excelsior;

ren. he/him. 25. this is me trying to get my life together. i follow/like from @mossknit

[aphantasias]

in the flesh was such a unique show that delivered every single emotional punch it threw AND with the most complex beautiful characters and a canon gay main character who finds love and a willingness to live after so much pain. holding on to little bits of joy amongst poignant inherently tragic circumstances. and yes it's about zombies reintegrating into society. which sounds wacky but. but it was deeply profound. it was about learning to love being alive, despite it all. recognizing the love that exists around you in all its forms, in unexpected places. making the choice to try, to care, to understand, to reach out your hand, despite every odd against you. my god i miss it so much. we moved on too fast and it deserved so many more seasons

[awesomefitnessrecipes]

Easily Paleo-ified with some tweaks to the stir-fry sauce.

Love healthy food & fitness? Follow Awesome Fitness Recipes on Instagram

[macrolit]

from ml.books

[macrolit]

Here's the new Reading Bingo for 2025! Let's all have a fast start.

[s-n-arly]

Skip Google for Research

As Google has worked to overtake the internet, its search algorithm has not just gotten worse.  It has been designed to prioritize advertisers and popular pages often times excluding pages and content that better matches your search terms 

As a writer in need of information for my stories, I find this unacceptable.  As a proponent of availability of information so the populace can actually educate itself, it is unforgivable.

Below is a concise list of useful research sites compiled by Edward Clark over on Facebook. I was familiar with some, but not all of these.

⁂

Google is so powerful that it “hides” other search systems from us. We just don’t know the existence of most of them. Meanwhile, there are still a huge number of excellent searchers in the world who specialize in books, science, other smart information. Keep a list of sites you never heard of.

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.pdfdrive.com is the largest website for free download of books in PDF format. Claiming over 225 million names.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free

[pepurika]

this and also; your local libraries

[lifeafterpsychiatry]

Dealing With Executive Dysfunction - A Masterpost

The “getting it done in an unconventional way” method.

The “it’s not cheating to do it the easy way” method.

The “fuck what you’re supposed to do” method.

The “get stuff done while you wait” method.

The “you don’t have to do everything at once” method.

The “it doesn’t have to be permanent to be helpful” method.

The “break the task into smaller steps” method.

The “treat yourself like a pet” method.

The “it doesn’t have to be all or nothing” method.

The “put on a persona” method.

The “act like you’re filming a tutorial” method.

The “you don’t have to do it perfectly” method.

The “wait for a trigger” method.

The “do it for your future self” method.

The “might as well” method.

The “when self discipline doesn’t cut it” method.

The “taking care of yourself to take care of your pet” method.

The “make it easy” method.

The “junebugging” method.

The “just show up” method.

The “accept when you need help” method.

The “make it into a game” method.

The “everything worth doing is worth doing poorly” method.

The “trick yourself” method.

The “break it into even smaller steps” method.

The “let go of should” method.

The “your body is an animal you have to take care of” method.

The “fork theory” method.

The “effectivity over aesthetics” method.

[kurai-hono-blog]

This is the sacred texts, this is the holy grail.

[casual-mitosis-collective-deact]

saving for later

[ms-demeanor]

do you have, among your many guides, anything for How To Do Taxes without paying some shithead company $200?

I do not because taxes are a nightmare; i looked into trying to create a guide and realized I could cause people for-realsies problems because the system is set up to change regularly and trip you up.

I do know that as of 2024 if you make under $79k a year there is a free file option with the IRS: https://www.irs.gov/filing/free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free

I want to be clear: doing taxes is a fucking nightmare and I hate it, filling out the forms is confusing and upsetting and seems to be worded in the hardest to understand way possible. But I also just sit down and fill out the forms and do the math with no other software; I do not generally pay people to do my taxes because I sit down and do the paperwork myself (or ask Large Bastard to do it because he's better at reading numbers correctly; emotionally I'm more likely to cry and he's more likely to rage-quit so it's a wash on that end).

