#as the so called 'legitimate' retailers

[jessiesjaded]

one of the funniest things about how much fast fashion has infiltrated /everywhere/ so thoroughly the past decade is the fact that when I went looking for christmas presents I was seeing exactly the same patterns of fabrics used for different outfits in totally unrelated shops- like when I was a kid it'd be unthinkable to see the exact same fabric being sold as a dress in a name brand surf shop and then seeing it as pants in sports girl and then seeing it as a jumpsuit in the expensive hippie shop- these are all completely separate shops, they aren't like sister stores or something, they even have varying price points and yet that exact same print of fabric is in all of them? this never used to happen. if something was sold in a surf shop, it was only in that surf shop. if something was sold in Ghanda, it was only sold in ghanda. Now though? idk, kinda seems like they all order from the same giant offshore manufacturers....

[autism-swagger]

Why is it that whenever people talk about how funny Longlegs is they're laughing at the completely wrong parts. There are some legitimately hilarious moments in this movie and people are just laughing at Longlegs being creepy.

Anyways here's a list of moments in Longlegs (2024) that I laughed at:

When Agent Carter invites Lee to come meet his family and she just goes "Sir, do I have to?"

Literally everything about Lee's first interaction with Ruby. ("I guess that's more my job. 😐" and "So do you like-- go. In there? 😐")

That poor retail worker who was completely unimpressed with Longlegs' bullshit.

The head of the mental institution who, when asked if his security team check IDs, goes "Well that would certainly be a good idea, wouldn't it!"

When Carrie Ann calls Lee a "flirtsy dirtsy bitch."

Longlegs singing happy birthday to Lee for 24 minutes straight. Where's the footage of that. I know it exists.

[ceasarslegion]

By the wishes of a few people, here's my advice post about living alone. Keep in mind I'm speaking from the perspective of a canadian urbanite, so this will not apply to absolutely everybody in every kind of culture, economy, living situation, those in rural areas, etc. This also is not assuming wealth disparities are a matter of personal attitude, i KNOW it's complicated. Get back with that shit right now, you know damn well this advice assumes you are able to achieve the financial means to live on your own and is not disparaging anyone who legitimately can't.

Let's cover the basics first.

Source of income:

This seems rather obvious, but your income should be regular and reliably the same or similar on a monthly basis. The most obvious way to achieve this is with a job, and I'm sorry but minimum wage is not going to cut it on your own anymore, which means you're going to have to swallow your pride and accept that you'll likely have to work for some industry or corporation with a dodgy moral record. Get used to it. There is no point in self-flagellation, the world is complicated, just take the 50-60k a year office job, no one actually expects you not to and nobody will hold it against you when the "moral" option is soul-crushing retail. The real world really doesn't give a shit what you have to do to afford a comfortable lifestyle as long as you do what good you can within your abilities, no one in the real world expects you to sacrifice your own wellbeing for a cause.

Salaried positions are your most reliable because you'll always pull the same amount, while hourly pay comes with the ability to pull overtime pay in exchange for more shifts, but if you run out of sick days you'll have to spend the rest of the year taking unpaid time off when you need to call in. Whichever one you choose depends on what's available to you and what's right for you physically and mentally, I can't make that call for you.

You also need a credit card. That is non-negotiable. If you don't have a credit score, you can't sign a lease. Bad credit is better than no credit. We can argue until the cows come home whether or not credit scores are good or bad, but it's just reality that you're going to need one. The good news is it's fairly easy to build credit from no credit: you just have to pay off your credit card in full on time every time. The bad news is it's equally as easy to tank your credit score, you just have to miss one or pay it too late, and it's very hard to build good credit back from bad credit. So don't see it as free money, only spend as much as you can pay back, and if you don't have credit right now, start with small things like lunch and little treats that you immediately pay off.

Looking for a place to live:

Once you have your regular and reliable source of income, you can start looking for your place. There's a few things you should keep in mind:

-Draw up a budget for how much you can spend on rent and bills. That includes all basic living expenses: rent, utilities, food, internet, phone, hygiene. Compare how much you make per month to what you can spend. 1/3 to 1/2 of your salary is a bit more realistic to expect to spend on rent alone nowadays, so work within that range when you apartment hunt. Think of everything when you're budgeting, like how much do you spend on haircuts per month? You probably didn't think of that, because I didn't either at first.

-Apartment buildings with some/all utilities included often have higher base rents. You have to keep in mind that this is so the landlord can balance out the utility bills of the whole building, which are unpredictable expenses and on them to pay every month. If you don't know how to budget yet or don't know how to do so with unpredictable bills, I highly recommend trying to find a place with utilities included so you know EXACTLY how much you'll need to pay every month and can plan in advance

-Older buildings tend to be both cheaper and more likely to have centralized utility systems, which means they have to include it in the price of rent because there's no way to tell who used how much of something. If it's your first place alone, you'll probably be tempted to get the brand new, expensive building down the road, but it won't actually make much of a difference when you move in. You will love it regardless.

-Never ever sign a lease until you've either seen THE unit you're considering, or one of the show units that is exactly the same layout. The last thing you want is to go off online photos only to move in and find out the building has a mold problem. You can arrange personal tours by contacting the building manager or the landlord directly. Phone calls are the best way to do this.

-If you want the unit after seeing it, you know you can afford it, there's nothing funny about the place, apply IMMEDIATELY. Places are usually on the market for a few days before they're snapped up by a new tenant, you have to strike while the iron's hot.

-If you've decided on the place you want and had your application accepted, read the lease carefully before you sign. Many places require tenant insurance that meet specific policy requirements, have registration rules about long-term guests, outline how the parking works, quiet hours, smoking rules, mail, laundry, all the way down to what kind of barbecues are allowed on your deck in the case of mine (I am in a wildfire danger zone, so any types that produce embers are strictly prohibited for fire safety reasons). Ask any question that comes to mind about the lease. Not everything in a lease is some human rights violation just because you don't like landlords, keep in mind you're living in the same building as dozens of other people, so there has to be ground rules established for everyone's sanity.

-Internet is often not considered a utility so you'll have a hard time finding any place that includes it. You can arrange to have your wifi set up in advance of a moving date on a specific time and date, do this right after you sign a lease so you don't forget. They won't charge you until you're actually hooked up to the network.

-If your utilities are NOT included, get those set up in advance too. The main ones are HVAC, water, and electricity. The companies that do this vary depending on where you live and what's available, so shop around online once you've signed your lease and sign up as soon as possible. The last thing you want is to forget this and then move into a dark freezing apartment with no water.

Budgeting:

After your living expenses are covered, you should have a comfortable amount of financial wiggle room leftover. If you wouldn't, the place you're looking at is either too expensive, or you're being overcharged elsewhere. It's completely normal for living expenses to take up most of your budget these days, you're doing just fine in the same boat as everybody else if that's the case, so don't panic yet. If you have absolutely NOTHING leftover though, then you're out of your price range.

You also need to set money aside for fun and saving. Do not forego fun money, your brain will try to kill you with hammers and knives if you never get or do things for yourself. And if you're on your own, you're the only one providing that for yourself now. And a solid building base of savings will only help you in the future, whether you lose your job, have an emergency, or even need a down payment on a house later in life. Don't be a doomer about your circumstances or the socioeconomic and generational cards that were dealt to you, chip away at it a little at a time. And don't fall for social media's insistence that anybody with anything at all is some bourgeois degenerate or that being fortunate enough to be able to have upward mobility makes you some ultra wealthy shithead, working towards a comfortable standard of living for yourself does not make you a rich elite or a bad person. You're working towards the standard we should all live as, not exploiting the poor or being a class traitor. I feel the need to add that last part since we're on the website of "struggling art students in NYC are bourgeois that are just bad with money and having a gaming computer makes you upper middle class." Don't listen to a word any of those people say, I know it comes from a place of very real hurt and pain for them but that doesn't make it grounded in absolute reality for absolutely everybody.

Social needs:

If you're by yourself, there's gonna be a lot more work you have to put in for your social and entertainment needs. I can not stress enough how important it is to give this the time and work it needs, do not neglect this.

Lots of libraries have clubs you can join that will get you out of the house and meeting new people regularly. They're either free or very inexpensive. This is a great place to start.

Take advantage of technology we have now. Hop on discord calls more frequently, make sure you're talking to your friends on the regular and try to make plans as much as you can.

Also, I advise finding lots of things you can do by yourself. You will be spending way more time alone than you ever have before, so find single-person hobbies. Go thrifting, get into knitting, go explore the city, read lots of books, do puzzles, just don't lock yourself inside all day in your free time. Even if you're doing it alone, going out and seeing that the world is bigger than your apartment and your workplace is very good for you.

