Happiness, Gratitude, and Guns

My dear dragged me here... This happens a lot.

[honeydropsoftea]

I haven't been able to stop tearing up about Artemis II. How beautiful is this planet, this galaxy, this whole space? How beautiful is creation? How beautiful is it to see humans gather and celebrate science/STEM? To break records for mankind in being the farthest distance from Earth recorded?

Reid Wiseman, the commander of Artemis II, lost his wife Carroll in 2020 after a 5 year long breast cancer battle. But Carroll and their two daughters encouraged Reid to continue following his dreams of being an astronaut. Today, as they went around the moon, they announced one of the brightest moon craters to be named Carroll.

“It's a bright spot on the Moon. And we would like to call it Carroll."

What a day to be alive, to be human, to be part of this creation we call life.

(Highest quality and closest ever photo of the moon. Thank you Artemis II crew and NASA, and everyone past and current, who has been able to give us this.)

[pardalote]

1. A Homebuyer's Guide to Missing Out

2. Letting the River Carry me Away

3. Light at the End of Someone Else's Tunnel

4. Shadows in the Forest: Courage, Anxiety and Despair

Some pieces from last year, I was thinking about this morning.

[sztupy]

Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers

A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previou

[ayeforscotland]

Let’s fucking go

[made-in-manetheren]

This is HUGE.

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

TL;DR Google reeeeeally stepped in it this time.

[alianoralacanta]

5. If the words are Google's, this solidifies the position of universities who demand that all answers from AI are fully cited. If all the in-line citations now have to be (Google, 2026), that's going to make it obvious when someone's trying to use Google as a source. There's still the difficulty with people who are academically dishonest by trying to pass off the AI writing as their own. 6. 91% accuracy is officially too low to use as a source of references, which means the AI can't be used as a source of references either. This makes it less legitimate for such purposes than Wikipedia of all places (Wikipedia might need date/time proof of when it was accessed for the reference to be valid, but at least it is possible to prove the link existed at a particular date and time). 7. This will help encourage the rollout of courses on how to avoid AI search for students who need academic accuracy, because it's statistically not good enough to use. 8. This strengthens the case intellectual property authors have against Google in the EU, as this is proof that an intellectual property transfer took place.

[sexy-people-contests-2026]

My friend just sent this in the group chat, we got the new gay or European 2026 update

A rigorous diagnostic. 15 questions. One uncomfortable truth.

[gala-xyzz]

okay.

[sexy-people-contests-2026]

I got the reverse

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

When guinea pigs say wheek wheek wheek. Reblog if you agree.

[sexy-people-contests-2026]

My friend just sent this in the group chat, we got the new gay or European 2026 update

A rigorous diagnostic. 15 questions. One uncomfortable truth.

[gala-xyzz]

okay.

[sexy-people-contests-2026]

I got the reverse

[loveridden1999]

New picture of Earth released by NASA taken through Orion capsule window by Artemis II

[ghostie-ghosty]

He forgot he was already in his suit.

[prymith]

Person of Interest: Chess Archetypes

"Chess is rarely a game of ideal moves. Almost always a player faces a series of difficult consequences no matter what move he makes." ~David Shenk

[herpsandbirds]

Seeing the Least Gecko I have to ask, is there a Most Gecko?

THIS MF IS THE MOST GECKO YOU CAN GETTTT!!!

New Caledonian Giant Gecko (Rhacodactylus leachianus), family Diplodactylidae, endemic to New Caledonia

This is the longest and heaviest gecko species in the world, growing up to 17 inches total length, and weighing up to 300 g.

Photo via:  Northern Gecko Specialty, firststategeckos

Photograph by Shannon’s Reptile Room

Photo via:  Coast To Coast Exotics Ltd

Photo via:  Mark Orfus, Northern Gecko Inc.

[kedreeva]

I've posted pics like this of a small chick and a large chick, to talk about failure to thrive.

This is not FTT. The bottom chick is normal sized.

The top chick is a luxuriously fluffy, unusually large jumbo, hatched the same day as the other chick. I will be keeping it. I'm REALLY hoping it's a male and maintains that kind of size increase throughout. I also hope it passes on those extra-fluffy genes to its offspring, because it's REALLY cute.

[what-even-is-thiss]

It’s crazy that countries on the edge of the Sahara desert are reversing desertification by just digging half circles

[what-even-is-thiss]

The ground in these places is too compact for water to soak in during wet season which leads to flooding but digging these holes gives the water a place to stop and soak in. And they’re pushing back the desert with this. By just digging holes.

[what-even-is-thiss]

The new plants also help even more water soak into the ground which reduces flooding even more.

These places also give people places to grow food and graze animals like people are turning completely dry compact desert into a refuge for wildlife and plants and solving regional food insecurity just by digging holes.

[untitledgoosegay]

Yacouba Sawadogo - Wikipedia

The half-circles are called zaï! They're a traditional farming practice in the Sahel desert, and their introduction + reintroduction can be largely credited to Yacouba Sawadogo, the man linked above! He reintroduced and innovated on the zaï on his own farm in the 1980s, and did extensive outreach (along with scientist Mathieu Ouédraogo) to encourage other farmers to adopt them as well.

He also promoted the use of cordons pierreux, which are basically just lines of rocks to reduce erosion, preserve sediments, and increase water absorption.

Immensely cool dude. He's been a personal hero since I learned about him.

[she-is-amused]

Ooooh, Mr. Sawadoga innovated the traditional zai method by adding manure and other biological matter to the holes! This put nutrients in the soil as well as helping even more with water retention and attracted termites whose tunnels helped loosen the compacted earth, all of which supported plant-growth like no zai before! Which increased water-retention even further! Oh excellent, excellent work!

[shannoneichorn]

It is a crime that the link preview doesn't show Mr. Sawadoga's face, so here's his photo from Wikipedia.

This is the face of a man adding beauty to the world and making the future better.

[disgruntled-foreign-patriarch]

A People grow great when old men plant trees under whose shade they know they will never rest.

[herpsandbirds]

Mexican Emerald Spiny Lizard (Sceloporus formosus), male, family Phrynosomatidae, Sierra sur de Oaxaca, Mexico

photograph by Halla Draco Sebastian

[gloriousclio]

Luke Skywalker put away his targeting computer to destroy the Death Star so I don't need AI to help me write an email.

[squidinktea]

i dont want 22 episode seasons back. i dont want 8 episode seasons. i dont actually want a prescriptive number of episodes per season

its the era of streaming. we dont need to fil x number of timeslots.

i want tv shows to be able to determine for themselves what their optimal number of episodes per season to tell the story they want at the pace they want. maybe thats a 3 episode season. maybe thats a 50 episode season. i dont care, i just want the decision to be made for practical and artistic reasons rather than corporate ones

[unalivejournal]

Leather fetishes are back in cuz everything is polyester these days.. touching real HQ material in 2026 is enough to give anyone a little sexual zing

[everydaylouie]

touch tank