The Indiana Senate resoundingly rejected Trumpβs demands to redraw the stateβs congressional map. But moments before the vote, a prominent right-wing group said Trump would withhold all state funding if Republican lawmakers do not heed his demands. β¦
Local school district to open Safe Sleep Lot as homelessness grows Cincinnati Public Schools are opening a designated parking lot for homeless students and their families, allowing them to sleep in their cars while they seek housing. This initiative, part of a program called Project Connect, aims to provide a safe space and support for those experiencing homelessness. Being homeless has become illegal.
WTH has happened to this country when schools have to provide sanctuary for the homeless?
Finish yesterday's plan, its nice to have a four day weekend. Well, we did have a few things this morn, needed to hit the bank, and was going to hit breakfast at a Black Bear Diner (if you have one of these in your area and haven't tried it, do so, especially for breakfast), I have a check I forgot to deposit earlier in the week. Woke up a bit lat at 0830, but I had stayed up to around 2330, so that was mostly expectable, albeit I wasn't up much last night, so a little odd. Lets see, what's the temperature...
7Β°F feels like -5Β°... House to car, to restaurant to car to bank... Yeah, too cold for even that, I am so not leaving the house. I swear, since Vik died, the universe doesn't want me going out for breakfast like we used to, last time I tried when I had some time to kill before work, power was out in that part of Bridgeton killing both restaurant choices. I could've gone elsewhere, but that would've given me a choice of Denny's or going out of my way which would've eaten up a chunk of the time I had, so that was out.
So, I guess the check'll get deposited via app, not sure I want to run out tomorrow, but we'll see, I prefer to hand the check over to a teller.
Tomorrow will likely be estate matters, I need to call Farmers, a check arrived a week ago, some kind of refund on what I could swear was a joint account, but its only made out to Vik, so that's a problem. And have to call Fidelity to make some account changes, they gave me his 401K, but my finance planner wanted it an inherited IRA, so gotta get that done, should be relatively simple. Also gotta reach out to e*Trade, somewhere I have the instructions from a few months ago on how to take over his stock shares as I was the beneficiary. Outside of those, got a lawyer working on the stuff I'm not a beneficiary of, probate court fun of course, hence the lawyer, St Louis County requires a lawyer for all estate filings. Once all that stuff is done, I'm pulling everything out of e*Trade (owned by Morgan Stanley) and Morgan Stanley, not just for consolidation, but because they're owned by Bank of America, who I hate with a passion for various reasons. Once his Apple card is closed, that'll be the last I deal with Goldman Sachs, because they are such a dumb outdated company. Really, they required me to mail paperwork to their legal department showing he'd died, and yet two months later, I'm still get bills as well as 2+ late notices a week. Heck, the account would've been paid off back in August, but they refused, since I'm not on the account, they won't take my money, only his, at least until they accept that he died. Seriously, this is an investment company, or at least how I know the name, can you imagine this company handling your investments? At least they'll be secure, but considering how outdated they are, they're the only company I'm dealing with that doesn't have any way to handle things online, I can't imagine how good their advice could be. Oh, yesterday I got one step closer to closing the Chase account, which would be nice as technically its a joint account, so my credit is taking a hit from it, but I don't have access officially, though I do have ways to get in there.
Boy, that got long, no? Any how, things are kinda going, doing what I have to do, keeping on keeping on.
American friends, due to the horrific attack today at Bondi Beach in New South Wales, please keep Pam Bondi's surname out of your hashtags for the next few days. People will need it to share information about the attack.
In a recent press release, Amazon noted that some new features were coming to Kindle. Weβre adding new AI-powered reading features that preserve the magic of reading on Kindle.
Iβm currently reading βAbolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture,β by Angela Davis. If I used a highlighter in this book, about 90% of it would be yellow.
Salt Lake City β Prosecutors announced last week that they would not pursue charges against Arturo Gamboa, an activist in Utah who was arrested in June after a volunteer βpeacekeeperβ opened fire at a large βNo Kingsβ protest injuring Gamboa and killβ¦
π§βοΈ Salt boxes are here to help keep our roads safe during winter weather.
