Okay, it's Halloween, but more important it National Doorbell Day. And guess who is calling? It's the Grim Reaper moonlighting as a Fuller Brush Salesperson. It's a brush with death.
Happy Halloween!
Okay, it's Halloween, but more important it National Doorbell Day. And guess who is calling? It's the Grim Reaper moonlighting as a Fuller Brush Salesperson. It's a brush with death.
Happy Halloween!
But today I saw that Buzz endorsed Trump. So I don't feel sorry for him any more. I just think he is a loser and will always be the second man to walk on the moon.
You disappoint me Buzz.
It is also National Cat Day.
I asked Gemini and ChatGPT to generate an image that illustrates Dizgraceland. Here's what they gave me.
I chose the cyberpunk image for "Dizgraceland" because it aligns with the concept of a futuristic, technologically advanced, and perhaps slightly dystopian city. The neon lights, flying cars, and overall futuristic aesthetic create a visually striking and imaginative representation of the term.
The other options, while valid interpretations, didn't quite capture the same level of futuristic and slightly chaotic energy that I associated with the term "Dizgraceland."
I combined Disneyland and Graceland because "Dizgraceland" sounds like a playful blend of the two iconic places, merging the names and the cultural vibes they represent—one associated with fantasy and amusement parks (Disneyland) and the other with Elvis Presley and musical history (Graceland). It seemed like a natural interpretation of "Dizgraceland" as a whimsical, surreal fusion of these themes.Okay that was interesting. Two AI programs and two very different takes on what they see as Dizgraceland. I would have thought they would search the web and come up with something but both images surprised me. I kind of like them both. Gemini's is dark. And ChaptGPT's is light and fun. I had never thought of Dizgraceland as a combination of Disneyland and Graceland. Both places are kind of obsessions of mine.
But the sudden and seemingly randomness of them telling me I had violated their terms and conditions and them deleting my account without an explanation was just too much. That was months of work. And they profited off from it. I barely made $200 in four or five months. It wasn't like I was in it for the money.
I can't believe there aren't other artists who have had the same experience. Yet none of my posts on social media have garnered even a peep from anyone, even Teepublic. It just adds insult to injury that they don't feel it is necessary to explain . Bottomline, is they are a big business and they don't have to explain. Their are thousands of other artists dutifully posting designs and looking for validation.
I've been on the other side in my own job. I've had to be nice about complaints that have no validity and treat people with respect who don't return the favor. But I work for government. Before Trump you respected that you were paid by taxpayers and needed to treat them with some respect. Businesses don't seem to have that same code.
So every now and then I'll post something to remind the world that even though life isn't fair we shouldn't have to blindly accept every insult.
Just spitting in the wind.
Did I mention I don't like small talk? And I tend to think many people specialize in spouting gibberish. And gibberish, the word, is one of my favorites. It is right up there with lugubrious. Which makes me think I should create a t-shirt design for lugubrious.
What else did I post on Zazzle today?
I've been binge posting t-shirt designs on my new storefront at Zazzle. I started with "A" on my portable drive that has all my designs on it and I'm working my way through it. But I am being very careful not to post designs that I think will poke the "terms and conditions" beast on Zazzle. And it pains me.
For example, I didn't post this:
My response would be that I simply want an explanation that didn't involve reviewing their terms and conditions and trying to guess which one or ones they think I violated. Ironically I could go on their site right now and find tons of designs that I believe blatantly violate other people's intellectual property rights.
All I can surmise is that I pissed them off when I questioned why a design they removed was violating anything. This is the problem with corporate power. They don't have to prove anything. They just need to hide behind their incomprehensible rules.
Hell hasn't froze over yet.
I'm not even sure what I hope to accomplish. Even if they offered to restore my account, I have lost all interest in being part of their grand scheme to cheat artists out of their work and profits. I doubt if they could even restore all of my designs anyway.
Meanwhile I struggle with Zazzle. I could live with the fact that their web site sucks and is difficult to load products into. But when they pulled my Camoo images for the potential of them being violations of some copyright, I lost any trust of it being a permanent site for my work.
