Jade

US mainstream news headlines: Administration Previews New Immigration Policy Proposal

A little known DSA affiliated politician: We should not fund the genocide in Gaza.

US mainstream news headlines: Violent Antisemitic Fringe Radical Makes Chilling Statement

The worst republican you can name: Abortion must be illegal in all contexts and we should be able to seek the death penalty against people who get an abortion. In fact, let's put out bounty hunting laws on abortion providers.

US mainstream news headlines: Republican Leaders Seek to Curb Prevalence of Abortions

A little known DSA affiliated politician: I believe in healthcare access and the sacred nature of bodily autonomy for all.

US mainstream news headlines: Democratic Party Under Siege by Extreme Left DSA Members

The worst republican you can name: In one year alone, I've made a billion dollars off of fleecing the government, abusing my power internationally, and engaging in sooooo many dark things behind the scenes that would really freak you guys out if you knew them. Teehee.

US mainstream news headlines: The Information in this Financial Disclosure May Surprise You

A little known DSA affiliated politician: We must end the hostile fascist takeover of our government. We must properly tax billionaires and direct those funds toward basic needs.

imagine being on your lunch break, and your supervisor comes over to your table, tells you to stand up in front of everyone. they draw everyone's attention to your thighs. they tell you that you have broken the dress code because of the length of your shorts. they tell you to go change (so you do not get the rest of your lunch break). they do this every single day at lunch. every day. so you read the whole dress code front and back, and you choose your clothing carefully to not break it. you bring a cloth tape measure with you to work because they will not believe you. this time when your supervisor tells you that you're breaking dress code, you pull out your tape measure and show that you are within the limit. your supervisor says "I bet you wouldn't want me to bring you to the boss and let him measure it, would you?" it's clearly a threat: if you don't obey then you will be put alone in a room with your boss and he will touch your thighs. you don't know how to respond. you're taken out of lunch again.

I explained very clearly to the manager my issue with the meat section not having the price tags listed, and they claimed it was only going to be for the meat, since meat is by weight, and the price of each item is printed on the packs of each item.

Sure. That’s how they get their foot in the door. Fast forward not even two weeks, and here we are:

Bar codes. No prices, no item descriptions. No price stickers on the individual items. Heck, not even the name of the item that is SUPPOSED to be there.

No. The only way to see the price is to scan it on your phone app, which is also recording what you looked at recently, as a way of gauging what you might be looking for in the future.

So here’s what we’re gonna do gang:

Every time you go into a store that has implemented these price-less tags:

Take 1-3 items up to the cash register. Ask the cashier for the price, or hit the price check item on the self checkout, which will likely call over the attendant.

Express that you didn’t actually want it, you just couldn’t see on the shelf how much it was.

POLITELY, AND WITH A THANK YOU FOR THE PRICE CONFIRMATION, Give the items to the cashier or attendant to put back.

When they inevitably try to push the app, politely decline. If pressed for why not, say you don’t want to have to carry your phone in-hand the whole time you are shopping in order to see how much things cost. (Not having cell service or data to use the app is NOT a valid excuse, as stores already often have complimentary WiFi AND more stores will provide WiFi rather than give up on this push for surveillance pricing)

If it’s a shelf-stable item, the cashier will have to set it aside, taking up room in their limited operating space, and eventually pass it off to someone to put in a holding area to put back later. If it’s a fridge/freezer item, it might have to get tossed due to food product sale regulations.

In either case, you are making it a pain in the ass for them to have these digital bar codes. Tie up the checkouts. Give the employees more busywork that the company has to pay them to do. Hurt their bottom line having to toss the pint of ice cream you carried around in your cart for 20 minutes before giving it back to the cashier.

I would never pay money for a redbox. if you ask politely and are very very persistent (i.e. annoying) they will let you take it away

here's my dad and i taking it away

luckily there are no shortage of freaks like us who will just take them away on our own volition. we did it all "by the book", too: we set up cones and caution tape, disconnected electricity properly, used an angle grinder to grind down the bolts in the concrete so nobody would trip on them, then cleaned everything up afterward and sealed off the electrical panel so the store would know everything is safe and tidy. though they were hesitant when we were first contacting them, they were honestly very relieved and grateful when we finally took it away, especially once they saw that we "knew what we were doing" (we don't) and look like we've "done this before" (we haven't).

the fun part: the reason why this redbox, in particular, was completely full and unraided is because the computer hardware inside had failed some months before the bankruptcy, and a failing company sure as hell wasn't gonna send a tech out to our podunk dipshit city to fix it, so it was impossible to rent movies or take any discs out. plus, for who knows how long, people were returning old redbox discs to this machine and not taking any out, leading to a much higher variety of movies than your average redbox.

there is a thriving community of redbox hackers and modders out there, as well, creating open-source software for repurposing the machines and not letting their very interesting and robust disc-management hardware go to waste. this one belongs to my brother (who was very annoying persistent and did all the legwork of contacting managers and securing permission) who is a programmer by trade and will be hacking it into a family-access movie library, with whatever discs we want. i mean the machine is completely weatherproof and has a built-in AC unit, it would be such a waste to not try to turn it into something cool.

if we get another one, i'm gonna try to mod it into some sort of art or zine vending machine. the disc boxes are just the right size for small print art or stickers. would make a great "little free library" too.

Need something to do this summer? Or anytime? Visit your local public library! These institutions are pillars of education and accessibility to free resources for our communities and now more than ever, we need to protect them. The best thing you can do is VISIT. Get a free library card, borrow some books, attend a free event, or just go there and chill for a while. The more traffic and use these spaces see, the easier it is for them to maintain their funding.

Want a book? Ask a librarian! Need information or public resources? Ask a librarian! Can't find your local library? Try these helpful locators!

Find Your Library (National Library Service, USA)

Libraries.org (World Library Directory)

Little Free Library (World)

Library Finder (U.S. Dept of Labor)

Library Landscape (Latin America & the Caribbean)

Canadian Library Directory (Canada)

Lighthouse Libraries (EU)

Library Resources Outside the U.S. (Brown University Library resource)

Want something you can check out at home or on the go? Try these online resources for free or low-cost media!

Project Gutenberg (free public domain digital books)

Global Grey Ebooks (free public domain ebooks supported by donations)

Librivox (free volunteer-read public domain audiobooks)

Open Culture (online archive of free media)

Libby (app)

Scribd (subscription app)

Everand (subscription app)

oh we stan

No subscription. Just program.

On your computer. You got to use it forever and ever and never had to worry about it going away.

Because it was physically on your computer. As a program. That you actually owned. Not because you got it separately, but because it was a standard inclusion with your computer.

I'm sorry but I'll just never get over it. I remember when companies cared about their products being usable out of the box. I remember when our things belonged to us.