#please consider paying for this site like you actually want it to keep going

[thesixthstar]

ok but once again. the small niche userbase needs to be loyal in a way that is profitable or else RadioShackTM goes away anyways in a few years when investors finally get bored of playing hot potato with the money pit. I agree they shouldn't pivot away from their roots and we should be very loud when we don't like the direction of shilling out and copying the Big Stores, but dear god we must understand that they cannot continue to give out capacitors for free

Does anyone remember what happened to Radio Shack?

They started out selling niche electronics supplies. Capacitors and transformers and shit. This was never the most popular thing, but they had an audience, one that they had a real lock on. No one else was doing that, so all the electronics geeks had to go to them, back in the days before online ordering. They branched out into other electronics too, but kept doing the electronic components.

Eventually they realize that they are making more money selling cell phones and remote control cars than they were with those electronic components. After all, everyone needs a cellphone and some electronic toys, but how many people need a multimeter and some resistors?

So they pivoted, and started only selling that stuff. All cellphones, all remote control cars, stop wasting store space on this niche shit.

And then Walmart and Target and Circuit City and Best Buy ate their lunch. Those companies were already running big stores that sold cellphones and remote control cars, and they had more leverage to get lower prices and selling more stuff meant they had more reasons to go in there, and they couldn't compete. Without the niche electronics stuff that had been their core brand, there was no reason to go to their stores. Everything they sold, you could get elsewhere, and almost always for cheaper, and probably you could buy 5 other things you needed while you were there, stuff Radio Shack didn't sell.

And Radio Shack is gone now. They had a small but loyal customer base that they were never going to lose, but they decided to switch to a bigger but more fickle customer base, one that would go somewhere else for convenience or a bargain. Rather than stick with what they were great at (and only they could do), they switched to something they were only okay at... putting them in a bigger pond with a lot of bigger fish who promptly out-competed them.

If Radio Shack had stayed with their core audience, who knows what would have happened? Maybe they wouldn't have made a billion dollars, but maybe they would still be around, still serving that community, still getting by. They may have had a small audience, but they had basically no competition for that audience. But yeah, we only know for sure what would happen if they decided to attempt to go more mainstream: They fail and die. We know for sure because that's what they did.

I don't know why I keep thinking about the story of what happened to Radio Shack. It just keeps feeling relevant for some reason.

[literalgrill]

Do NOT Support Hard Drive On Patreon

You might see friends today suggesting you support Hard Drive on Patreon today. You know, the funny video games version of The Onion? As a journalist, I will firmly tell you DO NOT GIVE THEM A DIME.

The CEO has pushed out all former staff that have built the site up to its current greatness and has been pushing the use of AI. The staff begged to have a Patreon before basically all being pushed out, but the idea was refused until now, when it will only line the pockets of a single person instead of hard working writers.

I know they might have provided laughs before, but Hard Drive is a shell of what it was once. Let it die and support the people who actually made those moments of joy possible. Don't believe me? Check out what former employees are saying below:

Kevin Podas: Okay you know what, I would feel bad saying nothing about this, so here goes:🚨SAVE YOUR MONEY🚨

We passionately advocated for a Patreon at Hard Drive & were aggressively shot down. The talent & people who built the site were pushed out. To see this now is beyond upsetting. For the past few years or so I put a lot of myself into this website. I pitched a ton of jokes, got over 120 articles published, & met a lot of great people. I'm sure if you've been following me for some time you could easily see this.

However, there is a lot of misinformation. I was eventually promoted to Managing Editor of the site & was ecstatic. Grateful for the opportunity. Felt like all of my hard work in the comedy mines was finally paying off. But things took a turn for the worst, & each day there were new surprises that affected our livelihoods. These were all very avoidable surprises, mind you.

A patreon was going to be our hail mary, but alas, for some reason, the power that be did not want it. Causing us to leave a dream job behind. "At least we did all we could," we consoled ourselves afterwards. I put a lot of myself into this project. I pitched all sorts of ideas that could have helped-- we all did. Merch collaborations, Patreon-integrated YouTube content, so much more. And most of them were shot down out of sheer stubbornness and nothing more. To see lie after lie spread, and multiple big publications and YouTubers that I am a fan of promote this Patreon under these pretenses is incredibly upsetting. There are so many receipts.

Please share this and consider pulling out if you've already put money into this. On Hard Drive using AI, also from Kevin Podas: I can't personally confirm that part aside from some of the recent header images for articles on both Hard Drive and Hard Times are being made with AI. As far as writing, it's been mentioned in the past, but I personally do not know. Maybe others do, maybe not. MORE From Kevin Podas suggesting the owner denying a Patreon being set up earlier cost an artist a job that was replaced by AI: We had a social media person who was awesome! He made the images until this AI implementation. He had to leave because ad revenue was low and a Patreon was aggressively refused.

Luca Fisher: at the risk of burning some bridges, i have to back up kevin here. i've only been part-time, in-and-out of hard drive since i got in last year, but i can corroborate that management doubled and tripled down about not hosting a patreon/crowdfunding and that many other suggestions and ideas, including mine (and ones much smarter than mine!), were shot down in really long, apocalyptic threads of everyone left on deck desperately trying to come up with ways to keep the lights on. managerially it has been messy and sad

i've written for multiple publications that have long since died, ones that were in the process of dying, and ones that, in this case, are soon to be put in the ground. it is sad and sucks every time. i don't know what could have been done differently, but i do know that a lot of great writers and content creators were left shorthanded and unhappy by the way things have gone. and it is sort of puzzling to see the sudden championing of patreon after we were all told plenty of times that it couldn't work and we should move on also, just to add my own personal two cents here, i was really disappointed by the shuttering of many different article sections on the site over the past 6-8 months. i understand cutting corners in a deficit, and i know it had to be done. that said…

all in all, i'm really sad to see this all happen. i don't fault anyone, if only because i don't really know enough about how this all can happen to make sense of it. games journalism is in a sad, sorry state, and will likely no longer be a thing in the next decade

VideoSealMan: I'm gonna say this because I think I deserve to. For months, MONTHS on end I was bugging Hard Drive management about a Patreon. Often I got ignored for a week+, but when I actually got a response I was encouraged to - of all things, write up a Google Doc pitching the concept I did it regardless. I wasn't the only one trying to sway management on a Patreon, but so fiercely was I fighting for it that last night, I was accused of making this comment directly by the CEO! With no evidence whatsoever! After I'd been gone for over a month.

I vouched so hard for Patreon because I wanted all the writers and creatives working with Hard Drive including myself to get paid better. When I actually got a response, the idea was often shut down. Eventually due to the state of my company, my pay was cut for a second time I confronted management alongside a couple other important figureheads at the org and told them that if we couldn't do a Patreon - I could no longer financially justify staying there. The answer was still no, so I left. Baffled at the decision, but whatever.

It is unendingly frustrating to know that myself and many other people who put their soul into Hard Drive LEFT because of management's absolute refusal to compromise on a Patreon, to then see them launch one anyway a month later and get over 1000 people pledging money. I'm seeing a lot of things float around about greed and people being fired. No one was fired. Everyone who left, left because they were sick of management's decision-making. And honestly, management is a lot of things but I would not call them greedy. (From my experience.) They did genuinely make an effort to pay people as much as possible. I found the pay very fair for a while. I am not disputing that I was paid what I was owed - yet management frequently feels the need to remind critics of that. Lmao, yes. I was paid what I was owed. No one is disputing payment. You did the bare minimum a business owner should do and paid everyone their due, very well done. I make no allegations of greed, cheating or foul play. I make allegations of poor management and incompetence that has fucked over other people.

Basically the only people left at Hard Drive have been there for about 2 months. They will reap the rewards of this successful Patreon I and so many others passionately fought for for so long. We will not see a dime.

I do not know the new people at Hard Drive, But I feel bad for them. They were haphazardly thrust into Hard Drive's workplace with little to no explanation on how anything works, or given any context on the state of the place. Even now managements feeds them half-truths and misinformation about other people's grievances. I am broke and have been for a while. I had to move out of my flat in Reading and back with my family because of how little money I was making. This has basically doomed my flatmate to moving back in with abusive parents, which is something I feel guilty about every day. If we had gone with the Patreon I worked myself hoarse over back then, this could have been avoided. Some of my other good pals could also not have been fucked over.

It was a bad judgment call, but it's not a crime. It's just management getting it wrong.

