dog is once again left with no choice but to use raggedy shoes as a pillow. if only he were able to lounge on some red sofa with the yellow cushions he likes so much. sadly, no such thing exists.
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PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH

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@phinnsy
dog is once again left with no choice but to use raggedy shoes as a pillow. if only he were able to lounge on some red sofa with the yellow cushions he likes so much. sadly, no such thing exists.
My friend really changed once she became a vegetarian
its like ive never seen herbivore
a ton of people have unexpectedly followed me over the last 2 days so here is my rent-lowering gunshot:
the american south is the most racially diverse and poorest region of the united states, and any political sentiment that treats the south is stupid or expendable is inherently racist and classist. a lot of y'all are racist and classist. the south is also the heart of american culture. argue with a wall. you cannot deny that everybody in the entire world does not emulate artists from atlanta. there is vested interest in keeping the south poor and uneducated BECAUSE this is the most racially diverse region in this country. if you actually give a fuck about progress, you would fight for the south, not mock us.
This is literally what people are talking about when they say AI will be used to mainstream widely held bigotry. LLMs are trained on frequency and probability -> straight relationships are more well represented in the dataset -> straight pronouns and terms become the "correct" normal.
This is a form of backdoor bigotry from both normative facts (there are more straight than gay relationships) and well represented bigoted beliefs (men are superior to women).
Combine this with the mass of people inclined to believe (and being encouraged to believe) that if AI says and does something it must be correct
According to fox entertainment this is who we should be afraid of. I didn't know who Francesca Hong was 10 minutes ago but thankfully now I'm aware of this monster and her monsterous policies
It's true that dying instantly of a wound in the gut isn't typical, despite it being a common trope in many action movies, although it's a fact that a gut wound is like a hundred percent going to guarantee someone isn't going to bother you for a good long while. However, the main reason so many USAmerican action films make a gut wound fatal is the language of drama. The audience understands that although the person technically wouldn't die quickly, it's simply not feasible to take the time and show their slow, lingering death as a consequence of being unable to afford health care in the USA, either without treatment, getting treatment but unable to afford the necessary medication afterwards, or merely the attrition brought on by poverty as a consequence of medical billing.
miscellaneous & disorganized thoughts on the "why should feminists care so much about men's issues? why don't men organize themselves?"
feminist is not equivalent to woman. this is for one, because anyone can be a feminist, and two, because "being a feminist" (or rather, doing feminism) is not just being a woman or caring about women. it is a dedicated to a movement that seeks gender liberation and the end of patriarchal oppression; to call yourself a feminist, in my opinion, means holding yourself as a feminist to a higher standard in the pursuit of liberation. while we should of course be vigilant about reproducing patriarchal dynamics, we must not conflate the role of feminist with simply being a woman.
feminism has historically been deeply cissexist in a way which prevents full analysis of men and trans people's position under patriarchy. trans men have been involved with women's liberation forever, yet trans men have also been constantly excluded from feminism because of their manhood, despite being no less materially affected by misogyny.
men's liberation cannot be achieved without women's and trans liberation, and ultimately all gender liberation cannot be achieved while we maintain gender segregation. we must be unafraid to be heterosocial, affiliate with one another, and disregard the boundaries of gender in order to demand true freedom. if gender is a tool of patriarchal control which divides us socially and economically, we must turn gender into a tool of liberation by emphasizing inter-gender solidarity and our intertwined, overlapping experiences. we cannot achieve gender liberation by continuing to maintain the illusion that "men's issues" and "women's issues" are separate, especially when for trans and intersex people, this illusion is itself extremely violent and excludes us from feminism ideologically
going off that; women must take the first step and claim men's issues as a feminist concern, in order to take a sledgehammer to that gender segregation. by insisting that men's issues are women's issues, we can also then demand that men recognize women's issues are men's issues, and trans issues are men and women's issues, and men and women's issues are trans issues. many men have tried to do this themselves, but it is very hard for men who recognize women's issues are men's issues to be given enough recognition and validity amongst cis men. this stance means that feminists are not sitting around and waiting for cis men to collectively realize their position; they are demanding men realize it, and they are doing that through very pointed compassion. "you are with us whether you realize it or not; our doors are open, we are concerned for you, and to turn away from us is to reject yourselves."
to take inspiration from the Black Panthers, we need to heighten the contradictions of gender. we need to make cis men at large realize that it is only through organizing with women and trans people that they can be truly freed from their own gendered struggles - and to realize that their struggles are gendered in such a way. like it or not, feminism is THE anti-patriarchal force in our society; it seems a waste to refuse to use that force, simply because "we shouldn't have to."
