With all the talk about telling people to start planting and growing crops to feed themselves and their communities during this time of crisis, I’m surprised I haven’t seen much about HOW MUCH to plant to feed people. Here’s a good article to serve as a jumping-off point, to give people an idea of when to plant and how much to plant to keep people fed. Keep in mind that unless you live on a fairly sizeable plot of land that has ideal growing conditions, you probably won’t be able to completely feed a family of four, at least with traditional gardening methods. However, you can still heavily supplement your diet with homegrown food if you plot your garden carefully.
It's time to plan the vegetable garden, but how much should you plant per person to feed your family?
Some things you can do to save space include growing plants in stackable towers rather than flat rows. Not everything can grow this way, but growing herbs or even strawberries or some kinds of tomatoes in them can save a lot of space. Bonus points if you can get some vertical vining plants like beans or tomatoes to grow up the sides of them to maximize the space used.
Hanging planters can also be used for things like tomatoes, herbs, some berries, etc. The people who grew up watching TV in the 2000s may remember ads for the topsy-turvy tomato planter. I can’t vouch for the effectiveness of them, but it may be good inspiration for creative DIY hanging planters.
Many people don’t seem to know this (to be fair, it’s not very intuitive), but small melons and gourds can be grown vertically on a trellis. You will need pantyhose or something else that can act like a sling for when the fruit gets large enough, and you’ll also want to make sure the trellis is very sturdy. Here is an example of a watermelon growing on a trellis, with squash growing in the background:
Other good options that require a bit more DIY are hydroponics towers and walls. It’s basically just a series of pipes with holes for plants to grow out of. The only downside is they will require very regular fertilization and supplementation with other micronutrients that are essential for plant growth, because the plants are typically grown in either a non-nutritious medium like coconut coir or nothing at all.
Planter walls are the next step down, basically just building shelves with pots in them to fill with soil. Put these on a wall that gets good morning sun and some afternoon sunlight for best results. These and hydroponics both also have the advantage of being able to hook up to your gutters so that rainwater will go towards watering your plants rather than just being wasted.
If you want to get really fancy, aquaponics is the next step up. With aquaponics, you create a system that circulates water between plants and a tank full of fish. The fish waste provides fertilizer for the plants, and the plants help filter out the waste so the water stays cleaner. I’ve heard they’re a bit tricky to establish, but once you find the right balance, all you’ll need to do is feed the fish. This has the added bonus of providing a source of fish for people who can’t eat things like nuts and legumes but need protein. Here is a link to an article explaining what aquaponics is, how it works, and how it differs from hydroponics.
WHAT IS AQUAPONICS? What is Aquaponics? Many definitions of aquaponics recognize the ‘ponics’ part of this word for hydroponics which is gro
I also want to add that if you don’t have the space or ability to maintain a large garden, there are other options. Find or create a group with access to enough food to supplement or completely fulfill your diet, and offer another service. If you have space for a vermicompost bin or tower, that can still help contribute to the garden. Learning other skills like soap making, cooking, sewing/knitting/crocheting, electrical skills like wiring and soldering, welding, woodworking/carpentry, etc. means you will still have valuable skills to contribute towards the group, and this will set up the basis for a larger mutual aid network within your community.
Unless you have a huge amount of land, resources, a shitload of free time and a lot of gardening skills, trying to live completely off your own garden within a year is a ridiculous idea.
Most of us can’t do it ever even if we use all our space perfectly. Some of us can do it after years of building those skills, and we might still have bad years. And in the end, what does it get us? Self-reliance is a right-wing preppers dream but it isn’t what we should be aiming for.
If we’re thinking about collective survival and we’re looking at food as part of that survival, there’s two things that work:
Start a community garden. Bring together the resources, time and skills by getting together in a big group.
Or learn to grow a few crops really well and share them with all your friends.
The last one is what I’m going for and it works great. You can chose a few crops that are perfect for your soil, shade/sun conditions, skill level, amount of time, etc. Perfect those crops so you’ll have a huge harvest, and share share share. With a couple of friends doing the same, it’s much easier to get to a point where you’re no longer relying on stores for your fruit and veg.
If you have permanent long term space but limited time? Fruit trees and berry bushes.
If you have a lot of nice soil and can do physically exhausting work? Potatoes, pumpkins, zucchini.
If you have a green house? SOOOO many tomatoes. Fruits that require warmth. etc.
Are you a gardening nerd with time and an interest in learning complicated plants? Take on the challenges like broccoli, cauliflower and depending on your needs, location and options, maybe cannabis? Or build a permaculture garden if that’s your thing.
If you have a balcony or window sill or prefer to do light work in high mobile planters due to limited space or mobility? Leafy greens, herbs, radishes, carrots, maybe a small tomato plant.