So should you give to the Hard Drive Patreon? I don't know! I don't think any of the new people working there to patch up the holes left by the recent mass exodus have any bad intentions. Maybe they deserve it! But it is not the same site you knew a year ago, or even a month ago. Myself and many people who were there far longer than me and did far more for it than I did are all gone now because we could not deal with management's terrible decision-making and dogass communication any longer. That's what you should know, imo

I had an agreement in place with management that I would receive the next 8 months of revenue from the Hard Drive YT channel from my leaving in November. This was a deal I appreciated, and thought was very fair on management's behalf. So far, the deal has been honoured for 2 months. However as of last night I was removed from the Hard Drive Slack without warning, and as an editor for the YouTube channel. This means I no longer have any way of verifying how much I am owed, I just have to take their word for it. I'm sure management will make their own statements full of half-truths and weird language on the many cases being brought against them - I'd take everything they say with a pinch of salt if some of the screenshots I've seen of them talking about me are any indication lol

To management; I do not want to talk to you. I want you to DM me a screenshot of how much I'm owed every month and then send me the money per our agreement until June, then we can go our separate ways. Do that and admit to your mistakes, and maybe you can recover your reputation! That's it from me, lol. If they pull out of the deal and fuck me over I'll have more to say, but most of what I know is other people's stories of incompetence and poor decision-making, lol. I genuinely get no pleasure out of doing this; I do not think management is evil - I just think they're really bad at what they do and it's cost other, more talented people, lol. You should believe the writers imo

One last thing I wanna say btw, management did often stress that no one should try to make Hard Drive a full time thing. They were transparent about that, and that is fair. I was working on it because at a few points, I was lead to believe we actually were doing a Patreon. Many other ppl have similar stories of being strung along by management changing their minds and stop-starting shit every 2 weeks. We all made the fatal mistake of overestimating our manager - who would tell you one thing one day and something totally opposite the next week lol

Hunter R. Thompson:

I'm not your dad, but speaking as a Hard Drive writer, I don't know that funding Hard Drive on Patreon is worth it

The driving talent on the back end—behind the kickass site I joined in 2019—have peaced out over the years as the site's been (in our view) increasingly mismanaged. Mismanagement like, not setting up crowdfunding before the ship sank and all its best crew failed; or publishing a screenshot of Andy Ngo pedojacketing a trans writer, complete with her deadname; or a disgruntled ex-writer getting falsely accused of shit-talk, by actual staff. I'm grateful for the writing I've gotten to produce for HD (and will forever be kicking myself for not writing even more, in the four years I've had to do it!! i'm a dumbass!!!) but it is very much no longer the site I signed up for.

I don't want to resign as a contributor altogether, because I'm open to the idea of the site recovering and bad practices being retired as finances level out-- it would just be dishonest for potential backers to not be Aware Of The Circumstances, I think.

Jeremy Kaplowitz: i truly don't want to start shit, but feel compelled to say: i want to see Hard Drive succeed w/o resorting to throwing former writers & editors, myself included, under the bus. surely there's a way to save the site without building it over the corpses of those who left. my $0.02 i don't blame anyone who wants to sign up for the HD patreon and i support the website, but that includes those who worked on it for years, have complaints, and don't deserve to be treated like bitter assholes like this kind of stuff is just objectively true, meanwhile there's these new writers who joined the site after i left (meaning, in the last ~3 months) claiming people are liars. decide for yourself if you care, but this is what happened! [Quotes this Tweet]

Seth Finkelstein: Writing for Hard Drive has been a privilege the past few years, and it makes me so angry to see people I looked up to get jerked around behind the scenes. The amount of grenades the editors jumped on our behalf is immense, and I don't think the way they're being treated is right.

Other Bits On AI: We do know for sure however that AI art has been used by the site. Its fucking owner confirms it here:https://twitter.com/MattSaincome/status/1743040541603123622. Seems the owner pushed AI written articles as well! TayFabe: My vaguetweet is making the rounds & these made me apoplectic. - owner regularly lobbied using ai. Once he tested it & said ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. - ai images were used on the site & socials w/o consulting the team or disclosing it publicly I found the ai bit relevant to include bc 1) it illuminates a stark change in HD's current direction & leadership, 2) ai images have previously been used on the site and (since deleted) ig posts, 3) ai content fucking sucks, and repeatedly pushing to use it is a telling quality The "handful of writers who chose to leave" includes 2 editors-in-chief (both cofounders who wrote a combined total of >1,000 articles & defined the voice of HD), & at least 3 other editors. These guys put in WORK since 2017, so cool to be corrected by ppl who joined in Nov 2023 [Link to mentioned vague tweet from post.] More from TayFabe: owner continuously lobbied for using ai in every possible way. No one else wanted to do it, but he kept on, saying ai was writing better satire than 25% of the HT/HD writers. Also, ai images were used on the site & socials without public disclosure or consulting the team.

The owner has responded now multiple times in a private discord... Thank you for people sharing screenshots! First Screenshot:

Kevin's Response: He banned me from the server for speaking out, so no, I didn't see it. And he gave no indication of a timeline, it was just "we'll do one when *I* say so" and gave every inclination he was totally against it. It bred an environment that pushed our hands to have to leave. Screenshot Round Two:

Kevin's Response: "Starting one in 3 months" is an absolute lie. He denied it, I have screenshots and others who can confirm. No timeline was given. Just "this is what it is now" and like, I couldn't live off of that. I wanted to do more but he was allergic to good ideas from others around him.

Matt, owner of Hard Drive, responds publicly on Twitter.

Matt: Kevin, the patreon launch was delayed because I didn't think it would work. Everyone is happy that it did work. Everyone who left the site because we didn't have money to pay for creative content which didn't revenue is welcome to return home. But unclear why the hostility.

Hard Drive paid out literally every dollar it had, then a bunch more, to creative people who worked on the site. When we ran out of money, we couldn't pay anymore. We did our best.

Kevin: Right, and my point of this thread was that it was completely and totally avoidable. This is reasonable to be upset about. How could I have been any more clear?

Matt: If we knew with 100% certainly that the community would have supported us via patreon, we would have done that. We didn't know. We had tried 4 years ago and got no support. We were wrong this time. We did our best to figure it out. We paid all the money we could.

Kevin: So you knew with 100% certainty this time? Or you took a leap of faith?

Matt: It was a last gasp panic effort after ad rates got cut in half on january 1st due to seasonal spending changes. We didn't know it would work. We were embarrassed to ask for support. We wanted to figure it out.

Kevin: Every site has a Patreon. Every YouTuber, comedy group, etc. But you insisted that nobody cared about Hard Drive. Which is wildly untrue. I know you see that now, but again, I think you can see why I and many others are pretty upset. A last ditch panic effort was long overdue. A couple more things from Matt:

It was about the size of the hole we needed plugged budget wise, the time I had left of personal resources, and the past data I had about us trying a patreon (which turned out to be a bad indicator). I didn't think the Patreon would help us fast enough. I made a bad estimation

aka "if we make $1000 more dollars a month via patreon, which would be 10x what we got last time, we will not solve any of our problems. If instead we try to plow down path B, we might make it out in time." That was the thinking. I chose the wrong path, but didn't mean to Kevin also retweeted this comment from the user Matt was responding to: So you're saying that you're bad at running the business, didn't listen to any of your employees until after they were forced to leave their jobs, and now you're going to get more of the money from the Patreon that was their idea in the first place? Matt's Response: Respectfully, I made a mistake delaying the patreon decision. But keeping a comedy site alive for 9 years is not easy, there are lots of potential ideas, and think overall we've done a good and honorable job. Will leave this thread in peace now to allow people their space.

Sorry for linking to Elon's hellsite (derogatory), but sources need links so...

[tinydefector]

Hi Tiny! (First time I’ve asked to this blog, or any blog in general) Not really a request, feel free to not acknowledge this, these are simply some thoughts inspired by the Human effects series that I wanted to share with you!

For one, human doctors who are passionate about how the human body works finding cybertronian forums and trying to communicate info on how human bodies work like

- start of dialogue -

Ilovecatssupreme: no @/jewelsmoneygoldgalore(or whatever swindles username would be) that is NOT how the human body works!!

Don’t try (insert sex act here), you would KILL them!

And @/revuppowerup humans do NOT HAVE CLOACAS!! Guys please we aren’t birds we have two seperate holes

[insert fun fact about human anatomy that would probably scare the shit out of a cybertronian here]

- end of dialogue -

I just think it’d be hillarious to see a human doctor who is appalled going “guys, that’s not how that works!! It works like this-“ and proceeds to explain the human body and our parts

On a similar note, thought / scenario; a human doctor part of Y/n’s crew possibly being interested in learning more about cybertronian biology but not wanting to come off rude or overly personal with questions, especially with the cultural differences between the species they may not wanna ask things that come off weird or creepy, would possibly get along with brainstorm over wanting to know for research purposes!!

Another thought that comes to mind, cybertronians finding human forums with human monster fuckers goin: yeah sure I’d bang a cybertronian, some of their ambassadors are hot / Optimus prime kinda hot

It just seems funny, like I just imagine some people from different parts of the world like; “how do cybertronians flirt? I got this person who buys my supplies and i wanna get them to pay more” (swindle vs their supplier who can seduce who for more profit first/j I jest i jest)

But I think it’d be neat to see cybertronians figuring out that a portion of humanity is definitely interested and wants to know how to get with them safely(optional)

Also just me saying this, Nadia, mentioned on ‘Chaos on board’ is so far one of my favorite original(?) characters in the human effects series, I definitely wanna find out where her attempts at getting free drinks from swerve go

Either way loving the series so far! I can’t wait to see where it goes next, wether or not it continues considered,

Remember to take care of yourself, take breaks, the usual! <33

Oh the chaos that would insure. Both medical personnel from both sides having to sit down with their crew or people and go. " Please do not fuck/frag the cybertronian /human, we do not have the knowledge or resources to know if it's safe"

But also watching the scientists and medics working together to see what is actually possible and viable. Have to run fluid tests and samples to see if it's possible for a safe relationship between a human and cybertronian. But also the sheer shock when both sides find out that their 'equipment' is very similar.