Misc advice:

You don't need a conventional coffee pot maker. Single serving will suit you just fine.

Cleaning is easier when you have a routine. It doesn't all have to be done on the same day of the week, but having a regular schedule of what gets cleaned when for non-daily chores will help you keep on top of it. And please, god, don't neglect your cleaning and hygiene just because no one lives with you to see it. On that note, spray bottle all purpose cleaners are your best friend for daily spot cleaning and you should deep clean your washroom around every 2 weeks in my experience since that's where you'll be doing most of your personal hygiene. Also make your damn bed, yes you'll just get back into it at the end of the day but having a major part of your space neat and tidy will do wonders for your mental health.

Don't buy the cheap garbage bags. Some things you really do want the expensive shit for.

If you don't have a car, delivery service/rideshare subscriptions ARE worth it and legitimately economical in the long run. I do wanna circle back to square one and say that yes, most of them like prime and uber do have dodgy moral records, but sometimes you just gotta swallow your pride and accept that. Once again, no one in the real world expects you to spend your entire day on public transit looking for toilet paper that isnt 30 dollars a pack or lugging 50 pounds of groceries back on a bus just for a cause. It's not the fault of someone who needs these services for their quality of life that they do the things they do, don't put that responsibility on your or other's shoulders when the fault lies at the top of the corporate ladder.

When you're budgeting for living expenses, expect your income to be at the lowest and your expenses to be at the highest. I expect 2 call ins per month and to need to spend the max amount i have on groceries every time, that way I never fall short and never have to cut into my savings that I've dubbed my "oh shit, I'm broke" money. Your emergency reserve may look tempting to you, but as someone who has been in a position where they had to drain it to nothing in the past because of an unforeseen financial emergency, you REALLY are gonna want that untouched if and when shit hits the fan. Life is unpredictable, prepare to roll with the punches so they don't knock you out.

A few people wanted to be tagged in this, so here you go @lilsnatch and @kisstheashes <3

[fuck-customers]

Today a guy claiming to be exempt from sales tax because he’s a private citizen and when asked what his name was, he said it was god. My manager wanted us to entertain him in case he was legitimately sales tax exempt, which I doubted. He sent in his paperwork and we verified the info with the state and also told them the info the customer provided and we were informed there was no such exemption from sales tax so I relay this to the customer. He asks me who I spoke with the state and wants a name, I said I didn’t get a name so he asked me what if someone highjacked the building to which I replied, I doubt they would answer tax questions if they highjacked the building. I then told him that since he’s speaking to the tax dept to please stay on topic to which he asked for my personal information. I told him my personal information has nothing to do with his tax exempt status, he disagreed because he needed to know who I was before he could provide that. We’re a retailer, not the government, so we don’t really need to verify ourselves in detail. He continues to ask me for my personal info to which I tell him if he continues to ask for that, I will disconnect the call and then I did when he didn’t stop. He called back and got someone else and said he wanted to speak to me because I was very rude and he needed to correct me. The other person lied and said I was in a meeting and he started asking when my shift ended. Later he called again and got another person and when that person refused to give him my info, he threatened to smack the shit out of her. I told my manager and all he did was tell us to not answer his call. HR, IT, and our legal dept had to get involved, but all of them said they couldn’t do anything since the customer called from a private number and they didn’t want to get the police involved until things escalated even though from my perspective, things were already really serious.

Posted by admin Rodney

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for insisting on an apology?

☆I'M SO SORRY THIS GOT WAY TOO LONG☆

(Ok tbh I feel like I already know the answer, but I'd like some other opinions just in case. Also, I kinda need to vent, sorry)

(ALSO- I tried to post this on reddit AITA and holy shit are they picky about submissions- this story got deleted because "no interpersonal relationship problems allowed". WHAT possible conflict situation would not be interpersonal? Can you even have a AITA submission that isn't interpersonal?)

My mom is a premium member of a casino and she found out that the casino was having a BBQ for the premium members and their guests. So she wanted us to go.

Except she didn't find out about this BBQ until the day before it would happen and I had work that day and since my shift had long ended, I would not get a chance to talk to anyone at work about switching shifts and I don't have anyone's number to ask. So my mom decided for me that I should just call out.

Now here's where I might be TA (but I feel like what happened after could earn me back some points)

I was pissed off at the fact that she didn't even ask if I wanted to go or if I was ok with calling out or if I even COULD get someone to cover. She just automatically told me to call out, like I have to listen to her. (I'm over 18. I am an adult) I didn't appreciate that she just decided this for me like I was a child and told her so. This lead to a big fight where I cussed at her and called her a bitch and told her to go fuck herself (not my best moment) and told her to go to this stupid BBQ alone. (I genuinely meant that part about going alone- at least somebody should enjoy it. Also, she's my ride, so I was willing to be stranded with no way of getting anywhere if it would enable her to enjoy her party.)

After I calmed down, I told her I'd be willing to call out if she absolutely insisted. She said no, it was fine and I ended up going to work as usual.

Almost.

About an hour before my shift ends, she shows up AT MY JOB and tells me to ask my manager if I could leave.

No! It doesn't work that way! I work retail. As far as I know, no retail job will let you leave early unless it's an emergency. She worked retail, she knows the drill. So I tell her to think of a legitimate reason why I'd have to leave and I'd tell my lead that. (Luckily I had a lead I was pretty chill with that day and she was like why is your mom here? And when I explained the situation, she was like "yeah I don't really care if you leave, but I need you to make up a legitimate excuse for when [our boss] asks why you left.")

She couldn't think of a reason, and after humiliating me at my job, she left without me noticing and I finished my shift. (It was a very busy and stressful day, even without my mom pulling that shit)

She surprisingly picked me up when my shift was over and we went to the dinner and were able to make it in time and had a nice dinner, so all of her stunts were wholly unnecessary.

She had sent me several long and vicious texts while I was at work that I didn't see until much later in the night. I will quote some of the more vicious ones (text message will have 《》 around them my personal thoughts on the text will be after with *) omitting personal info:

《You are a 26 year old loser [my name] stuck at a dead-end job that you've been doing for almost 5 years. A little bit of a rush shouldn't phase you like it does and you should be able to ask to leave a few minutes early- why can't you?》

*Name-calling is unnecessary and rude. She is constantly putting me down and calling me a loser and insulting my job, like she doesn't also work retail. So it's no wonder why I hesitate to jeopardize my job to please her.

[Context- one of the reasons I couldn't leave, other than the fact that retail Doesn't Work That Way is that I had a huge rush of customers and had to straighten up my department that I was working alone. I was closing and it would be extremely obvious who had left the department a mess and I would get in trouble for it.]

《Who left you with that mess? I overheard them [my leads] talking and they didn't sound like they thought you were being left with anything. They thought you should've handled it and can't do your job if that was a problem.》

*This one really got me and I was VERY glad I didn't see this text while at work, because I probably would've had some kind of meltdown. I honestly do not know how long she's been doing this (probably my whole life) but recently I've been noticing that she keeps trying to plant seeds of doubt and paranoia in me. Mostly by telling me that people are talking about me behind my back and/or judging me. Or telling me that my friends don't actually like me. Another example that I caught recently was her telling me that when I go to retail stores as a customer, she notices other customers and the employees staring at me, judging my hair/outfit/whatever. I immediately thought this was total bullshit, but just in case I was wrong, I paid extra, EXTRA attention to everyone around me when I was out in public to see if anyone was pointing, whispering, looking at me, doing anything to suggest judgement and I honestly did not see a single person even glance at me. I have unnaturally colored hair, so I expected at least one glance, but I got nothing. Side note rant over.*

I'm not going to quote the last text, as it doesn't have any specific quotes that provide any context. She just demanded that if I am not out of work by 5:01 (exactly 1 minute after my shift ends) then she is leaving me stranded and that I need to get my friend to pick me up.

*which....I live in her car. If I hadn't been out on time, I would've been completely stranded at night, with nowhere to go and no way to get there, which as a female, is unbelievably dangerous. It is also incredibly rude to demand that my friend, who doesn't work with me and has his own life, should drop everything and come pick me up and....what? Take me where? I'd probably end up having to stay at his house, which is very rude to basically guilt him into letting me stay at his house for the night*

SO after the dinner, I read all these texts and I was furious and insisted that she apologize to me for 1. Causing a scene at my work 2. All of that nasty shit she said to me in the texts and 3. For blaming me for ruining her plans when even after I went to my shift, we were still able to go to the dinner, so all of the stunts she pulled were entirely unnecessary.

