Resources

[ego94]

“if you’re plus sized you can just shop on shein/amazon/cider, they have a good selection!!” yeah but i don’t want to rely on fast fashion. i think fat people deserve more ethical and high quality clothing choices

[onlyroxxie]

Just posting this here:

Fashionbrandcompany.com

Shopmyviolet.com

Misscandyholic.com

Forestinkclothing.com

Shoptunnelvision.com

Universalstandard.com

Loudbodies.com

Tuesdaybassen.com

Shopsoftcore.com

Snagtights.us

[hecatelund]

Shout out to Chub Rub Clothing too! By and for fat people and really cute to boot!

[asoftgoth]

a few more I would add because I get asked about clothes a lot:

foxblood.com

anthropologie.com

killstar.com

midnighthour.com

and la femme en noir goes up to 5xl in their new items!

Vixen by michelinepitt.com is another amazing brand that goes to 5xl also! Micheline is a cofounder of La Femme En Noir btw, im a big fan

[mortarandsquishle]

THANK YOU

[igrabbedthemoon22]

Maya kern is also a shop for plus sized people! Cute skirts highly recommend! @mayakern

[poes-crypt]

Can also recommend @shopwitchvamp

[westleyjackson]

Also @nerdykeppie !

[anyataylorjoys]

The Watermelon Woman (1996) dir. Cheryl Dunye

[seeveekat]

Hey this movie is really important in queer history! It was the first feature length film directed by a black lesbian! You can watch it here for free!

I really recommend you do because while it is a rom-com (and a drama), it also looks at how the stories of black queers are over looked in history.

[pirateprincessjess]

How did you set up network wide ad blocking?

👀Tutorial pls👀

I got you!

First off I want to explain what exactly we are setting up. This is a Domain level filtering. In laymen’s terms, we are using software that will turn a device on your network into a filter for your internet traffic. Traffic containing ads or malware simply won’t be sent to your devices. This affects everything on your network. Your smart tv, gaming console, pc, and phone will all be add free.

But it does more than that. This will stop your smart devices from spying on you and sending information off to companies that want track and sell your data by filtering that traffic in the same way that it filters out ads.

I use a program called AdGuard Home. This is not the only software that does this. It’s not even the best one out there, but I like this one. It works well for me, and I think the official tutorial was easy to follow. It takes a little less than 30 minutes to setup.

Download the software here

And follow this tutorial here

This tutorial assumes you are going to install the software on a piece of hardware that is always online. I wouldn’t recommend using your main computer for this because you likely won’t want to leave that on all the time.

I use a cheap 2nd hand mini pc that I purchased. You can run this on an old laptop, a Pi, a Mac/Mac mini or any number of other things. Just use whatever is cheap and available.

The specs of your computer really don’t matter here, because this program will barely use any processing power. Just look for something cheap that has an Ethernet port, and avoid iOS and Android devices.

[lilithsaintcrow]

"This week I discovered the same pattern, executed by Google. Google Chrome is reaching into users' machines and writing a 4 GB on-device AI model file to disk without asking."

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — Th

Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise t

[jenroses]

pretty sure I did the chrome//flags thing a while ago, but also i switched to firefox, which is not without the occasional bullshit, but is vastly less bullshitty than chrome. This is why I treat genai "features" like the invasive blackberry bushes they are: cut, root, burn, and vigilantly watch for new shoots to uproot. I'm 54 years old and the world got by fine without genai for most of my lifetime.

[sniperct]

tags via@KKglinka #psa#having read the article#it's not clickbait#chrome is reaching#across all chromium browsers#to link a prepatory structure#this malware packet#will therefore occur#with all chromium browsers#it has nothing to do#with the actual ai interface#instead chrome is either#using your personal computer#as part of a cloud server#the way bitcoin malware works#or it's recording your own#actions on the computer#with a continuously active#background module#either way#that's malware#a 4gig trojan virus

[spyndylle]

The only ways to make the deletion stick are to disable Chrome's Al features through chrome://flags or enterprise policy tooling that home users do not generally have, or to uninstall Chrome entirely

...

Adding the file took zero clicks. Removing it requires (a) discovering the file exists, (b) understanding what it is, (c) navigating into a hidden user profile path, (d) deleting it (and on Windows, also clearing the read-only attribute first), and (e) accepting that Chrome will silently re-download it on next eligible window unless the user also navigates chrome://flags, enterprise policy, or platform-specific configuration tooling to disable the underlying Chrome Al feature. None of those steps is documented in the place a normal user looks - none of them is even hinted at in default Chrome.

