me. I just wanted to make her feel better, and now she's gone. I haven't been alone, truly alone, for 18 years. She was always with me when I was home, which is damn near 24/7 due to my disabilities. The house is too quiet.

$1418.33/$1418.33

This is the bill thus far.

Update 2: Zoetis will reimburse us for the autopsy/necropsy, and Cacoa's cremation is free because she's a service animal. The lab will send Zoetis the invoice, but the drug company may still require we pay first before they write a check. I've increased the goal by $350 to reflect the cost.

Update 3: Zoetis will be paying the lab directly for the necropsy, meaning we won't have to pay it at all. They are also sending us a check for $987 as reimbursement for her care from November 25th-27th. We will be making payments until the check arrives. The other $431 is for the appointment she had on November 11th, which included blood tests to see if she was a good candidate for Solensia.

As for her being a service animal, without training, she learned to detect my seizures, and helped me come out of them with external stimulation, and aided in recovering from them. She aided me when my anxiety became overwhelming, when my flashbacks occurred, prevented me from overworking myself by forcing breaks, and so much more.

Here in the state of Oregon, service animals receive free crematory services and that includes an urn. Her urn will be a wood box with space for a photograph.

One of my sisters is a paper and scrapbook artist. She plans on making things for me to hang on the wall, and these will depict both Jasper and Cacoa. We will hang these pieces around the shrine we're setting up in the living room.

Update 4: we have her ashes and urn now.

Update 5: the Zoetis check arrived today. Thank you so much for your help covering what the check did not. Cacoa's final bill will be paid tomorrow.

[theproductivepessimist]

HEADS UP

I have been made aware that an individual who has been implicated in *multiple* incidents of abuse against vulnerable LGBTQIA+ people, many of them trans, including r&pe, SA, and emotional & financial abuse, and who has lied repeatedly about things that are "going on" for them is trying to get back to prominence on YouTube through this site. This person is UNSAFE. I am married to their sister, a trans woman who was forced to leave the family home because of this person's physical abuse, manipulation, and exploitation - this included holding a kn*fe to their sister's throat, calling her "mentally ill" and "a creep" for shaving her arm hair, routinely engaging in pseudo-s*xual dominance "play", WITHOUT her consent, against her. My wife has spent the better part of 10yrs recovering from the impacts of the trauma and abuse she experience - as an ACTUALLY autistic trans woman, something their sibling started claiming to be only AFTER manipulating my wife into resuming contact with them in 2019 - at the hand of this person. This individual has active, self-chosen dr*g addictions. They have s*xually, physically, emotionally and financially abused MULTIPLE people, all of which came out on Reddit less than a year ago. When my father-in-law passed away, as the result of a serious brain tumour, this person "joked" about "My Dad d*ing from rapid onset gender dysphoria, which I inherited from him" (btw, ROGD is a KNOWN TERF dog-whistle, and has been PROVEN to be untrue.) I'm not naming this person publicly, but will do so privately for those who are concerned they may be in their circle. (For record: they live in London, UK, and were previously active on YouTube with gaming-focused streams). If you actually want to support a diagnosed autistic trans woman, who is also living with cerebral palsy and visual impairment, then email faebloodenterprises@gmail.com to book a tarot or rune reading - £12 for a three card or three runes reading, or £25 for a full reading combining tarot cards and runes. My wife is unable to work because of the impact of: . Autism . ADHD . Cerebral Palsy . Visual impairment I am registered blind myself, and am currently trying to build up a business that can support both myself and my wife. The key distinction? My wife and I offer ACTUAL SERVICES, that people will benefit from if they CHOOSE to commission us. The ONE time either of us has asked for money from strangers on the internet, we set up a GoFundMe to get my wife £500 so she could attend an Autism conference where she'd been invited to give a presentation...Because we don't have a lot of social or financial capital, that never gained traction. It raised just... £5. My wife wasn't able to attend that conference. (For clarity; we are both medically banned from driving, so the £500 would have covered public transport which was comfortable for my wife to manage, and accommodation for the 3 days of the conference, which was in Edinburgh, Scotland - neither my wife or I have a passport or other photo ID, which means that finding cheap internal flights is not an option for us.) Right now, we're struggling with unaffordable maintenance needs on our house (owned outright, purchased in 2014 with the 50% share of my late father's life insurance which was left to me), and my wife is in need of private assessments and physical therapy to help her manage her cerebral palsy. My wife's Paypal if you want to donate directly to her is https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/sorcerix (this is also how to send her payment if you want to book tarot/rune readings - just leave a note which makes it clear what you're sending money for.)