She literally laughed in my face and called me delusional (for...wanting a verbal apology....) and when I doubled down on demanding an apology, she called me a delusional cunt and I still have never received an apology to this day.

What are these acronyms?

[diagonal-queen]

If the BSD boys were my coworkers

♡ characters: Atsushi Nakajima, Dazai Osamu, Chuuya Nakahara, Akutagawa Ryuunosuke, Kunikida Doppo, Ranpo Edogawa, John Steinbeck, Edgar Allan Poe

♡ synopsis: How would these boys be if they were my coworkers?

♡ cw: Swearing, knives, mentions of sexual harassment

note: For clarification I'm a retail assistant at a grocery store. So basically how good are these boys at stocking vegetables and being nice to people? This is extremely self indulgent, which I apologise for. Also apologies for errors and I hope you enjoy x

Atsushi:

Would be so good with helping customers. I'd always be calling after him to get me out of trouble with mean old customers lol

Like me would also be bad with the wrapping machine T-T

Pretty good at his job, not totally brilliant but also not bad. I think it'd be fine if I were left alone with him for a little bit

The kindest coworker I could ask for honestly he'd always be there to help me if I needed his help

Would bring me back a snack or cake from a nearby bakery or cafe from his lunch break <3

Like me, would find it very hard to not just start eating all the fresh fruit while he's stocking it (I kin him a lot guys lmao)

Actually like super duper efficient and we'd be able to get our work done pretty quickly. The last half hour or so of our shifts would be so slow

Would always ask me to be careful if I were using a knife to do something because he's just a sweetie

Dazai:

This dude would be so damn slow when restocking food honestly and it would be infuriating lmao

Wouldn't be very thorough when checking stock so I'd probably be finding a bit of rotten fruit while working :'(

He'd be fun to hang out with in the back though, would definitely flirt on company time and hold the both of us up lol

Would do that thing where you stand behind someone who's trying to reach something in a high shelf and you'd get it for them but also lowkey lean against them. All the time

Would be good at remembering which stock we have and what we don't have though

He would be so good and charismatic with customers, especially old women they'd call him a charming young gentleman and all that stuff

Always forgets to bring his shit (nametag, pen, apron etc.) to work and would probably have to continuously borrow things

The thing with him is that he's legitimately good at all of it but he just chooses to be incompetent just because T-T

Chuuya:

Would be so. fucking. GOOD at this job holy shit.

Super good at wrapping stock and would get the hang of all the machinery and stuff immediately

Would be civil to customers unless they give him shit then he'd give it right back lmaoo

He would definitely also defend me if I was being bullied by Karens or being harassed by male patrons (during the daytime there's my adult male coworkers and then there's me, a small girl who looks like fifteen or some shit. Y'all know I be gettin called 'sweetie' by men four times my age)

Would always be very salty about having to use the step to reach stock on high shelves lol

But he'd also be super good at heaving and lifting heavy stuff like potato sacks which I'd have to get him to do for me because I'm weak

Would look so hot in the work uniform highkey

Like the number one coworker I won't lie

Akutagawa:

Akutagawa has a serious case of resting bitch face, so customers would be too worried to approach him lmao and I'd have to help everyone

He makes up for this by being super duper good at presentation and so I'd never have to go around and organise things because they'd always look pretty lol

Probably uses his ability to help him carry things (but only in the back because that would scare customers)

Despite his fighting talent he would not be able to cut vegetables. He would be so confused with it. Same with the wrapping he wouldn't be able to get it right

Would prefer to wear gloves while working

If Gin ever came in to grab some groceries he'd talk to her for a little (and treat her better than all the other customers T-T)

Actually wouldn't be so bad to talk to while working but he would literally never initiate any conversations or small talk

Focuses so hard while he's working and it's honestly so cute

Kunikida:

He would be both good to work with but also crappy to work with hear me out

He would be great at remembering stock, helping me with customers, and helping me reach stuff on high shelves because at work I'm considered short

But he'd also hound me for being too slow or not stacking stuff correctly

That being said, he would always answer any questions that I'd have and explain things to me in a way that I'd understand :)

Works like a machine. I'd never be able to catch up to him at all (and he would hate that)

Would not want me bringing snacks or drinks to work but like what's he gonna do? Waste perfectly good food? Didn't think so Kunikida >:)

Even if he had a super long shift he'd just never tire and always be buzzing (even if he were tired he'd be great at concealing it)

Let's just be glad that he's not working alongside Dazai

Ranpo:

WOULDN'T GET ANY GODDAMN WORK DONE

I love Ranpo to the moon and back but he'd be the most useless fucking coworker of all time

He wouldn't make lists, he wouldn't grab stock and if I'm LUCKY he'd work out the front of the store. He'd use any excuse to stay in the back and just use the label maker and maybe cut vegetables because of how low effort it is

Would be super fun to hang out with if we have nothing to do though. We would talk so much shit about mean customers we encounter and stuff

He'd also bring sweets to work and let me have some sometimes, but only if I nag him about not doing any work

Would stay in the fridge just to breathe out and see mist come out of his mouth (and would also forget to close the fridge door)

Knows the layout of the whole damn store after walking through it ONE time

In conclusion I'm snitching to Fukuzawa

Steinbeck:

Absolute fucking BEAST. This dude is a farmer so he's able to rotate and complete quality checks at lightning speed

Honestly probably wouldn't need much training if any at all. He'd be the employee of the month on the first day

I feel like I'd have tons of free time at the end of my shifts because he'd just finish all the work so fast

Could use his ability to replenish stock. He could, but he won't. Just because he's a bit of a bitch (and people might not want to eat literal flesh vegetables but y'know)

Hums along to the songs that he knows on the radio while he works

Is good at being civil with customers but if they give him lip he's not gonna be as civil for much longer

Always bantering with our other coworkers and DEFINITELY talking shit about annoying customers in our free time

I mean if I want to not have to do very much work on a certain day I'd hope that I'd be working with John lol

Poe:

Would take a little while to get used to it all, because I feel like he's not the type to memorise a bunch of stuff super fast

Would be overwhelmed by customers and might freeze up on them; I'd have to come in and save him

Otherwise, he might just default to 'I'll go to the back and check for you' so he can escape the situation (same)

Would take pretty long while restocking food because he'd want to make it all look nice lol

He'd be scared of the wrapping machine (it has a hot plate to seal wrapping and he'd be scared of burning himself on it)

Might actually always be miserable because he's not allowed to bring Karl to work and so he'd feel lonely :(

He and I would talk about our niche interests when we're finished and have nothing else to do

I mean he could most definitely be worse. No matter how bad he'd be I'd love him anyway

i will do a girls version of this btw

[seasoningyeeting]

I was trying to be “one of the girls” yesterday at my brand new job, and they were talking about their girlfriends & fiancés n’ shit, so I shared about crushes. One was super happy I was engaging and conversing a little more personally than I have been, but the other? Yeah she can fuck all the way off.

Let me set the scene: I was overstimulated, my training wasn’t adequate, there was a huge Halloween event no one told me about so that was a lot, (and I wasn’t dressed up, so that made it worse,) so I was already very on edge, and trying to make a decent impression on my first day. When the conversation steered to relationships, as you can probably gather from my blog…I got self conscious. Very. So when I was encouraged to discuss crushes, celebrity or otherwise, I was so happy there for a minute. Like, that was their way of including me, and I was just happy. Well, I noticed Girl B was a little more stand-offish than Girl A, but I just chalked it up to first day awkwardness. I got really comfortable with Girl A, (who I’ve been conversing with throughout this entire hiring process,) so I shared a picture. Girl B saw, and immediately asked in total astonishment, “How fucking old is he?” And I stuttered to answer, suddenly realizing I didn’t want to, and also realizing I was about to be judged. This motherfucker said, and I am directly quoting, because I’ll never forget it: “I mean damn- was your father not present?” I was so stunned. My fight or flight kicked in so fast. Girl A had been helping a customer, and came bounding back over so happily to ask me questions, but saw my apparently mortified face and immediately whipped around and said “What did you say?!” To Girl B, and this girl didn’t even lie. She doubled ALL the way down, “I just asked if her father was present, like, legitimately. I mean…come on.” And Girl A was at a total loss for words. I don’t want to go back now. I was so happy. I just felt normal for two seconds. I’ve never been a girly girl, gushing over people like it’s nothing and then sharing that with others. Getting to do that felt like some right of passage I’ve always missed. But that girl had no goddamn right. No right whatsoever.