Together, we have complementary needs and abilities.
I was talking to a friend last night about how he’s closing down his garden for the winter, what worked this year and what he wants to repeat and try new next. He said squash, cucumber and beans have always worked from seed, they’re easy and good producers if you’re in a 5-8 climate.
Peppers are perennials and we talked about bucket planting for those so you can bring them inside if your winters get cold to overwinter and bring them back out in the spring.
In learning how to garden and grow produce it helps to start small and scale up year to year. Try new varieties and planters and spots in the garden, find ways to allow things to volunteer in the spring (leaving peppers, basil and other plants to cast seeds directly). You’ll learn and grow so much, even if much of it isn’t edible.
Remember to grow flowers too - not just because they are pretty but they will attract pollinators who will help your produce grow too! Sunflowers grow great in the US so don’t sleep on those babes.
I live in a city where we can’t grow produce in the ground due to industrial contamination but we’re experimenting with raised beds. This year’s attempt was a 3 sister mound and we only got a couple handfuls of green beans out of the effort but we learned SO MUCH and those green beans tasted all the sweeter because we watched them grow.
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Thousands of acres of rainforest is being cleared to produce palm oil, used in popular Nestlé and Mondelēz brands
West Papua’s Indigenous people have called for a boycott of KitKat, Smarties and Aero chocolate, Oreo biscuits and Ritz crackers, and the cosmetics brands Pantene and Herbal Essences, over alleged ecocide in their territory.
All are products that contain palm oil and are made, say the campaigners, by companies that source the ingredient directly from West Papua, which has been under Indonesian control since 1963 and where thousands of acres of rainforest are being cleared for agriculture.
More than 90 West Papuan tribes, political organisations and religious groups have endorsed the call for a boycott, which they say should continue until the people of West Papua are given the right to self-determination.
Raki Ap, a spokesperson for the United Liberation Movement for West Papua, which is overseeing the call, said: “These products are linked to human rights violations, in the first place, because West Papuans are being forced, with violence, to get off the land where they’ve lived for thousands of years, which has now resulted in ecocide.
“This is a signal to the countries who are dealing with Indonesia, especially those in the Pacific region, to take notice of who they’re dealing with and how they are basically allowing Indonesia to continue the colonial project in West Papua, the human rights violations, and also ecocide.”
West Papuans say more than 500,000 of their people have been killed by the occupation in the past six decades, while millions of acres of their ancestral lands have been destroyed for corporate profit. Indonesia, already the world’s largest palm oil exporter, is now breaking ground in West Papua on the world’s biggest single palm oil plantation, as well as a sugar cane and biofuel plantation that will be the largest deforestation project ever launched.
“West Papuans’, especially the ULMWP, position is very clear: we are a modern-day colony,” said Ap, speaking from the Netherlands.
“Indonesia hijacked the right to self-determination in 1962 when the Netherlands and Indonesia signed an agreement without any consultation in West Papua … After that, in 1969, there was a so-called referendum, which wasn’t fair, which wasn’t under international law, one man, one vote: just 1,025 men were handpicked at gunpoint to vote for integration to Indonesia.
“So this is the foundation of the Indonesia’s colonial project. When we became part of Indonesia against our will, basically the genocide unfolded.”
i had to make a solution for this for myself, mostly because of depression, but it makes a nice How To for folks who are low on spoons or could use some help in the kitchen.
Fortunately i was a professional cook for over a decade. UNfortunately the first post i made explaining it was suuuuper long. Let's see if i can do better
So you select any protein that you can cook in a frying pan -- chicken breasts, ground beef, pork chops, sausages, steak, chicken thighs, whatever. You also select one or two types of veggie (mushrooms or tubers also work, i just did this with potatoes and carrots for dinner tonight).
[i like cooking for vegetarians, but this is how i cook for myself when i'm low on spoons - perhaps i'll do another post for meatless meals]
You'll also need some kind of oil, and a sauce or two of your choice in a bottle. All cooking gear is a large frying pan with lid (i prefer non-stick) a spatula, a cutting board, and a knife.
You cut the veggies into bite size pieces, cut up enough for two meals. One kind of veggie is fine, or you can do mix two or three
Put frying pan on medium heat with a little oil. Tubers or mushrooms or go in the pan a few minutes before the protein. 2 portions of the protein goes in the pan, about 5 minutes with lid (don't worry you can still get a good sear on both sides)
Now flip your protein if it's flip-able and add normal veggies, put the lid back on another five-ish minutes.
