Laura Hellinger

We just got a full restock of the NOPE stickers! What a perfect time for them. (Why is it always a perfect time for them.)

http://thebrokencirc...

Four little dinosaurs printed in a pink and purple and blue gradient.

the same dinos: a bronto, a pterodactyl, a stegosaurus, and a triceratops. This time in Northern Lights vibed colors!

now the dinosaurs are RAINBOW

these are the OG dinosaurs, printed in my desert sunset colors. also so old the picture is from before I got a light box!

We'll be closing the store for the final week of March so I can recover from surgery, which means selling as much as we can now.

Great time to buy something & force me to actually recover from surgery by not working!

(hey I ADDED ALL THE DINOSAURS!)

http://thebrokencirc...

"Hey [Sprout], look! The land on the other side of that water is the United States!"
"Wow?! I don't even remember going to the Unlighted Skates???"

I... I don't know, guys. 🤣💀❤️

U-S-A 🇺🇸

Photo of a mobile phone screen showing "My Tickets" for Florence and the Machine on Wed Apr 15 7:30pm at Centre Bell.

Do I know anyone that would want two tickets to Florence + The Machine on April 15th in Montreal?

We've ended up unable to travel, selling at face value @ $174 each.

True Love is allowing your 7yo to sell Rare Candies in order to purchase 50 pokeballs to catch everything - e v e r y t h i n g - in Viridian Forest.

💀💀💀

✨ once-in-a-lifetime narrative design internship opportunity for someone in the Seattle area: careers.hasbro.com/careers?star... ✨

SAM ALTMAN: "People talk about how much energy it takes to train an Al model ... But it also takes a lot of energy to train a human. It takes like 20 years of life and all of the food you eat during that time before you get smart."

“Evil starts when you treat other people as things. There are perhaps worse crimes, but they begin when you treat other people as things.” - Terry Pratchett

Nice doesn’t make waves. Nice plays well with others.

Kind is ready to start some shit for someone’s benefit, and then will help pick up the pieces.

Kind has intention and a goal.

Sprout: Why does he have a red mark on his cheek?
Us: Because he got hurt.
Sprout: Oh, he got hurt? Where?
Us: ...on... on his cheek...
Sprout: On his cheek where?

😐😐😐

I'm specifically looking for remote work, open to full time, part time or contract, in anything related to narrative, accessibility and also social media or community management, which I also have extensive experience in with excellent references. Thank you so much for sharing & sending support.

If you’re able to help, these groups are doing good work here. Thank you.🇨🇦!2/2

Trans Equality Society of Alberta
www.tesaonline.org
Fyrefly Institute for Gender and Sexual Diversity
www.ualberta.ca/en/fyrefly-i...
Skipping Stone Foundation
www.skippingstone.ca
Calgary Outlink
www.calgaryoutlink.ca

Hey, Canada. A queer indigenous Albertan, here. Alberta is Canada’s punchline. I get it, believe me. The UCP has 100% earned it.

But my trans relatives here are having a tough time, particularly our youth. The UCP has enabled discrimination for those so inclined. That’s taking a toll. 1/2

Nothing quite like the cold, objective validation that comes from The Math confirming "No, no, you're not crazy - you're trying to run a 4 person household at a *minimum* $30k deficit annually." 🫠

So apparently I need to add Electric Callboy's "Elevator Operator" to the kids' playlist now 🤦‍♀️

@j3llybean5.bsky.social

I am belatedly realizing that I, perhaps, should not have consumed a Celsius before working out while halfway through my 4hrs of active Adderall 🤔

In case you missed the moment.

Art is powerful

I know Ricky Martin was there because he's a Puerto Rican icon, but I really appreciated that Bad Bunny made a pointed choice to give a gay man a moment in the spotlight in his vision of America

"He doesn't have big ears therefore he's not a bunny!!!"

🤦‍♀️

Soooooo we made the mistake of saying "Bad Bunny" in front of Sprout.

We will be spending the halftime arguing over whether or not there are any actual bunnies involved.

