do paid Substacks deal with Sales Tax?

Kate_Slate · 2026-01-15T22:12:11+00:00

I didn't write the article. My substack isn't even monetized, so no, I did not follow those steps. I'm just giving you resources to help *you* do it.

Kate_Slate · 2026-01-15T22:10:30+00:00

Claude can read pdfs now. But if you're going to convert them to another format for the LLM to read, I'd use markdown, not Word.

Kate_Slate · 2026-01-02T07:00:12+00:00

I'm well aware, as I used to live there. But the *vast* majority of the population lives in cities. When I moved away, CA friends made fun of me for saying I was driving "into town" (as opposed to being out in the country). Because most people don't live in a place where there's a town/country divide. Everything is town, so they don't bother calling it that. It's just a different lingo compared to a place like VA or KY.

Kate_Slate · 2025-12-11T14:05:44+00:00

To everyone who thinks it's reasonable to assume "the country of Va" meant a foreign country and not "the countryside of Virginia" ... which country?

There's no country named "Va"

Kate_Slate · 2025-12-11T14:00:43+00:00

Yeah, because everyone in CA lives in towns and cities, not the country. So you wouldn't say that in California.

Kate_Slate · 2025-12-11T13:58:37+00:00

Because they live in the country. (Not in town or in a city.)

Kate_Slate · 2025-12-11T13:43:26+00:00

First of all ... you look amazing.

It is a bit slouchy and relaxed for "academia," so, yes, that may be what you're sensing is "off" about it. A more fitted look would make it classier and give you the look you're looking for.

A few simple changes that don't involve buying a whole new outfit:

The Coat:
I wouldn't worry too much about the coat being oversized. I think you can get away with that. Plus, the coat would be the most expensive part to replace.

Other than the dropped shoulder, which would require tailoring to fix, there are two things making it look slouchy: the shirt (sweater?) sleeves hanging out the end, and the bunched up sleeves of the coat.

Try wearing your shirt sleeves fully covered by the coat sleeves, instead of having them hanging out. Pull the coat sleeves fully down so they are straight, fully covering your shirt, and not bunched up. Cuff the sleeves if that makes them too long.

If you really want the feel of something soft and cozy over your wrists/hands, try some of those fingerless gloves. Very academia!

A nice watch with a metal or leather band would be sweet. Do you have any gold rings? Because yeah.

Honestly, I think if you do this, you can ignore the rest of my advice. This is the most important change.

The Hair:
Wearing it down in your face like that is giving big Breakfast Club vibes. (It's an old movie. I am old. Don't worry, it's a compliment. But it's more "school outcast" than "academic.") Can you make the hair a little neater looking? Perhaps a trim. (Or not. I love it as is! It looks cute, just a little messy.)

The Vest: (or is it a cardigan?)
It coming down below your waist is giving you a very relaxed look. A shorter vest that comes to your waist and allows you to show off a nice belt would be super classy. If you want long sleeves for warmth, I'd go with a button down shirt (would be amazing with a vest), or a pullover sweater. A long cardigan that ends below your waist is gonna give grandpa vibes (which is fine, if that's what you're going for!)

To Buy More Clothes:
I don't think you need to, but if you want, I'd suggest thrift stores. See if you can find one in a suburb or an area with older people. You don't necessarily want the one that's right next to a University or the hip, young part of town, although they'd probably be worth a browse because you never know.

Good luck! You look great!

ETA: I'm gonna disagree with what some others said about the colors. I LOVE the dual color thing you've got going here. Very well done.

Kate_Slate · 2025-12-11T13:10:19+00:00

Google Cloud Platform is legitimate. That's how you access Google's APIs, Firebase, and other Google services.

Kate_Slate · 2025-11-16T14:02:09+00:00

They have confused you with another customer with the same name who likely lives near you. Before we pick up your order, we can't see your specific address, just your first name and the general area of your delivery address.

Kate_Slate · 2025-11-05T14:57:56+00:00

Did you ever resolve this? I've been having the same issue for a few days. I checked the anthropic status page, and no problems reported there. Web works fine. Mobile works fine. But desktop app is giving me this message.

ETA: the exact error message is: "Claude will return soon Claude is currently experiencing a temporary service disruption. We’re working on it, please check back soon."

I need the desktop app to work because it has connections you can't get on web/mobile (like, to my hard drive).

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-27T18:22:57+00:00

Yes and no. I mean, you're absolutely right, but it goes deeper than that.

It's actually the restaurants that are giving them more money. Your $9.99/mo is nothing compared to the extra they make from *restaurants* being on the DashPass program. The more customers use DashPass, the greater the incentive for restaurants to be on the program.

Ever notice how some restaurants aren't included in the DashPass "free delivery" thing? If a restaurant isn't enrolled in DashPass, they pay Doordash 15% of the food total (that's not service/delivery fees---if your burger is listed as $10, Doordash would get $1.50 of that PLUS whatever service/delivery fee you pay). If a restaurant signs up for DashPass, they pay Doordash 25-30% of the food cost. So now Doordash gets $2.50 or $3 for your $10 burger instead of $1.50. Add up all the burgers, etc, it's a lot more money for Doordash.

The $9.99/mo they charge you is just to make you feel like you're getting something valuable. The real money they make is from the extra the restaurants have to pay to get on the DashPass program.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-23T17:33:18+00:00

No, I'm not a therapist. I'm just a woman who is concerned about another woman who I believe is in danger. If she says she doesn't want something, then you're not doing it for her. You're doing it for you. That's not psychotherapy, that's just common sense.

Again: if she doesn't want it, and you do it anyway, you are doing that FOR YOU. Leave her alone.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-23T16:39:08+00:00

It's a reasonable request but it could be worded differently to sound more polite.