And oh, the forums, there are so many. So are simple as just polls of 'would you frag a human?. Yes or no' then there's the secret polls shared between friends groups with a list of mech or human's to see who everyone seems to have a thing for.

It eventually leads to anonymous role play groups over fantasy, fanfiction sites, informational sites, and even rare hook up sites. Sharing information over their species. And God forbid when the hook up sites get around on both sides.

But can you imagine any medical staff getting a call for help and showing up to someone quarters to find a human and bot stuck together. Medics being baffled, shocked, impressed, horrified, and disappointed.

I'm planning on keeping human effects as the small series I've got going but if you guys want another spin off on it heading more in the horny direction I'm happy to make another. Probably call it Sites unknown or something like that.

Slowly working on the next part of human effects and I'm glad you guys like the crew had alot of fun writing them, and I might do a little spin off fic of Nadia and Swerve in the future in people really want it.

[space-specs]

Your Guide To Voting in 2024

Yes, you may feel like everything is horrible and hopeless, and you don't want to vote. I'm here to not do that, and give you tips and info on why. Ultimately, I do not care what you actually vote only that you try to go and fill out something.

Make Sure You Are Registered to Vote

Check your registration status. This site has a drop down to select your state, which will link you to the website to check and see if you're registered.

Not registered? Go here. This site will tell you how to get registered in your state and will link you directly to the online registration if your state offers it.

Make sure you have a government issued photo ID. Driver's license, state ID, passport, etc. Many states require to you to present some form of ID to vote. Find out what counts in your state (and exceptions and provisional ballot rules) here.

Know you'll have difficulty making it to the ballot box? Check the rules for voting by mail/absentee voting in your state and see if you qualify.

Look up your sample ballot ahead of time! Lots of places provide a sample ballot which allows you to see what all the issues are ahead of time. Since this will vary by local elections, the best way to this is to look up "[your county name] sample ballot", possibly with the year tacked on to the end of the search. This may not be available until closer to election day, but it is a great way to get prepared for voting.

Other Voting Tips

This is where I get into the bit where it matters more to me that you vote than who you vote for. This is a personal principle of mine: everyone has the right to vote regardless of if I agree with what you choose to do with that vote.

You do not have to fill out every box on the ballot. You can leave some blank! Don't want to vote on President this year? Fine! Only want to vote on President and don't want to research other issues? Also fine. In fact, you can turn in a completely blank ballot if you want, and that is a political action, too. (Tip: parties note a blank box on issues because it indicates to them you were dissatisfied with your options)

You can bring notes with you! Too many issues to keep track of? Write yourself a note, print out a sample ballot and fill it out in advance to copy over, finding a voting guide and print it. As long as it is ON PAPER, you can bring it with you. (I verified this is universally allowed here)

Don't know where to start on research? The sample ballot is a great place to start just looking up candidates, but I also recommend checking out your local chapter of League of Women Voters. They put out a voters guides for each election that list pros and cons to various issues on the ballot.

The most important and most neglected elections are your local ones. Real grassroots change might be possible in your city, if you pay attention. Too overwhelmed by all this? Pick a few local issues to focus on, like the school board or city council. My city passed a trans-inclusive non-discrimination ordinance in a red state because people rallied around a handful of progressive city council members that swayed the vote. Even if everything feels hopeless, you make things better for yourself and your loved ones by actively engaging in your local politics.

Remember it's voting AND not voting OR. I know a lot of people are extremely dissatisfied with their options for this year's election, especially at the national level. Don't stop doing what you're doing. Don't stop protesting and boycotting and donating and talking about the things that matter to you. Get involved in your community. Find ways to make a difference. But also, go vote. Please.

Thank you for reading this. I hope something in here was helpful for you, and if it was, please consider reblogging this so that others can find it as well. If I've forgotten anything important, I welcome any helpful additions and will do my best to reblog those or add them to the original post as needed!

[compo67]

I'm not the original Post Hole Diggers anon but I wanted to say I love that story so much and definitely consider it a favorite, but I don't reread it as often as I would like to because so much about Jared's living situation just makes me so angry and upset. I thought it was interesting how you said Jared's mom in PHD resents him. I don't understand why at all. Could you talk about that a little more perhaps?

Hi there, anon!

I'm happy to talk more about PHD. :) Long post ahead!

Think of this from Kate's perspective. Her husband walks out on her and her kid. But she's supported by her in-laws (Grams and Gramps) and raises Jared without too much of an issue (money has always been tight). Then Gramps dies and Grams decides to move into assisted living (for her own reasons). Suddenly, Kate is left on her own with Jared in a house her in-laws have given her but she can't keep up with the mortgage payments on her own. Jared is about 13 at this point and his odd jobs around the neighborhood and in town keep him fed, while Kate works two or three jobs to keep up with the house.

Kate meets Luke and doesn't necessarily fall in love with him, but she tells Jared she does. Kate and Luke have similar problems: how to support their families. And then Kate gets pregnant, which adds another kid to an already crowded mix. Luke has 3 boys, all of whom command Kate and Luke's attention more than Jared does. Jared has learned how to be self-sufficient--as much as a teenager can be.

Kate starts to resent Jared by the time he's fifteen/sixteen years old. She was a mother at that point, working three jobs. If she did it, she doesn't understand why Jared won't/can't. She's pulled in so many directions--work, Baby Rose, the boys, Luke--and Jared only has to care for himself. She has no time to spare for him and his moods or complaints.

The older Kate gets, the less she likes her life. Sure, Luke is nice to her and he's actually, surprisingly, a decent guy. But he's also a fairly absent parent to the boys, which puts more on Kate, which puts more on Jared. Jared could sleep with Baby Rose, but he can't stand her crying in the middle of the night--and he knows that if he starts paying more attention to Rose, he will be the one taking care of her the most often. Kate resents that.

Kate is upset that Jared isn't helping around the house as much as she wants him to. She's upset that she let herself get pregnant when they had enough going on with 4 kids. Jared is upset that he doesn't have his mother 1:1 anymore. He's upset that Grams went to live in the assisted living place instead of staying with them. Everyone is upset about their situation.

In Kate's mind, Jared should put school on hold so he can help contribute to the family. They need the extra income, he knows how to care for a baby, and he's the oldest teen. School will be there for him to go back to if he wants... later.

She sees Jared as having very little responsibilities and obligations. When he complains or speaks up about something he doesn't like, she has no patience or bandwidth left to A) do something about it and B) care. He knows there's no way to get a room of his own right now, and still, he keeps asking for one.

Jared has what she wants--the freedom to come and go as he pleases. He doesn't seem to appreciate that.

Then, enter Jensen. A handsome, amiable, wealthy alpha who used to be in a relationship with Luke. Instead of treating Jensen with civility, she chooses hostility. What's Jensen doing around here? Does it have something to do with Luke? Luke denies this, saying that what they had is in the past, but can Kate really trust that? Is Luke really at construction sites all day or is he hanging out with Jensen? It's probably way more fun to hang around Jensen--he's got a big house, a large plot of land, no kids, and spending money. (Whenever Jensen overpays Luke, Luke skims some off the top to put away for the kids. He doesn't show Kate 100% of his earnings.)

Kate doesn't want Jensen around anyone in her family, but Luke insists that the money Jensen gives him and Jared is worth more than her pride (or whatever she wants to call it). Kate and Luke begin to disagree more and more on things, especially Jared. Money is tight, the baby needs so much attention, and everything is falling apart. Nothing seems like it's going to get any better for Kate.

It's tough to picture a mom resenting their only son, but Kate is just that kind of person. She's not a good mom. She used to be, but right now she's just going through the motions and barely getting by.

Then she's got her mother-in-law calling and asking questions. This makes her feel threatened and small, even if Grams has nothing but good intentions. So she lashes out at Jared. She knows that as soon as he can, he's going to leave--just like his father. But she can't leave. She doesn't have what Jared has: independence.

And in the end, she's proven right. Jared does leave. And he doesn't even bother to say goodbye to her. Just like his father.

Kate is an emotionally immature parent. She's not like Sheri in Photo Op or Jared in Punzel. She doesn't hate Jared. She's just too caught up in resentment to understand him. And she's too caught up working two or three jobs that she has no time to work through her emotions.

Resentment is unresolved anger. She's angry about how her life turned out. This isn't what she pictured or wanted.

TLDR; Kate is an emotionally immature parent and barely hanging on by a thread in regard to her own physical/emotional capabilities. She resents Jared for the independence he has and his repeated refusal to help out more around the house.

