Fuck complicated clothing maintenance. Who has time for this shit?

I have a few things that get hand washed. Everything else goes in the fucking washing machine. If it's sorta fragile, has long or complicated ties or straps, or is adorned in some way, it goes in a delicates bag. Many things dry on the line to avoid shrinkage, stain setting, or weird wrinkles. Everything else goes in the dryer. If something doesn't survive this process it wasn't meant to be.

The iron exists primarily for Girl Scout badges.

Fancy satins, costumes, and special occasion garments get sprayed down with vodka and air out in the sun (or the garage if it's too wet outside).

Printing this and hanging it up in the laundry room ☺

There is Currently No Ethical Use of Generative AI

Just saw a post arguing that text generative AI is just a tool, the way a paintbrush or a keyboard is a tool, and that writers can and should use it as needed.

I counter with a solid fuck no.

There are a lot of problems with the "it's just a tool" argument. With keyboards and voice recognition, you're still selecting your words, putting them in order, actually writing. If you aren't making your own words and sentences, you aren't writing. You're an editor, and you're claiming someone else's work as your own.

There is no ethical use of generative AI when your AI is trained on stolen content and requires a ridiculous amount of energy and water to run.

Trans hatred* makes me so incredibly angry. Transgender people deserve the same access to happiness as any of the rest of us, and yet people continue to throw roadblocks in the way, whether that's through legislation or harassment. Reporting a legitimate fundraiser as fraud is harassment.

Gender affirming care is healthcare. Gender affirming care doesn't just make it possible for people to be happier, it saves lives. This is a proven fact. Actively getting in the way of gender-affirming care makes you a murderer.

*It's not a phobia. You're just an asshole.

For those of you not aware Mercury Stardust, Point of Pride, and friends are raising funds for Trans Healthcare.

Unfortunately, some TikTok peeps are being complete transphobic bastards and are reporting the lives and getting the accounts banned. The appeals are being rejected.

This hinders getting the word out on this fundraiser.

Make sure you donate if you can or at least share the link in your circles so people are aware and hopefully the message can reach a wider audience

There’s probably more but these are the ones I can think of at the moment! Please be considerate and don’t play pranks at other people’s expenses!

Have fun everyone!

Unrecognized Boopage?

If you get booped by s-n-arly and you don't know who that is, it could have been sent by @freedom-shamrock or @crazy-food-lady who are also me.

About 12 years ago I was struggling with a new asthma diagnosis. I have cough-variant asthma (tight dry cough with no wheezing) and it took 16 years to diagnose it. We had to play with my medication for a couple of years to find what actually kept it in check. I worked at a clinic and our health insurance only covered generic medications. At the time there were no generics because even albuterol was "brand new" because they'd just changed to the more environmentally friendly propellant. My preventive cost $120 a month and my albuterol (something that a few years earlier had been $3 for one) was $55. I cried at the pharmacy several times. Add to that, my 3 year old also had asthma. Her preventive was only $80 a month. For profit healthcare and medicine is unethical.

Source

Source

More of this from our public officials

I'm curious if this maneuverability is what inspired Hawker Siddeley Aviation to name its AV-8A / AV-8C the Harrier.

@ta2020photography

"Female Northern Harrier performs acrobatic maneuver."

It's important to remember that some people process better with audio, but others process better with text. I'm the latter. When I make instructional videos for staff training, it's always captioned and always includes the transcript.

And a final SUPER important detail is that control over the speed of a video is essential. When I was homeschooling my mad ADHD kid, and we were using an online curriculum for a couple of classes, the videos were so slow she couldn't stay focused. Some kids needed the slower explanations, but she needed it sped up, but the platform didn't allow that and I complained frequently about this.

I am slowly losing my mind over the shift towards video as the default media format.

I do not find this to be an efficient way to absorb information. I am bored and distracted by the time the largely unnecessary introduction is over. I can't use ctrl+f to find the specific information I'm looking for. If there are instructions to follow, I don't want to have to constantly pause and back up to the part I need.

At least give me a fucking transcript.

As a physically disabled person, I would love this change. It would enable some of us to work without suffering (so much).

I can work about 32 hours a week and still tie my own shoes and button my pants. When I lost my position of 19 years (because they wanted me to go to 40 hours a week) I struggled to find anything that was part time hours for professional pay. I ended up freelancing, something I could only do because I can get health insurance through the hubby.