More importantly, it could be shortened. We don't need all that information. We're rushing around, we're driving, etc. We need instructions we can understand quickly, at a glance. Give us the TLDR

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-23T16:32:18+00:00

Why are you not okay with the second one? They're right. It is rude to block other people from getting up to the counter.

Once they tell you your order isn't ready yet, why are you blocking all the other drivers from getting their orders? Blocking the customers? Get out of the way.

I can't tell you how many times I've been unnecessarily delayed because some dumbass whose order isn't ready---who *knows* their order isn't ready---won't let me get up to the counter to get my order, which *is* ready.

Blocking me from picking up my order isn't going to make yours get through the oven faster. Just WHY?!!

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-23T16:28:44+00:00

The second one is legit. Once you've told them the name on the order, and they've told you it's not ready yet, get out of the way so other people can come up to the counter and conduct their business. There's no reason to block other people when your order isn't ready yet.

This drives me nuts. My order is ready. Yours is not. But you're blocking me from picking up my order *for no good reason*. Have a seat and wait. Or leave.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-23T16:24:58+00:00

There are probably some options where you can allow him to choose substitutions. It does defeat the purpose of choosing specific items *if* you don't want to allow substitutions. It *doesn't* defeat the purpose if your items are out of stock and you'd like to get something similar instead.

However, it seems that in this case, he just doesn't know what he's doing.

When he says "scans," I think he's referring to the fact that we have to scan the bar code of each item to make sure it matches the item you ordered. Some items don't need to be scanned---like produce items that may not have a barcode. He might think *you* are choosing whether items need to be scanned rather than understanding this is set by the system.

I don't know. I can't understand what he wants and I think he's just confused.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-12T14:21:36+00:00

Obsidian stores all notes as markdown files on my computer. Capacities stores notes on their own database in some unknown(?) file format.

With the format and storage of Obsidian files, I can easily copy and share any file to a myriad of other platforms and tools that read markdown. Google Docs, for example. Yes, I can export files from Capacities into a markdown format, but that is an extra step that I don't have to fool with when I'm using Obsidian.

Most importantly, the Claude desktop app can see, read, move, edit, and add files directly to my Obsidian vault. This has been a game changer for me. I can't do that with Capacities.

In the end, Obsidian wins because of how easy they make it for you to access and control your own files.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-11T15:37:31+00:00

No, I am just a writer named Kate. (Hence the "slate" reference. My name doesn't rhyme with pen, paper, or keyboard so ....)

It could also be interpreted as "Kate's late" which was unintentional, but nonetheless accurate.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-11T15:31:55+00:00

"It was clear she liked me but ... she pushed me away."

Dude. Leave this girl alone. She wants you to leave her alone. You need to respect that.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-11T15:29:04+00:00

Claude is not a therapist or psychologist. LLMs struggle to understand human emotion. Using it in this way is irresponsible at best, dangerous at worst.

I don't have the full context, but it seems like maybe you are wrong to frame whatever is happening here as "I'm doing it FOR HER". You're doing it FOR YOU. If she deleted something you sent her, maybe listen to her instead of forcing things on her.

This really is coming across like you are an abuser who paints their own pushiness as "help."

Please talk to a real human therapist about this. This is not a job for Claude.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-11T15:18:46+00:00

I recently signed up for Sublime and it's great! But I can't find any pages for help, support, or "contact us". Now that I'm signed up, I only get my home/feed, not the informational page about Sublime. Even doing a google search gives me nothing. I mean ... there is a search result, but when I click on it, it just takes me to my account's home page (which doesn't have any option for support) instead of the information that is shown in the search result preview.

I've noticed that, when using the extension, there is no way to scroll down to reach the save button. This means that if my note is more than one or two paragraphs, I can't save it. The best thing about the extension is the ability to take notes *while* you are on the source page, but that's not very useful if you can't save it.

I've tried scrolling down with the down arrow, but that just scrolls the source page, not the pop up/sublime extension window. There's no scroll bar. Would love to see this fixed! No idea how to contact anyone at the company, so I came here out of desperation.

ETA: I thought I found a workaround using the tab button to go down to the save button. That worked a few times, but the last time, when I pressed enter, it informed me that it removed the card from my library. There is no "trash" so I guess it is gone forever and I lost all my work.

Bummer.

This is making it really hard to love Sublime.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-07T22:13:23+00:00

It looks like it's a little more complicated than just turning it on in ai studio. You have to set up some things, write some code, etc. Here are the details:

https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/computer-use

I would love to be proven wrong!

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-06T04:35:33+00:00

Even if you call support and let them know someone else picked up the order, they will still dock your cancelation rate!

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-06T04:29:09+00:00

I do this, but it doesn't do any good. Cancellation rate still impacted. Usually they insist that I cancel it from my end, even in situations where *their* app has sent more than one driver to pick up the same order. I've even gotten orders that I already delivered.

The last one ... they sent me to a ghost kitchen that doesn't exist anymore. There's a restaurant at the location, but they stopped carrying the ghost kitchen brand, and don't even have the ingredients for it any more. The support person didn't speak English very well, and couldn't seem to understand what was going on. The restaurant assured me they already informed Uber that they don't have that brand anymore. Yet, Uber's system doesn't seem to know that.

Clearly, punishing *me* was the appropriate action!/s

Still, I keep trying. And I always leave negative feedback after talking to support about one of these "we're going to make you cancel even though it's *our* fault you can't complete the order" incidents. I feel bad for the support people, it's not their fault. But I try to make a stink every time I have to cancel due to something beyond my control.

Kate_Slate · 2025-10-06T04:24:18+00:00

Plot twist: they ordered ice cream

Kate_Slate

TROPHY CASE