#and also food is so expensive in the usa | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

headspace-hotel · 6 months

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I will write this thought about Veganism and Classism in the USA in another post so as to not derail the other thread:

There are comments in the notes that say meat is only cheaper than plant based foods because of subsidies artificially lowering the price of meat in the United States. This is...part of the story but not all of it.

For my animal agriculture lab we went to a butcher shop and watched the butcher cut up a pig into various cuts of meat. I have had to study quite a bit about the meat industry in that class. This has been the first time I fully realized how strongly the meat on a single animal is divided up by socioeconomic class.

Like yes, meat cumulatively takes more natural resources to create and thus should be more expensive, but once that animal is cut apart, it is divided up between rich and poor based on how good to eat the parts are. I was really shocked at watching this process and seeing just how clean and crisp an indicator of class this is.

Specifically, the types of meat I'm most familiar with are traditionally "waste" parts left over once the desirable parts are gone. For example, beef brisket is the dangly, floppy bit on the front of a cow's neck. Pork spareribs are the part of the ribcage that's barely got anything on it.

And that stuff is a tier above the "meat" that is most of what poor people eat: sausage, hot dogs, bologna, other heavily processed meat products that are essentially made up of all the scraps from the carcass that can't go into the "cuts" of meat. Where my mom comes from in North Carolina, you can buy "livermush" which is a processed meat product made up of a mixture of liver and a bunch of random body parts ground up and congealed together. There's also "head cheese" (made of parts of the pig's head) and pickled pigs' feet and chitlin's (that's made of intestines iirc) and cracklin's (basically crispy fried pig skin) and probably a bunch of stuff i'm forgetting. A lot of traditional Southern cooking uses basically scraps of animal ingredients to stretch across multiple meals, like putting pork fat in beans or saving bacon grease for gravy or the like.

So another dysfunctional thing about our food system, is that instead of people of each socioeconomic class eating a certain number of animals, every individual animal is basically divided up along class lines, with the poorest people eating the scraps no one else will eat (oftentimes heavily processed in a way that makes it incredibly unhealthy).

Even the 70% lean ground beef is made by injecting extra leftover fat back into the ground-up meat because the extra fat is undesirable on the "better" cuts. (Gross!)

I've made, or eaten, many a recipe where the only thing that makes it non-vegan is the chicken broth. Chicken broth, just leftover chicken bones and cartilage rendered and boiled down in water? How much is that "driving demand" for meat, when it's basically a byproduct?

That class really made me twist my brain around about the idea of abstaining from animal products as a way to deprive the industry of profits. Nobody eats "X number of cows, pigs, chickens in a lifetime" because depending on the socioeconomic class, they're eating different parts of the animal, splitting it with someone richer or poorer than they are. If a bunch of people who only ate processed meats anyway abstained, that wouldn't equal "saving" X number of animals, it would just mean the scraps and byproducts from a bunch of people's steaks or pork chops would have something different happen to them.

The other major relevant conclusion I got from that class, was that animal agriculture is so dominant because of monoculture. People think it's animal agriculture vs. plant agriculture (or plants used for human consumption vs. using them to feed livestock), but from capitalism's point of view, feeding animals corn is just another way to use corn to generate profits.

People think we could feed the world by using the grain fed to animals to feed humans, but...the grain fed to animals, is not actually a viable diet for the human population, because it's literally just corn and soybean. Like animal agriculture is used to give some semblance of variety to the consumer's diet in a system that is almost totally dominated by like 3 monocrops.

Do y'all have any idea how much of the American diet is just corn?!?! Corn starch, corn syrup, corn this, corn that, processed into the appearance of variety. And chickens and pigs are just another way to process corn. That's basically why we have them, because they can eat our corn. It's a total disaster.

And it's even worse because almost all the USA's plant foods that aren't the giant industrial monocrops maintained by pesticides and machines, are harvested and cared for by undocumented migrant workers that get abused and mistreated and can't say anything because their boss will tattle on them to ICE.

#agriculture #it's so messed up #plants #livestock

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darkskywishes · 2 months

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Being disabled/chronically ill is expensive!

I don't know if people realize how freaking expensive it is to be disabled. I have a complex medical history, which includes two rare genetic illnesses, comorbidities associated with those two illnesses, and several mental health conditions. Just to give an idea of how expensive it is (USA-centric):

I'm forced into living in a specific city, since that's where the medical specialists for my illnesses are located in. On top of that, sometimes the specific specialists I need aren’t covered by my insurance, so I have to pay out-of-pocket. Each medical specialist (when covered by insurance) costs me $40/visit. I average 2-3 visits per month.

Wheelchairs and everything related to wheelchairs are ridiculously priced! If you’re a regular manual wheelchair user, for example, you likely need what’s referred to as a “custom ultra-lightweight wheelchair”. The main companies known for making these wheelchairs are TiLite, Quickie, RGK, Kuschall, and Ki Mobility. If you go on the websites for these manufacturers, you’ll see that just the frame will start you at $2,000+. Need titanium instead of aluminum to make the chair lighter? Extra $1,000. Need to add a seat cushion? More $$. Need to add a power assist device like a SmartDrive? Extra $6-7,000

Seriously, wheelchair parts are expensive. Manual wheelchair wheels will run you about $500 to $800 each (take a look at websites like Spinergy to see what I mean). Wheelchair tires will run at about $300 for the pair.

Mental healthcare! Competent psychiatric care is difficult to come by, at least where I live. Most psychiatrists are not contracted with any insurance companies. My own psychiatrist is $200 per visit, and that’s considered cheap in my area. Then, add on the cost of weekly therapy. My therapist is $150/session. Again, typical price for the area. Need residential treatment? As an example, my insurance quoted me $750 per day until the out-of-pocket max of $6,500 was met.

The monthly cost of medications! I take 7 medications. Even if each medication was “only” $10/month, that would total to $70/month.

The cost of specialized diets. Many chronic illnesses require special foods, supplements, and overall diets. A lot of these diets require extra time and expenses beyond what the average non-disabled person spends.

I wanted to spread some awareness on this issue because, even among my friend group, I regularly get surprised reactions on this topic. Disabled people are often low-income due to being unable to work consistently or at all, while also having some of the highest expenses—with many of those expenses having to be paid for completely out-of-pocket. While a lot of the examples I used above were specific to the US healthcare system, I’m aware that it’s still similarly expensive to be disabled in other countries as well.

A lot of this wasn’t even taking into consideration the cost of more expensive medical equipment, like power chairs, as well as irregular medical costs that occur more frequently among disabled people—like surgeries, hospitalizations, and the cost of diagnostic testing (MRIs, X-Rays, bloodwork, etc.).

Disabled people are taken advantage of when it comes to the price of medical equipment and medications because we don’t have a choice if we want to live and/or have any quality of life. We pay it, or we suffer.

#disability #disabled #actually disabled #healthcare #chronic illness #chronically ill #my thoughts #mental illness

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lyomeii · 1 year

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YANDERE! SOLO LEVELING HEADCANON

->warnings: yandere theme, manipulation, death mentions, obsession, kidnapping, children mention, Stockholm syndrome, threats, blackmail and maybe more?

-> request by anon! Can u do more headcanons for solo leveling ?(⁠ ⁠⚈̥̥̥̥̥́⁠⌢⁠⚈̥̥̥̥̥̀⁠) and @kyrielaw Yandere sung jinwoo again!! Pls????

