gosh i love soup

personal blog for me! i am ghosties! I will be unhinged and won't be tagging much! i really like kirby and cutesy things. i am a whole ass adult. please don't use my art without permission.

[ghostcandiesart]

about me

hi, i'm a tired adult who draws sometimes and maybe posts them.

you can find me at twitter or instagram, i don't post anywhere else.

also, i have a daily kirby doodle blog (@poyodaily) that is on a little hiatus.

might update this later.

[anistarrae]

commission for @ghostcandiesart!

[xekstrin]

[stjohnstarling]

(x)

[paper-mario-wiki]

reposting from bsky, but heres a cheat sheet for how to properly send a message to payment processing companies over the recent highly conservative shift in where youre allowed to legally spend your money

more info here!

[rederiswrites]

Quietly losing my mind over the fact that Elon Musk has straight up orchestrated a coup of our executive branch and like....I don't even know what, if any, system we have in place to fix this. Like... He's just taken control of the money and locked out the actual appointed officials. What the fuck.

[rederiswrites]

Nazis are taking over my government, and like, not even just the Nazis we fucking elected! And I'm...making hamburgers? Because somebody has to make dinner? I just feel completely unhinged.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

I think that's how random civillians generally feel in these situations. Someone's gotta make dinner.

[lizardlicks]

If you're wondering, there is plenty to be done about it, and plenty being done about it already, even if it's not happening instantly in a way you can perceive.

Is Somebody Doing Something?!

Yes. Let me break it down for you.

[rederiswrites]

Reblogging because this is an excellent article that both tells you about some of what's being done and breaks it down in a way that will help you understand and think about future action. Please read!

[thoughtportal]

Opinion Here’s how to get free Paxlovid as many times as you need it

When the public health emergency around covid-19 ended, vaccines and treatments became commercial products, meaning companies could charge for them as they do other pharmaceuticals. Paxlovid, the highly effective antiviral pill that can prevent covid from becoming severe, now has a list price of nearly $1,400 for a five-day treatment course.

Thanks to an innovative agreement between the Biden administration and the drug’s manufacturer, Pfizer, Americans can still access the medication free or at very low cost through a program called Paxcess. The problem is that too few people — including pharmacists — are aware of it.

I learned of Paxcess only after readers wrote that pharmacies were charging them hundreds of dollars — or even the full list price — to fill their Paxlovid prescription. This shouldn’t be happening. A representative from Pfizer, which runs the program, explained to me that patients on Medicare and Medicaid or who are uninsured should get free Paxlovid. They need to sign up by going to paxlovid.iassist.com or by calling 877-219-7225. “We wanted to make enrollment as easy and as quick as possible,” the representative said.

Indeed, the process is straightforward. I clicked through the web form myself, and there are only three sets of information required. Patients first enter their name, date of birth and address. They then input their prescriber’s name and address and select their insurance type.

All this should take less than five minutes and can be done at home or at the pharmacy. A physician or pharmacist can fill it out on behalf of the patient, too. Importantly, this form does not ask for medical history, proof of a positive coronavirus test, income verification, citizenship status or other potentially sensitive and time-consuming information.

But there is one key requirement people need to be aware of: Patients must have a prescription for Paxlovid to start the enrollment process. It is not possible to pre-enroll. (Though, in a sense, people on Medicare or Medicaid are already pre-enrolled.)

Once the questionnaire is complete, the website generates a voucher within seconds. People can print it or email it themselves, and then they can exchange it for a free course of Paxlovid at most pharmacies.

Pfizer’s representative tells me that more than 57,000 pharmacies are contracted to participate in this program, including major chain drugstores such as CVS and Walgreens and large retail chains such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco. For those unable to go in person, a mail-order option is available, too.

The program works a little differently for patients with commercial insurance. Some insurance plans already cover Paxlovid without a co-pay. Anyone who is told there will be a charge should sign up for Paxcess, which would further bring down their co-pay and might even cover the entire cost.

Several readers have attested that Paxcess’s process was fast and seamless. I was also glad to learn that there is basically no limit to the number of times someone could use it. A person who contracts the coronavirus three times in a year could access Paxlovid free or at low cost each time.