[shutyourmoustache]

Making exercises more accessible to the disabled? Fuck yeah!

[areyoudoingthis]

the importance of being earnest gdrive link for anyone who missed it or wants to watch it again ✨

[fangirlinginleatherboots]

just so yall know

art block is your brain telling you to do studies.

draw a still life. practice some poses. sketch some naked people. do a color study. try out a different technique on a basic shape.

art block doesnt stop you from drawing, it stops you from making your drawings look the way you want them to. and thats because you need to push your skills to the next level so you can preform at that standard

think of it as level grinding for your next work.

[gallusrostromegalus]

As a scientific illustrator- this is 100% true and going to review your basics will fix it every goddamn time.  Not only does it keep your skills sharp, when you’re not emotionally invested in the final product of a piece, you relax and your brain makes more/better art juice for you.  So, when you get back to that big/important piece?  You’ll know what to do and how to do it.

Nothing in nature blooms all year round.  Rest, and take care of yourself.

[strawbebbynya]

i want someone to put this into writer’s blocks now

[404computerhamstersnotfound]

Writer’s block means you need to relearn the whole alphabet. idiot.

[redwingedwhump]

For writers block- same thing. Do Studies.

Write a description of an object. write the weather today. Write a made up characterization of a random photo of an actor from the internet as to the character they are in that picture. Write a little story about your pet’s day. Write about spilling soup and make it super dramatic and tragic. Write about someone’s day being ruined and make it funny. Write a meetcute coffeeshop AU of two OCs you’d never put together- maybe from different stories. Write them breaking up.

Write a bunch of short stuff meant for no audience ever and super duper self indulgent.

[blackaquokat]

@sweetiepie08

[accidental-spice]

@kanerallels

[catkin-morgs-kookaburralover]

I found out relatively recently that it really helps if I write short fiction surrounding the novels I write. Like oh? I’m stuck for a bit? Ooh there was that section I wanted to explore but doesn’t fit in the plot really. There was that what-if that could never happen in the actual story but would be fun to explore. It keeps me in the characters’ headspace (tho that’s not always what I’m needing) but not right where they are exactly.

[winterinhimring]

Yes! I have gotten past writers’ block multiple times by writing drabble collections. Making something coherent happen in just 100 words is a very different challenge from writing a long story and it also lets me get past plot points that I don’t want to explore in-depth.

I am also going to have to start drawing studies now…

[thoughtportal]

5 simple exercises to awaken dormant muscles

{source}

[onemillionwordsofcrap]

I appreciate this video a lot--people don't realize how important it is to start slow if you're trying to come back from a completely sedentary lifestyle, and they get really hurt as a result. Straining your muscles too much, too suddenly can land you in the E.R. and the wrong joint injury can permanently affect your mobility, so please start with absolute basics and easy stretches!

[creatingblackcharacters]

Guiding Your Own Research!

The Livestream I did on tips for self-guided research for Black character design. Also helps in general, really!

Thank you all for your patience as I got this lesson up! I did my best to edit the stream down to the powerpoint itself, so it's 31 minutes. Feel free to just listen to it as a podcast if you must. I have added this to the syllabus as well, for easy finding. Please be nice to me 👉🏾👈🏾 I did my best.

Time markers underneath for each section as well.

Intro: 0:00

#1: 1:56

#1.5: 3:59

#2: 5:28

#3: 7:08

#4: 11:29

#5: 14:05

IMPORTANT! 17:15

#6: 20:45

#7: 24:39

[void-milf]

fyi the point of fucking up your data patterns isnt to avoid suspicion. it’s to make EVERYONE suspicious. same logic as the bloc, pals.  protect your comrades, be suspicious. ESPECIALLY if you aren’t doing anything likely to get you arrested.

[void-milf]

the state is less omniscient and significantly more incompetent than you’d think. overextend their resources at every possible opportunity.  make them cry wolf repeatedly. run their data analysis agents fucking ragged.  and strike. attack.