[dearicpayne]

TITHES

The Bible commands the world to "tithe", which is to donate to the Lord and his works:

Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Yet people often put their love of money ahead of God's word and works, holding back what should be freely given:

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Hebrews 13:5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

You may ask "Why would God want money?"

Haggai 2:8 "The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts."

Mal 3:8-10 Will a man rob God? Yet ye rob Me. But ye say: 'Wherein have we robbed Thee?' In tithes and heave-offerings. Ye are cursed with the curse, yet ye rob Me, even this whole nation. Bring ye the whole tithe into the store-house, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall be more than sufficiency.

It is his world, and he has provided for you. Would you deny the Lord a portion of the blessings he has given to you?

Lord RayEl's Knights and Clergy have a mission to spread his message, and prepare His people for what is coming. This is costly (as is the nature of today's world). Your tithing and donations help ensure that the mission goes well. All donations received will be honored with an amount of GODcoin issued in the New Kingdom.

The time remaining is very short, and soon your money will be worthless. While it still has value, put your resources to the greatest of all causes, and contribute via the PayPal "Donate" link.

Everything we receive goes directly to supporting "The Great Commission".

Mat 28:19-20 Going therefore, teach ye all nations: baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.

The blessings mentioned in the Bible are not just financial, after all, there’s more to life than money. Each time you tithe carefully observe how God blesses you in every area of your life.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR PAYPAL PAYMENTS: Please send donations by manually clicking on the send button inside your PayPal account. In the process, you will be asked if you are sending it for goods or to someone you trust. You need to select the option for friends and family. If you do not send it in this way, the payment may have to be returned. Thank you all for your generosity and blessings!

The email for PayPal is theeocpaypal@gmail.com

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/EOCpaypal

[finsterhund]

Extended period of hell

No internet! Roommate comes to me and says it's "so weird" how our Internet just mysteriously cut off today. He stresses that he did in fact pay it but I think you should be able to guess by now that in not buying it. This has made me excessively more stressed than before. If you are somehow reading this it means I either went to a wifi hotspot or the Internet came back.

Went to a pawn shop and found out that they will accept my PS4 and my PSVR as collateral for a loan. Roommate tries to be the bigger person and say that it's not fair and I shouldn't have to resort to this even though he's the reason I have to in the first place. But I know now that I can do this if I really need to

Our pet store has a program where every 12th bag of Scott's food is free. It's been going on since Cazza. So I got Scott a free bag of food that will last a while. Everything is fine for Scott.

Went to my bank and had them freeze it so PayPal won't keep racking up NSF fees every time it tries to brute force my account. The guy I talked to told me that the reason my tax return was so abysmal was because of a poorly implemented grocery relief program that I knew literally nothing about. I did not benefit from it and they still took it out of my fucking money. If they're going to take it automatically from my account can't they just fucking give it to me automatically too? Just say you fucking hate disabled people. Fucking christ. Apparently this thing screwed A LOT of other people over as well. I'm so mad because I had literally no idea this was happening. I am infuriated. I literally go to a fucking social worker to help me with this shit because I can't do it on my own. So fucking furious.

So yeah I'm anxious that automatic payments through PayPal for my web hosting are going to be delayed now which is fucking hell. But I do know there is some level of grace period.

Gotta love the way my roommate tries to be supportive here. Did not accompany me into my bank when I would benefit from the emotional support but oh boy did he fucking say "I don't know why I didn't stop you from sending me so much through PayPal" bitch but you fucking did didn't you? Because you fucking wanted it. That's why.

Any and all donations I get will now be going directly to repaying my PayPal debt which is thanks to locking my bank unable to touch my bank and accumulate more fees.

My tummy hurts so bad

[imperator-knoedel]

"The issue, as OP clearly stated, is artists for whom taking and using their work without compensation can destroy their livelihood- and make it harder for them to produce more work."

Do you understand how computers work? What exactly am I "taking" when I download a pdf or epub file? Is there a stockpile of the files that belongs to the author that now has one less item in it because I "took" it away?