If this family had just $100 more every month (that's like $1000 in modern money), they'd be more financially secure and things could potentially calm down. But they're losing money. Everything is tenuous. Happiness isn't forever or for everyone in Kate's perspective.

I hope this helps, anon. I think Kate might be the most flawed character I've written. I think readers want her to be a good mom because I've usually written good moms. That's just not what we get here. Jared will benefit from reading the book "Children of Emotionally Immature Parents" later in life.

Omg this post got away from me. Sorry! Bless you if you've read this far. <3

[roseandgold137]

I’ll wait for the Title poll to be over before I post this to ao3, but here’s Chapter 1 of the Archeology Wives fic (it’s something over 2k, maybe 2500 or thereabouts)

content warnings: pregnancy (and symptoms related to pregnancy including nausea/vomiting), implied childbirth

the first couple chapters of this will be Janet x Jack, and they’re married in the chapter below, just an extra heads up

Chapter 1

————

Janet hadn’t really known how to feel when she found out she was pregnant.

She was excited, of course, delighted at the idea of having her own baby, but it all felt… too soon. She and Jack had only been married less than a year, and had only dated for little more than two years before then. Their relationship was defined by its reckless thrill-seeking, how they didn’t look twice before taking leaps, but for the first time since they met in that café on Sixth Street, Janet hesitated.

She was only twenty-two. Did she really want to have a child before she even finished college? If she kept the baby, she’d be starting next year’s semester with a newborn on her hip. What would Jack think?

Well, Janet knew what Jack would think. He’d be delighted and immediately start looking at nursery setups, figuring out how to build everything himself because “there’s no point paying for something we could do by ourselves”, and get so caught up in his whirlwind of emotion that he’d forget to actually consider what having a kid now would mean. It was one of the reasons Janet loved him, don’t get her wrong, but she couldn’t handle intense right now. She… she needed to sit down.

God, she was a mess right now.

She couldn’t not tell Jack. It was his baby too, and he had a right to know. And, if Janet was being honest with herself, she already knew she’d be keeping this baby. They’d figure out the rest as they went along - just like they always did. 

With that, Janet pushed herself up and made her way to the sitting room.

Ever since the MedTech company Jack had invested in last year had taken off, they’d seen an abrupt increase in their monthly income. And while Janet certainly hadn’t been raised in financial instability, she hadn’t had so much disposable income to spare before. Jack wanted to use it to travel to various dig sites after they’d both graduated. Janet wondered how her being pregnant would affect those plans.

“Jack?” she called as she entered the room.

Jack looked over the edge of his newspaper, a joke on his lips, but something must have shown on Janet’s face because his expression quickly morphed into one of concern. “Janny?”

“Can we… talk for a second? Or. I’ll do the talking, please. I have some news.”

Wow, Janet, that doesn’t sound completely ominous and relationship-ending at all.

Janet sunk into the plush chair opposite her husband (because she was not saying this aloud for the first time standing up) and took a deep breath. “Jack… I’m pregnant.”

Honestly, Janet expected a more complicated reaction from Jack. Instead she watched him quickly cycle through worry, surprise, shock, delight and finally settle on excitement.

“Janet! That’s incredible! The way you said it, I thought you were going to elope with my cousin,” Jack said with a grin, newspaper discarded as he rounded the coffee table to kneel beside her. 

Janet rolled her eyes. “I had a week-long crush on her when I was thirteen. It wasn’t that deep.” 

Jack reached out a tentative hand, hovering above her stomach, before looking up at her. “May I?”

Janet smiled, flushing, and guided his hand down to touch. “There’s nothing to feel yet. I can’t be more than a couple of weeks in. Whoever is in there, they’re probably still smaller than a grape right now.”

“Whoever’s in there,” Jack repeated, almost like a prayer. Abruptly, he sat up straight, eyes alight with determination. “Well, we can’t just sit around and look pretty, Janny. The kid’s going to need a room - maybe the office over the kitchen, there’s lovely light in there-”

Janet smiled as Jack continued his spiel about where to set up the nursery. Yes, the next few months - hell, the next few years would be difficult, but with Jack by her side, Janet knew she could see this through.

——————

Jack never did turn that office into a new nursery. No, instead he bought an entirely new house - a new mansion - right beside the Wayne property. Janet should go over someday, when she was less pregnant. She used to be in the same class as Bruce, and they had shared many social circles.

Until then, she could coo over her new goddaughter. 

“Oh Helena, isn’t she just absolutely precious,” Janet said, allowing the little baby to gnaw at her thumb. “She’s going to be a troublemaker just like you, I’m sure.”

Helena snorted. “I was hardly a troublemaker if we’re to compare me to you.”

“Oh, please,” Janet said. “Don’t you remember that time we almost set the PE hall on fire?”

“What about the time we did set the PE hall on fire?”

“It doesn’t really count. We put it out, like, immediately.”

“Tell that to Mr. Shore.”

Janet laughed, which made the little baby in her lap renew her efforts to reduce Janet’s thumb to a stub. Cassandra, Helena had said. Cassie for short.

“Cassandra,” Janet said aloud, just to hear the name again. “She’s absolutely beautiful, Hel.”

“Why, thank you,” Helena replied as she winked. “Grew her myself. How’s your own baby-growing coming along?”

Janet considered it for a moment. “I thought I’d be bigger by now, to be honest.”

Helena laughed, as Janet continued. “No, really! I mean, this kid’s supposed to be the size of what, a pear? I’m not saying I expected to be a balloon, but I thought I’d at least notice a bump.”

“Sometimes people don’t really show,” Helena mused. “Ever heard of those women who don’t realise they’re pregnant until the baby is literally halfway out?”

“Oh my god, Hel, stop-”

——————

Janet did show more in the next few months, though still not as much as either she nor Jack expected.

“All the babies on my side tended towards being pretty big,” Jack said one afternoon. “Wonder what’s taking this little one so long.”

“Some babies are just small, Jack,” Janet said fondly, hand resting on her little bump. “Besides, they’ll have plenty of time to get bigger once they’re not surrounded on all sides by my organs.”

Jack winced, apparently not appreciating the reminder that Janet’s organs were being pushed around to make room for the baby. Janet pounced on the opportunity.

“What? You don’t like to hear about my poor, crushed organs-” Janet draped herself onto Jack’s shoulder, “and all the pressure on my bladder-”

“Okay, okay, you’ve had your fun,” Jack said, laughing despite the green tinge to his skin. “That’s lovely, Janny. But please don’t tell me that again. You know I have a delicate stomach.”

“Can’t forget to look after your wuss of a stomach,” Janet agreed. “Not like there’s a baby crushing mine or anything.”

“Janet.”

—————

Janet had been joking, before, about the baby crushing her stomach. A month later and she wasn’t so sure if it was still a joke. Jack held her hair back as she retched into the toilet bowl.

“I’m going to kill you,” she rasped, before going right back to trying to dispel stomach contents that weren’t there.

“At least wait until I’ve met the baby,” Jack said, as if to lighten the mood. “I’d hate to be an absent dad before they even get here.”

“I’m going to throw you into the river,” Janet gasped upon her next resurfacing.

“Guess I should redouble my efforts in swim class.”

Janet gagged once more, then collapsed back into Jack’s embrace. For several minutes there was nothing but the sound of her breathing.

…. And the stench of her vomit.

Janet blindly raised a hand that would have never found its way to the handle, but as it turned out she didn’t need to, because Jack reached across and did it for her.

“Here, let me.”

Janet slumped further down. “I hate this part.”

“It’ll pass,” Jack reassured her, pulling her up into a slightly more natural sitting position. “Now, let’s get you to bed.”

—————

The nausea did not pass, but it did subside enough for Janet to play blocks with little Cassie. It had only been weeks since Janet had seen her in person last, but already she had an almost full head of wispy golden hair.

“Oh dear,” Janet said, when Cassie’s carefully constructed block tower collapsed. “Wanna try again?”

As it happened, Cassie did not want to try again, and promptly burst into tears. 

“Oh dear,” Janet repeated, feeling slightly overwhelmed. Helena had stepped outside to take a call - she wasn’t going to be back to help anytime soon. “Hey, hey, shh, it’s okay. Here - look, Cassie, we can fix it, see?”

Janet tried to remember the order Cassie had put the blocks in - she had been very particular about it during her construction process - and gradually Cassie’s crying quieted down to sniffles. She babbled and reached for the block in Janet’s hand, which Janet handed over easily.

Cassie took the block, turning it around in her hands as though she was considering it. Then, rather abruptly, smashed it into the side of the block tower, sending colourful blocks in all directions. Cassie squeaked in delight, while Janet - well, Janet didn’t really understand what had just happened, but Cassie seemed happy enough, so it must be alright.

“Aren’t you a funny little thing,” Janet mused, as Cassie continued her reign of terror on the other blocks. “I wonder if my little one will be much like you.”

“Ba!” Cassie said, though whether it was in agreement or not was lost on Janet.

————

Janet would honestly rather be anywhere else in the world right now. She really should have declined Bruce’s invitation, but instead she was in Wayne Manor, sitting across from Bruce’s thirteen-year-old kid.