Unfortunately, readers informed me of one major glitch: Though the Paxcess voucher is honored when presented, some pharmacies are not offering the program proactively. As a result, many patients are still being charged high co-pays even if they could have gotten the medication at no cost.

This is incredibly frustrating. However, after interviewing multiple people involved in the process, including representatives of major pharmacy chains and Biden administration officials, I believe everyone is sincere in trying to make things right. As we saw in the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, it’s hard to get a new program off the ground. Policies that look good on paper run into multiple barriers during implementation.

Those involved are actively identifying and addressing these problems. For instance, a Walgreens representative explained to me that in addition to educating pharmacists and pharmacy techs about the program, the company learned it also had to make system changes to account for a different workflow. Normally, when pharmacists process a prescription, they inform patients of the co-pay and dispense the medication. But with Paxlovid, the system needs to stop them if there is a co-pay, so they can prompt patients to sign up for Paxcess.

Here is where patients and consumers must take a proactive role. That might not feel fair; after all, if someone is ill, people expect that the system will work to help them. But that’s not our reality. While pharmacies work to fix their system glitches, patients need to be their own best advocates. That means signing up for Paxcess as soon as they receive a Paxlovid prescription and helping spread the word so that others can get the antiviral at little or no cost, too.

{source}

[ana-insana-deactivated20230529]

handala حنظلة

From approximately 1975 through 1987 Naji Al-Ali created cartoons that depict the complexities of the plight of Palestinian refugees. These cartoons are still relevant today and Handala, the refugee child who is present in every cartoon, remains a potent symbol of the struggle of the Palestinian people for justice and self-determination.

Naji Al-Ali wrote( Handala was born ten years old, and he will always be ten years old. At that age, I left my homeland, and when he returns, Handala will still be ten, and then he will start growing up. The laws of nature do not apply to him. He is unique. Things will become normal again when the homeland returns.)

[phobic-human]

“This character was born to survive. I will continue within him even after I die.”

Naji al-Ali, assassinated august 29th, 1987.

[astromechs]

in light of the trailer for the new captain america movie dropping, a reminder that bds has asked people to boycott this film specifically due to marvel's refusal to remove the character of sabra.

[time-being-deactivated20250813]

The actress for Sabra was medically exempt from military conscription, but volunteered anyway.

Shira Haas - Wikipedia

Now that's dedicated white supremacy!

[fairuzfan]

Obligatory mention that they're literally using this movie as a recruitment tool for new mossad agents from younger generations. The reason PACBI (Palestinian academic and culture boycott) is around is to make people realize that normalization (yes, that's a real political concept, zionists stop making fun of the way palestinians talk) extends to the arts and is used to encourage people to take part in the occupation, disenfranchisement, and outright slaughter of Palestinians with no cultural pushback.

Disney’s new Israeli superhero film hits a raw nerve with Arabs | CNN

Critics say many of the Arab characters Sabra interacted with in the comics are shown as misogynistic, antisemitic and violent, and are ques

[raan-miir-tah]

You motherfuckers yes I hate Kamala too but when she is announced to be the Democratic candidate we are all going to shoot fireworks and go to the goddamn polls

[raan-miir-tah]

GRIPPING EVERYBODY’S SHOULDERS SO TIGHTLY RIGHT NOW. YOU WILL VOTE FOR HARRIS. YOU WILL RECOGNIZE THAT THERE IS NO MORAL WAY TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE US AND YOU WILL STILL VOTE TO STRATEGICALLY PROTECT YOURSELF AND OTHERS.

[weirdmageddon]

i am so serious remember what is actually at stake. zoom your perspective out.

do not fuck up this opportunity. for the love of god PLEASE get over your petty shit that means jack shit in the grand scheme of things. remember, anything kamala could do would be the same thing but a million times worse with trump. republican party are showing they are 100% ready to implement project 2025 on entry to the oval office. women queer poc disabled homeless people are all going to be taken under. civil liberties and climate change and federal regulations too, and don’t forget having nuclear access. are you seriously staking your gripes about kamala’s attorney general copperness on a literal christofascist tech broligarchy dictatorship under the face of a geriatric twice-impeached convicted felon with a cult of personality that would actively make the quality of life for everyone so much worse. do you really want that? and don’t forget the global destabilization it would have. the US is a global superpower and what happens here affects the rest of the world. do you really want that?

