civic duty

context: the heritage foundation is trying to launder data in support of doge by sending a survey to only their supporters and using blatantly leading questions. the survey takes less than 5 minutes and they don't verify your email

you CAN do it multiple times if you so wish

Oh good we broke the first one. New link is here, same story.

Cannot even make this shit up

Just did this, took 2 min!!

my infamously data skewing followers rise up!

My followers urge to scew poll results knows no bounds

Looked at this and knew what was needed, do your part, fuck the DOGE, fuck the heritage foundation

civic duty

context: the heritage foundation is trying to launder data in support of doge by sending a survey to only their supporters and using blatantly leading questions. the survey takes less than 5 minutes and they don't verify your email

you CAN do it multiple times if you so wish

Oh good we broke the first one. New link is here, same story.

Cannot even make this shit up

Nooo i just saw a TikTok of someone calling their mom a hoarder cause she has a CD collection and going "i can play these faster on an app" and telling her to throw them away BITE BITE BITE BITE KILL KILL KILL KILL if someone said that to me i would rip them apart with my teeth i would burn them alive the violence that would take place would be unimaginable i would be an unleashed demon hungry for blood and meat. unimaginable horrors. death and destruction. killing. maiming. no one could survive that. it would be a nuclear apocalypse. leave the fucking CDs alone

Okay but if you have an extensive CD collection you need to back it up into digital/new CDs!

And it's not about apps or digital being faster, I'm all up for physical media, but commercially produced CDs from the 90s and early 2000s are reaching the end of their functional lifespan*, and are starting to fail.

If you have a lot of CDs, it would be a good idea to rip them into high fidelity digital audio, to preserve them.

*CD/DVD lifespans are tricky. Some estimates in peak, perfect conditions and maintenance go for almost 200 years. Others calculate between 20 to 30 years in "normal" use, though no one can agree what normal is.

I recommend buying a cheap DVD reader/writer unit -I bought mine for less than 20 USD - and then batch ripping stuff. Surprisingly Windows Media Player works out of the box, just make sure to save things in the correct format (mp3 or MP4) so you're not limited in playback.

You can of course find more robust options online, including VLC, to rip your files. Ripping a CD will not damage it or prevent it from working, it'll just make sure you have the option to burn a new one if your original happens to fail. This is 100% legal and ethical (and would be ethical still even if illegal, because piracy is always ethical in late stage capitalism and corporations are not your friends.)

I recommend redundancy for your backups (remember that time Apple fucked up with people's files by replacing them with itunes shit? Yeah) and if you're really techy, set up a NAS by your router, with your backups.

If your rips are high quality you can feed it to your computer/tablet/phone/any device in your network and always have access to CD quality audio no matter where you are.

Sources!

might have been said in another comment already BUT

if you are saving digital audio for long term use make sure to use a lossless file type like .WAV

yes it’s a lot larger of a file but it won’t degrade over time

you can use .mp3 files for daily/casual use on a playback device but they won’t keep their quality as they get compressed

Download this easy DIY clothing repair guide (only 10 pages) from Uni of Kentucky

link to PDF

Excellent resource if you're new to sewing and want to start doing some clothing repair!

Professional seamstress here, who has taught intro to sewing many times, saying: this guide is excellent!

If anyone was wondering, Duolingo just got even worse.

Duolingo was already on a downward spiral for years. I discovered it in 2015 and it was an incredible tool and I used it for a few years but then I started to notice a decline. It got worse and worse in a lot of ways.

I actually ended up having a surreal and jarring one-on-one conversation with Luis von Ahn, the founder and CEO, who reached out to me after a scathing critique I posted on Reddit started to get significant traction.

Talking to him was like talking to someone who had been brainwashed by a cult. I told him how I and others in my life had found Duolingo so useful and efficient for language learning, and that its usefulness was evidenced by me noticing a real-world improvement in ability to listen to, understand, and speak the languages I had been practicing, but that recent changes had made it dramatically less useful to where I needed to put much more time in to get the same amount out.

His response was like "But all our metrics are up, our data shows that our changes are working." It was so frustrating. The metrics were all about engagement. He was showing people were spending more time practicing languages, not that they were getting more real-world ability to converse in those languages. Practice time was going up but actual language ability was going down. I tried explaining that to him but he seemed completely unable and/or unwilling to understand my point.

It was like talking to a wall.

I left the conversation with any remaining faith in the Duolingo leadership completely shattered, and I completely withdrew from using the site.