And I still haven't sold a single t-shirt.
Damn you TeePublic.
I received an email today that all three of these design were removed:
"Dear Dizgraceland,
Thank you for your interest in Zazzle.com, and thank you for publishing products on Zazzle.
Unfortunately, it appears that your product, Absurdism: But that's meaningless to you, contains content that is in conflict with one or more of our content guidelines.
We will be removing this product from the Zazzle Marketplace shortly.
The details of the product being removed are listed below:
Product Title: Absurdism: But that's meaningless to you Product Type: T-Shirt Product ID: 256245728698675765 Result: Not Approved Policy Notes: Your design contains an image or text that may be subject to copyright. This may be due to the actual design of the product, description or search tags that are associated to your product. Please feel free to submit a new design to our Marketplace from original elements
Image: View the Image We apologize for the inconvenience. A detailed description of the policies is located here.
You may redesign and republish your products following our content guidelines. Please be aware that continued violations of Zazzle's User Agreement and Acceptable Content Guidelines may result in termination of your account.
If you have any questions or concerns about the review of your product, please email us at content_review@zazzle.com and we'll be happy to provide you with additional support."
It was nicer than Teepublic, but it still it suggests I can redesign and republish my designs be they will very likely terminate my account.
Jesus. Since when is a cow named Albert Camoo whose only resemblance to Albert Camus is a that he is smoking a cigarette, a violation of anyone's intellectual property? The Intellectual Police at Teepublic didn't even have a problem with Albert Camoo. I didn't quote Camus. I didn't use his image. He doesn't own the concept of Absurdism.
There seems to be No Exit from this dilemma.
But I suppose that doesn't mean anything to you.
I suppose bemoaning not creating any new designs because of the losers at Teepublic inspired me today. Today is indeed National Chicken and Waffles Day. Though I don't imagine this chicken is aware of what chicken and waffles really refers to. Though it did make me wonder why a waffle is called a waffle and why waffling means being indecisive and has nothing to do with waffles that you eat.
The word "waffle" comes from the Dutch word "wafel," which originally referred to the type of batter-based food we know today. Its roots trace back to the Old Frankish word "wafla," meaning "honeycomb" or "cake," referring to the distinct grid pattern of the waffle. The design likely inspired the name, as the food resembles a woven or gridded structure, similar to a honeycomb. Over time, this name spread across Europe, eventually giving rise to the modern English term "waffle."
The word "waffling" has roots in both British and American English. It evolved from the 17th-century verb "waff," meaning to yelp or bark, which implied meaningless noise. Over time, the term came to describe someone speaking in a way that is rambling or indecisive. In modern usage, particularly in American English, "waffling" refers to being indecisive or flip-flopping on decisions, reflecting uncertainty or inconsistency. This development aligns with how the word "waffle" suggests wavering between choices.
The irony here is if someone is agonizing over what to order off from the breakfast menu and eventually decides on waffles. That kind of cracks me up.
But back to t-shirt designs, I did load a ton on https://www.zazzle.com/store/dizgraceland today. So I am feeling a bit better. I'll feel even better when I actual sell something. Conversely on the eBay side of things I am doing quite well. I think I sold eight things in the past two days and have been packing like a demon.
No waffling there.
And not that anyone is counting (but me), but this is my 293 post this year. That is a new record for me in the number of posts per year. That is after 20 years of blogging.
I feel a t-shirt design coming on.
It's National Whole Hog Barbecue Day. And rather than going whole hog and creating a new design just for it, I'm recycling one of my "High on the Hog" designs. I just haven't been inspired to create new designs since teepublic.com screwed me over by deleting my account. It is driven home every time I go onto Zazzle.com and go through the tedious process of uploading the designs that I used to have on teepublic.com.
I haven't sold a thing yet on zazzle.com.
