artehell

isabelle ✧ 25 ✧ hot mess

[phantomsphorever]

Danger Days Remastered CD, 2026

[spirulin4]

what ppl defending kids on ipads don’t seem to understand is that there are other ways to keep kids occupied. my mom had a whole bag full of little toys and games for me to play with while waiting in lines at disney world. once your kid is like 7 or 8 they can read a book. they can color. or they can literally just sit there and imagine things. i did that a lot as a kid.

[spirulin4]

thanks for putting your wrong and bad commentary in the tags where i still have to read all of it. most of what you said is untrue.

[imyselfamstrange]

OP: giving children too young to process things so much access to ipads isn’t good for them maybe.

People in the notes: So you hate moms??? You’re ableist?? You think we should go back to the Dark Ages?? (My personal favorite because it makes no sense) you’re poor shaming??

Why is it so difficult to explain that children not developing fine motor skills and losing their attention spans is bad actually??

[purplesweetpotatoes]

also children can end up being entertained by just about anything. I remember building "bird nests" with sticks in the backyard when I was like 7 years old. That was it. It took up my whole afternoon and I was entertained the entire time.

[atomicjellycat]

I worked at a kindergarten for a year, and Jesus Christ these kids are falling behind on so many milestones

Everyone knows who the iPad kids are

I've seen it all from kids who don't know how to use scissors, and can't perform the motions right compared to other kids in that age group, to kids who can't write the alphabet or spell their names (the older ones)

And one of the most startling thing I encountered was every now and then we have a country day, where we choose a country, color in the country's flag in the colors and watch a little film about said country.

And I was overseeing the coloring, and one boy just refusing to color

It happens, stubbornness, bad days, 'just don't wanna' s happen, but I sit with him and continue to try and encourage him and figure out why he doesn't want to

And he keeps saying he doesn't know how to color

And I'm like ??? Just pick up the pencil and put it on the paper buddy, cmon

So I'm showing him how, and he refuses to try over and over

So then I try like, coloring while guiding his hand, and again this is a flag were coloring it's a giant rectangle, not much precision is needed

And I realize while I'm helping him, literally moving his hand to color for him, he's CLEARLY never colored before. He's 4, there is no excuse for this when kids start coloring at like, 2 maybe younger.

By 4-5 kids can generally color inside the lines well enough and draw recognizable figures like people and landscapes and pets

Eventually he got into it, understood how to do it and requested to continue on by himself, which was great! I told him I was proud of him and we continued on with our day but it absolutely shocked me that these iPad kids are so beyond stunted like jesus

He didn't know how to grip a pencil, he didn't know the wrist movements and motions, he didn't understand the pressure control, he had no control over where or how he was coloring like, these kids NEED TO learn these things it's STARTLING how many kids don't have these milestones and are just not developing these fine motor skills

Ask any kindergarten attendant and they'll tell you the same thing-

The best thing you can do for a kid is buy them a shitton of construction paper, decorative child-safe scissors, and coloring books

Please please please kids need to cut paper up and color. It helps them develop so many fine motor skils

Now don't be mistaken, the percentage of these kids are low, for now. It's definitely not every kid, and thankfully not the majority but it is still a problem

[betterbemeta]

Even if a parent SAYS, 'this is my son's iPad,' it's not his. it's an expensive piece of electronics with opaque rules, it has other functions than play, it needs to be charged, maybe it's parental-locked, and the parents control access to it at all. In the past, 'computer time' was different from 'play time', however much privacy a kid HAD using the computer because:

Toys, on the other hand, belong to the child. A specifically nasty parent may say otherwise, but children experience toys as their own. As stated above, anything can become a toy in a pinch, beyond the parents' control. Even if we just discuss electronic toys there's a serious difference in dynamic between "my son's gameboy" and "my son's iPad."

Even if we aren't talking about 'motor skills' and 'imagination', replacing toys with an ipad definitely sounds bad for kids because it pretty much eliminates the agency of 'my things!' and changes it to 'thing my mom lets me have/use!'

And compared to a desktop computer and even to a laptop, an iPad is REALLY easy to revoke, you don't even need to say 'no more computer time!' You can simply take it away, physically. It's hard to take EVERY TOY away from a kid unless you go to extremes.

And also, an iPad is a computer that doesn't teach any computer skills while using it.