The food looked and smelled amazing, sure, but Janet was beginning to think that the baby inside her didn’t appreciate fancy dinners as much as she’d hoped. 

Jack knew what the baby would look like when they were born - Janet wanted to keep it as a little surprise for herself after the labour. It would have been a surprise for Jack too if Janet hadn’t wanted to do some ultrasounds to make sure everything was okay. All that she knew so far was that the baby was “fucking teensy”, as Jack had jokingly described them.

Well, for someone so fucking teensy, they sure did pack a kick.

Janet tried not to wince as her discomfort levels skyrocketed. She only had to make ir through another half-hour of the dinner, after which it would be perfectly acceptable for her to skip dessert and scurry home so she could puke her guts out and wallow in self pity for the rest of the evening.

Unfortunately, the world hated her, and Janet couldn’t quite mask the sharp intake at the next burst of pain. 

The burst of pain that definitely did not feel like a kick. 

Janet really hoped this was one of those false alarms Helena had mentioned, because not only would her baby be two months early but she wasn’t quite sure how she would go about asking Bruce Wayne to drive her to the hospital so she could deliver her kid.

Dick - Bruce’s kid, though why he preferred to be called that was beyond Janet - made the choice for her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, with a sceptical raise of his eyebrow.

“Perfectly fine,” Janet responded, to little effect, because suddenly everyone’s attention was on her. Janet should just say she was experiencing some cramps - which was technically true, though she was beginning to wonder where the distinction was between a cramp and a contraction.

Dick didn’t seem to be swayed so easily. “Are you going to have your baby?”

Jack put his hand over hers. “Do you think we should call it a night?”

“I think we should call an ambulance,” Dick said matter-of-factly, and Janet knew that violence isn’t the answer, but god she wished it was.

“Dick,” Bruce said warningly, before directing his attention back to Janet. “Is everything alright?”

No. No, everything was not alright, in fact nothing was right at all, and Janet’s dress was ruined.

“I think I might take that ambulance,” she said faintly. “I’m sorry about your chair.”

Dick seemed confused by that, but the butler - Alfred, she remembered, was quick to tell her not to fuss over trivial things as he ushered her towards the foyer. Bruce followed, grabbing his car keys - because it was too far out to wait for the ambulance to get here, and they’d be much faster driving themselves. 

Somewhere in the back of her mind Janet thought about their own car parked out front, but it was difficult to think of much when she was suddenly very aware of every slight movement her baby made.

Her baby, an entire two months too early, who had apparently decided that they’d had enough of being confined to a womb and were ready to face the world.

It was a nice thought, as Janet watched the Bristol scenery become Gotham suburbs, but realistically it just meant that her baby would have to be set up in an artificial incubator while they actually finished developing.

The thought made her feel slightly sick, but considering how she had already felt queasy all night, it didn’t really make much of a difference.

“Janet?” 

Janet turned to face Jack, taking in his worried brows and his frown that he kept trying to soften, to no avail.

“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered - she promised. No matter how this played out, Janet would make it okay.

“What a way to reunite, huh J?” Bruce asked, in a poorly concealed attempt to lighten the mood. He used to make horrible jokes before baseball matches, too, before inevitably missing all of his swings.

“What a way indeed,” Janet repeated hollowly. 

[piqued-curiosity]

"#please take the time to at least skim the list so you can understand what lesbians are dealing with right now"

I do sympathize with what lesbians are going through, and there's a lot there that deserves to be talked about more. There's certainly a lot that the bisexual community bears responsibility for, either out of ignorance or malice or a mix.

But I can also recognize when something was posted in bad faith to demonized bisexuals.

The list you're endorsing was written by someone that on here time here championed the use of terms like dick worshiper (which she uses IN THE QUOTED TEXT you're pointing ppl to), always had excused on why harassing bihets and nuthuggers (more words she helped popularize) was actually fine, and always had ideas about why bisexuals don't actually need any community and don't actually suffer from their SSA at all ever. Ideas that are still fucking haunting gc spaces today. The "blackpills" views on bisexuals are pretty much a direct conforming response to her views and the community she helped build on tumblr and it's not a coincidence that was re-posted by yet another woman who frequently goes out of her way to attack bi rape victims and say even more horrible things about them. The continued mantra-like insistence that bisexuals and heterosexuals are JUST SO EXACTLY THE SAME is itself homophobic and motivated by wanting to dismiss our experiences with homophobia as unimportant because some of you see bi women as unimportant and it's directly related to the "playing the victim" thing that gets thrown in the face of bi survivors more and more.

Looking at the post I reblogged it doesn’t look like she uses those terms in it. Otherwise I would not have reblogged it. It’s entirely possible that I missed it considering how long the article is and I probably ended up skimming parts, so please send me a screenshot or tell me where to look if that is the case, and I will add an edit to my reblog pointing that out in my list of disagreements (please keep in mind I explicitly stated I didn’t like the claim that bi women and OSA TIMs are exactly the same so idk if you bring that up to agree with me there or to act like I didn’t point that out). Because right now I’m not seeing it. I’m open to being corrected here because I know myself and I have a tendency to miss details due to (diagnosed) adhd-pi.

That said, I am not really interested in playing the game of “omg did you know OP said this thing?!”, that’s what TRAs do and I was hoping that stepping out of their circles would mean I wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore. Just because I reblog a post does not mean that I 1. Even looked at who posted it, and 2. Know anything about who posted it. The username of the woman who wrote it is entirely unfamiliar to me.

I understand your frustration with these women and I wholeheartedly disagree with the treatment towards bi women you’re describing, I find it disgusting. But just like most people on this site, I don’t actually pay attention to who posts things or comb through their blogs. I see a post, I think it’s good, I reblog. That’s it. I don’t know the poster or their history, and this goes for anything I reblog. It’s absolutely true that a poster’s own views will change the context of a post, but I also believe that in the same way an author’s intent doesn’t matter as much as the reader’s interpretation does… once a post is out in the wild, what matters most is how it’s interpreted. It’s why all the accidental terf posts are funny. I interpreted that post as an insightful commentary on a specific kind of lesbophobia, nothing more and nothing less.

I do agree that it’s important to know the post should be read critically though, and that’s exactly what I did, hence why I made sure to point out in my reblog that I wasn’t 100% in agreement. That comment especially applies now that I know the source.

[playingonedchess]

urgh i know you cant really get a proper idea of a countrys social norms from reading bloody fanfiction (especially when its not actually clear what country the writers from) but seriously like what is it with americans how is it even possible to be that rude and socially unaware. and i mean im not from a polite or socially conscious country in the slightest, well i suppose as expected i think my countrys average on this stuff but i dunno actually ive never really seen it that way, certainly not one of the really polite ones. but anyway like dont americans know how to be normal customers instead of making a scene like why is that considered so normal by americans. and its not just that, sometimes im not sure these people understand the concept of being in a society with expectations in the slightest. like yes if you want busses and roads and literally anything you will have to pay taxes. no youre not the only person in existence and if you want to continue to show your face in society maybe act like your part of it. there are basic expectations and you can show some basic respect its not being nice to show basic politeness it doesnt make you a good person its a basic social obligation. and while your at it why dont you stop with all the unecceary friendlyness and going up to random people for no reason to make some random comment. and please learn to keep your opinions to yourself instead of yelling them in public it isnt difficult to tell where is and isnt appropriate to be a stuck up judgemental twat. ie in your head, at home and otherwise in aereas out of site of other people, like a normal bloody person

[so-many-hills]

Your writer-ly "freedom" does not constitute my $50

Dear author/journalist/media professional,

I might have enjoyed your writing in big magazine/newspaper/new media site, but I am not willing to send you, individual author, $50 a year to hear only your voice on a platform that still seems to be totally OK with hateful content, especially if you only write long form once every now and again with the rest of your compositions essentially tweets. I definitely do not want to read your words in an increasingly walled off AOL-esque compound. Notes! Chat! Comments! DMs! Video! Podcasts! Your customers can enter (for a fee) and never need to leave!

Author, you do what makes the most sense for you. But don’t pretend your solo project that offers you an “unfiltered outlet” – one without the journalistic support of fact checkers, editors, and so on – is, ipso facto, good for readers. Especially if you’re already well-to-do several times over, like a best selling author perhaps, angling for even more money from your readers sucks.

Maybe you, author, should get over yourself.

However, let’s consider the possibility that everything you write is, in fact, precious and needs its own revenue stream. Please bear in mind that not everyone who wants to read your stuff has the money to do so. Not all your readers want to live in the newsletter platform ecosystem. Not everyone wants 10% of what they pay to read your words to go to a service that platforms Nazis and hate groups. Not everyone wants to be nagged to download the platform’s lock-in oriented app to engage further.