Take your protein out and put it with one portion of the veggies in a microwave safe container. That's going to be your lunch tomorrow. Put the other portion of protein on a plate to rest (you have to let a cooked protein sit a couple minutes before you serve it or when you cut into it all the juices run out and it goes dry - the liquids thicken as it cools, preventing this drying out if you let it rest, the goal is to serve it very warm but not hot hot)
While it's resting, pour some sauce from your bottle in the pan with the rest of the veggies and turn up the heat. A single sauce/bottle is fine, i like to get fancy and mix a couple. Two examples of personal favorite mixes are 1: bbq sauce and a hot sauce like sriracha 2: roughly equal parts low sodium soy sauce and worcestershire (makes something similar to a teriyaki sauce) A swallow of wine is almost always a great option if you want to add that to your sauce too, just add it to the pan before the other sauces so the alcohol has time to burn off.
...
Here is the important bit. While your veggies are finishing, wash your cutting board and chef knife. Then when you dump your veggies and sauce over your protein on the plate, while it is still too hot to eat, you wash your frying pan and spatula before you eat. Now the only dishes you have left to do are your plate and fork. Maybe a steak knife.
...
The whole thing takes about 35 minutes even with washing the dishes, and that includes your lunch for the next day- just pour a different sauce on and stick it in the microwave for a couple minutes (or five minutes back in the frying pan) and you have a full healthy lunch with a different flavor
You can use this technique every single meal and it yields hundreds of combinations, from pork and potatoes bbq, to salmon and broccoli teriyaki, to chicken and zucchini in a soy glaze.
It will keep you down to less than an hour of kitchen time per day total for both lunch and dinner including all dish clean up, uses the least dishes, the least effort, requires the least technique, and is, depending on what you pick out, very affordable
here are a couple more examples from this month; i didn’t take pictures of the salmon i did recently, but you get the idea
it's not super fancy, but it is easy, affordable, quick, and any flavors you want. Hope this helps some folks
Will you celebrate and defend transmasculine anger the way you have put up female rage on a pedestal prior to his transition, or will the righteousness of his anger be invalidated when it can no longer be made pretty with a dress?
Or will you demand that he make himself smaller upon transition? Will you revoke his right to revenge when he grows facial hair? Will you see his body as the shape of an enemy when he comes to you bleeding and begs for rest before he goes back out to the battle? Will you deem him unsafe in his sleep, now that you know his name is Jenson and not Jennifer, Mark and not Miriam, Noel instead of Noelle? And when you push him into the grave and burry him alive to make yourself feel better, will you call that righteous too?
y'know there might be some kind of precedent for this one maybe. like some long-standing and incredibly dangerous pattern of men being allowed to get away with failing to regulate their emotions in ways that become extremely harmful to those around them, most often the women in their life. like there are some extant realities of the world we live in that make male rage really difficult to glorify because as it stands all it nets us is spousal murder and child abuse or something. and maybe the attempts by women to reclaim the alternative could be some kind of pushback against the framing that women are just rashly emotional and should be disparaged for it. like reclaiming and romanticizing the negative and antiquated framing that women are just inherently emotionally driven helps people recognize positive aspects of themselves in the ways cultures can often demonize them while trying to do the same for men just plays directly into the have-their-cake-and-eat-it-too mentality through which men are touted as having nothing of an internal life and quietly excused when that harmful concept reaches its boiling point. and maybe just maybe if you transition and what you feel the need to identify with and reclaim is "male rage" and people raise eyebrows and question their safety around you, your response should not be that they're failing you as friends or allies, but to think critically about why that's the case and how flagrantly and willfully replicating the conditions under which people are made seriously unsafe by their loved ones can exacerbate that. just some thoughts
I'm allowed to be angry about the abuse I have experienced under the patriarchy and are transphobic/homophobic/racist society and I am allowed to be angry about the fact that spaces where I was previously allowed to express this anger and spaces that celebrated that anger now think it's OK to throw me back to the system that originally abused me because I have facial hair now so I'm too scary to be in these #rightious-girl-rage spaces. And I'm very much allowed to be angry about the fact that people have decided me being angry about being abused by both cishet-patriarchal society and also queer feminist circles is the same as white cishet men being celebrated for their violence.
So go fuck yourself.
This is a post about how trans men prior to our transitions build communities through constructive anger and then once we transitioned are forcibly removed from those spaces and pushed back into spaces where will be comtiunted to be abused by the cishet normative society and patriarchy.
This is a post about how we're not allowed to express our emotions once cis women can no longer view us as "special-afab-person" and are forced to actually view us as men then decide we are disgusting and threatening for existing post-transition.
So go fuck yourself.
