Vix The Vixen of Austin

Pay us ITS WHAT ACTUALLY HELPS

I have an MBA and once worked in marketing, and marketers are a special kind of stupid. There’s a reason that Dilbert cartoon made fun of us. The clusterf**kery of the launch of “New Coke” is a prime example.

--On This Day in History S**t Went Down: April 23, 1985--

Dilbert creator Scott Adams became a Trump-loving conspiracy-hypothesizing douchenozzle who blocked me on Twitter. His stupidest character was “Ratbert,” who became vice president of marketing for a technology company with his primary qualification being “I spent a week in a dumpster at Procter and Gamble.”

In Volume I, I wrote about how Coca-Cola is an evil empire. Now let’s poke fun at how they are also stupid and pi**ed off a chunk of their customer base with the launch of New Coke. In the 1950s, Coke outsold Pepsi five-to-one. But in the 1980s Pepsi used celebrity endorsements to position the company as the youthful choice, making Coke seem like a drink for old farts. Coke was losing market share. Not wanting to give up their chunk of the sugar-water pie, the marketroids got to work.

“The Pepsi Challenge” was a blind taste test that revealed most preferred Pepsi’s sweeter taste. And Pepsi milked the s**t out of it. So the brainiacs at Coke thought they’d come up with a new formula that people liked better than both the old Coke and more than Pepsi too. Genius!

Except they screwed it up, and marketing professors got a case study to teach their students about “how not to.” Coke came up with a new formula and did a whopping 200,000 taste tests, finding that it beat both old Coke and Pepsi. Seemed like they were all set to regain market share with this wonderful new taste. They were so confident that on April 23, 1985, the company didn’t launch New Coke as an alternative, but a replacement. Old Coke was out, gone. New Coke was the only Coke. And people fu***ng hated it.

What went wrong? The marketers failed to realize that taste wasn’t the only thing that mattered to their customers. First off, the taste test was a sip. As a small sip, the sweeter product tasted good, but after an entire can it was an “Ow, my pancreas!” overdose. The marketroids also discounted the decades of nostalgia and product loyalty people connected to the original. Suddenly the company had taken their beloved Coke and said, “None for you!” and forced upon them something they weren’t asking for. Well, f**k you, Coke. You’re not the boss of me.

Some were fine with the New Coke, but the company got a lot of hate and brought back the old formula as “Coke Classic” within three months, which resulted in a significant boost in sales, leading to allegations the whole fiasco had actually been a genius marketing ploy. But it wasn’t. It also had nothing to do with switching from sugar to high-fructose corn syrup, as many allege; that change happened years earlier.
New Coke was finally discontinued in 2002.

NOTE: This piece was researched and written by a human, not some bulls**t "ai" plagiarism software.

Those who cannot remember the past need a history teacher who says “f**k” a lot. Get both volumes of ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY S**T WENT DOWN at JamesFell.com/books.

Prep for Public Comment on Homelessness
The questions following a public comment are often designed to test the financial and political viability of your proposal. Because Austin just faced a failed property tax increase in November 2025 (Proposition Q), the City is in a "cut-and-reallocate" mindset.
Here is your "Cheat Sheet" for the most likely counter-arguments you’ll face in 2026.

1. The Budget Trap: "We just cut $95M from the budget. Where does the money for 'Record Mitigation' come from?"
The Argument: The city is broke. We can't afford new legal programs.
Your Response: "This isn't an ask for new money; it's an ask for Strategic Reallocation. We are currently spending $72,000 per person per year on the 'chronically unsheltered' through ER visits, jail stays, and encampment cleanups. Shifting just 10% of the $35M Homelessness Services budget toward legal defense and negotiated settlements prevents the 'marred record' that turns a temporary crisis into a $72,000-a-year public expense."
2. The Responsibility Trap: "Why should the City pay for people who aren't even from Austin?"
The Argument: Our services are an "attractor" for the region. We need to focus on our residents.
Your Response: "ECHO’s 2025 data confirms that 59% of our unhoused neighbors were born, raised, or previously housed right here in Austin. Furthermore, the 16,000 people currently facing eviction are active Austin renters and taxpayers. If we don't intervene at the courthouse today, we are choosing to pay for their shelter and emergency care tomorrow. It is cheaper to keep an Austinite in their home than to re-house them once they've hit the street."
3. The Accountability Trap: "How do we know legal aid actually works? We need 'Self-Sufficiency' metrics."
The Argument: We need contractors (non-profits) to show they are moving people out, not just giving them lawyers.
Your Response: "Accountability is exactly why we need this shift. Currently, our 'Successful Housing Exit' rate is stalled at 18–22% specifically because of background check failures. We can't hold a non-profit accountable for 'Self-Sufficiency' if the private market has a digital lock on the door. Negotiated settlements are the key to unlocking that market, allowing our existing PSH (Permanent Supportive Housing) units to turn over faster."
4. The Shelter-First Argument: "We have people dying in the heat/cold. Shouldn't every spare cent go to the 650 new beds?"
The Argument: Emergency shelter is the priority for saving lives right now.
Your Response: "Emergency beds are the 'ER' of housing—they save lives, but they don't cure the disease. If we only fund beds without funding record mitigation, our shelters will reach 100% capacity within weeks and stay there. By funding legal diversion, we ensure that the 'outflow' from our shelters remains open, so that the 650 beds are actually available for the next person in crisis."