->a/n: not a comeback for the hiatus, yet I’ve being write during my break during my studies so yeah, I wrote this since I miss posting and also because i reread the manwha again since I missed Jinwoo and the other gorgeous characters:) also this is longer than my usual works

-> thomas andre is one of the most powerful hunters of the world, a famous figure around the globe yet his significant other is rarely seeing in public, even with all knowing you name and appearance from the many photos around the internet, you are considered as a private figure from the public

-> in his penthouse is where you stay the most of your time, spending your free time in your hobbies and cleaning the house as the sweet house spouse of thomas’ who hates going out unless your dear husband is next to you to protect from the many dangerous. He gots enemies, right? And isn’t like that you need a reason to leave the safety of your home to buy something for you~ with his cards, you can buy anything from the internet and receive at home :)

-> he love seeing you cleaning the house with so much effort and when he has free time, thomas helps you in your duty. Picking up the heavy furnitures while you mob that area or putting something in the tallest cupboard, ah~ he truly loves those simple yet domestic moments with you, his sweet spouse who try their best to not move away from his touch :)

-> whatever he feels like, thomas takes you out to the best, fancy and expensive restaurant in the USA. Not only you deserve a reward and such beautiful moment for being such a cute and adorable spouse not because you gave up on running away from him and seeing your eyes sparkle seeing such delicious food gives him more years and he hopes that you continue that way, receive gifts from thomas is something that you enjoy, right?

-> physical affection is his love language, thomas loves seeing you, such a small person compared to him either next to him during those moments where he takes you out with his hand around your waist or when you two are cuddling in the bed seeing something in tv, his arms around your body make you unable to leave him and his head resting over yours bring memories of easily he is able to secure you inside this penthouse, your prison.

-> recently in the Germany’s news, a gorgeous person appears next to lennart and the people didn’t took much time to find out you who are. Many fans accounts spread some photos of you with some important information about yourself. A gorgeous model who recently got many jobs at runaway around the world with even more contacts to pose for many famous brands.

-> with that photo of you and lennart out in the web, your social medial went crazy, messages, likes and comments spamming about the secret relationship that you share with the S-hunter. And you even being seeing as a confident person, you are panicked and anxious about such things you’ve reading about those people, threats and name calling you terrible names, oh! they made you crying nonstop til you felt lennart’s hand on your shoulder

-> between sobbing, you asked for lennart to explain the entire situation to his fans, telling to the public that you two are friends since high school and were only hanging out to know what have been happening to each other lifes. The gentle smile on his face should bring you comfort, however, there is something behind it and the words coming out his mouths only confirms your thoughts, he says that you two look like a perfect couple and that would be such sad news to tell everyone that you aren’t together, he brings your face closer to his and his lips met yours, such moment that was supposed to be sweet feels as a trap, one that you aren’t going to escape

-> the next morning, lennart used his social media to confirm that indeed you are in a relationship with him for a couple years, hiding from the public to prevent hateful comments. With such words, the hateful comments and threats quirky stopped from happening and now only those who are his truly his fans are hoping for an engagement to happen between you too soon. And the other hand, you still panicked but another reason, you can’t broken up the relationship with lennart, that would destroy your career for completely and your social life! You don’t have much options than pretend to be his sweet significant other for as much he wants, however you have the feeling that he won’t let you go

-> giving gifts is his love language, seeing you wearing the finest clothes makes him feel crazy, the way those clothes fit your body and curves is to die for :) not to mention that many times you are invited to interviews or wants to go somewhere, lennart makes you wear a piece of his clothes, most of the time his coat, that way everyone will knows that you are dating him

-> congratulations! you caught zhingang’s attention and now he won’t ever let you go of his touch, even you did try to leave him and escape from his grasp, those you love will suffer the consequences, so there is much option than stay and be with him… how did that happened?

-> as you remember, the views of the journal you works for go insane whatever zhigang is on the screen. His smirk and yellow eyes make him a handsome man, many people no matter the gender fall over him and yet, his unique eyes are already settled on someone, you, the journalist who is kind famous in china for always notify the recently news related to dungeon’s and hunters. The lack of fear in your face impress him, how you stay still while reporting the live scene of the hunter stopping such monsters escape from the gates. That’s it, he wants to know more about you

-> a charity party is happening and as usual, Zhigang is there to attend and bring more people to donate to those who lost everything due to the monster, and you are there too, not able to donate since you are rich or that, but to interview the many people who are attending such event. And well, he steps in front of you, ready to be interview by such cute journalist like you. Your eyes start shining and well, you are excited to talk with a S-hunter like zhingang and gain a bonus from your boss, so yeah, you and him went to somewhere quiet and start the small interview.

-> your angelic voice almost make him want to raise from his seat and take you home, yet he control himself, zhingang can’t do that at least not yet, he needs to learn more about you in order to make you his forever. With the interview ending and you need to going back to working, he gives you his number in order to call him for more question after the event and together with the smile on his face, he almost make you go red and pass out right now, but you stay still and said goodbye to him, leaving zhingang by himself

-> days passed and no call from you, leaving zhingang thinking what could happen to his cute journalist, so he went to your work place and talk with your boss, an old man, who almost died by seeing the hunter asking about your wherebsout. The old man told the hunter why you didn’t show up to work nor called him, your family felt that you are getting older to be single, so your family made you quit and got you into a arrangement married against your boss’ wishes who tried to speak that you are a good worker, however the old man stopped trying when your family threatened him of sending you off to another country

-> angry, no, fury filled zhingang’s body who quirky left the office and went to look after you where the ceremony would be. Didn’t took long to arrive there, by the man’s worry, he arrived before the wedding happened, yet you are already wearing the classic clothes for the ceremony. Tears and messy makeup ruins your clothes while your parents scream at you for not being a good spouse to whatever person that they got you, and they only stopped with that the moment zhingang appears in front of them

-> your parents become silent and your cries ceased, and without thinking, you hugged him and begged to leave this place and your family and zhingang did exactly that. Picking you in his arms, he left the place with you falling asleep while he thinks what kind of punishment your parents should suffer after hurting you like that. But that can wait for a while, firstly, he have to take care of you

-> when you wake up, you quickly notice that isn’t the ceremony nor you house, it’s way expensive and the soft clothes in your body feel comfortable compared to your previous clothes. Even you are scared about the situation, zhingang appears from behind, hugging you and placing a kiss on your head, saying that you are now safe from your family and that you shouldn’t worry about anything but him. Even with sweet swords, you feel that is new life isn’t better nor good compared to your previous fate

-> quality time is his love language. Zhingang doesn’t really care much of what you two are doing, as long he can see you or know that you are closer to him, he feels is enough. Sometimes, he takes you out to area with less people like small city or rural area where most people don’t recognize him nor you, and takes photos of you to place it in his album

-> when a young man showed up full of injured to the hospital, you are his assigned nurse to take care of him til he wake up and leave the hospital, with someone as him lost so much blood, you fear that he isn’t leaving this place soon yet you aren’t ready to give up of him

-> everyday without losing it, you take care of his room and make sure that everything is clean to when he wakes up, the patient knows that he is care about it. Not to forget the flowers that his little sister, Jinah ( a cool girl and a new friend!) bring to him when she has time, the room become colorful with such beautiful flower, also it’s help to construct the moment whatever you are reading a book to him even knowing that he might not able to hear it

-> what you didn’t know is that Jinwoo did hear your voice and felt what you did to him. Cleaning the room, reading books to him, talking with his sister of his progress of healing, is that enough to fall in love? For Jinwoo is enough to make him do anything in your name. The instant he regains his conscience and saw you in the room, he thanked you for taking care of him during his stay and finally introduce himself, receiving a sweet smile from you that made him goes complete red

-> spending a few more days recovering at the hospital, you get to know each other better. you learn about his mother and promised to visit her whatever you have free time, Jinwoo learns that you recently moved to this part of the city, the conversation went long and you almost didn’t notice that is it time to Jinwoo leave and when he does, he doesn’t forget to share his number with you, promising to call you when he gets things done

-> a few more days passed and you receive Jinwoo’s call, asking if you could met at a nearby coffee and of course you agreed with him, saying that you will let him there. Once you arrived at the coffee, Jinwoo is looking complete different, more taller and way handsome than you remember, yet his sweet personality didn’t change at all neither the blush in his cheeks when he is talking with you, what a cutie :)

-> hearing his voice after a while does bring memories but let’s focus on the present. He paid for the little hang out and asked if you could visit his apartment, after all, his mother wake up a few days ago and she wants to met you and jinah have so much to speak with you, once again, you agreed to Jinwoo and the two of you walk to his home

-> arriving there yet none was there to met you and hearing the classical sound of the frontal door being closed made you a little anxious of what Jinwoo is going to do or say. Before anything, he guided you to the couch, seating next to you and ready to speak what is going inside his mind, he said that he is in love with you and beg to you to live with him and his family, what sweet words of him, but you try to remind him that you two only each other for a short period of time!