As to destroying their "livelihood", ha! Why should I care about the prosperity of some pretentious petit-bourgeois pseudo-intellectual when I've been on the edge of homelessness myself for half a decade now? Don't you think I'd rather create works of art than type out job applications?

"It isn't you walking by a musician on the street (that you reflexively equate "street performer" with "beggar" reveals your own classism, incidentally)."

Why yes I am classist actually, classist against anyone who's not Proletarian.

"It's you actively seeking out someone's work and directly taking actions that reduce their income and opportunities."

No? Am I reducing your income by not sending you money via PayPal right this very moment? I sought out your blog and made you engage in the labor of typing out this response, did I not?

"And that the capitalist system is fundamentally unjust does not make it acceptable for you to screw over other people in that system to save yourself some money, and then act like it's a principled act of resistance."

Yes it does actually, not that it matters for this topic because I am not screwing someone over just for not voluntarily giving them money.

"Also, a work of art is not just an "idea"- it is a physical thing someone created."

Depends on the specifics, but I am referring to digital reproductions. It's not really pirating when you break into a painters studio and take all their paintings with you, no?

"Though I do not see why an idea should be common property either."

This is such an incomprehensible statement that I'm not really sure how to engage with it. Huh?

"If something as personal as your own thoughts do not belong to you, what does?"

Actual things that exist in the physical world, duh.

"By YOUR logic, it seems to me, one could argue that, for example, one has the "right" to plagiarize someone's work in an academic paper, take credit for it,"

No, because that would be lying, which is an entirely different crime than stealing.

"and build a career and reputation on their idea- after all, they expressed the idea, so now its common property, your's as much as there's, right?"

As an academic you have an obligation to the truth, and to making sure every step of the information-gathering process you are engaging in is transparent and reproducible.

"Or you could say that someone appearing nude in a work of art constitutes blanket consent for people to do whatever they want with that person's image, including stuff like pornographic deepfakes- which is obviously predatory."

I allow an exception for the depiction of private persons, because revenge porn etc. actually causes significant harm to the affected people.

"You know, I'd honestly respect it more if you just said "I don't want to/can't pay for this, so I'm going to steal it," rather than pretending there's some grand principle behind it."

Copying is not stealing. Downloading a sequence of ones and zeroes from the internet is not stealing. Any action that does not actually engage with a thing itself directly but only copies of it is not stealing. When I steal something, the original owner no longer has it. Piracy is not theft according to any reasonable definition.

Piracy is preservation, and authors would rather have their books in front of people who can't access many books for free instead of looking those people in the eye and saying "fork over your month's earnings"

Shut up

To be clear, I'm not against Piracy in general. In fact I'm not only an advocate, I'm a prolific pirate myself.

I'm sure you can find a handful of authors who feel that way, but those I know personally (one indie author and one traditionally published) as well as those I've seen comment on the issue are adamant that piracy has caused them significant personal harm.

They'd far rather people who can't afford their books use libraries to access them or, if the libraries they have access too don't carry the book(d), they'd rather people reach out to them personally to arrange for a copy within their budget (sometimes including for free).

Pirating books is not the same as pirating movies. It's the difference between attacking a Spanish galleon and a fishing sloop.

Bigger names like Brandon Sanderson, Steven King, Diana Gabaldon, etc have a entire fleet of sloops and are unlikely to miss a couple going missing, but the less famous (and thus less highly paid) authors can have their entire career ruined by their book being pirated. It can even prevent them from getting offered another book deal, meaning there won't be any more books by that author for you to read.

We aren't entitled to the intellectual property of others. Full stop.

If the author wanted their book to be free, they'd have made it freely available (as some do!). Maybe if everyone had a universal basic income that covered the cost of living we'd see more art available at no cost, but as it stands artists need to make a living too and that means they need to earn a profit to survive. If they can't do that with their art they have to find another way to do it which means less time and energy to make art.

Not to mention the advance an author gets is usual peanuts, and unlike actors who get paid by the time the movie is out, an advance isn't a wage and if the author doesn't sell enough books they have to give back whatever amount of the advance the sale of their books didn't cover. If they get a $5000 advance and only sell $3000 worth of books they owe the publisher $2000.

Again, I'm not against piracy. I am against harming individual artists to the point where it significantly impacts their career. I want more art in this world.

