Niz

Guess who's back and better than ever? It's not me but I am here to clog up your dash again.

[bogleech]

Our balcony floorboards come with the single wrongest nail I've ever seen in my life

[parkchanwoohoo]

I don't mind and often enjoy seeing people plug their romance novels on Tiktok but wow I wish they didn't do this shit.

Tiktok self-censorship is leading to the slow recreation of leetspeak, which, dope, can't wait for the eventual "ur c0c|<.... 15 1|\|51d3 m3h....... 0m6..." but why can't you even say "mouth" or "screams" or "you" like how do you even determine-- I should say guess-- will limit your reach and surely this is not the best way of circumventing that

[draconym]

As a nonbinary person it feels uncomfortable when strangers perceive my partner and I as a straight couple,

But it's hilarious to me when they perceive us as father and son.

[draconym]

"Does he have his own luggage?" the agent behind the check-in desk asks brightly, making eye contact with my partner.

"Just carry-on," I say as I slide my driver's license across the counter toward her. Confusion dawns on her face. She glances up at me briefly before printing my boarding pass in silence.

[draconym]

"A soap making booth!" I exclaim. I've been to the renaissance faire a dozen times but I've never visited this shop. "Let's make soap!"

"First you have to ask your Responsible Adult for five dollars," says the vendor in a measured, singsong voice, and wags her index finger at me.

I look around, confused. Who is she talking about? Does she mean the young man trailing behind me? I turn back to her.

"I have five dollars ..."

"Well you still have to ask him," she smiles sweetly.

As I open my mouth to ask why, I suddenly realize she has misjudged my age by at least two decades.

"I'm older than he is," is all I can think of to say.

[draconym]

"Would you like a children's menu?"

"Sure, and if you're taking drink orders, I could also go for a Corona."

[sztupy]

Anthropic was hatching a new plan to avoid copyright headaches, dubbed “Project Panama”.

Beginning in early 2024, the AI lab quietly launched an industrial-scale book-buying program, partnering with used-book wholesalers to acquire millions of paper books by the pallet for what internal documents — which became public last year during the copyright lawsuit — described as “destructive scanning”, where books’ spines are cut apart so the pages can be scanned and then discarded.

Anthropic described the project as “our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books” in an internal memo, which noted “we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project”.

Court documents detailed how the AI lab used a “hydraulic powered cutting machine” to “neatly cut” millions of books before scanning the pages “on high speed, high quality, production level scanners”.

The Anthropic copyright case set the precedent — the US court ruled that by making a digital copy and destroying the physical in a one-for-one transfer, the process is deemed “transformative” and therefore protected by fair use.

[beardedmrbean]

[gogtopia]

seeing a black cat is actually good luck because then you get to see a cat

[7062242]

My Life Changed When I Discovered Peer-to-Peer File Sharing at Age 10 by heart__rot

28x28

Acrylic on Canvas

[maddoppelganger]

[dollsahoy]

It's largely airbrushed! That's why it doesn't look like you expect acrylic to look, if you're expecting it to have been applied with a traditional brush

[pandor-pandorkful]

I love how art programs have spent decades building tools to ape traditional materials and techniques digitally, while at the same time artists have gone ahead and aped the digital funk of MSpaint and bad photoshop in traditional mediums. That's just really fun to me!

[pmamtraveller]

Anatomy of a Hug, Luna Lu

[mothcub]

Yay!

[garbagequeer]

if i was sam winchester i would have at least kept drinking demon blood on occasion to bust out some magic tricks. sam and dean are always like this fight is so bad this fight is so dangerous we only have our brotherly bond and our fists. plus our gay friend. well give the boy drugs then

[pennywords]

X

[alexaloraetheris]

Oh, to be a little kitten who just got vaccinated and then taken to a high-end restaurant and tasted the best food the chefs could offer and then fell asleep in a basket.

[evilwizard]

he breasted the boulder boobily up the hill…

[evilwizard]

one must imagine sisyphus big naturals

[prokopetz]

I'm currently living in a two-cat household, and there's a thing that happens where the first cat is calling for me, the second cat shows up like "you rang?", and the first cat immediately smacks the second cat in the face like "not you, knucklehead". They do this every day.

[prokopetz]

The second cat always comes running when the first cat calls for me, even though it gets her dope-slapped with 100% reliability. I suspect she simply enjoys the attention.

[fantasmadebarovia]

there is nothing more important than a dear friend you can be a huge fucking asshole hater with

[fantasmadebarovia]

[upamilion]

may my creativity make me a wealthy woman

[galileosballs]

Also, please do not listen to how people talk about cover letters on this site. Cover letters are important, and in many industries you can be damn sure they'll be read. And no, they're not 'fanfic about working in your office', or just re-stating the resume contents in a fancier guise. If you treat them like that, then of course they're not doing much for you. That makes you sound like a syncophantic windbag, and it's not doing anything else to help.

I was trained in the dark arts of the cover letter by my mother, who is a hiring manager. And her training has paid off: I've been consistently told my cover letters are excellent. Let me pass on the wisdom.

The job of a cover letter is to give a prospective employer strictly more information than is on the resume. This is where you take the resume contents and put them into context. You look at the job requirements (you are looking at the job requirements before applying, right?) and look at your resume and ask the question (in your head) "why would a person think this candidate would be good for this job?" and your cover letter is the answer to that question. If you don't answer that question, the hiring manager is going to have to do it themselves, and you have way more information to work with than they do.