Key Data Points to keep in your "Back Pocket":
Cost of a Settlement: A negotiated eviction settlement typically costs the city $1,500–$3,000.
Cost of Homelessness: One year of chronic homelessness in Austin costs the public roughly $72,000 in combined services.
The "ROI": For every 1 eviction prevented through legal mitigation, the city potentially saves $69,000 in future downstream costs.

I have gone to all four annual confrences!!
TDCA Housing Policy Confrence,
THN Confrence,
Recovery In the Park,
HousingWorks Housing Confrence

I am still building ASSETS and trying to get on Sunrise Homeless Navigation Center new HSO Commitee for 2yrs even while facing the housing crisis and I am devoted to this podcast more than you know. I will be able to get a storage unit asap before I get put out of my own SRO because of SSA Admin misteaks that accured in my DV fleeing between AZ and TX. I am close to PT work and PT continuing education. I am working with Universal Tech Movement and Workforce solutions. Commrads at DSA and Austin Mutual Aid Ending Community Homelessness Coalition (ECHO) The Challenger Street Newspaper StreetforumMutal Aid

Donate to Support "Common Vision Austin" – Unveiling the Heart of Our, organized by Victoria Loonstyn-Barone "We don’t know what we don’t know we don’t know. Why not find… Victoria Loonstyn-Barone needs your support for Support "Common Vision Austin" – Unveiling the Heart of Our

What are the odds?
Preparing to be dehumanized, defranchised and displaced by Austin City!

1) The odds of me getting Justice for an eviction?
2) Which shelter will I go to?
3) Which shelter would be most helpful and why?
4) How to mitigate eviction on rental records?
5) How long my rental record will be affected?
6) What my housing options will be and for how long?
7) Will my ssi be restored?
8) How will I find a sense of justice or prosperity again?

International Overdose Awareness Day Speech
Good afternoon everyone I am Vix. I am a member of Vocal TX. I am here for International Overdose Awareness Month. Overdose awareness means harm reduction. Harm reduction is about supplying stability for those using unregulated substances. Harm reduction methods are life saving despite the power plays of society.
Criminology is science but harm reduction saves lives. I think we need to educated our society on the substances and effects of street behaviors and use of substances because i was deep into a codependent trauma bond that involved domestic violence and substance abuse. Detox and recovery centers and educated me on the effects and dangers of substances. I needed support. I almost died form going cold turnkey off all narcotics and now I deal with seizures and schizoaffective disorder.
I felt saved by my community when I was given a chance s to change. My life and struggle with domestic violence was changed. Multi generational intersectionality of poverty requires harm reduction for safety in disease prevention and preventive health. Prevention, education, integration opportunities are harm reduction, detox, and recovery. Please keep our communities truth in mind. We do not benefit form avoiding the truth of our streets. Cicero is not a part of our community stakeholders and Joe Lonsdale is to be held responsively responsible . Consider prevention in policy.
Be the change you want to see. We are your future and children's future. I gave you my soul back so why do you withhold yours. This is what it sounds like to know sacrifice and divine motherhood. Give the people their free will and ability to rise. Stop Joe Lonsdale NOW.

My Mental Health Status
My diagnosis is Schizoeffective Disorder.
I used to embody the mourning and pain of facing the problems of the world we have by humans lack of understanding of each other and themselves by unaware channeling and taking to the creation aloud.
The lost world of men has been demystified and I am able to write books on my experience of the ills I faced and how untouched I now feel by having sought understanding and revelation on what had been done by the orders and powers of man's fallen state and position on earth. Yet I still embody the pain and degradation and struggle daily to stay on task without stimulants.
I come from compassion in a higher dimension as I practice my Judaism.
It was the last religion on my list to explore after I took an oath of a mystic at age 18.
I have found a place for my spirit to rest. Yet I struggle to create community as local synagogues enact a closed religion and BITE model.
I know the patterns that caused my suffering and I know what undid and can undo them.
I am ready to be the change I want to see in the world.
Stress affects my ESP but I am not auditorily or visually hearing and taking medications like seroquel and an ssir are more of a dangerous marketing health scam than they are true and scientifically supported.
I try not take stimulants to overcome the heavy deep sensitive pain of gnosis, knowing, and advocacy calling amidst dehumanization and enfranchisement I find my soul tested to its edge often.
I use it casually and occasionally when the stress of seeking major basic needs from a boots on the ground level of closed systemic intersectional mutli generationall poverty. I use it for the reason God created it for which is war or battle to overcome the amygdala and bird brain trauma of institutionalization so I can face the day with edge of a True Sword of Truth.

I know the churches are not doing enough, the people are distracted, the power in The Word is a day by day person on the street that steer the fates of Destiny. I see the patterns and my nero divergent INFG mind easily handles investigations, intimidations, and slight of hands. It does not however handle suppression, oppression, neglect, and forced isolation very well. This has shown to be life taking more than anything I have seen in man’s day!
I must fight the battle on its terms.
Defined by the edge of nuance, unity, oneness, integrity, honor, creed, kin, loyalty, faith, and love.
In patience, grace, and laughter at the days to come.
There are many ways to be a mother.
I dont feel young anymore. I dont feel eves pull as much. I feel my Angels call more.
Its a beautiful duty to be a real mother. I finally forgave my Country and species for their inability to let me fulfill my Eve duty.
I found Miriam’s Heart.