Bread C.A.T.

Catastrophic Armed Torpedoes

[sickle-clawed]

See the thing about the whole Claude AI exposing document thing is that as great as it sounds in theory, I can see how this leads to even more harassment and witch hunts in practice.

People have said the tag is unique to Claude only and therefore there’s no way a human-made fic could have gotten wrongly flagged as AI. But how accurate and trustworthy worthy this is, really? Even IF, hypothetically, this method is proved correct 99 times out of 100, that still means “there is 1 time out of 100 times where a human-made fic is wrongly flagged as AI due to an error”. And that to me nullified the credibility of the whole doc. Like, sorry for not trusting another newly-introduced machine and for being skeptical about it.

“But how could the tag get there if the author didn’t use AI?” Besides the possibility of an error, I can already see people weaponize this method by faking screenshots of fics that are about the ships or topics that they hate to make it look like these fics have Claude tag in them, and then spreading those fake screenshots around. And the worst part is that authors cannot prove their innocence because people would just say “they got caught so now they removed the Claude tag from their fics”.

Like. I hate AI, but I hate witch hunts, accusations and harassments more.

These comments below sum it up really well.

[redshift-corridor]

It's very telling that people will argue to hell and back against any and all possible flaws of this thing because this AI detector is 100% totally infallible this time trust me bro, but every single "flaw" in a fic that has been sern in AI texts MUST mean the writer was 100% totally using AI to write this trust me bro.

Almost like the people who claim they want to avoid actually want the opposite. They spend so much time and effort to try to detect AI that they could be spending reading because... idk actually. Maybe it's another weird purity thing where you're eternally tainted by seeing something "bad." Maybe they're addicted to the rush of feeling morally superior for five seconds on the internet and have discovered a new way to fill that hole.

It's so painfully clear that they want to find as much AI as possible for some reason. These are not people engaging with fandom for fun, they're here to destroy.

And if you, dear reader, engage in this behavior and for some reason genuinely believe you're doing a good thing, take a step back and take a good hard look at why you're more preoccupied with detecting perceived AI to the point of driving the actual real creators you claim you want to protect out of fandom, instead of investing all that effort into supporting those creators.

[animentality]

[whatmountains]

TRANS WOMEN: HERE'S SOME SHIT YOUR DOCTOR WONT TELL YOU ABOUT HRT

1. Progesterone: not for everyone, but for many people it may increase sex drive and WILL make your boobs bigger. Also effects mood in ways that many find positive (but some find negative). Most doctors won’t prescribe this to you unless you ask. Most trans girls I know swear by it.

2. Injectible estrogen: is more effective than pill or patch form. Get on it if you can bear needles bc you will see more effects more quickly.

3. Estradiol Cypionate: There is currently a shortage of injectible estradiol valerate. There is no shortage of estradiol cypionate. Functionally they do the same shit.

4. Bicalutamide: This is an anti-androgen that has almost none of the side-effects of spironolactone or finasteride. The girls I know who are on it are evangelical about it.

[naidje-deactivated]

@euryale-dreams

[joyeuse-noelle]

Are there HRT medications that don’t increase blood clot risk? I’m already at risk because of my blood pressure, and my doctor won’t prescribe HRT that increases clot risk while I’m on the medication - and I may never not be on the medication.

[euryale-dreams-deactivated20201]

Absolutely.

The concerns surrounding venous thromboembolic events as a side-effect of hormone replacement therapy can mostly be traced back to one particular study known as the Women’s Health Initiative. This study was an enormous undertaking which, unfortunately, demonstrated significant adverse effects of the hormone therapies studied. As a result of this the use of hormone replacement therapy in postmenopausal cis women was dramatically reduced as the medical community began to question whether or not the therapy caused more harm than good.

Naturally, trans women have been suffering from this fall-out ever since.

What physicians seem to fail to recognize is that the study examined a very specific hormone regimen which was, arguably, outmoded at the time the study was conducted: It examined the use of conjugated equine estrogen (Premarin) with or without the use of medroxyprogesterone acetate. Neither of these drugs is regularly used for the treatment of transgender women.