This is especially important if you're moving from one industry to another, because then the relevant connections aren't obvious. It's also very important if you're overqualified, because then you can use the letter to say "I know it looks like this job would be too entry-level for me, but I'm interested to pursue it for reasons x, y, and z". You can also use this space to explain away something that might otherwise be disqualifying, like job-hopping or a long break in employment. The tone to strike here is always matter-of-fact and constrained to topic - don't go into detail about health stuff or personal tragedy, just tell them what they need to hear: that this period of your resume was affected by [bad thing] but that it's now in the past and you're looking forward to the next chapter. Remember, one of the things they're trying to learn is whether you'd be content in this role, or whether you'd be miserable and leave after 2 months, which would force them to do all the work of hiring again. You're trying to establish that you will fit right in and not cause problems. Knowing what drew you to this job in particular (and don't just say 'money', that's true for everyone) helps with that.

And the other mistake? Everyone writes cover letters that are too long. One page is fine. Two is the absolute maximum, and that's if you have a lot of specific things to say. It's a waste of your time and theirs to pad it out with fluff. Of my two most recent successful cover letters (i.e. jobs for which I was interviewed) one was 390 words and the other was 550. That's the length of this post. How long did it take me to write this post? About 15 minutes to write, 5 to proof and edit. That's how long you should be spending on a cover letter, maximum.

[buam]

Cover letters are the first thing I look at. Poorly written cover letters are an instant rejection - how can I trust someone to communicate well or take the job seriously if they can’t write a couple paragraphs about their background and why they want the job? Strong cover letters, on the other hand, can earn someone with a so-so resume an interview.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

Off topic for this blog but an important skill I think we teach people so little about!

Cover letters are your elevator pitch. Why you, over anyone else with the same qualifications? What things can you advertise yourself with that can’t go on a resume? It’s literally self-advertising. Tell an employer a persuasive narrative about yourself that will make them want to interview you.

For a quick example: this blog led to me getting my first fact-checking gig, which has become my Real JobTM.

My resume shows the blog, that first client (which I still work for, eight years in!), and subsequent professional advancement. It’s not a bad resume these days.

Every cover letter I send tells the story of how I tried to do education on the internet and got so frustrated by incorrect/contradictory/unsourced information that I taught myself how to fact-check to find some dang correct facts. That I’ve dug so deep looking for accurate answers that my work has been published in peer-reviewed journals, cited in law articles and other academic literature, and influenced the trajectory of legislation. And that I still love it! A decade later, it is a joy every single day to dig my teeth into the newest topic and make sure everything is right. This, I say, is what I will do for them.

That’s the story my resume could never convey.

You don’t want to make things up or exaggerate, but everyone has some sort of narrative to build around their history. Even if it’s not conventionally “impressive” it will still give potential employers a sense of who you are, where you’re coming from, and if you’d be a good fit.

[why-animals-do-the-thing]

#ugh... i can't self-advertise to save my life... tags from @rubytactician

I have a trick for this! It's called ask someone else.

No, really. Someone in your friends / family / favorite colleagues from that last job is going to be your biggest supporter, so make use of that!

Ask them how they'd pitch you to someone else. Insert theoretical scenario of them somehow socially encountering someone hiring for the perfect job for you - what would they say to make that person interested? What about your work history do they think would be compelling? What skills do they think you should promote?

It is really hard to figure out how to market yourself. Especially these days when there's a more performative aspect to job applications than just having the right skills. Make use of the people who love you want to see you do well.

I think this sort of thing used to be easier when written letters of recommendation were more common, honestly, because those were literally someone else advertising you to someone else.

Another thing you can do - which will feel so awkward but is worth it - is to ask friends, colleagues from previous jobs (maybe not your current one), or past/current clients to give you a blurb! If you have a professional website, those are a great thing to use to flesh them out to prove you are a real person with real skills. If not, you can keep them to look at when you need inspiration or can't remember to save your life what you're good at and why someone should hire you.

My best suggestion if you're like uh, no, I cannot write something cogent is... don't. Barf everything vaguely relevant onto a sheet of paper. Do a free-writing exercise with no constraints. Write down all the silly, ridiculous, egotistic shit you'd like to tell an employer about why they should hire you. Get it all out on paper without censoring yourself so you can get any of it on paper - and this this important, do not send it. Read it back, and draw from it to make your actual cover letter. If you're struggling, show it to someone else and ask them what they think is important/interesting/marketable.

Drafting things like cover letters and even your resume with the support of your community will seriously make them so much better. You get eyes on for spellchecking and grammar, but also to help make sure it flows and that you're not using jargon or technical language a hiring manager might not understand. It can be hard to ask and I totally get that. It's something where I think it's worthwhile to sit with the discomfort. Applying for jobs successfully really isn't a skill that's taught these days! So we succeed best when we support each other.

I practice what I preach here. This is hard for me too - I am successful because I lean on community. I don't remember the last time I wrote a cover letter without having someone else preview it, even though I have a solid template I've worked from for years. I literally just asked @kaijutegu to help me cobble together a bio for a client that wanted to include me on their website (aaaaaaaa). I read and give feedback on cover letters for my friends as well, because it's got to be a two way street.

I won't say that writing cover letters isn't hard, because it is, but it is a skill that can be learned. And you don't have to do it alone.

[secondlina]

KAPOW!!!!!