But sometimes, the salt boxes need a little help too π If you see a salt box thatβs damaged or empty, report it to 311 and our crews will take care of it.
Iβll say it again β #Mozilla had the opportunity to add decentralised / #P2P networking to #Firefox when they were the no.1 browser and force the hand of Microsoft, Google and Apple to follow suit and instead they removed #RSS.
The weakness of #opensource isnβt technology or software, itβs governance. This has become all too clear with many open source projects getting infected by the #AI scam and end-users being pretty powerless to stop it
One church leader in MA is facing criticism from the Boston archdiocese for his display. The church leader says itβs staying for now. βYou feed the hungry, you take care of the homeless, you clothe the naked, you take care of people and their needs,β said Father Josoma. β[ICE raids] are the complete antithesis of that on so many levels.β
Across Illinois, Massachusetts, and North Carolina, faith communities are refusing to stay silent. Churches are using their nativity scenes to call out the Trump administrationβs cruel and chaotic anti-immigrant policies that are tearing families apart right now: open.substack.com/pub/americasβ¦
βIf the Holy Family had been in Charlotte two weeks ago, they would have been putting the baby Jesus in handcuffs because he wouldnβt have his papers,β said one faith leader.
This immigrant woman landed in the US decades ago, has never even set foot in a kitchen or done any cleaning, takes thousands of dollars off the state every year, and spreads dangerous woke antifa propaganda about democracy, inclusivity, and equality.
it was the disco is cannon that gave it awayπ Not shitting on discovery, I quite like it, my wife pointed it out it probably meant the series. My dumb ass was just nodding along thinking Sisco would totally have been a disco icon in the 70βs
βWhether youβre having trouble with your phase variance, you ran out of lithium, or even if your phone was fried by a chroniton surge, just call and Mr. Paris will ring your door bell and fix it!β
They'd have to do far more than reverse. They'd have to purge govt of all the fascists and billionaires & rewrite laws & establish new protocols to prevent this from happening again. Otherwise, the Overton window keeps moving further and further to the right, with future Dems to the right of Trump
the fact that they refused to reverse things is why people get disillusioned and then stop voting for them, which I suspect is the plan. I'm at the point where I just assume malfeasance he's motherfuckers
We're Mason and Moxie - the Authorcats. Here's why you should join the Inkican Crew! We're the Inkican Crew mascots and we love humans that are smart, kind, and a little bit different - just like us! What's In It For You Instant access to free ebooksβ¦
@billseitz And the resort guests are tired of the surly dissatisfied nature of their staff. They are trying to replace us with robots as quickly as possible.
In the late 19th century there were a lot of horses. What happened to them after the automobile took over?
@mike805 @Inkican @Bill Seitz I assume most of them died of old age, but the horse breeding industry definitely wound down as the automobile became more popular.
@Natanox Both Tipeee and Patreon have found that only 1% of their creators use the "per-creation" model. It seems they're streamlining their features to focus on more popular options.
Patreon initially planned to switch to the new model in Nov2025, but due to technical issues with a payment processor (Apple), they've postponed the deadline several times. Tipeee recently announced a Jan2026 deadline, so I've decided to move both platforms to the new monthly subscription model at the same time.
@halla Thank you for your words and your support since the first episodes! As you can imagine, this change affects me so much... That's why I'm releasing three comic pages to talk about it. π
The change will take effect on Patreon on 12 January. Until then, the page still shows 'per-content'.
This is because I have decided to give one month's notice to allow my patrons to adjust their budgets. (Don't worry though: I won't release the 'per-content' mechanism during this period.)
@Numerfolt Liberapay. This is because it doesn't have the 5% fee that Patreon and Tipeee take. (To fund Liberapay, you have to support them... on Liberapay.)