Like no, my father wasn’t present you little bitch, was yours? Or was that the same question he asked your mother when she popped your sorry ass out?

I literally wouldn’t go back if I didn’t have to. But this is the only job that called me back. I have to keep it. If she ever pulls that shit again, I’m reporting her to HR. I don’t care if I am just part time at a retail chain, that was so uncalled for.

[ghostlycorvid]

2023 Introspective

This year started with cutting off a toxic person who had already shut me out of mutual friend spaces but kept stringing me along with "maybe in a few more months I'll let you back in". 2022 was rough on its own, especially pre-antidepressants, but a huge part of it was stuff involving this person. Blocking them and finally accepting that it was not worth trying to repair what little relationship was left was the most freeing thing I've ever done and helped me to continue that with any other rude unpleasant individual I've had to share spaces with. It's been genuinely wonderful to realize I don't have to sit there and listen to bad takes or people who are needlessly mean, so I'm glad something came out of that friendship nightmare scenario.

It still took a lot of time to not sit there in anger and frustration spirals over the way things ended up, but in February I got permission from my bosses to bring my dog Chili to work with me due to needing to keep him and our other dog from playing while she was recovering from her spay. I ended up realizing that even though Chili is a huge anxiety baby, having him with me legitimately was helping distract me from negative thoughts spirals and gave me something positive to focus on when I was getting frustrated by work-related stuff in the moment. He ended up helping a couple coworkers come down from panic attacks later in the year too. My boss likes how "calm" he is enough that he gave me permission to bring Chili to work all the time (within reason), so he's come with me on most non-event days. His progress has been slow, but he's also been improving from the regular socialization!

I finally started to really focus on my own art and developing my own products and designs, both for my personal shop and for the shop at work. I've come out the other side of this year with 9 new enamel pin designs between the two! (A couple I haven't shared yet! ;D)

I was finally given an Adderall prescription which magically solved my problem where I couldn't stay awake during the day no matter how much sleep I'd gotten! And also it started helping me focus a little better too, but genuinely the non-sleepy thing was the most lifechanging part of the medication for me. The pit in my stomach when I was told that person felt like I was stalking and surveilling them if I was quiet in a call or stream despite years of me communicating that I was constantly struggling to even stay conscious was... HOO BOY. After years of fighting for my life to stay awake in college and sometimes even while DRIVING TO AND FROM WORK,,,,,,,, I really thought something was seriously wrong with me (besides the ADHD since I didn't realize it was a symptom of that)

With toxic people removed from my social spaces and general perception, I've finally started to join group calls with my friends again without anxiety or fear of not being welcome. It's helped me start to get back into playing games again, and I've been able to get into a few that either have built in accessibility features to avoid hand strain, or I've been able to modify my hardware setup to help with issues I was running into before. I've finally managed to pick up Warframe again, and I'm bouncing between that and Path of Titans without being hopelessly deep in a hyperfocus.

I officially got promoted at my job to Retail & Visitor Services manager (and got a $3 raise in Nov!!). While I'm struggling with finding help to ease my increased workload, I'm definitely way better off than before we hired on extra staff. It's given me a lot of networking opportunities (and excuses to go on field trips on the clock for ~*networking*~) and I've been juuuust starting to poke my head into local groups. One is a monthly artists crafting meetup right by work that starts right when I clock out! :D

I had the energy and free time to start branching out and trying other arts and crafts hobbies that had been interesting me! Ended up getting a serger machine to help really tidy up clothes that I make! I got into linocut & block printing, and have been having a lot of fun working on designs for that kind of printing. I even made a few printed shirts! And of course there was Andromeda, the first puppet I've ever made, and pretty much my proudest achievement in all my years of art so far.

I've honestly been spending less time on social media proper, usually forgetting to check tumblr for days or weeks at a time. Which has been good and bad, but overall better for me to stop feeling like I HAVE to fully backlog everything ever.

I got my first tattoo this year after wanting one for years and years! And that opened up a whole new can of worms and now I'm ending the year with 5 tattoos and 2 more scheduled in the next couple months oops! My first tattoo was Joltik, with my first ever pet spide!

I started keeping spiders this year after years of being too concerned about keeping pets that required live feeding! That also was a slippery slope. I picked up Indrid my red-backed jumper and Autumn my pumpkin patch t at the end of January, and now I have them, a regal jumper, a red-knee t, and a togo starburst t. You'd never guess that less than a decade ago I was scared shitless of all spiders. :> Especially now that I will occasionally free-handle wild spiders that need relocation to someplace safer. (Mostly still just jumpers tho)

Things aren't perfect by any means and I still have a lot of areas I want to personally improve myself in, but I feel like overall this has been a really really good year for me and I want to keep that momentum going into 2024! More art! More projects just for me! More time with friends! More enjoying games! More tidying my space literally and metaphorically!

[unpluggedfinancial]

The Imminent Bitcoin Supply Shock: What You Need to Know

In the world of Bitcoin, a significant event is looming—an event that could reshape how investors, institutions, and even everyday people view this digital asset. The Bitcoin supply shock is fast approaching, driven by increasing institutional demand and a continually decreasing supply of new Bitcoin entering the market. Understanding this imminent supply shock, and how it could influence Bitcoin’s future value, is crucial for anyone looking to navigate the evolving financial landscape.

Understanding Bitcoin’s Fixed Supply

Bitcoin is unique in that its supply is capped at 21 million coins, making it one of the few truly scarce assets in existence today. Unlike fiat currencies, which can be printed endlessly, Bitcoin’s supply is hard-coded to be finite. This scarcity is further heightened by the fact that every four years or so, a process called a halving occurs, which reduces the amount of new Bitcoin that enters circulation by half.

The 2024 Halving: The most recent halving occurred in 2024, reducing the block reward from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. This means that miners, who validate Bitcoin transactions, are now receiving half as much Bitcoin for the same amount of work, effectively slowing the influx of new Bitcoin into the market.

This process will continue until the year 2140, at which point no more new Bitcoin will be mined, and only the circulating supply of 21 million coins will exist. While that’s over a century away, the effects of Bitcoin’s decreasing supply are already being felt today.

Institutional Adoption and Its Impact on Supply

One of the key drivers behind the imminent supply shock is the increasing presence of institutional investors. Over the past few years, major corporations, hedge funds, and even some governments have begun accumulating Bitcoin as part of their long-term strategies.

Institutional Holdings: Large companies such as MicroStrategy, Tesla, and BlackRock have added substantial amounts of Bitcoin to their balance sheets. These institutions aren’t just buying Bitcoin to trade it—they’re holding it as a store of value, effectively removing large portions of the supply from circulation.

Long-Term Impact: Unlike individual traders, institutions often accumulate assets for the long haul. This means that the Bitcoin they purchase isn’t likely to return to the market any time soon, reducing the available supply and contributing to growing scarcity.

As more institutions jump on the Bitcoin bandwagon, the circulating supply available for everyday investors shrinks further, setting the stage for a supply shock—a period where demand far exceeds the available supply.

Why a Supply Shock is Imminent

Several factors are coming together to create the conditions for this supply shock, and it’s worth understanding why it’s not just a hypothetical event, but something that’s likely to occur sooner rather than later.

Continued Institutional Interest: More institutions are beginning to see Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation and economic instability. With governments around the world printing money at record rates, the appeal of a finite asset like Bitcoin grows stronger. As institutional demand increases, more Bitcoin will be taken off the market and held in reserves.

Decreasing Available Supply: Every Bitcoin halving event cuts the supply of new Bitcoin in half, but this reduction is now coupled with institutional buying. The amount of Bitcoin available on exchanges is shrinking, making it harder for people to buy Bitcoin without moving the price up.

Rising Global Adoption: Countries and companies around the world are warming to the idea of Bitcoin as a legitimate asset class. This isn’t just an institutional trend—retail adoption is increasing as well. As more people and organizations accumulate Bitcoin, the pressure on the already limited supply grows, pushing us closer to a supply shock.

The 2036 Inflection Point: Running Out of Bitcoin

A key moment in Bitcoin’s supply dynamics is approaching in 2036—a date that could be a major inflection point for the cryptocurrency. By that time, 99% of all Bitcoin will have been mined, leaving only 1% to be mined over the next century.

99% Mined by 2036: With each halving, the amount of new Bitcoin being created drastically reduces. By 2036, the Bitcoin network will have released 99% of its total supply of 21 million coins. This means that almost all of the Bitcoin that will ever exist will already be in circulation by that point.

