I Should Be Sleeping

[danshive]

👨‍🏫 “So here’s the premise of Newcomb’s problem: Box A is transparent, and definitely has a thousand dollars in it.

Box B is opaque, and MIGHT have a million dollars in it.

😗 “Okay…”

👨‍🏫 “You have two options: You can take both Box A and Box B, or you can JUST take Box B.

BUT! There is a super computer. This super computer can predict with almost perfect accuracy whether you will take one or both boxes.

If it predicted you’d take BOTH boxes A and B, Box B will be empty.

If it predicted you’d ONLY take box B, Box B will have a million dollars.

This is only explained AFTER you enter the room, and you have no advanced knowledge before entering the room.”

😗 “So whether Box B has a million dollars in it is decided before I enter the room. What’s in it will not change.”

👨‍🏫 “Correct!”

😗 “And I have no advance knowledge of this challenge, and therefore no opportunity to try and trick the super computer. I cannot consciously influence its prediction.”

👨‍🏫 “Correct!”

😗 “By the time I’m in the room, it is literally impossible for me to change whether there is a million dollars in Box B.

The question may as well be simplified to ‘do you want to chance walking away without any prize money for no reason?’”

👨‍🏫 “Well, philosophically, there’s more nuance than—”

😗 “Even if I genuinely believed it made sense to only take Box B, nothing I do once in the room will change whether there’s a million dollars in Box B. That decision has already been made.

There is no objective benefit to not taking both boxes regardless of what I thought prior to entering the room.

The idea that I can manipulate the outcome by only taking Box B is an illusion of power. The only power I have in this situation is whether I’m out that thousand dollars.

I might not care about that thousand dollars if I get the million, but nothing changes if I only take Box B beyond not getting that thousand dollars.”

👨‍🏫 “What if the super computer is infallible and can’t be wrong?”

😗 “Then I fry it with my laser eyes.”

👨‍🏫 “What?”

😗 “If the super computer can be magic, I can have laser eyes.”

[edorielle]

One of the things I’ve been meaning to do for a while now: update my map of the Yeerk Empire. I’ve made a lot of progress on my fic since the first version, so it was about time to tweak a few things.

Not a ton of changes, just:

I moved the Yeerk, Taxxon, and Hork-Bajir homeworlds around a bit, because it’s going to matter (for a tiny paragraph in the middle of a chapter no one will notice). That’s just my nitpicky side—I can’t stand fantasy novels where the heroes somehow cross 300 kilometers in two days... Okay, I didn’t go so far as to double-check all my travel distances either, but you get the idea. (Anyway, canon says Z-Space can shift around so…🙃)

I added three new worlds: Makersa (Mak homeworld), Solerki, and an unnamed Andalite colony. The first two will only get a brief mention, but I still think they’re important enough to place on the map. The third one will be where the Ongachic lab arc ends—but for now, I’m not ready to give it a name.

On that note, I'm going back to my fic, hoping to post a new chapter before Friday 🤞

[raccoonmilf]

Chat, is it considered “abusive roommate behavior” to release a raccoon into the living space after you have asked your roommate for months to please clean up their messes (they do not pay any of the mortgage)

[raccoonmilf]

For context, when I used to live alone I would do something called “Princess Time” where I would do an initial sweep (to remove any significant hazards) and then I would release a raccoon into the living area and clean. This helped because I would 1) feel like a princess and 2) the raccoon would bring attention to things my ADHD brain had decided to ignore and I’d quickly clean that stuff up.

So like, if I’m expected to clean the house now, I will be doing it in the way that is most effective for me. And anything that has not been cleaned up after months of having sit-down talks and sending reminders and being promised things will change, might be deemed “trash” by the trash panda and thrown away.

[raccoonmilf]

We haven’t done since we moved into the house, because I didn’t want to cause my roommate or their cats destress or have their things destroyed by a raccoon

[raccoonmilf]

I am a raccoon biologist and one of the few people in the state allowed to take in captive bred raccoons that had been possessed illegally. The raccoon in the photos is Moonshine, but she is currently at the animal sanctuary where I work as I had been quarantining multiple new intakes from an abuse case. I still have two males (Rum Tum Tugger and Electra) left in my home enclosure as we are getting them neutered and then hopefully sending them to an AZA accredited zoo.

