Welcome to my Aquarium!

21⭐️Love Gifcities.com

[depsidase]

[kawuli]

random PSA, I know a lot of people use duckduckgo as a Google alternative search engine, but it always kind of annoyed me when I was using it because it felt like No Name Brand Google

I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.

also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo

also private, European based, least annoying search I've used lately (RIP old "don't be evil" Google)

[yomikoreadsbooks]

Keeping a list of Google alternatives just in case…

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

i have one of those, scraped from multiple different rec posts:

Search Engines

Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy

DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)

WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.

Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.

Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.

Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines. 

Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted. 

Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy. 

Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.

Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden. 

MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.

Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching. 

Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar. 

https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results. 

https://www.mojeek.com/ 

https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites. 

https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.

https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.

https://yep.com/ is a crawler

https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx

https://www.dogpile.com/ 

https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)

https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?

https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?

https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.

Other Searchers

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.https://cosine.club/ is an electronic music similarity search engine

[rthwrms]

HOW TO START (2026)

[bugdotpng]

image transcriptions under the cut

How to Start by rthwrms

for the times when you really truly want to do something, but find resistance or that starting feels impossible

most helpful action to get into a task is: look at it options include: review what you've already done open the tab on screen blur your eyes at first if that helps fullscreen the image browse or skim relevant texts let your gaze move around how it will JUST...LOOK!!!

Your brain has resistance towards starting the particular project in the way that you've previously conceived of it. Instead of fighting that resistance, try to change your approach to starting your work. Ie, start with colored pencils on a piece you were doing in gouache, include a new stitch in a crochet piece, Step one: identify the process Step two: identify places where something new can be included Step three: brainstorm new options to fill these spots Step four: select one or more options and try your piece from this new angle

encourage yourself by asking questions start with: "What am I actually trying to do right now?" then try: "What would this look like if it were more fun?" "How would I do it if anything was possible?"

divide into discrete tasks make the closest or shiniest one literally as small & specific as freaking possible

image text: I BELIEVE IN YOU screenshot text: The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper. W.B. Yeats (via billowy)

there is a window now there is a door

// end post transcription

[spiteswallow]

I humbly suggest that true crime freaks should get into learning about scammers instead of serial killers. I LOVE reading about fraud and grifts and pyramid schemes. true crime ppl have all this paranoid energy about murder, which is rare in the grand scheme of things.....maybe instead that could be channeled into some productive rage toward capitalism.

[spiteswallow]

And u know a side effect of learning about scam artists is that you start to understand certain things about economics, and just how STUPID these systems are and how easily they are taken advantage of....and I'd much rather people gained a passing familiarity with economics than whatever armchair psychologist shit these true crimers get on. We need fewer people who think they're experts on "sociopaths" and more people who understand how people like Elizabeth Holmes and the WeWork guy were able to do what they did

[lindstromm]

Here are some of my favorite books about financial scams:

The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust by Diana B. Henriques.

The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis (about the 2008 stock market collapse).

The Caesar's Palace Coup: How a Billionaire Brawl Over the Famous Casino Exposed the Corruption of the Private Equity Industry by Max Frumes and Sujeet Indap. (I admit I've never finished this one; the writing is hard to read.)

The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute, by Zac Bissonette. I bought this book because of the subtitle and I have never regretted it. You must read it.

Catch Me If You Can by Frank Abagnale. They turned this one into a movie! The book was very different and is worth reading.

The Cult of We: WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion, by Elliot Brown and Maureen Farrell. I haven't read this one yet, but it's on my tbr pile!

Opus: The Cult of Dark Money, Human Trafficking, and Right-Wing Conspiracy Inside the Catholic Church, by Gareth Gore. I'm reading this one right now. The author is a financial journalist who stumbled onto this story by unraveling a bank failure in Spain.

And here's a list of more non-fiction books about fraud and financial scams. The first book on this list is about Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes, which I also haven't read yet.

Enjoy!

[archmagetolvan]

adding Trickster Prince to the list!

[xerxestexastoast]

oh y'all would love to listen to Desperate Acts of Capitalism. it's a good podcast!

[monsieurenjlolras]

you've heard of "quiet quitting," now I'd like to introduce you to the next level, The French Work Ethic:

Do exactly what you're paid for and nothing more

Absolutely refuse to be available to contact when you're off the clock

Never prioritize work over your own health, wellbeing, or family because that would be insane, it's just a job.

