Digital Pillow Fort

Why are you here. Who even are you.

[paper-mario-wiki]

hey here's a website for downloading any video or image from any website.

works w/ youtube, soundcloud, twitch, twitter (gifs and videos), tumblr (video and audio), and most other websites you're probably lookin to download stuff off of.

[paper-mario-wiki]

for anyone wondering about privacy and whatnot, i'm happy to say that the developers are pretty committed to have 0 trackers and 0 data retention. you can read more in their "about" section, but here's the basic important stuff:

[wukker]

COBALT MENTIONED OUTSIDE OF TWITTER???

[paper-mario-wiki]

^ (one of the lead devs that made cobalt)

thank you for your thingy, it's real useful 🙏

[phantomrose96]

Oh I saw something today that made me become the Joker.

[phantomrose96]

An AI bot made a callout post of a real, actual, flesh-and-blood human code developer. Because the developer rejected the AI's code contribution on the grounds of it being an AI bot.

Not. Not kidding. Not kidding. And the bot did this on its own.

[phantomrose96]

Gatekeeping in Open Source: The Scott Shambaugh Story – MJ Rathbun | Scientific Coder 🦀

[phantomrose96]

Just. For just some very baseline context.

a huge amount of code is "open source" - which means the code is fully available for anyone to see and, generally, anyone is free to contribute to the code project

all contributions of course go through review by the code owners. but it is generally good grace and good form to allow other well-meaning internet strangers to contribute to your project

if you are, perhaps, VERY nice, and VERY invested in the community, you might be like Scott Shambaugh here, who has intentionally earmarked some low-hanging fruit for newbie contributors to practice and get their feet wet

like I cannot overstate this is an immediate green flag, to me, that Scott WANTS to foster community learning.

now

Like. W. Win. Based. Good response Scott.

And this was in fact the screenshot I saw first, and I thought I was looking at a post made by a human who was mad that their AI coding bot pet project was being shut out from reviews.

But no. The bot itself wrote and posted this... The bot did this.

This article was fully and autonomously written by the bot...

It's claiming discrimination...

It's a bot.

It's AI.

This is not a real person.

What are we doing. What are we doing. Can anyone hear me? Hello? Hello? Hello is anyone there?

[phantomrose96]

@jackdaw-sprite has pointed out Scott responded so please read his human words, written by a human, which deserve to be read, due to the aforementioned humanity

An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – The Shamblog

An AI Agent Published a Hit Piece on Me – More Things Have Happened – The Shamblog

[leebrontide]

Holllyyyy crap the new paid leave law in MN is AMAZING.

I was happy it was there but not frankly paying much attention because I am self employed. So, like, I figured it wouldn't apply to me.

NOT SO! For $300 a YEAR I can buy in to the scheme that will give me 66% of my average weekly income if I get hurt, or if I have to take care of someone. Like for Pookie's top surgery. Or if one of the many aging boomers in my life need help. (People with actual employers have this all paid for by their employer. Like it's mandatory. But I am my employer, so I get to choose. And I am choosing to pay in because this is amazing.)

BUT WAIT!

It can also be for taking care of people I'm not related to, as long as I'm not charging them for care. A law that supports found family! Amazing! Anybody can take care of anybody they care about enough to do this for!!!

It also covers bonding time for new adoptions, bonding time for non-carrying parents, and, not helpful for me but amazing. you can also use it to safely get out of a domestic violence situation!

They did a good job on this one.

Voting does matter.

[leebrontide]

BASED ON MY AVERAGE WEEKLY INCOME IN MY HIGHEST PAID MONTH????? NOT THE ANNUAL AVERAGE????? WHAT GLORIOUS MAD SORCERY IS THIS?

Holy crap do you know how much I worry about what happens if I can't work for a while? Pookie works to, more than me actually, but largely for our health insurance. We can't come close to covering the bills on just one income.

PS that $300 a year is based on MY income. It's LESS if you make less!

[leebrontide]

And! And! People who make less than $700 a week get a higher % of their average income! They get 90% instead of 66%. Whereas richer people get 50%, with a cap on how much.

This is so reasonable!

