i'm in Ireland and the search for that bastards name is still blocked and hidden... the legnths the british go to defend and protect their instruments of colonialism and violence is beyond belief. no justice for the victims and yet every measure taken to protect David James Cleary and his fellow murderers.
So as mentioned in this post, about a week ago my phone shat itself, and in order to fix it I had to remove a key part, that being the Face ID module. Here's a breakdown on the service for it:
While I don't use ANY biometric scanners to open my phone, connected to that module is the ear piece, as well as the proximity sensor. I'd like to have my ear piece so I don't need to use the speaker phone for phone calls, and the proximity sensor does things like A) Turn the screen off when the phone is placed at my ear durring a call, and B) changes the screen brightness depending on the ambiant light levels.
So replacing that was a bit important to me. However, my phone had other issues, such as the loud speaker being busted, the rear camera glass being broken, and the camera brraking as a result of dust/dirt getting in, and the ear piece being dead anyways (which might be why the Face ID module broke?).
Anyways, I needed more than just a part or two, so I hunted around, and found a parts iPhone 11 on eBay for $50USD. Some dude had bought it for the logic board only, and was selling the rest. And it had everything I needed! So I got it, and it arrived while I was asleep yesterday.
Today after work, I took the parts phone apart, then using it as reference took mine apart as well. Here's a photo of them taken down all the way!
My phone is the purple one dead center in the photo, and the black parts phone is 1/2 way off screen to the right. Near the parts phone, you can see the two speaker modules from each phone, black parts with a silver rectangle. Here's a photo of both rear camera modules
I bet you can guess which module was in my phone :P It got real nasty from not having a protective rear glass.
Anyways, as you can guess, this repair was an outstanding success. Not only do I have all my speakers, and my Face ID module, AND two working rear cameras, but I swapped out my $17 eBay replacement screen with this phone's OEM Apple screen, and oh my god I forgot how nice iPhone screens were. 2019 tech and it looks so good and smooth. My YouTube experience has been upgraded majorly; with both audio AND video
Anyways, hereâs one final photo
My iPhone 11 with a rear camera glass screen protector, and the three bad modules; camera on the top right, Face ID on the bottom right, and speaker on the bottom left.
Thanks for following along with me, and one more thing; Don't tell your friend's iPhone that you love hole
Anyone who tells a queer person "Just Move to a Better State" doesn't get it.
So, as some of you know I've got an account on Bluesky, one of the social media websites that arose from the ashes after Elon Musk completely fucked up Twitter beyond how fucked it was even on it's worst day.
Recently I shared this article, hoping to spread some good news to my fellow members of the LGBTQA+ community:
Virginiaâs LGBTQ+ community allies celebrated a major win this week, after all 11 proposed anti-trans bills were defeated by state lawmakers
And some smarmy jackass replied with this:
Yeah... anyone who says this is an asshole who doesn't get the realities of these situations.
I grew up in Kentucky. Yes, the state where Mitch "the Lich" McConnell was spawned (we're trying to get rid of him but that asshole hid his phylactery really good okay?) As some of you might guess, my own home state has issues with people who try to push these sorts of laws.
I've been told by others, in the past, to just move to a better state.
I tried it once infact, I moved from the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area (I lived right on the border between Ohio and Kentucky at the time) to another city where I was going to live with a gay couple I met online who were friends with my, at the time, partner.
... you probably see where this is going already, but I'll continue.
The city definitely had a good LGBTQA+ presence, but here's the thing. I stayed there only six months before all but fleeing back to Kentucky.
Why?
Several reasons.
NOBODY wanted to hire "the new kid in town." I had a horrible time finding a job that would satisfy my roommate. They knew I had only worked retail in the past and, at the time, had no college under my belt at all. I tried getting jobs in multiple places. I tried getting hired on as a 911 operator, at several higher end stores, and such. You know where I wound up working? A shitty little Circle K station. It was the ONLY place that would hire me and paid a pittance. I could barely help with bills at all.
My roommate was a judgemental asshole. To quote Sir Terry Pratchett, "Just because someone is part of a minority doesn't mean they can't also be a small minded prick." One of my roommates judged me for EVERYTHING. Nothing I did was good enough, and if he found out something he didn't like he would hang it over my head and never stop giving me shit for it. I hated it. I hated it within weeks of arriving but I didn't want to leave because that would be 'admitting defeat' or some bullshit (it was ten years ago, I forget exactly how I justified it.)
I had to give up all the friends and family I had in the move. The part of the country I moved to was a place that I had never been before. I had no friends there, I had no family there. All I had to rely on was my two roommates. One of them clearly didn't want an extra roommate but went along with it because his boyfriend wanted it (I feel bad for him these days,) the other one... see item 2. This also leads into item four...
Because I had no friends and family there, I had no safety net. Asshole roommate constantly reminded me if I didn't get a 'better job' (and good luck to me on that given the circumstances) I'd be out on my ass, in a totally unfamiliar city. I had no help there besides them and he knew it, and he held that over me every chance he got.
Finally, after six months, I managed to move back in with my mother in Kentucky. This story does have a happy ending though. I wound up splitting up with my at the time partner (who in hindsight really wasn't a good match for me, though I hear they're doing much better these days,) and it was the wake up call I needed to get some college education. That didn't go great, but having even partial college on a resume helped me get a job that was far FAR better than retail work which I've held for over five years now.