I wanna make things very clear that underneath all the whimsy, I am a trained professional.

[raccoonmilf]

Those vibes are likely because I’m the original creator of Dashcon and my personality has not changed since 2012 lmao

[fipindustries]

[targetedknowledge]

[muffinlance]

Calico out there putting tuxedo on the mats

[do-you-have-a-flag]

[enki2]

[transcyberism]

ok but this unironically works. talk about how the working class is exploited and you can basically sell full-on marxism to your average republican if you do it right. all you have to do is avoid the words "Marx," "capitalism," "socialism," "communism," "means of production," etc - just use synonyms. say "big business" or "corporate shareholder interests" instead of "capitalists." say "a government that prioritizes the needs of the working people" instead of "socialism." it WORKS. I've DONE it. the hardest sell are usually things like social and racial equity, welfare, things like that, because people have been primed with the racist/classist idea that those things are somehow unfair - but you can get your foot in the door to getting them to buy into those too if you start with class issues. read up on your theory, make sure you REALLY understand your own ideology, because that will enable you to reword it and successfully sell it.

[a-ginger-in-black]

In my experience, you can often help sell 'welfare' stuff by appealing to self-interest with a touch of Aren't We Great.

Disability benefits: "I mean, sure, there are probably some sad sacks who are gaming the system, there always are, but hell, with the amount of taxes we pay, the government can afford a few freeloaders, right? I'd rather pay for a couple people who don't really need it than not have the system at all for if I need it, or my kids do, or whatever. I mean shit happens. What if some asshole drunk driver puts me in the hospital and it takes me a year to get back on my feet? Or Heaven forbid something permanent happens. I'll sure be glad that I can get disability then, won't I?"

UBI: "I dunno, the kind of guy who'll just sit on the couch playing Call of Duty all day if he doesn't have to work, I kinda don't want him on my job site anyway. That type is just taking up a place that you could fill with someone who'll actually get the job done, you know? You end up short-handed even though you technically have enough people because everyone else has to pick up his slack. And it'd mean that if your boss is a dick you can tell him to shove it and not worry your kids are gonna go hungry while you find a better place. We can sure as hell afford it."

Racial equity: "I've got a lot more in common with a Black guy who's just trying to get the job done than I do with some rich white asshole who thinks the sun shines out of his ass because of how much money mommy and daddy have."

[didy414]

yayayayayahoo

[noob-handler]

Gooseworx didn't deactivate, she was banned

Recently, you cannot access Gooseworx's blog anymore, and people thought she deactivated her Tumblr. However, she was actually banned. When someone deactivates their main blog, a string of numbers and letters is attached to their username: "-deactivated[year][month][day]"

When you look at posts made by Gooseworx, there's no "deactivated" and no numbers

Some speculate that this might have been a sideblog, since there's no "deactivated" string if you delete a sideblog, but it was her main blog. You can't use sideblogs to like posts. If you search "Gooseworx liked this" on google, you will find proof ithat she liked multiple Tumblr posts.

All of this adds up to one thing: Gooseworx was banned from Tumblr. And why? Gooseworx is a trans woman, and Tumblr staff hates trans women and bans them for no reason, and also, there is an ongoing harassment campaign against Gooseworx, so I bet they must have mass-reported her blog and gotten her banned. Fuck the "tadc critical" community, anyone in the "anti tadc" or "anti gooseworx" tags is NOT to be trusted!!!!!! They weaponized staff's transmisogyny to ban a successful trans woman off the platform all because the show didn't end the way they wanted it to.

[strangestcase]

This is UNTRUE!!!! If you’re new to Catholicism you HAVE to listen to MEEEEEEEEE. Here’s my advice:

Leave

[wnacn]

Drew on the wrong layer again…

[jenroses]

Weirdly, the more bored and resigned I sound about getting a medical thing checked out the more efficiently they check it out. Like, "Hi, I have had 4 pulmonary emboli and I'm having leg pain which is probably not a clot but I'd feel very stupid if it was and I didn't get it checked out."

