mostly harmless

here to reblog textposts

[3liza]

the RealDoll division that is working on AI-augmented sex dolls has sold an AI-equipped silicon unit named Sally to the Salamanca school district's high school at a steep discount, which is the only school district entirely inside an Indigenous rfeservation in America. they are testing an AI sex doll on high school kids, not sexually, but testing nontheless.

the Realbotix corporation claims the unit is not able to save identifying information, nor relay it or report it to Realbotix. But the robot is instructed to snitch on students it perceives as posing a threat:

Every safeguard described in the reporting traces back to the company itself. Realbotix's CEO said the system would always redirect conversation back to education and automatically alert administrators to language associated with self-harm. The superintendent, relaying what Realbotix told the district, said the system runs on a closed network with no internet connection and that Realbotix will not have access to personally identifiable student information. No independent audit, security review, or third-party verification of any of it appears anywhere in the reporting. Realbotix can describe what Sally's safeguards do. No one, including Realbotix, can yet describe what a program with these products does to a teenager's learning outcomes or emotional safety, because neither study has been run.

no independent vetting has been done on this supposed closed system, likewise ii assume it has internet connectivity of some kind. the fact that this is being tested on indigenous children is a familiar historical refrain, and according to the Facebook posts from the parents in the Salamanca district I read a few days ago, this was not voted on or presented to the PTA, but rather pushed through the board without consultation with the students or parents in the school

[thahxa]

many youtube slop videos seem to conceive of a military in which rank and status is communicated via secret codewords and tattoos instead of like. being on incredibly distinctive parts of your uniform

[raginrayguns]

@phaeton-flier said:

What sort of military could they possibly be talking about

havent seen them but maybe the american military which is pervaded with gangs

[hasturphosphur]

Ive got a friend who's brother in law was in the Marines and he has some tattoos from his time there. They're unofficial obviously, but it is a tradition for sailors to get tats. That could be something they're riffing on.

He has one of a turtle because he became a "shellback" for crossing the equator. There was another one he showed us but I forgot what it was.

[lilithsaintcrow]

"This week I discovered the same pattern, executed by Google. Google Chrome is reaching into users' machines and writing a 4 GB on-device AI model file to disk without asking."

Google Chrome silently installs a 4 GB AI model on your device without consent. At a billion-device scale the climate costs are insane. — Th

Google Chrome is downloading a 4 GB Gemini Nano model onto users' machines without consent, with no opt-in, no opt-out short of enterprise t

[spockvarietyhour]

Google Chrome Secretly Downloads Huge Local AI Models

Google Chrome automatically installs local neural network components on user systems via default configurations. The browser downloads a 4GB

Procedures for disabling it

[captain-price-returns]

I don't know if full on execution is proper justice, but at least they did something.

[notaaronsroommate]

the CPC will regularly do things where I feel it's a bit of a tossup, ethically. not fully in an ambivelant way but like. Damn, yeah that's probably sick as hell but I don't know if this advances the goals of a functional society. Like, executing tainted milk guys? yadda yadda death penalty yadda yadda power of the state. But yknow, I think white collar crimes with direct physical harms like this are sometimes the only ones for which the death penalty is an effective deterrent. Maybe. Also seems like a heavy handed and oafish way to simply kill a couple people to sate the masses while allowing systemic issues leading to things like this to continue mostly unabated.

Or, there's newish laws regarding chinese citizens behavior abroad, wherein chinese people being shitty in other countries can face various punishments including loss of passport, revocation of certain privellages including loss of the drivers license. The idea coming from several high profile incidents of chinese tourists behaving badly and damaging the countries image. And yknow, I think it's maybe a good and novel idea to hold citizens accountable for actions abroad and to have a public consciousness about the national image being everyone's job to uphold. On the other hand, it is a very short walk from "if an american carves his name into the sphinx it'd be cool if there was an american federal bureau deadicated to beating his ass" to "nations can now have secret police and inteligence services monitoring citizens abroad and enforcing their own laws overseas thus violating other nations sovereignty.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Meta used AI to tag workers who took leave to be laid off, lawsuit claims

Lawsuit filed by dozens of employees says people who took maternity or disability leave were disproportionately selected for layoffs

Dozens of Meta employees have sued the social media company over claims that it used artificial intelligence tools to tag workers for mass layoffs. The workers allege that those AI tools targeted them after they asked for protected or maternity leave or disability accommodation. The lawsuit, filed Monday in federal court in the northern district of California, points to Meta’s workforce reduction of about 8,000 employees earlier this year. Meta is the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The suit alleges that Meta used a “constellation of internal artificial intelligence systems”, including AI performance ratings and keystroke- and activity-monitoring data, to pinpoint who to lay off. “Meta did not assemble the termination list through the considered judgment of managers who knew the work,” reads the 71-page complaint. Instead, the 26 workers listed in the lawsuit allege the company used AI systems “to score, rank and select employees for inclusion on the list”. The plaintiffs are seeking a preliminary court ruling to stop Meta from finalizing the layoffs while they pursue their ​claims, along with relief that could include reinstatement, back pay, lost equity, benefits and other damages.

