Steve Mullis

8 out of 10 podcast hosts are wearing a cashmere sweater from Quince right now

US Navy tells shipping industry Hormuz escorts not possible for now The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since ​the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high f...

Whoa. This is big. "The U.S. Navy has refused near-daily requests from the shipping industry for military escorts through the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the war on Iran, saying the risk of attacks is too high for now." www.reuters.com/world/middle...

Sen. Kennedy's "gee willikers" style of reading is a deliberate performance that adds an absurd tonality to statements, making reasonable quotes sound goofy and wacky. Bier's responses began to defuse the performance, which is why he started getting so defensive.

If I see you order this ... wait, what?

Why the hell am I in a Buffalo Wild Wings?

What is happening? Who are you people!?

Some of the frivolous September purchases made under Secretary Pete Hegseth’s stewardship include a $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for the Air Force chief of staff’s home, $5.3 million for Apple devices such as the new iPad, and an astronomical amount of shellfish, including $2 million for Alaskan king crab and $6.9 million worth of lobster tail. (Lobster tail is apparently a favorite of Hegseth’s Pentagon—the department spent more than $7.4 million total on the luxury item in March, May, June, and October.)

Trump's admin & DOGE slashed funding for science, the arts, education, cancer research, foreign aid, child care, and so much more ... but they're spending $7.4M on lobster tail at the Pentagon. Cool.

newrepublic.com/post/207555/...

This kind of thing forces you to go to a dealership, taking up half your day, and they overcharge you for something that's a pretty simple unfastening and fastening of bolts. This shit sucks.

I need to replace the 12V battery in our 2017 Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, and it's become a ridiculous task. No aftermarket batteries fit properly, and the OEM battery is unavailable at every place I find online. I miss my 1985 Chevy Cavalier that I could fix with stuff I found in my kitchen.

lol.

This was a poll of only Trump supporters conducted by a pro-Trump polling firm and published in the Washington Free Beacon.

LINK: freebeacon.com/national-sec...

A woman who didn't serve in the Air Force or any military, who is the widow of a man who also didn't serve in the Air Force or any branch of the U.S. military (and was, in fact, rejected from West Point). More merit-based appointments, I see.

The modern American right is a post-constitutional movement. Here, a supposed rightwing national security expert claims that Congress does not have the power to declare war - despite the plain text of the U.S. Constitution.

A DOGE staffer assigned to the National Endowment for the Humanities to flag grants for "DEI" tries to explain what "DEI" is. This deposition is part of a lawsuit by the @acls1919.bsky.social, @historians.org and @modernlanguage.bsky.social.

These are the same dumb people who say they liked Star Trek or Rage Against the Machine before they "went woke."

I think this story is a really good example for people to look at when it comes to understanding bias at NYT. It's not that the reporter, Dana Rubinstein, says anything outright false. But the framing, word choices, etc., add up to an unprofessional and biased account.

Rich Hall - Supermarket Sniglets (1983) YouTube video by SufferingFoolsMusic

If you're not familiar, Sniglets are a creation of comedian Rich Hall and were part of the 1980s HBO show "Not Necessarily the News." A Sniglet is defined as "any word that doesn't appear in the dictionary, but should." They are almost always portmanteaus.

If anything demands a Sniglet right now, it's this

A page from the book “Gmorning, Gnight!” Text: Good morning. Do NOT get stuck in the comments section of life today. Make, do, create the things. Let others tussle it out. Vamos!

Good morning.

What in the absurdist novel is going on in this White House?

Promo image for "Queen of Chess" on Netflix

This is a great story.

Bronx Day-Care Worker $31,000 $16,600 from day-care profits $14,400 from trainings and consulting Last year, I lost a lot of kids. I live in the Bronx, and a bunch of families in my neighborhood lost their child-care vouchers. We’re talking about people who make as much as I do; most of the moms I work with are home health aides. They can’t afford full-time child care. If I have 16 kids, I can pay myself for 40 hours of work. But last year, I didn’t, and obviously I’m still doing the same amount of work. I’ve been running the day care out of my home for more than seven years. It’s a profession I entered out of necessity and have stayed in out of passion. I pay for everything — food, cleaning supplies, toys — and we have to meet the same requirements as a large company in terms of paying for liability insurance, which can feel pointless in this industry. I mean, if something happens to one of my children, I lose my license. End of story.