The linked article
This article is genuinely insane. I learned to read at the same time and it was completely different. I was taught to sound out the words and if I came across a word I didn't know, they did suggest we use context clues to figure out the meaning, but it was also made clear that that was not a perfect solution and the best option is always to look it up. But seriously, just a memorizing? That is inside.
I taught English as a second language for over ten years. In order to become a proficient reader in English, most kids will need to be explicitly taught phonics. To become proficient in Japanese, you need to learn radicals.
Three-cueing is essentially crutches that help you get by but let you down eventually. It's very common when learning a foreign language, I misread kanji sometimes because I pattern-recognize based on context instead of really looking. The solution is to do some proper studying, but I don't wanna.
It's also interesting that this sort of contexual confabulation and pattern-recognizing is how LLMs work. Not sure what to do with that.
Absolutely fantastic article, but I do want to say that this...?
... Is absolutely terrifying in the context of all other anti-intellectualism happening right now. This guy is STILL pushing his 'observations' while denying evidence that it doesn't work.
#the part where he says it doesn’t matter if a child reads horse instead of pony bc the meaning is the same is.. particularly dire 💀#it’s immediately obvious that this doesn’t work as soon as books don’t have pictures in them ???
Good thing that there aren't any texts where subtle differences in meaning are important or anything like that.
ALSO HE DOESN'T BELIEVE IN DYSLEXIA
Some other scary screenshots!
I think that this is a runner up for the scariest section:
This last one comes pretty early. But I think this should get the medal of being the scariest. It's short. It's simple. It's like the poison dart frog you see on a leaf. Which is why I am only showing it know.
I think you needed to marinate a bit, but also I think it's a great jumpscare to realise that this was in roughly the first third. This was not some type of final, terrible secret only found when wading deep. They will readily admit this, no not only that, this is part of the sales pitch!!!
You read (or heard) it folks! Actually knowing the text through reading is over, bye bye!
But to be more serious here. You will, as a human being, inevitably come across many topics that you may not be familiar with. Now, a cute romance book or light reading novels might not be very complex and therefore not have too many issues cropping up due to you not understanding something.
However, daily live, vital parts of it, are constantly made up of complex topics. Imagine, your whole basis on understanding text hinges on trying to equate this new word with an old word. The example of pony into horse has it's issues already, but if you are currently reading only for fun, this is not world ending.
This comes to it's disasterous end when you:
Have to navigate legal documents.
Have to navigate forms for various important things like job applications or higher education.
And especially:
Navigating medical topics.
Medicine is already a difficult thing. In german one of the popular dictionary brands called Duden has a whole dictionary specific to medical terms, word structure (pre- and suffixes and more) and even abbreviations. This is because medicine is not only a highly complex topic, but also because a lot of the words have direct latin or english roots. This makes something like Three-cueing very difficult.
Many new words, but they are completly alien. Aortic dissection? Thrombosis? Diabetes? What can you possibly find with the same inital that would fit the meaning of these words?
The way this method is decribed does not sound to me like a competent and confident native speaker. As someone who accompanied many immigrants to medical stuff "as a family friend" for translating the german speaking staff, this sounds like when they have just learned the very basic first things on the language and are trying desperatly to understand by themselves what a doctor, nurse or pharmacist is saying.
Similarly, this first impulse to find an equivalent or similar word being trained into you is terrible. It should be you trying to understand the word based on words and structures and phonics you know. And if this fails it should be to ask the person in front of you in the clinic waiting for you to read the sheet that tells you of the risk of anesthesia. It should be looking up and learning new words. It should be asking for someone to say a sentence out loud for you. It should be that you get help if you need it.
Not to simply guess, skip and hide the lack of understanding and avoid all texts.
This instinct is very similar to a behaviour common with people that are (functionally) illiterate. Due to the largely existing disdain against people like this and the ridicule everyone offers if not being able to do a supposedly easy/basic thing quickly turns into hiding the illiteracy by attempting to make out some words, listening closly to what the other person said additionally and repeating it back, or simply nodding along. And most importantly: never asking. This draws attention. It would mean that their secret is revealed. There are a lot more people who are functionally illiterate than you belive. They normally hide. But they are affected by it daily.
This turns into people going for decades not being able to properly read, driven by shame. This is very destructive to their lives. Any text is a foreign thing, never to be understood. Forms, books, notes and writing become almost to completely insurmountable obstacles, driving the avoidance even further. Not going to the doctor's office because you won't understand the notes they give you and the forms you need to fill. Not being able to properly navigate a new place by reading street signs. Not being able to get a drivers license.