ER doctor: you mean if I just send you for a leg ultrasound right now and it's clear you'll leave?

Me, picking up my book: yeah, I'm just gonna read until we get it done

Fastest ER visit ever (it was not in fact a clot but I sure would have felt dumb if it had been)

Or, "hey so this test result came back weird and so I think we have to rule out a benign pituitary tumor."

The more specific I get with what I need the faster they order tests. For the RA diagnosis it was, "hey this is probably some weird post viral arthralgia but could we do an arthritis panel since I've got 27 affected joints?"

If the doctor says something dismissive or they don't know, I ask for them to refer me to someone with more expertise in this area.

I had to go through three different practices to find a spinal surgeon who did not tell me that operating on me would be too dangerous because I'm fat. But the third one was like, "Oh, I'm not worried about you coding, there's just a risk that it won't work. But it has a hundred percent failure rate if we don't try."

I did not code. The surgery worked. Was it perfect? No. Did it drastically improve my quality of life? It gave me my fucking life back. I can sit. I can be out in the world and not in blinding pain.

It is so important to not take dismissals and such as the final answer. I got so much bullshit for so many years. It nearly killed me twice, people blowing off clots as muscle pain or "depression".

Track your symptoms. Make a list. Talk about how it affects your quality of life. Ask for physical therapy, ask for second opinions. If you have an idea of what might be wrong, ask them to help you rule it out. Also ask for patient assistance, nonprofit hospitals have it. You might have to go through their labs and their doctors but it can cover an awful lot.

Take a friend with you, or a family member. My pcp asks if I want a chaperone (I don't) but literally having an extra person with you can help.

Being me feels like a full time job sometimes, medically, but no one else is stepping up to it, you know?

[galileosballs]

The 'cartoon wardrobe' thing where a character in an animated thing only ever wears one outfit doesn't bother me. That's just their design. 'But what about laundry' just isn't a particularly interesting detail to care about.

But if you have a character with one of those Always Outfits, and then there's a timeskip and they show up again a bit older than before, you have to give them something new to wear. I'm willing to ignore laundry, but I've never met a 15-year-old who wants to wear the same thing she wore when she was 12. Laundry isn't an interesting detail. How the character has changed over the timeskip, and how that can be represented in their design, absolutely is.

Hell, it can't even be the same outfit, becuase there's simply no chance it would still fit. The only way to explain the continued use of the costume is if this character intentionally chose to buy a larger version of exactly the same thing they were already wearing every day three years ago to wear every day now. That's an incredibly specific character beat. And it's not one that makes sense for most of the characters who do this. You're already making new art! Just toss two hours of wage at a designer to give them a character-appropriate new fit as well! You can keep the theme colour!

[reginaldqueribundus]

I think the reason Spock & McCoy’s relationship worked but Pulaski’s treatment of Data set off so many fans is the latter was completely one-sided. Spock was perfectly capable of defending himself; he had a rapier wit, gave as good as he got and sometimes was the one sassing Bones before the doctor even started anything. Whereas Data has trouble with social cues, nuance and humour. Without the witty repartée McCoy & Spock enjoyed, all you had left was a soft-spoken, almost childlike at times android politely correcting the mean lady who kept calling him a machine. It wasn’t a fair fight. And when you throw into the mix many people reading Data as an allegory for folks on the autism spectrum, well that just makes her look even worse. If the writers had done a better job, given Data some subtle zingers to throw her way, maybe it would’ve worked, but they didn’t. So instead of them bickering like an old married couple, Pulaski just looked like an asshole picking on the guy who couldn’t use sarcasm.

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

That, and the dynamic is slightly different.

While Spock’s status as a half human does make him part of an oppressed minority on his home planet, that’s not something that a human from outside the culture would necessarily be able to grasp the full implications of.

Instead, McCoy’s jokes are typically about Spock being a Vulcan, and Spock is able to shoot back with snarky comments about humanity.

