Open Thread #19
Personal Update, What's Coming Up, The Taxman Cometh for Niccolo/Substack Pricing
I am currently in Messina, on the Island of Sicily. I got here a few hours ago, and am headed towards Palermo tomorrow. I was in Napoli earlier today, having spent three days there. I was in Rome for two days prior to that.
Why am I in Italy? I really don’t have a good reason to be here, but a certain subconscious feeling has pulled me across the Adriatic Sea. Maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it will lead to something. All I know is that the voice in my head has been telling me for at least two months to make a quick trip to the Mezzogiorno. That voice is good enough for me.
I have begun work on my next interview. I hope to have it published for you guys by later next week. The interview with Lee Fang (see below) has gotten a lot of feedback, almost universally positive. Some of the newer subscribers here have been left a bit puzzled as to whether the interview was “real” or not. Feel free to explain to them, FbF vets.
The Taxman Cometh
Sales tax is going to be automatically deducted from this Substack beginning very, very soon. I was given advance notice of this some time ago, and I tried to work with my tax accountant to figure out how to avoid not taking a beating from this new policy without resorting to raising the price for a subscription. Unfortunately, we were not able to devise a good plan. The two options that was left with was to keep the same price as is right now (and turn this into volunteer work due to taxation/tax bracket), or to slightly raise the price.
New Pricing For This Substack
Next week I will be raising the monthly price of this Substack to $7/month USD. I would much prefer to keep it where it is right now, but my hand has been forced.
What I WILL DO is offer everyone here who currently pays $5/month to lock in for another year at the current price of $50/annum until the end of the month when I will raise that price to $70/annum.
I apologize for this, but it’s either make this thing entirely voluntarily (wayyyy too much work for that), or do this. I trust that you all understand my predicament and feel that I have continuously delivered value for your ever-increasingly inflated dollar.
FbF Book Club Reminder
We will be beginning the next FbF Book Club the week of June 12-15. See this post:
Treat this entry as an open thread where you can discuss/ask/post anything that you want. There is no theme this time.
One last photo:
A year and a half ago, I wrote about my first visit to Napoli:
Okay, two more pics:
Hit the like button at the top of the page to like this Open Thread. I'm working on the next interview already, and am preparing another one as well.
So wait a second, you're lounging in Sicily (land of my ancestors!), livin the good life, while I'm here on the frontline of the culture war fighting the zombie hordes and risking various traumas and harms to my community, and I gotta pay YOU more $$?
Must be nice!
You don't happen to need a valet, do you? ;)