The IRS website has a step-by-step guide: https://www.irs.gov/how-to-file-your-taxes-step-by-step

The way that I do ANYTHING that I don't know how to do is:

Look up a step by step set of instructions

Search anything that I don't understand in those instructions and research until I've got a handle on it then rewrite that information in a way that I understand it

Read through the instructions from beginning to end, double-checking that I know what each term means

Make sure that I've got everything that the instructions call for in front of me

Follow the instructions step by step; if I get stopped or have a problem I will search the problem using combinations of key terms until I figure out an approach and will try various approaches until that works and I get to the next step

IF I CAN'T GET PAST THAT STEP I call for help from someone who knows this better than I do.

Continue following steps miserably until I am done and can wash my hands of the mess and/or test results.

This is how I learn to cook things and fix cars and thread sewing machines and put trim line in weed whackers and do taxes. Find instructions, make sure I understand instructions, make sure I have everything required for the project, follow instructions, make sure I've got a phone-a-friend handy, and check my work after.

It's not very specific advice for taxes, but it's how I do new stuff (or stuff that isn't new but that I find confusing every time, like taxes).

[bitchesgetriches]

We have a guide exactly for this! Read the whole thing here:

How to File Your Taxes FOR FREE in 2024: Simple Instructions for the Stressed-out Taxpayer

the short version:

If you made $79,000 or less in 2023, you can file your federal taxes FOR FREE through the IRS’s free-file site.

[justcatposts]

“Kitty practicing the lion dance for the Chinese New Year” 

(via)

[royal-random-the-yogurt-queen]

HAPPY PLAYFUL TAIL FLICKS

KITTY LIKES BEING THE NEW YEAR’S LION

[july-19th-club]

[beeeinyourbonnet]

@valoscope 

[soberscientistlife]

Do Not Let HR do this to you. It is not illegal to talk about wages in the work place. I did and got a 12% raise!

[katsdom]

True info. Now let me add something: The power of documentation. (I was a long time steward in a nurses union.)

Remember: The "'E" in email stands for evidence.

That cuts both ways. Be careful what you put into an email. It never really goes away and can be used against you.

But can also be a powerful tool for workplace fairness.

Case 1: Your supervisor asks you to do something you know is either illegal or against company policy. A verbal request. If things go wrong, you can count on them denying that they ever told you to do that. You go back to your desk, or wherever and you send them an email: "I just want to make sure that I understood correctly that you want me to do xxxxx" Quite often, once they see it in writing, they will change their mind about having you do it. If not, you have documentation.

Case 2: You have a schedule you like, you've had that schedule for a while, it works for you. Your supervisor comes to you and says "We're really short-handed now and I need you to change your schedule just for a month until we can get someone else hired. It's just temporary and you can have your old schedule back after a month." A month goes by and they forget entirely that they made that promise to you. So, once again, when they make the initial request, you send them an email "I'm happy to help out temporarily, but just want to make sure I understand correctly that I will get my old schedule back after a month as you promised." Documentation.

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image ID: Text reading: In the middle of a busy clinic at our practice, I got pulled in by my manager to speak to HR, who must have made a special trip because she lives several states away, and told I was being 'investigated' for discussing wages with my other employees. She told me it was against company policy to discuss wages.

Me; That's illegal.

Them: (start italics) three slow, long seconds of staring at me blankly (end italics) Uh...

Me: That's an illegal policy to have. The right to discuss wages is a right protected by the National Labor Relations board. I used to be in a union. I know this.

HR: Oh, this is news to me! I have been working HR for 18 years and I never knew that. Haha. Well try not do do it anyway, it makes people upset, haha.

Me: people are entitled to their opinions about what their work is worth. Bye.

I then left, and sent her several texts and emails saying I would like a copy of their company policy to see where this wage discussion policy was kept. She quickly called me back in to her office.

HR: You know what, there is no policy like that in the handbook! I double check. Sorry about the confusion, my apologies.