I'm also not telling people they can't, or shouldn't pirate books. I'm against it but I'm not trying to for e others to believe the same as me. I'm providing information so people can make a more informed decision and better understand the consequences of their choices.

So do what you will with the info I've provided. Just be willing to acknowledge the harm you cause with those choices. Even the piracy I take part in causes harm on a smaller scale.

I have no argument against "I don't care, I'm doing it anyway" and I won't bother trying to argue it.

[callmearcturus]

The Verge got ahold of Elon's meeting with his new pals and if you got time, you should scroll past the highlights and read the entire thing because its absolutely balls to the wall batshit. I just liveblogged it to my discord server.

I think I very rapidly want to improve every aspect of Twitter. Search I know we can improve immediately and in a number of ways. I mean, just this morning, I actually was just looking for Jack [Dorsey] actually. And I typed Jack into the search engine, and “@jack” was not the number one thing. But that should be the number one thing. So then I just had to type “@jack” in directly. If you type j-a-c-k, your number one thing should be Jack Dorsey. I mean, that’s probably what you’re looking for, you know? So I think anything we do to improve any aspect of the system, let’s do it right away.

Elon legitimately thinks we give a shit about how the search functions and that's a huge thing that'll bring people in. bitch, people read their TIMELINES?????

also the WILD assumption that if I type a very common 4 letter name i OBVIOUSLY want to see jack dorsey. what the fuck.

I’d love to see ads for gizmos. If I saw ads for gizmos, I love gizmos, of course, I’d buy them all in a click. Even if they’re not that great, I’ll still buy gizmos. I love technology. I’ll see content for gizmos but not an ad or an ability to actually buy the gizmo. So then I have to send it to my assistant like, “Please buy this gizmo.” That’s how it goes generally. But I’d be happy to just click on it and buy it.

Twitter, which is having an advertiser crisis of Elon's own making which may lead to lawsuits from the likes of Eli fucking Lilly, wants more fun ads.

oh and he wants to make twitter into A BANK. he wants to give verified users like 10$ (reminder: you pay 8$ to be verified) so people will start sending each other money. what happens when they wanna send to someone who doesn't want to hook up their fucking bank info to twitter? oh we'll send out debit cards with the amount. (for real) and elon says they'll take all the money ppl put on twitter and place it into a high yield account to collect the interest

elon, you don't HAVE cash to place into an account right now, and its a FUCKING RECESSION and you just TANKED twitter's credit advisory score, so who is gonna give you this high yield account, pal

I’ve been through the recession of 2000 and 2001 and 2008-9, and I’m somewhat paranoid about dying in recessions. I have recession PTSD from keeping X and PayPal alive through the 2000 recession, keeping Tesla alive in the 2009 recession.

i cordially invite elon to sit on a rusted steel dildo

oh also he's forcing everyone back to "the office" even if they live in remote locations in an attempt to get more people off the payroll. that's why he's doing it.

twitter genuinely might not last a month.

[tragicbeauty1991]

PLEASE HELP ME SAVE MY DOG!!

I’m going to do something I’ve never done before on Tumblr and ask for some financial assistance because my baby boy needs help, and it’s not going to be cheap.

A bit of background… Seven years ago, I started working at a local rescue called Concerned Citizens for Animals. About a year after I started working there, we got in a litter of feral puppies. They were only about eight weeks old, but they had had practically no human contact up to that point and were absolutely terrified. They’d hide under things and growl or try to bite at you when you went to pick them up. The worst was a little red pup with a glassy looking eye (thought he might be blind in it—it later improved as he got healthier, but his vision in it still likely isn’t great).

I think because he couldn’t see well, he was even more afraid of the world than his siblings. The first time I picked him up, he SCREAMED bloody murder, bit me on the arm, and pooped himself because he was so scared. It took a long time of sitting quietly with him, tossing treats in his direction, and showing him my touch wasn’t going to hurt, but once we became friends, there was no turning back. He chose me, and I chose him. I named him Rufio after the leader of the Lost Boys in one of my favorite films, Hook, because like the character, he was a feisty little Lost Boy who put up a tough guy front but really just wanted a family of his own.

This boy became his mama’s absolute best friend in the whole world. He saw me through my first (emotionally abusive) marriage and subsequent divorce and even made an appearance as “Best Dog” in my second wedding.

Now, he’s six years old, and we’ve run into some health issues I never expected to see in him at such a young age.