Okay, I looked at their FAQ and basically there are the transaction fees that I pay? Like I send you 1β¬ per month and pay some cents so you can get the full β¬? And I can donate to them too, which is nice.
@fr3d Unfortunately, that's one of the side effect; I wrote them an email in October about it. I'm still around as a volunteer contributor now, but it is clearly not the same time budget. π
while it's perfectly understandable from the business side, it's still a pity. I'd pay extra just for securing the future of Peertube and Framasoft artwork. Apart from all your other great work. π
@Tywele Monthly or yearly? It certainly will depend on how much you pay in fees when you transfer money. If your bank charges high fees, it may be better to transfer money in one lump sum. If the fees are small or zero, monthly payments are great.
My preferred platform is Liberapay because the creator and admin are on Mastodon and the platform doesn't take 5%.
Hi David! I heard your interview on #HPR and really appreciate your stance on licencing and using Open Source tooling. Moreover, once I found your content, I think it's excellent. I had planned to go and subscribe but hadn't done so, so this thread is a great reminder - thank you! Having read your FAQ on your webpage, I will use liberapay, so you get as much of the donation as possible. Best of luck with the developing adventure!
cheer up! We'll keep supporting your amazing and generous work. Your transparency is as always very much appreciated. One quick question: does this change will also apply on Liberapay? Youention Tipee and Patron, but if we support you through Liberapay on per-content basis, shall we switch to monthly?
@Notus Thank you very much for your support! π Liberapay always prefered (from the start) to not include a per-content system. So, since I have the account (back in 2017) I receive 'weekly' donation on it.
Liberapay allows me to download a table with the donation amount and date, and so, with a little table-math I can convert this into a monthly thing and merge the names on the credit ( I'm trying to standardize this to peppercarrot.com/ext/credits-a⦠)
I will probably move over to librepay since you are the only creator I support on Patreon. I also like the idea of you getting my full support instead of partial payment.
I'm surprised that you didn't do month to month sooner cause of your new web comic. It's always daunting having to go from freelance, to your own thing, but if you have to step away for a bit due to burnout, don't be afraid to take a break. I'll still support you regardless.
I signed up for the minimum for now: $1.00 a comic. I hope it's better than nothing. Your art is wonderful as are your stories and I appreciate your anti-genAI stance.
love your comics, by the way - especially the lemon-centered ones, with the goddess of life. goes very well with fantasy stuff i've been writing the past few years.
To me, the monthly support just feels better even if it didn't make a difference financially. Instead of paying in return for something (which is a transaction), it feels like more like supporting the ongoing work and life of a great artist that has given so much to free/libre culture.
@oscherler You didn't invitent: mid 2024, after problem in the production (cancelling an episode almost done) and during a long period of personal struggle and feeling down, I announced the end on a blog post.
That was a mistake. I wish I never published that blog-post.
I retracted, but the idea circulated well, way faster than the other blog-posts saying I wanted to continue the series.
I'm continuing Pepper&Carrot series, I love it too much. I just had a very bad time. Sorry for that.
you might want to change the denomination of your membership options on patreon. I see 5β¬/month in the overview of all my memberships, but when looking at your membership options it still shows as "xβ¬ / episode".
I really enjoy the short stories you post here. I hope(expect) you will beginn posting them on patreon too, once the switch to monthly is done?
Yes I saw it and I'm afraid I can't change it at the moment. Patreon will make the change on their side one month after I publicly announce it. It's all part of their policy for moving accounts around. Just to let you know, I won't be posting the episode until the 12th of January. (the effective date for my first monthly) :) I'll post something on Patreon to let my supporters know about it.
@gws Ha ha, you mentioned something that made me struggle while drawing this announcement. At first, I drew a little guy with a two-day beard and a brown haircut, sitting at my desk in front of my monitors.
