References

>First, we’ve discovered that about a quarter of all the internet connection in or out of the house were ad related. In a few hours, that’s about 10,000 out of 40,000 processed.

>We also discovered that every link on Twitter was blocked. This was solved by whitelisting the https://t.co domain.

>Once out browsing the Web, everything is loading pretty much instantly. It turns out most of that Page Loading malarkey we’ve been accustomed to is related to sites running auctions to sell Ad space to show you before the page loads. All gone now.

>We then found that the Samsung TV (which I really like) is very fond of yapping all about itself to Samsung HQ. All stopped now. No sign of any breakages in its function, so I’m happy enough with that.

>The primary source of distress came from the habitual Lemmings player in the house, who found they could no longer watch ads to build up their in-app gold. A workaround is being considered for this.

>The next ambition is to advance the Ad blocking so that it seamlessly removed YouTube Ads. This is the subject of ongoing research, and tinkering continues. All in all, a very successful experiment.

>Certainly this exceeds my equivalent childhood project of disassembling and assembling our rotary dial telephone. A project whose only utility was finding out how to make the phone ring when nobody was calling.

>Update: All4 on the telly appears not to have any ads any more. Goodbye Arnold Clarke!

>Lemmings problem now solved.

>Can confirm, after small tests, that RTÉ Player ads are now gone and the player on the phone is now just delivering swift, ad free streams at first click.

>Some queries along the lines of “Are you not stealing the internet?” Firstly, this is my network, so I may set it up as I please (or, you know, my son can do it and I can give him a stupid thumbs up in response). But there is a wider question, based on the ads=internet model.

>I’m afraid I passed the You Wouldn’t Download A Car point back when I first installed ad-blocking plug-ins on a browser. But consider my chatty TV. Individual consumer choice is not the method of addressing pervasive commercial surveillance.

>Should I feel morally obliged not to mute the TV when the ads come on? No, this is a standing tension- a clash of interests. But I think my interest in my family not being under intrusive or covert surveillance at home is superior to the ad company’s wish to profile them.

>Aside: 24 hours of Pi Hole stats suggests that Samsung TVs are very chatty. 14,170 chats a day.

>YouTube blocking seems difficult, as the ads usually come from the same domain as the videos. Haven’t tried it, but all of the content can also be delivered from a no-cookies version of the YouTube domain, which doesn’t have the ads. I have asked my son to poke at that idea.

This. This is why. People don't mind paying a high price for software if it's only the once, or every 4-5 years.

But having to pay a high price regularly? Especially in the cases where you lose access to your own work if you don't?

However, I know a guy who knows a guy website: MS Office Pro for $50. If the link starts going to a Page Not Found, just search the site; they usually have some form of this sale available. 

And if you encounter a true paywall, use Archive.Today to bypass it. Just paste the paywalled url into the blue “search archived snapshots” box near the bottom:

It's that time of the month: the Foliage & Flowers Brush Set is done!

I was asked to make more decoration brushes and so I'm delivering nine more. These are free and Clip Studio compatible only. You can edit the size and color, too, as usual!

Thanks again for your support! 🫶🏿

The edge of the base brushes invert depending on your stroke. And if you add a border effect through the layer property window, you can add a cute & clean edge that matches your decoration. 🌜

Also: if you want to have plain & untextured fill, just make sure the main & sub colors match. It'll get rid of the ombre completely. This works with all past decoration brushes btw.

A resume doesn’t need to sound fancy or overly technical, it needs to tell us why we should hire you.

“Independent novelist/writer” is more than sufficient here. If you want to express the skills that fan fiction taught you, something like, “creative writing, editing, and publication,” will get you a lot further than… Whatever that just was.

A resume should be tailored to the position, if you can afford the time and energy for that. But if not, then just think about what writing got fandom taught you. How to respond to criticism, how to present a professional pubic face, how to correct punished mistakes, creative thinking, project planning, persuasion via emotional leverage, html formatting, office suite fluency.