What do I suggest? Come together. Defector, 404 Media, Flaming Hydra, and now Hearing Things are a collection of writers with unique voices using more open platforms on the back end. Readers and subscribers can engage with the content on their terms, for the most part. Voltron yourself with some other authors. Take a cut of the subscription/donation rate, share technology and support, and give your readers more value for their increasingly stressed dollar. Even Medium offers a subscription that will let you read different authors under it, which is good as things are rather fallow there at the moment. Then there are sites coming back from the dead like The Onion and The A.V. Club under new, supportive ownership. I’m keeping an eye on them. I am encouraged by what I see so far. Keen readers will note a lot of these sites are from folks who used to live in the Gawker-verse.

Anyway, these collectives offer more for both readers and writers/producers. The one-platform-to-rule-them-all approach, aside of traveling the down the same path that inevitably leads to enshittification, is geared to the writer/producer but ultimately the platform and advertisers.

These collectives also support an open web. RSS feeds! Email newsletters that go to actual email inboxen! Support for the IndieWeb/fediverse! Letting readers engage with the content on their terms outside of a walled garden! They own and control their own stuff in a P.O.S.S.E. fashion!

For the love of all that is readworthy, authors and collectives, please encourage your platforms to offer authentication options (e.g., username/password with 2FA, maybe passkeys) and not the BS that is the email “Magic Link”.

[autumn-applepie]

I think it's baffling that my mother doesn't want me to get disrespected and always stand my ground but when I stand my ground against her or a family member I'm "being ungrateful"

I feel a little stupid for ranting this much but hhh ig putting myself on blast is what keeps me sane so I'm gonna rant down here sorry it's going to be log I just yap a lot ignore this lol </3

my mom is very pushy and a perfectionist, failure and error is not allowed, and whenever there's a problem she gets angry, screams, insults and throws things. I messed something in my new University's registration and instead of paying no taxes, we ended up having to pay a 400 euros tax. My mom was screaming like shit, I thought it was completely normal that we had to pay them but then we checked and we figured I messed an information cuz the explanation wasn't so clear on the site and she got mad saying that she was supposed to do it and I can't do anything alone, that I'm a child, I'm pushy and I always rush things when I did that registration quite calmly and double checked and was absolutely sure.

I just messed something, and tbh 400 euros of taxes for the whole year is not even that much, considering the higher taxes you can possibly pay in that uni is over 30,000 euros. And we have a whole month to fix this we just gotta wait for the secretary to reach us back to our email. And when we made the first payment (the admission tax of 120 euros, not the uni tax), she obsessively tried to search for every single paper possible, while I tried to show her how it takes a bit for the payment to show and she got heated up and doubled down on "I'm just showing you how you not fuck your life up" like wtf?? And ofc I got mad telling her to calm down cuz there was no reason to twist the knife in the wound and she got so offended saying I have no right to talk back to her and disrespect her. That I'll never go anywhere in life with that attitude and that when someone older than me talks I need to shut up and listen and that I want to ruin my life I can do that outside of the family. Even when she started mocking me instead of giving me actual counterargument (like, literally she would mimic my words mockingly and go "bleh bleh bleh gne gne gne wah wah wah wah!", even disrespectfully mimicking spasms while doing it) she would go "I'm making fun of you because you never let me talk so I'm not going to listen to you" wha????

This always happens also with my grandmother and my aunt. Long story short, my grandma is very old and is starting to struggle to walk. She uses a cane and always needs a hand. Usually is my aunt who does that, however, my aunt is very dismissive and superficial. Whenever we go out, I always end up being the one caring for my grandma because my aunt doesn't even care to stay close to her enough, making her risk to fall to the ground multiple times. Now, my grandmother is not a good person either, like at all. She's the main source of verbal abuse, fatphobic, homophobic, and racist "jokes" in the whole family. But still she's like. Almost 90 years old. And tbh she doesn't deserve to like. Fall to the ground because my aunt cares more about herself than her own old mother. I had to call out my aunt many times like "can't you please stay behind her instead of having your head in the clouds??" and my aunt gets always so offended and my mom always goes "she's your aunt, and she's older than you. You have to give respect no matter what" and I obviously told her that respect is a two way street no matter the age and no matter if it is a relative or not (also because we're talking about GRANDMA FALLING TO THE GROUND because of my aunt not caring), and her response was "Life doesn't work like that. Respect should always be given, you shouldn't be entitled to have that respect back" huh??????? I don't??? think that's how respect work????

Idk she always leaves me so spent every time cuz wtf

[valiantkryptonitecrusade]

What Will fake bags Be Like in 100 Years?

My ally told me the other working day that she bought herself a fake bag.​ She stated that it absolutely was just an inexpensive a single also! Once i heard that, I used to be like, "What?! You just received a fake bag?" She seemed to be all excited about it, though.​

I keep in mind going for walks with the marketplaces of Hong Kong a single time and becoming intrigued by the many incredible replica luggage on sale.​ Becoming an avid lover of designer items, I was promptly drawn to them.​ I noticed how intricate they looked and the eye to detail was almost nothing short of amazing.​ I desired to talk to all-around to learn extra but I was not guaranteed if it was legit or not so I just saved it to myself.​

Tiny did I are aware that People duplicate bags have been essentially extremely popular and extensively approved.​ Every person wanted a bit of luxurious without having to pay back the hefty price tag tags.​ I could see why individuals were starting to be so directed to it.​ It was as In the event the baggage had been an extension of their personality, enabling them to specific their style and class promptly.​

The widest choice of duplicate baggage appeared to occur within the spring.​ Just about every corner of the marketplace had a variation of sizes, kinds, and prices.​ The shopkeepers ended up delighted to reply all my concerns And that i even managed to choose up some distinctive parts.​ The intricate ending and top quality top quality genuinely shocked me.​ I could not consider the level of craftsmanship that was set into the baggage although the positives definitely outweighed the negatives.​

I took my replica luggage home and employed them on many instances.​ I am able to confidently claim that I received my cash's worthy of regarding use and good quality.​ I felt like one million pounds every time I placed on a new accessory.​ It produced me a lot more confident and complemented my apparel in a method that only designer products can.​ I have now become relatively of the collector and hardly ever miss a possibility to invest in a brand new reproduction bag.​

The secondhand industry of duplicate baggage has actually been expanding massively in the last few years and this can be an excellent spot to get them at a lower cost.​ There are numerous dedicated Web sites and apps for purchasing and offering higher-end duplicate bags so It fake bags online really is becoming much easier to come across stunning pre-cherished pieces.​ I have managed to select up some fantastic discounts from thrift outlets way too.​

Due to their flexibility, my replica luggage may also changeover from day to night time seems to be without difficulty.​ There is one thing extremely lavish about aquiring a bit of fantastic Italian craftsmanship that can elevate any outfit.​ Even when I'm inside a hurry and only have time to pick a number of equipment, I am sure that my duplicate baggage will always make the cut.​

The most effective items about reproduction baggage is that they do not have to suit into a certain type or pattern.​ You may style and design them any way you prefer and express yourself in ways in which genuine designer luggage cannot.​ Not to mention they appear in a number of colours and supplies so I'm often spoilt for alternative.​ I'm also surprised to find that they are much more tough than authentic designer luggage in selected conditions.​

I now realize why so Many of us are so fond of replica luggage.​ These are inexpensive and trendy and really ideal for every day use.​ Irrespective of whether you are a maximalist or possibly a minimalist, There exists a reproduction bag around for everyone.​ You can not go Mistaken whenever you spend money on a piece of higher-conclusion craftsmanship that oozes with appeal and sophistication.​

Initially, I failed to realize why she was so pleased about this.​ I imply, would not she are aware that phony goods haven't got the identical excellent as being the genuine types? I had been surprised that she didn't Believe two times about this.​ I absolutely informed her to rethink her determination.​

But then, she began to clarify to me why she desired to purchase the pretend bag.​ She said that the original bag she desired was also high-priced and she was looking for a much less expensive 1.​ Now, I kinda understood her.​ I signify, we've all been there correct? We wish some thing really nice but the price tag isn't going to healthy our finances.​ That's why more and more persons are turning to faux luggage.​

But that's not all.​ My Buddy also pointed out that a lot of the bogus luggage she identified on-line search a lot better than the original types.​ I used to be like, "That is undoubtedly not genuine!" But she insisted that it was genuine and showed me a handful of photos.​ I gotta say, the phony types did seem pretty good.​ I used to be beginning to adjust my thoughts about faux luggage.​

And afterwards, one among my other close friends chipped in.​ He mentioned that purchasing a faux bag may not be this kind of poor thought mainly because it's much less expensive, Which the quality of the fake is likely to be pretty much as good as the initial kinds.​ Which is when I started to definitely see why folks obtain pretend luggage.​

Certainly, I am continue to not certain that It is really ok to obtain phony merchandise.​ I signify, It is nevertheless a counterfeit item and I'm versus the thought of supporting the people that steal other brand names' patterns.​ But I'm able to now understand why people would Opt for fake bags, particularly when their finances is limited.​ I suppose everything boils down to your own preference.​

[msdarkside55]

Accepting Commissions at this Time!

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Respect me, and I’ll treat you with respect.