Often, a single leader became associated with this revolutionary transformation and came to be treated as a benevolent "guide" for the nation without whom the claimed transformation to a better future could not occur. Generally, this has been the justification for personality cults that arose in totalitarian societies, such as those of Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, Joseph Stalin of the USSR, Kim Il Sung, his son Kim Jong Il, and currently ruling grandson Kim Jong Un, of North Korea, Mao Zedong of the People’s Republic of China and Hafez al-Assad of Syria, whose son Bashar al Assad currently rules the country.

this election is where the timelines split. if there ever was a time for this bullshit, it’s especially NOT right fucking now. every politician has skeletons in the closet. weigh the scales of how insignificant it is right now. get fucking real and open your eyes to the big picture of what’s at stake. virtue signalling about whatever insignificant-in-comparison baggage kamala has is not the objective priority right now. and inaction is not neutral action, either.

also kamala could absolutely demolish trump in a debate. he looks like an absolute buffoon next to her. trump is the old fart now. she is going to appear a lot more reasonable. as a leader she has so much going for her against him. she actually has charisma whereas joe really didn’t. conservatives were really staking their win on biden being sleepy joe and losing supports among dems. check this out: his nickname for her is laughing kamala. really? people hate laughing?

[unforth]

Y'all I know that when so-called AI generates ridiculous results it's hilarious and I find it as funny as the next guy but I NEED y'all to remember that every single time an AI answer is generated it uses 5x as much energy as a conventional websearch and burns through 10 ml of water. FOR EVERY ANSWER. Each big llm is equal to 300,000 kiligrams of carbon dioxide emissions.

LLMs are killing the environment, and when we generate answers for the lolz we're still contributing to it.

Stop using it. Stop using it for a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. We need to kill it.

Sources:

AI’s excessive water consumption threatens to drown out its environmental contributions

Artificial intelligence promises revolutionary solutions to global challenges, but the water costs to produce and power AI hardware and infr

The carbon impact of artificial intelligence - Nature Machine Intelligence

The part that artificial intelligence plays in climate change has come under scrutiny, including from tech workers themselves who joined the

Generative AI’s environmental costs are soaring — and mostly secret

First-of-its-kind US bill would address the environmental costs of the technology, but there’s a long way to go.

[lawofcollage]

can we talk about how this is even more annoying when websites start forcing AI on us even though we didn't FUCKING ASK (@ meta)

like, you stole my art. you stole my writing. and now you're making me fuck up the environment even though i DIDN'T FUCKING ASK

[flipocrite]

That one Windows lockscreen: “ai is playing a critical role in the preservation of the Amazon rainforest!”

[byjove]

cat owners, how did you get your cat?

purchased from a breeder

rescued from a shelter (or similar organization)

bought/rehomed from a dubious source like Facebook, Craigslist or a paper ad

rehomed/adopted/inherited from someone I know

they were gifted to me

they chose me (please tell the story in the tags)

I found them (please tell the story in the tags)

I stole them (please tell the story in the tags)

something else

I don’t have a cat/show results

Voting ended onJul 6, 2024

[anneemay]

Sign the Petition

Let Readers Read: An Open Letter to the Publishers in Hachette v. Internet Archive:

Please sign this petition. Almost all of the 500k books that they removed are actually no longer in print and inaccessible to many.

The publishers did not care about those books in the first place but they did this anyway because they have vendetta against open access.

[hamadisthings]

AO3 IS IN TROUBLE IF CALIFORNIAN AGE VERIFICATION LAW PASSES

An upcoming Age verification bill centered in California will be voted on Monday-- And as always,instead of actually protecting kids, it will lead to more online censorship and privacy risks, as it will force websites hosting to verify their users age by sending their ID, your browser history would be linked to it. if you live California, call your reps and tell them to oppose the bill AB3080 as it highly unconstitutional.

They also deem LGBT content harmful to minors, as well as mentions of weapons and tobacco, putting them on the same level as NSFW content.

Since AO3 headquarters reside in California, much like Reddit, Twitter,Discord and Youtube (and others) who knows how bad the effects would be. Instead of just effecting Californians (even then its concerning.) the effects would be US or even worldwide. VPNs wont help.

