Do you know how badly you have to fuck up for this to happen

Can't believe NaNoWriMo just did this, but literally.

A Mini Guide to RSS Feeds

With all the talk about Twitter and social media going on, I felt really inspired to do a comic about RSS feeds. This is a really barebones guide but I hope it helps you stay updated with your favourite webcomics, artists and websites. The nice thing about RSS feeds is that almost any kind of site has one, so if you wanted you could add user feeds from tumblr, twitter, mastodon, etc. here’s some helpful guides on how to add those (1) (2) I hope you found this little guide helpful. I’m just a simple guy who’s passionate about RSS feeds, comics and staying updated using both. Go forth and make the feed of your dreams! Topaz Comics | Topaz Comics RSS | Art Blog | Art Blog RSS

happy autism awareness day to all the girls who had “ friends” growing up who were actually bullying them . to the girls who always sat alone in the grass and wondered why nobody wanted to talk . to the girls who spoke to animals like they were listening . to the girls who created a little world in their room . to the girls who always felt ashamed for how deeply they love things and how passionately they enjoyed media . to the girls who covered their ears when they were overwhelmed by everything . to the girls who carrying a special thing around to feel safe . to the girls who never understood what they did wrong to feel so lonely . to the girls who were diagnosed later in life because they weren’t little boys who liked trains. you are so special and beautiful and you’re not worse for it, you love deeply and that is so wonderful please never try to push that down . I LOVE YOU !!!!!

That pisses me off too!

huh weird.

how i'm handling my students using AI to write papers:

-don't accuse them on using AI from the get-go and instead ask them to informally define all the huge words that they used in their essay which i know they don't know the meaning of

-ask to see their original file where they "wrote" the essay. go to version history to see if it was just copy and pasted and then just edited a bit. i keep an eye out for the shit like "certainly! here's an essay about...."

-if they own up to it, they can re-do the assignment for a higher grade even if there will be an automatic penalty. if they don't, i process it like plagiarism and get my supervisor involved.

And this is much better than the immediate accusations. Some students have a good vocabulary. Stop accusing them of faking their essays without proof, and this is a good way to check.

Fellow students please stop using AI, go back to promising not to kill the school nerd if they do all your homework or something.

Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647–1717)

like, okay, consent does literally just mean agree. which is what enables this little rhetorical trick. because there's all this cultural emphasis on sexual consent, which is just expressed as consent, a lot of phrases whose intended meanings are "rape is bad" can be taken literally to mean "i should get to agree to everything that happens in my vicinity."

for an example, "i didn't agree to seeing you wear that shirt" is straightforwardly a fucking insane thing for someone to say, but people regularly make use of this trick to make the (functionally identical) statement "i didn't consent to seeing that"

The Fox

sorry, kitty!

Last time I wondered if Danish vagabonds, also known as Landevejsriddere (country road knights), live by some sort of code because even though they’re usually drunk they’re always very pleasant and friendly and as it turns out, yes they do. LINK

You can’t just put on a festive hat and push a pram with your earthly belongings and call yourself a vagabond in this country. You have to be mentored by an older vagabond and travel along the vagabond routes for two summers and one winter before you get your vagabond name at an annual ceremony at Hjallerup Marked where all new vagabonds are ”baptized”.

They also have an annual ceremony at Egeskov Marked where they vote on who should be their king for a year and help settle conflicts in vagabond society. They give the title to the vagabond who has been the kindest and best behaved all year.

The vagabonds have rules they live by: no lying, no stealing, no fighting and always be polite. If they catch any of their members breaking the rules they beat them up because it’s important to their survival that outsiders can trust them. They make their living by sharpening knives and scissors or doing manual labor like helping you chop wood, clean up your garden or the like.

That’s why if you see a vagabond you know you’re in safe company no matter how drunk they are. Should you come across one support an old tradition full of rituals and kindness by giving them some coins or a sandwich.

Generally speaking, I am supportive of kids when they struggle. Everyone struggles, and just because your struggle is different than mine, doesn't mean it's less valid.

But.

BUT.

Come on. 600 words is nothing. I will write and throw away 600 words ten times before I finish the 800 words I need to turn in. You can do this. You need to do this. You do not want a future -- and I don't want to grow old in a future -- where you are outsourcing your creativity, your critical thinking, and your ability to put words together to a computer.

Trust me? Please? I'm old and I've read / watched / written a lot of science fiction about this.

PLEASE DO NOT LET THE PLANNED STUPIDIFICATION WIN!!