Cis male anger in media might be celebrated, but transmasculine anger is punished by everyone and everything from the healthcare system to feminist circles, from the patriarchy to the pride parade. It's made clear by everyone the ideal trans man is completely silent at all times and certainly never voices complaint when he is abused.
It's made clear that the trans man will be punished if he is angry about being sexually assulated, he will be punished of he is angry about facing domestic abuse, he will be punished if he is angry about dealing with medical abuse, he will be punished if he is angry about the circles he will have to jump through to get the same privileges that were handed to him when he presented as a cis woman, he will be punished if he is angry about the spaces he helped build kicking him about after he starts testoerone, he will be punished if he is angry about the stigmatizion surrounding his HRT or GRS/SRS, and by God, he will be punished if he is angry about being punished for his compeltley reasonable emotional reaction to him being angry about being abused. In all situations, any expression of emotion will be used to punish him.
i have to agree with OP. i may be transfemme but god he has a point.
transfemme people also face backlash for feminine rage if they don’t pass. trans people in general face major backlash when they do anything not seen to fit in their fucking gender because god forbid they be people or feel emotions and lash out. we at least have reason to lash out because no matter what we do we’re spit on by society. we’re treated like a sick joke. and mocked and locked out of spaces even amongst ourselves because god some one not fucking perfect be trans or else that’s how everyone will perceive. the scapegoat.
there’s no room for trans rage because god forbid we be upset.
Thank you 💕 and thank you for sharing your experiences as well. Lord knows, we all have to be in this together.
Every trans person who has had to shave their face and soften their voice when speaking, so they're not seen as a "threat" (therefore making us easy to dismiss or ignore) deserves the right to scream about the fact that we are forced to become smaller and subservient around cisgender women in "activist spaces" and "community spaces".
Whether we're transmasc, transneutral, or transfem/me, "afab" or "amab", trans woman or trans man or genderqueer or nonbinary or any combination in the complex realm of gender outside the cis-binary. We all deserve respect and we all deserve the right to express our anger at both the kyriarchy as well as the queer-feminist circles that have coutninted to fail in including and protecting us.
We are human and we have the right to feel emotions, both positive and negative and express those emotions without being attacked or ridiculed for them.
I finished Project Hail Mary the book in 2023 and didn't really like it.
I just had a great time watching Project Hail Mary the movie.
I blame the Murderbot Diaries.
Under the cut is a VERY spoiler filled exploration as I try to figure out how to explain the thing my brain has been gnawing on for three years now.
I'm assuming if you clicked the read more you have seen Project Hail Mary. If you haven't, and you think you might see it, this is the last chance to back out. You have been warned.
Okay so, near the end of the story, we learn that our amnesiac hero who has been somewhat competently trying to save the world and also get a good grade in first contact is not, in fact, a volunteer for a suicide mission. He is instead someone who was drugged and *forced* onto a suicide mission against his very clear objections.
Narratively, this mostly serves as a plot twist, and also maybe as character growth, to give emotional weight to when he does decide to be self sacrificing.
Meanwhile - that's, uh, not how I experienced it. Blame the fact that at time time of reading the book I was a medical advocate brutally aware of what happens when you steal someone's self determination - it felt like they dropped a rape scene in the middle of a ~fun science book. Breathless with horror and rage at the depth of that violation.
So I'm feeling distinctly more horrified about the whole thing than the guy himself, who in our first person narrative just...gets on with things.
Now I'm not saying violated people have to break down, need to scream and cry and fall whimpering into balls. Not at all! People get on with things after horrific trauma (which getting locked in a cell for a few days knowing you're going to die while everyone crows about the greater good *absolutely is*) all the time. But it leaves a mark. But like an action movie that has someone walk off five gallons of blood loss, it makes it hard to suspend disbelief when there aren't consequences.
This is made worse by the fact that I'd fallen in love with the Murderbot diaries. That is a book that knows how to show someone Getting Things Done but also treats the violation with weight. With consequence. You see the horror story when you peek behind the part of self that's just getting on with things.
But we're in the first person narrative in the book. This book, which is trying to be grounded in so many other ways. It wants the science to be plausible, the relationships to be real, and instead this gaping wound of an experience doesn't show us a mental scar.
And so I finished the book thinking "interesting story, good science ideas, terrible understanding of brains."
Fast forward to the movie.
I was left with enough of a bad taste I thought I wouldn't go see it. But - wait - my problem with the book was that it felt too much like an action movie. It'd probably make a good movie. And I already know the Stupid Thing so I won't be shocked.
And it was a good movie! Beautiful homage to practical effects. And yes, the Stupid Thing still happened, but I didn't mind it as much.
WHY???
