Our teachers share a screenshot of a database, explaining that you could make the system spit out the following personal and financial details of its users:

Full name

Address

Email address

Payment-card number (PAN)

Expiration date

Card security code (CVV)

"Going Dark: The Secret Social Lives of Extremists" - Julia Ebner

Donations Requested

This is always really hard to do but I've been going through really difficult times these last few months and it would help if you could donate here

I have a temporary place to stay but I've been homeless since April 1st. Alot of places near me have rent in the $700 to $1,000+ area which is massively outside my range (the only one I've seen in my price range had no ac 😭 it's already hit 80°f this spring)

I've been working with different resources to help find housing and support (such as SNAP) but they take time. It's been so much these past three months and I'm starting to burn out.

I'll be putting donations towards costs such as: my monthly storage rental, groceries (snap pending), medicine, doctor appointments, security deposit when I find a potential apartment, and filling my car up with gas.

I have a Kofi, with a backlog of art and a discord server. I've also been playing around with a new app on the iPad if anyone wants to request doodles for donations over $10 (examples above)

I appreciate any and all help <3

advice for people just wanting to be educated in the finance field?

I would start dipping your toe in the finance sections of reputable sources (i.e. Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Harvard business review, MarketWatch, etc.) and start researching terms and companies you don’t know. I treat myself with a Bloomberg Businessweek subscription sent to my home because I love their design team and it’s actually very informative. You can also sign up for the Morning Brew finance newsletter, it’s free and I read it every morning to get a brief overview of what’s going on. Even just being informed of current events is helpful in learning about finance because all major events effect the market and businesses. Look at stock performance charts. Learn about different types of investment accounts and different kinds of investments. There are a lot of really great courses on platforms like Coursera as well, I just took one called Private Equity & Venture Capital from Università Bocconi. Flirt with equity crowdfunding platforms (I accidentally made a lot of money on one of these as an early investor with less than $1k). If you live in the US start looking into personal and business tax deductions. Even credit card rewards can actually get you a lot, I’ve gotten free hotel rooms and free flights from money I would have spent anyway. Investments also mean more than just individual stocks: could be index funds, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, REITs, forex, precious gems & metals, real estate, even some designer goods retain and increase in value if bought strategically and handled correctly. Even just having the fundamentals of a maxed out retirement account (a Roth IRA or a backdoor Roth IRA is my personal preference) full of index funds and mutual funds that are balanced well, a fully funded emergency fund of 3-12 months personal expenses, any debt above 7% interest paid off, and sinking funds for various expenses automatically set up in a high yield savings account will have you very well off. When you have a foundation like that you have the breathing room to change careers, take time off, buy investment properties, invest in volatile but potentially profitable ventures, start businesses, and set up additional streams of income.

This is going to sound unexpectedly specific compared to my usual vague-as-fuck questions. Context being: I want money, I cannot commit to doing commissions at the moment and drawing is my only marketable skill.

If you were to buy a character "adopt" - premade design for your use, art by me and no rights retained except to like merchandising that original art - would it be a significant factor in either a positive or negative direction if the art were originally done digitally vs traditionally?

Likewise, if you were to buy a traditionally-drawn adopt, would the inclusion of the original paper-and-ink drawing be a significant benefit to you that you would consider paying more than just "base" price for?

Third, regardless of medium, would you want "scratch" papers where I did the brainstorming before the final concept was finished - this wouldn't be at any extra cost i just wonder.

Fourth, would you prefer a "flat" sale or an auction? (I like buying things at auction-style sales, and it means you might get a cheaper price than i'd normally list whatever it is for, but I am given to understand that my preferences vary from the norm pretty significantly lol) .

Fifth, would TF or at lesat mecha designs be more interesting than non-TF ones or would more general "can use this as any oc for anything" type characters be more appealing?

Ah - sixth and last, do regular ocs appeal more or less than kink/fetish-oriented ocs like "suspiciously wide-hipped lady who just so happens to have a mouth in her crotch" or stuff in that vein lol? I'm not sure I can stop myself from coming up with at least one erotic as fuck design because that's just how my brain works, but it's good to know if i should try and focus on that or leave it be and just focus on concepts that seem interesting enough to get a shape out of.

One aspect of The Secret History that I love is how it portrays the Greek group through Richard's eyes as inhabiting a world of unimaginable wealth & privilege & leisure-class social norms but also the ways in which young adults from that world aren't financially independent. In theory Francis is a multimillionaire, in practice it's tied up in a trust to which he doesn't have access; in theory Henry is heir to a fortune, in practice he gets a monthly allowance meted out by his parents. Part of the reason they're able to be blackmailed is that they don't actually have the money their families have; it belongs to their parents or third-party trustees. Anyway someday I will write my piece about Donna Tartt's case for adolescent emancipation lol

Me over here actually loving how Leroux!Raoul started out as presumptuous and stuck in his privileged mindset and self-focused, because LOOK at where the man ends up? Sure, vibes-wise I usually prefer the musical (POTO only) version, but Raoul’s concern and risks for Christine in the end have so much more arc and growth to them with that Leroux starting point! Never mind Raoul’s general heightened fear and victimhood in the book making his acts of bravery feel more significant.