This all seems like a good prep for being an eternal renter of all things, though.

[slipping-into-madness]

[reasonsforhope]

Gov. Evers: “I want Wisconsin to become the first state in America to start auditing insurance companies over denying healthcare claims”

Governor’s budget plan cracks down on insurance companies and prescription price gouging, lowers out-of-pocket healthcare costs, aims to red

From a press release from the governor's office:

"Gov. Tony Evers... during his 2025-27 Biennial Budget Message, announced his 2025-27 Executive Budget will make sweeping changes to the healthcare industry in Wisconsin to address the frustrating challenges Wisconsinites face every day simply trying to get the healthcare they need. 

Gov. Evers tonight announced several key initiatives to crack down on insurance companies and prescription price gouging; reduce appointment wait times and enable Wisconsinites to get care closer to home; lower out-of-pocket healthcare costs for medication and insulin; require health insurance companies to automatically cover more healthcare services and procedures with no delays and hassles; prevent surprise medical billing and reporting unpaid medical debt to collections and credit bureaus; and provides new hospital investments to improve healthcare access statewide, including in Wisconsin’s rural communities. As part of Gov. Evers’ comprehensive plan to lower costs for working families, he is also proposing to eliminate the sales tax on over-the-counter medications, which would save Wisconsinites a projected $70 million over the next two years.

Gov. Evers hears from Wisconsinites who feel like they are not getting a fair shake from the healthcare industry, especially their health insurers...

Gov. Evers is proposing solutions to address the frustrating challenges Wisconsinites face with sweeping changes to the healthcare industry in Wisconsin: 

Gov. Evers is proposing to make Wisconsin the first state in America to start auditing insurance companies over denying Wisconsinites’ healthcare claims. If an insurance company is denying Wisconsinites’ claims too often, we’re going to audit them. 

The governor also proposes creating an office that, for the first time in state history, would be devoted to helping Wisconsinites hold health insurers accountable and ensuring folks get the health insurance coverage they pay for. 

Gov. Evers is proposing to create new standards to expand the healthcare services and procedures that insurance companies are required to cover. This means more healthcare services and procedures will be covered by Wisconsinites’ health insurance automatically—no delays, no hassle, no questions asked. 

Gov. Evers is proposing to require health insurance companies to be more transparent with Wisconsinites up front and before Wisconsinites purchase their health plan. Under Gov. Evers’ plan, health insurance companies would have to tell Wisconsinites from the get-go which services and treatments will require prior approval so Wisconsinites can find a health plan that is right for them. 

Wisconsinites should not have to wait weeks and months to get an appointment or have to travel long distances to get the care they need. The governor’s plan also helps to make sure Wisconsinites can get the healthcare they need when and where they need it—quicker and closer to home—by enabling the creation of statewide standards for maximum wait times for scheduling appointments. Gov. Evers also proposes to make sure the services healthcare insurance companies cover are available within a minimum time and distance of the Wisconsinite buying their health plan. 

Gov. Evers also proposes cracking down on surprise medical bills and the healthcare industry sending unpaid medical bills to collections or reporting to credit bureaus. Gov. Evers’ plan would require health providers to give Wisconsinites notice of unpaid medical bills and would give Wisconsinites a six-month grace period by banning healthcare providers from reporting unpaid medical debt to collections or credit bureaus during that time. 

No one should be in a mental health crisis wondering whether insurance will cover an in-patient stay to get help. Gov. Evers also proposes banning health insurance companies from requiring pre-approval for in-patient mental health services so Wisconsinites in crisis can be safe and get life-saving care."

As part of Gov. Evers’ plan to lower out-of-pocket costs for working families, make healthcare more affordable, and crack down on price gouging, Gov. Evers last month announced his “Less for Rx” plan to lower prescription drug prices, improve oversight of drug companies, and protect consumers from price gouging on their medications, including removing the sales tax on over-the-counter medications, which will result in a projected total of $70 million in annual savings, setting price ceilings for prescriptions, capping the cost of insulin copays to $35, and protecting Wisconsinites from price gouging on prescriptions."

-Press release from the office of the governor, via WisPolitics, February 18, 2025

[we-are-astronomer]

HIYA.

