cripes, mcslaggerson. contain yourself.

…I will exile my thoughts if they think of you again, and I will rip my lips out if they say your name once more. Now if you do exist, I will tell you my final word in life or in death, I tell you goodbye.

[fairuzfan]

Here's a website where Palestine GoFundMes are vetted and shared that you can send out to people. The url is gazafunds.com

Easy to use and simple. Just share the site whenever someone asks for GFMs for Palestine.

[thatdiabolicalfeminist]

are people talking about the labor conditions at Taylor Farms yet? like the fact they use enslaved prisoners in their facilities?

are we drawing the connection between worker safety and consumer safety & public health yet?

are people demanding to see the conditions in this place that keeps making us sick? why are the enslaved workers not having the time to use the bathroom or to rest when ill? very few people would shit in front of their coworkers given any choice at all.

[marithlizard]

(via bsky)

In case anyone hasn't heard, the cyclospora outbreak affecting tons of people in the US right now is coming from Taylor Farms produce. Best to stay away from bagged lettuce and prepared salads completely right now, but especially the ones mentioned in the screenshot:

Taylor Farms Earthbound Farms Little Salad Bar (Aldi) Marketside (Walmart) Kroger House Brand Target private label greens Costco salads and greens etc Trader Joe's chopped salad kits and fresh produce Fast food: McDonalds, Taco Bell, (Yum! Brands), Chipotle, Subway, Pizza Hut, KFC, Olive Garden, Top Golf, Red Lobster, Burger King, etc.

This is not the first time I've heard about a Taylor Farms foodborne illness outbreak. I stopped eating their salads after reading a description of the conditions in their facilities. Doesn't sound like they've improved anything.

We need a fully funded and staffed FDA, and regulations with teeth - and that's exactly what we don't have under Trump. To make things worse, the CDC is no longer tracking these outbreaks. We're on our own.

[toast1862]

like it just doesnt make any economic sense. replacing human labor with ai only makes sense if the output is as good or better and cheap as free. but just the fact that you have to build the massive data centers at all-- especially that gpus go bad in just a few years, but even if they didn't, the facility itself is going to be a big expense-- means it cant be cheap as free. they were banking on an uber type situation where they could crank up the prices once people switched to their business model, but the trade is literally "this will be cheaper than using human labor" so if it's not cheaper than human labor then people will just hire people again. and it's not even as good or reliable as a person. so while ai is "here to stay" in the sense that the technology exists and will find its niches, probably people are going to be sexting with them forever just maybe on local models, the current business model cannot survive and never possibly could.

it's all desperation. i do really believe ed zitron's rot economy idea, that the tech sector has been searching for a new internet or iphone or whatever that blows up and changes the world and they get to keep the profits so they'll uplift any garbage (hence nfts and the metaverse) to try and astroturf that. and relatedly, i think nvidia and the cloud compute companies and the ai companies are just passing the same dollar back and forth to create big numbers that paper over how bad the economy really is. it's all an attempt to keep the infinite growth hack going.

like i actually think all of the problems with ai are problems that already existed that are just getting a huge spotlight on them because of the massive reckless expansion and apocalyptic marketing. like people are cheating on essay assignments? no shit, they used to use fiver and other cheating services. higher ups are devaluing and trying to get rid of creatives? yeah, we've been talking about how vfx artists need to unionize for over a decade, especially people working on marvel movies. people with mental health problems are turning to the internet instead of getting support or medical assistance and end up hurting themselves as a result? yup, especially when it comes to like eating disorders, there are some really awful places that will validate you into the grave. data centers use a lot of energy and water? yeah, they also did that before they were used for ai, they do that for youtube and twitch, and tech in general is a massive source of pollution. politicians arent listening to their constituents' needs and demands, instead handing money and special privileges to corporations that wont keep up their end of the bargain? yeah, i remember the public transit proposals cancelled to hand money instead to elon and his terrible tunnels. like it all already existed, they're just doing it so much so quickly that people can actually see it in front of them

[mxjackparker]

Don't leave your friends and even acquaintances to go to the hospital alone. If they don't have someone already going with them and don't explicitly tell you they don't want you there, go to advocate for them. Outcomes for sick people change dramatically when they have someone else there to observe doctors (making them know they can't get away with negligence) and note symptoms from an outside perspective.

