Context for anyone who is wondering: Lamine Yamal's parents won an UNICEF raffle for a charity photoshoot in which Barça players posed with kids, and 5 month old Lamine happened to get 20yo Messi. Which is like. Literally insane
Swinging at the hornets nest once again but I hate when I post critically about christianity & somebody's like "what about all the people they colonized and forced to be christians" 1. That is in fact my main fucking issue with christianity
Like yes those are christians too and it can add a smidge of nuance in certain contexts but that is kind of my entire point. That colonizing people is bad
The thing isn't that every single individual christian is a mustache twirling villain it's that the church is evil. Most of those colonized people will tell you their relationships with christianity are typically. Complicated. Considering they got fucking colonized innit. Why are you trying to tokenize Indigenous people on my Indigenous ass post I know more than you
If we're talking about the horrors inflicted by the church both historical and modern & you're like "☝️ but aren't mexicans catholic" I don't know what to tell you. Like.
An ant rolls a small diamond up to you, followed by a dozen more ants bearing a note. It says “We’re at war. Need mercenaries. 50 more like this for your help.”
The actual war, between two sentient ant colonies, is not very dangerous.* The real mission is the harrowing journey through miles of wilderness to the nest of your employers. Will you risk the lives of your ant guides by having them follow the scent trail home? Or become lost in the woods as you look for tiny landmarks?
*Unless your friendly GM has had the enemy ant colony hire mercenaries as well. Will you kill a person for dominion over a decomposing log?
Hey. If people aren't aware, Microsoft admitted they know who you and where you are at all times and will give your info to the police.
They have a Global Device Identifier (GDID) Tracker that functions as a fingerprint for your PC that can surpass VPNs, proxy servers and countries. Although it can't survive a clean reinstall of Windows (it can survive updates), because Microsoft forces you to go to the internet and log in into a Microsoft account, they will be able to get to you.
Microsoft kept it secret and it was only found out when the FBI tracked a hacker thanks to the information Microsoft gave them.
You should be paying attention to this, and possibly consider moving away from Windows. If a government, especially the US government, doesn't like you for some reason, this could be seriously concerning.
This article specifically notes:
For journalism, activism, or domestic abuse situations, skip Windows and use Linux routed through Tor instead of a commercial VPN. A GDID doesn’t care which VPN you use, only that it’s still the same Windows installation.
GDID is the persistent Windows ID that helped FBI trace a Scattered Spider hacker despite VPNs. Here's how it works and how to limit it.
Other important quotes:
What has researchers uneasy is everything else the case reveals. Costin Raiu, a well-known malware researcher, asked on the Three Buddy Problem podcast how much of this exists on other platforms, and whether it is linked more permanently to hardware. Matthew Hickey, another security researcher, called Windows “surveillance software”.
Two things back that up:
There’s no consent screen. A GDID gets assigned when you sign into a Microsoft Account. Apple’s advertising identifier needs an App Tracking Transparency prompt and a visible reset; Android’s works the same way. GDID has neither, and a Windows reinstall only gets you a new number Microsoft can still get back to the same account.
Then there’s activation. Massgrave, the group behind Microsoft Activation Scripts, notes that Windows setup sends hardware info to Microsoft and gets identifiers back, the same tokens later used for Store access and licensing: “It’s impossible to prevent Windows from getting a GDID without breaking activation and UWP app[s].” Anyone who lost a license after swapping a motherboard has already met a smaller version of this.
I'm not religious but I'm a very emotional scientist and I've been thinking about this a LOT lately. I love the earth enough to be its steward. and I have the necessary tools for the task. a complex brain. dexterous hands. legs made to walk long and far. millions and millions of years of Chance and Opportunity shaped me into something that can give back to the planet that has been a life-sustaining home for every person who ever lived. it's enough to make me teary eyed sometimes
"humans are pests that should be exterminated" I don't think that's true. the ecological niche of humans has shifted from persistence predation to stewardship of entire ecosystems. we've done a lot of wrong. but we have incredible potential to do so, so, so much good.
this post speaks very broadly! I know a lot of us have brains that find some tasks very difficult and hands that struggle and legs that hurt. you're a wonderful person if that's you. I'm more than happy to do enough for us both. we're stewards, but we're also a cooperative species with an incredible capacity for kindness. rest well for me. [:
i'm sorry i didn't respond to your DM for 23 days. the number on the notification icon got really big and i began having irrational anxious thoughts such as "what if people are in there trying to contact me"
So I do 3D modeling and printing as a hobby, and a few weeks ago I designed wheel guards meant to prevent office chairs from running over cables and clothes... or your pet's tail.
I got the idea from cowcatchers old locomotives used to have.
Anyways, yesterday I uploaded the model to Thingiverse, and just hours after uploading it, the Community Relationship Manager of the whole website left a comment suggesting I enter the model into a competition that's currently being held on the site.
So I did... and now it's in third place not even a day later. First place is $500, but the competition still has a month to go.
Then the Community Manager contacted me again, telling me they want to feature my model in an upcoming design promotion.
Just, what is happening? I mostly made this thing for myself in, like, an hour, and now it's suddenly super popular? This is all a little bit overwhelming 😵💫
Other models I worked on for weeks didn't get nearly as popular. I swear, it's impossible to predict what people will like.
Anyways, if you want to print the wheel guards yourself, you can get the model here or here.
I also made a quiet version you can stick furniture felt pads on.
aren't gorillas gentle giants or something. i stay out of his way, he doesn't maul me, we have a nice time picking out clothes together in opposite sides of the mall
Male gorillas are super aggressive and territorial. Also they interpret nearly every human mannerism as a sign of aggression or a challenge. Smiling and eye contact are both things that zookeepers have to be taught to suppress when they’re in the vicinity of gorillas.
This is all irrelevant because the obvious answer is five black mambas. I mean, that’s not actually very many snakes, and malls are fucking huge. And unlike a gorilla you can definitely outrun a snake if it does show up. Find an open space in the mall where you can see any snake coming and just hangout out there. Fucking easy.
Misguided! I would much rather have a mallmate I can easily see and hear coming. I'm confident I can stay out of the gorilla's way, but if I step on a snake or one otherwise gets the jump on me, it's all over.
It's not just about the physical danger either, it's about my mental health. One gorilla, unless he's actively mad at me, I just keep a healthy distance between us and make sure I never get trapped. With the snakes, it requires a lot more constant vigilance
Black mambas have a reputation build on being very venomous and very fast. I'm not sure why you would think you could outrun one (or five) in an enclosed space like a mall.
Malls usually have pretty slick floors, and escalators. I’d choose the gorilla simply because I think that would make an more interesting story (and a better-selling autobiography, I Survived the Mall Gorilla) but I think I’d stand a pretty good chance at avoiding the mamba. They’re fast and aggressive and will chase you but unless we started immediately beside each other I think my sneakers would have the terrain advantage over scutes.
fucking enamored with the implication that this gorilla is fully intelligent but is trying to manufacture plausible deniability like the movie barnyard
I just wanted to make a post showcasing some of my favorite illustrations by Keith Thompson for the Leviathan Trilogy.
The art went so hard in these books, it’s crazy. The plot is basically an alternate universe WW1 about the major two powers, the Darwinists, and the Clankers. The Darwinists genetically engineered animals to fight for them creating huge flying whale battleships, while the Clankers made huge robot mechs and powerful guns. A few historical people and places show up in these books, like Nikola Tesla.
But my favorite parts of the books were the art, truly breathtaking, it was beautifully grotesque at times. But that’s not unexpected, after all Keith Thompson helped create the design of Moder from The Ritual!
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