Quack

Chris

[blackpyrefly]

early to bed and early to rise leaves a man so fucked up that he dies

[pipermca]

I got another spam comment today on AO3, and I want to share it as a PSA. But before I do, I want you to understand that you SHOULD NOT DO what this comment is asking. Ok? Ok.

See that bit at the bottom? Don't do that. Insert ParamedicGuy.gif going "Don't."

Other malicious spam comments I've gotten seemed designed to make an author question their writing, or outright encourage them to delete their stories from AO3. This one is different, in that it tries to get you to destroy the work on your own computer.

If you ran that command, it basically locates your Documents folder, then deletes everything in it, including all subfolders. It also does it without any prompt, so you have no chance to second guess your actions.

This is just fucking trolling.

Coincidentally, we just did training on a cyberattack similar to this, called a ClickFix attack. You can read about how that works here.

As a general rule, if ANYONE or ANY WEBSITE tells you unsolicited* to do anything in Powershell, CMD RUN, command prompt, shell command, or something similar, DON'T.

*There are legit reasons for running commands in PowerShell or the command prompt, but in those cases you are likely seeking out a solution to a problem you are already experiencing. Don't just run random commands on your computer as recommended by some unlogged-in guest on a fan fiction site.

Always think and consider before taking action, and get a second opinion from a trusted source. When I got this comment I was pretty sure what the command would do, and it took me about three seconds of googling to confirm it.

Be safe out there!

[fowo]

as an IT guy I can confirm that this command WILL delete all your shit. DO NOT DO IT.

Here's a bit of a further breakdown for the ones curious about what the hell this command does.

What you're basically telling your PC if you ran this is "go into this folder (Documents) and then Recursively (for all sub-folders) Remove (delete) all files therein Forcefully (without any user input and also if a file was locked)."

The little "Exclude *.archiveofourown" they tack in there is just honestly absolutely diabolical if you don't know what you're looking at.

As an inexperienced user, you'll think "oh of course, exclude ao3, that's what I want!"

*.archiveofourown is a file ending, including any file title.

There are not archiveofourown files.

This is telling your PC to ignore files that don't exist.

Honestly, the gall of these trolls is astounding.

DO NOT DO THIS.

And as a further alarm bell, even if a well-meaning anon came to your comments to warn you:

why has ao3 not put out this warning officially?

this command is for Windows users. WHAT ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE WHO USE MAC OR LINUX?

Hope my humble knowledge was informative to someone. Stay safe, everyone.

[allthingswhumpyandangsty]

what ao3 would look like with ads. no, you do not want this. support ao3 because it’s one of the last few places on the internet that is not tainted by capitalism bullshit. support ao3 because it’s one of the last few places on the internet that is genuinely about the connection between audiences, artists, their works and the love/passion artists have for what they do

source

[tedturnerwascrazy]

Disney really didn't need to give Dana more reasons to hate them but by god they gave her some anyway

[otterpob]

Abstinence Camp art dump!!! 🩷💙 This episode of NMT means the world to me :,)

[peachmarch3]

don’t stop talking about what’s happening

[soapdispensersalesman]

I can't stress enough how much I miss StumbleUpon

[zevveli]

StumbleUpon once sent me to a supercut of Lion King, Lion King 1 1/2, and Lion King II, the main edit being that the scenes of Lion King and Lion King 1 1/2 were interspersed so that they happened in the order they actually happened.

[redpandarascal]

stumbleupon not existing anymore can be directly traced to a dramatic decline in my mental health, I could do a thesis on it.

[musashi]

bestie stumbleupon very much still exists its just called cloudhiker now. i use it all the time.

[lesbiassoon]

mini compilation of suggestions from the replies:

The Bored Button - "Press the Bored Button and be bored no more."

The Useless Web

Cloudhiker - "Discover the most interesting, weird and awesome websites of the Internet" (not really a rebrand, it's a different person running it but they have the same intention in mind)

Astronaut.io - "These videos come from YouTube. They were uploaded in the last week and have titles like DSC 1234 and IMG 4321. They have almost zero previous views. They are unnamed, unedited, and unseen (by anyone but you)."

Marginalia - "This is an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed."

[wawawawaw6272627-deactivated202]

BREAKING: Palestine Action permanently shut Elbit down in Tamworth!

