Random Musings

Writer, news junky, geek, social media nerd. "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." - Arthur Ashe. She/Her.

[ororium-z]

Happy Pride!

[rootbeergoddess]

Every pride, you must reblog this. No exceptions

[thesaltofcarthage]

I love that four different people on my feed scheduled this joyous person to reblog by 8am on June 1. I look forward to seeing this a dozen more times today.

[kawuli]

random PSA, I know a lot of people use duckduckgo as a Google alternative search engine, but it always kind of annoyed me when I was using it because it felt like No Name Brand Google

I have switched to using Startpage.com and vastly prefer it. for one thing, instead of displaying an "AI summary" at the top of the search results (unless you turn it off, yes I know), it displays the first paragraph of the Wikipedia article, with link, whenever it finds one that's relevant.

also a waaayyyyy better sense of design than duckduckgo

also private, European based, least annoying search I've used lately (RIP old "don't be evil" Google)

[yomikoreadsbooks]

Keeping a list of Google alternatives just in case…

[saxifraga-x-urbium]

i have one of those, scraped from multiple different rec posts:

Search Engines

Infinity Search is an alternative search engine with a special focus on privacy

DuckDuckGo is a popular search engine for those who value their privacy and are put off by the thought of their every query being tracked and logged. Uses bangs, ![site] for in-page search (sells your data to microsoft and draws from fucking bing)

WolframAlpha is a privately owned search engine that allows you to “compute expert-level answers using Wolfram’s breakthrough algorithms, knowledgebase, and AI technology.” A data search engine.

Boardreader is a search engine for forums and message boards. It allows you to search forums and then filter down results by date and language.

Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-based search engine that won’t record your searches or use your personal details for advertising. Uses “&” as a bang search.

Another privacy-based search engine is Search Encrypt, which uses local encryption to ensure that users’ identifiable information cannot be tracked. Metasearch across multiple engines. 

Offering unbiased results from several sources, SearX is a metasearch engine that aims to present a free, decentralized view of the internet. Can be self-hosted. 

Gibiru’s tagline is “Unfiltered private search” and that’s exactly what it offers. Requires AnonymoX Firefox add-on for privacy. 

Disconnect allows you to conduct anonymous searches through a search engine of your choice.

Swisscows provides fully encrypted searches to protect your privacy and security. Built-in violence/porn filter cannot be overridden. 

MetaGer offers “Privacy Protected Search & Find” through its anonymised search. A plugin will allow it to be made a default.

Gigablast is a private search engine that indexes millions of websites and servers real-time information without tracking your data, keeping you hidden from marketers and spammers. Variety of filtration and refinement options for searching. 

Oscobo is a search engine that protects your privacy while you search the web. By not using any third-party tools or scripts, your data is protected from hacking and misuse. Has a Chrome extension to allow use in toolbar. 

https://search.marginalia.nu/ an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed. Use old-school searching rather than query-based for the best results. 

https://www.mojeek.com/ 

https://wiby.me/ - It’s goal is to index as many personalized websites as possible, and NOT commercial sites. 

https://4get.ca/ it works a lot like SearX, but honestly better. It doesn’t have its own index, but pulls from many others. I think it’s the best for research, since it allows you to search for answers from different indexes, is easy to configure, add free, and avoids censorship as much as it can.

https://www.searchenginemap.com/ for more on how search engines relate to each other.

https://yep.com/ is a crawler

https://www.etools.ch/ retrieves from Google, Mojeek, Bing, and Yandex, like Searx

https://www.dogpile.com/ 

https://searxng.org/ (next gen Searx)

https://luxxle.com/ - possibly conservative?

https://presearch.com/ - good for academic?

https://kagi.com/smallweb - free/randomised Kagi.

