he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
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cherry valley forever
styofa doing anything
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wallacepolsom
titsay
JVL
Kaledo Art
Alisa U Zemlji Chuda
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Misplaced Lens Cap
RMH
祝日 / Permanent Vacation
Andulka
Aqua Utopia｜海の底で記憶を紡ぐ
we're not kids anymore.
Sweet Seals For You, Always
Product Placement
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@knittingnightgaunt
“Surely nothing could be worse than a lot of women dying,” she thinks. “Ah,” she says.
this is why you don't upload your photo to cool filter or facemorph sites like LensaAI or whatever. they will collect your photos and sell them to companies like this.
TREASURE PLANET (2002)
now since tumblr apparently loves to support non-american authors, but is surprisingly mum about this, imma tell you.
you see, everybody's favorite evil corp, Amazon, bought Indian publishing house Westland some six years ago. Now Westland is a very famous and reputed publishing house in India, and has put forth some of the best titles the country has seen. It didn't shy away from controversial and uncomfortable topics, and some of its books quite vocally criticise the current government, which has been responsible for the current state of india as a pseudo-democratic, pseudo-secular, economically ruined country, the most notable one being The Price of the Modi years by Aakar Patel. It also produced Amish Tripathi's pathbreaking Shiva Trilogy.
Now here's the thing that got me nuts.
AMAZON. SHUT. IT. DOWN. A WEEK AGO.
JUST OUT OF THE BLUE, IT IS CLOSING DOWN WESTLAND FOREVER. NOBODY KNOWS WHAT IS TO COME OF THE HUNDREDS OF TITLES PUBLISHED BY IT, OR OF THE AUTHORS ITS CONTRACTED, OR THE PEOPLE EMPLOYED BY IT.
It has triggered a buying surge in India, as people go on shopping spress to get their hands on the titles they want from this house. Short on supply and high on demand, bookstores across India are showing solidarity and moving surplus books around.
here you go with a few links that i think sum up the problem quite nicely, and please guys. just. please support westland.
here they talk about how this is becoming a trend with global corps.
here they talk about the future of indian publishing houses.
this one talks about a bleak future for literature and how it feels like we're living in a dystopian novel
spread this around. jeff bezos continues to be evil, and will be. he is quite literally, irredeemable.
Please do not let debt collectors play in your face.
I am super busy so I honestly don’t even know if I should be taking the time to write this, but hopefully this will help those of you who may find yourself in a similar situation.
Earlier this year I received a letter of notice from a debt collector stating that they had acquired a debt supposedly belonging to me and that, per law, I have 30 days to dispute the debt. I immediately drafted a letter and sent it to both disputing the debt and request validation of the debt as well as possible settlement arrangements had they actually been able to validate said debt
I sent this letter via certified mail. Always certified mail.
About a week after the 30 day period for them to respond expired, I received a Phone call very specifically crafted in a way to invoke urgency and panic and suggest legal action. So, naturally, I called this number only to discover this was a different company that had only just recently acquired said supposed debt. I reiterated to them that I was disputing this debt and required validation in writing.
The initial conversation went smoothly, they then called me back the next day and became aggressive. They accused me of lying and did everything under the sun to try and trick me into validating this debt as mine so that they would not have to legally send me that validation. I, knowing my rights, insisted that I was disputing the debt and that they were required to send me validation despite them claiming that they were not and that they already had and many other number of lies. I refused to continue the conversation until someone had sent me validation to which they continually responded that they would be forwarding this to their legal department and blah blah blah blah blah.
Surprise surprise, I get a phone call today from yet another company, this one claiming to be in the process of forwarding my account to the county clerks office. That was an immediate red flag as the county clerk does not handle debt disputes. They would have to hire a lawyer in my state to handle this case. I asked what company this was as they had not stated initially, and when they told me I realized this was now another company who had purchased said alleged debt and we’re trying to collect on it. this one outright illegally threatening to take me to court knowing they weren’t.
Beyond that, he tried to lie to me and tell me that a debt validation was not what I thought it was and that a validation was actually just a notice that they had purchased a debt so when I received a letter stating that they had purchased this debt that would be a validation.
That is not true! Debt companies are legally required to send you notice of an allegedly acquired debt in writing and you have 30 days to dispute and request that validation. The company then has 30 days themselves to respond and validate your debt or the debt is forfeit. This man tried to lie to me and tell me that a notice was the same thing as a dead validation in order to trick me into paying a debt that he cannot validate that I am actively disputing.
This is now the fourth company that has attempted to collect on a debt they cannot validate. They know they cannot validate this debt and instead have relied on trying to trick me into paying it. These tactics would absolutely work if I did not have a sales background and or know my rights.