[...]

The lawsuit against Meta alleges that the company’s AI tools gather data on employees’ performance rankings, productivity and other metrics, and that those inputs do not exist when workers are on medical or family leave. For people with disabilities, those metrics might be reduced. “The result was that employees who took protected leaves were disproportionately selected for layoff, based on scoring that not only failed to account for their protected leaves, but in effect penalized the employees for exercising their legal rights to these leaves,” reads the complaint. One of the plaintiffs is a scientist who was on approved pre-birth pregnancy leave – she was notified of her layoff just two days before she gave birth. Another plaintiff is an engineer who said he received a “lowered rating” because of time he took off for an injury. Another, a manager on medical leave, said he was let go 16 days into his time off.

15 July 2026

[probablyasocialecologist]

As historians have shown, there is no evidence that pure barter economies ever existed, anywhere; instead, the historical record is rich with human societies in which credit came first, deeply intertwined within moral and cultural systems, with money and markets developing only later, via the state. Capitalism benefits from the fiction that free trade is natural and that there are neat divisions between different spheres of behavior, most importantly the marketplace. “The economy” is to be left to its own devices, to be navigated by individuals, to be studied mathematically by economists, to be tinkered with only on the edges by technocrats.

Andrew DeWaard, Derivative Media: How Wall Street Devours Culture

[unification]

love a chance to whip this one out

[inthefallofasparrow]

[argumate]

okay (second?) last Obsession post! the story might have had more to say about actual relationships if they expanded slightly on the progression: we see that after her abrupt development of interest in him they actually had a happy week or two (if I'm interpreting it right) doing standard couple activities without any freaky horror interludes before it all went to hell, and that's a fast montage but kind of strange in retrospect, like why didn't they stay happy for longer? however it makes sense if he ends up pulling away and growing distant when he discovers he doesn't actually like her that much, which triggers her to become more demanding and extreme and everything spirals from there.

the only problem with this approach is that it's too mundane! guy woos girl then grows distant as she grows more attached, cue freak outs and ghosting, boring; it makes the story seem far too traditional in a way.

I would play up the ambiguity between the cursed artifact and the effects of addiction and mental illness, genuine horrors that are actually real, and the ambiguity between who is exploiting who in a relationship that could have been more codependent and messed up.

the reversed Romeo & Juliet finale was a very nice touch! but where were the parents in this movie? did none of them have families?

[hasturphosphur]

I agree focusing a bit more on the relationship itself would have been good. Him losing interest would have been a neat touch, making the fate he imposed on this woman even more cruel.

The true horror comes from Nikki's agency peaking through every once in a while. Which means the ideal relationship stage must have had a lot of offputting moments of wildly yoyoing emotions too.

[republicansaretheproblem]

[understatedocelot]

Do they need to explain why? It's literally the republican site now. This is why democrats suck at meme. Literally nobody expects twitter to be some nonpartisan public square anymore

[hasturphosphur]

Yeah, all the occupy democrats and NowThis stuff from facebook comes off as kinda shrill. I reblogged it for my own reference because I know I'm going to forget about the Trump investment tracker under the deluge of other nonsense that will happen.

[republicansaretheproblem]

[argumate]

oh but some people are saying the protagonist in Obsession isn't an incel as he has friends and a woman isn't interested in him (the other one) but technically I'd say his inability to open express his interest in the woman he has a crush on is absolutely incel behaviour, it's not about actually being unloved it's about believing yourself unlovable.

[hasturphosphur]

I wouldnt say Bear's an incel, he's incel adjacent, he's a Nice Guy.

The term Incel has expanded and become somewhat of a catchall term for all kinds of strange and awkward male behavior. But he's definitely not a bitter misogynist which I'd argue is the core of being an Incel on a spiritual level.

The term has certainly evolved since Alana invented it back in 1997.

[argumate]

sure, although plenty of misogynists aren't incels either, I think a key aspect is prematurely ruling themselves out of contention and then using that apparent failure to justify not trying in a circular loop of bitterness; he's not there yet but his inability to act is clearly a growing problem.

[hasturphosphur]

His fear of failure in asking Nikki out or letting her know his feelings and his dogged commitment to pining over only her was something I would have related to deeply when I was much younger. All those scenes at the beginning were Too real.

Him asking her if loving him is so bad when the real Nikki is begging him to kill her is when he was unambiguously shown to just have no moral core. He suspected almost immediately it was the wish and he just deluded himself and created little avenues of plausible deniability for himself but when faced with it directly he just decides to ignore it. One of his only moments of being resolute in the entire movie. Utterly chilling.

[argumate]

oh but some people are saying the protagonist in Obsession isn't an incel as he has friends and a woman isn't interested in him (the other one) but technically I'd say his inability to open express his interest in the woman he has a crush on is absolutely incel behaviour, it's not about actually being unloved it's about believing yourself unlovable.

