lightcastle

My co-worker wants me to shoot her wedding. Or at the very least, to put a bid in so she can decide. I know some of you have paid for such and/or engaged yourself as such. Any thoughts on a ballpark? This would include an album at the end and all, although I could just give her a CD and let her find a place that makes albums out of it.

Unsurprisingly, part of me is hesitant as this is the kind of thing people are REALLY attached to and you pretty much only have one shot at it.

I tried to get a credit card again today.

After I got my job, I tried, hoping to be able to rebuild my credit, which was understandably ravaged during my long unemployment in Boston. I was told then that I was still too high risk.

I came back today, $1,000 in hand, and asked for the secured card that RBC carries. My family has banked with them for 30 years, I want to keep my accounts all in one place and continue to do business with them, who have mostly treated me ok.

They said they couldn't set up a meeting. The secured card is for new immigrants only. I asked them to give me any actuarial reason not to offer it to me. It is a secured card. It is zero risk. I give them $1,000 and they hold on to it. The card has $1,000 as a limit. There is an annual fee. They are guaranteed money because even if I run up the bill to max and bail, they already have it covered and have been earning interest on that money in the meantime. There is no difference in risk between me and an unknown foreigner. I am a customer, trying to rebuild credit and sadly, a modern life requires a credit card for a great many day-to-day interactions. (For instance, I cannot subscribe to the NYtimes new pay feature without one.)

"Give me one reason it makes sense to not offer it to me as well," I asked.

"It is against our policy to help people rebuild credit."

So, anyone know a bank that is willing to work with me instead of against me? I've clearly no reason to stay here.

On a happier note than some, does this Kickstarter thing seem like a good plan? I have friends with art projects, research projects, coding projects, what have you, that might benefit. Has anyone used this or have something like it to recommend?

Taken from mzrowan, The guaranteed minimum income is back. As the headline says, the primary idea here is "do you trust the poor?"; a question all too many answer with a resounding "No". I find it amazing to even see this brought up here given the Conservative government in Canada and the fact that the GOP practically runs their platform on "undeserving people are getting help and making everything worse".

Since we're talking money, This idea for fiscal sustainability sounds wrong but then I know lots of things come out of macro that are counter-intuitive and the idea that we could be trapped by a piece of legacy legislation seems perfectly reasonable.

Rick Mercer does TSA security.

The Bad is that I still can't get the computer to even recognize the modem as existing, and I am running dangerously low on cash before I get any pay coming to me.

The Good is that I have a contract being sent to me as we speak for a position as a medical writer for a multimedia medical education company, with the possibility of moving into a managing editor position fairly quickly if things work out well.

The Bad is that I cannot purchase s00j's new album until I get some funds and therefore am ineligible for a trading card.

The Good is that I'll hopefully be able to replace some of my crumbling electronics in the not-too-distant future and maybe even listen to her music on a decent sound system.

I cannot decide if the cute girl at the cafe with the FAR too revealing low-cut top sitting across from me and leaning forward deeply to read her magazine is good, bad, or just distracting.

Hey everybody. Turns out my sister is coming into town Tuesday, not Friday as I was previously informed. So I need crash space next week, from Tuesday to Friday night. Can anyone help me out?

Also, Everyone and Anyone who can help be on the lookout for an apartment available ASAP, 3 1/2 or 4 1/2, probably no more than $600/mo (but don't make that a hard limit), would earn much gratitude.

A really interesting idea from Johnathan at A Tiny Revolution, Five Dollar Fridays

Starting today, every Friday I'm going to give five dollars to someone who's produced something funny/interesting/worthwhile and is giving it away on the internet(s).
Obviously the internet is the greatest distribution technology ever created for music and writing and video and journalism. But it's also obvious it generally makes it more difficult for people producing such things to earn a living.

So I have three goals with this:

1. Finally start paying some of the people who've created wonderful things I've enjoyed.

2. If possible, get lots of other people online to start doing this as well. It would be a beautiful thing if it grew and grew, and three years from now 10,000 people were giving away $50,000 to artists every week. To help get things rolling, I've created the twitter hashtag #5DF. Every week I'll link to the recipient of my five dollars on twitter with that tag, and if you start doing it I encourage you to do the same. (I'll also archive all my recipients here.)

3. In my most grandiose dreams, this idea would—in the process of becoming popular—make people realize that we need a new way to fund all kinds of art. In theory the internet should be a dream come true for artists and people generally, but it will never fulfill its potential if everyone is trying to eke out a living from advertising or just what other people are willing to cough up on the spur of the moment.

There's more at the post, including a mention of Dean Baker's old Artistic Freedom Voucher idea.

The idea appeals, although obviously I am not up for it until I have an income. (i.e. - likely never again)

Of course, in some ways this represents a private, non-centralized Kickstarter project.

I know some people have discussed the idea of a subscription model to pay artists, but I don't know of any sites coordinating that.