-> he said that’s okay! True love exist and he will show it to you as long you stay ar his side and don’t try to hurt yourself. With that, you realize that you can’t leave his apartment, the door is locked and is too high to jump by the window, so, that’s make you trap inside of this place with your new family and boyfriend :)

-> living with Jinwoo and his family isn’t bad, with his sister going to school and he going to dungeons, you and Kyung-Hye ( his mother) often spend time together, either cooking, cleaning or just hanging out around the city (with shadows attached to you and ready to tell your boyfriend if you dare to escape). The way she speaks of her son is truly amazing, never in a million years you would believe that such woman raised someone like him

-> words of affirmation is his love language! Hearing your sweet voice speaking towards him almost melt him down, even when you only say few words such as “ you did good” about his food, Jinwoo can already die in peace knowing that you loved his food and find him attractive, if you try to deny that, he knows you love speaking about his looks :)

@lyomeii || don’t repost

#yandere headcanon #yandere imagine #yandere #yandere x reader #yandere x you #yandere male #solo leveling imagine #solo leveling headcanon #yandere sung jin woo #sung jin woo imagine #yandere Thomas andre #Thomas Andre x reader #yandere Lennart Niermann #Lennart Niermann x reader #yandere Liu Zhigang #Liu Zhigang x reader #sung jinwoo imagine #yandere manhwa

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betterbemeta · 6 months

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A bit ago youtube served me this video by the wall street journal about how difficult it is for meal kit companies to stay afloat

This may be a surprise to people because if you show any interest in 'food' you're probably getting dozens of ads from meal kit companies every day. But what shocked me about the video was not really what it reported; it was what it depicted by omission, or without self-awareness.

Meal kits are NOT cheaper than groceries. This is the one thing it said outright that I think people need to hear. The marketing is manipulation based on short-term discounts that will not be sustained for any length of subscription. Economies of scale are what make stuff cheap and while the largest meal kit companies can come closest, none are anywhere near a successful grocery chain's scale.

HelloFresh has a whopping 78 percent of the market shares in the meal kit business. This is presented as a neutral fact but it displays the truth that the 'competition' between corporations is a sham: once the market giant achieves sufficient size, nothing else can catch up and only tiny niches where certain privileged consumers will want to buy an 'alternative' at great expense can coexist.

Many services have pivoted from offering meal kits with ingredients to offering fully prepared meals because people who would want to buy a meal kit aren't being daunted by the 'time to go to the store' or 'knowledge of ingredients to buy' or 'portioning ingredients' or 'reading directions.' What this implies, that the video doesn't state outright, is that average people who are lured into subscribing to food delivery services need food NOW, the ACCESS TO THE FOOD is the decision-maker, not 'convenience cooking.'

this dovetails into another video I recently watched, about the disappearance of cheap food in the USA.

(uh, ignore the watch percentage bar, I went back to it to check statistics it cites.)

the issue here being that the growing dominance of car-based transportation in the USA added a giant expense to the average person's budget, supported 'affordable' housing moving farther and farther away from centralized areas where eateries that could cheaply prepare food people depended on. So people actually didn't spend less money on food in the past, they spent more... but they had more budget for food because they spent less or even nothing on gas and housing in general was also much, much cheaper. Even adjusted for inflation.

Anyway. the reason why I am bringing that second video up. is that the first one dodges the obvious conclusion. It presents the evidence. But then doesn't ask why? Why are people so desperate to sign up for something that's cheaper than groceries, that takes less time than groceries? Why is there a market for mass appeal, because to sustain revenue you need a TON of people signing up for the discounted trial, to make up for so few long-term subscribers?? Why are people looking for an alternative to our current cheapest available options, maybe cheaper than almost any point in human history? Even with disgusting price hikes?

It is because people cannot afford the price of food with how much other things reap from their budget, or the time to prepare food they can afford. Things are much worse than the forward face of our culture depicts, and even industries that pop up to exploit the needy are grubbing for pennies

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oops-prow-did-it-again · 8 months

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Why You Should Rethink DoorDash, and Other Courier Apps: From a Driver Based in the USA

So this is part rant and part psa. I have been doing delivery work as a gig driver for DoorDash for years bc of various personal circumstances. I'm hoping to get a CDL in the near future so I can move on to a better job, but that's besides the point for right now. Further disclaimer: I only know the intricacies of DD. I do not know how precisely GrubHub, Uber Eats, etc, work, but I presume they work much the same, since I see the same complaints come from those services too.

This is in no particular order but please, if you have the time, please read it through. I'll preface this by saying I am not going to be rude or bitchy about customers or merchants here, this isn't just me whining, I'm just trying to give a level recount of my experiences with DD, and often, they are just... Not great experiences, unfortunately.

I don't know how many people realize this, but drivers get offered a base pay of $2.00-$2.50 per delivery, depending on the area. This is all DoorDash HAS to pay a driver. Every time you submit an order via DD, it gets spit out onto drivers' apps with that base pay + tip displayed. Meaning if you do not tip, every driver sees only $2-$2.50 to deliver your order. Sometimes, if enough drivers decline an order enough times, the DD algorithm will start to slowly raise the base offered pay... by about $0.25-$1 per round depending on the mileage it takes to deliver that order. This means if you do not tip, your order will most likely be extremely delayed, or bundled with another order, which will make it late, and your food cold.

**Emphasizing this: although I find low tips frustrating, I am NOT personally faulting anyone for not tipping.** DD should just pay their drivers, and it shouldn't be up to you, especially bc ordering delivery is so damn expensive. But I'm telling you this bc they certainly don't advertise it, and many people in my experience are shocked by now little it pays. Many drivers will not accept an offer that's less than $1-$1.50/mi. This means if your restaurant is 8mi away from you, and DD pays the minimum $2, you need to be tipping at least $6-$10 for most drivers to even consider it, or else it will be sitting for a long time or get bundled with a double delivery (more chances for mistakes + takes longer for the food to get to you).

Furthermore, in certain localities, DD offers an hourly rate for its drivers. This sounds good on paper, but keep in mind that this does not include gas money, and only accounts for the time from a delivery being accepted to the time it is dropped off. If you are delivering in suburbs or, god forbid, rural areas, you will spend a lot of time not making money but still burning gas returning from a home to where restaurants are so you can get your next delivery. While the app may say something impressive like $14-$17.25/hr, in reality, it's usually half that or less when you factor in downtime.

DD orders are also exorbitantly more expensive than if you buy directly from the merchant because DD charges the merchant 15-30% of the menu price to use their platform, and the merchants pass this on, usually plus a little extra, to you. This is before you even consider "delivery fees," which are not paid to drivers and are pretty much exclusively pocketed by DD. Also, DD will often choose a store farther away from you (so, say, a McDonald's that's 5mi away from you as opposed to the one that's 1mi away) specifically so they can charge more on fees. *Sometimes* this is just bc the closer store isn't enrolled in DD, but oftentimes, it isn't.

ADDENDUM ON THIS, HOWEVER: If you are ordering directly from a merchant that you know does not have actual in-house drivers, but is offering delivery anyway, like Wendy's or McDonald's, understand that these merchants are going to send these deliveries through to DD or Uber Eats. These orders have cryptic names for items on the Dasher's end and often we cannot contact you if there's an issue with your order, because the phone numbers provided to the Dasher's app never work. If you know for certain the merchant has its own delivery team (most pizza places, Chick-fil-A, Panera, etc), please order delivery directly through them, but if you know they do not (Wendy's, McDonald's), DO NOT ORDER delivery through their apps. It displays poorly on the drivers end and is often more expensive and a less ideal experience for you.