Other Searchers

www.refseek.com - Academic Resource Search. More than a billion sources: encyclopedia, monographies, magazines.

www.worldcat.org - a search for the contents of 20 thousand worldwide libraries. Find out where lies the nearest rare book you need.

https://link.springer.com - access to more than 10 million scientific documents: books, articles, research protocols.

www.bioline.org.br is a library of scientific bioscience journals published in developing countries.

http://repec.org - volunteers from 102 countries have collected almost 4 million publications on economics and related science.

www.science.gov is an American state search engine on 2200+ scientific sites. More than 200 million articles are indexed.

www.base-search.net is one of the most powerful researches on academic studies texts. More than 100 million scientific documents, 70% of them are free.https://cosine.club/ is an electronic music similarity search engine

[sometiktoksarevalid]

[lostsometime]

ok sorry to double reblog BUT I just looked him up and he does these fantastic videos where he breaks down HOW he actually mimics the other artists’ styles. Like for ed Sheeran, he explains how he brings his voice forward in the mouth, while Adam Levine sings in the back of the mouth, stuff like that. It’s SO COOL, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone actually break down how to do this sort of thing, as a skill, instead of just treating it like a neat trick they just happen to be good at. https://www.tiktok.com/@justinjmooremusic

Check him out he’s so cool

[transcyberism]

there are four human activities and they are crafting, stories, math, and fucking around. whatever you're doing is at least one of those four.

[luna-azzurra]

Reasons your Plot armor is showing

⟢ Protagonist never gets seriously injured despite constant danger

⟢ Convenient skills appear exactly when needed

⟢ "Somehow" doing heavy lifting in your explanations

⟢ Bullets miss protagonist but hit everyone around them

⟢ Protagonist immune to their own bad decisions

⟢ Only character who doesn't catch the deadly plague

⟢ Falling from deadly height with minor bruises

⟢ Allies die dramatically, protagonist gets rescued last-second

⟢ Learning complex skills overnight

⟢ "Lucky" so many times it's a superpower

⟢ Stab wound? Walking it off!

⟢ Resources appear when needed, vanish when inconvenient

⟢ Guards always look the other way at the right moment

⟢ Protagonist's impulsive plans always work

⟢ Enemies become incompetent around protagonist

⟢ Saved by coincidence (seventeenth time this book)

⟢ Technology works/fails based on plot needs

⟢ "Unconscious" for exactly the right amount of time

⟢ No food/water/sleep needed during crisis Injuries that would cause shock? Totally fine!

⟢ Emotional trauma with no PTSD

⟢ Protagonist never makes a truly fatal mistake

⟢ Backup arrives at the exact dramatic moment "Just in time" is your most common phrase

⟢ Escaping impossible situations off-page "I don't know how I did it" (yes you do: plot armor)

⟢ "Trust your instincts" = always right

⟢ Redemption arc speedrun with no actual work

⟢ "Chosen One" immunity to normal consequences

⟢ Physics optional for protagonist only

[cilceon]

We should be treating the Rocky puppet like a Muppet for the marketing of Project Hail Mary. Get my man his tiny little sweater and set up interviews where Ryan Gosling just there to translate for him

[escuerzoresucitado]

[crowboy-bebop]

unauthorized fucking thing!!!!!!

(warning: loud chirping throughout)

source: hellgate osprey cam

[curlicuecal]

[pupucino]

follow your dreams at a sustainable pace

[alhilton]

500 words a day gets the novel written

[dear-ao3]

hold on a fucking second. delaware is a state?? i thought it was a river? or is the river more important than the state? why don't i know this? (i should mention i don't like in america, i'm just confused)

there is delaware (state) and delaware (river) 

both are equally strange

the state is a tiny little cryptid thing

the rive is a monster that spans new york, pennsylvania, new jersey and delaware. also washington crossed it once and that was like kinda a big deal i guess. like crossing the rubicon in rome.

the state tries to me more important with its “im the first state!!!” bs (seriously its even on the fucking license plates) but we all know. its the river.

[dear-ao3]

THATS TUPPERWARE

[sobutmermaids]

i thought delaware was a place in ohio? why are there so many things named delaware?

[dear-ao3]

delaware is too powerful

[uncertaininnit]

what the fuck

[dear-ao3]

[skaktusposts]

Wait what? I thought Delaware was a store with building supplies. Like paint, wood, nails and stuff?

[dear-ao3]

THATS HOME DEPOT ???

[skaktusposts]

I know home depot, but dude I don't know anything about America mad have never been there. Are you sure there is not a some sort of store called something close to Delaware!?!

[dear-ao3]

.....ace hardware....?

[uncertaininnit]

this post has only been around for a few hours but could very well be a world heritage post

[dear-ao3]

but at what cost

[publiusmaximum]

This post launched at 8am PST on 12 Feb 2021. The above conversation has happened in 3 hours.

[dear-ao3]

[uncertaininnit]

he WHAT? i thought he was from. w. wait. ???