Writer:

Published short fiction stories for anthology collection

Able to write short fiction within a designated word count for layout purposes (900-1500 words, 1500-2000, 3000-5000)

Wrote short articles for independent publication

Assisted with editing short stories for publication

Able to reduce or expand written content based on layout needs

Able to check for basic spelling, grammar and syntax

Familiar with Microsoft Office and Google docs

Able to convert text styles such as bold and italics across platforms, including rich text and HTML

Able to communicate with project members over multiple platforms such as email, twitter, Discord chat and Google docs

Artist:

Produced full-colour digital illustration for independent magazine

Able to produce digital illustrations optimized for both online and print display

Produced full-colour 2-page spread for art anthology

Published 4-page short comic in anthology collection for charity

Able to transfer traditional art to digital illustration

Illustrated the cover (always brag if you’re on the cover) of an independent art publication

Familiar with professional illustration tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Clip Studio Paint and stylus tablet

Able to communicate with project members over multiple platforms such as email, twitter, Discord chat and Google docs

Merch artist / graphic designer:

Designed 2″ clear decorative double-sided keychain charm as bonus sale item

Designed 5″ x 6″ sheet of graphic stickers included in art anthology

Able to design bold graphics that are measured for laser cutting production

Designed layouts for 65-page art and writing magazine, focusing on (art placement, text layout, etc)

Able to keep layout design simple and in accordance with the project director’s chosen theme

Created promotional art, icons and banners tailored for social media sites like Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, etc

Familiar with professional layout and design software such as Adobe Illustrator and InDesign

Able to communicate with project members over multiple platforms such as email, twitter, Discord chat and Google docs

Running a zine

Produced an independent art and writing collection for sale / for charity

Managed (10, 20, 30) independent artists and writers out of over 500 applicants to create a short-run independent magazine

Worked in online sales and social media promotion selling an independent comics anthology

If it’s really spectacular you can brag about specific numbers

Our book raised over $4,000 for charity in under six months of production

We sold over 750 copies in two weeks of online sales

Produced a digital PDF and printed version of anthology, mailing to recipients all over the world

Communicated with printers and manufacturers of plastic accessories and paper goods, assembling professional packages of our merchandise for mailing.

Built a custom digital storefront and navigated professional market and payment systems including Paypal and Tictail / Bigcartel / Wix etc

Created promotional events to boost sales, including raffles and giveaways over social media

Organized participants through mass emails and use of social media posts on tumblr and twitter

Created private Discord chat channels to keep participants up to date on production

Something to go with those brushes I released last month: NATURAL MATERIALS V.1 is a small collection of [free!] texture overlays created from scans I made 5 years ago that I finally put to use. Should mostly work in any program that can open .PSD files. :D

Itch.io: https://tombofnull.itch.io/natural-materials-texture-pack

What with bucket hats, bare midriffs, and flared jeans having been resurrected by some irresponsible necromancer with frosted tips, I figure there’s no better time to resurrect some of my favorite Y2K fonts. I typically only see the same three or four pop up in discussions on the subject, so maybe this will be helpful to nostalgic designers. Click though for links.

Golly! That post sure was popular. I’m happy to share some more.

How does this have so many notes?

LVDC Cobra 4 (2000, Lovedesign Co., Freeware) Contour (1992, Device, Commercial) FUTU (2002, Fenotype, Freeware) Intergalactic (2000, BrainReactor, Commercial) Omicron (1997, Beyond Design, Freeware) Photonica (2002, Liew Keng Huat, Freeware) SF Quartzite (1999, ShyFoundry, Freeware) Republika (2000, Apostrophic Lab, Freeware) Unite (1997, Image Club, Commercial) Warzone (1999, Glitch, Freeware) Yagiza (2001, B-Rain, Freeware)

figure this might be of interest to folks here, a mutual of mine who doesnt have tumblr (i believe) just released a super handy extension called Indie Wiki Buddy. does a lot more than just redirects, itll filter out search results and add a banner to fandom wikis youre viewing, and it goes hand-in-hand with Breezewiki if you're already using it :)

– https://searchmysite.net/ Search engine for the indie web, personal websites, digital gardens. You can also find them in websites like Neocities, Indieweb, Blogarama, and write.as. There is also a big list of personal websites.

– https://search.marginalia.nu/ Search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and promotes websites that aren’t usually at the top of the list.

– https://www.worldcat.org/ Search engine for items in libraries (books, but also maps, articles, sound recordings, theses, etc.)

– https://scholar.google.com/ Search engine for scientific papers, reviews, etc. It’s still google, but a lot better than the normal search engine counterpart.

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_search_engines A list of search engines sorted by subject, area, and more. If you’re searching on a specific area, it might be worth checking if there is one focused on that area.

– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_academic_databases_and_search_engines A list of academic databases and search engines.

A short beginner's guide to HTML! You can get this as a zine on my ko-fi and itch.io!