Over the last month and a half, Rufio has been struggling with GI issues and gone from a healthy slim but muscular 42 lbs to under 35 lbs despite eating well. After trying just about everything imaginable (probiotics, Propectalin, metronidazole, panacur, special diets, etc.) without much success, the vet I now work for decided we needed to see a specialist, and they are starting to suspect GI lymphoma. They are likely going to need to do an endoscope biopsy and possibly also a CT scan. They have given us an estimate with the high end around $7000, and that’s not including any treatment if it does turn out to be cancer. If anyone is able to help, I would really appreciate it. I understand how easily people can make up scams, so rather than asking for money myself, donations can be made directly to Fetch Vet in Greenville, SC, under the pet name “Rufio Frantz.” Vet phone number is 864-900-5888.

Please help me figure out what’s going on and save my baby boy.

EDIT/UPDATE:

Final bill ended up being around $4500. I have already had to put it on the credit card, so you cannot send anything directly to the vet, unfortunately. My PayPal is lefrant@g.clemson.edu. Here is a copy of the bill for proof.

So far, I have about $525 in donations out of the $4500. The good news is that we now have results back and THANK GOD, it’s NOT cancer!! Unfortunately, that means it’s probably IBD, which means a little more trial and error with getting the exact treatment right, but it’s something he can live with and we shouldn’t need to do any more major tests anytime soon.

[sanchoyo]

ok, disclaimers:

1. I am Poor and have always thrifted even before it was 'cool' (used to get made fun of for wearing secondhand in middle school, in fact!)

2. I am plus sized.

3. the only time I sell things I am selling things I've worn and owned for years, I'm not someone who goes into stores with the intention of finding things to resell (which I think is way way less common than people think…a lot of people who do that are doing it as a full time job, which is hard to make a living at.)

so most of the arguments I see are like, 'ppl hang out at thrift stores JUST to grab cool and or plus sized clothes to resell for outrageous prices to make a quick buck!!' let me explain why I Just Simply Disagree. to me it feels like most ppl saying that or being mad about it have never sold things online and don't understand how it works. theyre just ppl who are going on depop and seeing 20$ shirts and being Mad About It. So.

Heres the Thing about selling things online: every online store, or at least the Big Ones (depop, ebay, poshmark, mercari, etc) charge seller fees and take taxes (sometimes, not always depending on a few factors) these fees range from 10-20% of the sell price usually.

and you have to consider the person selling usually covers shipping (there is /always/ a shipping cost. consider they ALSO have buy whatever they're shipping in, usually a mailing bag or box!)

shipping for me is usually $6-$12 at the post office, and thats using the lightest possible weight small mailing bags. and I WANT to support the USPS, its one of the Good Cherished services! fedex and other shipping companies would probably cost MORE than this!

Plus whatever the person is paying in gas presumably if they don't live in walking distance or have public transport to the post office..it starts to add up, right?

I just sold a skirt. I charged $5 for the skirt, and $10 for the shipping. (if it goes over, which it does sometimes, I'll cover the extra) thats $15! But I paid 10.92 for shipping, and depop took a fee of about $3…I made a $2 profit. Which is about what the gas there and back probably cost. people who print their own shipping labels might have it a slight bit cheaper, maybe, but they also have to pay for printer ink every now and then if they do this a lot.

…Do you understand what I mean? that person is charging $25 for a shirt because they're paying a chunk of that to ship AND for the fee depop takes. (and, if you're using paypal instead of direct depositing into your bank account, guess what? PAYPAL TAKES A FEE TOO!)

Having a purely 'depop business' isn't going to give you THAT much spending money unless you're doing it on a very large scale. taking pictures (several pictures, front, back, close ups of patterns, tags, etc) EDITING pictures if that's something they do (I do, and it takes a minute, but makes the listings look Nicer) tagging everything, taking and listing measurements, sorting into correct categories…all of that takes time and energy! If people are working on top of that a lot of the time its just a Lot of Hassle! (which, again, doing this for a living would NOT be sustainable unless you're doing it on a massive, massive scale. you can do the math for how many things you'd have to sell to make a livable profit and its So Much. a lot of depop stores with a lot of listings are people who own thrift stores irl and the depop page is their online store so they don't have to buy a domain! I see that SO often!)