DD does offer DashPass, a subscription service that, for $9.99/mo, says it slashes delivery fees and other costs. Not really; the amount you pay in DashPass, especially the longer you have it, often exceeds the fees you would pay if you simply bought orders without DashPass. Also, it will advertise at you constantly via notifications and emails which will make you more likely to spend more on delivery that you wouldn't have in the first place, further eroding whatever savings you'd gain from DashPass.

DoorDash also can do a thing where they enroll stores in their platform without that store's permission. These orders require Dashers to use a red card, a notoriously buggy debit card that is supposed to get loaded with the amount of money it takes to cover the order by DD. The restaurants do not get any extra profits from these, and many store managers would love to prevent this from happening, but it requires legal action that is infeasible for most stores to do on their own. This causes friction and conflicts between store managers and drivers, delays for the customers, and solely profits DD.

DD ***does not*** reimburse for any amount of gas or car repair costs. Instead, they offer a company debit card which has tons of hidden fees for their drivers, and gives a small % cashback on gas. It is an overwhelmingly bad deal, but they use it as a shield against accusations that they don't support drivers against the cost of gas. They do...but only if you let them be your bank. Otherwise, you get your pay the Tuesday after the week you worked, or you can cash out immediately via the FastPay feature - for a $1.99 fee out of the money you earned.

DD support teams (and I know this is not unique by any measure to DD but it feels worth mentioning) are based in Taiwan, I believe, as well. I have absolutely nothing against the support teams, for they are doing the best with what they have, but DD absolutely weaponizes language barriers and the difficulty in communication to try to silence customers and dashers alike when there is a problem. DD seems to hope that if you get frustrated enough trying to talk to support (once again, not the workers' faults, the call center is absolutely being exploited too, I just don't have firsthand enough experience with that work to talk about the specifics of how), you will simply give up and not bother trying to seek a refund or half pay.

On that note, if a delivery has to be canceled for whatever reason, your driver will not get paid regardless of the time they spent on it. Very very rarely they will give "half pay," which is half of the promised payout, but only if you were on the delivery for an excessive length of time (i.e., 1+ hours).

Furthermore, if a delivery is marked as undelivered, DD will issue a contract violation against the driver. It is then up to the driver to submit proof that they completed the delivery, via pictures or video evidence, even though DD tracks our phones the entire time we are delivering and should be able to see if we were there or not. **New drivers are not properly warned about this,** so oftentimes when you have a "hand it to the customer" delivery, drivers don't think to take pictures or videos, and dashcams are expensive, not everyone has one. It is extremely hard to argue your way out of a contract violation if you do not have proof.

If you get 3 or more contract violations, you will be immediately suspended from the platform, and 2 puts you at risk of it. If you complete 100 deliveries without incident since the one that gave you the violation, it *will* just go away... But this is a subtle tactic used to scare drivers into taking more (usually very badly paying) orders, because they fear deactivation.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't try to get a refund, if you legitimately did not receive your order. But please, try contacting your driver directly before you contact support, and if you must contact support, really consider whether someone losing a job, even if it a side gig, is worth the amount of money you spent. You can often just lie and tell DD the order is completely wrong and they'll refund it without punishing the driver, as that's seen as a merchant error.

Also, I don't think many customers realize this: we CANNOT see delivery instructions before we accept a delivery, and they are difficult to see until after the delivery is picked up (as they are only available on a floating widget badge). If you ask for extra sauces or other things in the delivery instructions, 9 times out of 10 we will not see it until we are already on the road and headed to you. Please don't hate drivers for this; most of the drivers I've seen are more than happy to do whatever you want! But msg us via the app, DO NOT use the delivery instructions. Delivery instructions is for instructions on how to find your house or apartment if the numbers aren't very visible, or telling us to call you instead of come to your door when we arrive, that sort of thing. In fact, please be as descriptive as possible for the delivery instructions on this front- if you're ordering from a business, tell us the business name. If you're ordering from an apt, tell us the apartment complex name. If you're ordering from a house, tell us the color of your house or the cars in the driveway. It's all very helpful!

One last thing before I wrap this up: safety. Delivering is an extremely dangerous job. Pizza delivery, for example, is one of the most dangerous professions, and DD's safety features are even worse than those places. DD has implemented a feature for you to contact 911 via the Dasher app in emergencies, but often, this would still be too late. DD does NOT vet the areas for safety that they release the platform into, and there is no real recourse for violent customers aside from talking to support, which takes time and often won't communicate the issue effectively. Sometimes this works, and customers will rarely get banned from Doordash if they threaten, harass, or injure a driver. But the vast majority of these cases go unreported.

Loose dogs and carjacking are also major problems. Customers failing to notify other people in their households that they ordered delivery has led to me being threatened before. I've had people answer the door in their underwear. I had someone try to invite me into his house while wearing nothing but briefs. I had someone step out of their pickup truck carrying two rifles directly in front of me right before I delivered to their house once. I've had dogs nearly bite me - thankfully none have, I'm luckier than many others, but it's still a significant risk. A lot of people seem to trust their dogs when they really should not.

All of this, for $2.25 in base pay + a few dollars in tips.

I really do love delivering, and I do appreciate the freedom DD gives me in choosing my work schedule right now. However, the compensation is woefully bad, the company scams merchants, customers, and drivers alike, and the working conditions are very unsafe.

Idk how many people here really use DD, or what in particular can even be done about most of these issues, but I hope this enlightened some folks.

#doordash #dd #gig economy #gig work #gig #uber eats #grubhub #delivery #driving #psa #rant #vent

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esoteric-chaos · 24 days

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Disability-Friendly Prosperity Magic

So let's face it, those who are disabled have a hard time with money in general, either from being unable to work or not having a steady, strong source of income. Sometimes we can monetize our hobbies, admittedly at a limited capacity (some less or more than others).

From our relationship with money, money mindsets, and income streams, it's hard. That's not to shame anyone, either. Some overspend to cope, while others are incredibly frugal.

In this post, I will review some resources, tips, and tricks for the struggling disabled witch.

The Mundane Before Magical

Step one is to make a budget and track your expenses. I'm serious. Sit down, look at where your money is going, and decide on a budget that you can realistically stick to. I use the 50/30/20 rule as a budget, which is 50% Needs, 30% Wants, and 20% Savings. However, I recently switched wants and savings around so I can save for a trip.

Now I do not want you to worry about a big fancy budget method. I don't want you to overthink it. Here is a resource (Canada, but it can be used in the USA) to start one. Focus on your needs like housing, utilities, basic clothing, food, etc. Then go into wants and entertainment, and finally, savings. I suggest you put any debt payoff into the needs category if you have any debt. You do not want a blow to your credit report.

Now do you have any financial goals? Going back to school? Debt payoff? A trip? Even a big medical trip coming up? Here is a resource (Canada, but it can be used in the USA) that can help you create a goal and a plan to pay this off.

Savings, please, your SAVINGS. It is vital to have an emergency fund. Job loss? Death? Vet bills? Children? Dentist? You better believe that piles up. It is recommended if you are single to have at least 3 months of income saved up, with a child and single at least 6 months. Married on two incomes, the same amount. Married with one income, it is recommended without children at least 6 months saved up and with children 9 months. It is vital you have the means to take care of yourself if an emergency strikes. It is never recommended that money be stopped from being put into these accounts.

If you are in debt, look at your debt relief options. Sometimes there are services out there that can advocate for you regarding debt. They will help you develop a plan, understand the relief options, sign documents with you, and develop a credit rebuilding program. These services are out there; even if they are paid, they can help you pay off some of your debt, especially credit card debt.

Educate yourself on investing, basic investing, and financial literacy, in stock markets and everything beyond. Know what kind of accounts you can hold and what could help you in your situation.

Need help applying for disability? Here's a resource for the USA (a lot can also be used for Canada).

The Magical

Upkeep a prosperity altar. Work with the spirit of money like you would any other spirit. Honour it, talk to it, venerate it. Money loves to be valued, moved, not wasted, and used in charity. Most importantly, money takes time. Money takes time to grow and build a relationship with.