I now use Clozemaster to learn languages in place of Duolingo, and I think it is far superior it terms of efficiency, especially when combined with listening to material produced by native speakers.

If you're looking for alternatives to Duolingo, here are some options that I'm aware of (and none of them are Babbel. Don't use Babbel):

Other alternatives to consider are Youtube, often a great place for smaller schools and creators to post content. I supplement my classes with Easy German, and I used to be pretty reliant on EveryDay Chinese to practice my tones. If you're looking to learn it, there's bound to be a channel out there that is tailored toward your language learning.

A second resource to look into is textbooks with app learning. MaGraw Hill, for example, has a free app with practice material for the books you purchase. (QUICK EDIT: The app I was looking for only works on older phones, boo. But other textbook companies often have apps.) My German textbook is published by Hueber, and they also have an app. When you're looking to self study, it's definitely worth seeing if there's a textbook to work out of that has built-in app support.

🐊🐊🐊🐊🐊

SCROLL BACK UP THIS IS A PAINTING

RIP Joann, now what?

I wanted to make a post I could copy and paste and or link when I see folks asking where to buy fabrics when Joann is gone. I sew a lot, generally between 100-200 items a year and I don't do it on a big budget. Stores are not in a particular order.

Notions:

Wawak.com - start here, mostly stay here. Wawak is a supplier for professional sewing businesses and have the prices that show it. I will not pay for gutermann Mara 100 anywhere else. I buy buttons, tools, thread, and most elastic here.

Stitch Love Studio - this is where I buy lingerie supplies https://www.etsy.com/shop/StitchLoveStudio?ref=yr_purchases

Fabric:

Fabric Mart - this is one where you want to sign up for emails and never buy unless its on sale. They run different sales every day and they rotate. Mostly deadstock fabrics but I buy more from here than anywhere else. Fantastic customer service and if you watch you can get things like $6 wool suiting or $4 cotton jersey. https://fabricmartfabrics.com/

Fabrics-Store - again, buy the sales not the full price. Sign up for the emails but redirect them to a folder because it is TOO MANY. They stock linen or good but not amazing quality. https://www.fabrics-store.com/

Purple Seamstress - This is where I buy my solid cotton lycra jersey. They have other things, but the jersey is what I'm here for. Inexpensive and very good quality. If you ask she will mail you a swatch card for the solids. https://purpleseamstressfabric.com/

LA Finch - deadstock fabrics with a fantastic remnant selection https://lafinchfabrics.myshopify.com/

Califabrics - mix of deadstock and big brands, easy to navigate and always seem to have good denim in stock. https://califabrics.com/

Boho Fabrics - good variety, nice bundles. I have also gotten some really great trims from here. https://www.bohofabrics.com/

Firecracker Fabrics - garment and quilting fabrics, really nice selection and great sale section. I've bought $5 yard quilting cottons here several times. https://www.firecrackerfabrics.com/

Hancock's of Paducah - Quilting fabric and some limited garment fabric. AMAZING sale section. Do not sleep on the sale section. This is my first stop when buying quilting fabrics. Usually the last stop too. Not particularly speedy shipping. https://www.hancocks-paducah.com/

Itokri - This is something a little different. Itokri is an Indian business with incredible traditional fabrics. Shipping to the US is expensive, but the fabric is so inexpensive it evens out. I generally end up paying like $30 for shipping. Beautiful ikat and block prints. https://itokri.com/

Miss Matatabi - this is a little treat. This isn't where you go to save money, but there are so many beautiful things in this shop. Ships from Japan incredibly quickly. https://shop.missmatatabi.com/

Lucky Deluxe - Craft thrift store, always has an incredible selection and fantastic customer service. I need to close the tab fast because I never go to this website without finding something I need. https://www.luckydeluxefabrics.com/

Swanson's - the OG of online craft thrift stores, but I find their website harder to navigate. https://www.swansonsfabrics.com

Honorary Mentions: I haven't shopped at these places yet but I have had them recommended and likely will at some point.

A Thrifty Notion - https://athriftynotion.com/

Creative Closeouts - https://creativecloseoutsfabric.com/ being rebranded to sewsnip.com on March 1 - quilting deadstock

Hawthorne Supply Co. - I just got this rec and I think I need to not look too closely or I'm going to slip with my debit card. https://www.hawthornesupplyco.com/

This is not an exhaustive list of everywhere you can buy fabric, or even a full list of where I shop. There are SO many options out there in the world. You also need to think outside the fabric store box. I thrift men's shirt fabrics for quilts and sheets for backing fabric. I don't do a ton of in person thrifting and my local stores don't get a lot of craft materials but every thrift store is its own universe and reflects the community it is in. Go out and find something cool.