[dear-ao3]

delaware stole the presidents shoelaces for clout and became too powerful

[likethehorrormovie]

From the UK- and what do you mean Delaware isn't a type of ceramic?

[dear-ao3]

it is now

[swifty-the-rake-deadblog]

@hellsite-hall-of-fame is it too early?

[kkshowtunes]

Isn’t delaware what they make computers on???

[dear-ao3]

software ??

[you-say-that-so-often]

I think they meant Dell Ware, a specific computer type. We had a Dell computer once.

I thought Delaware was that famous singer they spoofed in Zootopia.

[dear-ao3]

gazelle??

[king-finnigan]

oh i thought delaware was that one british singer lady, you know, the one from chasing pavements

[dear-ao3]

that's fucking adele

[metamelonisle]

isn’t delaware that place you go when you die

[shirtshawaiian]

youre thinking of superhell and all of you are going there

[totalrosalia]

how the fuck did any of you come to the conclusions you all made

[dear-ao3]

we live in america?

[vigilantsycamore]

I thought Delaware was that food delivery service that keeps interrupting youtube videos with their ads when I'm trying to have a good time

[abnormalmind777]

..... are you talking about Doordash???

[destiel-is-canon-what]

Isn't Delawere the name of that one girl in the song that goes "Hey there, Delawere"? She's from NYC or something.

[dear-ao3]

THATS HEY THERE DELILAH

[katherynefromphilly]

Pausing here to point out that op is “dear-AO3″ and now I’m wondering if Delaware fanfic would be categorized as RSF (real state fic) or AU (alternate unitedstates)

[dear-ao3]

stop i do not want to think about this 

[joyflameball]

Isn’t Delaware that SPN ship that exploded the internet

[dear-ao3]

[forensicrodentfool]

Everyone on this post:

[sith-shenanigans]

I love that the “no, that’s [x]” meme is making a comeback here and only here and nobody has any idea what’s going on

[jmercedesd]

Keep up the good work, we can make poor OP have a melt down yet. 

[dear-ao3]

[callme-corpse-septiceye]

Isn't delaware that one brand of pizza that's like "it's not delivery, it's delaware."

[dear-ao3]

[paulblartinum]

isn't delaware the god of the sea

[dear-ao3]

[robbietherat]

Isn't Delaware the name of that guy who painted the Mona Lisa?

[dear-ao3]

[lordechostan]

delaware is that one evil cyborg guy that has a son named Luke and a red laser sword

[kiwikipedia]

Thats Darth Vader. Im pretty sure Delaware is that other red-laser sword guy. You know. The one that stabbed Qui-Gon.

[dear-ao3]

what have i created

[hellsite-hall-of-fame]

I usually only reblog older posts, but this definitely deserves to be in every tumblr hall of fame

[dear-ao3]

this post has only existed for 8 days. 

[gallusrostromegalus]

This is fantastic because it goes great with my theory that Delaware only exists for tax purposes. Like, all the states really only exists for Tax Purposes, but Delaware is particularly fake because back in 2012 I got lost in the Alleged Delaware Area looking trying to get to a family reunion, but every time I pulled over for directions, I would ask what the hell state I was in now, and I went through Mayland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey AND Virginia and I never fucking found Delaware but I did eventually find the Family Reunion and earned the repsepct of my then-prospective- Great-Grandmother-In-Law by saving her favorite grandchildren from a furious oceangoing horse so I’m convinced that not only is the state a purely legal construct, they didn’t even dedicate any landmass to it, or it’s a gov’t blackzone where the carnivorous horses live.

[worldheritagepostorganization]

World Heritage Post

[dear-ao3]

fun fact, i actually drove through delaware on this posts 6 month birthday. i hate it here.

[glitchysquidd-deactivated202408]

This post literally fills me with life,tysm.

[lost-ones-melody]

This post confused the heck out of me, I don't even know what's going on in this post, why the hell am I rebloging it?

[groenendaze]

doggy doggy

[groenendaze]

you guys are not ready for this update

[jaubaius]

Source

[reelaroundthedavekan]

[frontmansdefender]

RIP to the legend

[silvermoon424]

This goose fucking rocks and had a crazy life!

I really just have to summarize Thomas's entire life:

He was in a committed relationship with a male swan named Henry for 18-24 years before a female swan named Henrietta showed up and mated with Henry.

