Yeah, most online stores don’t accept gift cards, unfortunately. 🙁 Especially Amazon…tried to order some much needed products with Amazon cards, and they require a bank card.

IME, (on Amazon at least…and a few others I’ve tried) masked cards are usually accepted as bank cards. Gift cards are not.

I’d love to build myself a privacy-respecting online store that accepts everything from Monero to cash to Apple pay (for the general populous that doesn’t care), but I sort of lack the capital. 😅

I mean, yeah, it would be great if Amazon took Monero, but I don’t see them ever even considering that.

I always called it a sweat jacket.

Yes! Thank you! That’s what i was looking for.

Although, yeah, Ramsey definitely has had his share of controversy, so I listen to the episodes with a grain of salt.

Yeah, I tried a few episodes. Couldn’t really get into it for some reason. Maybe I’ll try again.

I was living at or below the poverty line for years before COVID. As a senior developer, I wasn’t finding any work. Then when COVID hit, I wasn’t able to keep up with the work. I was finally earning 6 figures. I was able to travel (like in a jet, legitimate travel) for the first time–just because. It was amazing. I was able to network with people and provide value for people. I felt like my career was suddenly moving!

Then around 2021-2022 all my clients abandoned me, my network ghosted me, and I was back to square one. That’s where I am today.

I’m working on having a breakthrough because someone college-educated with a GitHub profile should not be standing at food bank lines every month.

True, and thanks.

Ah, I see. Yeah, I keep forgetting that a lot of people use LinkedIn for job-searching (I mean, I kinda do too, but been active on it like 7 years without a single follow-through). I see it as a networking tool. Job-searching may be part of it, but business leaders and ultra wealthy use it to make connections and support each other (theoretically). Businesses/creators would be the target market. Maybe some job-search aspect to it at some point.

Haha, this is true. Hence why I was looking for a way to serve people.

Yeah, that’s why I was kinda wondering.

Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for. I’m a believer that money = value. If something or someone is valuable, it should be paid for and there’s nothing wrong with that.

I’m also a believer that you can operate in FOSS/Fedi-mode and still make money.

Yup, an instance would be paid, but if someone wanted to launch a service of their own they totally could…they just won’t have the upstream features and the primary support from the paid instance.

Job-seeker/employer is only a drop in the ocean of what professional networking (and LinkedIn) is about. It’s a community of businesses that all help each other collaborate and build…a way to share ideas and make new connections…at least, I think that’s what everyone wants it to be.

Nope, no verification system…complete opposite…you’d just need to pay an I don’t care who you are (I’d even take crypto like Monero). I think being on week 4 of wrestling with LinkedIn’s verification system (being in LI jail for the 3rd time!) has made me sick of it.

One thing I like about the fediverse is it’s very community-driven. If I come across a spam message on Mastodon, I’ll start to report it to the community but find 10 others who are saying the same thing and within 5 minutes the dude is out. Meanwhile LinkedIn has a draconian verification system that treats its users like toddlers, while every other week I have someone asking to take over my UpWork account (and LI doesn’t ban them).

With me it depends on quality & depth.

If I socialize with a really good friend (or a romantic interest–which hasn’t been for a while 🙁 ) every day, that invigorates me.

But if I drag myself out to even one hour long social event for a week I have to spend 8 weeks recovering. 🤣 (OK, maybe not that long, but you get the idea).

Just goes to show that love can help turn someone’s life around.

Thankfully I haven’t been in the prison system (and I don’t know anyone personally who is), nor do I hope to. But it seems like a very bleak existence.

I’m glad cats are giving the prisoners at least a substitute of love and support.

I just wanna give that little guy a pat on the head. good job, little beaver. Keep making your home.

I’ve been hearing about sustainable animal food as well, at least in the context of marine life. Counter-intuitively, avoiding overfishing results in more fish. It’s probably similar with farming…avoiding over-farming results in more and better quality cattle/milk.

I’m not a biologist, though, but I’m just guessing.

Already had one power outage, another is on the way.

I actually kinda like power outages. They’re sort of an adventure.

The only gut-punch is that I’ve been looking for work for a while now. Hoping on a miraculous break-through soon. But I had to ask for money from friends for non-perishables.