If you want WIP’s, please email me or get in contact with me in some way to let me know. We have the technology!!~

I have every right to decline your commission, but that usually doesn’t happen unless it is forced. 

I will refund you if you are unsatisfied with your finished results on your commissions. Please also tell me on WIP’s if you want me to change anything or if you are unsatisfied, that is what a WIP is usually for.

Please again email me for anything!! That includes question’s, WIP’s, or anything you wish to add on your commissions!

Will Draw:

SFW

Nudity (I do not consider this nsfw, as long as nothing is happening)

Gore/Candy Gore/Crystal Gore

Anthros

Humans

Dragons/Other Mythical Creatures

Animals

Will NOT Draw:

NSFW (nothing sexual in any way, which includes kinks and all that crap. There are Minors that request Commissions you know so i like to keep this away from them, thank you).

No Kinks whatsoever!

Hate Art (this is self explanatory, but no art talking down on others please)

(Anything else i forgot I will add in the future)

Commissions List:

1. @muppeteyes1001 (Please DM me exactly what you wanted because Tumblr ate some of our DMs one day and for the life of me I can’t remember what all you wanted for Kitt. :3)

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

~Commissions are open as of now~

[delicioushologramperson]

@elvesandlanterns I developed it more!

Kryptonite Bait

Who knew that having people out to get you could be so profitable?

Billy's life had gotten much more comfortable ever since he had started to trade all these neat looking rocks he kept finding around the sites of his fights as Captain Marvel. 

Every week, like clockwork. Some new hopeful villain would ask for him through the restaurant he used as a point of contact. He would always get two meals out of them. The first to start negotiations, which would end with the buyer leaving with a quest to bring back through peaceful means whatever useful things Billy had decided on that day. After all, they didn't want to garner the dear Captain's attention too early did they? The second meal was to seal the deal, after which Billy, who kept his stock in that neat looking lead box he was given by a kind old lady, would give them whichever rock they wanted to try to use on Captain Marvel. 

And every week, like clockwork, some new hopeful villain would get delivered to a cell, and then the cycle would start all over again, because Billy was more often than not there before the police could get the chance to secure the scene.

Solomon said that considering his choice of using glamours, very useful these, and his refusal of mortal money, as he had no accounts to his name, plus hundred dollar bills weren't safe to pay with for a street kid, many probably thought that he was a fae of some kind.

Mercury, roman god of financial gain, commerce, eloquence, messages, communication (including divination), travelers, boundaries, luck, trickery, and thieves, was having a blast.

Billy hadn't started this with the goal of pleasing a divinity, but he was hardly going to complain about having the favor of one of his Patrons.

---

On Clark's behalf after Superman saw something concerning happen in Fawcett during monitoring duty at the Watchtower, Bruce decided to take a look around.

---

"Captain Marvel, were you aware of the appearance of a new black market in your city?"

"Mr Batman, sir, many disappearing professions are going strong in Fawcett; apprenticeships are common; we have a reputation for making convincing fake antiques because the traditional knowledge that was used to make the originals is still easily available, the old machines and tools needed for it included. The market for imitations is booming. And that's just what is popular on the mundane side. You will have to be a little bit more specific."

"I am talking about the fact that Fawcett currently has more kryptonite in circulation than Metropolis. I am hoping you might give me an explanation that doesn't revolve around "a fae did it"." 

Clark didn't need a mirror to know that he had gone several shades paler than his natural skin tone.

"Oh, that's easy! We have no Lex Luthor there to outbid everyone else, and people like Dr Sivana never shared that magic was the way to go with me! Most newbies are under the impression that I am a kryptonian, so I get pelted with rocks regularly! I almost feel like a Christmas decoration sometimes with how colored they tend to be! It goes green, red, green, blue, green, red, green, silver, green and then it keeps going! I even saw orange, pink and periwinkle a few times! The white one was the worst though! It wasn't enchanted, and yet that thing killed all the plants around it for some reason! It ruined a whole backward! I had to isolate it magically and then bring it to the Rock of Eternity!"

"You don't sound concerned." Bruce very much did.

"Should I? It keeps kryptonite contained in an area where neither Superman or Lex Luthor are likely to go. It also reduces the risk of first time villains stumbling on something that actually works against me or researching magic for nefarious purposes. Where is the harm?"

"What if it leaves the city?"

"I got the same fist sized piece of luminous green rock thrown at me on seventeen different occasions. It got into the police evidence locker three times that I know about and vanished within twenty-four hours each time. Pretty sure I am kryptonite bait at this point."

What if villains keep throwing enough kryptonite and other very interesting rocks and stuff at Captain Marvel, because they think he is a kryptonian like Superman, that Billy is becoming responsible for the creation of a black market of such things in Fawcett.

Not that he is aware of it. He just know that he can get useful things if he trade the pretty rocks he keep finding around the sites of his fights as Captain Marvel.

The people he trade with think he is a fae of some kind because he doesn't ask for money (doesn't have the accounts for what they offert and walking around with that many bills just doesn't feel safe) and use glamours (from spells and/or objects).

Mercury is having a blast with this Champion.

Fawcett end up with more kryptonite in circulation than Metropolis, because there is no Lex Luthor there to outbid everyone else, and people like Dr Sivana never shared that magic was the way to go with Captain Marvel.

So the new hopeful villains of the week buy kryptonite from Billy, who keep his stock in that neat looking lead box he was given by a kind old lady, try to use it on Captain Marvel, get arrested, and then the cycle start all over again because Billy is more often than not there before the police can get the chance to secure the scene.

Batman and Superman try to talk to Captain Marvel about it, only to get asked (thanks Solomon) why he would put a stop to something that not only keep kryptonite contained in an area where neither Superman or Lex Luthor are likely to go, but also reduce the risk of first time villains stumbling on something that actually work against him or researching magic for nefarious purposes.

[ikindamaybewanthertositonmyface]

Hi, my name is Dahlia, that's not me up in the header image of course, that's my kitty Stormi, I'm not all that comfortable with my appearance so I figured I'd share her cuteness instead.

So I feel kinda uncomfortable doing this, but recently I wound up 3,000 dollars in debt, and I'm required to pay off 300 dollars of it each month. But I really cannot afford to do so all on my own. I barely have any money in the bank to speak of, and my only source of income is 700 dollars a month that I receive from Social Security Disability, which I've been on since I was 18. Normally this 700 is actually just enough for me to get by each month, but now with 300 dollars of it going towards paying off this debt, it's left me in a pretty bad place.

I of course have bills to pay for, including for rent, among other things. And then I also have about a dozen or so medications to pay for, medications that I need for my Depression, Anxiety, and OCD. Along with the ones for my Hormone Replacement Therapy, which I've been on for almost 4 years now.

And so the 400 I'm left with after paying off the debt each month is just not enough for me to get by.

It's lead to me having to borrow from the few friends I have just to get by, and they are all having hard enough times getting by as well, and I don't want to keep putting the burden on them. Especially when they can't afford it either.

So all in all the situation I'm in just has me having daily panic attacks, as I'm just so scared and worried about what I'm going to do, and even with all the medications I'm on, my depression and anxiety has just been out of control lately.

So last night I was talking to a friend about all this, and they suggested I try making a Go Fund Me page. Originally I wasn't sure about that, I mean it's not like I'm in a medical emergency or anything like that. And I felt, and still do feel kinda bad at the idea of asking those I don't even know for help when there are probably people out there who deserve it more then I do. But my friend assured me that things like this, the situation I'm in, is exactly what Go Fund Me is for. So here we are.

I honestly don't know if anyone will even help me out here, I can be pretty pessimistic at times, and since all this got started it's just been so much worse. Plus I know that times are hard for everyone right now. But anything you could spare would help me out a whole lot. Or if you can't help out by donating, please consider sharing this link on any social media sites you use to spread the word. Thank you.

Also, if anyone likes the pic of my kitty, I'll gladly share more pictures of her in updates, I have tons of them. :D

[inthememetime]

Best Billionaire (Chapter 1/5)

AO3 here! Based off this post!

More under the cut! (Any resemblance of Evon Mush to actual billionaire Elon Musk is definitely not intentional. I definitely am not rooting for Bruce to punch him).

Side note: no pairings, but friendships are made.

The news was fairly normal. Tragedy here, natural disaster there, stocks were down- wait. Vlad narrowed his eyes at the newspaper in his hands, then confirmed it on the computer. Stocks fluctuated constantly, but a 3-point drop in one weekend?

He pressed a button on his landline. "Leslie? Can you get me the Finance and PR departments on the line, please?"

Best Billionaire. Seriously? "Yes sir, it's a US-based contest. Wayne Enterprises is in the lead, followed by Stark Industries, Dalv Co., and LexCorp."

"And what did Wayne and Stark do to get ahead?" He asked.

"Benefits, sir. Wayne lowered employee costs and doubled benefits, while SI kept the same packages but decreased their waiting period."

"Hmm. Get with Benefits, both of you. By Wednesday, I want an in-depth cost analysis of waving the waiting period until 30 days after training," the PR person choked on something, "and let's see what we can do for increasing benefits."