Me: You still haven't given me the paper saying that we had this discussion. I am going to need some protection against retaliation.

HR: Oh haha yes here you go.

I just received a paper with legal letterhead and an apology saying there was no verbal warning or write up. Don't even take their shit you guys. Keep talking about wages. Know your worth. /End ID]

[noping-out-deactivated20241117]

At one of my old (shit) jobs my boss would continually come have these verbal discussions with me and would never put anything in writing I took to summarizing every discussion we had in email. Like “just to confirm that you asked me to do X by Y date and you understand that means I won’t be able to complete the previous task you gave me until Z date - 2 weeks later than originally scheduled - because you want me to prioritize this new project.

The woman would then storm back into my office screaming at me for putting the discussion in writing and arguing about pushing back the other project or whatever. At which point I would summarize that conversation in email as well. Which would bring her storming back in, rinse and repeat ad nauseum.

Anyway I cannot imagine how badly that job would have gone if I hadn’t put all her wildly unreasonable demands in writing. Bitch still hated me but she could never hang me for “missing deadlines” because I always had in writing that she’d pushed the project back because she wanted something else done first.

Paper your asses babes. Do not let them get away with shit. If they won’t put what they’re asking you to do in writing then write it up yourself and email it to them.

[elfwreck]

If you don't have this kind of job but someday you'd might: start practicing.

After a casual conversation with friends, write up a brief synopsis of what you discussed & agreed to. (...Do not email this to friends unless you have their agreement that this would be a fun group project.) Get practice with,

"A, B, and C had a brief meeting about food options after the big game. We decided on pizza, with A&B agreeing to contribute X dollars each, and C agreeing to contribute Y dollars and also bring soda. A will call for pizza on the day of the game and schedule it for delivery at 8:30 pm."

"A, B & C discussed movie options. A wanted something lite and fun; B wanted something scifi; C was fine with anything but horror. Nobody wanted superheroes. Decided on Lost Space Wanderers which opened last weekend; C agreed to research theatre options and report tomorrow."

...and so on. Practice describing the results of "meetings" with friends and you'll be ready to sum up "boss told me to set aside Project A to focus on Project B for the next two weeks" - because what's likely is that boss didn't say anything that clear; boss talked about how important Project B is and how the company needs parts X and Y done asap and you have the best skills for that, and when you mentioned how much time Project A was taking, boss said "eh don't worry about that right now; marketing is breathing down my neck so we really need part X by Friday, okay?"

...at no point did you get a direct instruction.

Which is why anyone who is not the screaming-drama boss mentioned above would think it was perfectly reasonable for you to say, "I want to clarify the discussion we had earlier - you told me to focus on Project B to the exclusion of Project A for the next two weeks, even if that means Project A will miss its deadline; is that correct?"

[krakenartificer]

Genuine question: what do I do when the boss in question doesn’t reply to my confirmation email, then says that he never approved the project delay?

[ms-demeanor]

In person or over the phone you say "that doesn't match with my memory of the project but let me check my records and I'll get back to you about what happened on this project." Then go back to your desk and write the pettiest email in the world.

To: Boss

From: you

Cc: work group, team lead, project partner, direct supervisor, etc.

(Depending on severity of problem) Bcc: your personal email

"Hi Boss, I'm trying to resolve some confusion here. After our conversation about priority projects on [date] I reached out to you for confirmation of these details (see attached outlook item) and didn't receive an update to the timeline since that communication. I have been working from the agenda we discussed (summarized in attached outlook item from [date]) in absence of further direction. Do you have a copy of your response updating the changes or correcting mistakes in my summary? It's possible that I didn't see your email and I'd like to identify where a communication was missed so that we can avoid issues like this in future projects.

Best,

[Name]"

For this to work you have to be militant about sending summary emails and firm with coworkers and supervisors that you will be documenting project plans via email, but once they're used to your MO it's worth the work.