I think it's because we're not in the guys head. The betrayal was filmed to be horrifying and I felt like it had more weight. And then yes, after a quick response it's back to business, complete with a "u were right to horribly violate me" message back to his kidnapper. But it's easier for me to stomach because I can paint more interiority in on him. And because, credit to Ryan Gosling, I believed the interiority of him more. That's a man that might be disassociating, a reasonable thing for him to be in that situation.
Anyway, Martha Wells has upped my standards for how violations and trauma are treated in narrative, and I desperately want to read someone's fanfic of the Eridians discovering information on human psychology and one of them speed running how to become a therapist because holy fuck our human is ~dissasociatiiiiing. Does this exist? Do I have to write it?
The thing is, even if you were lucky and your parents taught you how to clean, they probably didn't teach you how to clean the stuff you clean stuff with, like brushes, mops, sponges, rags, and so on. Or how to clean your cleaning appliances, like a dish washer, clothes washing machine, and clothes dryer and its ducts (if you have a ducted dryer), or a carpet cleaner, vacuum, Or how to clean up clean messes, like spilled bleach or detergent.
My parents threw away all of these things (even the vacuum cleaners and the dryer) when they got too dirty to function, because no one even told them THAT they could be cleaned. Cost them thousands of dollars over the years.
All I'm saying is that cleaning is not intuitive, and not knowing how to clean is not a moral failing, but it is something you can learn.
I'm going to reblog this post with resources for learning how to clean things and how to clean cleaning things (I'm not at my desk at the moment). If you have any favorites, please feel free to add them in too!
I like this video because it does a great job of introducing the basic foundations of house cleaning (and because he doesn't use bleach, which is a common allergy in addition to being awful to inhale). He also talks a little about how to clean a vacuum. And why you shouldn't put grease from your pots and pans down the sink drain. I also love that he mentions that different houses and different people have different needs and different versions of what clean and cleaning looks like.
He doesn't mention though that the toilet seat comes off. I take my toilet seat off to clean under the hinges and clean the seat more thoroughly once a quarter.
This is another video from the same guy about cleaning and depression. This advice, especially at the beginning, can feel really really difficult and oppressive to hear. However, I find that it's generally pretty solid. But I'm autistic and so is he, so that gets a massive Your Mileage May Vary stamp on it.
I have a favorite part of this video. It's from 10:52 to 12:36. I think we could all use to hear that. There's a HEFTY pause after that one. I promise the narration does come back.
I'm also going to recommend KC Davis' book "How To Keep House While Drowning"
This is a pair of videos about how to correctly load and use a dish washer.
The first one is a quick 1 minute 30 second overview on loading. I can't find the exact video I'm looking for, so consider this a substitute for that. If I can find the one I'm looking for, I'll swap it in.
The second is a half hour deep dive on dishwashers and detergents. The short form of that is you shouldn't need to pre-rinse anything, detergent pods are overpriced and can cause problems, some dishwashers have a filter in the bottom that needs to be cleaned (but most don't), run your sink until the water is HOT before starting your dish washer, and put a little detergent in the pre-rinse dispenser when you're washing extra dirty dishes (or on the inside of the door if your dishwasher doesn't have a pre-rinse dispenser).
How to clean a front load washer (with bleach). This should be done monthly or every time you wash really soiled clothes.
With expert tips and tricks for all types of washers.
How to clean a top loader (without the removable agitator thing). This should be done every 1-3 months depending on you unit, or every time you wash really soiled clothes.
Regular cleaning of a top-load washing machine will prolong the life of the appliance and leave your laundry cleaner and brighter.
How to clean a top loader (with the removable agitator thing). This should be done every month, or every time you wash really soiled clothes.
These carpet brushes are a LIFE SAVER if you have dogs. This thing allows me to go from vacuuming about 4 square feet before my vacuum is full to vacuuming half the living room (I don't vacuum often enough. You should vacuum weekly, and I just can't.). I have to unclog the vacuum less often. It fluffs up some of the flat spots in the carpet. And I also use the brush to shampoo my rugs in the spring.
A spot cleaner (or a carpet cleaner with a spot cleaner attachment) is another life saver, ESPECIALLY if you can afford to splurge on a heated one. I see them at Goodwill or at yard sales occasionally, and they're worth picking up. The shark one in the video is great too.
This channel is gold. There's tutorials for cleaning EVERYTHING on there. Just go subscribe!
Gonna throw another potential resource at the end of this very long list, which may be potentially helpful for others like me who loathe videos. It's... the weirdest thing that has genuinely been helpful to me in housekeeping. Absolutely full of useful advice, and bizarrely still relevant in large part. (Though, caveat, research ANYTHING to do with chemicals or cleaning products more complicated than vinegar + lemon + water for modern information.)