"Yes sir."

"With all due respect Mr. Masters, why even consider it? That's a good chunk of the bottom line."

He tapped the newspaper idly for a moment. "Our stocks have dropped, not because they've innovated new products or changed prices, but because they look like they care. If we don't get ahead of this now, it'll look like we're playing catch-up, and could cause further losses. Best play along, for now, we can afford it."

"Understood."

He made the announcement Thursday morning, effective immediately. Next day, stocks were normal. Next week, up by 5 points.

All was back to normal.

-

He got the call at 3 AM, and vowed to murder someone if it weren't serious. "Yes?"

"Stocks are down 25 points, people are talking about selling shares," his PR person snapped.

Vlad was entirely awake now. "What happened?"

"SI. All employees are now making a living wage, and employees making over that have been given $2/hr raises. Wayne matched them."

"Peanut brittle. And LexCorp?"

"Nothing yet, but they've been going down since the benefits change."

"Match them. Match them, and double tuition reimbursement. How popular is the daycare reimbursement?"

"Nobody's mentioned it, but both companies have it."

"50% reimbursement. Make the announcement, make it big, rent out ad space on every social media site you can, get billboards, whatever you have to do. Don't worry about the budget for this."

"Yes sir."

It was 4:30 when he walked into the building. "Where are we?" He called to the team in the conference room.

"10 points shy of normal, most aren't awake yet."

"Shareholders?"

"They've asked for a meeting next month, might push it up depending on how this goes."

"Good. Keep me posted. This works out, you're all looking at a very nice year-end bonus."

"Will do!"

A few hours later, stocks had returned to normal. He gave himself a little pay cut to make sure the shareholders got their pound of flesh, irritated though he knew he'd never notice the sting.

By that evening, stocks were increasing again, and the expo next week would showcase several dozen new clean energy vehicle designs.

-

As predicted, stocks went through the roof; finally, some success! Daniel, the little rat, didn't agree. "So, heard you're falling behind! Wayne and SI a bit too big for you?"

He barely kept himself from firing an ectoblast. They were in human forms, in a rare (somewhat) peaceable moment. A moment that he intended to pursue with lovely Maddie- before Jack lumbered back in.

"Vladdie! Those are some cool cars, man!"

"Thank you, Jack. Tell me, Maddie, how-"

He was interrupted once again, this time by Maddie knocking a glass of very hot coffee on his lap. "Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine," he said with gritted teeth.

"You know, Vladdie," Danny said once they headed to the GAV. Ancients, he hated that nickname! Curse Jack for letting it slip near impressionable children. "I know a certain lady who'd be very impressed if you managed to help with the environment."

Oh. Oh, this was a trap, he knew it! But... Maddie...

Ah hell, he needed to one-up Wayne and SI somehow.

"I'll take it into consideration."

-

"Today, on the heels of Dalv Co, Wayne Enterprises, and SI," ha! He was first! "LexCorp finally decided to get in the game and offers 50% tuition reimbursement. Do you think that puts Luthor in the running for Best Billionaire, Tom?"

"Thanks, Aaliyah! Most people are thinking it's ridiculous, a tactic to bump stocks and approval ratings," Vlad snorted. As if they weren't all doing that. "But SI is upping the stakes! In addition to the September Foundation, Tony Stark has vowed 2% of profits will go to 3rd world countries."

He raised an eyebrow. Interesting. Vlad picked up the phone. "Get me Sasha in Accounting and Red in Payroll."

"How would we fare if we matched Stark's donations, thrice over? 5% for the environment, and- what's a charity you like? Sure, 1% to that. Sasha, you can go. Please remember the department meeting Tuesday. We're doing something new."

-

Aaliyah was speaking on the news again. "DalvCo stocks are at a record high this week! Many are flocking to the conglomerate as they are choosing to benefit US environmental and health concerns. SI critics argue that 2% abroad doesn't match 6% in the states. That's 5% to environmental concerns, 1% is going to Flint, Michigan, and 1% to homeless shelters across the US."

He toasted the hijabi-wearing woman on the screen. "Have a lovely day, Ms. Aaliyah. You've certainly made mine."

Before he could turn off the TV, the other anchor spoke. "That's not all, Aaliyah! Wayne Enterprises has gotten permission from the FDA to synthesize insulin! They'll be selling for $20 per bottle, making it possible for the quality of life to increase for millions, at home and abroad."

"You're right, Tom!" Aaliyah's bubbly voice rang out, "Insulin can cost Americans anywhere from $800-2500 per month due to high markups. By selling with such a small profit margin, they are massively undercutting Big Pharma."

"Traitor," he mumbled. "What to do about this?"

-

"What are we doing about this?" Red demanded, striding into his office. "We have dozens of patents for medical technologies, but we're locked into contracts."

"What about the artificial organs?" He asked. He hadn't started with cloning Daniel; no, he planned on cloning Maddie, and started with small things. Skin grafts. Organs. Over the past 10 years, they've been highly successful.

"We can't exactly sell those outside of a hospital."

He nodded, then froze. "Red, what if we didn't? We could announce our prices, make the people drive it down."

"Nobody's going to haggle on an organ," they said, but he could hear the uncertainty.

"On a heart, a pancreas, a lung? Of course not! But on a kidney, liver, skin grafts? There's some time. Besides, combine it with the price listings for the dialysis machines and ventilators, and you'll have a country so angry at the healthcare and insurance industries, they won't care about anything sketchy we do for years."

They nodded, albeit nervously. "Sure."

-

"Thank you for agreeing to join us on air, Mr. Masters."

"Please, just call me Vlad. It's a pleasure to be here."

Sam hadn't stopped cackling since the price lists went out, and Facebook and Twitter went insane. Frankly, Danny was worried for her. Tucker just rolled his eyes and turned the TV up. "Take down the bourgeoisie!"

"Doesn't that mean taking down Vlad?" Jazz asked, sitting down on the floor of Sam's bedroom.

"Are you complaining?"

"No, but I like him a lot more all the way in New York."

"Fair."

"So Vlad," Harriet asked- a favor for something in Wisconsin. He wasn't clear, she didn't press. As long as he didn't go crazy like the Fentons, she had the interview that would bring her back to the big leagues. "Tell me, what inspired you to release those prices?"

"The news, actually. Everyone seemed so surprised by the markup on insulin. I suppose if you spend enough time in an industry, you become desensitized."

"Did you know it would cause rioting?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow- careful, it said- and replied smoothly, "I wasn't surprised when it did. As anyone from the affected companies can tell you, I've been trying to lower prices for years. I have a profit margin that covers the organ growing, transport, and faulty organs, but even if they only charged 10% above that, we're talking thousands of dollars per organ they'd be losing."

"Are these FDA approved?"

"Yes. In fact, we started producing them a decade ago, and they're far safer than an organ donated by someone else."

"And how does that work?" She asked, and he nodded, pleased to be back in safer topics.

"For one, the rejection risk is lowered from upwards of 60% down to just 3%, 1% with the anti-rejection medicines required for all traditional transplants, because they're made with the owner's DNA. These medications, by the way, frequently cause cancer or other unintended harm. For another, a traditional transplant requires two people to be cut open; a donor who may or may not be dead, and the one receiving the organ. That confers certain risks of..."

-

"Are you seeing this?" Pepper demanded, turning up the TV.

"What? I'm working on-"

"Sir, you may want to see this," JARVIS insisted.

Tony popped a blueberry in his mouth and looked up. "Wait, he's been cloning people?!"

"That's what you're focused on? Tony, Wayne Enterprises releases dirt cheap insulin, DalvCo and Vlad Masters are overthrowing the US healthcare system, and we're still getting flack for donating abroad instead of locally!"

"We can't do much about that. Maybe release a new phone?"

"A new phone?! They are improving or saving lives out there! A new phone will have us laughed out into bankruptcy. What about the hearing aids you made for Clint, that new screen reader for Daredevil, or the prosthetic arms, or the braces- any of that?"

"They're not perfect," he argued.

She stared at him and sighed. "If I could turn back time, I'd beat your father to death." Pepper inhaled sharply, then continued in a milder tone. "The hearing impaired person who hears for the first time in years will not care if it isn't perfect. The visually impaired person who has a screen reader miles ahead of the market won't care if the battery needs to be replaced once every 2 years instead of 5. And I promise you, when somebody bed-bound gets braces or a chair that lets them move around of their own free will, they will not care if it requires additional padding."

"But it's not-"

"Quality of Life now? Or perfection when it's too late?"

"Sir, if I may suggest- Ms. Potts is correct. You may also benefit from a larger testing pool."

"I mean, if you think they won't mind the glitches, sure. Go for it."

"Good."

-

"Mobility aids?!" He snapped.

Danny yawned and rubbed his eyes. "Dude, it's 4 am here."

The fruitloop didn't care. "First insulin, now mobility aids- mark my words, Daniel Fenton, I will win!"

Daniel didn't reply.

"Daniel?"

The sounds of snoring reached his ears. "Little wretch," he snapped half-heartedly and hung up.