I realized too that while Kentucky isn't great on progressiveness as a whole... the part of the state I'm from actually is. We're part of the Cincinnati Metropolitan Area (which basically means "if it wasn't for state lines we'd just be part of Cincinnati") and there's actually a really big LGBTQA+ community around here. These days I see Pride bumper stickers everywhere, and there's several houses nearby with Pride flags as well.
In Kentucky. Yes, that Kentucky.
But my point is... even assuming a person CAN move, it doesn't mean that it'll fix everything. In my case those six months were absolutely hellish despite living with a queer couple in a major city. My life only improved AFTER I moved back to Deep-in-the-Red-State Kentucky. Because the part I'm in has a good community, I have friends and family who support me, I have a good job here, and I have a good life here in spite of what some idiot in the state capitol is up to.
In closing, I have this to say: If you hear someone talking about queer issues in their home state and your first instinct is to tell them to just move to California or New York or some other state... just shut the hell up.
What is this about the tumblr staff wanting to sell art data to midjourney?
An ex-colleague of mine mentioned yesterday that there may be contacts between Automattic and midjourney in that direction, but nothing is public yet and I don't have any more info. They probably won't have anything specific to share either, since they left the company weeks ago too. That being said:
I have no reason to doubt my ex-coworker word, they are a trustworthy person.
Tumblr's CEO has been absurdly enthusiastic (comically, even) about AI, and is a big fan of LLMs and 'AI' companies.
A deal with midjourney could solve tumblr financial issues (not the same company, but openAi is paying up to 5 million/year to news companies to use their content as training data... tumblr generates several orders of magnitude more content than any newspaper or any media company and it only would need a 20 to 30 million per year deal to be profitable)
So I don't have any extra info yet, but I'm keeping my ears open.
And I just got confirmation from a second ex-colleague that a deal with midjourney has been brewing since months ago. Not any extra details, just that's a real thing.
Shit, I don't see any way for this to happen that doesn't make it an apocalyptic event the size of the porn ban. Fuck.
Shit. This may be pure chance and coincidence, and it's not he is in a position to be able to talk about anything, but seeing prominent staff members announcing they are moving their original photography out of tumblr just two weeks ago seems a pretty significant cue of shit to be about to hit the fan.
Full video here of this gastropod-specialized snake actually eating the snail, I just think these first few seconds are the new funniest thing in the world somehow
If you haven't been made aware, Patreon shat the bed at the start of this billing cycle:
I had quite a few Patrons knocked off the roll this time around. If you got declined or a fraud warning or something, please be patient and try to stay on top of it.
Considering Grady's health issues, this comes at a really bad time. Pitching in would be appreciated.
Not Just Bikes has done an incredible job of making a lot of people aware of systemic problems in the US and Canada with city planning using the works of Strong Towns and in collaboration with the YouTube channel Climate Town has helped highlight how this problem will one day lead to climate catastrophe. Despite this, the channel owner, Jason, is not perfect or infallible. When he says on Bluesky that the US is a lost cause, for instance, he is promoting action that would greatly harm many and long term promotes the very climate catastrophe his channel seems to be against. While Jason would recommend you unsubscribe if you disagree on the matter, I would instead recommend you seek to change his mind. If you want to do so, please do not harras him. Unproductive dunking like tweeting, tooting, or blue skying "not just unsubscribed" or something is unproductive.
But, let me be clear, the people with the means to give up are also the people with the most means to advocate for things to be better. We should thus not give up and move to countries like the Netherlands but instead try and help make things better where you are now. If you can afford to move, you also are likely to have the means to get through living where you do more easily than many others.
If you care about the climate, if you care about you and the people you know having more livable places, if you care about the future, DO NOT GIVE UP. Despite how he feels, this is doomerism, our fates are not sealed. Get active in your community, spread the word, and talk to people.
For those not on bluesky, I will attach the posts in question. I am sorry for no alt text, I am too busy at work to copy them.
Anyway I was full-on bawling when Barbie said her ending isnât as Kenâs girlfriend, that she isnât sure she has an ending, but she wants to be human with all of its messiness and asks for permission
And then is told she doesnât NEED permission to be human
If they didnât hit in the aroace feelings I donât know what does!!
âMy husband got involved with a younger woman at work. Â I was relaxed about it at first. Â Heâs thirteen years younger than me, so I thought: âShit happens.â Â But then she got pregnant. Â Luckily through the divorce process I had the opportunity to take over this shithole place with no heating, which Iâve turned into an art studio. And now Iâm living my best life. Â Everything is for sale except the pink chandelier and the dog. Â Anyone is free to stop by at anytime. Â You can eat or drink whatever you want. Â All the young people in the neighborhood love me. Â Iâm the oldest person in our friend group. Â Everyone else is in their twenties or thirties. Â They call me Queen Mama. Â I call them my adopted kids. Â I always help them with their school projects and resumes and interviews. Â I only ask one thing in return. Â Each of them has to teach me one new thing every week: a piece of music, a trend, an idea. Â Just so I can stay up to date. Â Before you take the photograph, let me go inside and put on some make-up. Â We were out until 2 AM last night.â
(Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
I just had a 10 minute meeting with a psychologist which basically just boiled down to "hey, ya'll still want a vagina?" "yep" "okay cool. I'll schedule the next appointment"
the funny thing is that after that appointment, they scheduled another (with a nurse, to go over my meds and General Health Condition), and they were like "are you free... tomorrow?" (I was, and that is today)
After today's appointment they're like "okay we've scheduled you a surgery consult. expect a call back in, like, 4-8 months"
I plan on uploading things from my Instagram and Facebook pages onto this account!
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