The estrogen most commonly used to treat transgender women nowadays is 17β-estradiol either in pill form or in the form of a sticky patch that you apply to your skin. Esters of estrogen (e.g. estradiol valerate) are also sometimes used either in a pill form or as an intramuscular injection.

Transdermal estradiol patches are the gold standard when it comes to treating women who are at high risk of a venous thromboembolic event. It simply does not increase the risk of developing a venous thromboembolism. The only thing you should keep in mind is that patches are not always well tolerated because of the lifestyle changes required to keep them from falling off and the fact that they tend to irritate the skin.

Fortunately, oral 17β-estradiol appears to be safe, regardless of the increased risk. At least one large study has shown that the use of oral estradiol in trans women is not associated with venous thromboembolic events. An individual woman’s risk would need to be substantial in order to contraindicate the use of oral estradiol.

For those who have significant risk of venous thromboembolism because they have had a previous thromboembolic event, because they are paralyzed, or because of some other factor it is good to know the relative risk between oral and transdermal estrogen. The latest research indicates that the use of transdermal estrogen lowers your risk of a thromboembolism to 80% of what your risk would be using oral estrogens.

It’s difficult to find hard numbers regarding the relative risk of venous thromboembolic events with regards to hypertension. The best I could find after an hour or so of searching was this study regarding VTE in lung cancer patients. Hypertension increased the risk by a factor of 1.8.

However, to put that into perspective being of African descent increases your relative risk for deep vein thrombosis by a factor of 1.3 when compared to Europeans. Europeans are, themselves, at increased risk when compared to Asians and Pacific Islanders by a considerable margin: a four-fold increase.

I should point out that being ‘male’ is also a risk factor for developing a thromboembolism and hormones are likely to be a contributing factor. Also, menopause is another serious risk factor. Given this information it is likely that the use of transdermal estradiol will lower your risk of thromboembolic events significantly.

As far as the anti-androgen is concerned: The primary use for spironolactone for cisgender people is as an antihypertensive.

Even if the risk of thromboembolism was truly significant with modern hormone replacement therapy it wouldn’t justify what your doctor is doing to you. The fact is that mortality in the transgender community from suicide–caused in part due to the lack of access to hormone therapy–is substantial. The quality of life lost when a trans woman is denied hormone therapy is substantial. The fact that your doctor does not appear to be taking this into consideration when they weigh the risk of thromboembolism against not receiving necessary medical care is deeply concerning.

I strongly recommend that you seek a doctor who is more sensitive to your medical needs as a transgender woman.

Edit: Fixed a minor, but embarrassing, error.

[whatmountains]

oh wow this is so helpful & good info

[blackthorn-and-iron-deactivated]

Everyone who cares about transfem people please reblog this

[thetolerantleft-deactivated2017]

this was really fucking helpful

[blkwlw]

I know a lot of trans women dont have acess to information like this and its very helpful.

[litany-dawn]

Its fucking terrifying seeing how many of the blogs above are deactivated.

[nikosonn]

what if…

[anukfilli]

i was trying to make a meme but i fucked up the audio layering and

[dragon-in-a-fez]

the thing about being "good with kids" is all it takes is literally just not trying to control and mould them with every interaction. it's just being a normal person and engaging with them through normal interactions like having conversations and playing games. it's just being genuine and friendly and not perceiving them as lumps of wet clay you are there to shape. "oh you're so good with kids" thanks it's because I think they are people

[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

[itstimewehavesomesoliddick]

[streetlight-spam]

it’s monday i’m in the labyrinth

[streetlight-spam]

it’s tuesday i’m in the evil lab

[streetlight-spam]

it’s wednesday i’m in the time loop

[streetlight-spam]

it’s thursday i’m in the medieval torture apparatus

[streetlight-spam]

🌸it’s friday i’m in love🌸

[decemberwinter]

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

How come ao3 allows donations for itself, but not for anything else e.g stuff about Palestine?

