Public Service Announcement1 : I have a Strict "No Post or Reblogs, I report as spam" policy for anyone who follows me.
Until the time comes that the Porn Bots reblog, it is the only criteria I use to determine if a follower is a bot or not.
If I report you and you are not a Bot, I am sorry.
Public Service Announcment 2: Look, I have gotten a number of please to share gofundmes in the last few months in my inbox. I have deleted each one without reading it. I do not have the emotional or mental werewithal to research each campaign and I will not spread campaigns that are not verfied. There are blogs, like @gazavetters, that verify campaigns and do good work at it. I would suggest messaging them, not me.
Public Service Announcment 3: By the same token, If I am tagged on a comment begging me to share a go fund me, I am, at best, going to ignore it. If I am tagged on a comment begging me to share a go fund me on a post that is obviously not meant for soliciting money for a go fund me, I AM going ot report it as Spam. Particualrly if it is a random post that has nothing to do with me.
for the record im not technially 100% anti-AI, in the sense that its a broad category of tech being lumped under one umbrella term so it feels over-zealous to say i hate all of it all the time forever. but i also think trying to discuss what it actually IS good for is difficult right now when i cant take one step without something trying to convince me to use chatgpt to summarize my life and speed up my hobbies and turn my friends into chatbots and optimize my life into oblivion. i am certain there is nuance to the topic but can we stop cramming the square peg into the round hole before you start trying to sell me on the legitimate benefits of the square peg. please.
here's my super-quick, easy-to-digest summary that i use when i can't spend more than like 15 seconds on it but need someone to know the basic distinctions:
generative AI - bad evil AI. chatbots, LLMs, image generators, etc. this the one that steals shit.
analytical AI - helpful medical AI. this the one that helps detect cancer early.
game "AI" - fake AI. 100% human created and dictated. this the one that determines game mob behavior n stuff.
i was like 'it's weird the way everyone is doing free pr for the catholic church rn just bc the pr for the new pope has already been that good' and someone was like 'wait? why don't you like the pope? did something happen?' i feel insane i'm not exaggerating i didn't even know what to say?? 'did something happen?' yes the last 2 thousand years of global history, and no, going back 2,000 years in catholic history is not dramatic because it's remained consistently that bad throughout and in fact i do think the church should answer for every single century of its sins while all of its assets are returned to the people from which they were stolen and its global power is dissolved.
How come it’s always “Jigsaw is sick and twisted” and “My crime wasn’t even that bad, this seems extreme” and “AGGHAHHHH LET ME OUT!!” and never “Wow Jigsaw, you’re so creative” or “This is a really incredible feat of engineering, Jigsaw”
How come it’s always “Jigsaw is sick and twisted” and “My crime wasn’t even that bad, this seems extreme” and “AGGHAHHHH LET ME OUT!!” and never “Wow Jigsaw, you’re so creative” or “This is a really incredible feat of engineering, Jigsaw”
"everyone should get more aromantic" can appeal to tumblr's sensibilities but I genuinely think everyone should also get more asexual. I don't mean everyone stop having sex, what I mean is
Sex is not essential. You can live without it. Full stop.
Not having sex isn't shameful or a sign of failure. It also doesn't make anyone boring.
You are not entitled to having sex with anybody and nobody is entitled to having sex with you.
Sex is not what makes someone an adult.
Nobody's worth is defined by how much sex they have or don't have.
Sex is not equally important to everyone.
You can have fulfilling and happy relationships without sex.
You should only have sex on your own terms, not because you feel like you owe it to someone, or because you feel like you'd be incomplete without it.
Know your boundaries around sex and be firm about them. Know how to respect other people's boundaries.
The previous point also applies when it comes to discussing sex. If someone doesn't wanna talk about it or hear about it you have to back down.
Anything can be sexual but not everything has to be sexual.
If anyone is ever training you to replace them in a position and tells you 'its an easy job I don't do much' what this means is that you are about to spend six months to a year catching up on all the stuff they didn't do and sorting out the stuff they did poorly.
In related news I finally managed to finish un fucking my predecessor's lack of a filing system.
My job is literally in safety and emergency management and that phrase makes me break out in hives. Which is to say that you are entirely one million percent correct.
Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”
So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”
Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.
Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.
normalize creators replying to fanon shippers with “that’s great that you’re inspired to write your own version of things. keep doing that! but please respect our version of our story.”
normalize fans being reminded that boundaries between fandom and creators exist for a reason.
normalize fans recognizing their own creative potential without seeking canon validation
normalize the idea that fandom is a hobby, not an identity to threaten and fight and harass people over
normalize a healthy understanding of the boundaries between fiction and reality
My uncle was one of the top surgeons in the country. He was upper middle class definitely. When he got cancer, his insurance didn’t cover all the treatments he would need and after 5 years he drained his savings on cancer treatments (while still working most of that time) and eventually died because he couldn’t afford the expensive treatments that might have saved him.