It works because both species have roughly equal political power. Though Spock’s status as the only Vulcan onboard might tip the scales a little in that regard, fundamentally McCoy’s cracks about his ears don’t pose any threat to him, any more than his comments about “illogical minds” pose any threat to his human crew mates.

By comparison, Data’s position is much more precarious.

Though the Enterprise crew seem to mostly accept him, he still faces regular challenges to his personhood. He has to ask Captain Picard not to refer to Lore (the closest thing to another member of his ‘species’) as an “it”; he is challenged over his right to procreate; he is made to defend his ownership rights over his own body in a court of law on pain of being fucking dismantled.

And it’s the Federation— aka ‘the good guys'— who do this to him. Data’s rights and personhood are always considered conditional, even by his fellow crew members.

He can’t defend himself against Pulaski, not only because of his problems with communication and social cues, but also because— unlike Spock— he can’t really afford to make witty remarks about his own perceived areas of superiority.

His continued right to work on the ship and be treated as a person is basically dependent on the support of human advocates like Picard. Even if he didn’t genuinely seem to consider human nature to be superior to his own, going on about how great androids are was what got Lore taken to bits and stuffed in cupboard.

I’m not saying that Data necessarily has to worry about that happening to him on the Enterprise, but the fact that Starfleet probably wouldn’t care too much if it did happen (so long as Data wasn’t actually damaged) creates a bigger power imbalance between him and Pulaski than existed between Spock and McCoy, and so their interactions hit differently.

[reginaldqueribundus]

sorry but this is such brilliant commentary I have to reblog it

[chimaerakitten]

#yeah it’s important that Vulcans are not only social and political equals to humans - they seem to be regarded as#intellectual and cultural superiors in some ways#in the Federation broadly#McCoy mocking Spock’s Vulcan-ness and Spock firing back about humans feel more like Brits and Yanks making fun of each other#and yeah he definitely doesn’t seem to get that Spock is touchy about his mixed-heritage identity#(though that is partially because Spock refuses to talk about his feelings or his family ever)#But there is definitely an equal playing field nature to it#that is just not there between Data and Pulaski

preserving @specialagentartemis’s tags for posterity because yeah this—Brits and Yanks feels like such a relevant comparison

[thethirdromana]

The worst types of cookbook:

The Ottolenghi - it is vital that you use 1g of this very expensive ingredient. It comes from a 500g bag with a one-week shelf life.

The time machine - 15-minute recipe! First, leave to marinate overnight...

The dishwasher - one-pot recipe! Now decant your ingredients and wipe out your pot. And again. And again. And again.

The optimist - cook the onions until caramelised (2 minutes).

The kindergarten teacher - get one nommable little tree of broccoli and bosh that into boiling water. Delish!

The brand names only - ingredients: Ritz crackers, Philadelphia cheese, Cool Whip, orange Jell-o...

The 1950s palate - use one (1) clove of garlic and a small pinch of chili flakes (omit if preferred).

The why bother with a cookbook - to make beans on toast, gently heat a tin of beans and put on top of freshly buttered toast.

[thethirdromana]

#the overachiever: make this very time consuming ingredient from scratch even though it'll end up tasting worse than store bought

Amen to this @akasanata. "Now make your puff pastry from scratch". How about no❤️

[bluecatwriter]

• The aesthetic cookbook: Lush full-color photographs of every dish plus dreamy photos of everyone enjoying said dishes in a lush spread on a picnic table underneath redwood trees. The book is 100 pages and there are four actual recipes in it

[olderthannetfic]

Reading is in the trenches because why did my 9 yr old nephew look at the word "jealous" and said "jewish"? And when asked why he mistaken it as such he said they both started with a "J". It's like his brain is doing autofill. No matter how many time I try to tell him slow down and sound out the words he just won't.

--

TRAP CARD ACTIVATED

No, but seriously, anon, you need to look into what's going on in his classroom because he's probably being taught this trash method instead of phonics. He does not know how to slow down and sound things out because his school has never taught him that. When you tell him to do this, he has no context for what you're even talking about.

This has come up repeatedly here, and I don't have time to froth at the mouth today, but look up "whole language".