Have a little glass of wine

Take as long as you feel like for lunch

Deeply understand that work doesn't matter

Make sure your boss your boss knows they're always your second priority ❤️

[lerayon]

🗣️ Hey, young Americans:

Old Millennial American speaking here. I need you to adopt this mentality as early as possible and hold to it. The older you get, the harder it is to begin this practice and claw back the extremely unhealthy effects of a workaholic lifestyle. I am speaking from 20 years of experience.

This does not mean having a shitty attitude at work, or not doing your job, or relying on co-workers to carry your water.

This means you do what it says above. It also means not making work and productively your entire personality; not tying your productivity to your value; and not becoming so emotionally enmeshed in your work and workplace so that you are living and dying by what happens there.

Good luck out there. American workplace culture is mostly designed to work you to death. Moving against that tide can be challenging, so having a healthy mindset is important to living a life not consumed by your paid labor.

[callese]

refseek.com

www.worldcat.org/

link.springer.com

http://bioline.org.br/

repec.org

science.gov

pdfdrive.com

[growing-yet-into-magic]

Worldcat is my bestie and my one true love!! Not only does it tell you what library a book is at, but it also price compares different used book sites against each other for easy view! It's how I got Tarot For the Master for $10!!

[growing-yet-into-magic]

Oh, and since I have your attention: z-library (books and textbooks) and sci-hub (gatekept scientific journal articles.) I just ripped a textbook for class off z-library and snatched a required reading from sci-hub. Life is good and education should be accessible at every stage and station of life.

[mckitterick]

information wants to be free

[seedingsolarpunk]

Anna's Archive is an open source mirror library

The world’s largest open-source open-data library. Mirrors Sci-Hub, Library Genesis, Z-Library, and more.

[sabertoothwalrus]

as much as I mourn the presence of aesthetic blogs on tumblr, it was absolutely true that the vast majority of posts were images taken without credit or permission. so it doesn't surprise me at all that now, almost any kind of post with a minimal caption, maybe even linked and "credited", is ai.

I think it'd be worth reminding people to be diligent, to prioritize sharing images/videos you KNOW for a fact that the OP created. art, photography, cat videos, memes, etc. honestly, even if you DO know the art was created by a real person, you don't know if that artist was ok with it being shared on a website they don't have an account on

[npd-vriska]

for those wanting to find images that are free to use AND credited, i cannot recommend ccsearch enough!

i used it a lot when i was really into digital collage, it's a portal to different search engines allowing you to find works under the creative commons license easily :D

[bgm05]

japanese game dev in the 90s: hey dude can you make some music for our game about anime girls getting fucked sloppy style

guy who's about to push the PC-98 sound card to its absolute limit and create the most heartachingly beautiful music you've ever heard: Yeah okay

[phoenixlooper]

Look, I know it's funny to say the PC-98 eroge had a stellar soundtrack for 'just an eroge'. But that is extremely dismissive of what YU-NO is and how it shaped the landscape of future releases in the era. Like we're talking about a game with time travel that lets you set down checkpoints in time, so you can collect items across multiple timelines and solve a series of mysteries. It's a story so long and complicated, it had been in Kanno's mind and developing for over a decade. It's a story that doesn't even properly work as a show or movie, it has to be a game. This title was extremely influential to how the sci-fi genre evolved in the adventure game medium of this era in japan. Titles like Steins;Gate wouldn't exist in nearly the same fashion, KEY works would be entirely different, other adventure game producing companies started trying to push themselves to match YU-NO's high production values. I'm sorry but you can be funny without being dismissive of something that had a huge cultural impact on a medium of storytelling.

[baeddel]

the composer Ryu Umemoto left his well-paying job scoring licensed games at FamilySoft to work in the pc-98 eroge scene because of the creative freedom it allowed him. he and the writer Hiroyuki Kanno worked together on several ambitious games for various small erotic games companies. there's a great obituary that talks about his life, here: click.