The only way out is getting the oppertunity and accepting it. This is very difficult, especially if the illiteracy has been present for decades. Behaviour has been driven in, like not asking for help or clarification, since this could expose you as not being able to understand what is written. Other factors like not having gone to school, poverty, working in jobs where this is never apparent (making hiding seem easier for the person than attempting to try and find a way out), living in very isolated conditions, isolation in general and bad experiences when asking for help only add to this.
A child learning to read should never be taught these behaviours. A child that is taught this will have difficulty later on due to self reinforcing behaviour. They will not ask for clarification, not understand something like an assignment, try to wing it based on what they think the assignment says, hide this and not consider asking questions, fail, will get scolded or the bad result alone is enough to trigger shame, this shame will make it even less likely that they ask for help now or later, etc.
This is a spiral that can, unless they break out of it themselves or are lucky to get someone who recognises this and helps them (and they accept), only go downwards.
You should not basically set a child on it as if it was a rollercoaster.
The people making millions of profits off of school districts buying their bullshit should be completley exposed as profiting off something increadibly vital to life as we live it and be barred from selling or even being seen as a proper source. Actual scientific validity of what is taught to teachers should be questioned a lot more.
This happens because the people who can directly intervene are completly clueless. Meanwhile the people who believe they are right against all evidence can just live in their la-la-land, completly unaffected.
This should not be happening.
This sounds very similar to my experience w/ people with aphasia.
Basically, people with aphasia often didn't have any serious language difficulties growing up and they remember what they were treated like back then. Only suddenly, they can't produce or comprehend language (often after a stroke).
Being very aware of just how vulnerable that makes them + the stigma that comes with their new disability, a lot of the focus is on *seeming* like you understand things and not being visibly lost.
This will lead to people just agreeing with things, bc that tends to end the conversation (also common behavior with people who aren't very fluent in a foreign language), not talking much overall and just imitating what others are doing in case verbal/written instructions are involved in any way.
And to be clear, this isn't a condemnation of the behavior: not being able to communicate fluently is dangerous in our society and very much paints a target on your back. I wasn't very fluent in German when I moved here and I remember how much more difficult my life was back then, and even to this day people will sometimes try to use my status as a non-native speaker against me, claiming I just "misunderstood" things, despite the fact I am completely fluent.
As with many problems, these ones are structural, but that doesn't mean there's nothing we can do as individuals. Developing patience for people who don't understand something, be it written or verbal, and taking the time to repeat yourself/explain it in different words is key to fighting against the stigma. Not treating reading/fluency/large vocabularies as a given, and supporting people who struggle with them can also make a difference.
"All you had to do was pay us enough to live"
Stencils around Melbourne in solidarity with Chamel Abdulkarim, a warehouse worker accused of setting his workplace in California ablaze last month.
this is my impression of what it would look like if the toddlers at my job could make traumacore edits about me
alright by popular demand here is more toddler traumacore
academic dishonesty is not something you can spin as moral lol i do not want to share a career field let alone a social sphere with a bunch of chatgpt using ass bitches
"you're just scared your diploma is going to devalue" i'm afraid you dumb bitches are going to become my colleagues and drag social services to hell
I'm afraid they'll become scientists and data that lives depend on will turn out to be wrong - and people will die.
I'm afraid they'll become engineers and sign off on bridge designs that collapse - and people will die.
I'm afraid they'll become medical professionals who don't know what they're doing - and people will die.
The assumption that academic dishonesty is okay is rooted in the idea that what you're learning to do doesn't matter.
"The assumption that academic dishonesty is okay is rooted in the idea that what you're learning to do doesn't matter."
Recovering from autistic burnout as a high-masking adult:
To recover, you literally need to manually learn skills that most people learn as a toddler
You need to learn what makes your body uncomfortable, and what to do to fix it
If you are high-masking, that usually means that you have learned to ignore every distress signal your body sends unless it is a distress signal that a neurotypical person would recognize. People have likely been unintentionally gaslighting you about your lived experience your entire life
If you feel bad or panicked for no reason, stop and try to pay attention to your body. Are you tense? You are likely feeling physical pain somewhere. If you've been gaslit about your pain your entire life, you might not be able to identify it.
Go through a sensory checklist.
SIGHT: Try closing and covering your eyes. If this gives you relief, the lights are probably too bright. You may also need differently-colored lights
SOUND: Cover your ears. Does this give you relief? If so, you may need earplugs or noise canceling headphones. You may also benefit from a neutral or pleasant background noise, like soft music or brown noise.
TOUCH: Are your clothes uncomfortable? Your chair? Your body? Do you feel greasy, like you need a shower? Do you need softer, sensory-friendly clothing?
TASTE: Do you need to brush your teeth or tongue? Would chewing on something help?