It's America's Housekeeping Book (1941). Available for free download on the Internet Archive. (Large PDF file at the link here).
The LISTS y'all. The step by step lists. The emphasis on efficiency and arranging spaces for the least resistance possible. The basic concept of "take a tray or basket into a room when you are tidying up so you can put things that belong elsewhere on it and take them out LATER in ONE GO".
So you can avoid them stealing things from you, the artist/writer, etc.
Pro GenAI websites/Programs:
Facebook
Instagram
X/Twitter (Remember, Grok gives people cancer)
Threads
Pro Writing Aid
Grammarly
Duolingo
Google Docs
Microsoft Word/all Microsoft products Takes from and will feed their machine.
Youtube (taking advantage of people who are hearing impaired. ==;;)
Adobe Products. All of them. If you HAVE to use them (Some businesses require it), save offline because there is a film of at least some privacy protections there, so if you have to sue, you can say it violates US privacy law. Remember, contracts do not circumvent US law.
Corel won't feed the machines, but still uses AI stolen from other artists. Which sucks since Corel Draw is the second best overall for vector programs. (Plus I love Painter, but I bought the offline version to avoid AI). (Canadian company)
Canva Takes and feeds their machine.
Deviant Art Not only supports AI, but put a tool in and said they are going to steal your work if you like it or not for their machine.
Sketchup went Pro-GenAI. The thing is that you can do the same thing in Blender these days with precise measurements.
Autodesk has stated they are Pro-Gen AI here. It is not clear if they will use your models to feed their machine. But be on guard. They make Maya and 3Dmax. You can replace it with Blender.
Neutral ground:
Tumblr (there is a way to opt out [Link] and they don't have an active AI machine.) https://www.tumblr.com/dookins/743519550598987776/heres-how-to-disable-third-parties-like-ai
Etsy allows GenAI, but still has some (minor) restrictions. I'd still be cautious. (Also be cautious of drop shippers). Complaints about too much AI and AI images+patterns made by Ai still exist on the website. They lean slightly more pro-AI, but still won't let it run completely amok, say like Facebook. They won't feed your work into a machine, but also don't ban it through robots.txt.
Bluesky They don't use an AI algorithm except for in the "Discover" section of their website, but while they are anti-GenAI strongly, they don't seem to block the Gen AI bots from entry, so you'd still have to use Nightshade or Glaze (links below). There is no opt-out because they don't need an opt out. (Leaning towards strong position on AI, but I wish they would block GenAI bots).
Searxng- If you super want to screw over Google, in general, and have some tech savvy, you can set up your own search engine through searxng. It's easier on Windows and Linux than it is on a Mac. (Mac you need Docker), but if you're determined on privacy, Searxng adds a layer of privacy. Some of it sometimes uses bits of AI, but most of it doesn't and you can fuss with the settings so it doesn't spit out AI results. At sheer minimum Google will stop spitting out weird videos on Youtube at you because in your private browsing, you searched for the origin of ball bearings while not logged in for a book and Google likes to break privacy laws.
Strong positions against AI:
Scrivener (Creator vowed against AI) Writing program. There is an active forum, and versions for Mac, Linux and PC. It is paid, but at ~60 USD, it's cheaper than most programs. There is usually a holiday sale around Christmas. It has a learning curve, but with an active forum with the programmer of it there to ask obscure questions it's not a dead zone. They often take suggestions and implement them over time. (Especially if you rank the importance, applications, etc) US company.
LibreOffice Open source and free Spreadsheet and Word processor program that can replace Microsoft Word. Some people might have seen older versions where it was called Neo Office (now extinct) and Open Office. LibreOffice is still populated, plus the forums are super helpful if you get stuck. The UX is pretty intuitive if you've used Microsoft Word. Scrivener, BTW, supports exporting to odt (the native file) as well as .doc, and this can open both. The slight thing is that sometimes it doesn't export to .doc smoothly. And I DO wish more magazines, and agent (big clue here) supported .odt files since it is free. Part of the reason .odt isn't as supported is because Microsoft and Adobe have a deal with the devil with each other, so Adobe's Book formatting program InDesign doesn't support ODT. (BTW, if you have a good open source replacement for InDesign that supports ODT, let me know.)
Dabble (as suggested by SF stories, see reblog) is a writing program. Similar to Scrivener. Has vowed against AI and to resist it. 108 dollars a year for Basic. It is almost twice the price of Scrivener who lets you update for fairly cheap. 29 dollars a month, v. 59 dollars for the whole program (Scrivener) for the same features of Premium. You choose.
yWriter is a free Writing program and like Scrivener, and has vowed against AI Last I looked it had some UX issues, but some people swear by it. The learning curve is higher than Scrivener which is saying something.
