wearing a mask is good and you should do it if you don't already!

Hey, look at me. Look at me. I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: you need to condition yourself to being okay with being inconvenienced by things. The first time I spoke about this I meant it in a mental health way- it is good to go out to the store and see people versus just ordering alone at home- but there is another more pressing societal issue you should be more concerned about as well.

Any service you rely on for convenience can be weaponized against you the moment you begin to rely on it. Streaming used to be a cheap and convenient way to see movies at home. It is now exorbitantly expensive, you need multiple accounts just to get what you want, and any of those movies can be taken from you at any time. And unless you have gotten used to going through the “inconvenience” of owning physical media, you can do nothing about it. Same goes for buying things on Amazon. Same goes for any service like DoorDash etc. These companies WANT you to be reliant on them for convenience so they can do whatever they want to you because, well, what else are you gonna do?

Same thing goes for the uptick in AI. If you train yourself to become reliant on AI for doing basic things, you will be taken advantage of. It is only a matter of a couple years before there are no free AI services. Not only that, but in the usage of AI’s case, it is robbing you of valuable skills that you need to curate that you will be helpless without the moment the AI companies drive in the knife the way they have done with streaming. Delivery. Cable. Internet. Etc. It will happen to AI too. And if you are not practicing skills such as. Writing. You are not only going to be at the mercy of AI companies in the digital world, but you are going to be extremely easy to take advantage of in real life too.

I am begging you to let go of learned helplessness. I am begging you to stop letting these companies TEACH you helplessness. Do something like learn to pirate. It is way more inconvenient at the beginning, but once you know how, it is one less way companies can take advantage of you. Garden. Go to the thrift store (older clothes hold up better anyway). These things take more time and effort, yes, but using time and effort are muscles you need to stretch to keep yourself from being flattened under the weight of our capitalist hellscape.

Inconvenience yourself. Please. Start with only the ways you are able. Do a little bit at a time. But do something.

I know it's hard, but it's worth it, I promise.

Oh my god please this!

Also paying for generative AI is already starting to happen!

Over the last 3 months I have had countless emails from various library vendors about each company's new "AI assistant". Many of them are at an additional cost to libraries. Other's are "free", for now. They are all problematic in an academic setting as generative AI tools can go against academic code of conduct policies.

Now, these AI assistants don't give you a full essay and at least give you scholarly and peer reviewed citations but I know, I KNOW, students will use the paragraph summaries to write their papers and be done with it.

Generative AI searches are not research.

Generative AI searches provide you with what is the statistically most likely answer. NOT what the answer is.

Critical thinking is and extremely valuable skill, especially now. The ability to step back and evaluate information you are being told is a step towards not being duped by propaganda. None of us are immune to propaganda!

So please, please, do not rob yourself of the ability to think. Do not give others the keys to take advantage of you. Do not submit in advance!

#Repost @gogreensavegreen

You might be more than one. You might be different ones at different times. 🫶🏽🫶🏽 you might not be one of these. There are more roles 💪🏽 but this is an amazing intro.

You can’t just like the idea and envision yourself in one of these roles you have to figure out how to be about it ♥️🫶🏽

Via @deiloh & @fablefulart

Not American but important nonetheless!

I think every computer user needs to read this because holy fucking shit this is fucking horrible.

So Windows has a new feature incoming called Recall where your computer will first, monitor everything you do with screenshots every couple of seconds and "process that" with an AI.

Hey, errrr, fuck no? This isn't merely because AI is really energy intensive to the point that it causes environmental damage. This is because it's basically surveilling what you are doing on your fucking desktop.

This AI is not going to be on your desktop, like all AI, it's going to be done on another server, "in the cloud" to be precise, so all those data and screenshot? They're going to go off to Microsoft. Microsoft are going to be monitoring what you do on your own computer.

Now of course Microsoft are going to be all "oooh, it's okay, we'll keep your data safe". They won't. Let me just remind you that evidence given over from Facebook has been used to prosecute a mother and daughter for an "illegal abortion", Microsoft will likely do the same.

And before someone goes "durrr, nuthin' to fear, nuthin to hide", let me remind you that you can be doing completely legal and righteous acts and still have the police on your arse. Are you an activist? Don't even need to be a hackivist, you can just be very vocal about something concerning and have the fucking police on your arse. They did this with environmental protesters in the UK. The culture war against transgender people looks likely to be heading in a direction wherein people looking for information on transgender people or help transitioning will be tracked down too. You have plenty to hide from the government, including your opinions and ideas.