[prismatic-bell]

I recently discovered laundry stripping and y’all, no matter how much of a crock of shit you think fast fashion is, you’re underestimating.

[prismatic-bell]

[image ID: a screenshot of the notes on this post, featuring several people indicating they want to know more. End ID.]

OKAY SO. You know how we talk about how one way fast fashion has made itself “necessary” is that the clothing looks like shit and feels horrible after just a few washes?

Let. Me. Tell. You. Something.

Laundry stripping is a process where you load your laundry into a tub or bin (I’ve been using my bathtub) with warm water, half a cup of borax, half a cup of washing soda, and half a cup of laundry soap (not detergent, SOAP, there’s a chemical difference). Leave it there for at least eight hours. I’ve been going for 12-24.

What you will come back to is a tub full of nearly-opaque black-gray-brown water that absolutely REEKS. This is normal. You are looking at (and smelling) hard water buildup, body sweat and oils that were embedded in the fabric, dead skin, and just regular grime.

Wring out your clothes. Throw them in the washer. (I like to do a spin-only cycle before going any further, because I have one of those washers that determines by weight how much water any given load needs.) Wash as usual.

You will notice I didn’t suggest any further pretreatment, and that’s because 1) you don’t want to layer too many chemicals on top of each other but also 2) you may not even need it.

When your clothes come out, check each one as it goes into the dryer, and if anything else s still stained, set it aside to run again with a regular pretreatment. One of the sweaters I did this with apparently did need a second treatment…to deal with what appears to have possibly been a hot chocolate stain that was previously invisible due to “well, it’s old” dinginess. I was planning to throw this sweater out. It looks almost new now. I need to wash it one more time for the probably-a-hot-chocolate stain, and then it needs to have the hem weighted to block it and bring it back to evenness, but dude. I wear my clothes to rags and I thought this thing was unfixable. “I need to reshape it” is nothing.

Remove clothes from dryer when done. Fucking MARVEL at the colors and how good the fabric feels. Give them a smell. Get righteously and royally angry that you can rejuvenate this stuff so easily, with a process that does take awhile but is 90% hands-off, but we’ve been trained to believe it’s all got to be binned once a year because discoloration and gross fabric is “normal wear and tear” and can’t be fixed.

It’s utterly unreal! I just pulled a seven-year-old work undershirt out of the dryer and this thing looks NEW!! It FEELS almost new!!! One of the shirts I hung up from the last load is older than some of the people on this site and it went from “I keep this to wear on laundry day, for sentimental reasons” to “I could actually wear this out of the house, it looks old but respectable”! The pajama bottoms I’m wearing were from Goodwill and they have BRIGHT YELLOW in them! I thought it was goldenrod!!

I do not know how often you’re supposed to do this (doing it every time can strip the dye out of your clothes, not to mention it’s way too much work to do every time), but once or twice per season seems respectable. I don’t wear white, so I can’t test the “it will make whites look almost-new as well” claim, but I’ve seen a lot of people on the cleaning subreddit attest that it works.

Just remember: WASHING soda. Not baking soda. I tried baking soda and a little bit happened, but not a lot.

Go forth. Rejuvenate your clothing. Strip your laundry.

[ankewehner]

I have a question about the "set it aside to run again with a regular pretreatment" bit: What is your regular pretreatment?

[prismatic-bell]

For grease: Dawn dish soap and a toothbrush. For blood: soak in peroxide, rinse, apply more peroxide. For ink: alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is best, vodka is an acceptable substitute. Do not use colored liquor like tequila or whiskey. Aerosol hairspray will work in a pinch. For red wine or grape juice: white wine. For "what the fuck is that, anyway?" stains: OxyClean Max Force Gel Stick. For "oh shit, there was a red shirt in with my whites" stains: I'm very sorry. Try bleach? Spot-apply all of these. In other words don't just toss your period panties into a sink full of peroxide, pour some peroxide over the crotch. Apply alcohol with a cotton facial pad or, failing that, a washcloth or kleenex. Let it sit for five to fifteen minutes, then throw it in the wash. Try to use cold water; hot water will set stains.