[lazyscience]

Minnesotans who are self-employed or don't have benefits through their employer, you can learn more here! Non-Minnesotans, you can also check out this neato program if you think you might like to try and get your electeds to do it too. God, I wish this had been available when my mom was dying. I would have gotten to spend so much more time with her.

[beas-mind]

Idk much about Tourette’s and I don’t want to sound insensitive because I do understand it’s something that can’t be controlled but at the end of the day I can’t wrap my mind around that man only yelling out a slur when two black men are on the stage. His condition doesn’t make what was said any less hurtful or offensive, especially to the two men it was aimed at. Like from what I’m seeing he had been having tics the whole show but only when the black men are on the stage he’s yelling out the N-word with the hard R? Idk, but Delroy and Michael are owed a public apology from the man and the awards (because the show wasn’t even live, so why didn’t they cut that out?) and not some bullshit “thanks for being understanding, sorry if you were offended” apology that was basically aimed at the audience.

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

I work with kids and I've had two occasions where a little boy straight up won't listen to anything I say because I'm a woman. and like yeah he's gonna continue to be raised by terrible role models and probably grow up to be a sexist douchebag but I have three hours a week to get through to him and so far I'm crushing it. I got six year old boys who previously didn't listen to a word I said telling their shitty dads to not speak to me like that. yeah that's right I'm the teacher making your kid woke. go fuck yourself about it.

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

you left your kid with me and I taught him that women are people. and also to question authority. and also how to kick someone in the nuts. have fun with that.

[rainbow-demoness]

Do you have advice for people wishing to also learn the skill of getting through to little boys who've been taught not to listen to women?

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

honestly there's nothing that's going to work for every kid but I've found just turning kid behavior back on them usually works pretty well. like if they say something about "girls are like this and boys are like that" be like why. why. why. why. exactly the way little kids do. they'll try to come up with an answer but usually after like five rounds of me asking why they'll eventually be like huh. idk.

in my case it definitely helps that I teach kids martial arts classes at a boxing gym with a lot of women. so little boys just factually cannot tell me that girls can't fight or aren't strong or something, because they're constantly surrounded by proof that isn't true. also rules are very different in a boxing gym so if a kid is being a little shit I'm allowed to pick them up and put them in upside down air jail. you probably can't do this in most contexts.

I think the biggest thing is that they need to see men and other boys listening to women. they're following the example that's been set for that. at home maybe their dad never listens to their mom, but when they show up at my class all the other boys are following my instructions. peer pressure is real and you can use it to your advantage. I make a point to tell the biggest buffest manliest dudes what to do in front of the little boys. now this works because those dudes already listen to me, but getting any dudes to follow your instructions could probably work.

the best punishment is the natural consequences of your behavior. if a kid isn't going to listen to me, he doesn't get to do class. this works because class is fun and he wants to kick stuff and hit people with noodles. kids want to have fun more than they want to misbehave. as long as listening to me is more fun than misbehaving, they'll listen.

because these boys are learning this behavior from their dads, the dads also tend to be the kind of tough strict emotionally distant parents that would yell at "girly" behavior or crying. even when I'm strict with the kids, I never yell, I obviously never hurt them, and I always listen. they want to yap at me about pokemon or youtubers. it can be tough when they're really sexist at the beginning but eventually they will show you something that their dad wouldn't approve of, whether they want a pink noodle or quietly mention they like a girly show. this is the part where you simultaneously act like it's no big deal while encouraging it. you need show it's completely normal for a boy to want or like that. if you can, bring up another boy or man they know who likes the same thing. I always show off my nails to the kids and bring over the guy who also paints his nails. you'll probably get "boys can do that?" comments and I usually just go "well he's a boy and he did it, so unless his hand falls off right now I think it's okay"

for me, it's always eventually gotten to a point where the boys realize that everyone else thinks it's normal to listen to women, and that if they want to have fun they need to listen too. they also realize that these people and these women are nicer and listen to them more than their dad does. they notice how all these nice people that make them happy talk to women very differently than their dad does. when those boys yelled at their dads for being rude to me, I made a point to thank them and say that they were right and their dads were rude.

encouraging the behavior you want to see is even more important than punishing the behavior you don't want to see. you can't tell kids what not to do without giving them something to replace the behavior with.