Again, look into backing up your shit and switching to Linux Mint or Ubuntu to get away from Microsoft doing this shit.

there are multiple options here depending on how comfortable you are digging into your computer's registry. You can either simply disable it surface level through settings or excise it entirely from the system registry

reblogging again as a cautionary tale to please PLEASE fucking make a system restore point before you do anything. i consider myself tech savvy and still nearly bricked my computer. and make sure you know how to access safe mode

Bro absolutely COOKED with this.

If you ever hear the phrase "fascism is aesthetics as politics," that's what this post is talking about.

It's not about being tough on crime, because the absolute toughest most brutal measure you could take against "crime" as a social problem is to alleviate poverty, and increase access to education, healthcare and social mobility.

It's about performing "tough on crime" as an aesthetic by enacting violence against a prop, i.e. minorities and the impoverished, who are fetishized and objectified to represent "crime." They are brutalized as punishment for crime, but never with the purpose of alleviating the problem of crime.

This is why a lot of conservatives and other right wingers can get straight up angry when you suggest things like reform or social measures to reduce crime. They don't want crime to be reduced, they want an eternal war against "crime" because it provides an arena for the righteous to demonstrate virtue by brutalizing their enemies.

Within one week, between Tuesday March 18 and today March 24, Israel had:

1. Killed over 750 Palestinians in Gaza (x)

2. Committed the largest child massacre in its history (x)

3. Approved a "voluntary departure" plan in its cabinet (x)

4. Displaced Palestinian families in the West Bank with no prior notice from their homes (x)

5. Forcibly displaced people in Gaza under direct threat (x)

6. Its forces stood guard as its nasty settlers took over a Palestinian family's home as the family went out for iftar in Hebron (x)

7. Bombed and levelled Gaza's only remaining cancer treatment facility (x)

8. Bombed Nasser hospital, killing and injuring patients and medical staff (x)

9. Assassinated two journalists in Gaza within hours from each other (x)

10. Continued to prevent food, water, medicine and other essentials from entering besieged Gaza for the 24th day (x)

Do with this list what you will.

WHAT TO DO AT AN ICE CHECKPOINT, ESPECIALLY IF YOU’RE A WHITE CITIZEN

(please, please, please copy, paste, and share widely):

-Border Patrol can verify citizenship within 100 miles of a border or “external boundary.” This includes coastlines so NYC is within the 100-mile zone.

-Border patrol can only ask brief questions about citizenship, and they cannot hold you for an extended time without cause.

-You always have the right to remain silent. You do not need to answer their questions.

-***WITH THAT SAID, IF YOU ARE A BORN CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES AND ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE WHITE, YOU NEED TO SPEAK THE FUCK UP.***

-The most important acts of resistance are the small ones. Make it difficult and uncomfortable for ICE agents to do their jobs. They are counting on citizens to turn a blind eye and allow them to deport undocumented citizens without challenge. Disabuse of that notion.

-If you are on a train, bus, or anything else and ICE or CBP boards, you need to stand up and loudly let everyone know that they have the right to remain silent or only answer questions in the presence of an attorney, no matter their citizenship or immigration status. There have been numerous reports that confronting the agents in this way has caused them to leave without verifying citizenship. THIS CAN SAVE LIVES.

-If you see anyone being held up by immigration, loudly ask if they are being detained and if they are free to go.

-Immigration officers cannot detain anyone without reasonable suspicion, an agent must have specific facts about you that make it reasonable to believe you are committing or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.

If an agent detains you, you can ask for their basis for reasonable suspicion, and they should tell you.

-Always say no to a search and let everyone know that they can and should refuse consent to a search.

-They cannot search or arrest anyone without facts about that make it probable that they are committing, or committed, a violation of immigration law or federal law.

-Silence alone meets neither of these standards. Nor does race or ethnicity alone suffice for either probable cause or reasonable suspicion

-As white citizens, we have a level of privilege which protects us from retaliation from ICE for being “rude” and making a scene, which makes it our DUTY to speak up and make sure people without the same privilege know their rights. GET LOUD. YELL. YELL IN SPANISH IF YOU KNOW IT. LET PEOPLE KNOW THEY DON’T HAVE TO SAY SHIT. MAKE ICE UNCOMFORTABLE. THROW SAND IN THE GEARS OF WHITE SUPREMACY.

BONUS INFO:

-It is perfectly legal to record immigration agents as long as you are not on government property or at a port of entry. If your train/bus gets board, pull your phone out and start videotaping immediately.

-If you are detained or see someone getting detained, get the agent’s name, number, and any other identifying information. Get it on tape.