[queerautism]

Fellow white people did you know there's this cool youtube hack where you go out of your way to watch videos made by Black people. And suddenly your video recommendations will have loads of cool new channels. And then you realise youtube was literally hiding videos made by Black people from you because they assumed you wouldn't be interested

[thenebulousthey]

Don't talk about it. Be about it.

my favorites:

Daniel JrStetch (fitness)

Frilancy Hoyle (fashion)

EarthtonesGirl (knitting)

Josh Johnson (comedy)

[aroaceauri]

BlackForager (...foraging)

[teawitch]

Reese Waters (US politics)

https://youtube.com/@reesewaters?si=OOV1cQllMSoYhKx_

TL Yarn Crafts (crochet)

TL Yarn Crafts

I’m Toni – let’s learn how to crochet together! 🧶 Hey babes! I’m Toni, the designer and instructor behind TL Yarn Crafts, where every croch

Charm City Ewenicorns (knitting)

https://youtube.com/@charmcityewenicorns?si=GsG6iZIOnSsd2E6E

[duraraross]

FD Signifier for video essays on Black pop culture, history, and media!

[tikklil]

Here are some of my favs:

Khadija Mbowe

Princess Weekes

Olurinatti

Tee Noir

Shanspeare

[koobiie]

i recently learned to crochet!!! meet my 3 sons the apple brothers

[koobiie]

i don't have a nice written up pattern but i do have some instructions in case others would like to make their own apple brothers!

i use paintbox yarns cotton aran + a 3.25mm hook

front

i pretty much just follow this free pattern from raffamusadesigns (the goat btw) !!!! follow rounds 1-3 for the apple part (none of the squaring is necessary) as well as the part for stem and leaf! she has a very helpful video too! dont forget to sew the little seeds, i personally feel they're easier to sew on before assembly

back

just a half sphere! here are the instructions:

round 1 - single crochet 6 in magic circle

round 2 - single crochet inc x 6 (12)

round 3 - [single crochet, inc] x 6 (18)

round 4 - [inc, single crochet 2] x 6 (24)

round 5 - [single crochet, inc] x 12 (36)

rounds 6-9 - single crochet 36

fasten off and leave a long yarn tail for sewing to the apple front

feet

chain 6. [double crochet, half double crochet] in the 2nd chain from hook, slip stitch in the rest of the chains

assembly

so this is unfortunately the annoying part that i cant help much with lol. IMPORTANT NOTE is that i cut a bit of cardboard to keep the front flat! i cut it slightly smaller than the front, doesnt have to be precise. basically whip stitch the front + back together, stuff + add cardboard inside, then sew on the leaf + stem + feet. and tada! your apple brother is complete!

[fuzzypuppybuddie]

It's everywhere

[fuzzypuppybuddie]

There's also it's more 'diverse' fandom twin

[amagicalmoonlight]

[ID 1: drawing of four non-descript characters smiling lined up, three of them have pale skin while one has brown skin and a more mischievous expression, the characters has text pointed to them reading “that one character that gets the melanin because they’re angry/agressive” End ID]

[ID 2: drawing of four non-descript characters lined up, three of them have varied brown skin and expressions while one has pale skin and a more calm smile, the characters has text pointed to them reading “that one character that gets less of the melanin because they’re passive/calm/fancier” End ID]

[douglysium]

This and "that one character that gets darker skin because they are masculine"

(Also, a side not to consider is that there are good / pleasing designs that aren't super reliant on super high contrast. Don't get me wrong. Contrast is great and I love it but I think sometimes design gets a bit more complicated then "you always need to use the most high contrast thing possible. Obviously, don't make all your characters a single color blob but making a character I walking polkadate rainbow in the name of "contrast" wouldn't inherently be good either).

Also, it's weird that this is happening (although less frequently (even to now) but I loathe those fucking jokes where a character "can say the n-word" or "dresses up as a black character" because they have a tan now. IDK how to explain it perfectly other than the fact that they aren't even Black makes a lot of these jokes weird enough.

[douglysium]

Just because I don't want to be solely negative here's a long stream of advice from Twitter about drawing Darker skin and stuff

Here are some bonus tips if you find people say you keep making your skin look ashy unintentionally

Here's some basic tips for hair

That's all for now. One day I will make a complete and articulated article containing all the basic advice found here and a video too but until then thanks for reading.

[sunbentshadows]

oh dear god

[sunbentshadows]

I am speed running the stages of grief. Come explore this with me.