[tatiletotesamaze]

:O

[desolationlesbian]

Applying for jobs is a hell designed specifically to torment autistic people. Here is a well-paying task which you know in your heart and soul if they just gave you a desk and left you alone and allowed you to do it you would sit there and be more focused and enthusiastic and excellent at it than anyone else in the building. However, before they allow you to perform the task, you must pass through 3-4 opaque social crucibles where you must wear uncomfortable clothes and make eye contact while everyone expects you to lie, but not too much (no one is ever clear exactly how much lying is expected, “over” honesty is however penalized). You are being judged almost entirely on how well you understand these very specific and unclear rules that no one has explained. None of this has anything to do with your ability to perform the desired task.

[softgaycontent]

It is hell! I want to acknowledge that the original point of the post is NOT fixed by my providing solutions (the way jobs are filled makes no sense), but also I want to leave some notes for folks struggling with these unspoken rules. 

Some brief notes on the correct kinds of “LYING”:

Always use “I” expressions, instead of “we”:

eg “I created a solution to a recurring problem by doing [x].”, even if it was really you and two others in a group

If you LED the group (or did project-management), you can say, “I led a team to create a solution to a recurring problem by doing [x].”

This is because employers like to know that YOU can do, and they also value team-leadership. If you say “we”, they may stop you and ask what You did specifically. You can avoid this by just saying “I”.

Someone asks if you have experience in a program (like excel):

If you feel confident using it:  “Yes, I am very proficient.”

If you have used it a few times, and could at least google what to do next: “Yes, I have good experience.”

If you don’t have any experience: “I have used it before. I generally pick up programs very fast, and I’m a quick learner.”

Mistakes (some interviewers may ask about a time you made a mistake, or a weakness of yours):

Good answers are those with solutions.

Bad answer examples:  “Sometimes I don’t catch mistakes before sending things.”  OR  “I don’t like working with other people”

Good answer examples:  “I had a problem catching typos, so I implemented steps that force me to check my work.”  OR  “I prefer to do things on my own so I know it’s done right, but I’m working on trusting my teammates to take on pieces as well.”

Someone asks if you’ve ever led a team / managed a project:

Try to say YES to this question (even if it is a lie)

If you have, say yes, and say how many people were on the team. 

If you haven’t, but you played a large role in a group of people, say yes, and talk about your primary role on the team. 

If you haven’t, but you worked solo on something that needed input from other people, say yes, and say what the project was about. 

Additional:

Misc Rules

You can ask people to repeat interview questions

You can write down interview questions while they’re asking (write the basics of the question down for yourself, like the top things you have to answer). People will wait for you to finish writing, you don’t have to answer Immediately.

Try to keep your answer to questions somewhere between 30 seconds to 1 minute and 30 seconds. You don’t have to time it, but if you find that your answers are taking 3 minutes, you might lose interest.

Have a list of projects / bragging points to talk about in advance

Try to make sure they at least answer the core question asked, don’t just bring up a completely unrelated topic

Example: if you are really excited to talk about a program you wrote, and someone asks about balancing projects, you can say you are good at AUTOMATION, and an example is this program you wrote

“Do you have any questions for us?” (A question asked at the end of most interviews.)

“What has been your favorite part of working at [company]?”

“What’s been your favorite project to work on?”

People like talking about themselves

Thank you emails

Some employers care if you send them a thank you “letter” (email). Sometime by the end of the day (you can do it right after the interview if you think you’ll forget), send a thank you email like this (you can look up other templates, or ask a friend for help):

Subject Line:  Thank You

“Hi [interviewer name], It was great speaking with you. Hearing more about the role, as well as what you said about [their answer to a question you asked them] has made me even more excited for this opportunity. Thank you for your time today, [Your Name]

Good luck!!

[halo-magicmoon]

Im gonna need this in 2 years!

