#I've already had one rental sold out from under me

[grunge-mermaid]

so this just came up on my pinterest feed:

the average individual income in my nearest major city is $64,500 and average household income is $126,700. (according to Career Beacon, whoever they are)

assuming Career Beacon means that is the average gross salary, at 2.5x that's $161,250 and $316,750 respectively.

if they mean that is the average net household income, that bumps it up to $87,500 and approximately $200,000. So according to the pinterest advice, your budget for a house should be $218,750 or $500,000.

average house price in that same city? close to $700k

In my old neighbourhood in that city, condo PARKING SPACES were regularly listed for $40k-$75k. you can't even get a reasonable studio condo anywhere in the city proper for $316,000. in the outskirts, like out past the suburbs...maybe. but then you're paying through the nose for transportation.

you can get a nice (and I do actually mean nice, I'm not being sarcastic or snarky at all I swear) trailer home in the middle of fucking nowhere in a 55+ community for $150-$300k. good luck accessing transit though.

[malevolentcast]

you probably already know about this but an articles been put out about rusty quills shitty business practices and general shady behavior. if you havent already, you might be getting messages about it soon. just wanted to send a heads up in advance

Yes I saw and read it.

I'm choosing to believe the motivations of those involved, in spite the poor optics of them being from another network (and even quoting what "they" pay as an example of "good" companies), were an attempt to be morally just. That is to say, I have no ill will towards the author, their editors and everyone who contributed.

To be clear; if Rusty Quill has treated employees poorly they should be held accountable, I say if not as a way to not believe those affected but because "alleged" is used more than a dozen times in the article.

Additionally, no employer should ever yell at an employee. Again, if that happened, they should apologize and do better.

That being said…

I don't appreciate articles speaking on behalf of me or, frankly, trying to rope me in without my consent or request. I recognize they weren't attempting to give me a voice, just those who are affected, however the author has only now allowed shows to reach out, after the damage has been done and chose to speak for me nonetheless. Additionally, the article says that if I remain silent, it's because I can't speak out - which is just nonsense.

From my experience; I've had nothing but great experiences with Rusty Quill. They're a network. They host my show. What else do I need them for? Contracts, NDA's and all the legal aspects that the article seemed to make such a big deal about… are very normal. I think this is part of not understanding how large companies work.

For example; I saw tweets upset that people shouldn't have to sign an NDA to look over a sample contract which… is exactly what you do when you're looking over a sample contract.

I was a General Manager of a small rental company for 10 years prior to trying my hand at Audio work and renting a water cooler had more stipulations than RQ's agreement. Contracts are meant to be all encompassing. If you don't agree with stuff, you cross it out and ask it to be changed. If you’re upset at the way large companies work, your fight is misdirected with addressing just one company. The article also mentioned something about "Taking Money Upfront" and stuff like that, which failed to mention you don’t HAVE to take money upfront - furthermore - most shows on RQ did not do that.

In any case, this isn't meant to be a dismantling of the article. I don't want to invalidate anyone's experiences or frustrations. Who knows what more may come to light, all I can speak of are my experiences and frustrations.

So why I'm frustrated? Well, I saw a few tweets and posts boycotting RQ shows, which included mine. So that sucked.

Overall however, I think the article was done in poor taste and felt like virtue signaling more than something trying to be helpful. I think, personally - and I say this with all the genuine sincerity - it seemed written from a perspective of inexperience and naivete. It is not the Watergate scandal people think it is.

And for the people who are upset that "peoples lives were ruined" when they were let go… yes I'm sorry people lost their jobs. I lost the aforementioned GM position as well when the owner of the company sold the company out from under me. Not because I did a bad job or because I made a mistake, just bad luck. It sucked, sometimes people lose their jobs. That doesn't mean I can't have an opinion on what I feel is an article meant to stir the pot. After all, shouldn't I express my perspective as a show on RQ (which, like, isn't that what the article was meant to be about?).

Anyway, those are my thoughts. For what it's worth I think you should still read the article! It has some great thoughts…

…but with all things, read it with an informed opinion; remembering that it was written by the Director of Marketing for another Podcast network, who references their own network within their "expose" as an example of a network with "good practices", during a time that they're recruiting for new shows and that every single show on that Network has openly supported the article - retweeting it almost instantly, during the final days of their competitors successful Kickstarter.

The disclaimer on the article about the Authors association with F&F wasn't put until AFTER they were called out. Odd that an expose on uncovering the truth would be less than transparent when posting…

[iamthecomet]

This morning's rock fact brought to you by me listening to too much Cosmo Sheldrake after waking up.

So, I was thinking about cursed stones, in particular, my mind drifts over the seas and far away to Hawaii.

It is said that anyone who steals a stone from the islands will face the wrath of Pele/Pelehonuamea, because the rocks and sand belong to her, she who shapes the sacred land.

Apparently people send the rocks back pretty fast after returning home, citing illness and injury as the main cause.

Which, of course, led me further down the rabbit hole thinking about other curses attached to stones, and, naturally, to The Hope Diamond.

I saw the Hope Diamond once while visiting the Smithsonian for a class trip ages ago, and, upon looking at it, I had to wonder... why?

Regardless, the highlight of that trip was wandering through a sunken garden with my father and eating ice cream while everyone else milled about the museums, because he and I had already been three times before already together.

But returning to the stones and curses... if you had a cursed object, be it stone or otherwise, what would be your artifact?

Ugh I love cursed stuff so much! I find them very interesting. As far as my cursed object, hmm. Are we talking an object that if it was removed from my possession the person who removed it would be cursed? Or are we talking a cursed object I would like to own (curse be damned)? For the former, I have several pieces of jewelry that, if removed from my body and taken away would absolutely cause the person taking them to be cursed. One of them is an unassuming silver ring, just a thick, shiny, band, that used to have a small spinner ring around it (but I've had it for so long that the silver band wore so think the spinner part slipped off and has never been found). It's nothing super special to anyone but me, and for some reason that's my favorite type of cursed object. Unassuming. Seems like nothing. Will ruin your live. For the latter, I'm a horrible person and I think I'd choose bones of some sort. We found several under the floor of our house when we were digging it out (animal) and we had quite the collection for a second there. But they've since been returned to (different) ground. A note about said house, and potential curses. When we moved into this house, we found a box of things belonging to the last people to own and live in this house (it was a rental for 30 years after they died). They are also the only other people to own and live in this house since it was built in 1820. They bought it from the church (it was built as a parsonage. My living room was an occasional funeral parlor) in the 50s or 60s.

Anyway, back to their box of things. For some reason it was still here, in the attic, with their name on it. Filled with important papers, and birthday cards, and things that someone should have shredded when they passed away and the house was sold. But instead, it remains. It's still here, we didn't get rid of it. No one else did in 30 years so now I can't either. My house is weirdly calm, very quiet energy, only chill vibes. I'm not gonna throw away their tax documents and risk getting cursed or haunted. We also found vintage porn hidden in the garage.

But that's another story.