And his efforts don’t end in the lair in the book, oh no. Leroux makes it clear Raoul was suspected in his brother’s death and ran away with Christine AND Mamma Valerius into obscurity in Scandinavia (suggested Norway, perhaps even Sweden?). And that wasn’t fully a choice given that murder suspicion, sure, but the guy still had sisters and maybe aunts he was presumably close to (he lost his mom at birth and dad at twelve, his extended family WAS family and that’s not even touching on Erik costing him his stand-in-father of a brother). And he runs off to a foreign country, abandons his remaining family and country and connections and who knows how much of his resources to be with Christine, while also securing HER remaining semblance of family? It’s a happily ever after, yes, but it is just as much an act of love as going after Christine in the first place.

getting ready for college is toooo much

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I don’t follow Youtubers enough to keep up with unfolding drama often but I spent the evening catching up on the MamaMax situation and realizing it went from “weird exposee case that took a video essay to make heads or tails of” to “oh, we’re watching this man take advantage of a victim Live On Stream/Youtube and realizing this behavior has been years in the making” got me a lil heated

i feel like something that doesn’t get talked about a lot in self diagnosis circles (or at least the ones i’ve been in, anyway) is like…………the way that sometimes in some places for some people, self diagnosis is actually the safest option, because a lot of diagnoses, having them down officially on paper can be reason enough for family or the government to deny you or take away your autonomy.

Things are just so bleak man.

TW: Financial abuse.

I am looking for resources.

Does anyone have any very simply-worded guides to money? Not "how to get rich" but just how an average working person can manage their finances, written in a way that someone with absolutely no background experience would be able to understand, and not at an advanced level, just very basic concepts and language, please?

I'm an adult and I'm undergoing financial abuse. I have a job but I cannot access my money because I've never had an account under my own name and the person who does manage my money is very controlling and purposely keeps me from trying to set up my own individual account. I am trying to break free of this situation, I've tried to explain the situation in more detail to people, but it's extremely hard for me to understand the majority of what they're saying because I was never taught about basic things like taxes, bills, credit score, and similar topics. Also I have diagnosed but unmedicated ADHD and English is not my first language (but I would still prefer resources in English since that's the primary language used where I'm currently living and I might need to use it in banks and similar places).

Is there something like a "teenager guide" or something aimed at younger readers with simple terms that I could use even though I'm not a teenager anymore? I'm just extremely lost about this and cannot understand most things I read, to the point where it's been making me panic and want to cry because of how behind I feel. I really need help but when I reach out to people they just confuse me even more unintentionally so I think it is just something I have to read about and learn on my own. Thank you.

Hi anon, thank you for reaching out, and I’m so sorry you’re having to deal with such hardships, and financial abuse. As an adult, it is absolutely your legal right to set up a bank account in your name - and in your name only. Unless there is some sort of legal decree that was made for you in regards to conservatorship/guardianship when it came to financial matters (as in, a court ruled you cannot handle your own money), you can walk into the bank that holds your account, and tell them you want your own in your name only.

They will likely have you sit down with someone at a desk to ensure the kind of account you want, but it’s a relatively quick process. You can also have them set up any future payments you might receive, or earn, to be automatically deposited in that new account, and ask them what steps you can take to get the other person removed from the other account.

As for resources when it comes to personal money management, and the like, here a few to start researching - and as you learn more key terms, can continue to study more about it:

NEA’s Resources for Teaching Financial Literacy

Barclay’s Life Skills for Managing Money and Budgeting

The Balance’s Teens and Income Taxes

The Allstate Foundation’s Moving Ahead Curriculum - Online (specifically designed to help victims of domestic violence, and great resources to learn the “basics” but also long term planning)

Either way, I hope you are able to move forward in full control of your own money situation, and begin the process of healing from the financial abuse you have endured.

- Mod Kat

So, my mom used to work pretty high up in a well-known banking company, so occasionally I'll see ads for said company and have this moment of realization that I know the person in the ad and I know that he's a massive dick

Black Friday 60+% Discount!

I have a special discount for my colored sketch commissions from today until this Sunday (Nov. 27th, Midnight, CET time) If you wanted to get a custom sketch from me, this is the perfect chance! Send your commission request on the link below:

💜 Here 💜

Thank you very much for all support and shares!

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