If you are upper middle class and you get sick, it will likely bankrupt your family. It’s fucked.
Honest to god - even if you make 6 figures a year? you're closer to poverty than true wealth. Check your shit and remember who your real allies and enemies are guys.
A 6 figure income is a lot right?
That’s say: 223,000 dollars a year
Which is 112 dollars an hour.
Most people would consider that upper middle class. That’s enough money to have a nice house, go on fun vacations. That’s slight more than the average doctor makes.
223,000 dollars is what Jeff Bezo makes in a minute
There was a wonderful study done about 15 years ago I think, that shows that people cannot accurately identify their income bracket. Most people who own a home think they are upper middle class when in fact they are closer to the poverty line. Even people living well below poverty often identify as middle class. The wealth gap is even worse now. I wonder if anyone actually knows their financial standing.
I think part of the problem is that we (the collective we, I am not signling anyone out) that we tie wealth to a specfic number. To be sure all of us have a differnt number but it tied to a concrete number. And with inflation and buying power always wiggling around really makes using a number as a benchmark diffcult.
This practice also lets people skirt around, or not consider, what, exactly is objectional about wealth that rises to the level of 'eat the rich'. Like people say billionaire because in today's money it is almost impossible to obtain 1 billion dollars without exploiting people. Not entirely impossible, becasue acts of extreme luck like winning the lottery, being an international pop star, or writing something that becomes a cutural icon (the 1 in 1 billion chances kind of things)
But really the issue is the exploiting people, which is behavior not tied to a specfic amount of money. Its just that, after a certain point, accumulating more money mostly requires you to be a exploitative POS.
Long story short, I feel like we might all be better off if we refocus 'eat the rich' into 'murder the exploitative'. It's not as catchy but feel more accurate.
Here we are with another train ride idea that has been haunting the narrative of my mind for a while. I think it may be just about ready to be released into its natural habitat. To the wilds of Tumblr where it will find its people. Feel free to add on.
As always, no canon was consulted in the making of this (I also did not consult any actual cannons).
When talking about Tim Drake and his childhood, there is a general assumption that Jack and Janet Drake were, at best, negligent. It is quite understandable, really, if a nine year old is taking pictures of Gotham vigilantes at night somebody is negligent. There is no way around it.
In this it is not Jack and Janet. They love their son dearly and found the best school in Gotham for him to attend. This school encourages boarding the students starting at age 6, and requires boarding starting at about 8. The reason given is that it helps with the students bonding with their fellows. And it is genuinely the best school, taking exquisite attentive care of their students…with the exception of the dorm master of the dorm that Tim was assigned to. In the best of cases he did not care what his students were doing after lights out. There had never been a complaint about him, and he had never been caught at any wrong doing so the school could not remove him. This is the type of school where the boarding students have their own private rooms and while there are camera’s, nearly every student in Tim’s dorm (one dorm is made up of about 15 students) knew how to get around the cameras within a month.
So Tim, starting around age 9, snuck out every night to take pictures of Batman and Robin (both Dick and Jason). By the time Jason is 13, having had the mantle for about a year (Tim is 11) they are aware of their mini stalker. They have not been able to corner him long enough to figure out who he is, but they know Tim by sight and know his first name. Over time they have also come to suspect that Tim knew more about their identities than he should, and they believe that Tim is being neglected (as they keep asking where his parents are and get ‘out of the country’ or the specific country that the Drakes are in-they have not been able to get the question of who is taking care of Tim answered).
Now the Drakes are out of the country for months at a time, during the school year when Tim is boarding. They are also never out of contact entirely and check in with both Tim and the school at least once every few days. They are almost always back in time for the holidays (there was one Christmas where they did have an unavoidable work related meeting, so Tim stayed through the holidays).
When Tim is twelve, he sneaks out for his nightly picture taking. A series of unfortunate events has Tim falling off a building, right in front of Batman and Robin, and giving himself a head injury that left him unconscious (which is only partially caused by his injuries and partially caused by the sleep deficit he is already accruing). He is brought back to the Batcave for medical treatment, and possible questions.
At the same time a gang breaks into his school and abducts his entire dorm for ransom, helped by the dorm master. This gang does not actually care that they only got 11 of the 15 students. They simply emailed all the parents of the students on the roster, figuring they would be gone with the money before anyone realized that they were paid for hostages they did not have.
All the parents reacted immediately, sending the ransom money as directed. The Drakes also got a flight back to Gotham, in part with the intent of figuring out how this happened. By the time they land, 6 hours later, the hostages have been released, the school has found three of the four still missing children (two were having sleepovers in other dorms, one was caught trying to sneak back onto campus), and discovered the dorm master’s involvement. The first thing Jack and Janet hear as they enter the school is one of Tim’s school mates telling the principal that Tim has been sneaking out nightly for years.