This is the most important thing I've learned about money. It wants to be worked with. It's sitting there. It wants to help and aid you in ways that you need.

Work with this altar on Thursdays, incorporating the spirit of Jupiter. Jupiter rules over finances. Long steady finances, not quick finances. Jupiter rules over business, legal and all things finances. Jupiter is a slower-moving planet.

You can also incorporate the spirit of Mercury on Wednesdays along with your Jupiter workings. Mercury is a fast-moving planet, a planet for fast-moving money. However, you must build a long, steady form of finances over quick, easy cash (but sometimes you do need it right now).

You can create a money bowl and work with it on this altar, a Jupiter cashbox (I will make a future post on this), or a manifestation mirror box filled with petitions, sigils and your investment/banking information.

Fill your altar with greens and gold, imagery for wealth and abundance, pocket change, and anything else that symbolizes wealth.

Do not forget to leave offerings for your money altar. A simple glass of water can do but try to do more if you can.

Road opener workings or petition with an offering for the cross-road spirits who can unblock blockages in your way.

Final Take Away

I know this might not help everyone, but I sincerely hope this helps somebody. Financial literacy was not taught to everyone, nor were proper budgeting tips. I wanted to share what I've learned over the years as I believe it is vital information for some of the information I have collected.

Blessings

#witchcraft #witch #spoonie magic #spoonie witch #prosperity magic #prosperity spell #prosperity #witchblr #spoonie withcraft #money manifestation #money management #money magic #money spell #prosperity altar

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zoronoas · 2 years

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you know how they say, when it rains it pours

hi, im noa, latino trans guy and this is my partner andrea whos autistic, and these ^ are our disabled pets. misa got her perineal gland inflamed and is on cone of shame duty (shes literally leaking from her ass at walkmart........) and melo is on treatment forever for his chronic eye issue, its still being investigated

generally we would financially be okay, but andreas main job is on hold atm for the launch of the startup, and her other job being a tutor was on break due to the school year in the usa. now it’s back, but it pays only a month after the month you actively worked, meaning this month we are very short on money :(

we already paid andreas medical loan, but we are coming short to pay for pet expenses and car tickets..... along with food and stuff, rip. unfortunately i dont work bc i study full time in the worlds worst town so there is no jobs available. ive tried online stuff to no luck :/

we live in brazil so a dollar goes a LONG way, if you cant donate a reblog helps!!

andrea also takes writing commissions (shes really good, she has a degree on english + art history and a masters on art history + on going master on museum studies!!!). here's her Kofi

v*nmo @Andrea-Glenn-19

P*yp*l

if you need proof just message me, im open to showing it!!

#plsss helppppppppppp #this month is going to be a BITCH #D:

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lifblogs · 28 days

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Tagged by: @sindar-princeling

Are you named for anyone? Nope, not really. I have a name I might switch to irl, which is my name here, Lif. So really I just named myself after the human woman who survived Ragnarok by sleeping through it.

When was the last time you cried? Last night at midnight. I had to hold in my sobs so hard, and it was literally just over a character death. It really hits me.

Do you have kids? Does a very needy kitty boy count? I'm on mom duty with him for hours every day, and I lost sleep in high school doing all the mom stuff: feeding him, burping him, giving him medicine, giving him baths, reading to him so he could sleep okay, singing him to sleep (these were all vet recommended, and they helped his temperament a lot [he's mentally ill]). I do want kids someday. Almost had one in 2020. I still think about her, especially as May is coming up, and she was supposed to be born then. I don't bring this up to make anyone sad, or feel pity. It's just, part of my life, you know?

What sports do/have you played? Archery!! I haven't been able to do it since an injury in 2013 (yes, I realize this happened forever ago at this point), but it was fun. I should maybe try getting back into it. The lanes are expensive though, and I would need a lot of good places to sit down in between shooting.

Do you use sarcasm? That I do.

What's the first thing you notice about people? Same as sindar-princeling, I think. Probably the facial expressions. Next I look for something to compliment them on.

What's your eye colour? Really dark brown.

Scary movies or Happy endings? I feel like these are not opposite ends of a spectrum or anything. I want to say happy endings, but my favorite Star Wars movies are the tragedies: Revenge of the Sith, Rogue One, The Siege of Mandalore.

Any talents? Oh heck yes! I can play the clarinet, sing, compose, act, write, cat photography (trust me, it is a talent and a skill), edit pictures, and bake (I'm better than average at decorating though, but still kinda suck at it).

Where were you born? New England, USA.

What are your hobbies? Right now it's mostly reading, watching TV and movies, listening to music, playing video games, and writing.

Do you have any pets? I have 2! A maine coon girl named Alley Cat who will be turning 17 this Saturday! She's so silly, and a sweetie, and just full of love. Sometimes she annoys me because she thinks I'm her littermate (we were kids at the same time). She also still snurgles (suckling while kneading at the same time)!! And she loves food. She’s just so stunning and adorable. And then there's Loki! That's my baby boy. He picked me to be his mommy when I was 15. I've been there for him through almost everything (sadly couldn't be there for a scary hospitalization when I was in college a few states over). He's silly, he's lovable and loves giving love, he loves kissies, he likes to be brushed, he loves making biscuits. He loves playtime, and he loves getting into trouble. I have the best kitties.

How tall are you? 5'4 (I still want to cry about somehow growing an inch in my early twenties)

Favourite subject in school? PHYSICS AND BAND!!!

Dream job? I really don't know anymore. I wanted to be a professional clarinet player, but that couldn't happen, I wanted to be an actor, but that wasn't able to happen, I wanted to be an editor: again, nope. Screenwriter? Maybe? Author? I don't know anymore.

And here are my kitties!

Alley is on the left, and Loki is on the right. I forgot to mention that he’s an American Ringtail.

Tagging: @miss-mouse99, @feeling-uncomfy, @evilwriter37, @cascigarette, @knowerofuselessfacts, @err404r, @poisonedyouth, and @vanillachip101.

#tag game #about me #personal

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xiaq · 1 year

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Hi! I read an old post of yours from when you were teaching, where you said you earned 39k a year, and that it wasn't a lot of money. That would be 3k a month + 3k end-of-year bonus, especially if it's tax free (as in, all money already goes to you, with taxes already paid). In my country, that's a very good income. How much does life cost in the USA, for you to say that academia is not a career that makes you lots of money? I think I'd need context to understand, if you can explain, please :)

Hi there! So what it comes down to is cost of living coupled with an inability to put money away for retirement.

Also, that 39k is before taxes. So I was really making around 32k annually or 2,600 a month. No bonuses.

When I was making that, I was living in Dallas, TX and then Gunnison, CO. The average rent cost for a one bedroom apartment in Dallas was $1,500 base per month and in Gunnison, CO the average rent cost for a one bedroom apartment is $1,700. In both places I paid less than the average, but my total costs with paid parking, utilities, etc. were around $1,500. In addition to housing, I had to pay for health insurance which was around $2,000 a year, car insurance which was around $1,500 a year, and then general car maintenance which was $2-3,000 a year depending on if I needed new tires. I walked or rode my bike as much as possible, but was still spending at least $50 a month on gas (more when I'd go camping or drive home for the weekend 3 hrs away). I also had to pay for vet bills, food for me and my dog, and standard life stuff. Even with couponing and a strict budget, I was spending around $300 a month on food for me and my dog in Dallas and $400 per month in CO since food was more expensive in the mountains (like, a little box of strawberries was $8, a 2-serving bag of salad was $5). Also, even though I was paying for health insurance, I still had to pay copays and out of pocket for bloodwork and some specialists, which was a couple more thousand a year. I rarely went out to eat, I don't drink or smoke, and I bought all my clothes and books second-hand. Pretty much any time I traveled it was because my parents or friends were going somewhere and I could tag along, or I was car camping. So I was living a very frugal lifestyle and still had no money left at the end of the year to put toward retirement based on my teaching salary.