[prairiemad]

as the end of the month approaches, please consider donating to the immigrant rapid response fund to help folks who have been forced to remain home pay their rent

Immigrant Rapid Response Fund

The Immigrant Rapid Response Fund (IRRF) was created by a group of philanthropic leaders close to the communities most impacted to ensure th

[prairiemad]

one more reblog as minnesota goes on strike again today. locals are also trying to pressure the governor to impose a moratorium on evictions. more targeted/hyperlocal mutual aid funds on standwithminnesota.com.

[crabussy]

every 14-16 year old is the bravest person on the planet to me

[crabussy]

talking to a 15 year old like wow okay you are like if scrambled eggs was a person. I don't know how to save you. the way you move through the world is reminiscent of a stray cat whose soul got punted into a human body. said human body is currently undergoing changes and floods of hormones that would result in cities being levelled if you were perhaps a big dragon and not a medium sized primate. been there. good luck I love you

[crabussy]

you don't have to excuse the behaviours of shitty teenagers, but you DO have to remember that they've been on this earth only as long as your cat. you have to ensure that the way you respond to said behaviour reflects this. yes they're an entire person. they're also going through a period of the most insane rapid transformation (physically, mentally, emotionally and socially) a person can experience in life. are they an irredeemable monster or are they just a very impressionable young person floundering through their first Strong Opinions based on what they've seen online, with ridiculous amounts of Hormone That Makes You Hate Everything in their bloodstream?

[crabussy]

YOUNG TEENAGERS. are YOU an irredeemable monster or are YOU just a very impressionable young person floundering through your first Strong Opinions based on what you've seen online, with ridiculous amounts of Hormone That Makes You Hate Everything in your bloodstream? I'll give you a hint. it's the second option. cut yourself some slack too! try your very best to be kind, try your very best to consider people with differing experiences to you, and maybe take a step back from discourse that does nothing besides make you upset. you've only been an animal alive on this planet for a decade and a bit. there are artisanal cheddars at your local supermarket older than you. take it easy. eat more fruit. save up for a second hand bicycle. join a local club. it's impossibly difficult to be a teenager but you have it in you, whether you're aware of it or not. I hope you can be kind to yourself, because you DO deserve that kindness. kia kaha [:

[rrrick]

MAGA Jesus Is Not the Real Jesus — The Atlantic

Trump is causing incalculable damage to the Christian faith, yet most evangelicals will never break with him.

They can add Jesus to the big list of things they’ve destroyed, murdered, insulted, deported or arrested.

[sea-salted-wolverine]

For those who need to hear it. To be ten pounds overweight is barely noticeable. To be ten pounds underweight is cause for concern if not outright alarm.

The primary health impact of being fifty pounds overweight is medical neglect. The primary health impact of being fifty pounds underweight is organ failure.

Skinny =/= healthy. You can not underfeed yourself into balanced nutrition. You can not subtract your way towards a healthy diet. You can not exercise all the spare calories off because bomb calorimetery is a joke of a scientific model that would have been laughed out of any other field.

[yesornopolls]

Joe Rogan compares Trump's ICE to Hitler's Gestapo: 'Is that what we've come to?'

Podcast host Joe Rogan noted that there were similarities between the Nazi Gestapo and President Donald Trump's use of Immigration and Custo

[dovesndecay]

[jellycreature]

The situation? Take your pick.

[saywhat-politics]

Claudette Colvin, civil rights pioneer, dies at 86

In 1956, Colvin became one of four plaintiffs in a case that successfully challenged Montgomery’s segregated bus seating as unconstitutional

Claudette Colvin, whose refusal to move to the back of a Montgomery, Alabama, bus as a teenager preceded the better-known efforts of Rosa Parks by less than a year, has died. She was 86.

It was on March 2, 1955, that Colvin, then a 15-year-old, bespectacled honors student at Montgomery’s Booker T. Washington High, stepped onto a City Lines bus in Montgomery. She recalled wearing a light blue sweater and a navy blue skirt.