Unfortunately, it's looking like AI has destroyed my business, and I'm back to looking for work and it really really sucks. Lots of jobs I can't even consider because I really like being able to dress and feed myself.

Science has shown we can't truly be productive for 8 hours straight. Our brains generally don't do that. And we have all the nice technology that makes us heaps more productive than we were even just 30 years ago. The 40 hour work week and shitty pay are just ways for corporations to keep us exhausted and desperate.

Republicans would never support this but they don't know why

Good news for people who are vaccinating and those who are trying to avoid long COVID!

And remember, getting vaccinated helps protect those with less effective immune systems and those who can not get vaccinated.

Looks like vaccination DRAMATICALLY lowers Long Covid risk. PLEASE read this and get those new variant vaccinations folks!

My family decided they wanted to check it out before we cancel our Netflix. We're probably halfway through and It's pretty, but we very decidedly do not love it. We probably won't finish it (5 hours is more than enough time for them to hook us, and we ain't hooked). The show-runners know how to hit the fan service buttons with their music (Leaves from the Vine in particular) and elements to include (nomads from the Secret Tunnel episode), but the acting is... not great. The characters are 2 dimensional, and a few much loved characters have been gutted of that which makes them who they are (Iroh, Sokka, Katara, Azula, Mai). And some of the decisions have fundamentally altered what the original series tells us about how bending works.

Netflix ATLA Check In

Who has had a chance to watch the Netflix live-action Avatar: the Last Airbender? Is it worth my time? Inquiring minds want to know!

mine would probs be: one direction, taylor swift, ed sheeran, the script and coldplay 

Is Biden perfect? Oh hells no. Is he better than the other options on the ballot? Very definitely. We do not have the luxury of only voting for the candidates we love. That's not how it works.

Do you remember the last time people fucked around with voting? It was very bad for everyone, even for the people who loved that guy.

Voting isn't a game and it isn't a toy. Anyone who encourages you to throw away your vote doesn't have your interests at heart. This kind of protest isn't effective - it just lets fascists have an in.

Instead of fucking around and screwing over the most vulnerable people, actually do something productive about the events and issues you care about. Start local and work your way up. Participate in protests. Contact your city, state, and federal lawmakers. Create editorials, essays, or videos to educate those who aren't listening.

Have the guts to look them all in the eye and warn them first.

Nonny, I think you are misreading the situation as unhinged. It is true that they have committed the sin of appearing feminine while also being Asian, but they have a mind of their own and aren't all submissive and quiet like the stereotypes may have led you to expect. Though having also read Iron Widow, I'm baffled that this would be a surprise to you. You may have missed some of the not so sub text of the story. This may come as a shock, my precious summer child, but people of all genders and races are allowed to get angry at injustice, whether it's committed against them or others. If this is a problem for you, you might need to avoid speculative fiction all together. Quite a lot of the authors are woke and angry (with the exception of a few homophobic and transphobic assholes).

Has Xiran Jay Zhao always been unhinged or is this a new thing? I read Iron Widow a few years ago, liked it, and then didn’t engage on social media for a few years, then randomly thought of it again, Googled it, and then found her Twitter and it’s… A LOT. People on Reddit said it’s been going on for a while and I’m kind of disappointed. I guess if you like a book you really should just avoid the author’s Twitter.

--

I only watched their videos, which were fun. Twitter makes everyone worse.

Hoodlum badger ated submarine head. Also with the much and none.

Apparently they're selling post content to train AI now so let us be the first to say, flu nork purple too? West motor vehicle surprise hamster much! Apple neat weed very crumgible oysters in a patagonia, my hat. Very of the and some then shall we not? Much jelly.

Visual Writing Prompt

While I really like writing prompts, most of those have been text based. Some writers may benefit from a visual and aural prompt.

Here is the same video clip of a light rail train from inside a bar with different music that promotes three different vibes. Use the one that you like best, or write something for all three to see how different they turn out.

Your writing is your own - I have no claim to it.

I hate you AI, I hate you sites making deals with souless corporations that think creativity can be replicated by an unthinking machine, I hate you money-hungry investors and ceos, I hate you opt-out models, I hate you tech bros, I hate you having to spend precious free time having to scramble our art in a desperate attempt not to getting stolen from, I hate you minimization of the hard work we put into our craft, I hate ''''machine learning''''' being compared to a very human person putting in the hours to better themselves, I hate you commodification of the very core of human's expression, I hate you scams being helped along by uber plagiarism, I hate you AI, I hate you AI, I hate you AI, I HATE YOU AI