[37womenwieldingknives]

YES i’m a postgrad statistics researcher and i can tell you that the state honestly has NO IDEA what to do with the data it collects, it has an obsession with big data but it’s almost impossible to work with in practice. the traditional statistical approaches that are used can’t be scaled up, the adapted approaches are substantially weakened, and the machine learning approaches have the same problems and often tell them nothing. data scientists are only just coming around to these issues too, most still just push on with it anyway - incompetence is the word. above all this though, like you say, the biggest issue for the state is at the point of data collection. they will NEVER get anything useful if they’re collecting shitty messy data. they will eventually figure out that the real solution is working how to collect accurate and meaningful data, we should make it as difficult as possible for them to do that

[afraidofamericans]

This makes me think that we need WAAAY more apps that generate junk data

[queeranarchism]

Apps that generate junk data? tell me moooore.

[anarchopuppy]

Ooh I know this one!

Ad Nauseum is an adblocker that stores the ads it blocks and continuously generates fake clicks, fucking with analytics and costing the ad companies money

TrackMeNot automatically does randomly generated searches on a variety of search engines to obscure your real searches and fuck with analytics, and you can set it up to work with anything that has a search bar (including facebook, twitter, amazon, youtube, etc)

WhatCampaign replaces analytics parameters in links with the string “FuckOff”. I thought there was a similar extension that used random strings, but I can’t seem to find it

Privacy Possum is a fork of Privacy Badger with a focus on costing tracking companies as much money as possible, and idk if my limited tech knowledge is enough to understand what it does but the description does say it falsifies some data so that’s good enough for me

@afraidofamericans

[mayflower-gal]

Boy it SURE would be a SHAME if this were SPREAD AROUND for everyone TO SEE

[only-tiktoks]

[kawree]

Y'all for real please do these. Even if you're certain your posture doesn't suck. One day you will wake up with impinged shoulder pain like I did and let me tell you it fucking HURTS. Do these exercises even just once a week and it will make such a difference. Especially my fellow creatives out there, stop shrimping over your work and go do these right now. RIGHT NOW.

[mariacallous]

[flintandpyrite]

Here are the 2024 vaccine recommendation schedules. They’ve already been wiped from the cdc site. Save them and share widely, especially to your friends with kids.

[lesvegas]

A few years ago while trying to find ways to commit suicide as painlessly as possible, I came across a PDF of Dr. Paul Quinnett's The Forever Decision. Thinking it might go into actual methods of suicide (I read an article once that actually did that and was trying to find it again) I started to read it, and I think I only got about two pages in before I was crying too much to actually see the words.

I downloaded the PDF to my hard drive and I open it again whenever I'm feeling too suicidal to do much else, but not enough to start booking a ride to the hospital. And every time without fail I only go up to a few pages before backing off and choosing to live another day just because suicide suddenly seems even more unbearable than whatever the hell upset me in the first place.

All the book really does is [I'm pulling a summary from GoodReads here as, again, I've read no more than 5 pages] "discusses the social aspects of suicide, the right to die, anger, loneliness, depression, stress, hopelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, the consequences of a suicide attempt, and how to get help."

But it also starts with the author kindly asking the reader to complete the book before going through with anything, and for some reason I'm compelled to really just try to read it all before finalizing everything. Despite not yet completing it (hopefully never will) I think I can safely say it's saved my life at least a few times now.

It's intentionally legal to copy and redistribute this book to keep it as accessible as possible, and it's very easy to find, but here's a link for it anyways.

[prismatic-bell]

I found the institute he heads, the QPR Institute, which focuses on suicide prevention, and sent them a note of gratitude and told them the book is being passed around here.

I was answered by the national coordinator, who's passing my comment on to Dr. Quinnett.

So if you saw this post and you're in that place so dark where "does it really matter, though? Nobody even knows I exist" feels like a very true statement:

Somebody does know, actually. He wrote this book, and he's very glad it found its way to you, and he wants you alive. In fact he's dedicated the last 40 years of his life to that goal. He knows you exist because it was important to me to give him the chance to know about you.

So will you do him, and me, a favor, and give it one more day?

I've given it fifteen years so far, and it's gotten a hell of a lot better than I ever imagined it could.

[makingimages]

[rosemoonweaver]

GUYS. DID YOU KNOW YOU CAN WRITE CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE FICS ON AO3

[rosemoonweaver]

Other things you can do:

Linked footnotes

Customized page dividers

Sticky notes

Lined paper

Paper that looks stacked on top of each other

Old looking paper

Newspaper articles

Tumblr posts

iOS text messages

Emails

Fake ao3 authors notes and kudos button

Freaking discord chats

Its fucking amazing. Ao3 is fucking amazing. Can I legally marry a website?