And this ladies and gentlemen is why you always always always dispute a debt. The last debt I disputed was immediately pulled from collections and that allowed me to get back in contact with the original creditor and work out a payment plan so that it would never hit my credit and keep my account with them current. This debt is invalid and therefore they cannot hit my credit with it nor can I collect on it or I will sue them.
If you guys have any questions about dealing with that collectors please ask me.
I'm not surprised they gave you the long ass run around on this.
For anyone that has a debt sold to a Collections Agency do exactly what OP did and request debt validation (Google-able). Most of the time, the Original company you owed debt to did not give them your Social Security Number or your date of birth; just a good phone number and address. In order to be held legally responsible for it and to be on your credit score, they need your SSN or DOB to prove it's yours.
Usually, they're initial call will say "Hey so before we can discuss your debt of $Xxxx, we need you to verify your SSN and DOB." They're lying. That means they want you to confirm it so they can legally pin that debt to you. If you send a Debt Validation letter VIA CERTIFIED MAIL, that Collections Agency has 30 days to prove you owe the debt and that it does in fact tie to you. Since in most cases they can't, they'll send a letter saying "We don't have the necessary information to collect on this debt. It is now null and void." Send copies of that to the credit bureaus, and they wipe it from your credit report.
With OP, they did the shadiest thing possible by constantly re-selling the debt, thus starting over that 30 day response period.
Never pay a debt unless you're certain that you owe it. Especially if it's for a deceased relative. Debt collection companies are especially predatory during the grieving period asking you to "Pay down the debt" or "Clear their good name". Unless you (co)signed, don't give them anything. The debt will get written off on their taxes. If you do pay, you're locked in on that debt. You basically showed "willingness and ability to pay" which is all they need.
...I feel like I'm watching what used to be one of my favorite AARPGs destroy itself in real time with really preventable behaviors and I just...
-fuck- that's depressing.
When did it become a huge -THING- for people, especially popular adopt artists on DA (though probably this goes further than that) to try and insist that they OWN certain palates? Like -don't you dare use the colors I use- kind of attitude?
Like Do they not see the broad disdain we have for people like Anish Kapoor and the bullshit with Pantone blacking out colors in certain programs?
Are you so deeply insecure in your skills that you can't accept that someone outside of you might also think certain color pairings look good together and that if they discover your secret no one will like your art anymore?
We have so many problems these days trying to be creative because people don't respect the work, this is just so -stupid- to me.
I literally just quietly unfollowed someone this morning because of that, because I was like: ok what's next? Are you going to pretend you own Cottagecore because you use mushrooms a lot? Do you now own Argyle print because you used it on a bunch of your adopts? Are you also going to cancel socks and sweaters because you use a pattern that predates you and will outlast us?
Just... no. You lost me. Good luck.
I keep forgetting to do much here so have one of my ponies from the Paperdemon group Tales From Equestria enjoying the winter.
Really beginning to prefer Tumblr to Twitter purely on the basis that when I say something like, for example:
We should feed every frame of Disney into AI art generators
Most people on Tumblr will immediately understand that I am not suggesting it as some sort of actual, workable long-term solution to the problem of independent artists' work being stolen
I am suggesting it as a goblin curse to make the lives of both the talentless artist-disrespecting AI art scumbags and the soulless corporate parasites at Disney very difficult and miserable, and people on Tumblr immediately get that
Posted the same thing to Twitter and I almost immediately got someone dissecting the tweet as "being indicative of how left-wing creatives will try to side with corporations when the subject of copyright comes up"
This is the hot coffee case all over again isn’t it
No it isn't. The hot coffee case involved an elderly woman getting 3rd degree burns (where your skin is cooked off of your body) because a McDonalds served coffee at just about boiling, despite having many complaints about burns in the past. Also, the woman suing only asked for medical costs, the jury slapped a huge punitive judgement on top of that.
Yeah that’s what I mean. Like is this case really what’s happening in this headline or a corporate smear campaign
The TL;DR (i read the the thing on classaction.org)
Kraft says their single serve cups are ready in 3.5 minutes total. True, it take 3.5 minutes to microwave the cup, but there's more prep time and the instructions call for more ingredients, such as water. There's also the additional time it take to stir in the cheese powder. So in actuality, it could take closer to 5-6 minutes (estimating here).
Because Kraft is selling the speed and convenience of the single serve, it's sold at a premium (11 bucks for an 8 pack, excluding tax, which yowza!), which is much higher than similar products that, in reality, would take as much time to prepare as the Velveeta.
Like I can't speak for everyone but I see those Velveeta cups at the grocery store and they're more expensive than even the other Kraft single serves, and you just know it's not because of the Velveeta powder.
This is a class action lawsuit. The plaintiff isn't getting all 5 million, it'll go to everyone who is *COPD with chronic bronchitis ad voice* entitled to financial compensation.