So a lot has gone on in the last little bit. NASA recently was ordered to scrub their site of women's contributions to astronomy and astrophysics, even took down their page celebrating women's history month and all the contributions they've made to NASA. So I did a thing and crawled through the wayback machine to find some articles, and decided to put this right here because fuck the government, fuck the orange in charge who told them to scrub their site, and fuck NASA for throwing their people under the bus and bowing to this authoritarian nonsense. This version of the site still has articles on some important figures like Eileen Collins, the first woman to command a space shuttle, and ISS chief scientist Jennifer Buchli and chief deputy scientist Meghan Everett, who, in their words, "-provide the science strategy and make science recommendations for the International Space Station program, and help make sure all of the science on the International Space Station goes smoothly, from preparing for launch to conducting research on the space station with the scientists and astronauts and returning the science to Earth."

[emmajanereading]

This one is working as of 15 Feb:

Women at NASA - NASA

Women at NASA are making history at every day. Celebrate our past and look to our future as we continue to drive innovation and push the env

[icaruspendragon]

how am i meant to show my love when i peel an orange but need a shovel to give you a slice

[icaruspendragon]

i wish i had the words to express what this means to me.

[imawitchywitch]

What do you mean we had to listen to “crooked Hillary” and “her emails” for YEARS and now they are somehow okay with some businessman and his 20 yr old interns accessing our money, shutting down departments, and threatening our federal employees?!?

Republicans, you’re being played. They’re stealing our money and destroying our government under the guise of “waste.” This is a heist and you voted for it.

[saywhat-politics]

Keep your messaging simple:

“Trump fired everyone in charge of airplane safety, and a week later planes started crashing into each other.”

That’s it. That’s the messaging. Don’t get bogged down disputing Trump’s false claims. Just blame him, in short and repeatable sentences.

[queerculus]

Trump removed bird safety regulations in his first term and now bird flu is killing so many laying hens that eggs are $5 a carton

Trump removed food safety standards his first term and now we have recalls every few weeks

Trump cut the subsidies for the solar farms under construction so now electricity costs more

Trump disbanded the pandemic response team and we now we have bird flu and tuberculosis outbreaks

[houseofcatwic]

Vintage Josef Originals. Amber & Tawny

[liberalsarecool]

The cruelty of racist white men.

[wolf840]

Does anyone else remember when Elon was like "if anyone knows how to end world hunger for 6 billion USD, I'll fund it" and UNICEF was like "we're going to spend a month to make a plan to end world hunger for 6 billion USD and Elon is going to fund it" and Elon was like "actually, nah" and then bought Twitter instead?

I think that was one of the worst things I'll ever see in my life.

[tiredspacedragon]

I still think that should be the thing for which he's the most famous. It should be brought up every time he's mentioned. In any news article, any interview, any history book. "Elon Musk, who was offered a chance to end world hunger and turned it down." Put it on his fucking gravestone.

[cozycryptidcorner]

I don’t think the main goal is mass deportation. I’m at work rn and will elaborate.

[cozycryptidcorner]

Currently there are huge detainment camp being built in Texas for ICE. Slavery is legal in the case of prisoners. “How will we have field workers if they’re all in detainment camps?” Girl they will still be field workers, but under the thumb of for-profit prisons owners. Will elaborate further w/ but do you see what I’m saying??

[cozycryptidcorner]

Once more: if slavery is legal in the case of prisoners according to the constitution, if Texas (who has the largest amount of profit prisons) and Mississippi both have plans on building large scale detainment camps for undocumented immigrants to hold them indefinitely as per one of Trump’s executive orders, and if there is a large labor vacuum as undocumented immigrants are arrested and in hiding, what do you think is about to happen?

[lilja4ever]

the david zwirner gallery and the felix gonzalez torres foundation in the smithsonian removed the descriptive plaque for portrait of ross in la by felix gonzalez-torres. the old plaque explained portrait for ross' origins as the artist's partner's aids related death, and replaced it with a plaque with absolutely no information about the piece itself, who ross was, or who gonzalez-torres was either. portrait of ross was also reeranged to lay on the floor long ways instead of in a pile as it typically is situated, and the plaque outside the exhibition FOR GONZALEZ-TORRES omits his sexuality, as well as his aids related death. i'm in utter disbelief

The Smithsonian's queer erasure of an AIDS artwork should alarm us all

By omitting the tragic story behind Felix González-Torres "Untitled" (Portrait of Ross in L.A.), the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery i

[fleshengine]

oh they just like... Changed it. That's not the same art piece anymore.