Sources: Al Jazeera (first three screenshots) and @Pal_action (last screenshot)

[bloodbonestelephones]

Death

The Nine of Cups

Justice

The Nine of Swords

The King of Swords

The Hanged Man

The Hermit

The Six of Swords

The Eight of Cups

The Five of Cups

The Sun

The Three of Swords

‘The Ghetto Tarot’: Haitian artists transform classic tarot deck into stunning real life scenes:

Welcome to the Ghetto Tarot, a project from award-winning documentary photographer Alice Smeets and a group of Haitian artists known as Atis Rezistans. The idea was to take the classic Rider-Waite tarot deck of 78 cards and create a photographic version of each card using settings and objects in the vibrant ghetto of Haiti.

As Smeets says, “The spirit of the Ghetto Tarot project is the inspiration to turn negative into positive while playing. The group of artists ‘Atiz Rezistans’ use trash to create art with their own visions that are a reflection of the beauty they see hidden within the waste. They are claiming the word ‘Ghetto,’ thus freeing themselves of its depreciating undertone and turning it into something beautiful.”

[trollprincess]

“Nobody’s going to want to sit on high-speed rail for fifteen hours to get from New York City to LA.”

Me. I will sit on high-speed rail for fifteen hours. I’ll sit on it for days. I’ll write and read and nap and eat and then do it all over again. I’ll stare out the windows and see America from ground level and not have to drive. I’ll see the Rockies and the deserts and cornfields and the Mississippi River and your house and yours and yours too. I’ll make up stories in my head about the small towns I see as we go along. I’ll see the states I’ve yet to see because driving or flying there is a fucking slog and expensive to boot. I’ll enjoy the ride as much as the destination. And then I’ll do it all over again to come the fuck home.

[toothwormfactory]

[nutmargaret]

An excerpt from a comic I made a couple years ago about fishing in video games. Full comic is on my ko-fi for free (or a couple bucks if you’d like). Happy fishing!

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking about that one blogger on here who mentioned applying to 80+ jobs and still not getting a single callback

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking of my sister's 2 degrees who are collecting dust because no one's hiring

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking of my classmate in highschool who said their father accidentally became a graphic designer without any real experience about 20 odd years prior

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking of me passing those extensive english exams for a fucking call service job and not showing up to the final online interview because of technical issues,I asked them to reschedule they just ghosted me instead

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking of that nepo kid in my college and his secure future

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking of my miscellaneous art skills and how none of them are worth anything without a degree,a connection,internet clout,or without a job willing to train me more except the entry level position is dead right?

[furiousfinnstan]

i keep thinking of everyone everywhere who is dying or going to die in the streets despite all the money and shelter available in the world

[did-you-know]

[did-you-know]

Source

© VALERIO VINCENZO Website | Facebook | Twitter

[belovedsheith]

I am American and I have never seen photos like this. I had no idea there are borders like this. Even though I LOVE the idea of open borders, I am staring at these pictures like “wait…people can just…walk across some stones or grass and BE IN ANOTHER COUNTRY??? and nobody stops them?? how does that WORK?!” So you can tell that my country’s propaganda has gotten to me by convincing me that this CAN’T work even though…it…obviously can. These pics just seem unreal to me. I’ve been taught my whole life that this can’t exist. In 27 years no one has ever sat me down and gone, look, here’s how it is elsewhere. It isn’t impossible at all.

[teainawineglass]

I want to add something, but I’d just be restating what they said. I.. didn’t know peace and kindness like this was possible.

[morgaine2005]

All of the above, and …

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to Belgium, apparently.

[belgiumthroughbelgianeyes]

🐓

[they-who-wander]

This also leads to some funny images like: GuEsS wHeRe ThE bOrDeR Is XD

[writing-with-olive]

this is real, but it also gets at why hopeful stories are so important - its real hard to make a better world if you cant even imagine it existing

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

Wow, this "gender free" fashion brand sure doesn't have any AMAB models.

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

Gonna die fucking mad about this. If you can't put someone with a beard in one of your skirts, is your clothing gender neutral? If your brand is full of plus-sized black femmes and white, androgynous bean poles, do you really have a handle on diversity?

[homoqueerjewhobbit]

You passed peer review. Highlighted for emphasis but again:

[twistcmyk]

hoping aaron bushnell's sacrifice won't be swept under the rug by politicians/media and forgotten about in another fucking week as the genocide on palestinians continues

[goose-onthe-loose]

Can we PLEASE not glorify suicide? There are so many ways to protest and help without killing yourself. Aaron Bushnell's actions, while perhaps well-intentioned, were clearly the result of a mental illness. He died horrifically, and paint him as some sort of martyr or hero is honestly disrespectful.