So, as a breakdown my approximate annual costs were (I just went and found an old budget spreadsheet from 2020)

Rent+utilities+wifi/phone $18,000 Health insurance $2,000 Car insurance $1,500 Car maintenance $2,000 Gas $1,000 Vet bills/dog food $1,000 Food $3,500 Medical copays and oop expenses: $2,000 Clothes $500 Books $500 Home-goods, laundry, cleaning products, misc $500 Skin, hair, hygiene products $500 Total cost: $33k You'll notice this is more than my teaching salary. I was doing a bit of tutoring and ghostwriting on the side and my parents were kind enough to pay for some of my car maintenance that year, which is the only reason I didn't end up in financial trouble.

Importantly, I had no money at all for emergencies or putting toward retirement. I was also working 60-70hrs a week, had very little opportunity for career/salary growth, and was constantly being asked to pick up additional unpaid labor for the benefit of students/the program. I loved teaching, but there was no way that lifestyle was sustainable and there wasn't any hope of retirement. AND I was one of the few people who had no student loans to pay off by the time I finished graduate school. Thanks to academic scholarships, living at home, and my parent's assistance, I had no debt. That is highly unusual for people in academia and I can't even imagine the stress it would have added to my life if I was trying to pay off student loans every month as well.

Also, I'd just like to point out that adjunct professors make even less than I was making as a lecturer, and even tenured profs don't make all that much more. The humanities in academia in the US is not the place to be if you're wanting to make a reasonable amount of money for the amount of work you're doing. :( By contrast, working in tech, I'm now making $100k a year (78k take home), I work 40-50 hrs a week, I'm putting money into my retirement every month, and my work/life balance is magnificent. I'm also up for a promotion in a few months and I have a lot of opportunities for career and salary growth in the future. For the first time in my adult life I don't feel like I have to count every penny, and I think I may actually be able to retire some day.

Anyway, I hope that helps give context!

#also the environment is so much healthier #love my boss and coworkers #don't feel like it's a constant competition #mylife #academia #professor things #sigh #money #maybe im jaded #but most of the current and former academics i know #say theres only money to be made at big name schools #if your field is humanities

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writingonleaves · 1 month

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lets talk about my fave couple!!! late night random clem x nico thoughts / headcannons below <3

thinking about how abnormal their relationship is in terms of the norms of who hockey players usually end up with (according to queen dr. lexi brown, it's just easier for the SO to have a job that's more flexible in case the player gets traded, etc etc) and thinking about how clem's aware of this and worries about it sometimes but nico just doesn't Care about all that. one of his favorite things about her is that she's so dedicated and smart and works so hard. if, god forbid, he ever were to be traded, or she has to move for her job, he would fight the hardest for them to work.

clem's love language is acts of service while nico's is quality time. clementine practically cries the first time nico orders her food to her apartment when he's on the road because he knew that she was having a hard week. nico kisses her senseless when clem just pops over to his apartment when they both have a rare day off and asks him what he wants to do

clem is Not a dancer, but get a few drinks in her and she'll be the first one on the dancefloor when they go out. nico is not a dancer either, but lets himself gets dragged out because he just wants to see her smile

nico's rarely in america in the summer due to the off-season. but his plans shift once they start dating, and he always makes it so that they're together on her birthday ("i have to miss so many big moments because of hockey. the least i can do is be there to celebrate you on a big day when for once, hockey isn't a part of my life")

in the 2026 olympics, if switzerland and the US end up playing against each other, clem is torn. she would wear a switzerland beanie and scarf but an old hughes usa jersey from their ntdp days

once clem is comfortable in her position of the captain's significant other, she gets inspired to partner with a local foundation that helps disadvantaged kids in the jersey area get access to the expensive sport of hockey. she also is a big advocate for any hockey fights cancer initiative for obvious reasons

nico eventually gets a tattoo for clementine(!!) i'm thinking a small clementine outline somewhere where it's not seen very often. maybe right near the one he currently has of his family's star signs. everyone FREAKS when they find out what it is

nico is actually very touchy, especially if he's had a few drinks and is in an environment where he can be relaxed and let his guard down a bit. he's proud to be with her and makes it obvious that he's not available when they're out somewhere. it takes a bit for clem to get used to it and welcome it, but she relishes in the security.

if anyone has any more ideas or wants me to elaborate, let me know!!! i loveee a good headcannon

#the blue au

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ghostingghosty · 14 days

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Hello, I'm an Iranian (though I don't live in Iran anymore) and I saw your posts about Iran's retaliation attack on Isreal, I wanted to say a few things and hope you post this.

All the things that you posted and reblogged about Iran's retaliation attack on Isreal is true. BUT the fact that Iran sent the drones has terrified the Iranian population (whether they live in Iran or not) because this means there's a higher chance of Iran going to full on war with Isreal, and the same thing that is happening at Palestine right now happen to Iran too.

I wanted to bring to light how little the world actually cares about Iran (or the middle east just in general). How little news there is on Iran. How the way that westerners perceive Iran is most of the time wrong.

For most of us Iranians are sure that if Isreal DOES declare war with Iran, Iran's gonna get even less recognition than Palestine. The west is not even going to ACKNOWLEDGE us. Especially with the USA having Israel's back. There is going to be so much misinformation.

It is known that Iran has a problematic government. To the point that most Iranians (such as myself) want the Islamic Regime gone and instead want a government that is not based on religion and prioritises its PEOPLE.

Look, I have lived in Iran and the Islamic Regime simply DOES NOT CARE about its people. The government is already ruining the lives of Iranians in Iran by not managing anything. Inflammation is so bad (everything being 3 to 10+ times more expensive); people don't have access to international social media and websites (they're all banned, you need a VPN to access one); the food is already of bad quality and people are cutting rice and meat from their diets because of inflammation which led to malnutrition percentages rising dramatically the past 5 years; the air is so, so much polluted it's considered dangerous and there are so many days that the government has to close schools in fear of children fainting and passing out; there is NO water! Iran is facing an absolute crazy water shortage, especially in the south of Iran. There are people dying from dehydration and malnutrition and farmers don't have enough water to grow crops. And climate change is even contributing to this lack of water. There was barely any rain las fall and winter. That's also without taking in the factor that with summer comming, most places in Iran will have a temperature of 30+ degrees Celsius, with some cities hitting 50 degrees. Journalists are sent to prison left and right for speaking the truth and journalists from other countries don't even dare to step foot near Iran. And you can get arrested for literally anything at this point. We're drowning in sanctions. There's so much censorship in the media that you genuinely have no idea what source to trust and what source to not. On top of that, Iran has been dealing with a large number of floods the past years and Iran is a country that is prone to large earthquakes at any moment.

There is about 85 million people living in Iran, with 20 million of them living in the capital, Tehran. That's a huge population compared to Palestine. Imagine how many more people could Isreal kill if they decide to bomb just the capital, or one of the other major cities.

Just imagine how horrible it would be if Isreal actually starts another war. Another genocide.

There is actual fear. Iranians have been living in actual fear for the past 3 years as any move from Iran could trigger Isreal or the US to attack us. Just like Palestinians, Iranians don't deserve this. Even if our government is horrible.

I'm genuinely scared, even though I don't live in Iran anymore, I still have friends and family there. I don't want them to get hurt, or worse, die. I don't want WW3 to start. Because it feels like WW3 is about to start.

Firstly, I want to make it very clear that I do not support the Iranian government, not that I am claiming that you claim that I do, as you did not, but to anyone who reads this and have that inclination – I do not support the Iranian government and my former post was not made in the support of the Iranian government. What I did attempt to do with my post, was to explain that the Iranian retaliation was an understandable answer; Iran not retaliating in the way that they did, would have proven to Israel that they can do whatever they want without any consequences. The West did not care about the bombing of their consulate—or, really, any of the crimes that Israel is committing—so what is there to do besides a retaliation? On the note of this attack, Iran also knew that their retaliation would not cause a humanitarian catastrophe in Israel – they have the US' defence system on their side. From my understanding, not one person in “Israel” died because of the retaliation, and I would imagine Iran also knew that would be the probable outcome. If Israel attacks Iran back, due to the retaliation, that will not be because of Iran’s wrongdoings in this situation, but simply because Israel is an egocentric killer with a war pervert as their owner.