[sunbentshadows]

I WONDER WHY HEALTHCARE DATA IS SO LIMITED. HEY HAS ANYONE EVER THOUGHT ABOUT WHY WE DON'T HAVE COMPLETELY OPEN PLATFORMS FOR HEALTH DATA. AND WHY IT'S A BAD IDEA TO HAVE WRITE PRIVILEGES VIA SOME WEB INTERFACE TO MEDICAL RECORDS. HAS ANYONE EVER WONDERED.

[sunbentshadows]

okay well let's look at the github. at least an mcp server is just like a stupider API. right.

STARTING OFF. BAD.

This is. a PHI nightmare.

[sunbentshadows]

do you think these tech guys ever think. "i wonder why nobody has done this."

[sunbentshadows]

Well if they had to pick an AI at least they're not using one of the sketchy ones right. thank goodn

oh

[sunbentshadows]

You know, I'm glad Epic put so much time into making mychart extremely secure, even with all the health systems who configure them like a drunk monkey. it would be a shame if

hmm hey what do we think 'read local passwords' does

[sunbentshadows]

feed healthcare data to openclaw openclaw safe for 2FA codes and passwords in plaintext nothing bad will happen to your passwords and 2FA ccodes if you feed them to openclaww

[sunbentshadows]

ooohghhg my fucking ggogod

FROM DISCORD??? FROM MM DISCORD? YOU WANT TO FEED YOUR OWN PERSONAL HONEST TO FUCK PHI INTO, POTENTIALLY, DISCORD??

[sunbentshadows]

What many users may not know about MyChart providedby EpicSystems is that MyChart providedby EpicSystems is actually kind of like a local instance that your healthcare org runs, not a "Sign in once and see everything" type of deal (unless you have Care Everywhere, and then it maybe can be. But it Depends.)

Why is that you might ask. Well you see. There are many Rules and Laws and Regulations about the use and exchange of personal healthcare data.

Which is why of course this guy, seeing a well-thought-out and tested technical position, decided "what if i get all of them at once and also the 2FA codes and stored them ALL in the same place with no encryption whatsoever"

[sunbentshadows]

MRN??????????? YOUR PERSONAL HIGHLY PROTECTED BASICALLY ILLEGAL TO SHARE MEDICAL RECORDS NUMBER?

[sunbentshadows]

????????????????????????

[sunbentshadows]

This is genuinely the most terrifying import i have ever seen

[sunbentshadows]

I LIED; WHAT

[sunbentshadows]

GIVE OPENCLAW ACCESS TO YOUR ENTIRE FUCKING EMAIL AND MEDICAL RECORDS NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN IF YOU FEED YOUR ENTIRE BROWSER CACHE NAD PASSWORD KEY STORE INTO OPE NCLAW

[sunbentshadows]

okay. i'm done. i can't. i cannot continue to look at this. this is out of this world.

how do we think this project ends

sued

straight to jail

openclaw sending messages to your forme college professors with random diagnoses

hipaa police

Voting ended onMar 25

[bigandlong]

If you see this on your dashboard, reblog this, NO MATTER WHAT and all your dreams and wishes will come true.

[jae-felidae]

Oh hey! Haven’t seen this in forever! Didn’t reblog it when it came across me before, not gonna skip it this time, I need some good vibes.

[andmaybegayer]

> looking at a new popular collectible

> ask the people if it's objects or gambling

> they don't understand

> pull out illustrated diagram explaining what is objects and what is gambling

> they laugh and say "it's a good collectible sir"

> look up how to buy a collectible

> its gambling

[andmaybegayer]

> #wait are labubu's blind bags?!

Labubus are blind bags but they're also blind bags with some of the most insane dark patterns stacked on top. The online store for them has a thing where they tell you what you got the second you order it online so that you can immediately try again if you didn't get the thing you wanted.

There's also a shake feature that is designed to encourage you to buy more than one by narrowing down the possibility space on a crate of options so that if you're hunting a specific model you can verify that it's guaranteed to be in one of these three IF you buy all three right now!!!!!

[girlishgamine]

You can read more about what dark patterns are and how to spot them here.

Deceptive Patterns (aka Dark Patterns) - spreading awareness since 2010

The original website about deceptive patterns (also known as “dark patterns”) - tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things tha

[ralfmaximus]

That is a fucking awesome site everyone should visit. Don't skip the Hall of Shame.