[thehummingbirdsmatter]

I was so upset about this that I looked it up for more information. Some additional context- I can't decide if this makes it better or worse tbh.

Amid Outcry, Felix Gonzalez-Torres Foundation Denies ‘Queer Erasure’ in Smithsonian Show

A Felix Gonzalez-Torres show at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery is being met with allegations of 'queer erasure.'

[perplexed-penguin]

If you’re an American federal employee and got an email saying “it’s ok to quit your job.” Do not, for the love of everything, quit your job. This is purely a scare tactic to get rid of as many people as possible without legal consequences.

[iamnmbr3]

Obviously, Trump has realized firing everyone in the government will be harder than he thought because of robust legal protections so he’s trying to scare or trick people into leaving instead because he knows they can block and slow his fascist agenda. Don’t let that happen. If you’re in the civil service, your country needs you; stay in your job and protect the constitution. And if you’re not in civil service, do what you can to support the civil service, including calling your representatives and asking them to protect civil servants.

[whatisthedeal]

Important addition: the email was almost WORD FOR WORD the same email sent to Twitter employees after Musk took over. It does not consider Federal employee rights or regulations, parts of it make NO SENSE WHATSOEVER (you resign but will be kept on active payroll and simply won’t be given work or need to come in. For 8 months.).

8 months pay with the ability to get a new job is very tempting, especially for lower-paid workers. All that extra money could really cover some gaps and relieve financial pressures. It’s tempting. I get it.

ITS ALSO NOT LIKELY LEGAL AS WRITTEN AND YOUR AGREEMENT COULD ACTUALLY SCREW YOU. There’s a reason so many of the recent EOs and initial memorandums are getting halted or rewritten - no thought or research was given to what they can do given actual regulations and union contracts. Because many are coming from Musk via DOGE, and Musk has NEVER had to deal with unions, federal employee regulations, and strong opponents capable of fighting back HARD with decades of legal precedent at their back.

Reality seems to be hitting as an afterthought to all the shit spewing like a firehose from this administration. Don’t react to the first edition of ANYTHING. Given it a few days and see what actually can be done.

[wyf-of-bathe]

Right now, r/fednews is the biggest social media hub for federal employees anywhere; you can find resources, advice, news, memes, and encouragement there.

If you're not a federal employee, feel free to pop over anyway for information, and please send well-wishes! They really need it right now, as their jobs are so so so important but not very popular or prestigious, and now the wealthiest and most powerful people in the world are trying to take their livelihoods.

The architect of Project 2025, Russell Vought, is now Trump's director for the Office of Managenent and Budget -

ie, the main guy who created Project 2025 is now the topmost-level manager and coordinator of all federal agencies.

His vision for federal civil servants, in his own words:

"We want the bureaucrats to be traumatically affected. When they wake up in the morning, we want them to not want to go to work because they are increasingly viewed as the villains.

We want their funding to be shut down so that the EPA can't do all of the rules against our energy industry because they have no bandwidth financially to do so.

We want to put them in trauma."

Project 2025 specifically targets federal civil servants for a reason. They are the essential first and second lines of defense of the US democracy and the fascists know it.

Support our civil servants, support your rights.

[thestuckylibrary]

This is so important.

Support civil servants, support your rights!

And if you’re in the civil service we’re all rooting for you. You are heroes. Even slowing him down buys valuable time to defeat the fascist agenda. Defend the constitution. We stand with you. Hold the line! Don’t resign!

[capacity2]

Just so blatantly evil when they took the headphone port out of the phones to force people into getting Bluetooth earbuds like we let them do that to us and no one was jailed or murdered for it? What is wrong with us

[whyenn-reader]

Not to go "if you have ADHD just go for a run" or anything, but I am so serious if you have ADHD you should regularly go outside, no headphones no phone no nothing and just stand and observe for a while until you've had enough. Not until you get bored, until you've had enough. Drink your coffee without watching tiktok. Have a bath without music. Turn down the volume in your headphones. I cannot overstate how much learning to be bored is cruicial with ADHD. Life is not just about pleasure, no matter what your dysregulated dopamine system thinks, and when you teach your brain to be okay with being bored, then boring tasks stop feeling like torture. By letting yourself be bored you are yoinking your system out of the high/low binary and allow for the highs to feel like actual highs and not just anything that isn't low. I am so serious go literally touch grass. Listen to the sounds in your flat. Stimulate your body the way it was designed. It lowers anxiety and makes you feel like you're real and best of all it's completely free

[butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway]

I really wish more ADHD mental health care told you WHY things like this matter to our quality of life.