The Final 1%: Mining the last 1% of Bitcoin (around 210,000 BTC) will stretch over the next century. With each halving event, the reward for miners is reduced by half, making it progressively harder to mine new Bitcoin. By the year 2140, when the fixed supply of 21 million Bitcoin is fully mined, the final mining reward will be just one satoshi (0.00000001 BTC). At that point, no new Bitcoin will be created, and miners will rely solely on transaction fees.

The halving mechanism ensures that, while Bitcoin will continue to be mined, the amount added to circulation each year will become negligible compared to the amount already in circulation. This creates an environment of extreme scarcity, where Bitcoin becomes a truly finite resource—more scarce than gold or any other asset known to humanity.

What Does This Inflection Point Mean?

When 99% of Bitcoin is mined by 2036, the remaining supply will be distributed more slowly than ever before. This moment marks a significant shift in Bitcoin’s supply dynamics because:

Price Pressure Will Increase: As the amount of new Bitcoin entering the market slows to a crawl, scarcity will drive up its value. By 2036, we can expect Bitcoin to be far more difficult to acquire, with a much higher price floor due to its rarity and institutional adoption.

Institutional Holdings Will Dominate: Since much of the available Bitcoin will already be in the hands of long-term holders and institutions by 2036, the remaining Bitcoin will be distributed among a much smaller pool of new buyers. This could create intense competition for the few Bitcoins that remain available for trading.

Scarcity Becomes Absolute: Once 99% of Bitcoin has been mined, the market will face a new reality—Bitcoin will become one of the most scarce and sought-after assets ever created. As institutions and investors scramble to secure a piece of this increasingly finite resource, the effects on price could be staggering.

Potential Outcomes of the Supply Shock

When supply is limited, and demand is growing, prices tend to rise. This is a basic economic principle that applies directly to Bitcoin. Here are a few potential outcomes of the looming supply shock:

Price Appreciation: With fewer Bitcoins available for purchase, and demand increasing, the price of Bitcoin is likely to rise. Historically, after each halving, Bitcoin’s price has seen significant upward movements. As we approach the point where supply truly begins to run dry, we could see even more drastic price increases.

Liquidity Crunch: A supply shock can lead to a liquidity crunch, where it becomes harder to buy Bitcoin without driving up the price significantly. As more institutions hold onto their Bitcoin long-term, there could be fewer coins available for trading, leading to thinner order books and sharper price movements.

Increased Scarcity: Bitcoin’s scarcity will only grow over time. As more entities hold onto their Bitcoin as a long-term store of value, the asset becomes increasingly difficult to acquire, adding to its allure as "digital gold." This scarcity is what sets Bitcoin apart from other assets and could make it one of the most valuable assets of the 21st century.

What This Means for Investors

For investors, the impending supply shock presents both challenges and opportunities. Here’s what to consider:

Long-Term Value Proposition: Bitcoin’s finite supply and growing demand make it an attractive asset for long-term investors. If the supply shock occurs as anticipated, those who hold Bitcoin could see substantial value appreciation over time.

Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA): One strategy to consider is Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA), which involves buying small amounts of Bitcoin regularly over time. This helps investors accumulate Bitcoin without worrying about short-term price volatility. Over the long term, this strategy can help you build a position before the full effects of the supply shock set in.

Hodling: Holding onto Bitcoin during periods of scarcity could be a powerful investment strategy. Those who understand the long-term value of Bitcoin’s scarcity are positioning themselves to benefit from future price appreciation as the supply shock unfolds.

Conclusion

In summary, the imminent Bitcoin supply shock is not a matter of "if" but "when." With decreasing new supply, increasing institutional accumulation, and growing global adoption, the conditions are ripe for a significant market shift. As Bitcoin becomes increasingly scarce, those who understand its value and act early could find themselves in a favorable position.

The 2036 inflection point—when 99% of all Bitcoin will have been mined—marks a critical moment in the timeline of Bitcoin’s journey. From that point forward, Bitcoin’s scarcity will become undeniable, and its value could appreciate significantly as demand continues to rise.

For investors, the key is to stay informed, consider strategies like Dollar-Cost Averaging, and most importantly, recognize that Bitcoin’s value is rooted in its finite supply. As the world continues to turn to Bitcoin as a hedge against economic uncertainty, the coming supply shock could prove to be one of the most important financial events of the next decade.

Take Action Towards Financial Independence

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[bumblingest-bee]

so i just found out about the latest bizarre theatre drama and i need to share it. about a week ago on reddit someone posted a link to an incredibly unhinged casting call on playbill for a new musical called "undead valley." it's since been taken down but the op of the post managed to save screenshots and they're... truly something. i genuinely can't decide on a favorite part.

the whole thing is incomprehensible. "about 40 measures of a sadistic nurse giving a shot." the constant typos. the absurd vocal requirements. the even more absurd amount of money they're trying to raise. the weirdly threatening language. "travel will be paid if we can find her on earth." also, im 90% sure NONE of those actors are actually involved with this project.

ANYWAYS it gets worse!! someone on instagram (broadwaybob) did some digging and found out that the producer of the show is a disgraced former amazon retailer who was indicted last year for a murder-for-hire plot!

broadwaybob posted about this and promptly got threatened in DMs by the aforementioned producer, who is either legitimately experiencing delusions or trying to pull a max bialystock.

also, the show is described as "west side story meets the walking dead." the "most important musical project in human history." it is about zombies. it has a website (the password is TheQuickBrownFoxJumpsOverTheLazyDog but none of the music tracks seem to work anyway) and it's just making me more confused.

i have so many fucking questions. who is this guy. what is he doing. what is happening. what is this show. im losing it here folks

[emmetcounty]

TOP 5 CONSPIRACY THEORIES

That's a tough one these days, with so many big-tent conspiracies floating around in the public consciousness. I'll try to limit myself to specific conspiracies, though I'm gonna make one exception just cuz I find it so fascinating. I'll also try to avoid shit that's just reducible to blood libel, not only because that shit is fucking awful, but also because it's just lazy, there's no creativity or passion it's just antisemitic. Also note that I'm not an expert on conspiratorial thinking/conspiracy theories, nor am I an expert on any of these conspiracies. I'm not trying to be objective about these either, I have specific biases and I'm not gonna try to cull them here. So, with that out of the way, and in no particular order:

1.) A fun, and mostly harmless one is the genre of [Dead person] is still alive. It's so versatile that it still surprises me that it's been more or less self-restricted to musicians. I've heard Tupac, Michael Jackson, Elvis obviously. An unhoused dude I met, and maybe this isn't a conspiracy theory per say, was convinced that he was Kurt Cobain to the point of providing hyper specific details of Cobain's life that I had no means of confirming or denying. That day was odd. He said he wanted to just get out of the spotlight, which I think is understandable.

2.) Fucking Havana Syndrome, oh my god. Just a group of CIA agents working 16 hours a day, living exclusively on a diet of coffee and Mormonism suddenly getting earth shattering headaches, and proceeding then to accuse the cuban government of inventing infrared brain lasers. Fucking hysterical, I hope they all have aneurysms. In a similar vein is the whole thing of cops ODing on fentanyl through touch alone. To anyone skeptical of that, these cops are almost always just having panic attacks, and in fact do not have any fentanyl in their bodies.

3.) JFK didn't kill himself

4.) The dead Internet theory. This one is a fascinating study of how and why conspiracy theories happen. The idea is that the Internet is mostly bots, manipulating and being manipulated by algorithms that their creators neither understand or are able to control. And like. There are grains of truth here and there, spread throughout the misinformation. For instance, there's a legitimate market on youtube for bots to boost engagement and views. Does that market account for the lion share of views on the platform? Absolutely not, its impact is marginal at best. Another example the theorists love are the numerous bot posts on Twitter. Twitter has always had a bot problem to some degree! That doesn't mean Twitter is all bots tho! So why has the theory gained traction? Because the Internet's a fucking complicated entity, and your average joe is looking for easy answers. As it is with all conspiracies, simple lies are often more preferable than complex truths.