This podcast made waves a few years ago when all the lockdown parents discovered, to their horror, that their kiddos weren't being taught to read in the NORMAL FUCKING WAY WE'VE USED FOR LITERALLY CENTURIES and were instead being taught a fake-ass method backed by vibes and antivax-levels of pseudoscience.

Intervene now, anon, or he's never going to read well.

[kittenwriter]

I remember one of my grade school teachers discussing with my mother the differences between me and my sister at learning to read, and he described me as a "sight reader from the start"... which is to say, an acknowledgement that most people do not do that and it's not reasonable to expect that of the majority of kids, who really do need the phonics and the "sound things out."

Generally speaking if a kid has arrived at school not knowing how to read already, they're not going to do well with sight reading and need phonics. The few kids who develop The Reading in the way the whole language people think they should do it before they hit school.

[olderthannetfic]

So true. I know a retired teacher who bawwws and tries to contradict me when I rant about whole language at our knitting meetup. She's all "different kids need different approaches!" and "I saw it work!"...

But of course it feels intuitively sensible to her. She taught herself to read at age 2. That's the exact kind of experience that does make this method sound reasonable. But like you say, if it's going to happen, it happens very early and without the school curriculum.

As for me, I've said it before, but I assume anon wasn't around: I could not learn to read.

I was in second grade. (First grade? I can't remember. Around then.) Most of my classmates were reading at least a little. Me: nothing. I could not learn.

It was even a god damn private school, but I had to have a fucking tutor. I got dragged over to that lady's office a few days a week for... two months? Four months? It really wasn't that long, as far as I know. I was more than ready to learn. I just needed an actual fucking method that wasn't lying trash. Almost at once I jumped from nothing to reading well above grade level. For the rest of my childhood, I continued to diverge from my classmates in how many words I knew, how well I could read, the works. Every year of grade school makes that gap widen. I was on the desirable side of that gap. I was lucky.

It's obvious how verbal I am from reading my tl;dr on this blog.

But I could not learn to read.

I was a couple years younger than this nephew, but not that much younger. It's not too late. Now is the perfect time for some tutoring. If you can afford it, get a pro. If you can't, do your best. But you've got to do something.

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

The four cueing systems if whole language reading education are a band-aid method used by severely dyslexic people. When people's dyslexia is so bad that they simply cannot learn to read effectively, tricks like cueing allow them to function well enough in society to get by. They do NOT teach proper literacy.

This system was popularised by a guy who is obviously dyslexic, refuses to acknowledge that when asked, and essentially decided that everyone else must be like him and therefore the system that helped him get by was a substitute for real literacy since it was so much faster and more achievable for him to learn to "read" this way than phonically. It's kind of like if somebody without hands was learning to sew, found it incredibly frustrating to do without hands, so they started putting their creations together entirely with fabric glue which they found easier to apply... and told everyone how much easier it was so all the schools got rid of needles and thread and sewing machines and everyone was taught to "sew" using fabric glue only and then wondered why their clothing kept falling apart on their bodies.

[geee13]

[wondersmith-and-sons]

Andor S02E08 "Who Are You?" / Rogue One (Dir. Gareth Edwards) / GNU Terry Pratchett

[artyphex]

“There are no female aliens in our game because we don’t know how to make a female version of this alien” You know that alien you just designed? That male alien? Give it a female voice actor and have characters refer to it as she. That’s it. That’s literally all you have to do 

Make her shorter if you must

Make her BIGGER if you aren’t a coward 

[moonwatcher13]

Take your male alien bodytype, make her like 4 feet taller, give her an extra set of arms and sharper teeth, and as muscular as shit.

Boom.

[skywalkerchick1138]

[lemonsharks]

Give her natural camouflage and make the man like this

Make them exactly the same size and shape but different colors

Give him a huge flock of babies following him around to show off what a great lay he is

Surprise mPreganté

Exactly the same but one of them has a cool hat (you decide which)

Give her a sensible haircut for successful hunting while he has a big dumb mullet so big and dumb the food can see him coming and book it

Please just for the love of pie do not begin and end with boobs

[trainsgenderfoxgirl2816]

you can have fun with Sexual Diamorphism