Oh and final note: Don't shop at Hobby Lobby.

On November 7, 2024, Denmark used a racist, culturally biased "parenting competency" test to remove a 2 hour old baby, Zammi, from her loving indigenous Greenlandic Inuit mother, Keira, because her native language, which uses minute facial expressions to communicate, will not be able to "[prepare] the child for the social expectations and codes that are necessary to navigate in Danish society." This test had been recommended not to be used at the federal level before this happened but certain municipalities, including the one this happened in, chose to continue to use it regardless. Not only is this blatantly racist but also violates multiple declarations and conventions that Denmark has signed that protect the rights of indigenous people.

Please sign this petition to help Keira to get her baby back.

Hey, it's really important for Keira to get 50,000 signatures on this petition before her court date in early April 2025. Please sign if you haven't already to help a mother and a people stand up to colonialism and for indigenous rights.

i think the near-extinction of people making fun, deep and/or unique interactive text-based browser games, projects and stories is catastrophic to the internet. i'm talking pre-itch.io era, nothing against it.

there are a lot of fun ones listed here and here but for the most part, they were made years ago and are now a dying breed. i get why. there's no money in it. factoring in the cost of web hosting and servers, it probably costs money. it's just sad that it's a dying art form.

anyway, here's some of my favorite browser-based interactive projects and games, if you're into that kind of thing. 90% of them are on the lists that i linked above.

if you're ever thinking about making a niche project that only a select number of individuals will be nerdy enough to enjoy, keep in mind i've been playing some of these games off and on for 20~ years (Alter Ego, for example). quite literally a lifetime of replayability.

since this post blew up, i've been wanting to do an addition with all of the recommendations from the comments and tags. but there's a lot of them. some people might be crazy enough to sit down and seriously put them all in one post with descriptions. those people are honestly sick in the head.

anyway, here's all of the recommendations from the reblogs. not all of them are text-based, but it's a great mixture of styles. also don't forget the links in the second paragraph of the OP which will take you to FMHY where there are a bunch more games listed.

Games

Tools

Non-Games

thank you to everyone who contributed and the creators. please be sure to show them some love where possible.

by maryinthefairyland

PLEASE for the love of the universe read anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy written from marginalized perspectives. Y’all (you know who you are) are killing me. To see people praise books about empire written exclusively by white women and then turn around and say you don’t know who Octavia Butler is or that you haven’t read any NK Jemisin or that Babel was too heavy-handed just kills me! I’m not saying you HAVE to enjoy specific books but there is such an obvious pattern here

Some of y’all love marginalized stories but you don’t give a fuck about marginalized creators and characters, and it shows. Like damn

If anyone has any recommendations give them to me please!

Gladly! The pieces on this list aren’t limited to specifically anti-colonial science fiction and fantasy, but they do center related and relevant topics, themes, etc.

Severely underhyped books of assorted speculative genres:

Read widely. Read diversely. People of the Caucasian persuasion need to stop getting pissy when the story doesn’t immediately center them and they don’t automatically relate to everything the character says and does and is. Just let yourself get swept in the story—even if it touches on (gasp!) racism—and maybe, just maybe, it’ll reveal something to you.

Or maybe not! Marginalized sff authors do not have to and should not have to educate their readers. But if I see one more white person complain about how Black characters are fundamentally annoying because they complain too much I’m going to fling myself into the sun

Thanks for coming to my ted talk I didn’t want to do it but here I am

Oh! Please read EVERYTHING EVER WRITTEN by P. Djèlí Clark y'all! but start with this book first!

