masochistic-tendenci3s:

A Message to my Followers who are going to be impacted by Hurricane Florence.

This hurricane is dangerous.

Please, take it seriously.

It is not just a thunderstorm.

Take it from someone who went through Katrina and saw the damage a hurricane can do when it sits and builds.

It changes entire landscapes.

It kills.

Get gas now. The gas stations will begin to either run out, or put a limit to how much gas you can get. Get it now while you can, because I remember distinctly the way the abandoned cars looked on the highway while we were evacuating.

Once that storm hits, the gas stations will shut down. There will be no gas for a week, at least.

You will be stuck in bumper to bumper traffic. Make sure your car is in good working order. The amount of cars left behind on the highway is astounding.

Bring your pets in case of flooding, don’t leave them behind or in a shelter.

Take a picture of every single thing in your house the way it is. Ever dresser. Everything. If it floods, this will help with the insurance.

Power will be out for a week, possibly more. Take anything that will spoil, eat it now/bring it with you/throw it out. You don’t want to come back to a house that is 80°+ inside with spoiled food. It smells disgusting. I know from first hand experience.

Pack as much clothes + whatever else you need as you can. You don’t know what you will be returning to, if anything at all. I hate to say it, but there were so many homes lost in Katrina in mg area to flooding & I didn’t even live in the Soup Bowl.

From what I’ve seen, the outer bands are strengthening. They’re red at this point. This hurricane is getting stronger, and it’s well built. There are no winds to tear it apart. It’s eye is holding together, and that’s terrifying. A well built storm like this one can ruin lives. It’s not a joke.

Please, please stay safe. Evacuate ASAP if you’re in the direct line.

Don’t wait until it is here. That is how you get killed. Do not evacuate in the middle of it. Don’t wait until last minute.

It is always better to be safe than sorry.

Please stay safe.

Listen to the news. Follow their advice.

Leave while you still can, before the highways get clogged up. Go as far in-land as you can. Leave the state entirely if you have to.

We did. And we still felt the effects of Katrina.

Please, stay safe.

mousewife:

Alright alright alright back at it again with Hurricane info since Florence is gonna be bearing down on the Carolinas in a few days

Know your local shelters, just in case! IF YOU HAVE PETS BE AWARE OF THE ONES THAT ACCEPT PETS! Unfortunately not all of them do

Beware of price gouging! Especially on gas!

BE PREPARED FOR GAS STATIONS TO RUN OUT OF GAS!

SOMETHING TO ADD:

DO NOT ASSUME YOU’LL BE ABLE TO GET THINGS VIA PRIME RIGHT BEFORE THE STORM

I could not stress this more. It was a HUGE issue last year! Amazon can and WILL run out of things in their warehouses- INCLUDING FANS, BATTERIES, AND PORTABLE CHARGERS. And shipping will be delayed due to the storm! If there’s anything AT ALL you need from amazon via Prime order it ASAP. 3rd party sellers were gouging the shit out of stuff like fans just before Irma last year on amazon so if you want stuff and don’t want to pay and arm and a leg for it, GET IT NOW

Don’t bother with buying things like flour and eggs and milk! Don’t buy perishables! If you lose power they will do nothing for you!

Fill gallon freezer bags with water, seal them tightly with duct tape, and freeze them before the storm! If you lose power you’ll be able to toss them in your fridge to keep it cooler longer! You’ll also have extra emergency water if you need it

turbomun:

gauntletspirit:

polypaganpancakepearl:

thefusspot:

So it appears that Autodesk did a thing.

image

Go nuts, my friends.

this is my favorite art program. it’s *much* more intuitive than photoshop/gimp or corel paintshop, but it still has the full functionality of a digital art program (layers, brush stabilizer, etc.). it’s not overwhelming to start on like practically every other decent art program I’ve tried, you can just pick a brush and start drawing as if it were paper if you want. plus you can download extra brushes for free! and they publish free art tutorials pretty regularly

ANYONE looking for a free art program: worth looking into.

YALL I LOVE THIS PROGRAM, especially the ipad version!! and i’m psyched that i don’t have to pay $30 a year for it anymore!!!

your-naked-magic-oh-dear-lord:

dadrielle:

meanoldhag:

pikestaff:

ouijubell:

halftruthsandhyperbole:

Today I learned

Free Audiobooks and Ebooks on OVERDRIVE.

Free Graphic Novels (DC, Marvel, Image, etc), Music, TV shows, and music on HOOPLA.

Free music that you can KEEP on FREEGAL

You are PAYING for all this with your tax money – USE THEM. Most likely systems will have all 3 or 2 out of 3, so if you aren’t sure call your local library’s reference/information desk and how you can get set-up or started.

Helpful links to all of the above:

Overdrive: https://www.overdrive.com/

Hoopla: https://www.hoopladigital.com/

Freegal: https://www.freegalmusic.com/home

More places to find FREE EBOOKS:

Standard eBooks (basically stuff off of Project Gutenberg, but prettified)

Baen Free Library

Book Bub – Free eBooks and Free Kindle books

Bubblin Books

Useful if you’re an ebook power user: Calibre

many libraries also give you access to KANOPY which has free movies (mostly documentaries but last i checked Moonlight was on there!)

A big chunk of the criterion collection is on Kanopy, as are a lot of the Great Courses sets! It trends toward indie stuff and documentaries definitely though.