5.) MOASS. Now, here's that exception to the no big-tent rule. It's my personal favorite conspiracy theory, but it requires a bit of explanation. For those of you who haven't heard of this one, Dan Olsen has a really good video on it, but for those who don't have two and a half hours, I'll try my best to sum it up: remember the whole GameStop thing where its stocks went up a bunch out of nowhere, and a bunch of redditors made a fuss about democratizing finance capital, then the whole movement sorta disappeared shortly thereafter? MOASS (an acronym meaning "the mother of all short squeezes") is a belief by the bag holders who missed the big wave of that movement. The idea is that the first wave in January of 2021 was merely the prelude to an apocalyptic financial crash which will be ushered in by "apes" (as the redditors call themselves) coming to own more shares of video game retailer GameStop than actually exist. They also believed (or in some cases still believe) that GameStop is gonna merge with the now defunct Bed Bath and Beyond. The reason I find this one so fascinating is not because of the deluge of incomprehensible nonsense that apes typically spew, nor is it the wild confidence that the movement inspires, but rather that it's so utterly disconnected from reality that it works as a very useful example of Mark Fisher's conception of capitalist realism. Like, these people have chosen to imagine an apocalypse so profoundly convoluted, that even trying explaining its structure can cause psychic damage, and they do this instead of think about their material reality for like. 30 seconds. Idk, it has a special place in my heart.

Honorable mention to COINTELPRO, because even though it was a real thing that really happened, and even though you can easily find sources outlining its extent, intentions, goals, and accomplishments, when you try to explain it to any normal person, you sound fucking insane. I know from experience 😔

[you-can-be-what-you-want-to-be]

Ok so I finally read who’s afraid of Alexander J Newell bc… not a single person said what they were actually accused of. Not only is the article unreliable but even if it’s 100% true almost none of it is a big deal? Like no one has broken it down yet so I’ll do a small thing saying why it’s not legit and then explain the “issues” that the article actually talks about

Reasons it’s not accountable

1) the “journalist” does not have a degree of any kind

2) this is posted on a site that allows anyone without any verification or credentials to post. It is also seemingly the only place they’ve posted any news articles

3) they work with the competing company and repeatedly compare them

4) go between pounds and dollars throughout the article to skew numbers in their favor

5) they use the word allegedly every other sentence. You should k ow if it’s actual or alleged before starting a a smear campaign

6) (the biggest one imo) not a SINGLE rq source is named except by pseudonym. I don’t believe that dozens of people were willing to call out Harvey Winsting and Trump but that not a single person can talk about their job sucking in normal ways

7) state easily checkable misinformation like them paying minimum wage when they actually pay above that and the living wage (sad those aren’t the same thing but that’s neither here nor there)

8) the writer is 20 which is apparent if you read this and have ever had a job. At that age my brother quit a job bc his raise was less than a dollar amount within the first year, like all jobs. That was Taco Bell. Im not saying the journalist is on that level but think how much you knew about jobs at the time. I was convinced if I didn’t have the drink cart at the retail store done on time I would be fired instantly on the spot instead of nothing happening. I knew nothing. It’s about experience.

Now RQs alleged (their words not mine) crimes:

1) they pay minimum wage. Considering this started out as an unpaid venture between friends in a disco corridor of their house wouldn’t be bad. But also easily proven untrue

2) people joining were under the impression they wouldn’t have to follow the rules on their contract and that the rules were bendable and then they weren’t. It’s a contract guys.

The big issue with the contract is they want to make money back and ad revenue and such doesn’t make a lot. If they take 50% of everything (what they’re asking) and lent you $1000 it would take 62,500 downloads (most shows don’t break 20,000) for them to get their money back that they gave you if my math according to their own numbers is right. A real evil thing for them to do to pay you and your workers paychecks as well as a budget to make the thing you want and then dare to want to break even or heaven forbid profit.

3) you can’t leave a contract early. Again. It’s a contract. That’s how that works in an adult job. Also they’re mad they can later on use the product to advertise for themselves. Like “from the producers of” type of stuff and other general intellectual property stuff. Not great but if they’re paying to have it made it makes sense halfway through they don’t want you changing networks. You don’t start a show on Disney and end it on Netflix that’s just not how the world works. They bought the product, you don’t pay for someone to build a house and then Act like it’s reasonable they want to take it after.

4) that layoffs exist and happen sometimes? Unfortunate yes. Considering how normal that is and that half the article is about how bad RQ is at making money it should not be a surprise. When a company follows laws such as “pay workers” and doesn’t have the money to do it the solution is “have less workers” sorry to say.

5) that money from productions goes to services used to make those productions (acast)

6) that volunteers exist

7) they aren’t good at advertising their own shows

8) this is actually legitimately not great but again not horrible. They expect people to work 16-20 hours a week and they end up working a WHOLE 24 a week. This is in many places known as a part time job.

9) they think the show will pay more than it will but the Patreon doesn’t get enough and when it does they were still bad with ads so the projected amount was bad. They still get that living wage it’s just not the bonus they planned for. Everyone who works in retail or any job that involves making plan that you don’t account for bonus in your budget.

10) if you try to talk to management there’s a waitlist but if you try to talk to your projects team there’s no issue. Almost as if management runs 50+ projects and the project team only runs one 🤔

11) they’re hands off and let you do their thing. I’m not kidding this is a point in there that’s supposed to be bad

That’s about it. Like no it’s not a utopia or a fun thing where you do whatever and get free money. You can unfortunately tell it’s written by a 20 year old because they think a company ALLEGEDLY holding people to their contracts, paying minimum wage for a part time job, wanting to make money, and not knowing the exact amount of hours they’ll have for you or the amount of money a project will make for your bonus is worthy of writing an article about and being scandalized.

Before believing something check sources. If you don’t want to do that, at least read the article before deciding that somethings horrible and evil. There isn’t any dodged workers comp or wage theft or anything seriously upsetting. If the lack of any named sources or credentials or the fact it’s a competing network or the use of the word alleged 1000 times and the rewrites and misquotes other people have brought up don’t mean anything, then at worst this is all true and you might be asked to work a few extra fully paid hours a week and get paid minimum wage at a part time job and have to follow the rules you agreed to with little bonus. Oh no. I wonder what that’s like, what a nightmare.

[mariacallous]

Texas can enforce a law requiring age-verification systems on porn websites, the US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled Thursday. The appeals court vacated an injunction against the law's age-verification requirement but said that Texas cannot enforce a provision requiring porn websites to "display health warnings about the effects of the consumption of pornography."

In a 2-1 decision, judges ruled that "the age-verification requirement is rationally related to the government's legitimate interest in preventing minors' access to pornography. Therefore, the age-verification requirement does not violate the First Amendment."

The Texas law was challenged by the owners of Pornhub and other adult websites and an adult-industry lobby group called the Free Speech Coalition. "We disagree strenuously with the analysis of the Court majority," the Free Speech Coalition said. "As the dissenting opinion by Judge [Patrick] Higginbotham makes clear, this ruling violates decades of precedent from the Supreme Court."

A US District Court judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law in August 2023, finding that "Plaintiffs have shown that their First Amendment rights will likely be violated if the statute takes effect, and that they will suffer irreparable harm absent an injunction."

But a few weeks later, the 5th Circuit issued a temporary stay that allowed the law to take effect in September 2023. The new ruling issued last week was on the merits of the preliminary injunction.

Court Cites Magazine Precedent

The 5th Circuit, generally regarded as one of the most conservative appeals courts, found that the Texas porn-site law should be reviewed on the "rational-basis" standard and not under strict scrutiny. The court panel majority pointed to Ginsberg v. New York, a 1968 Supreme Court ruling about the sale of "girlie" magazines to a 16-year-old at a lunch counter. The Supreme Court in that case upheld a New York criminal obscenity statute that prohibited the knowing sale of obscene materials to minors.

The same principle applies to the internet, the 5th Circuit majority found. "Because it is never obvious whether an Internet user is an adult or a child, any attempt to identify the user will implicate adults in some way... To suggest protecting children would be so difficult is inconsistent with Ginsberg, where rational basis review was sufficient even though adults would presumably have to identify themselves to buy girlie magazines," the ruling said.

As Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman wrote, the 5th Circuit "panel majority claims the 56-year-old Ginsberg opinion, which dealt with offline retailers, governs the Conlaw [constitutional law] analysis of the Texas law instead of the squarely on-point 1997 Reno v. ACLU and 2004 Ashcroft v. ACLU opinions, both of which dealt with the Internet."

In his dissent, Judge Higginbotham said the majority's attempts to distinguish Ginsberg from later rulings "are unconvincing." Although "Ginsberg remains good law and indubitably recognizes the government's power to protect children from age-inappropriate materials," the Supreme Court "has unswervingly applied strict scrutiny to content-based regulations that limit adults' access to protected speech," he wrote.

The Texas law "limits access to materials that may be denied to minors but remain constitutionally protected speech for adults," Higginbotham wrote. "It follows that the law must face strict scrutiny review because it limits adults' access to protected speech using a content-based distinction—whether that speech is harmful to minors."