An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works

[starkerfilth]

WHAT

[the-stars-our-destination]

One of those times I'm reblogging something so I can find it again later

[thearomanticcactus]

Q. A. B. by jihnari and specifically this chapter of Walking Study in Demonology by ijustwanttodestroy are both great examples of the insane shit you can do on AO3

[magnusanarchy]

Closed Loop System by One_of_Them is told through a functional game of minesweeper made in ao3 and has multiple endings based on how you play the game

[eizneckam]

i'm sorry but a lot of you guys need to be writing short stories.

[eizneckam]

"[x story type] but what if-" short story. come on man you should know that if your story is easily blurbed down to "interesting thing happens" that is not going to sustain a reader for 400-600 pages. a book is where you write an actual narrative, not a cool idea that came to you in the shower last night.

there's nothing wrong with writing a short story! there are lots of good short stories that revolve around Interesting Ideas. What if I was my own mother. What if fish people were real and also (evil) living in massachusetts. What if you were your own worst enemy, literally. lots of good short stories there, all at just the right length for a cool idea. no one is going to go see the feature-length adaptation of William Wilson though, because that's it. unless you add in a tragic backstory and a love interest and so on and unfortunately there are a lot of novels and movies running around out there that clearly were meant to be a short story before someone took them and stretched them to a silly length.

your short story doesn't even have to be short! herman melville wrote over 100 pages of a guy who hated his job so much he died of being a hater the end. good show, herman. thank you

novellas exist. you can write one. please. it's necessary for the land to survive

[eizneckam]

@justaflyintooka "The Shadow Over Innsmouth", by H.P. Lovecraft

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

You guys should also be reading short stories, they're like a lovely cool bottle of mineral water if mineral water was concentrated fucked-uppedness.

[aleatoryw]

I guess the problem is I don't know where to find short stories? or where to publish them if I were to write one? I know where to get novels and sometimes there are published short story collections there, a lot of classics are free online if you search for them, but where do you read a short story that's on someone's personal website when you don't know the site or the story exist?

[specialagentartemis]

There are lots of online literary magazines that specialize in short stories! That's where you learn who the authors in The Genre are, and you can seek out their sites for more.

I know sci-fi/fantasy best, so here are some lit mags I enjoy greatly:

Clarkesworld: probably the most famous and highly respected SFF magazine currently in operation

Strange Horizons: original, weird, often queer. One of my personal favorites.

khōréō: SFF by immigrants, diaspora authors, and works translated from languages originally not in English.

Uncanny Magazine: can lean strange and experimental, but also one of the most respected SFF mags currently in operation.

The Translunar Traveller's Lounge: specializes in upbeat, fun, or hopeful stories.

FIYAH: Black authors and Black SFF. Not free to read online - you need to buy this one.

Neon Hemlock Press: emphasizes the queer and weird. Has a flash fiction magazine and various books, including short story anthologies.

Apparition Lit: tragically no longer in operation :( but I loved them A Lot and their back issues are still available to read. This one is no longer open for submissions, but all the rest are.

If you want even more indie, there are themed anthology kickstarters running all the time. Input some keywords, sort by "publishing" and "anthology," and see if anything speaks to you.

You can also find out what short stories people liked best by looking at awards lists. The Hugo Awards are sci-fi/fantasy/horror genre awards given every year, and "best short story" (under 7500 words) and "best novelette" (7500-17,500 words) are categories awarded every year. If your preference is "queer stuff," the Lambda Literary Awards name a "best LGBTQ+ Anthology" award every year too. Not only will you find stories there, you'll find authors you can further look up! Some of my absolute favorite short story authors are Darcie Little Badger, Ted Chiang, Isabel J. Kim, N. K. Jemisin, and Julian K. Jarboe.

There are tons out there! This is only the speculative genre publishing world; there are more literary magazines out there I know very little about. But asking people for their favorites is always gonna get you pointed at the the most interesting things!

[special-lucky-chosen-one]

I fucking hate it here

[some-sort-of-ecologist]

For those of you with android devices, you can use the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) standalone app control program to get rid of all the bloatware, data mining, and AI crap - no coding needed!

[d-e-w-p]

save