Going to the hospital is scary and even someone totally unprepared to be a medical advocate or physical support will be better than nothing, purely from their presence. You can grab food, be there with your phone to search if theirs dies, go in search of a doctor, distract them from pain or discomfort... go with them.

[partisan-by-default]

Heart protection from COVID shots remains amid updates, study finds

Despite continued benefits, anti-vaccine rhetoric has driven down vaccination.

Although most Americans have eschewed seasonal COVID-19 vaccines, the updated shots continue to show significant protection against cardiovascular disease, especially for those over age 75 and those with underlying medical conditions. That’s according to a new study that pulled data from more than 1 million patients in a US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health system.

The finding builds on previous data showing that the vaccines significantly lower the risk of COVID-19-associated cardiovascular risks, particularly heart attacks and strokes. But it wasn’t a given that the benefit would hold up over time—as the virus evolved, the vaccines were updated, population-level immunity increased from previous infection and vaccination, and risk of severe outcomes fell.

The new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, found that the 2024–2025 COVID-19 vaccine continued to protect against COVID-19-associated “major adverse cardiovascular events” (MACE), which include cardiovascular death, heart attack, stroke, and hospitalization for heart failure.

The study included electronic medical record data from 1,039,659 patients in the VA’s St. Louis Health Care System. All of the patients received a seasonal flu shot between September 3, 2024, and December 31, 2024, with some also getting a COVID-19 vaccine at the same time. Of the 1,039,659 patients, 349,085 received both shots, while 690,574 got just the flu shot. The latter group acted as the control group for the study.

After eight months of follow-up, the researchers looked for documented COVID-19 cases and compared MACE events among the two groups. Overall, the COVID shots’ vaccine effectiveness against MACE events was 38 percent. In terms of absolute numbers, the benefit is modest. The study estimated that the shots dropped the rate of COVID-19-associated MACE events from about 5 in 10,000 to 3 in 10,000. Looking across subgroups, the benefits were strongest among those aged 75 and older and those with underlying health conditions.

[depsidase]

[hellenhighwater]

I'm putting a leather cover on my thread book to make it more durable, and debating a layer of board between the paper and leather for extra rigidity.

[hellenhighwater]

To answer some questions: this is properly called a Chinese Thread Book, or Zhen Xian Bao. I followed the tutorial below when I made mine several years ago. It's not one single piece of origami, it's actually 31 (very repetitive) pieces that lock into each other. (If memory serves, I believe I added a bit of glue when I attached them to make it extra secure.)

The only modification I made to the pattern that's demonstrated is that I took the largest bottom layer, and added about an inch to its total length so that I would have a gap between both halves and could "close" it like you see above. I used a large pad of manila drawing paper, and just made my proportions as big as I could on the paper--I think I was somewhere near 24 inches on the longest side of the biggest piece, and the book is about 12 inches square.

It does hold objects well! Nothing big or bulky, but I usually have stickers, postcards, pressed flowers, envelopes and stamps in here; I emptied it mostly out because I'm thinking about bringing it to the hobbit larp in the fall. It is a bit delicate--it is just paper--but it's also really fun!

Because the pattern is modular, you could basically stop or continue at any stage--mine is five layers deep, but you could stop at three, or continue to ten, if you could find big enough paper.

[cecilias-cool-stuff]

Never stop hating

[lengthy-artery]

learning that providing people with food when they're experiencing a huge life change has really revolutionised my supportive gift-giving techniques and it works every single time. you've just moved house? takeaway gift card. you have a new baby? takeaway gift card. you're suffering a bereavement? guess what. takeaway gift card. have one evening of not having to think about cooking or groceries or meal planning. take a little breathing space.

[sovietpostcards]

Baikal Lake, photo by Dean Conger (1970s)

[beachdeath]

“Reason is no match for desire: when desire is purely and powerfully felt, it becomes a kind of reason of its own.”

— Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries (via dukeofbookingham)

[natashajanardan]

Gold Wing (cc’d)

Insta | Youtube

[drizzledrawings]

Im so used to my queer echochamber that when a woman doesnt have armpit hair its like a jumpscare

[huariqueje]

Srawberries - Kate Jarvik Birch 

American , b. 1977 -

Gouache on paper , 8 x 8 in.

[nextlevelsmp3]

[gremlininho]