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Monday, February 4, 2013
Top Stories from the last 24 hours
Unemployment Stories, Vol. 25: 'I Still Exist'
February 4th, 2013Top StoryUnemployment Stories, Vol. 25: 'I Still Exist'By Hamilton Nolan
I still exist
Tips from the front lines
Beauty in struggle
#Foreverbroke
Bad job vs. no job
Previously [Thanks to everyone who wrote in. You can send your own unemployment story here.]  |
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Hundreds of Confused Anti-Gun People Think I'm a Gun Nut-And That This Is My Gun
February 4th, 2013Top StoryHundreds of Confused Anti-Gun People Think I'm a Gun Nut—And That This Is My GunBy Stephen Totilo
In that latter camp we might include Senator Lamar Alexander, who thinks that, when it comes to people getting shot to death, "video games are a bigger problem than guns." We might also include at least some of the 495-plus people who have shared a picture of me on Facebook and tried to make me a poster child for all that is wrong with people who like guns. These people—some of them confused, some of them ill-informed, and some of them possibly just extremely stupid—seem to think that, in the photo you see above, I'm holding a real gun and loving it. No, people. I'm holding a gun from the video game Halo. But, hey, carry on with your great analysis about what this means about "guys like this" and the size of various parts of my body. The photo you see above was posted on a Facebook page called "Republican Bigotry Hate Fear Lies and Distortion" on January 10. I don't know much about this Facebook page. They have 65,389 likes on Facebook. They seem to be Hillary Clinton 2016 supporters. They post lots of images of Republicans looking dumb. They rail against oil companies. I see that they like to use an icon of an upside-down elephant to mock Republicans. Below that symbol is a tagline: "They Lie (And Think We're Too Stupid To Notice)". Gee, why would "they" think that? I don't know why the RBHFLD people posted this particular image. (I've asked them; haven't heard back yet.) I guess they thought it exemplified what was wrong with gun culture or something. On January 10, the image was posted with the text: "Don't take away my gun." It was a successful post. It got shared almost 500 times in the last few weeks. It's been liked by nearly 300 people and commented on by more than 400 people. The first Facebook user comment about it: "Dove hunting?" The second: "idiot" The third commenter began to sense something wasn't right about this image: "That one looks like it was put together by way of a soldering iron and a lot of solder." The fourth: "looks like Oswald" (later joined by: "Is it any accident that he's a dead-ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald?" You decide!) As people commented, a certain theme caught on: "*over compensating* me thinks 0.o", "Laugh at my small dick now!", "One inch penis.", "Dude...I am SO sorry about your tiny penis!", " Bwahahahaha!!!!!! Of course he needs a weapon like that!!!! WTF!!! This proves so many theories to be true! Thank you :)))", etc. Some people seemed alarmed: "Please, please take his gun away", "what a tool id skull fuck this dork !", "Needs his brain removed before he does some real damage", etc. Some people shared their expertise: "Nice.... Military grade High Caliber Sniper rifle... ( I used one similar to this one in the Marine Corps. ) Able to punch a 5" hole in the flesh of a deer at 1K ft... Completely useless for hunting.. Unless you're hunting dinosaurs." Oh, here's a good one: "Idiot has his finger on the trigger. That's a photoshop amatuer whackjob." Voice of reason popped up, too: "The art behind him gives it away- that is not a real weapon, it's a sci-if prop. And we'll [sic] built, too!" and " You people do realize that this is a model of the sniper rifle from the Halo series and not a real weapon, right?", for example. But, really, this one said it all: "Wow. Ignorance beyond belief!" That photo of me is real. It was taken on September 3, 2009 when I was visiting the old Kirkland, Washington studios of Bungie, the development studio that was then working on a new Halo game. I'd dropped by the studios—a former supermarket in a strip mall—to tour the company's lobby and chat with some game developers in a small conference room a few feet from the studio's front door. A few minutes before the photo was taken, a police officer had peeked into the conference room and then quickly shut the door. That wasn't normal. During my visit—and more or less unbeknownst to me until it was all over—cops had descended on the studio. While I had been chatting with Halo developers, police squad cars had been filing the front parking lot outside the studio. Why? A Bungie employee had been carrying a prop Halo sniper rifle down the sidewalk, toward the studio. They'd taken it out, for some reason. A concerned citizen had spotted him, thought it was a real gun and called 911. I couldn't blame people for freaking out that day. You see someone who seems to be carrying a sniper rifle down a city sidewalk, you call the cops. Once the police figured out what was going on, everyone calmed down. Click to view The gun was just a prop. It had been created for several live-action Halo shorts that were directed by filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, who was, for a time, tapped to make a Halo movie. After the cops left, I went back into the lobby and took a look at the fake gun that had caused that stir. I wanted to take a photo, one of the gun lying idle and one with me holding it, to sort of recreate the scene. While I was getting ready to take the latter pic, more surprise visitors showed up. In walked two Halo fans, John Henry and Desirai Labrada. They'd met a few years prior, while playing Halo online. Earlier that year, they were married by a guy wearing the armor of Halo hero Master Chief. I'd been to their wedding—covered it for MTV. On that September day, they were just dropping by Bungie, too, and they loved the idea of the photos with the prop gun. So they snapped some, too. I'd filed that story remotely from Bungie. Former Kotaku editor-in-chief Brian Crecente wrote it up. We laughed about it. What a weird series of coincidences all that was! Little could we have guessed there'd be this odd coda more than three years later. I don't own a firearm. I've fired guns twice in my life. The first time was from the deck of an aircraft carrier, into the Pacific Ocean. I was on an aircraft carrier with my brother, who was serving in the Marines. He and others on the ship were allowed to bring family members along for the final leg of their peacetime voyage. Military personnel on the ship gave tours and let people handle a rifle.