Thomas was initially jealous of the pair and attacked them, breaking 2 of the 5 eggs Henrietta had laid. However, once the remaining eggs hatched, Thomas warmed up to them and helped raise them.

Henry couldn't fly because of an injured wing, so Thomas taught the cygnets how to fly.

When they needed to reduce the goose population in the pond where Thomas and the swans lived, they dyed Thomas's feathers red so he wouldn't be separated from Henry.

Henry, Henrietta, and Thomas remained in their happy throuple for years and raised 68 cygnets before Henry died in 2009. After Henry's death, Henrietta found another swan and flew away, leaving Thomas alone.

Thomas finally met and mated with a female goose in 2011 and had his own babies. However, another goose named George stole them and raised them himself.

As Thomas grew elderly and blind, he was relocated to a wildlife center where he raised orphaned cygnets.

His caretaker at the center described him as "pretty high maintenance."

Thomas died in 2018 at the age of around 40. He had a funeral that included a small coffin and a procession that was led by a bagpiper. He was buried under the stone where Henry was buried, the two finally reunited in death.

Before and after his death, Thomas has been celebrated as an icon of the LGBTQ+ community for obvious reasons.

[twiststreet]

She got the idea for the study while walking with her advisor at Stanford to discuss her thesis topic, and the paper she eventually published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology in 2014 is sharp enough that it should have ended the seated meeting on the day it came out.

She ran 4 experiments on 176 people. Same person tested twice. Once sitting, once walking. The creativity tasks were the standard ones psychologists have used for decades to measure how good a brain is at generating novel useful ideas.

81% of participants in the first experiment produced more creative ideas while walking than while sitting. In the second experiment, 88%. In the third, 100%. Every single person walked into a more creative version of themselves. On average, people generated 60% more novel useful ideas the moment their legs started moving.

The skeptical question is the obvious one. Maybe it was the fresh air. Maybe it was the scenery passing by. Maybe it was the change of environment doing the work, not the walking itself.

Oppezzo killed every one of those explanations with one experimental decision. She put people on a treadmill facing a blank wall. No scenery. No fresh air. No environmental change. Just legs moving in place while staring at white drywall. The 60% boost held.

Then she ran the experiment that closed the case completely. She took participants outside in two conditions. Half of them walked through a Stanford courtyard. The other half were pushed through the exact same courtyard in a wheelchair. Same outdoor stimulation. Same scenery passing at the same speed. The only difference was whether the legs were moving.

The walkers produced dramatically more novel high-quality ideas than the wheelchair group. The outdoors did almost nothing on its own. The walking did everything.

She also tested the opposite kind of thinking. Convergent thinking. The kind where there is one right answer and you have to narrow down to it. Word puzzles where 3 words share a hidden fourth word that connects them. The seated participants did slightly better on these. Walkers got slightly worse.

Walking is not a general intelligence enhancer. It does one specific thing. It opens up the divergent search inside your brain. The part that generates options. The part that produces unexpected connections. The part that takes a problem and finds five ways into it instead of one.

When you need to converge on the single right answer, sit down. When you need to find the answer in the first place, get up.

The mechanism is now well understood. Walking selectively activates what neuroscientists call the default mode network, the system inside your brain that runs when you are not consciously focused on anything. The DMN is where mind-wandering happens. Where memories cross-reference each other. Where ideas that have been sitting in separate folders inside your head finally bump into each other.

When you sit at a desk and force yourself to concentrate, you suppress the DMN. When you walk at a natural pace, the executive part of your brain gets just busy enough handling the walking that the DMN comes online and starts doing the work that focus was blocking.

The most useful finding in the entire paper is the one almost nobody quotes. The boost did not turn off the moment people stopped walking. Participants who walked first and then sat back down stayed elevated. Their next round of seated creativity work was still significantly better than people who had been sitting the whole time. The rest lingered for at least several minutes after the legs stopped moving.

You do not need to do creative work while walking. You need to walk before the creative work. The brain holds the state.

Edited down a long tweet. (x)

[cheaphalloweencostume]

not to be insensitive but some of the salem witch trials were so funny bitches like “i saw her at the devils sacrament!!!” girl... what were YOU doing at the devils sacrament 👀

[worldheritagepostorganization]

World Heritage Post

[funny-tik-toks]

[jabberding0]

Wei Weaving is a Chinese artist

[nepharim-tree]