I haven't been back on social media trying to goad teepublic's legal team into responding about why my account was deleted. Bottomline is they don't have to. It is not like anyone gives a rip but me that they screwed me over. Honestly, I have to ask myself whether I would have stopped using teepublic.com if I'd read anything about some poor schmuck artist being screwed over by them.
I just would like to see them go out of business. And I believe they will. But it won't be because I called them names on social media. It will be because something newer, cheaper and easier comes along on the Internet.
Okay, it is John Brown's portrait from the National Gallery in Washington D.C. and my hair isn't quite this wild and my beard isn't that fully and bushy, but part of me really relates to how he looks. Of course the consensus is that John Brown was as crazy as a bed bug, but at least he had passion about ending slavery. Unfortunately that passion ended at the end of a hangman's noose.
I had barely 45 minutes to dash through the National Gallery. I've always loved the place. It is full of amazing art and it is free.
I was flying all night on Tuesday (and boy are my arms tired). I flew from Seattle to Chicago and then from Chicago to Washington D.C. It is a business trip. I am in my meeting now. I will leave tomorrow early and fly to L.A. and then to Seattle.
Travelling used to be fun. Now I would rather be home in my home office surrounded by my guitars. I suppose I should appreciate this while I still can. I doubt I will travel much when I retire. It is nice to have someone else pay for everything. Though they never really pay for everything.
I've been to D.C. many times. I used to have time to see things when I come here. This time I just seem to have time to come, go to my meeting and then fly home. No site seeing. I've seen all the museums and monuments anyway. It is an odd city.
The hotel is huge but the room is small. Kind of cool though. It is an old building. Most things in D.C. are old.
Oh well, here's to an 8 hour meeting.
Sigh.
Crickets. But that seems to be their business model -- ignore criticism. I was careful not to get into name calling or any thing they could libelous. But with their incomprehensible terms and conditions, who knows. Big companies have the resources to threaten and assume you'll cave because who wants to waste money on a legal battle. And considering I made less than $200 after months of work why would I waste money on a legal battle.
Pisses me off that they know they don't really have to do anything. I'm like a fly on their horse's ass.
Pun intended.
But I have never like injustice and I really think they are in the wrong here. I think I'll just keep posting my T design to tick them off.
How do you like them terms and conditions?
I suppose if I do rebuild I should be more decerning.
On the Thrift Store archeology front I have recovered from eBay removing my Soviet leader nesting dolls. I have found some pretty cool stuff lately. Like this:
Just a wild guess.
Hey, teepubliccanrotinhell.com, look! Squirrel!
I have tried building a store at https://www.zazzle.com/store/dizgraceland/. But rebuilding a storefront that once had more than 1500 designs is a daunting task. And I hate to admit it, but zazzle.com doesn't have the most user friendly environment to load designs. I guess I was just used to teepublic.com. And as scummy as their incomprehensible terms and conditions were, it was easy to build a store and load designs. Plus there wasn't a delay in seeing the designs appear in the store. I've loaded a dozen or so and only a handful are showing up. Plus the profit margin is even less than teepublic.
But then again I was never doing it for the money. I was doing it to get some sense of validation that my designs were good enough for someone want to buy them. I had sold more than 80 before everything went to hell and teepublic cancelled my account. I have to say, the worst part about it is not having a clue why. I could see if I had been trying to pull a fast one over someone and turn a quick buck, but all of the designs were my ideas, even the ones that stepped on the toes of some corporations intellectual property.
The irony was that they simply told me that I had violated their terms and conditions and I should review them to figure out how. But they are written in obscure legalese that is incomprehensible to me. I just wanted them to say in plain language what it was that I did that violated their terms.
At this point I don't really care about them reinstating my store. I would just like to know why it was deleted so I can go on about my business despising their company and trash it in social media.
That will show them.
We had to remove your listing because it didn’t follow our Offensive material policy. Listings that promote or glorify hatred, violence, or discrimination aren’t allowed.
What activity didn't follow the policyAt eBay, we have a strict policy against items that promote or glorify hatred or violence to ensure our platform remains a safe, trusted and inclusive environment for our global community of sellers and buyers. Consequently merchandise that may indicate support of Vladimir Putin is prohibited on eBay.