-Contact the ACLU if you see someone’s rights being violated.

Reblogging as it’s been awhile

This is a plea to teenagers on this platform, and if you want to share screenshots of this post to TikTok or Twitter or anywhere else, by all means, do so.

If you are underage on the internet and you are tempted to lie about your age to come off as cooler or get older people to trust you or get into NSFW/adult spaces. Please listen to me. I did that. It was a FUNDAMENTAL mistake. I am now the same age as my internet friends were when I was lying about my age and I could not fathom having the same kind of internet 'friendship' with a teenager that they had with me because I now understand that when I was that age I was very much a child.

I was 15-16 at the time, and my internet 'friends' were in their mid-20s. Because I had pretended to be their age, they were leaning on me THE SAME WAY THEY WOULD SOMEONE THEIR OWN AGE. Someone in their mid-20s SHOULD NOT be relying on a 14/15/16 year old for their mental and emotional support.

You are NOT equipped for that. It will seriously fuck you up. It is hard enough being a teenager and helping your teenage friends when you're dealing with high school and puberty and whatever else is happening in your life and that is all that should be ok your plate. You do not have the capacity or resources to cope with a 25 year old's issues from 3 states and two time zones away.

Additionally, lying about your age is not where it ends. You will have to pile lie on top of lie and the guilt will eat away at you for YEARS, whether they find out or not. I know that being a teenager can be achingly, painfully lonely. I promise you, this is not worth it.

That's not even starting on the fact that some stuff comes up in adult spaces that you are genuinely unprepared to deal with. It can be genuinely traumatising and leave you with lasting triggers as a result. It's not about being mature for your age. It is entirely about the fact that the result of lying about your age on the internet to get access to spaces you are not old enough to be in can have serious, lasting, damaging effects.

Please, please be safer and smarter than I was.

Not “Only my reading of canon is correct” or “Interpretations are subjective and all valid” but a secret third thing, “More than one interpretation can be valid but there’s a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and I’m fine with telling you it’s wrong, actually.”

If the text says the curtains are blue you can argue about what that means; but if you’re going to claim they’re actually yellow you’d better have a really good argument.

i am so serious when i say dark and quiet are both human rights.

i don't mean like absolute silence. obviously in an ideal community, there would still be sound and noise from people and music and work etc. but it haunts me that when i camp in the forest i can hear the howl of semi trucks on the interstate miles away. and the people who live beside it never know quiet. it haunts me that many people will live their whole lives never seeing the stars in the sky that were fully visible with NO electric light pollution as recently as my great-grandparents' childhoods.

so much of our lives is bright bright unnecessary noise. neon mcdonalds signs 200 feet in the air so we can see it from the road. led lights over billboards. parking lots lit up like sports stadiums at closed office buildings. advertisements playing at gasoline pumps. streets lined with led porch lights and decorative garden lights that genuinely threaten entire species of wildlife. music blaring outside pharmacies to deter homeless people. everything always shining and wailing for no purpose but profit and cruelty.

obviously not everything can be turned off or made quiet and i wouldn't want it to be anyway and there is a lot of nuance and room for "but what about" here, but MANY things HAVE to change because none of us are supposed to live like this and we shouldn't have to!!!

riding the trolley out of omelas because i'm a little too shaken to walk rn and i just heard this weird thump from the tracks. probably nothing

#they arrested the trolley driver and the guy in charge of track switching #and i hear they're both being offered some kind of plea deal if they agree to testify against the other person

awarding this the first good riff on this post award. thank you tumblr user anyagobsin. this is the first good riff anyone's had on this post.

Do we think "Israel" brazenly bragging about not allowing humanitarian aid through the border will be enough for people to stop scolding Gazans for making individual/family fundraisers because "it's better to donate to trusted orgs instead" or are they never going to get it?

Don't let your anxiety cause inaction, especially since there are people spending an incredible amount of effort to weed out the scammers and ease your anxiety about scammers. I don't know what else to do short of begging. Please don't let them starve. All my friends in Gaza are asking me why their campaigns are stagnating and I don't know how to answer them.

Anas is fighting cancer. (fundraiser) (vetting)

Amal needs to feed her baby. (fundraiser) (vetting #175)

Samir is in danger of losing his leg. (fundraiser) (vetting #428)

Mahmoud needs to pay remote tuition fees. (fundraiser) (vetting)

Please boost them and every vetted fundraiser that comes your way, and donate if you can. If you have any following and can think of anything like charity streams or giveaways to promote campaigns, please do so. This is a very crucial and difficult time for Gaza.