because even as a non-profit organization, ao3 still needs money in order for it to function. a non-profit organization does need money in order for it to run and operate.

being a non-profit organization does not mean "we don't need money to run it yay". it does not mean "we pay everything out of our own pockets, so we don't need any donation" — that's not how it works.

as for palestine, the site doesn't "forbid things that are related to palestine only". it forbids "anything and everything that 1. is not fanwork 2. involves money" — which happens to include palestine-related stuff.

ao3 is a site for fanfiction (and original works, which according to them, counts as fanworks). the only things ao3 allows are fanfiction and original works — aka FANWORKS ONLY. NOTHING ELSE.

palestine-related posts are not fanworks, therefore they are not allowed.

political statement is not fanwork, therefore it is not allowed.

anything that is not fanwork (fanfiction or original work) is not allowed.

as for your question about donation — a non-profit organization can (and they do) ask for donation, because a non-profit organization cannot function without the donation money keeping it going.

"so why don't they allow users to earn money through their site too? why don't they allow users to raise money for palestine too?"

the answer is because:

be it the money you earn and keep for yourself or donation money meant for other organizations, to a non-profit organization like ao3, that is the same thing. it's still "users earning money through their site" or "users using their site to promote ways for other organizations (someone else) to earn money". intention or who gets the money doesn't actually matter here. anybody or any other organizations earning money through ao3 is NOT allowed.

"people donating to ao3 to keep the site going" and "fanfic writers monetizing works about other people's copyrighted characters" are NOT the same thing.

"people donating to ao3 to keep the site going" and "fanfic writers using ao3 to promote ways for other organizations to earn money" are NOT the same thing.

but "fanfic writers monetizing works about other people's copyrighted character" and "fanfic writers using ao3 to promote ways for other organizations to earn money" ARE the same thing.

"people donating to ao3 to keep the site going" is allowed because... without the donation money, ao3 would not have existed in the first place, it would not have existed today, it would not have been able to continue functioning.

"fanfic writers monetizing works about other people's copyrighted character" and/or "fanfic writers using ao3 to promote way for other organizations to earn money" are NOT allowed because fanfiction is already in a legally grey area. the only reason ao3 and fanfic writers are not being sued by companies like disney or netflix is because "no one is monetizing fanfiction, and ao3 is not used as a tool for users — or any other organizations — to earn money in any way, shape or form".

that's the only reason ao3 isn't being forced to shut down by companies like disney or netflix, the only reasons it's not being bombarded by lawsuits. "no money is involved because the characters belong to their respective studios". fanfic writers just have fun with them. but they are NOT being monetized. NOTHING that is posted on the site can be used to earn anybody — be it the writers or any other organizations — any money.

so no "please donate to xyz". no "commission is open". no "here's my patreon".

be it directly or indirectly, if it involves money, it's against ao3's terms of service.

"but what about original works? they are the writers' original characters. can we monetize our own original works on ao3 or can we promote ways for people to donate to xyz under our original works on ao3?"

no, you still cannot mention or even imply donation or commission on ao3, even if it's your own original works. why? because ao3 doesn't differentiate original works from fanfiction — since it's impossible for them to do that. now I know it's super easy to distinguish between fanfics and original works. but the real issue is that ao3 is KNOWN AS A SITE FOR FANFICTION. it allows original works, yes. but its main purpose is still fanfiction. it hosts millions of fanfiction about other people's copyrighted characters. so basically the entire site is "fanfiction site" — therefore, for legal reasons, anything that involves money cannot be allowed.

the measure ao3 takes to ensure nobody can sue them and force them to shut down is to forbid any mention or implication of money on their platform. it's like them telling companies like disney and netflix "hey, I'm cool here. no one monetizes anything on our site / our site isn't being used as a tool for anybody or organization to earn money." which is the main reason it's not being sued left and right by these companies.

their rules are very simple:

they're a non-profit organization. they're run by people's donation.

they do not allow any monetization or any mention/implication of money on their site, this is how they avoid lawsuits.

anything that isn't fanwork is not allowed on their site, as their site was made only for fanworks.

respectfully, ao3 is NOT a social media platform. it is an archive meant to host fanworks.

if you want to talk about palestine or any other issues that are important to you, you can absolutely do that on your own social media platforms. but a fanfiction site is NOT a place for social justice, human rights or real-world issues.