[hasturphosphur]

I wouldnt say Bear's an incel, he's incel adjacent, he's a Nice Guy.

The term Incel has expanded and become somewhat of a catchall term for all kinds of strange and awkward male behavior. But he's definitely not a bitter misogynist which I'd argue is the core of being an Incel on a spiritual level.

The term has certainly evolved since Alana invented it back in 1997.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Popular Miyawaki reforestation method lacks evidence, study finds

The popular Miyawaki method of reforestation, often used to create “mini-forests” in urban areas, lacks empirical evidence to support its cl

The popular Miyawaki method of reforestation, often used to create “mini-forests” in urban areas, lacks empirical evidence to support its claimed benefits, according to a new study. Proponents of the method have claimed rapid growth is achieved by soil improvement and dense planting, the latter of which causes saplings to complete for sunlight. The Miyawaki method has also been claimed to accelerate succession, enhance biodiversity, boost carbon sequestration, and increase tree density. In the study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology in December 2025, researchers reviewed 51 pieces of scientific literature on the Miyawaki method and found that only 41% provided quantitative assessments. Of these, only 33% included a control and a mere 14% included replication, key elements of the scientific method.

[...]

Fernández, Morales and their co-authors write in their study that among the reviewed documents, the two most common claims about the Miyawaki method were that “it promotes rapid growth (up to ten times faster) and that the forest reaches maturity within a relatively short time span (20 to 30 years).” They found the former claim “partially supported,” while the latter had “null empirical evidence.” The study also assessed claims about the Miyawaki method’s climate and ecological benefits, finding eight out of 51 of the papers they reviewed assert that the method increases carbon sequestration. However, only two papers actually estimated carbon stocks, and they “found no statistically significant differences compared to other methods over longer time periods.”

[...]

“The effectiveness of the Miyawaki method — or other restoration strategies — may depend, at least in part, on which ecological processes dominate in each ecosystem,” their study states. The pair says that in Mediterranean climate ecosystems like that around Santiago, with dry, hot summers and mild winters, plants collaborate rather than compete for resources. This contrasts with a key tenet of the Miyawaki method, which holds that plants will compete for resources. “We are not against the Miyawaki method,” Fernández emphasizes. “But we are worried that a method that was designed for specific conditions is being applied everywhere.”

13 May 2026

[argumate]

President Donald Trump made more than 21,000 securities trades in his first year back in office, often in intense bursts tied to market events he created.

The total dollar value of the trades was somewhere between $600 million and $1.86 billion, according to his financial disclosure for 2025, which lists values in broad ranges. Many of the transactions involve large companies that have business with the federal government.

Trump averaged 85 trades per market day, an analysis of the report shows. Just 10 days accounted for about a quarter of all trades executed in 2025. Many of those came during heightened volatility on Wall Street after Trump had already announced policy changes.

somebody [remembers I am in America] participate in the democratic process

[argumate]

It has been clear for some time that President Trump’s forays into the crypto world have been lucrative, but the stunning disclosure that those ventures earned him some $1.4 billion last year underscored the different reality the president is living in from many of the investors who have embraced digital assets alongside him.

The president raked in cash by issuing new assets—World Liberty tokens and memecoins. But those who bought them at high prices had to suffer as their value went belly up, part of a wider crash in crypto. Political followers and crypto true believers who bought into the Trump brand were left holding the bag. A crypto summer for the president was a crypto winter for them.

seriously what happened to the president at least pretending to put their assets in a blind trust, come on

President Carter was a millionaire, worth about $5 million in 2019 dollars. The trust was worth about $784,000, about $3.7 million now.

imagine if Jimmy Carter earned a billion dollars from crypto scams

[captain-price-returns]

Theyve mobilized faster against this than anything in the past 10 years and to me that pretty much says it all and justifies what so many have said about them.

[quasi-normalcy]

They won't mobilize to defend your rights but they will mobilize to prevent YOU from defending your rights.

[jeaniefranklins]

outside the box, off the record

on queerness and the law and how they (didn't) intersect in history

To the modern ear, “sodomy” has a very specific meaning: anal sex, usually performed by two men. This is actually a fairly recent development. In the Middle Ages, “sodomy” was an umbrella term that covered, essentially, anything that wasn’t strictly procreative sex. Hand stuff? Sodomy. Intercrural? Sodomy. Anal? Sodomy. Cunnilingus? Sodomy. So to call someone “a sodomite” in this period was vague enough to be functionally meaningless: you were just identifying them as someone who occasionally had sex in a format other than missionary with their eyes closed and no foreplay. Most people were sodomites by the medieval definition. And because it was so widespread, the punishment for it was considerably lighter than you may be imagining. It’s crucial to remember that sexual sin was not punished by the manorial courts in this period: it was punished by the church. So if you got caught in the act, and/or confessed to your priest, you were more likely to be assigned ten Hail Marys and a year of bread and water than you were to be flogged in the town square.

new blog post! queer law, penis trees, and swallowing. in that order.