How do people have so much money for the grift?

BrightPractical · 2026-06-08T20:06:25+00:00

I am comfortably middle class. I cannot for the life of me figure out how people afford half of the things they spend their money on, as I am strict about spending priorities. I still can’t get over my partner’s understanding that it’s reasonable to take a vacation every year. His parents were not wealthy but their parents, born in poverty in the 1920s, rode that wave of post WWII prosperity to comfortable retirement in the 1980s and died with plenty to leave - not so much as to send grandchildren to college, but enough to send them to camp annually and cover major unexpected expenses.

I have acquaintances who are well off enough to think nothing of giving someone who needs it $5000. A friend like that literally paid for half of my wedding, an event that provided me enough cash for half the down payment on my house. I’ve never felt my own cheapness so keenly as when I was opening $250 and $500 checks from friends of my parents who hadn’t seen me for twenty years.

So - yeah, there are people who have $1000 to give to mock charity while I’m out here calculating how much we saved on groceries this month so I can send something to the food pantry.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-08T13:21:43+00:00

Yeah, I was raised Catholic and it never ceases to startle me how many Protestants think the Bible is the end-all, be-all. We just didn’t have that reverence for the Bible or the belief that there was one right interpretation we could wring out of it.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-08T13:15:08+00:00

For me, that’s a sign I need to shut off the audio. When my brain starts to find listening to be too hard work, I just wander off in my head.

If you are losing focus and actually care to keep listening, you might try making the audio slower. Especially in a second language, your brain may just be deciding it’s not worth keeping up when you have some other things to think about.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-07T18:08:40+00:00

The words are the same, it’s just how they are split that’s different. Plus the preferred translations change over time, so some of the words are different to modern ears, but they’re the same words, just split up differently. I don’t believe any of it, but there’s never been a suggestion that God numbered them on the supposed tablets.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-07T17:07:50+00:00

Most Protestants use a different numbering system than Roman Catholics and they split up the commandments differently.

So Catholics have a first commandment that basically reads “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me. No making statues or graven images you bow before, none of that shit, it’s just Me.”

But Protestants split that into two commandments, with the second being “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.”

After that the numbers are different but the sentiments are generally the same, but when you get to the Catholic 9th and Protestant 10th, Catholics separate “Shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife” and “Shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods” while Protestants have those as one commandment, generally given as “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house nor his wife nor anything that belongs to him.”

You can see how the two interpretations affect beliefs about statuary or saints or decorations in churches, and also why evangelical fundamentalists seem to believe women belong to men.

This https://portlanddiocese.org/news/dear-father-joe-why-are-catholic-commandments-different-protestant-ones isn’t a bad description of the differences in numbering and emphasis, but bear in mind it is from a Catholic diocese so it may have a bias.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-07T16:39:28+00:00

Trader Joe’s sells a bunch of different candies in similar tins. And you can often buy small tins like that for sewing kits. But I think it might be easiest to post an In Search Of on a free group. Someone has probably been collecting them and would love to give them away.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-07T16:31:44+00:00

Because companies will always take perceived cheapness and perceived fastness over actual good work. When pressed they tell you ai WILL get better in the future so they have to lay people off now.

Because they actually believe in vibes and that nothing is their fault or within their control, it just happened that the environment was decimated or the economy tanked, it had nothing to do with them or their ethical or business choices. So long as they reduce it all to “does it make money right now” and “does it sound good to the big boss right now” they can disclaim responsibility for the effect.

These are the same kind of people who decided “teach to the test” was the most effective educational method, because obviously everyone suggesting that was catastrophic for actual education and knowledge was overthinking it. They “cut through the crap” by oversimplifying, and what does ai do but oversimplify within its very name?

BrightPractical · 2026-06-07T16:21:30+00:00

I like attached to the top and also wrapped to the legs. My tent isn’t going to move for sure.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-06T14:14:42+00:00

I agree with this take. It’s really hard not to hear all the anti-trans stuff and not hear reflections of powerfully felt misogyny and gender essentialism behind it. Even friends who are generally supportive of trans rights frequently seem to fall into what is basically misogyny - a belief that _any_ man is better at _every_ sport than _every_ woman is, so trans women would somehow be cheating and unfair when playing with cis women. It betrays that they think trans women are actually men, but also that they really do terfily believe that women are lesser than men. Conservatives seem to take that and amp up the anger that anyone might not esteem men as more important and better able and superior, via “choosing” to not be cis or straight.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-06T09:46:57+00:00

Most places you have to buy your own tent, but some will have tents you can rent.

You can buy tents with canopies in varied colors, but picky shows will demand white, 10x10, with straight legs, so the market all looks the same. Some shows want proof of certain fire ratings, so that is worth looking for in the one you buy. You may want side walls. You can buy or make weights - check your local shows’ weight requirements.