But I was worried it wouldn't be really iconic, so I decided to go with Pepper as my avatar. I was fine with it, as I often used her for various things, but maybe it's a bit awkward in the end. π
Imo per content model is dangerous anyway. It rewards churning out quantity rather than quality. It means that an artist might need to release unfinished stuff just for the sake of being able to pay their bills. And for the supporter it is unsafe because there is little control to how much you pay. If someone pays 5β¬ per creation, assuming 1 creation per month, and suddenly you turn in 1 creation per day or something this might be more than the person can or wants to afford.
So per month or something means stabilty for both artist and supporter, just extra effort is not awarded. Per creation creates pressure for the artist and exchanges uncertainty of delivery for uncertainty in when and how much you pay.
@lazy I'll see, but I've never received anything monthly in my life (except the Liberapay weekly support, and thank you very much for being a part of it, but it was a minor part of income so far). I'm a freelancer working 'per task' since I was 18. I only knew that: making the work, getting paid, and I'm 44 years old π ... I really hope this change will be a good thing!
This is different to a typical artist thing. The difference here is that we are not paying for the result. We are paying for the process. For you keeping the project up and sharing the result with the world. And everyone of us will have different expectation. But I think most of us do not have a problem with you taking time. With you choosing to do some freelance project when you feel like it. With you taking a break when you need it. Don't feel indebted to us or that you need to meet certain performance goals here.
And sure, your Liberapay donations are not a major income. Still, guaranteed 400β¬ a month is not at all nothing. It is enough to afford food if everything else fails. If this change in Patreon goes well you will have a decent bit more monthly support. But still probably nothing in the range of full-time remuneration. So you should not treat this as a 100% job. Treat this as what it is: A small support from your community, to make sure you can continue doing what you do.
β’White supremacists terrorized Black and Indigenous people for 300 years. β’And when that terror was finally made illegal, white rebel groups rose up to further terrorize Black and Indigenous people another 100 years. β’And now, while 0 reparations were paid to remedy that 400 years of violence, teaching about that history is called a βterror threat by Antifa.β
America: Where actual white supremacy terrorism is ignoredβbut documenting that history is terror. π
It's the same kind of ongoing colonial violence happening in Canada too. We're dealing with residential school denial & more related white supremacy abuses.
23 Democrats vote NO on Trump impeachment. The man is literally enacting fascism, funding genocide, abandoning our allies, and invading Venezuela -- and these 23 are perfectly okay with that. Primary every one of these fascism enablers and vote them out of office. Who needs MAGAs with these complicit corporate Democrats β¬οΈ 1 / 3
Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick of Florida Jim Costa of California Jason Crow of Colorado Henry Cuellar of Texas Sharice Davids of Kansas Donald G. Davis of North Carolina Shomari Figures of Alabama Jared Golden of Maine Vicente Gonzalez of Texas Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire β¬οΈ 2 / 3
Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey Adam Gray of California Rick Larsen of Washington Susie Lee of Nevada Kristen McDonald Rivet of Michigan Jimmy Panetta of California Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington Josh Riley of New York Hillary J. Scholten of Michigan Kim Schrier of Washington Greg Stanton of Arizona Thomas R. Suozzi of New York Eugene Simon Vindman of Virginia
The usual suspects out of WA,. Larsen usually votes with the pack but for some reason has a soft spot for GOP presidents. Perez especially has been a POS from way back; she's probably a Trojan Horse candidate who just ran as a Dem because the GOP was unelectable at the time. Kim Schrier represents a pretty solidly monied, conservative area but usually she's smarter than this.
What's infuriating is that if all the "present" voters had voted "no" this wouldn't have been tabled.
Iβm guessing maybe thereβs more behind that. Perhaps they donβt want JD Vance to ascend to the throne? Whoβs really pulling the strings anyway? Let Trump fail in the eyes of his supporters first rather than let him use an impeachment to gain support again? The psychology of when to impeach? But when is the right time?
Josh Riley is a democrat in the same way Trump is a businessman. You can call yourself whatever you like, but his voting records speaks volumes about his character (or lack thereof).
Bel Tamtu | Critter Unit
in reply to Amalia Zeichnerin • • •