Ellipsus is an online writing program and vowed against AI. The main feature I like (which Scrivener doesn't have) is the ability to change spellcheck based on region/language. It is a requested feature of Scrivener, but lower priority. So if you have a Brit, you can get the spelling for the character. They are a British-based company.
Cara.app (The creator of the website sued GenAI there is no chance they'll convert) is an artist website. Cara is trying to institute an auto Glaze/Nightshade into the website if given enough funds. People see it as a soft replacement for deviant art. (which went fully AI) If you believe in human art, please donate if you can. Zhang Jingna, the Creator,is Chinese-Singporean. She lives in Singapore.
Clip Studio Paint added AI, but saw the light and decided to protect artists instead because of protest and removed it. There are tutorials and a good forum if you get super stuck. Based in Japan, so the UI and UX is really clean.
Davinci Resolve Pro is a film editing software that's super good. There is a free version and a paid version. The forums are responsive. The programmers aren't always present. There is a healthy group of tutorials. US company. Clean UX. It does take a little bit of time to remember the shortcuts.
Tahoma2D is anti-AI and open source animation program. Takes a little getting used to, but is good for animations and doesn't crash as often as Animate. Programmers are in the forums and some bugs are fixed within hours. The forums are super responsive and helpful.
Krita open source and free, no AI. I'd rank it secondary to Clip Studio Paint (which is paid) I haven't tried the forums, but it's pretty intuitive and can stand for a lower level replacement for Painter, and do a lot of the basics of Photoshop. It's usually ranked higher than the equally open source Gimp.
Writer P AKA Writer+ (app for when you're on the go) is a simple word processor app for your phone that doesn't use AI. The original programmer stopped updating, so Writer+ person took over and isn't out to make a profit since it's free in the spirit of the original app. It has subfolders you can use. Since it was programmed before GenAI it doesn't have AI. Intuitive, easy to use. Fairly easy to upload the files through three dots->share. The files can save to your card or phone with some settings fussing. Simple word processor.
Inkscape is a free vector program and no AI. It is harder to use than illustrator and has less features. But if you're doing smaller vectors for one-offs with less complexity, it'll do you after some learning curve. Best of the lot. I hate Affinity Designer which is the same thing, only paid. (Neither Affinity program was worth the money paid)
Affinity (Designer, etc) swore to be AI-free and does Vector and Photos. The UX is messy, I dislike the program and regret paying for it. Inkscape and Krita are better UX and do the same thing. The forums aren't as friendly since there has been an onslaught of people seeing it's supposed to be a replacement for Photoshop and Illustrator, but the programmers aren't present. The people on the forums are often on edge about this assertion. And the capabilities of the program don't outshine basically Krita or Inkscape capabilities (both free). What is usually intuitive is not. UK company. If you're going to pay for a program, go for Clip Studio Paint which rivals Corel Painter.
Blender is a 3D art program and does not use GenAI. It can do 2D animation, but Tahoma is easier to use in this regard. It's open source and free. Plus there are plenty of tutorials. The forums can be touch and go sometimes, but there are plenty of sub Blender communities that might be responsive. It can also do animation.
Handmade vowed against AI and promised to never sell itself for stock prices to prevent AI (as a replacement for Etsy.)
Discover a world of creativity and craftsmanship through Handmade, an innovative platform connecting passionate artisans with discerning buy
Proton (to replace Google Suite) as suggested by SF Stories (see reblog) Vowed against AI. They are missing a spreadsheet, but have online and offline capabilities, plus a built-in VPN.
But you need a pro website...
Look up robots.txt and AI bots: https://www.cyberciti.biz/web-developer/block-openai-bard-bing-ai-crawler-bots-using-robots-txt-file/
Use cloudflare:
Use Nightshade:
https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/whatis.html
which will poison the algorithm
Use Glaze:
Take Away:
The thing is you think you doing it alone will do nothing, but the more AI feeds on itself, AI images, the worse they become, and the less detailed so, denying it the images, adding poison or not being able to read the human text is eventually going to lead to an AI collapse.
Analysis shows that indiscriminately training generative artificial intelligence on real and generated content, usually done by scrapi
And why not help that along?
I don't want to give cancer to poor people [Link] or make the planet burn faster [Link]. So GenAI collapse is everything I dream of. GenAI apocalypse is not.
I just want to highlight just how ol’ timey this racism is. The subject line “snipe hunt is over, the moon crickets are in the field bag” should not be overlooked because moon crickets is a slur used against black slaves who would get to together and sang hymns at night. This is an antebellum racial slur, and I get the feeling this is just a continuation of that tradition. Not an evolution of anti-black racism. It’s the same racism and these rich whiteys were just incubated from progressing it.