Now, I understand that the retaliation, especially for Iranians, is scary. In my post, I very briefly mentioned the victims of the “war against terror” that the US, and allies, engaged in after 9/11, where hundreds of thousands were hurt and killed and millions were otherwise affected by the invasion. This is the reality of what could happen if America chooses (with a line under chooses) to join Israel in an “answer” (moreover, vengeance – how do they dare to retaliate?!). The US uses force in the most disgusting of ways, and I find it fitting here, also, to state that I do not support the US government either. I believe the US is the most horrific of war machines, and I understand why the prospects of that force invading is frightening, especially taking into consideration the echoes of American terror and imperialism that can still be felt in the Middle East today (especially when America still looms over the region; take Israel as the most visible example).

That said, and as I stated before, what happens, and what is and has been happening, are all on the hands of Israel, the US and the West. Israel could stop the “war”—the genocide—tomorrow, if they wanted to. They could, too, stop the prospects of a war in Iran, or the world, by accepting the retaliation and not doing anything, especially when their “answer” would be nothing but a show of ego. Israel (and The US and allies) is the sole aggressor in this conflict, not Iran. The conversation of Iran's attack being labelled “unprecedented” (a word used by politicians to undermine the rationality of Iran's decision) from Israeli allies is also dumbfounding. Had Iran shot any US consulate, America would have retaliated in the exact same way, with more casualties, and everyone who are now criticising Iran would have been cheering them on.

Now, despite my lengthy answer (I apologise), I agree with your points and I find them extremely important. I sit in a western country far away from Iran, Palestine, the Middle East, and the conflict as a whole. I have no family, friends, or people I directly know in the region, and therefore my answer is influenced by my location. I feel that we, with “we” I mean those “unaffected”, at times forget the people affected by these decisions. Had my government chosen to retaliate against a diplomatic building getting shot, especially in the dire situation that we are in now, I would probably have had the same thought – let us not; I do not want to be in war. That said, had Iran done nothing then Israel would have done this again; and again; and again; and again. I believe that Iran’s move, especially seeing as no one died (again, from my understanding), was the only thing they could have done. If war breaks loose, it is the sole fault of Israel and the US; though I understand that such does not matter, when you stand on the opposite end of the barrel.

My answer might not be especially useful, but I used this space to clear some of my own thoughts, as well as to get your post out in the world as I find it immensely important. The West is an extremely racist and bigoted place, despite how we like to portray ourselves. Not only do we (using “we” very generally here) not like Iran, but I would argue that much of our politics surrounds itself by being racist towards muslims in general. Your post shows what I wish I could scream at any fucking racist piece of shit that I have ever met.

Thank you for reading, despite the lengthiness.

#ask #asks #free palestine #iran

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atmosphericradar · 1 year

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Homelessness is a problem across American cities right now because the systems of society and governance currently in place are striking downward at homeless people.

Here is an example of a small project to extend some basic sanitation services to the homeless people of Seattle, WA (a historically left-leaning major city in the USA): installing some public hand-washing stations.

Here is an article from the Seattle Times trying to identify why a $100,000 community project to install less than 50 public sinks, started in 2020 to help combat the pandemic, yielded only 5 installed sinks as of early 2023.

"It was with urgency that council members approved the $100,000 for the street sinks, based on a cheap and easy-to-install prototype by the Clean Hands Collective — a group formed in 2020 of architects, University of Washington professors and students, and a then-middle-school-age student who teamed up with Real Change, Seattle’s street newspaper. The design uses plants and soil to filter gray water.

An original pitch by the Clean Hands Collective estimated $100,000 could pay for 63 sinks.

Later, after the money was awarded between Clean Hands’ and a more high-tech design, the two groups estimated closer to 43 sinks."

This is a slam dunk project for the city! It's cheap, it's feel-good, and it helps vulnerable people during a time of crisis. Remember that most public places with washrooms and restrooms closed their doors during the Pandemic. These public sinks are intended to provide a temporary solution for homeless people unable to access previously-available sanitation services. In November of 2020 this was an easy political win, so of course the City signed on.

What happened? Well, the City abandoned the public sinks project, letting it slam directly into the wall of bureaucracy that currently impeeds an untold number of other grassroots public works infrastructure projects.

Firstly, the City took six months to actually provide any of the allotted $100,000. Seattle Public Utilities (under then-Mayor Jenny Durkan) "wanted to open up bidding to more people, expand the scope of the project to include things like food waste disposal, and address concerns such as ADA compliance, greywater disposal, and tripping hazards, among a long list of other issues," according to this article published in the South Seattle Emerald. All of these stumbling blocks are common in US politics: feature/scope creep, opening the project to additional bidders, and safety concerns & ADA compliance. The last thing in that list is the most reasonable, IMO.

But the first two are classic American Political Bungles. There's a pandemic, and homeless people in the city are also dying of various other preventable diseases. So instead of moving forward on a cheap and good enough sanitation solution, the City wastes time by: looking their gift horse in the mouth by asking for an additional solution to another unrelated problem, and also by asking around for other organizations to propose a competing solution. And the City did find another competitor: the City directly asked a makerspace in South Lake Union, Seattle Makers, to propose a design. Seattle Makers proposed a more expensive sink design, which successfully won the bid and got 40% of the total $100,000 project money.

OK, so it's now May of 2021. This $100,000 quick-fix public sink project now has two separate volunteer-driven feel-good organizations making two separate sink emplacements (one of which is signifigantly more expensive), and no sinks on the ground after six months. At least the sinks are ADA compliant? Sure, but the cheap portable restrooms that the city has also been deploying during the pandemic (aka "portapotties" or "sanicans") are not ADA compliant. The City is imposing restrictions on this lightly-funded volunteer project that the City won't hold itself to! Rules for thee, not for me.

Now it comes time to deploy the sinks. Except there are rules on where the sinks can and can't be. As the South Seattle Emerald reports: "The Clean Hands Collective hired a contractor to work with the seven district-based councilmembers to identify appropriate sites for 63 sinks — nine in each council district — but the City now requires the sinks to be near a storm drain and a fire hydrant, which knocks many sites off the list. “If we’d known these specifications [from the beginning], we could have saved a lot of work and money,” McCoy said." If the City truly wanted these sinks deployed ASAP, they would have presented these restrictions to the organizations building and deploying the sinks at the start of the project, ideally during the bidding process they demanded occur, so that the organizations signing on have the clearest possible idea of what they are signing up for.

And you had better believe it doesn't stop there, because according to the earlier Seattle Times article: "organizers have not installed one sink on city land due to strict permitting requirements and “outright anti-homeless sentiments.”" That's right, the City refused to allow the sinks on any City-owned land as of early 2023! The same government that paid for these public-access sinks to be installed won't permit them to be installed on public land!

As a result of this, all of the deployed sinks are on private land. And both sink-making organizations are having trouble finding additional landowners who are willing to host the public sinks (shocking, I know).

There have been other hurdles as well. Real Change claims that the City required: "every site had to receive an individual permit, versus receiving a blanket permit that could work across sites." This follows the trend of the City obstructing its own project. Seattle Makers ran into an issue with insurance: "Jeremy Hanson, director of Seattle Makers... spent the first several months getting appropriate insurance so he could haul the sinks and large amounts of water. He also had to get the sink design approved by Seattle Public Utilities." Note that these "first several months" occured after the City's six-month post-approval rigamarole. And why couldn't the city send insured tow trucks or City-owned maintenance vehicles to move these sinks? Surely that would be a better use of time and money, both of which are at a premium as people are dying.

What does the City of Seattle have to say about all this? A lot, and very little. Firstly, the City as an organization clearly understands the need for such facilities. According to the Seattle Times: "[the City] stood up six sinks around the city, separate from the street sink program. And today, the city currently manages three shower trailers and eight hygiene stations." So the City was deploying it's own hygiene project in parallel.