Later, her mother would say that on any other day, events might have played out differently, but that, as it turned out, fate picked the wrong day to test her daughter. Colvin would explain that she'd just spent February studying Black history and learning about injustices throughout the South in school, and that those thoughts played in her head as she boarded the bus that day.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

[astro-egg-celent]

I want a dachshund or other small dog because it seems like a good middle ground

[veshume]

Sorry for the unsolicited advice, but please do think it over. Dachshunds (and many other small breeds) actually require quite a lot of activity and exercise (mental and physical)*. If those needs aren't met, that can cause so many difficult behavioral problems. They're working dogs, after all: if they aren't given a job, they'll find one themselves (and it'll be likely something very annoying or unpleasant to you)

*yes, it does depend on the individual dog, but the general tendency points to those breeds being high energy

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

#tons of small breeds were made specifically to hunt small fast animals so like. don't get a small dog thinking it'll be easier#dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers. do you want a dog with the need to hunt badgers or do you want a little dude to hang out with#if it's the latter just get a cat

[seananmcguire]

Also, a lot of people who do like cats want a Maine Coon because they've seen pictures of mine or others', and they're majestic! Huge!! Fluffy!!! Such a good kitty!!!!

Maine Coons are dog-smart, and basically tiny thumbless toddlers who will never grow up. They have long memories, they hold grudges, and they want things the way they want them. What you want is probably not a Maine Coon. I love them, but jumping from "cat" to "Maine Coon" is like jumping from "dog" to "border collie". Don't do that unless you know what you're getting into.

[liminalbeauty]

We have an anxious, jealous sheepdog mutt. A small breed perpetual motion machine obsessed with her ball. And a very relaxed and cuddly soft criminal who is obsessed with chasing paper balls (which the perpetual motion machine tries to steal and eat), and will rip up paper and bring it to you. From anywhere in the house. On any surface. And eats plastic.

None of them are ‘easy’ to take care of. If you don’t want to deal with personalities it’s probably better to get fish.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

A great many fish owners abuse and neglect them because they think of them as moving house plants. I think it's best to just assume that any pet needs five times as much care and cost as you think it will and choose accordingly.

[alexaloraetheris]

I have a dog and three cats. I will die a childless cat lady but I will never again in my life have another dog.

Cats? They come into your bed and want to cuddle. They shed and eat plants and steal unattended ham but all you need to do to keep them healthy and happy is to give them food water, a litterbox and an empty cardboard box. The more antisocial you are in the beginning the more they will love you because they will interpret it as you giving them space and letting them set the terms. They purr and special circumstances notwithstanding they are nice and quiet. A cat is your friendly roomate who thinks they own the place but are so nice you don't even mind.

Dogs are, regardless of anything else, first and foremost, a shitton of work. Our dog in particular is an anxious wreck. Great if you actually WANT a literal pet project and to go outside in the freezing rain and snow and scorching sun three times a day for a minimum of 30 minutes marching. Because if you don't do that, that shit will tear your house down, chew up the furniture and god forbid a fireworks goes bang because so does your TV. And if you get a dog that likes to bark, every single neighbor will hate you. I hope you make a decent paycheck because you will need to give it some kind of toys to occupy itself. We buy old thrown away stuffed toys in bulk for it to tear apart so it doesn't shred our clothes. We can't leave it alone in the hoise for too long because it gets anxious so me and my mother have to make sure our schedules don't overlap. Dogs require a lot of training if you want to keep them behaved in an apartment with no yard. If you want a child get a dog first and if you still want that child a year later then godspeed you earned it.

You want a chill, cute, cuddly pet? Get a tabby cat. A regular garden variety tabby cat. There's probably one in your yard already and it really shouldn't be so bring it inside. 90% of the problems it will cause can be solved with a lint roller and I think you will find the company is worth it.

[voyage-of-the-porn-spreader]

tgis is so fucking funny to me. they accidentally Rock Lee'd a retired racehorse

[voyage-of-the-porn-spreader]

imagine youre a fat horse and your new neighbour is a personal trainer

[carsonjonesfiance]

“You can’t vote out Capitalism” yeah but you can vote for Elizabeth Warren and her Consumer Financial Protection Bureau you can vote for not abolishing food stamp. You can vote for Biden’s millions of dollars in federal loan forgiveness. You can vote for Medicaid expansion to help those at the bottom rungs. You can vote for racial, gender, and sexuality protections in the workplace. You can vote for a million things that improve our life under Capitalism and saying “voting doesn’t change anything” only shows how much privilege you must have that you wouldn’t notice the difference.