And you know what? I think that in some cases selling clothes directly is BETTER than sending them to thrift stores. Hear me out. I know they tend to be cheaper in person, but not everyone can go in person. (people who have no stores around them, ppl who are disabled and might not be able to make the trip, immunocompromised ppl who are still reasonably, understandably worried about covid! etc!) and some sellers offer hand picked surprise packages and will go shop FOR you and find stuff in your size which is just! very cool!

depop has size filters and using a lot of ~aesthetic buzzwords~ I, as a plus sized person, can be GUARANTEED to find a lot more than I could in person that suits my very specific, eccentric tastes!

Local thrift stores near me are NO LONGER ACCEPTING DONATIONS FOR A WHILE BECAUSE THEIR STORAGE IS SO, SO FULL because a lot more people are tuning into the fact that donating is Good and wanna be more environmentally conscious (which, is good!) but the lady at a local thrift store told me they end up throwing OUT a LOT of clothes because No One Will Buy them and they just dont have room with the sheer volume of donations. They have a $5 fill a bag day every week because of the ungodly amount of shit they have.

Did yall know textiles make up a HUGE percentage of landfills? Yeah. the thing about selling them online is, if youre willing to pay for them and find a statement piece you really Love on there, I feel like…idk, putting it directly in the hands of someone via selling it online feels better than sending it to a thrift store and Hoping it Doesnt End Up In A Landfill. Like, at least I KNOW where it's going? to someone who really wanted it!

Also it just kind of gets on my nerves when ppl call it price gouging. that's not what price gouging is!!! price gouging is: "Price gouging is a term that refers to the practice of charging a price that is higher than normal or fair, often during a state of emergency or crisis, for goods, services, or commodities that are in high demand and short supply" PPL RESELLING CLOTHES FOR PRICES YOU DONT LIKE IS NOT PRICE GOUGING. ITS JUST PRICES YOU DON'T LIKE!!!

+++saying these ppl are taking all the good pieces? no. theyre not. thrift stores get new shipments/stock p regularly of weird things. you just need to learn to dig/thrift better ngl. hit several stores in one go. ask the ppl working there what day they get restock. make a list of the specific type of stuff/vibes youre after and go in with an open mind. U Can Find Things. thrifting/shopping well IS a skill and you too can learn it I Promise. thrifting has good and bad days, sometimes you'll find very cool things and some days you'll strike out. it Happens. It's Fine!

depop is not evil, it's just an app. ppl selling on there are likely only making fucking pocket change, and for ppl like me who aren't able to have full time jobs, its just enough to maybe get my dogs food covered instead of putting it on my credit card and further push me into debt! it's not an outrageous profit! it's! pocket change in most ppls cases they just wanna get rid of clothes they don't wear! I'm not saying it has NO problems, but christ the way some ppl talk abt it on here you'd think depop killed their mother and kicked their dog, lmfao

I think. Most ppl on here and Wrong abt depop ‘price gougers’ but I feel like my full opinion on that subject would get me crucified on here 😶

[historiccemetarydrive]

hi guys i know i don't have many followers on here but i could really use help so i would really appreciate if you guys could share this post when you see it. i've been struggling with homelessness for nearly three years and am finally getting housing soon. i'm set to move on monday the 21st and i have some of the things i need but still have serveral essentials i need. most importantly i need a microwave since my pkace doesn't have one, i need kitchen and cleaning supplies for the house, and bed bug to repellent to make sure i don't bring them with me. the shelter i'm at has bed bugs and i've spent my own money on sprays since they won't do anything, but i'm still finding bites on myself and i'm absolutely terrified of bringing them with me. to be safe i want to get some detection traps, some more repellents, and things like furniture stands.

additionally i could also use a lot of personal items like hygiene products, melatonin for my insomnia, and clothes. i only have a few pairs of pants and some shirts that barely fit me. i could also use socks, undies, and things to help me keep organized like hampers, bins, and a calender. i also really want to get back on adderall and start going to the gym to help myself cope with my depression and adhd, so i would need money for those. and of course there's food and transportation i need to pay for. anything would help.

i've linked my gofundme and amazon wishlists. if you want to send me money directly through pay apps (which would help me more quickly) here they are:

cashapp- $rebekahengland

paypal- @ RebekahEngland

venmo- @ Rebekah-England

zelle email- rengland629@gmail.com

any amount would really help me and i wound really appreciate if y'all share!!