[turbozarky]

Honestly the “applying and interviewing for a job” is harder and more stressful than actually doing the job 999% of the time for me. I hate it so much.

[softness-and-shattering]

Wait they ask about mistakes and weaknesses because they want to hear about solutions?! That makes so much more sense! Why dont they just verbalize the solution part!

[theconcealedweapon]

The combination of being autistic and being entry level makes it extra hell.

[vaspider]

A couple more notes:

When you send your follow-up email, it’s okay to ask about next steps or when you might hear from them. To build on the previous script, after the sentence where you say you’re excited, you could insert, “I’m curious about next steps in this process - what can you tell me about your timeline?”

You can use non-work projects to talk about organizing and leading things, especially if you’re new to the job market and they know that. If you were the president or the treasurer of a youth group or ran the fundraiser auction for your school band, you can use that, as long as you can explain concretely what you DID.

I know people who used the fact that they had been head staff for huge digital LARPs on their resumes. They had to lead staff of 20+ people for a digital entertainment endeavor, create procedures and document them, etc.

And that worked.

Don’t lie about what you did, but think about what those activities would “count as” if you were getting paid for it. My wife had like 30+ people reporting to her and 200+ recurring clients with conflicting needs which she had to balance. That’s totally legitimate, you just have to show them that this is what you did.

So yeah, running that Discord RP server for years and years could probably go on your resume if you write it up right.

[titsay]

you beautiful thing, you

[eroticcannibal]

This is not a sponsored post I am just an old man getting excited over boring things.

Hey disabled people and neurodivergents I have an app reccomendation for you, its called sweepy.

It is a chore tracker with some features that are actually fucking HELPFUL, not just like a list of shit to do.

So what you do is you add rooms, and in those rooms you list all the things that you have to do. You set how often they need doing and how much effort they take to do. So now you never have to wonder if you need to hoover yet, it will tell you! It also has options for one time tasks and seasonal tasks. Also there are a lot of task presets to make it all easier.

And that alone is all great but if you pay for premium (a very reasonable 12 quid a year), you get more features like adding other people in your house so that you all know whats going on, and my favourite feature, the daily schedule. What you do is you set how many effort points you want to use in a day, and sweepy will go through the things that need doing and assign you tasks to match the effort points. You can even set tasks to only be assigned to specific people. Also like. Streaks and leader boards and shit if that stuff helps motivate you.

[eroticcannibal]

Specific benefits ive noticed with this app and living with other people:

Everything is so efficient because we know exactly what each other is doing

Reduces negative feelings towards others re housework cus its hard for the brain gremlin to be like "they're not doing anything!" Cus like. Yes they are. They got points for it. Look at the leader board u dumb fucking brain gremlin.

[eroticcannibal]

Ok another sweepy update let me talk about how this is the best ADHD hack of all time.

So u know how household chores are super hard with ADHD cus its not just oh do this, its an endless cycle. There is no "done". You do not get your dopamine. It goes on and on and on and on and

Well here's the thing. Because in sweepy you have to break down "chores" into specifics, and because it times the chores, which draws a clear line between "done" and "needs doing", it transforms the endless cycle of housework into distinct tasks with an end point.

Which means INFINITE DOPAMINE MACHINE.

[eroticcannibal]

It *also* means that when sweepy tells me to go do one thing in the bathroom, I will end up doing like 3 things because DOMPAMINE. TICK THE BOXES. POINTS. I AM REWARDED. Even if those things don't need doing yet. Yes I am wiping down clean enough sinks just for points I am a FUNCTIONING ADULT.

[avelera]

Job seeker pro tip that is paying dividends for me (literally in the not too distant future if I’m lucky). Repeat after me:

“What is the budget for this role?”

Memorize it. Internalize it. Practice it like a martial artist with their 10,000 or whatever punches. You need to be able to rattle it off in a moment of panic and that moment of panic is when they ask your salary expectations. Do not be the first person to name a number if you can at all avoid it. You’re gonna drop this baby like the Reverse Uno card you’ve been waiting the whole game to play and you’re going to drop it before even thinking about answering that question first.