Section 230 Analysis Flawed, Professor Says

The 5th Circuit panel majority found that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act does not preempt the Texas law. Goldman called the decision "another entry in the Fifth Circuit's increasingly unstable Section 230 jurisprudence."

Goldman said that judges seem to be saying "that the age authentication mandate only regulates the services' conduct, and thus it doesn't impose liability for third-party content... However, fundamentally, the statute imposes liability for services for publishing third-party content to underage viewers, and Section 230 clearly should apply to that aspect."

Goldman expects this case or similar ones to reach the Supreme Court:

This opinion will be appealed to the Supreme Court, alongside other cases over statutes imposing mandatory age authentication. The pro-censorship forces have been angling for an opportunity to challenge Reno v. ACLU and the COPA [Child Online Protection Act] caselaw, hoping that the Supreme Court will forget or overturn that precedent. This highlights the stakes of this and the other cases on their way to SCOTUS: do the foundational Constitutional law principles that have fostered the Internet's success over the past 25+ years still apply, or have the rules since changed and opened the door to rampant government censorship? The Internet's fate–and perhaps the fate of free speech in our country–hangs in the balance.

The Texas law also creates privacy problems, Higginbotham wrote in his dissent. It "prohibits commercial entities and third parties performing age verification from retaining identifying information, but the bill imposes no burden on governmental entities nor 'any intermediary between the commercial websites and the third-party verifiers' to do the same. Simply claiming that the 'age verification preserves online anonymity' does not make it so," he wrote.

Platforms Could Be Sued by Texas AG

In the meantime, the Free Speech Coalition said that "platforms that do not implement age verification measures will be at risk of prosecution by the Attorney General, as has been the case since the Fifth Circuit stayed the preliminary injunction last September."

The law applies to websites in which more than one-third of the content "is sexual material harmful to minors." Those websites must "use reasonable age verification methods" to limit their material to adults.

The one bit of good news for websites that challenged the law is the 5th Circuit's finding that the requirement to display health warnings about pornography "unconstitutionally compel[s] speech" and cannot be enforced.

"The warnings declare the potential harm of minors' engaging with pornography, and they do so in a noticeable fashion—in a way likely to discourage minors from using and adults from allowing their children to use the websites," the court wrote.

Government bodies seeking to restrict commercial speech must show that the restrictions will alleviate a harm to a material degree. Texas failed that test, the court said: “Because Texas has not made such a showing, we adopt the approach recently taken by the Ninth Circuit: '[C]ompelling sellers to warn consumers of a potential 'risk' never confirmed by any regulatory body—or of a hazard not 'known' to more than a small subset of the scientific community—does not directly advance' the government's interest.”

[mesillusionssousecstasy]

How to Become a Mob Boss: Quote episode 1 to 4

"- Mob boss is basically the CEO of an organization. And some of these organizations are very big, and some of them make an awful lot of money." (George Anastasia - Organized Crime Writer - Episode 1)

"- You have to be smart and know how to motivate and, at times, frighten people to keep them in line." (George Anastasia - Episode 1)

"- To be a successful mob boss, first of all, you have to be driven." (Ellie Honig - Former Federal Prosecutor, Southern District of NY - Episode 1)

"- From Torrio, young Capone learned these rules. Dress for success. Keep your mouth shut. And when it comes to staying on top, remember, money is power." (Narrator - Episode 1)

"- Frankie Yale taught Capone an alternate set of skills. Always show you mean business. Never get outgunned. And make sure your reputation precedes you." (Narrator - Episode 1)

"- Start with this mantra any wise businessman must follow, never pay retail." (Narrator - Episode 2)

"- Frank wanted to try to figure out, "How do I cut out the middleman to maximize my profits?" And also reduce the opportunity for a law enforcement to penetrate his organization." (Episode 2)

"- Anytime your sales volume isn't up to your full market potential, whatever the reason, you've got a problem." (Episode 2)

"- The playbook solution to this common dilemma? Become the only game in town." (Narrator - Episode 2)

"- If you corner the market, you have control over the market. You can charge whatever the hell you want." (Emily Sweeney - Reporter, Boston Globe - Episode 2)

"- But how do you make sure customers come to you to get their fix? It starts with marketing. Like most organizations, you have a product, you give it a brand name. So you want people to look for your brand. You have to make sure your brand is good. But clever branding only goes so far. It's what's in the package that counts." (Narrator - Episode 2) "- Frank stamped his "Blue Magic," and it was the best drop you could buy. Frank made sure his production line was in the hands of a true expert. The manufacturing genius he called Red Top." (Episode 2)

"- But to truly corner the market, Frank needed something else. A solid retail strategy. Studying police behavior, Frank notices a key pattern. At 4:00 p.m. daily, cops on the early shift leave their posts. But the night shift doesn't take over until 5:00. Frank instructs his lieutenants to hit the streets hard during this golden hour. While Frank monitors his crew's customer service by cruising through Harlem undercover." (Narrator - Episode 2)

"- If anybody slips up, there's hell to pay. But when your product sells this well, sometimes all you have to do is sit back and enjoy. This is why the crime gods invented money laundering. Ready to turn dirty money into clean cash? While techniques vary, they mostly follow the same basic steps. Step one. Placement. Create a legitimate business with a bank account where you can park your illicit profits, like a car wash or a strip club. Step two. Layering. Use complex transactions to separate the money from its illegal source. For example, buy gold. Cash it in. Then send that money from one international bank account to another to make it even harder to trace. Or sink the proceeds into assets like luxury cars, jewelry, or real estate. Then sell them again. Bringing us to step three. Integration. Invest your freshly-laundered dough into the legitimate financial system to keep the taxman off your trail. Voilà! Your dirty drug money is now clean as a whistle." (Narrator - Episode 2)

"- Everything's money. This is America." (Episode 2)

"- But when your core product is high-grade heroin, the happy days probably won't last forever. If you want to build your business to last, you need a strategy that can adapt to all market conditions. Frank used a multipronged approach to address this problem. Starting with a PR campaign. He thought doing things for the community would be an effective way of protecting himself and his entreprise. Loaning money to people. Not worrying about if you got it paid back. Taking care of people. So he kept a community on his side. He also made sure to take care of an even more important demographic. Cops. Frank spent a lot of money paying off police. Having the police on the take means being able to walk down the street and not worry about being locked up. It means knowing that you're gonna have a supply of drugs coming in safely without being interdicted by the police. But as many mob bosses discover, acts of generosity can leave some men in blue wanting more. But the early '70s, Frank Lucas has moved his family to a quiet house in the suburbs. But when you inhabit the criminal life, business has a way of following you home. Today, Frank is met by a unwanted visitor, a corrupt NYPD detective he comes to call Babyface. He orders Frank to pay him 10'000 cash a month. Or he'll shut down Frank's operation for good. Frank doesn't see any real options. But then Harlem's top drug boss makes one last transaction. Frank joined America's team and made a business decision to cooperate to reduce that jail time. As a businessperson, looking out for himself, he made the right decision for himself. Even if it meant turning on his own brother. That type of betrayal is it's hard to deal with sometimes. What can I say? It's just business." (Narrator - Episode 2)

"- But when you're a mob boss looking to consolidate your power, you look at human emotions differently. Mob bosses rule by fear. It's the best weapon. Ant there's one tested method for putting this spine-tingling tool to work. To make people understand fear, you have to perform violence." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- If you are able to say, "I can kill you, I can kill your wife, I can kill your daughter, don't fuck with me"... you become a very powerful person." (Episode 3)

"- Nobody demonstrated this lesson as effectively as Sicily's boss of bosses, Salvatore "Toto" Riina. But he was mainly known for this astonishing figure. He is thought to have authorized between 800 and 1'000 killings. Secrecy was one of his weapons, and it built up his mystique within the Mafia. This kind of ghost figure that could be anywhere and might be listening to you as you spoke. He didn't need a luxurious lifestyle. He didn't care about that stuff, but what he did care about was power. One of the things that Riina is supposed to have said is, "Comandare é meglio che fottere," which mean, if I can use plain English "Being boss is better than fucking." (Alexander Stille- Author, Excellent cadavers - Episode 3)