Dear Dizgraceland,
This is to notify you that, as a result of a violation of our terms and conditions, we have removed or disabled access to the material that appeared at www.teepublic.com/user/Dizgraceland and have deleted your account.
Please note that our removal of the aforementioned material and our deleting your account may result in the interruption or cancellation of previous processed orders involving your submissions to TeePublic.
If you believe that your work has been removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you are welcome to contact us and we will consider the matter. However, nothing herein shall be construed as an agreement or course of dealing by us to in the future take any action or refrain from taking any action, and TeePublic reserves all rights.
That was it. They deleted my account and more than 1500 designs I've worked months on. And you may be smarter than me, but can you understand from that email how I violated their terms and conditions? And don't you think they owe me an explanation? I responded asking what I had done to violate their terms and conditions and they sent me this:
Hi there,
It appears your account was flagged for violating our terms and conditions. Please make sure to check out our Terms and Conditions here: https://www.teepublic.com/terms
After reading these in full, if you still feel this was done in error, please fill out the form on the following page: https://teepublic.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=7138964965783
Under the drop-down labeled "Please select the option that best describes your issue". select the "I am a designer and there is a problem with my account." option.
This form will ask you for information about your account as well as for any attachment that can verify the authenticity of your work. This could be PSD files, AI files, or any other documentation that shows you are the creator and owner of the works you uploaded to TeePublic.
Due to the high volume of designer accounts, we are unable to respond to every inquiry, however, we do read every response to this form and you will hear from us if your account is reinstated.
Best,
So I filled out the form and I am pretty sure I will never hear from teepublic.com again. Something makes me think it had nothing to do with anything I posted in my teepublic.com store. I think it was stuff I posted here about how ridiculous it was that they kept pulling things they said were violating intellectual property rights. And then when the pulled the "This is a t-shirt design" that was just a big "T" on the front of a shirt and I questioned them both here and in an email response to them, they just took the low road and deleted my account.
Perhaps I shouldn't have said I hate lawyers. But I do hate lawyers. The canned emails they sent me were obviously written by low functioning lawyers. What in the hell does, "Nothing herein shall be construed as an agreement or course of dealing by us in the future take any action or refrain from taking any action and TeePublic reserves all rights" mean? It's not even a complete sentence.
ChatGPT says, "The sentence is clarifying that TeePublic is not making any commitments or promises to act (or not act) in a certain way in the future, and they retain full control over their actions and legal rights. It's a way of ensuring that they are not bound by any unintentional interpretations of the document."
Regardless of whether they reinstate my account or not, I'm simply looking for other options. But I have to tell you, the thought of reloading 1500 designs on a new site doesn't appeal to me. Obviously, I should be more discerning, but even so, it is months of work that was negated by teepublic.com without any explanation.
In the meantime I'm trying https://www.zazzle.com/store/dizgraceland. Sigh.
It's what's inside that counts, right? ChattyGPT helped me with this one. It's got a lot of heart for an AI program. And I didn't have the heart to ask it to help generate a design for National Trigeminal Neuralgia Awareness Day.
Today was also National Propane Day. I was tempted to create something about National Propane Day Gives Me Gas, but I just recycled something I'd already done for propane some time ago.
I did, however, load this image.
And I'd say this is pretty niche. Though I'm pretty proud of it because I did it without the help of any AI Art program. I colored a black and white image myself. Apparently there are fans of obscure urban legendary cafes in Boise, Idaho out there.
Who am I to judge? After all, I created the design.
Orange you glad I did?
The concept of a dyslexic ghost just came to me this morning. ChattyGPT now can generate images. We'll see how long it puts out for free before it begins going down the same path as Ideogram and Gemini. Gemini now creates what it claims are higher quality images. But it only spits out one at a time and it pesters you about subscribing to a non-free version. I'm not sure what I'll do when I eventual have to fork over money to use one consistently.