[edenaziraphale]

I understand the impulse to say things like this, and to be clear there is a certain amount of journalistic caution that is typically (not always) applied to cases like this- pairing coverage with suicide hotlines and resources, for example. Those standards exist not because being without them would be to glorify suicide, but because media sensationalism can inspire copycats, and because you want people in pain to know they aren't alone. However, to claim that this was an act fueled by mental illness is not only disrespectful to Aaron Bushnell's memory and his death, it is deeply, deeply ignorant. Self immolation as the most extreme act of protest has a deeply storied history across the entire globe.

To quote scholar Timothy Dickinson when he spoke about self immolation as protest in 2012: "This isn't insanity. It is a terrible act of reason." Aaron Bushnell was a deeply anguished young man. That anguish didn't come from an unspecified chemical imbalance that he inherited through the genetic lottery. The anguish came from the fact that he was an enlisted airman serving in the US military while the US government actively funds and sends arms to a country committing genocide. That's not mental illness. It's systemic despair. You can't just leave the military. When you enlist, you sign a contract that you have no way of terminating if the government does shit that you don't like. You're property of the state. He was caged and clawing for a way out. As an American Jew I already carry the death of every single Palestinian man, woman, and child with me. The guilt is so heavy- I can't imagine what it must have been like for someone like Aaron Bushnell. It must have felt like he fired every shot with his own two hands. This was not mental illness. It was desperation. It's like you're putting pressure on someone else's bullet wound, screaming for paramedics while people walk past you on the street, never looking over. Sometimes you hear passersby wonder out loud, "Why would someone would make all that noise about a paper cut?" You start asking yourself what you have to do to make someone pay attention. No matter how uncomfortable you are with Aaron Bushnell's suicide, he is a martyr. It is deeply, deeply disrespectful to behave as though Aaron Bushnell was not in complete control of himself and his faculties. It is deeply disrespectful to wave this away as mental illness when that is not the case. I never, ever, ever want anyone to protest in this way. It's so deeply tragic and horrifying, and the suffering compounds for all of those who love you when you go. But that horror doesn't make it not martyrdom. It doesn't make it not a protest. Aaron Bushnell was a very brave, very kind young man. May his memory be a blessing to us all.

[blackpearlblast]

you can give seven days of internet connection to someone in gaza for just 6 USD

gazaesims.com is a website dedicated to helping people donate esims for people in gaza. (for the ultimate guide to donating an esim, see http://tinyurl.com/gaza-esims) there are multiple options for where to purchase an esim to donate, for the price i listed you want to use nomad esims. you can get a $3 discount by using someone's referral code from the notes of this post. it also will give the referrer credit to buy more esims! (you can only use a referral code on your first purchase) @/fairuzfan also a tag for esim referral codes here, some of which are nomad. BACKPACKNOMAD is another code to get $3 off your first purchase, it's been working for some people but not others so try out a referral code instead if you can't get it to work. also it took over an hour for the email with my information to come through so don't panic if it doesn't show up right away. (logging back into your nomad account seems to have helped some people get their emails to send!) NOMADCNG is a code for 5% off any middle east region nomad esims from connecting gaza. it can be used on any purchase, not just your first but is generally going to give less off than the first-purchase only codes, so use those first. it can be used in combination with nomad points. (nomad promo codes do not work on plans that are already on sale, unlimited plans, and plans under $5)

weekly tuesdays only code on nomad web, PST timezone! it gives 10% off plans 10gb and above. NOMADTUE

troubleshooting hint 1: if you are trying to pay through paypal, make sure you have pop-ups enabled! otherwise the payment window won't be able to appear.

troubleshooting hint 2: if you are trying to purchase an esim using the provider's app, it may block you from purchasing if your phone does not fit the requirements to install and use their esims. use their website in your browser instead and this problem should go away.

edit as of 2/8/24: nomad (regional middle east), holafly (israel and egypt) and simly (palestine and middle east) are currently in the highest in demand. here is a purchase guide i made that covers all of the esim platforms, including these three platforms. if you have donated an esim before january 20th, they are asking for you to reforward your original email with the expiration date in the subject line. you can see gothhabiba’s guide for how to tell if your esims have been activated. if your esim has expired without use, you can contact customer service to renew or replace it.