RB Digital is another one a lot of libraries have, for magazines.

Also for Overdrive, there’s a new, improved app that’s much easier to use called Libby. You can download it plus the apps for hoopla, rb digital, and freegal in the Apple and google play stores then just plug in your library card info and get going.

Oh and if you’re running into paywalls with your online newspaper reading, libraries got your back there too – most of us provide access to the big ones and whatever the local papers are.

Finally, for any of my Massachusetts folks that don’t know, literally everybody in the state can get a Boston library card, physical or digital, and they have a pretty dang robust set of databases you can use as well as most of the above mentioned (I don’t think they have kanopy as of now but I’d have to double check).

@oddtaxonomy

I’M ABOUT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOREVER, BOOK NERDS

humanityinahandbag:

humanityinahandbag:

humanityinahandbag:

humanityinahandbag:

humanityinahandbag:

humanityinahandbag:

Do you like books!?

OF COURSE YOU DO

Do you like reading books?

DUUUUUH!

Do you collect books and let them sit on your shelf!?

WHAT IS THIS!? AMATEUR hOUR? OF FUCKING COURSE! 

Do you spend WAAAAAAY too much money on books even though they’re totally worth it but holy fucking shit fifteen dollars is the median and why is the world so effortlessly cruel?

Who’s got two thumbs and an empty wallet! Yes yes and yes!

WELL HAVE I GOT A SOLUTION FOR YOU

Thriftbooks is an amazing online site that sells used books! These books are, for the most part, in great condition. I’ve used this website for everything from textbooks to fiction to everything else in between! It has a wide selection with an even wider selection of options per book!

You want softcover? They’ve got it! Hardcover? Of course! Audio? Why not!

Hell! They even sell the books in other languages!

You might say to me, humanity, why are you telling us this? We already have barnes and noble!

Because, my poor, naive friend, thriftbooks sells the majority of it’s books for under four dollars.

That’s right. You heard me. Under. Four. Dollars.

And right now, they’re having a huge deal!

2 books for $7

3 books for $10

4 books for $12

But wait! There’s more!

If you leave a book in your cart for long enough, chances are you’ll be alerted when a seller nearby, for a cheaper price, has the same book! You’ll get it cheaper and faster, with less waste of paper and time!

And prices change! That book that would have cost you $3.79 one day might be $3.45 the next, and man oh man isn’t that the best thing to see when you check up on your cart.

So what are you waiting for, book lovers! Go! Go shop!

Go and rule the world!

Be the book lovers I know you can be!

DID I MENTION THAT THERE’S FREE SHIPPING OVER 10 DOLLARS

DID I MENTION THAT THERE’S ALSO A COUPON CODE YOU CAN USE FOR A LIMITED TIME

type in the word “welcome” when you get to checkout and you’ll get 15% off!

DID I ALSO MENTION THAT THERE ARE READING REWARDS

AND THAT EVER $50 YOU SPEND THEY GIVE YOU $5 BACK.

guys

five dollars

on this site

is a book

that is the cost of an entire book

you’re literally getting a free book

I NEED Y’ALL TO SEE THIS SIDE BY SIDE THOUGH

So to prove my very real point, I went to Barnes and Noble and picked out some of my favorites books that I already have on my shelves

(also, fyi, y’all should read these they’re bangin)

AND BECAUSE THE SHIPPING IS SO INSANE, IT WAS MEAN TO COME OUT TO $47.85 (and that’s at an online price, which discounts by a few dollars)

But with shipping, handling, and the extreme cost of books, my total came to this:

$72.30

Okay. Then I went onto thriftbooks and chose the same books in the same formats (hardcover, softcover, etc.)

Keep in mind that not all books are under $4 due to size, availability, how new they are to the world yada yadayada

But this was the final shopping cart.

Look.

Look at those lovely books.

My final check out price?

$21.86

AND THAT DOESN’T INCLUDE ANY OF THE AMAZING DISCOUNTS, DEALS, AND/OR PROMO CODES.

If you do the math, I saved $50.44.

And even if Barnes and Noble had given me that free shipping, I still would have saved $25.99. Do you know what that could buy you? That could buy you four more books on thriftbooks!

Thriftbooks fucking saved my broke college ass. And I’d encourage you all to use it if you can. Shipping may take 4-14 days, but I swear to god it’s worth every dollar that I would have burned

THIS IS IN NO WAY AN ENCOURAGEMENT TO STOP SHOPPING AT BOOKSTORES. PLEASE DON’T. LOCAL BOOKSTORES ARE IMPORTANT AND VITAL AND SHOULD BE SUPPORTED!

I’m mostly making jabs at the big name companies, and honestly, my broke bookworm ass needs a break.

NOW YOU MAY ASK ME

HOW

HOW CAN IT GET ANY BETTER THAN THIS!?

It can’t. There’s no way!

WELL YES IT FUCKING CAN, BOOK NERDS!

Did you ever think to yourself; I love to read. But I sure wish there was a way to read my own books while I multi-task by helping the environment, the economy, and the seemingly never-ending and growing gap between low-income schools and libraries and their availability to reading material all at the same time…

Well, there is.

It’s called shopping at Thriftbooks

And what’s more:

Boom.

Right there.

This place is fucking amazing as hell and you should use it as often as you possibly can.

Save the environment. Keep your mind running. Shop Thriftbooks.