The Hyperactivity in Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is NOT about being physically hyperactive, it's about having a "hyperactive central nervous system" because it's a form of inheritable dysautonomia. The problem with disautonomia, especially the ADHD kind, is that it makes boredom flag to your nervous system as a THREAT, triggering hyperactive and maladaptive central nervous system processes like fight or flight.

But dysautonomia kills you that way. Literally, part of the reason our average life spand increase on stimulents is that it helps manage risk-taking impulsivity that can get us killed by accident, but the other part is that stimulents can regulate a hyperactive CNS such that it is functionally (while impacted by the stimulent) NOT dysregulated anymore. And PHYSIOLOGICALLY that is essential because the physical outcomes of dysautonomia can reduce your life span by YEARS if not decades through self-perpetuating hypervigelence, endocrine disruption, and adrenal fatigue.

So when the ADHD brain goes stimulation-seeking and a doctor tells you to practice mindfulness, it feels like being told "hey go stand in a functioning boiler until you can stop thinking" rather than WHAT IT IS which is the process of re-teaching your body what is and isn't safe.

Standing outside making mindful, non-interpretive/moralized observation of the world helps your brain and body re-acclimate to the idea that absence of that frantic "busy" feeling isn't a threat or a risk to your safety, and gradually reduces the level of distress that just hanging out somewhere triggers for you.

Learning WHY this stuff was being suggested and understanding what it was actually supposed to do went a long way towards changing my relationship with my ADHD. I am FAR more functional now, far less prone to shame spirals and rejection sensitivity, hell, I can **sit physically still for near on an hour at a time** now without feeling like I'm going to crawl out of my skin.

So yeah. Go outside. Let the world narrow around you and take deep breaths until it stops feeling claustrophobic or like you need to climb walls. Learn how to let little sensations become big ones like the way the heat of the sun on your skin starts as a gentle warming and be omes a unique collection of sensory moments depending on how it lands on you. Listen for sounds under sounds and let them fade in and out as you move your focus from one sound to the next. Enjoy. Move on. Rinse and repeat.

When you no longer feel like the world is actively killing you, it's a lot easier to navigate it.

[whyenn-reader]

S++ tier addition to the post, thank you tumblr user butts bouncing on the beltway

[vixvigil]

at least sisyphus only had one never-ending task. i have like 50 and all of them cost money

[pandemic-info]

5th person confirmed to be cured of HIV

Researchers are announcing that a 53-year-old man in Germany has been cured of HIV.

Referred to as “the Dusseldorf patient” to protect his privacy, researchers said he is the fifth confirmed case of an HIV cure. Although the details of his successful treatment were first announced at a conference in 2019, researchers could not confirm he had been officially cured at that time.

Today, researchers announced the Dusseldorf patient still has no detectable virus in his body, even after stopping his HIV medication four years ago.

[stereotype-embodier]

Unbelievably fucking cool

[carrieneuman]

A twice-yearly shot could help end AIDS, but only if it can get to everyone who needs it

A twice-yearly shot has shown to be 100 percent effective in preventing HIV infections in a study of women, and published results show it wo

Between that and new preventative shot, we might be able to eradicate HIV in the near future.

[jam-does-audio]

Do not forget this. No matter what happens do not forget we’re this close to finally ending this awful virus

[cosmonaut775]

Hey do y’all remember when Boeing fucking killed a guy last year. And we all said “huh I guess Boeing fucking killed a guy” and then went on with our lives. And everybody knew that Boeing had fully just fucking executed a guy and nothing came of it. Like there was no police investigation no justice no nothing. Like literally EVERYBODY knew that Boeing had full on murdered a guy to silence him and there wasn’t any consequences for them. Kinda crazy.

[flamiemoonfox]

and there was even less talk when openai did the exact same thing more recently

[flamiemoonfox]

So for those who are, very understandably uninitiated on this story:

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Cade Metz, 23.11.2024, Former OpenAI Researcher Says the Company Broke Copyright Law. The New York Times