[mharti-mcfly]

[cleo4u2]

THIS. I saw a post the other day that literally said if you do it to a fictional character, you’ll do it in real life.

No. Just NO.

I’m so glad someone put it into words.

[asparrowsfall]

In art, we can be fucking nuts.

[yardsards]

but i stay silly! *←said in the most world-weary voice you ever did hear*

[fizzlepop-frog]

“but I stay silly!”

[sensiblereblogifposts]

Reblog you stay silly

[weaselle]

on it boss

[therizinosaurus--cheloniformis]

Happy 20th Anniversary of Neil Banging Out The Tunes!!!!!

More rarer images of Neil, my beloved:

20 years.

I find it so beautiful that this little rat's life has been remembered with love for 20 years and will be hopefully for decades to come. Truly a marvel of the internet.

<3 love you Neil!!!!

[j-train13]

Astronauts are so funny man. Here's just a couple of things I've found hilarious from this past week of space stuff:

It's probably already been spread around here enough already, but in case anyone's missed it; 7 hours after launch, commander Reid Wiseman, dealing with tech issues, uttered the generational quote "I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working."

After fixing the issues that were afflicting the onboard toilet, mission specialist Christina Koch (who has quickly become my favourite of the four) laughingly said “I’m the space plumber, I’m proud to call myself the space plumber.”

On Easter Sunday, the Artemis II crew hosted a makeshift egg hunt, by hiding packets of dehydrated scrambled eggs around their Orion capsule.

The way the crew always makes sure to make it very clear they're in space when doing interviews. From stuff like Wiseman just hanging out floating sideways on screen or Koch letting her hair loose so it can freely span out flowing around her.

While in transit, the crew decided to record a parody of those bad 80s sitcom intros where everyone turns and smiles at the camera.

When the crew reached the furthest point from Earth in the mission, they jokingly clambored over each other in an effort to get to the far side of the capsule, so that they could individually claim to be the furthest person from earth.

At the same time, on the ISS which was at the time on the other side of earth, the 7 astronauts onboard had a light-hearted race to the far side of the station, making jokes about being the furthest humans from Artemis.

On the way back to earth, NASA actually managed to establish an audio call between the crews of the ISS and Artemis II (where they shared the above info), and Koch called one member of the ISS crew, Jessica Meir, her "astro-sister" as the two of them previously spacewalker together in 2019. Meir then responded I'm so happy that we are back in space together, even if we are a few miles apart" (a few here being 230,000).

While Jeremy Hansen was doing an interview, Wiseman and Koch were just in the background swatting the mission mascot (a little moon plush toy named Rise) back and forth between each other.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

ao3 isnt an archive NOR a library pls lmao

you do know ao3 stands for archive of our own, right? you do know its full name is literally archive of our own, right?

[artsfinalgirl]

I see ao3 as a library, because ao3 hosts millions of written works for people to visit and read. That’s what libraries do. But I get it that to some people, the library part may be more of a metaphor than a literal meaning for ao3.

But you have to be either clueless about what ao3 is shortened for and what the platform’s full name is, or on another level of stupidity to say archive of our own isn’t an archive pls lmao

[decemberwinter]

And it’s not just the name, mind you. AO3’s main purpose is to archive transformative works. Archiving works is literally the only thing it does and was created for. Which just makes anon’s claim even funnier.

[maeve-curry-writes]

Your Friendly Neighborhood Librarian says yes, AO3 is a fucking library AND an archive. Does it have a curated collection of materials? YES, it’s library. Does that collection contain materials curated specifically in part for preservation purposes? YES, it’s an archive.

And it’s my dream that someday our public library catalogs will be able to organize content the way AO3 can.

[lilmiaowkittie]