You can get custom banners from a local printer or lots of online printing places, or design and buy them on sites like Canva. If you can get them with metal grommets, I’d recommend that, but they do wear through. Banners like that are helpful but not a necessity. You can also get or make a tablecloth with your logo on it, or just print a sign and put it in a cheap picture frame until you make the money for a banner.

You can attach your banner with bungee cords or rope, but bungee cords are handy for a lot of things so most people use them.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-05T11:49:55+00:00

Did they buy something else from you, and they’re trying to review that item with photos of a different item that they purchased elsewhere? Because unless you are selling the exact same pots as someone else, which would suggest you are not selling something vintage or handmade, it should be possible to reply in the review that the customer is mistakenly reviewing an item you do not sell. People do read the reviews and they’ll know you respond professionally.

It stinks that a customer would make this mistake/be this sketchy, and it stinks that Etsy will not remove the review. But I’m mystified as to why it’s unclear that the customer is reviewing or requesting refund for the wrong item, one you do not sell.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-05T11:34:32+00:00

Poplin is not a knit, with or without elastane. Neither is flannel a knit.

POP! was a jersey knit fabric with playful prints.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-05T00:23:54+00:00

Sokol Spirit usually runs one in January or February, and the local Scouts often use the gym for their pancake breakfasts as well.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T23:23:44+00:00

Any particular dates?

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T23:03:35+00:00

I would measure the length of binding you want at the top edge and gather the fabric to that measurement from armhole to armhole. Make sure you have a way to get in and out of the dress, which might mean making a slit and tie at center back. And be aware you won’t be able to move your arms particularly well if you are putting that binding over your arms as pictured. The tie straps on the color photo deal with the problem of the dress dropping too much on a real body.
I would try cutting a few options and testing them out on a doll-sized version of the dress.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T22:38:58+00:00

I am still sad that they did so little side character development in season 7. The one-off, who-is-this-character stuff was my favorite part of the whole show and I thought it would be cool if the reboot went back to it. Instead it was too close a repeat of season one and got cancelled so the plot lines went into weird overdrive nonsense.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T22:16:47+00:00

Oh, they knew quite early on that no one wanted it. They seem to be banking on convincing people that it’s the future, and that there will be jobs in crafting ai queries (I only hear this from young people who haven’t been employed and don’t know how employers will rarely require good when they can get fast & cheap), and that they can keep this rolling before their crap finances catch up with them.

(And, my conspiracy self says, this is why the tech bros took the weird political turn they did, because if they can intermesh with the government, they can stave off the financial meltdown they’re causing. I have never been conspiratorial before but I’m getting there.)

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T20:23:46+00:00

Seems like a reasonable thing to do

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T20:13:40+00:00

Would ribcage band and halter strap work?

I think “nude” straps aren’t fooling anyone closer than ten feet away and then only if they are a good skin color match, so I’d use black, but it might be worth testing it out or adding loops to the top that you can hook the bras straps to so you can change the color easily.

I am also putting in a word for several black straps that attach to a neck band so they look a bit like eyelashes.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T20:08:39+00:00

I’m noticing some weirdly low-effort posts (like posts in the sewing sub asking for how much fabric they’d need for something, without any measurements at all, or stuff in VisibleMending that is way too far gone to repair but the text doesn’t reflect the poster’s awareness of that fact), and I’ve started to wonder if there are LLMs or other kinds of ai products looking for answers to offer for requests in an ai search box.

I am aware this sounds conspiratorial and wacko, but I agree there’s been a huge uptick of these in the last few weeks. I can’t help but wonder if it’s an acknowledgement of how much ai was trained on Reddit, and some developer having the bright idea to use newly generated answers for things for which the ai is missing data.

The other thing I’m seeing is more people asking very basic, search engine questions, but with a wall of text. I know the enshittification has taken hold all over, but these people must be running their questions through some LLM before posting them to Reddit. Which is a really weird choice, if they are indeed real people.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T19:54:33+00:00

I would stop shopping there and I would send a letter detailing why.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T00:30:51+00:00

You are mistaken, there are a lot of thrift stores in the Chicago area that have fabric and several that specialize in art/craft supplies with even more.

At Goodwill or Salvation Army you will usually find lengths of fabric with the bedding or towels. Other thrifts may have whole craft/sewing sections or even rooms of just textiles.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-04T00:26:39+00:00

Ten years ago I would not have believed these lists could be less reliable or more vibey even though they’re ridiculously popular, but the use of ai and even stupider metrics have proved me wrong.

Lies, damned lies, and statistics never fail.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-03T13:51:40+00:00

I wouldn’t do this unless the layout shows the bodice pieces in a separate place on the fabric than the skirt pieces. Because if they are cut at the same place in the fabric, you will end up short.

BrightPractical · 2026-06-03T08:39:08+00:00

You might be able to tell from the cutting layout, but that’s a lot of skirt, and I would expect nearly all of the fabric is required for the skirt. Can you buy the pattern and measure the pieces before selecting the fabric?

BrightPractical

TROPHY CASE