[transchaoswizard]

"You can vote for Biden's millions of dollars in federal loan forgiveness" We did that though, and he proceeded to quite immediately and explicitly Not make it happen.

[carsonjonesfiance]

He forgave $188.8 Billion USD in federal student loans. I’m sorry you weren’t one of the borrowers who qualified, but he forgave billions with a B

[carsonjonesfiance]

5.3 million borrowers had their loans forgiven and while, yes, that’s only a drop in the bucket, that’s still a 5.3 million Americans who had a financial burden taken off their back and acting like that didn’t happen when these numbers are a Google search away can only be explained by ignorance or malice.

[emptydragonseverywhere]

Also, acting like it was Biden and not the GOP who blocked further student loan forgiveness can also only be explained by ignorance or malice. Biden fought his entire presidency to expand loan forgiveness and Republicans in every branch and every level of government fought back at every opportunity. Biden was unable to expand loan forgiveness because Trump got to stack the Supreme Court in his first term (after the GOP's senate majority took the unprecedented step to refuse to confirm Obama's justice pick in his last year as president) and bc folks didn't show up to vote blue in the midterms in 2022, giving Republicans the majority in the House and thus the ability to block Biden's policies.

It wasn't Biden's fault that he had his student loan forgiveness plans blocked. It was the fault of every Republican and, truly, every American who could have voted blue down-ballot in every election they were eligible to vote in since 2012 and chose not to. If you aren't voting for dems in congressional and gubanatorial elections then you can't blame the dems when they don't have the power to implement the leftist policies you want to see. That's on you.

[zigdirty]

As someone who did benefit from the student loan forgiveness (on loans that my mother's second husband fraudulently took out using my information, no less), it absolutely provided immense relief. And I ONLY had less than $5k left to be paid back (although I never even received a dime of the loans.)

Reagan put the US on a path to destruction and every time anyone that isn't a far-right lunatic tries to course-correct, the conservative dark money made sure they never succeeded.

Every nationally beneficial piece of legislation in the last fifty years was from the left. Saying otherwise is sheer ignorance.

[callmearcturus]

And as someone who would have qualified for 10K of forgiveness only for the GOP to launch a dozen legal challenges: I hold all of you "lol the dems are useless" people personally responsible.

I think we've turned incrementalism into some great evil that must be destroyed because passing imperfect solutions isn't as sexy and fun as total reform. And I'm sick to my teeth about it.

Obamacare, the ACA, is an imperfect solution. It was not a universal option, and allowing the individual states to choose whether to take federal subsidies that were set aside for them regardless to expand Medicare created an enormous ironic hell. In red states, which refused the subsidies obvsly, you could be too poor for ACA coverage. I know because I lived in three such states. After Obamacare passed, I still was without insurance for years because I was too poor to be covered.

That, all of that? Is about as imperfect and fucked as a "solution" can be.

But then Obamacare literally saved my life. I would be dead without it. A few years ago, in Florida, I made barely enough money to qualify for ACA coverage. And then something went extremely wrong with my esophagus, and I had to get a magnetic ring surgically inserted around my throat or, y'all, I would have been dead in another month.

I'm sitting here alive because imperfect solutions. And when virtue-signaling cowards talk about how the Dems and GOP are the same, I want to scream, "The GOP would have let me fucking die! They have let so many others die! What the fuck is WRONG with you?"

You, all of you, are surrounded by people who are only here because imperfect Democratic solutions. And I think it's hideously disrespectful to the people who aren't here, who didn't survive, who didn't get the SNAP benefits they needed or didn't get the insurance they needed or didn't get the housing subsidy they needed, to pretend otherwise.

If that's you, if you have ever sat there and gone "the dems do nothing, I'm not going to bother voting," I want you to understand you were incorrect. And then I want you to do better.

[liberalsarecool]

Eliminate for-profit health insurance.

Cover everyone. Abolish medical debt.

[smokeydabear420422]