The firm representing the plaintiff specializes in cases like this, which also includes cases such as Frito-Lay lying about not using real lime in their "hint of lime" Tostito chips (so they can charge more), Kellogg lying about how much fruit they (don't) put in their fruit pop-tarts in spite of the advertising (so they can charge more), the use of synthetic vanilla in premium goods claiming to have real vanilla (so they can charge more), and, oh yeah, arsenic in baby food.
If you're wondering why this matters, consider that this isn't a MRE. It needs prep, not just in time but in additional ingredients, which would be damned inconvenient at best if, say, you didn't have access to water. This, and the time issue, is, in a very real sense, false advertising. It stands to reason that Kraft made a decent profit off this false advertising.
In a similar vein (see: "hint of lime" chips not having lime but a vaguely defined "natural flavoring"), it's about truth in the advertised product, and that the company knew it was lying to its customers. Like if Special K isn't putting real blueberries in its cereal (just pineapple and blue dye), but advertising the cereal as having those blueberries, what happens if a kid allergic to pineapple, or allergic to the dye used, eats the cereal and has a reaction? What if there's no water to make the damn macaroni and cheese?
Cases like this give the more serious cases (ARSENIC. BABY FOOD.) more of a legal foothold.
You can't really say "burn corporations to the ground" or "lol kill jeff bezos" and in that same breath call the plaintiff a stupid Karen or whatever for calling out the obvious bullshit Kraft is pulling here. Those single serve cups are freaking expensive for what you get and are sold at a markup because they promise a convenience that they don't actually deliver on.
The first time I heard about this, I thought about when I had 20 minutes for lunch at one of my first shitty jobs. The difference between 3.5 minutes and 6+ minutes when you have 20-30 minutes to eat is... not small, actually? So if I bought something that said it would be ready in a very small amount of time, and it took twice as long? That... would piss me off.
Here are a list of fundraisers verified by GoFundMe themselves if you want to support those effected by the Club Q shooting.
On Nov. 20, there was a mass shooting at an LGBTQ Club, Club… Faith Haug - Good Judy Garage needs your support for Support for the Club Q F
Hi my name is Greg Resha (Kyree Myst) and I am a former employee of Club … Greg Resha needs your support for Victims of Club Q Colorado Spr
Classroom of Compassion will be traveling to Colorado Springs this week bef… Noah Reich needs your support for Classroom of Compassion in Co
Hey PLEASE be wary of Dr. Gallagher and spread the word. Rylan (testosteronejew on Twitter) got top surgery from her in August. Here's the thread he wrote about his horrific experience.
He had severe complications that were completely dismissed by Dr. Gallagher. She kept telling him everything was fine, that it was because of his weight, and made a joke about him "menstruating" as he was bleeding from a torn incision. When he was rushed to the ER weeks later, he had over half a foot of dead tissue removed. He could have died from the infection (that she blatantly denied he had).
And in Rylan's own words, "My only desire is to keep our community safe. There are so many trustworthy top surgeons in the world. One of them saved my life. Transition is a beautiful process and we deserve safe access to it. I do not regret top surgery. I regret choosing Dr. Gallagher as my surgeon."
Rylan is also NOT the only one to experience this. I imagine we'll only hear more stories like this due to how popular Dr. Gallagher is.
This doctor is in Miami, FL, United States. She is apparently very popular on TikTok. Also please note that Rylan’s thread describes the infection and surgery in detail and may be triggering to read for some people.
The Respect for Marriage Act earned 62 votes on Wednesday, which was needed to bypass a filibuster. Twelve Republicans joined all 50 Democra
While this bill doesn’t require states to allow same-sex marriage, it does require them to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states.
So anyone wanting to get married can travel to another state, get married, come back, and the state has to recognize their marriage as valid.
The new Respect for Marriage Act would also protect interracial marriages by requiring states to recognize legal marriages regardless of “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin."
hmmm
Image is of someeone holding up a Lego box with an image of orchids on the cover, followed by an image of an assembled statue of a plant-humanoid with orchids for its face, elbows, and knees, leaves for arms and thighs, roots for hands and feet, so on and so forth. (end image description)
…
Writres…this is what happens when you take a normal setting and remake it to be fantasy, science fiction, horror, urban fantasy, steampunk, or any other such heavily speculative fiction.
Go forth and warp your plants-man…!
THIS IS SO COOL.
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Florida imposed sanctions on Thursday against a group of lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump who ha
WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Florida imposed sanctions on Thursday against a group of lawyers for former President Donald J. Trump who handled a sprawling lawsuit that accused Hillary Clinton and a range of Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies of a vast conspiracy against him.
(via nd2m7eiwou0a1.jpg (JPEG Image, 828 × 1190 pixels) — Scaled (97%))
