aalkuipers

[aalkuipers]

Yoooooooo

So the government just defunded PBS and NPR which is fucked. That being said, the public can cover the damage if we orginize and donate.

Only about $1.60 of tax dollars per US citizen per year are spent on the public broadcasting budget. NPR and PBS offer beong able to make small monthly donations, some being 7$ per month or lower if you want.

If you want to donate 1.60$ per month to your local station, you can multiply how much funding they get from you by 12. If you do their monthly donation of $7 per month, your donation can equal the tax dollars of 54 people spent on public broadcasting per year.

If you want to donate to your local station, look them up by your town here to make sure your local stations get helped specifically:

[aalkuipers]

at some point in your life you will be boiling fruit, water, sugar, and lemon juice in a pot to make a syrup or jam. the instructions will tell you to simmer for a certain amt of time. your timer will go off and you will look at the pot and go, "hm, this doesn't look thick enough. maybe i'll let it go for another 10 minutes." this is the devil speaking. it's only so liquid right now because it is at boiling point. it will thicken when it cools down. learn from the follies of my youth and do not let this happen to you

[aalkuipers]

For those who don't know, YouTube will be adding AI age verification for US-based users starting August 13th. This will attempt to use "the types of videos a user is searching for, the categories of videos they have watched, or the longevity of the account," to determine their age, regardless of what birthdate they have entered. If an adult is incorrectly determined to be a child, they will need to give YouTube a government-issued ID or a credit card to verify their age. As with many such things, YouTube claims it is for the children's safety. Obviously, I am all for protecting children, and I don't want them to be exposed to things they shouldn't see, but this is most likely more about data collection. Even if it was about children's safety, this was the logic used for creating YouTube Kids, and we can all see how "safe" that is.

If you don't want to directly send your driver's license to Google, you'll need to deal with "age appropriate product experiences and protections," such as "digital wellbeing tools" and disabling personalized ads. The second part is because in the US, it is illegal to collect certain information about people under the age of 13. Now, the people at Google (which owns YouTube) love collecting information about their users, but they don't want to get in trouble, and they believe AI moderation is the answer. Not only can the AI work around the clock, but if anything goes wrong, they can say it was the machine that made the mistake, not them. And, as with any moderation, there will be mistakes (again, look at YouTube Kids).

Because of this, creators and viewers alike are planning to stop using the site starting on August 13th. I personally doubt YouTube will care much, at least at first, but if they lose enough ad revenue, they might reconsider their decision. YouTube says they'll be rolling this out to a small test group first, so it might not affect you right away, but if nothing is done, it will soon. If you're an American who uses YouTube regularly, I encourage you to join, whether just for a day, or as long as it takes. And if you have kids, please teach them internet safety and monitor their internet access so that companies can't make this garbage excuse anymore.

[aalkuipers]

If you live in the US like I do, remember to check what dates your local elections are being held. Now is the time to get engaged in our political process. Remember, if you oppose Donald Trump, the current administration doesn’t want you voting at all. Your power threatens them, so seize the opportunity to vote for people who represent you and will fight back against tyranny.

The specific dates for local elections are easy to forget since they’re different nation-wide, but you can check Ballotpedia online for your own state’s election timeline.

[aalkuipers]

[aalkuipers]

Oh my god the fucking Onion

[aalkuipers]

> be me

> discover queer liberation library, a free us-based digital library

> sign up in literally two minutes and they needed zero sensitive personal information

> already have libby and my account automatically connects to it

> check out a book with a main character that uses neopronouns

> sing praises of @queerliblib

> find joy in life

[aalkuipers]

When I was a very tiny child my mom was in a local production of The Reluctant Resurrection of Sherlock Holmes, a play where Arthur Conan Doyle is hired to investigate a murder at a haunted house with Sherlock Holmes, a figment of Doyle’s imagination that only he can see and hear. Doyle very sincerely believes that the house is haunted, and Holmes thinks that Doyle is a moron

I was too young to appreciate this concept when I was a child, now that I’m older it’s the best concept for a play I’ve ever heard in my life.

[aalkuipers]

[aalkuipers]

guys please donate as much as you can to the sameer project. 5 dollars can accumulate into a high impact donation that keeps the kitchens going. ive done a lot of small increment donations (a lot of them are automatic, if that could be more intuitive for some people) that amassed into a sizable donation overall. and please reblog this so more people could be reminded and contribute as well

[aalkuipers]

"How dare you not applaud your Glorious Leader!" says elderly alzheimers riddled pedophile who had Jeffrey Epstein killed to silence him

[aalkuipers]

Fearing such hits as “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park,” “National Brotherhood Week,” “The Masochism Tango,” “The Element Song,” “Be Prepared,” and “Lobachevsky��

[aalkuipers]

As a society we have benefited so much from successful public health measures that we now have the privilege of declaring that we must not need them anymore

Bitch before enriched flour, neural tube defects like spina bifida were far more common. Even now, spina bifida clinicians and researchers are begging to have salt and maize fortified to reach groups that don’t use as much flour. Before iodized salt, the United States had a fucking GOITER BELT. Eleven years after the introduction of fluoridated water, a city in Michigan found the rate of dental caries among school children dropped a staggering 60%— in an era where tooth decay regularly fucking killed people

I’m literally not even going to start on vaccines, which are among the most successful and robustly studied public health measures in world history

You might say “oh well today we all have access to vitamins and toothpastes and dentists so we don’t need those things in our food supplies” and boy do white people on social media loooove to fucking say that. But here’s the thing: no, people don’t all have easy access to those things. That’s privilege talking yet again

[aalkuipers]

[aalkuipers]

ITS BIG COOKIE DAY BITCHES

[aalkuipers]

*Dead media (assassinated)

[aalkuipers]

Mobility assistance