Steps I took to fact-checking this before concluding that this is probably fake:
Noticed the image of the article looks AI generated
Noticed that the image was posted without a link.
Googled "Epstein Hunting Black People" (no search results, suspicious considering this post was made 3 days ago and that would be a long time for this story to be up on a news platform without being disseminated widely)
Went to the news source listed in the image (News Wall, found this to be a yellow flag because it's a source I've never heard of) and found that while it is a real site, it does not have any articles listed with this title.
It is very easy to be susceptible to misinformation that feels true based on the context we already have of the world. I am asking that everyone spend some time thinking critically and using media literacy before sharing things like this. The real news is bad enough, y'all. We don't need to fall for hoaxes too.
So whilst I agree that media literacy is imperative, I’d like to point out that knowing how and where to search is also key to media literacy. Being that in this case the media in question is directly Epstein emails I went straight to the Epstein library and by searching the keywords in the emails above was able to find all of this within a 30 second search span.
In conclusion, before making an attempt at *educatedly* correcting black people publicly, ensure you’re correct. Don’t rely on chat bots or google results, know how to do your own actual research.
Underneath each screenshot I’ve also included the file number so anyone is free to fact check it as well.
And just to really cement how ignorant this "fact checking" is, while they are correct in that News Wall doesn't have that specific image on their website, the link to the Instagram post that News Wall made is literally right below the image. There isn't an article on it because News Wall doesn't write articles, they disseminate information. They're a news distribution website, and rate how reliable the articles they post are.
Their instagram post doesn't indicate an article is written, only that there's something to report on, which SHOULD BE your sign to start digging into this by looking for the EMAILS that EPSTEIN sent.
As Lena has pointed out, they are easily found in the Epstein library, through the Department of Justice, where the files have been being released from. (It isn't hard to actually do the work to look into something, btw. You just have to actually look at the information thoroughly.)
Everyone say thank you to Ubernegro and Lena for doing the work CORRECTLY by providing links, reference numbers, and looking further than the first search result when fact checking.
unironically i think we need to bring back computer labs because APPARENTLY some people WERENT taught basic computer literacy and internet safety in school
things about computers/the internet i think kids should be formally taught in schools because theyre important to know and the amount of soon to be grown adults i know who know NOTHING about any of these is quite frankly almost all of them (and resources to learn if you dont know these things, because its never to late to get better with computers)
how to troubleshoot by yourself when you have a technical problem
what common file types are
some very basics on how to use ""developer tools"" on your computer (because i cant think of a better way to refer to them) like task manager and command prompt (and their mac equivalents, terminal and activity monitor ofc)
how to read and understand a privacy policy and what your personal data is, as well as what it being collected actually means and steps you can take to keep it private
how to understand terms of service
(hey. if you have trouble with reading legalese and worry about being able to understand these policies anyways, here's a site that gives basic summaries of privacy policies and ToS)
what a cookie actually is
internet privacy and your digital footprint!! seriously i dont know why we stopped teaching people that they shouldnt be putting their entire real identity online in a world where your online actions can ruin you irl
basic safety measures like antivirus software (and why you should use it or if the built in one on windows or mac is enough for you) and backing up your computer (also a mac guide)
common keyboard shortcuts (and on mac)
as an additional note: things i think everyone should know on computers and the internet but schools may bit hesitant to teach about for whatever moral/legal standards schools pretend to operate on
vpns and adblockers! (btw for most of these where you can pay for things im purposefully not recommending any specific software but seriously just use ublock origin for an adblocker)
how to not get a virus while pirating something
what a temporary email is and when to use one
red flags that you shouldn't trust a website (and how to quickly check the security of a site)
what javascript on a website does and how to disable it to get around paywalls
ok one last addition! if you want to take it one level higher, i think learning the very basics of at least one programming language is good for people. it makes computers less scary and it makes you feel very cool, and a lot of people get discouraged about it because it seems overly complicated and hard to learn outside a formal classroom setting, so heres some resources for learning the very basics of python (because i consider it the easiest language to learn and knowing one language will make it easier to learn others)
an online compiler so you dont need to download anything or worry about running code directly on your computer if that makes you nervous
a basic video guide to introduce you to python and walk you through beginner steps
a guide to some syntax and commands you should know (this was literally my lifeline in my first CS class)
some performance tasks to give you things to code to practice and assess yourself
I once saw a grown man say that websites were going to become obsolete because the blockchain would replace them within two years.
Educate yourselves, folks. Don't be one of those people. Learn absolute basic computer literacy.
turnnoffyourmind
vaporwave
janainaart
origamiaround
pixelskylines