Alex Pretti was an American hero. He saved lives. He protected people. He cared deeply about his community, unlike the murderous thugs who killed him.

The very last thing he did was try to help a woman who had been pepper-sprayed and violently shoved to the ground by ICE. 1/

@j3llybean5.bsky.social won me free coffee for a week and it's about to be everybody else's problem 🥰🥰🥰

The Honorable Andrew N. Ferguson Chair of the Federal Trade Commission 600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Dear Chairman Ferguson, We are writing to express serious concerns regarding the proposed acquisition of Electronic Arts (EA) by the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, and private equity firms Silver Lake and Affinity Partners. We are committed to preserving fair, competitive labor markets and safeguarding American jobs, and given the impact of this acquisition on workers, labor market concentration, and the long-term competitiveness of the U.S. video game industry, we urge you to thoroughly review this transaction. Workers in the video game industry are already navigating an environment marked by instability, shrinking opportunities, and repeated rounds of layoffs. EA is one of the largest employers of video game workers in the United States, and evidence suggests the company already wields significant wage-setting power. For example, EA’s own disclosures show a steep decline in median worker pay year-over-year.1 This indicates that the company may already face limited competitive pressure to retain or reward talent. Compounding that issue, EA has eliminated more than 1,700 U.S. jobs since 2023, contributing to an industry-wide total of over 35,000 layoffs since 2022.2 These trends are deeply concerning as they signal a labor market where workers already have fewer alternatives and employers can impose deteriorating conditions without consequence. Additionally, we are concerned that the proposed buyout is expected to be financed with at least $20 billion in debt, which creates strong incentives for the acquiring firms to pursue further cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, offshoring, restructuring, or studio closures. These actions would not only jeopardize thousands of high-skilled American jobs, but also further concentrate already fragile labor markets for software engineers, artists, writers, testers, and other professionals

This level of cross-ownership presents risks of self-preferencing and anticompetitive coordination across these sports, sports-related talent, and sports-related video game business lines. This could, consequently, restrict worker mobility and reduce bargaining power for employees throughout the industry. Finally, the FTC’s 2023 Merger Guidelines make clear that mergers harming workers, suppressing wages, or enabling dominant firms to reduce labor demand may violate antitrust laws. Given the scale of this acquisition and EA’s current dominance over the domestic video-game labor market, we believe careful scrutiny of this deal is essential. The transaction also raises serious concerns about interlocking directorates and common ownership across competing game publishers. This kind of overlap heightens the risk of coordinated anti-labor practices, including wage suppression, hiring restrictions, or informal no-poach dynamics and could further weaken the already limited bargaining power workers have in this industry. These risks should weigh heavily as the Commission evaluates whether the acquisition would leave workers more vulnerable to coordinated or unilateral harms. We respectfully urge the Commission to conduct a thorough investigation into the labor market consequences of this proposed acquisition, including EA’s existing wage-setting power, the likelihood of post-transaction layoffs, the degree of labor-market concentration in relevant geographic and occupational markets, and the role of cross-ownership in shaping labor outcomes. Workers deserve a fair, competitive marketplace where their skills are valued. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. Sincerely,

the congressional labor caucus has called for the FTC to review the saudi-led $55 billion purchase of EA, saying it stands to harm workers while discouraging competition by putting EA under the same umbrella as major sports leagues. the letter has been signed by 46 members of congress

Important perspective from Greenland.

Reasons Sprout is Mad At Me (Winter Edition):
1. The snow is melting.
2. The bus windows are closed.
3. A random stranger had his hood up.

@j3llybean5.bsky.social just blew Bean's fucking mind upon indicating we can get different supplies and do our own Roll For Sandwich next weekend

Aye. Took longer than it should to realise that all those tossing 'disrupt' around as a give-me-money buzzword, meant dismantle or destroy...

They’re proud of their impunity and capacity to kill witnesses. They see the killing of Renee Good not as a murder but as a righteous act meant to terrorize others into submission.