Neither react well to this revelation.
Back with the Bats. News of the abductions never reached the bats, as it was a straight forward hostage situation that was under control before they went to sleep. Tim is tucked, oblivious and sleeping, in one of the Manor’s bedrooms.
Alfred wakes up for his normal routine, after checking on Tim, and turns on the morning news of the Drakes making a tearful, frightened (and not feigned) plea to the public for information on their missing son. The picture that is on the screen is that of the boy sleeping upstairs that, apparently, the Waynes have accidentally abducted.
Now Alfred has a few options here. He could wake Tim, figure out where to put the boy so that he would be found but nothing would trace back to the family, only…the boy seems to need so much sleep. And Alfred certainly could not leave the boy unconscious somewhere, that would be cruel and lead to more questions. Alfred could also wait until Bruce was awake, they could work out a story. But Bruce needed his sleep as well and would not wake for several more hours.
The Drakes sincerity moved Alfred, so he nodded decisively to himself. He called Commissioner Gordon and spun a tale. He tells the commissioner that Batman had dropped Tim off with the Waynes (using the excuse the previous interaction with the boy led them to believe he was from Bristol but they did not know who he was) late the night before, with a head injury and unconscious. Alfred says that he does not want the parents to suffer any longer than they have to.
The Drakes rush to Wayne Manor and are able to check on Tim themselves before Bruce wakes up, who is out cold and snoring up a storm. The couple is extremely appreciative both for Bruce taking Tim in when Batman ‘dropped him off’ and to Alfred for calling in once he realized what was going on. It also takes them each about seven minutes to realize that Brucie was a persona, and that Bruce was Batman. Tim’s intelligence did have to come from somewhere, and the Drakes were just enough older than Bruce that they really did not interact with him in society much.
After this realization Janet brings up a proposal. The Drakes would be canceling pretty much all of their travel for the next year, while the fear of losing their son ebbed. The only thing that they could not conceal was a month-long convention that would have them touring various factories across the world (if they missed this convention Lex Luthor would end up undercutting their business by at least 40%, and no one thought Lex Luthor should be successful), which would start in about 8 months. They will not be putting Tim back into his current school (no matter how good the school is considered, and that reputation is about to take a hit, finding out that your son has been sneaking out by him not being kidnapped is not a good feeling-also neither Janet nor Jack really want to let Tim out of their sight for a while). So Janet asks if Bruce/Batman would be willing to have Tim stay with them during that time. The Drakes intended to spend the time between now and then getting to know the Waynes, and vice versa, but this seems like the best way to ensure that Tim is safe while they are away.
Bruce agrees and not a minute later Jason comes bouncing into the room asking about his new little brother (still under the belief that Tim was neglected). Thankfully the Drakes do not take offense. So instead of Tim being adopted into the Batfamily early, we have the Drakes as a whole integrating into the Batfam. Jack and Janet become something akin to older siblings for Bruce, who had never had siblings before but found that he did like it (I just want you to know that Jack has strong opinions on who Bruce is dating-in that Jack feels that none of the people Bruce actually dated- as opposed to the Brucie thing-are taking the time to understand Bruce). Dick found parental figures in the Drakes, as Bruce really had always felt more like an older brother to him. Janet became very good at talking Alfred into acknowledging his true relationship and status in the family without falling back on the ‘just a servant’ thing. Both Jason and Tim got at least one sibling and a new Aunt/Uncle.
Me watching idiots on Twitter/X whinging about how they want AO3 to be monetized and to censor all the ick ew omg stuff they hate and my special favorite: OMG WHY CAN'T THESE WEIRDOS GO OFF AND CREATE THEIR OWN SITE
BITCHES AO3 IS THE WEIRDO SITE. THE WEIRDOS MADE IT. NOW GET THE FUCK OUT.
AO3's source code is free to use! If you don't like the weirdo site with all the freak sex and free speech, you can go make your own site with your own rules!
::aid whispers in ear::
What? People have tried that before? Huh. Why hasn't--
::aid whispers in ear::
oooh, it always collapses under the weight of their moral superiority and infighing over what "bad" means. Right. Right.
Doing a final project in my stats class, we have to pick a subject and collect data on it. We need at least 100 data points, and I figured this blog is big enough that a poll on here could get to that pretty easily!
Doing my project on if it’s more likely to be born in certain months :]
I have gotten the OK from my teacher to collect data using a Tumblr poll, btw. I’m also going to have to send her this post as proof of where I got the data from / proof I didn’t just make up the numbers. So. Behave