Please take actions here (a script is included to help you) https://www.defendonlineprivacy.com/ca/action.php

Find your rep here https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/

You can also send faxes using this https://faxzero.com/

If you don't live in California, please talk about this,tag your friends and urge others to take actions, make posts and tweets using the hashtags AB3080 and NoOnAB3080

More info HERE

[absolxguardian]

Also reminder that the arguments of your message don't matter. You're not going to convince your legislator by the quality of your words, so don't worry about just sending in the default message. What their office does is record the quantity of messages sent in.

[thedisablednaturalist]

In case the esim process confuses you or you aren't able to buy them yourself for any other reason, crips for esims for Gaza is collecting donations, they've almost met their goal of $150,000 raised. Donating allows them to buy esims in bulk which allows them to obtain more than individuals would be able to. I just donated and it was super easy as you can use paypal.

Crips for eSims for Gaza

Crips for eSims for Gaza is a collaboration between Jane Shi, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, and Alice Wong. 

[donnerpartyofone]

I just did this! As someone who is easily overwhelmed and confused even in life or death matters, this is extremely handy and rewarding. Get at it!

[givemearmstopraywith]

there's laundry to do and a genocide to stop by vinay krishnan

[xitsensunmoon]

HOW TO GLAZE YOUR WORK WITHOUT A GOOD PC(or on mobile)/TIPS TO MAKE IT LESS VISIBLE

Glaze your work online on:

Cara app. It requires you to sign up but it is actually a good place for your portfolio. Glazing takes 3 minutes per image and doesn't require anything but an internet connection compared to 20-30 minutes if your pc doesn't have a good graphic card. There IS a daily limit of 9 pictures tho. Glazed art will be sent to you after it's done, by email. It took me 30 minutes to glaze 9 images on a default setting. Cara app is also a space SPECIFICALLY for human artists and the team does everything in their power to ensure it stays that way.

WebGlaze. This one is a little bit more complicated, as you will need to get approval from the Glaze team themselves, to ensure you're not another AI tech bro(which, go fuck yourself if you are). You can do it through their twitter, through the same Cara app(the easiest way) or send them an email(takes the longest). For more details read on their website.

Unfortunately there are no ways that I know of to use Nightshade YET, as it's quite new. Cara.app definitely works on implementing it into their posting system tho!

Now for the tips to make it less visible(the examples contain only nightshade's rendering, sorry for that!):

Heavy textures. My biggest tip by far. Noise, textured brushes or just an overlay layer, everything works well. Preferably, choose the ones that are "crispy" and aren't blurred. It won't really help to hide rough edges of glaze/nightshade if you blur it. You can use more traditional textures too, like watercolor, canvas, paper etc. Play with it.

Colour variety. Some brushes and settings allow you to change the colour you use just slightly with every stroke you make(colour jitter I believe?). If you dislike the process of it while drawing, you can clip a new layer to your colour art and just add it on top. Saves from the "rainbow-y" texture that glaze/nightshade overlays.

Gradients(in combination with textures work very well). Glaze/nightshade is more visible on low contrast/very light/very dark artworks. Try implementing a simple routine of adding more contrast to your art, even to the doodles. Just adding a neutral-coloured bg with a darker textured gradient already is going to look better than just plain, sterile digital colour.

And finally, if you dislike how glaze did the job, just try to glaze/shade it again. Sometimes it's more visible, sometimes it's more subtle, it's just luck. Try again, compare, and choose the one you like the most. REMEMBER TO GLAZE/SHADE AFTER YOU MADE ALL THE CHANGES, NOT BEFORE!!

If you have any more info feel free to add to this post!!

[8pxl]

PSA: Tumblr/Wordpress is preparing to start selling our user data to Midjourney and OpenAI.

you have to MANUALLY opt out of it as well.

to opt out on desktop, click your blog ➡️ blog settings ➡️ scroll til you see visibility options and it’ll be the last option to toggle.

to opt out on mobile, click your blog ➡️ scroll then click visibility ➡️ toggle opt out option.

if you’ve already opted out of showing up in google searches, it’s preselected for you. but you also have to opt out for each blog you own separately, so if you’d like to prevent AI scraping your blog i’d really recommend taking the time to opt out. (source)