SMELL: Is there a strong or unpleasant smell in the room? Do you need to clean or empty a trash can? Would an air purifier help? Would a pleasant smell like a candle help?
INTEROCEPTION: Are you hungry? Thirsty? Tired? How is your posture? Are any of your muscles tight or sore? Scan your body slowly from head to feet, tensing and loosening each group of muscles. Going for a walk or doing a series of quick stretches may help a lot.
Learning how to do this stuff is not intuitive, if you've had an entire lifetime of gaslighting telling you that everything hurting you isn't a big deal and you're being dramatic over nothing.
This takes time, it takes work, it's not intuitive, and it's hard. Most people forget how hard it is, because they learned this as toddlers.
If you want to recover, you need to relearn your whole body. And get over your idea of "normal" and just wear the damn sunglasses and put on the headphones. If people stare, fuck em. You're disabled and they can deal with that.
tony's chocolonely mildly pisses me off every time i eat it. like yeah i get it ur doing a whole symbolism thing about unfairness and whatever, but its actually SO DIFFICULT to eat fucking. gerrymandered chocolate. your symbolism is ruining my chocolate experience.
who approved this.
like. ur already more expensive. i understand this. i am willing to pay more money to have slave-free delicious chocolate. why must you punish me further by making it a goddamn puzzle to break a piece off.
Tony's Chocolonely does not ensure a living wage for cocoa workers in West Africa (see 2020 report by Voice Network).
Food Empowerment Project maintains an updated list of chocolate brands they recommend based on the following standards:
transparency about the country of origin for cocoa
if sourced from Western Africa, the workers must own the companies/be in charge of the profits from their labor (this standard is because child labor and slavery have been widely documented for decades in this area)
if sourced from Brazil, the workers must own the company and/or be in charge of the profits from their labor, or the company must be going above and beyond to support the workers and their families (this standard is because "child labor and slavery only recently have been documented in cocoa in Brazil" and they are "giving Brazilian companies that are trying to address the issue by supporting the workers and their families the benefit of the doubt.")
this isn't perfect, obviously, but it is much more grounded in the rights of workers than the various certifications (e.g. Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, etc.) you'll see on product packaging
I think it should be noted that the Food Empowerment Project specifically only lists companies making "at least one vegan chocolate product" and that they only ask about the companies' vegan chocolates specifically. Their list is not an exhaustive resource for every type of chocolate.
[Source: "Understanding Our Chocolate List" from their website]
Before I found that link I was curious as to why I didn't see any Norwegian manufacturers on their list(which makes sense now, as their chocolates are almost exclusively milk chocolate) and looked up where our companies source their chocolate from and found Nidar gets theirs from the Rainforest Alliance and Freia from Cocoa Life, both of which have been under scrutiny for not preventing child labour and not paying farmers a living wage among other things. So it appears Norwegian chocolate is out of the ethical picture.
I stated this in the comments of the post already, but it’d probably be better to add it as a reblog, so it’s more visible and doesn’t need to be restated by anyone else in the future.
So, Tony’s allied with Barry Callebut to get its cocoa. Barry Callebut is one of the biggest chocolate companies in the world, and it is unethical, obviously. This led to Tony’s revealing in February 2022 that 1701 child laborers were in their supply chain. Barry Callebut had over 21K at the time. Both of those numbers have risen, and Tony’s has outright admitted they don’t give a fuck about child labor laws when asked about it, content to let children to continue farming their cocoa instead of actually doing the activism they claim to do. (business-humanrights.org, feb 6 2022)
About a week ago, Tony’s joined Barry, Nestle and Ferrero in pushing against the reinstatement of important EUDR deforestation legislations. Under that regulation that they pushed against, they would’ve had to be more transparent about their supply chains for their more key ingredients - So Tony’s is lobbying against the exact thing they claim to stand for. (confectioneryproduction.com, mar 18, 2026)
Won’t restate @closet-keys’s addition, of course. That’d just be redundant and maybe annoying since, yknow, it’s already been said.
If you wanna find a better chocolate brand it’s really damn easy. There’s lists on slavefreechocolate.org of both the ethical and unethical companies. Both lists can be found here:
Below is a list of chocolate companies that only use ethically grown cocoa. Find out how you can tell if the chocolate you are ea
And it doesn’t have the vegan product restriction the other list has, which solves @aloofraven’s issue.
SCP-167 - Infinite Labyrinth
by gscshoyru
These doorways lead directly to identical rooms, each with two more doorways leading to more identical rooms.
https://www.scpdatapodcast.com/episodes/scp-167
with @oktober-urn
The Muppet Show (1976-1981)