The second time I fired a gun was from the deck of my in-laws' house down south. I'd married into a family of hunters. They invited me to, if not go hunting with them, at least get a feel for one of their hunting rifles. They took one out of the gun cabinet and showed me how to hold it. From the deck, I shot a pumpkin. My other experience with guns? Well, I held a Halo prop gun once. And at least once on the Internet, people saw a photo of me holding a fake gun and made fools of themselves, proving that there are careless people on any side of a heated debate, people who make nasty assumptions about things they know nothing about. Yeah, that happened too. (Thank you to Twitter user Flawless Cowboy for the tip about this. This one made me laugh.)  |
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The Complete Guide to Selling Your Unwanted Crap for Money
February 4th, 2013Top StoryThe Complete Guide to Selling Your Unwanted Crap for MoneyBy Alan Henry
One of the reasons it's so hard to declutter is because we look at an item that we don't need and remember how much time or energy or cash it cost from us to obtain. Selling that stuff may not bring back the time or energy, but it can bring back some of the money—money you can put towards the things you really want, (or save for your future). Of course, you could definitely donate your unwanted items to worthy charities that will accept them, and even get valuable tax deductions in the process while helping a good cause. But if you're looking to make a little more money back, that's what we're going to focus on here. Table of Contents
Choose What to Sell and Determine Its Value
This is the nature of appraisal and bartering. We're not going to suggest you barter all of the junk you want to get rid of, but we are going to talk about how you can look at the junk you think has no value at all and figure out how much it might be worth to someone who wants it. Here's how:
You can follow these steps for just about anything you want to sell, assuming you want to get the most possible money back for it. Remember, there are other factors to consider: if you're selling to someone online, you have to account for shipping and insurance. If you're selling locally, people may expect values because they're picking something up or taking it right off your hands. Similarly, if you plan to sell at a garage, yard, or community sale, the culture may play a role in how much you can get—not just the value of the item. We've discussed some of these specifics before, and we'll offer item-specific tips later, but keep it in mind when you're appraising the things you want to clear out of your home. Finally, remember: if you can find someone to whom the item you want to get rid of is extremely valuable, moreso than it is to you, make sure to get how much they think it's worth. That's what made Kyle's experiment a success. Electronics, Books, Video Games, and Computer Equipment
Depending on what it is you're selling, you may be able to find specialty sites that are willing to make the process easier. We've mentioned a few for video games, and a few more for cell phones, but your best chance to make the most money is still with the big guys. You could also turn to Craigslist here since you can set your own price and no one takes a cut, but whether you'll waste months waiting for decent offers is impossible to guess. Craigslist is great for some things (as we'll see shortly,) but it's a crapshoot with small electronics. Books are a bit of a special case. We still think Amazon and eBay are great avenues to get the most money back, but if you're selling textbooks, don't forget sites like Chegg and Half.com. Check out our guide to selling textbooks for more tips there. If you're looking for more places to sell your books, the five best places to buy cheap textbooks are a good starting point for sellers too. Clothing and Apparel
There are tons of speciality and custom sites for selling clothes on the web, and they're worth exploring (you can grab some suggestions from this Quora thread.) You can also consider listing your clothing items on speciality clothing forums, subreddits (like /r/malefashionadvice), or message boards, if the listing fits. Keep in mind that most of them have small communities, are targeted at specific markets (women's clothing, baby clothing, designer clothing, vintage clothing, etc), and thus have relatively small communities. Still, if you have a closet full of what those communities want, by all means sign up and sell. Toys and Children's Items
Expensive or rare collectibles are a bit out of scope for us here, but if you have something that's especially valuable, you'll hopefully find out when you do the research we suggested you do earlier. If that's the case, you can always eBay or Craigslist it for its appropriate value, but your better bet may be to find a real appraiser who specializes in that type of item and seek their advice on keeping it in good condition or selling it appropriately. Household Items and Small Appliances
Of course, yard sales, and community sales are an option here, but these types of items are more likely to hold their value than some others that people want to touch and feel before purchasing. You can definitely sell household items and electronics at a yard sale, but odds are you'll get the same or better money for them online. Furniture and Large Appliances
Obviously, Craigslist gives you the most control here and we'd suggest going that route first. I can't count how many people have quickly sold large items on Craigslist and all they had to do was wait for the buyer to show up, take it away, and collect the money. Be careful though, it's not all roses. Art, Collectibles, and Other Personal Items
That professional can then give you some advice on where to sell your item to get the best result, or even work with you (for a cut of the sales price, of course) to get it in front of the people who are most likely to buy it, whether it's at auction or a private sale. If you have a lot of antiques, collectibles, or other items in your home you need to get rid of, consider holding an estate sale to get rid of it all quickly. If you have collectibles that don't warrant that kind of attention, you can always head over to Craigslist or eBay to list it with other collectibles there. Go Forth and Sell, But Don't Get Screwed
Similarly, we have some useful tips to help you craft the perfect listing, get all the details right, and avoid coming off like a scammer yourself so your listings get the most attention and sell quickly. Selling on Craigslist deserves its own guide since it's so easy to get screwed selling there. If you're buying on Craigslist, we have some tips there too. Do your homework, appraise properly, and pick the right venue for the right gear, and you'll make some good money from the things that either have no value to you, or you know you could just do without. In the end, you'll have a cleaner, clutter-free home and money you can use to buy the things you really want, spend on the important things in life, or spend on experiences instead of things. Title photo by Dustin and Janae DeKoekkoek.  |
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