This begs the question of why the City invested in this community-driven public sink project in the first place, if they planned to deploy their own facilities? In the same Seattle Times article as above, the paper reports:

"Jamie Housen, spokesperson for [now-Mayor] Harrell, said he sees this delay as evidence that city-led implementation would have worked better than community-based implementation.

“The city’s staff are equipped to site and install this kind of facility,” Housen said, “as they did when they used their ongoing experience with hygiene programs to quickly deploy portable toilets, sinks, showers and laundry facilities for flood victims in South Park earlier this year.”"

Fuckers! If the City has the best ability to install these public sinks, why isn't it doing anything to help install them??? This was supposed to be a cheap and fast-deploying temporary relief measure! The City is the one holding up the process for years via red tape and denying use of public land!

As of early 2023, Seattle Makers "have four sinks that are built and looking for a home," and Real Change said "a few sinks are built and sitting in storage, waiting to be installed." But it's doubtful the city will ever allow them to be installed. It appears as though Seattle spent $100,000 on optics, then got cold feet and strangled the project. Gallingly, the City also went so far as to deploy 6 of its own sinks, despite the fact that the community project had built sinks available to deploy! In theory and practice this is a good thing, but the City imposed onerous restrictions in order to subdue it's own homeless aid response, from more than 40 sinks down to just 11. And this is just sinks!

Seattle is commonly touted as one of the most progressive cities in America, and its citizen community might embody that, but the City itself certainly does not. It refuses to help homeless people, and it refuses in the most Neoliberal way possible. If it truly cared, it would lift the bureaucratic barriers to helping them. It could clearly deploy all kinds of emergency sanitation services to the South Park flood victims; but those people were homeowners.

Governments should enable the community to help the community. The people of Seattle want to help the homeless, but the City won't let them. I can only imagine what cities with less progressive reputations are doing to their homeless people.

#housing #humanism #bureaucracy #news media #my posts #the opposite of #solarpunk #pacific northwest #long post #healthcare #planning and organization #neoliberalism

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fumblingmusings · 1 year

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You ready for the most niche thing ever but hey this is what we do here you just have to bear with me as I take 3,000 years to get to the point because learning more about the repeal of Britain's Corn Laws in the 19th Century the more it's just a microcosm of that oh so blessed North American Triangle of Britain and America making deals and Canada going hey wait a second dynamic. Poor Mattie playing second fiddle at... nearly every interaction involving these two.

So. Corn. The Corn Laws were passed after the Napoleonic Wars by Britain to keep prices high for domestic producers, of course making lovely profits for landowners, rather than the farmers who actually grew the stuff. It also prioritised colonial grains, so Canada got a boon with its wheat and flour. Nice example of Mercantilism right there.

The problem wassssssss by the 1840s you have the Irish Famine, food prices are too gosh dang high, no-one has disposable income because factory owners are cutting wages wherever they can, and it's so blatantly obvious that this system only profits the top 10% of British Society. There's no shortage of food, it just costs too fucking much. Ireland is starving and the government is sitting on their hands being useless.

A lot of pressure later, Free Trade is favoured over Mercantilism, and the Corn Laws are dropped. Britain can start importing wheat, barley and other cereals form the cheapest supplier: the US. This is not coincidental that the main MP pushing for their repeal - Richard Cobden - was a massive fan of the USA, doing a lot to try and get the two countries to be friendlier to each other. He subscribed to the 'the more economically entangled you are with another country the less likely you are to fight them' which... has its truths.

So... cheap bread good? So that's one thing.

EXCEPT Canada got completely screwed over since they had gotten priority for any externally grown grain for most of the 1840s - causing a bubble in their market. So when the Corn Laws got repealed and it was open season to the cheapest supplier much of Canada's businesses went bankrupt and following series of unfortunate events semi related to corn people burnt Montreal's Parliament and the capital moved to Toronto and it gave yet another push towards Confederation in the 1860s.

So that's a second thing.

It also kind of screwed over the domestic UK farming industry as the age old 'why buy domestic expensive if foreign cheap?' came into play and another wave of emigrants move to the US and the Dominions in the second half of the 19th century because being an agricultural labourer ain't what it used to be (like 100,000 of people with those jobs 'vanish' from the census within ten years, going to the city of abroad). The fact that, compared to 1830 where Britain imported just 2% of its grain, to the 1880s where it was 45%, (65% for wheat)... Uh-oh.

So that's a third thing.

ALTHOUGH, this did have another side affect of ensuring Britain could not get involved in the American Civil War like okay yes the South was very much banking on the need for cotton to push Britain to intercede but psych! The working class people of Lancashire are braver than any Confederate solider and refuse to work with cotton picked by enslaved peoples and would literally rather starve. Especially as, at that point 40% of the wheat people ate came from Northern US states. What's more important? Bread or cotton?

So... that's a fourth thing.

Anyway. Corn.

Sorry I had to make use of an out of date meme.

I'm just fascinated by how domestic actions can still massively impact other nations... Arthur doing the right thing for his people by lowering bread prices indirectly fucks over Matthew but also protects Alfred down the line. Like... urGH! You know?

#follow me for more stupid not entirely correct history ramblings with the hetalia lens slapped on #hetalia #op #historical hetalia #hws england #hws canada #hws america #headcanon

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always-hetalian · 1 year

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Hetalia Characters and How Their Phones Would Look Like

Hey everyone, I've been pretty busy these days, but this post has been on my mind for a while. I know it's a bit different from my usual shitposts, so if you don't like this kind of posts please tell me so I know whether I should post my headcanons and stuff too. Anyway

🇮🇹; He probably has a beautiful scenery as the background. Not very neat, but it's not broken at least and he buys a new one every 3 years. Mostly uses Instagram and Pinterest. Stuffs all his money, cards and literally anything he can in his case.

🇩🇪; No custom background, but has a huge calendar widget covering most of his screen. Probably organised his apps by slides/pages. Spends 3h daily on Gmail

🇯🇵; Similar to Ludwig, but he kind of had his own aesthetic. For example he has a customized case and a lanyard. Organised everything in different folders by colour, and might also use a custom theme asw

🇺🇸; Food stain covered screen. Cracks all over. Sound is always on max. Background of the USA flag. He downloaded more than 50 games and barely has any storage left. This man is a mess.

🇬🇧; He strikes me as one of those people that use those cases that open and close and look like purses. Similarly to Kiku, he probably tried to customize everything else, though didn't really succeed and nothing really blends together. Has 16h daily on Twitter arguing with old ladies

🇫🇷; Oh he TOTALLY has some expensive ahh model he loves to flex. Dark red case, perfectly neat screen with not a single crack. Either has a picture of the Eiffel Tower or a floptok meme as his background, there's no inbetween. Has an unhealthy Spotify addiction

🇷🇺; Has an ancient model from like 2015 that can barely function. Claims it's good enough since it does its job. Has passwords on most of his apps, even if he doesn't have anything to hide he likes his privacy. Somehow his phone can survive everything; people have seen it fall down windows, get thrown in water AND fire, even get run over by vehicles but it somehow never breaks.

🇨🇳; Probably has a family picture as the background. He mostly uses it to look up recipes, but he does like to keep it organised as well. Has like eight hundred contacts, half of which are people he doesn't even remember. His favourite hobby after a long tiring world meeting is commenting boomer crap on Facebook posts.

🇨🇦; Nothing too unique. Not too neat, not too messy. He barely has any storage left because of all the games and movies Alfred downloads in it when his own phone is charging. He spent wayy too much time organising his Pinterest boards, and then like an hour later Alfred deleted Pinterest to download Blockcraft 3D or some shit

#i had this in my drafts for months because i couldn't come up w anything for mattie ong #he's my favourite character but he's lowkey boring ngl #hetalia #hws italy #hws germany #hws japan #hws america #hws canada #hws england #hws russia #hws china #hws france

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