Not once has it backfired. No one has gotten angry or offended. Bonus points if you can frame it as you not wanting to waste their time either (makes you sound more senior than you might feel, might not work for someone looking for their very first job but hey still worth a shot).

Every interviewer I’ve tossed this at has been gratified and clear and quoted a number, the only exceptions were when the interview was more exploratory (didn’t have a specific role when we spoke) or they needed to ask a different hiring manager and even then both apologized profusely for not quoting me the number first.

Every single time it has been more money than I would have asked for. Sometimes literally double what I was making before, in calls where the recruiter reached out to me first. I was aghast. As a millennial who got screwed every which way by the recession and still has ptsd over it, finding out what I’m “worth” in this current labor shortage was mind boggling.

(Final disclosure, I’ve been working office jobs for 10 years. This advice might not work for everyone. Many it will work for already know it. But boy howdy, has it been working to levels that have me absolutely floored.)

TL;DR: Never be the first to quote a number if you can at all avoid it. HR people I’ve encountered won’t be mad, they’ll respect you for it, especially if you frame it as doing both of you a favor by making sure you’re both on the same page and the magic words are, “What is the budget for this role?”

[flakmaniak]

So, Microsoft is terrible. Yes yes, the oldest claim in the world.

But specifically... I just hate how Windows 10 tries to conflate and confuse web searches with things on one's own computer. The start menu should never do anything related to web-searching, especially if it purports to try to give examples of things that are on my hard drive!

This will make old, computer-illiterate people more malware-vulnerable. You have to maintain a strong distinction between "things that are on this computer (and maybe even included in Windows)" (safe, one hopes, or you already got pwned by it, probably), and "things on the web" (scary, dangerous, not to be trusted at all).

Eroding that barrier in the UI is awful. It just FEELS like a violation every time I start typing into the start bar, and it tries to show me ANYTHING web-related. My computer is NOT just an internet-portal! It has tons of stuff on it, and when I'm interacting with the OS, I ONLY want to see things that are already on here!

If I wanted to see something online, I would go to my browser! All the online stuff should be segregated into the browser!

Specific programs can access the internet; that's fine. But my OS's functions and interface should JUST be about the things that are already on my computer.

[hotvampireadjacent]

#someone in the notes mentioned shut up windows 10.

https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10 

i haven’t used this myself but i’ll be looking into it

[self-critical-automaton]

Literally spent multiple hours lobotomizing my Windows reinstall when I upgraded recently, the amount of awful shit they had in nowadays makes me long for the age of win98, when software was merely bad, rather than actively harmful.

[leylin3]

the exact setting in shutup10 for this issue is "Disable extension of Windows 10 search with Bing" it's at the very bottom under misc.

[fuckyeahyoga]

[girafacong]

i’ve been having terrible back ache for a week now, but i just did this and i heard a loud POP!!!… back ache is gone folks

[adamsmasher]

i have this on my office wall and gave a copy to the front desk staff who also put it on their wall.

[language-obsession]

woahwoahwoahwoah LOOK AT THIS

PDFS OF GRAMMAR BOOKS FOR THE FOLLOWING LANGUAGES:

Hindi-Urdu

Gujarati

Sanskrit

Panjabi 

Nepali

Sinhala

Tamil

you’re probably like psh what’s the big deal BUT THE COLLOQUIAL SERIES AND THE TEACH YOURSELF SERIES FOR HINDI, URDU, GUJARATI, PANJABI AND TAMIL ARE ALL ON HERE. DO YOU REALIZE HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND THE COLLOQUIAL SERIES SOMETIMES? ALSO SANSKRIT RESOURCES???

please just check this out omg

[saccharinescorpion]

so this is an extremely cool resource

the JSTOR article by Catherine Halley

a list of series at Reveal Digital

[theprettiestboy]

hey @queerasfact look!