Cats. Space Australia Instagram Photos. A vertiable flotilla of small furry siege agents. Lego Serious Play stuff. Less than serious stuff. Playful stuff.
the litter boxes in public school bathrooms things is so funny because it’s like. it’s been 5 years. we know they’re not there. tbh at this point if there was a large percentage of school children who preferred pissing in litter boxes I’d say that is one of the more minor threats facing the youth of America. Jesus Christ. get new material that actually matters.
Can we do something about the gun violence epidemic effecting our children? And the Department of Education being under threat? And the cutting of programs to help childhood poverty and food insecurity? No? You’re just going to keep freaking out about hypothetical therian middle schoolers using litter boxes and the danger that the (less than 30 in the whole country) transgender student athletes pose to the health and safety of youth sports? Okay.
The only place the alt-right grifters truly embrace recycling is at the rage bait factory.
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A lot of career success depends on you and the work you put into it, as well as luck beyond your control, but sadly, it also depends on secret information, magic words, and stupid little tricks.
That’s not fair. I don’t like it, but we can help by sharing that secret information–which is the antidote to gate-keeping. That’s why I recently wrote this in my Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress substack:
It can be really disheartening to realize that, when you thought you failed at something because you didn’t do well enough, other people had the magic words. For instance, some injustices I’ve witnessed (that may or may not always be the case, or maybe not anymore!) include:
A good athletic score doesn’t get you into a college sport–having a coach or parent talk to the college coach is mandatory
Many school-sponsored scholarships are often not tightly linked to grades, test scores, or financial need, but whether the student said the right words (“I can’t afford that”) to the right person (presumably some financial office person.)
Apparently, some aspects of some degrees are cheated on by most students (if that’s the case, we should tell all students that it’s ok to cheat on that so they don’t waste their time on something that apparently wasn’t important anyway, or worse, fail out just for being ethical.)
Especially related to books: Few people will mention that you can get grants! Not my agent, not my publisher, not the 1 zillion “pros and cons of trad publishing” articles out there mentioned grants (Grant eligibility is a HUGE benefit of trad publishing.) I got more money from grants than my entire book advance!
Let me know what magic words/secret knowledge you’ve learned, that you wish you knew sooner. Or: the widespread understanding of what information would make a field more fair?
And please share ANBIP with anyone writing, publishing, or seriously about to start writing, a nonfiction non-memoir book, especially if they’re interested in the more practical side (I share more about resources and strategy than craft.)
I had an idea about the world’s greatest DC comics feud potential - Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne, but duked out entirely in the field by their businesses.So the scenario unfolds because LexCorp, during a random corporate ransacking of minor business competitors accidentally acquired a company that only just came into the rights to make merchandising for the Justice League.
The League, and Superman, go to reasonable lengths to ensure that the licence to print money that is Justice League merchandise is shopped about a bit, so that it helps various economies, and also doesn’t result in the one company getting on the receiving end of a world dominating villain. It’s also in the Justice League charter that the ultrawealthy corprorations cannot directly own the rights, partly to keep Waynecorp at bat-arms length from the JL, and almost entirely to prevent Lexcorp from just buying the rights and squashing their income stream.
As a consequence, a minor conglomerate of manufacturers gets the Superman franchise as a way to help them rebuild after one or another alien invasion crisis tears up their side of town. Unfortunately, due to Acts of Joker, their operations end up for sale, and through various means, Lexcorp accidentally acquires them.
Lexcorp, through a string of shelf companies and other politely accepted societal financial crimes becomes the most recent recipient of the Justice League licence for Superman merchandise. It’s only at the end of the first quarter of near literally printing money that LexCorp’s people realise what has happened - they’re mass manufacturing Pro Superman merchandise.
Lex, initially, is very unhappy. The sort of unhappy that causes people around Lex to look for solutions (the vat of acid type) and other solutions (problems solved type). Until Mercy points out that they have the exclusive licence for Superman merchandise, so why don’t they just make crappy merch?
Lexcorp begins a campaign of corporate espionage and sabotage by designing the worst products they can conceivably put to market - including the Superman’s Secret lead lined lunchbox. The Justice League, somewhat put out by their merchandising profits also going to prop up LexCorp find themselves in the quandary that Batman can’t Waynecorp his way out of the problem, as Lex has no intentions to sell the franchise licence. A heated Justice League board meeting comes to the conclusion that whilst they can’t punch, eyebeam, shazam, or otherwise their way out, there had to be some way to stop Lex from ruining Superman’ merch’s reputation one Temu t-shirt at a time.
Enter Bruce Wayne, and Waynecorp.
Now whilst the Batmanfacturing was 100% Not Involved, everytime Lex’s people tried to make the Worst Superman Product ever, it shows up on the sales room floor in such mint condition that retailers and wholesalers start raving about the quality, the precision, the excellence in execution of the manufacturing. Waynecorp buys up every spare inch of the supply chain feeding into LexCorp’s Superman Merchandise, killing with kindness as everything feeding into the making of the merch is the cheapest, best deal on the planet. The sort of deal that a frontline LexCorp grunts knows in their survival instinct will make Mr Luthor happy with the profit margins
Lex, for all his genius, can’t believe that everything Superman he touches turns to solid gold, and bemoans his Midas touch.
Batman, meanwhile, is never letting Green Arrow handle the merchandise deals ever again.