A seven-layer burrito of systemic failures

Pickleball Coach–Model–Auctioneer $120,000 $90,000 from pickleball $30,000 from various entertainment jobs I got really into pickleball around COVID. This 75-year-old guy was teaching me, and it got to a point where I could beat him, so I asked him if he wanted to hire me as a coach. I got a coaching certification the next weekend. I charge $150 for an hourlong private session. The club I work for gives me 40 percent of that. It also pays me for admin work — $25 anhour — and then I’ll get double my hourly rate if we’re running a corporate event or tournament. I came to New York to model 21 years ago. I don’t do auditions anymore, but I have a few clients who still book me directly. And I also work as an emcee and an auctioneer at charity galas. I usually get anywhere from $2,000 to $5,000 for those. My life in New York has always been a lot of 1099s, but less these days. My wife’s a doctor, and that helps a lot in terms of financial stability.

"My wife’s a doctor, and that helps a lot in terms of financial stability."

TV Actor $500,000 I’ve been a professional for more than a decade. But since my paycheck for last season as a series regular, I’ve made zero dollars. That’s how big the swings are in my industry. Network television is definitely not what it once was. They are now quoting experienced actors lower rates than what they offered people with no credits a decade ago. The contract I got paid handsomely for was negotiated several years ago. And it felt like I was being gorgeously paid. More money than I would’ve made on almost any other job, which is why I took it. I’m saving that money. I don’t consider myself at all immune to what is coming for everyone’s industry — meaning AI.

Which Law & Order actor is this?

Venture Capitalist $3,500,000 $1 million base salary $2.5 million in carried interest Venture is actually a really terrible finance career path from a near-term cash perspective. Because if you are working at a venture fund, you are compensated with a base salary and then a carry, which is effectively an ownership interest in the funds that you’re helping to invest. But that carry pays you only when a company exits — an IPO or gets bought. For a partner like me, the carry is typically high. I probably vest into $2.5 million to $3 million a year; last year was pretty standard. It could be ten years until I see a dollar of it, or I could get nothing. From a financial-planning perspective, I can’t count on it. And so venture is very much a business for people who are comfortable living off their base salary for a very long time. And then in theory, in the long run, it’s very good. There’s a lot of money to be made.

meme image of a d-bag dude in shades talking to a very uninterested woman

"Venture is actually a really terrible finance career path from a near-term cash perspective."

Lice Lady $75,000 I mostly work in Manhattan and Brooklyn, around the Park Slope area, where there are lots of kids. We go house to house, and we also do school checks and camp checks. We get paid by appointment. If a family is fully infested, it takes two or three hours — it’s around $150 to $225 per head, depending on hair length and severity of infestation. Tips are very individual. You might get $100 or maybe $20. Or maybe $10. You never know. I made around $2,000 to $3,000 in tips last year. But I’m so grateful for everything. I have a daughter; she’s 8 years old. She’s living in Georgia, my home country. This is such a hard time for me, but I’m so happy that I get to have contact with kids all day. It’s a lot of fun.

This is a character in a George Saunders story

Comedian You’ve Probably Heard Of $142,000 $65,000 from freelance writing and teaching $40,000 from social-media posts $30,000 from social-media consulting $5,000 from investments $2,000 from stand-up During the pandemic and the writers’ strike, I stopped thinking about how to make a TV show — which is the dream for most comedy writers — and started thinking about how to make money. That’s when I turned to social media. The people who are making a lot of money in comedy are not who you’d expect. I imagine that there are famous people making $40,000 a year, but others with 100,000 followers are making $200,000. I sold my stand-up special for $20,000. Other than that, I’ve lost money doing stand-up, if you count the Ubers. You usually get paid nothing.