[dailymanners]

I just thought of this post, which was actually how I learned what Dark Patterns are, because I tried to cancel my Adobe Acrobat subscription, and it took much longer than I anticipated because several times throughout the process it felt like it was intentionally trying to trick me into thinking I'd cancelled my subscription when I actually hadn't yet.

Please read up on Dark Patterns and learn how to recognize them.

[desinteresse]

Talking to friends with inept parents is crazy. No wonder they’re like this if their parents kept fumbling

[desinteresse]

“I’m having trouble adapting to my adult responsibilities” well no wonder, nobody raised you 😭😭😭

[desinteresse]

Hot tip for future parents: you actually have to guide your kid to adulthood. Feeding them and waiting for them to grow up is not enough since they are not house plants. A little more thought and care is required.

[mosssreblogs]

for those lacking certain "adulting" skills, especially things around the house, check out:

mom, how do i...?

and dad, how do i...?

^ there are tons of other resources but these two will teach you some personal hygiene, home or apartment repairs, easy recipes and basic cleaning techniques, even how to schedule doctor's appointments

if youre a renter i cannot recommend the trans handyma'am enough, mercury is a lifesaver, and her channel and accounts are always accepting new questions

there are so many resources, a lot that you dont have to even ask for, just know how to look 🩷 much love

[crabussy]

HOW TO GET YOUR ACCOUNT BACK FROM RANDOM NIGHTMARE SURPRISE TERMINATION!!!!!!!!!!!

I woke up on sunday morning to find that my whole account had been terminated out of the blue. VERY DISTRESSING!!! if this has just happened to you, YOU CAN GET YOUR ACCOUNT RESTORED. the best part is, everything remains intact! your messages, asks, followers, posts, etc. don't fret!! they restored my account only a day after it had been terminated. usually, it takes one to two weeks for a response. HERE'S WHAT I DID!!!

it's important that you send a SUPPORT TICKET. don't randomly email them!!! go to https://www.tumblr.com/support and choose "terminated account" as your reason.

include the email of the account that got terminated. this makes it easier for them to recover it! if you can't send it from that email, just include it in the message.

include the following: to the best of your knowledge, you have re-read the site rules and you haven't broken any site guidelines. state how important your account is to you, and stress how thankful you are for their help in recovering it. BE POLITE. EVEN IF YOU'RE UPSET OR PISSED OFF!!!! it significantly ups your chances of being listened to. I included the phrase "I'm sure you understand the importance of this" which is corporatespeak for "FIX THIS OR SO HELP ME GOD" and that seemed to get their attention.

you can also @ support on tumblr with the issue, and @ them on another site (e.g. twitter). there's a chance they'll see and respond quicker! cover all your options. the reddit for tumblr account termination is no longer active so don't bother with that.

if they don't respond within a few days, reply to the confirmation email they sent after you sent in your request. follow up! ask for updates! reiterate the urgency of the situation! make sure you're not responding to an address with "noreply" in it!

REALLY HOPE THIS HELPS!!!! all is not lost you just gotta be STERN AND POLITE. it's terrifying to have your entire account vanish overnight but there is always hope okay. love you good luck

[crabussy]

UPDATE: I had to do this whole thing AGAIN because my art blog ALSO got terminated out of the blue and they got back to me the very next day. this shit works!!!! I think the main factor is following up by replying to their confirmation email because as soon as I did that they got back to me.

[julie-su]

Can confirm this is how I tackled it when this blog was randomly terminated a while back; I had to do this before. I got my whole blog back, which is good, because I think this one is over a decade old by now.

[wolpertingerantlers]

Black Hair mods for Fallout 4 that I use (that aren't KS Hairdos or Commonwealth Cuts)

Just putting these out there. All are for pc and most are for female characters

Azar's Ponytails - Has 2 (maybe 3 now) loc hairstyle for both men and women (I believe), also some of the shorter hairs look like straightened Black styles

Curly Hair variations - Takes some of Azar's Ponytails and vanilla hairs and retextures them with curly style

Soul Survivor and Soul Survivor Reloaded - Replaces the vanilla Afro style with Bigger ones. Soul Survivor Reloaded is a standalone mod by the same author that also adds 12 different Afro Styles.

Textured hair - A few Hair options ported from the author's Skyrim Mod

tagging for reach: @creatingblackcharacters, @uptownlowdown, @datura-tea, @valledorata

[uptownlowdown]

such a great resource, thank you for sharing!! 🙏🏾