This is the epitome of Black Steampunk. It so refreshing to see science fiction written and just beautifully and authentic displaying of black culture(locations, language, practices, belie, ect) like black culture is extremely relevant and refreshingly written in this story. It even has some thrill of historical/ancestors revenge, along with messages of life and healing in it. It has all kinds of Black diaspora and queer rep in it too!

try also the House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard x

as an aroace person with limited sexual experience, no interest in watching porn, and poor sex ed as a teen, there IS something simultaneously funny and vaguely tragic about being 28 adult years old and realising how extremely tiny your frame of reference is for genitalia and deciding you should expand this to better understand bodies (yours and others). and then you're just there like "okay so what the fuck do I even google right now, anyway"

Large Labia Project

Labia Library

Breast Gallery-Nonsexualized Images of real, anonymously submitted breasts

Critique My Dick Pic [tumbex archive]-real submitted dick centric nudes

thank you (i think?)

why wouldn't it be thank you? you expressed interest in sexual education materials related to genital body diversity, and i keep these resources on hand for exactly that purpose.

it's natural to be curious about bodies--yours and others. the presence or lack of sexual intent motivating that curiosity is irrelevant. they're just body parts

I also found one of my favorites I couldn't find this morning: The Great Wall of Vulva and their Labia Library

sorry, my gratitude was real, my uncertainty was @ me ("am i sure i actually want to spend my evening looking at genitals or was i using the difficulty of knowing what to google as an excuse not to learn things") lol

do you have any resources for trans bodies, especially transmasc bodies? i am interested in better understanding what changes i might expect as someone on testosterone, but though i found references to photo projects re: bottom growth in a few places, all the links were dead

totally, the London Transgender Clinic and Dr. Keelee MacPhee have a variety of before and after photos related to various gender affirmation procedures.

i think that r/GrowYourTDick is the best repository of images of specifically trans masculine bottom growth. I can't comment on the culture of the forum, but there is absolutely a lot of images of transmasculine genitalia and extensive discussion of physical changes.

For (relatively*) trustworthy information, Hudson's FTM Resource Guide contains a lot of information about medical side effects and Things To Generally Be Aware Of, like increased risk for yeast infections and tips for managing locker rooms/swimming. *I can't verify that this information is up to date

I'm not directly connected to any trans masc transition support networks, but i know that discord is a thriving space for transition support and information sharing. i think it would be relatively easy to find positive community there. they often compile resources and information for members as well as provide topical discussion spaces. here's the disboard listings for public trans masc oriented servers

and this is just a really beautiful series of portraits of trans masculine people.

that about taps me out on resources!

no, I lied, I'm not done. I spent way too long looking for this photography archive documenting trans nude portraits specifically. lost to the ether. found other stuff though:

Archive of Body Alchemy: Transsexual Portraits by Loren Cameron, which includes images of genitalia in its "Genital Reconstruction" section, page 46. Portraits of clothed trans masculine people other than the author begin on page 34 in the "New Man Series."

A Genitoplasty Diary by Lou Sullivan (1984-1987) (no images but fascinating)

the evergreen Trans Bodies, Trans Selves

not useful at all, but an extremely cool in-browser recreation of a 90s mac in order to run a 90s trans information CD-Rom.

thanks! sharing for the sake of anyone else interested too

yeah there's so many dead links out there it's tragic. sometimes you even get as far as the artist's website and they'll have a page for the project but then the project is gone and you just get a 404. i'm guessing the increasing hostility of internet providers and stuff towards nudity/nsfw content and also the general atmosphere for trans people has an impact on the safety and practicalities of continuing to host stuff like that :(

Fun, someone said the words “prior authorizations” around me and now I’m pissed off at 730am on my day off. I go off on this rant all the time. ALL THE TIME.

Oof. This man gets it.

Every time I have to send a fax to a doctor saying "hey this med needs a PA" I get violently angry.

Hint: if your PA gets denied call your insurance and ask for the credentials of the person who made that call. Usually they will approve it instead of admitting they hired some 18-year-old with no relevant training or experience to scan for buzz-words and just deny everything

If you get denied, appeal. It's within your rights and if the appeal is overturned, you will be approved. It happens enough that it's worth the effort. Sometimes it's just a phone call.

propublica made this helpful tool: Find out why your health insurer denied your claim.

knew i was right for looking up to lucy pevensie from childhood

Vivaldi played by the South African elementary school Goede Hoop Marimba Band

Turn ON the sound

AMAZING

Slow down, turn on the sound and take a couple of minutes to enjoy this!

I think Vivaldi would have been tickled by this as he actually wrote so much of his music for an all girl orphanage/school. So to see a group of girls still playing his music hundreds of years later?!?!?! On an instrument he'd never seen?!?!?!

Good time for a reblog.

haunted house uquiz by streetlighthalo

This is modern art. The tragedy and hopelessness is perfectly encapsulated in your lack of a choice. Were you in his place, you would do no different. Because the gods have deemed it so, because fate is stronger than you. I’m usually not a big art person but holy shit

SKATE: the right side of my neck - faye webster