Dying to know who this is

Paparazzo $73,300 $36,000 from freelance event photography $20,000 from rental income $17,300 from licensing and royalty income I’m 60, and I’ve been photographing events for 40 years. I make about $300 to shoot a red carpet, which doesn’t include any of my expenses. Corporate clients and brand events tend to be more, between $750 and $1,500. Sometimes a great gig comes around and you’ll get $3,000. Last year, I made $14,000 from stock-photography sales, which have really been a race to the bottom. When I first started, a photo in a magazine could get $5,000. Now, my cut is 80 cents or $4 for a photograph, maybe $18 if a national paper runs it. In the early ’90s, I was making over $100,000 a year freelancing. In those days, going viral was Madonna dancing at a nightclub. I would go there, get a photo, develop the film overnight, and, in the morning, shop the photos around. Making what I made then today is impossible. The industry really peaked in the Paris Hilton era.

A paparazzo in NYC for 40 years. This person has stories!

Consultant $17,000,000 $9.5 million from consulting fees $7.5 million in stock in companies that went public The big-picture way that I make my money is consulting; that work covers my day-to-day. Separate from that, I had stock in a couple of companies that went public. Because I made money later in life, my tastes and needs are a lot simpler. I don’t spend money on things like having multiple homes, or flying private, or watches, or boats. I make enough money that I do what I want and I don’t think about it. I also don’t believe in leaving my kids a crazy amount of money because everyone I know who has that is fucked up, so why would I do that to them?

They could have at least asked what industry this so-called "consulting" takes place in

Sex Worker $284,000 $104,000 from taxable income (escorting, porn, cam modeling) $160,000 from nontaxable income (cash gifts from partner for living expenses) $20,000 from investment income In 2024, I made $800,000, and the year before that, I made $1.2 million. But last year, I took a kind of maternity leave to get to know my primary partner’s children. I also started a business helping adult-industry professionals with their finances. The industry has the NFL problem where people get a great deal of money in a short period of time and then they retire with very little because they don’t know how to handle their money. Escorting comes and goes in waves. A lot of girls say they’re making less money these days camming — for many reasons, including age-verification laws and foreign competition. Clients can pay a Ukrainian something like 50 cents a minute instead of paying you $6 a minute.

Influencer $320,000 $250,000 from social content and brand partnerships $60,000 from consulting $10,000 from selling clothes I have more than 300,000 followers across Instagram and TikTok, but Instagram is where I make 70 percent of my money. For brand partnerships, the pay really ranges. If I like a brand, I’ll charge under my rate, which is usually between $5,000 and $8,000. But I did a holiday campaign that was $25,000 for three videos. The market has changed a lot. In 2018, 2019, I really hit my peak — over $400,000. That was before TikTok was really popular, which meant new competition. I think about what’s next a lot: Am I going to be a 40-year-old influencer posting my outfits? When I do consulting or influencer marketing, I’ll charge about 20 percent of what the spend is, so $20,000 if they’re spending $100,000. My biggest personal expense is rent, $5,500 a month for a one-bedroom in Manhattan, and I also spend about $1,000 a month on a personal trainer. I feel like I need to look good, travel, show people my life is interesting — you know, fly to Europe three times a year — to stay relevant.

Barista–Personal Assistant–Nanny–Actor–Writer–Producer $63,000 $30,000 from barista work $18,000 from part-time personal-assistant work $12,000 from babysitting $3,000 from acting, writing, and producing I’ve been living a gig lifestyle ever since I graduated from college about seven years ago. I definitely don’t want to be doing this forever. I’d rather just act and write and produce; it’s the other jobs that allow me to do those things. But it can be really rough. I never clock out. I’ll work one job in the morning and then I’ll go to another job afterward, or I will be sending emails while the kids I’m babysitting are at soccer. Technically, I’m working seven days a week. It is what it is. Today I spent an hour on the phone tracking a health-care claim for one of the people I’m an assistant to, but I also worked on stuff for a show that I’m producing and then I picked up a babysitting job for tonight. I’m always just trying to fill a pocket of time if I have it, to find something else to do.

What Do You Do and What Do You Make? Conversations with AI engineers, fashion Substackers, and weed clerks about what they brought in last year.

Almost every one of these is a short story writing prompt.