"- That's why as a mob boss, you'll sometimes have to kill more than the story." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- By the early '80s, Riina was dead set on increasing his power within the Sicilian Mafia. But he faced a stubborn obstacle. Something called the Commission. The Mafia Commission, also called the Cupola, is a governing body of sorts of the Mafia. It was made up of the head boss of the different families. It was a way of collaborating to make sure that business stayed on track. Riina begins to sit in the Commission in about 1969 but begins to have ambitions of domination. Riina's modest goal, force the Commission to name him Capo dei Capi, the Boss of Bosses. But there was one small problem. That position didn't exist. He believed that he should have absolute power. He did not want to share. So Riina decided to turn the job he had into the job he wanted. The Beast's plan, destroy his top rivals' organizations from within. It starts by making secret side deals. In return, they do Riina's dirty work for him... taking out their bosses and filling the ranks with mafiosi loyal to Riina." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- It's very important for a mob boss to be the guy holding the strings over lawmakers because it allows them to expand their control and their rule." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- Killing Dalla Chiesa showed, "We can take out anyone, and we will kill you if you get into our business." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- If you're gonna harm your enemies, make sure you do it complete, so they can never come after you." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- There's a word for when you've got nothing left to lose, freedom." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- The message is, "If you mess with us, we don't care how high we have to go, we don't care how protected you are, we will kill you." (Narrator - Episode 3)

"- Aniello Dellacroce, who was the underboss of the Gambino family, became a mentor for Gotti." (Michael Franzese - Former Capo, Colombo Crime Family - Episode 4)

"- This is not about diplomacy. This is about an iron fist." (Episode 4)

"- No matter what organization you're looking to lead, you have to respect its structure. That's especially true with the Italian Mafia, also known as Cosa Nostra. In Cosa Nostra, There's a pecking order. At the top, you have your boss. Under the boss, you have your underboss. Then you have your consigliere, which is basically the advisor or the counselor. Then you have your captains. That's sort of your mid-level managers. And then you have your soldiers. Those are the made guys. Beyond that, you have associated. They're not made members of the group, but they're people who work with and contribute to the mob. In the American Mafia, you can't kill a fully initiated or made guy in your family, without getting permission from your boss. You can't whack a made guy in another family without getting permission from your boss and the boss of the other family. And if you want to clip your own boss, good luck. You need approval from the Commission. Basically, the Mafia board of directors. The rules were clear." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- John Gotti needed to make his case through the proper channels, but he decided otherwise. He said, "Do it. Fuck it." We knew we couldn't get permission from this thing. Bosses want to protect each other in the Commission, so we formed this alliance which we called The Fist. So, there was five of us, and there was nobody saying no. It was just a time and a place." (Episode 4)

"- Smart mobsters don't want attention on themselves from law enforcement, from the media, from the public. They know that what they're doing is illegal, and attention can only hurt their bottom-line goal, which is to make money." (Ellie - Episode 4)

"- If you're gonna be out there and be flashy, you're going to embarrass law enforcement. So now we're gonna double down." (Lou - Episode 4)

"- When somebody develops this hubris is they make mistakes. Because they are operating under this false belief that nothing can touch me." (Joni Johnson - Forensic Psychologist and Private Investigator - Episode 4)

"- John Gotti was an egotistical narcissist who appeared to revel in the attention that he was getting from the press and from the public. And the more he got, the more he wanted." (Ed - Episode 4)

"- He's called the Dapper Don. Whoever named him the Dapper Don should have came down and talked to him. The reporter. He would've paid that guy $ 100'000 for that label. He loved those labels. I mean, you couldn't make that stuff up." (Sammy - Episode 4)

"- He operated in front of the cameras. He made himself into a celebrity, into a "front page of the tabloid" figure." (Ellie - Episode 4)

"- The Commission hired Sicilian mobsters to have Gotti killed. They put a bomb in the wrong car. Were it not for a little operator error, Gotti's ego would have cost him his life." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- To be in this life, you have to be willing to go to prison, because at some point, you're gonna get caught. So make sure your time in government custody is productive." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- RICO is the worst law they ever put on the books. It's Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, and it's an all-encompassing law. It's very hard to defend." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- You'd have to be a complete imbecile to be talking about a boss behind his back. He's got the ultimate power over your life, whether you live or die." (Sammy - Episode 4)

"- You know, that's a treacherous life. Dissension is created, and mistrust is created when something like that happens. Now, your own men are questioning that and worried about themselves. You know? What, am I next? That's what happens when you take your eye off the ball. You get a crew full of killers doubting your leadership." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- The code in the American Mafia is silence. Don't talk about a murder that's committed. Don't talk on your phones. Don't talk indoors. Don't talk in your car. Everything's about keeping your mouth shut. The Mafia calls this code Omerta." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- When you take the oath of Omerta, you're taking an oath to never admit that the life ever exists and to never betray the life. That's the oath. For a mafioso to break Omerta is tantamount to betraying your family, everything you know, everything you love." (Micheal - Episode 4)

"- It brings more notoriety to him. It legitimizes him. And it's getting turned around on the government that John Gotti is an innocent guy what works for a plumbing company. And they don't like him because he's in the public's eye." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- The government was jealous of him because he was winning." (Renee)

"- In the end, Gotti did achieve the attention he always wanted. I think John Gotti represented people's frustrations with the government. How the government's always nickel-and-diming you, and John Gotti's fighting the government." (Lou)

"- Basically, Gotti was an example of how not to be a mob boss." (Narrator - Episode 4)

"- If you want fame, go become a fucking actor, or whatever you want to be, but don't be a mob boss." (Sammy - Episode 4)

"- Nobody tackled this challenge as creatively as Boston's most legendary mob boss, Whitey Bulger, whose ruthless attention to detail charted his path to infamy and then pulled a disappearing act for the ages." (Narrator - Episode 4)

[thosearentcrimes]

In the 1970s and 80s there was a chain of electronics stores in the New York media market that became quite famous for its over-the-top commercials. They hadn't invented that style of ad (which, as far as I can tell, rose and fell with the independent or small chain retail market), consisting of a very excited "insane" guy with a catchphrase about prices (His Prices Are INSAAAAANE!), but they flooded the Tri-State area airwaves with it.

I'm not really talking about this company because of their advertising, except in the sense that I am familiar with this company because my father told me the story of the ads once, while mentioning that he got some suspiciously cheap but good electronics there. You see, Crazy Eddie, named after primary ringleader Eddie Antar, was also a criminal enterprise and a fraud. According to one of the participants, Sam E. "Sammy" Antar, whose detailed and presumably highly misleading account of the case is available on his amazingly-named website White Collar Fraud, it had always been engaging in fraudulent accounting.

From its humble beginnings as a private company, profits were skimmed and employees were paid under the table, allowing the Antar family to, ah, manage their tax obligations. My understanding is that neither of these practices is or was particularly uncommon in the world of brick-and-mortar retail.

Now, as Crazy Eddie expanded, it became less and less reasonable to engage in petty fraud at that scale. What they had to do next was stop committing tax fraud. Not only would that allow them to avoid getting caught doing tax fraud, by progressively skimming less of the profit they would be able to appear to achieve an impressive rate of growth. This was all in preparation for the smart bit of the scheme, going public.

This is how it works. Stocks trade speculatively at a significant multiple of earnings. This means that if you control and own most of a company, if you can dump your own money into your company and then sell a significant amount of your stock, you can still easily come out well ahead. Soon, the Antars were painstakingly laundering money they had sucked out of Crazy Eddie while it was privately held back into the company past the not particularly vigilant auditors in order to look good to the financial markets.

Eventually the scheme started falling apart socially and financially, and the company suffered a hostile takeover from a competitor who subsequently found that there was $40 million less inventory than advertised. Caveat Emptor, I guess. Eddie Antar tried to flee to Israel but was extradited, upon later getting out of prison he tried to start another electronics retailer called Crazy Eddie, which surprisingly didn't work. Sammy Antar turned state's evidence and is now a fed-lite.

Why am I saying all this, why am I pointing out this particular case? Well, obviously it's because I think there are a lot of modern-day Antars running around making a lot of money, and presumably a lot of their CFOs are also going to flip and reinvent themselves as forensic auditors once they get caught. I assume most startups are somewhat more legal than anything Crazy Eddie did, but many of the market principles remain the same. In fact, corporate lawyers have developed more and more ways to do the same things the Antars did legitimately.

It is ironic that stealing from their own company was worthwhile for the Antars so long as the company was a serious business for them, albeit one that they were operating in a criminal manner, while pumping money into their company was only the correct thing to do once they were divesting themselves of ownership. Obviously this is just how tax evasion and pump and dumps work, but I find it contrasts interestingly with the capitalist dogma that ownership makes for better stewards of the property, still used as the primary political argument for privatization even though capitalist firms are also run managerially.

Ultimately, my takeaway is that the Antars were basically your regular shady retail guys, until they spotted an opportunity to get in on the ground floor of Shareholder Value Maximization. My other takeaway is if you get something cheap because someone is fucking the shareholders, mind your own business probably.