#Technology ，

[warakami-vaporwave]

Windows 2003

[yodaprod]

Memorex 2076 (1980)

[awlwren]

[id: post on Bluesky by Doug DeJulio (@dfjdejulio.bsky.social) from December 9, 2024: "The ovulation tracking app, "Ovia", now mandates you identify what state you live in. Delete immediately and warn anyone who might need to know."]/end id.

to all my period-having buds in the US, make sure you delete that shit

[pratchettquotes]

"Is that what you came to see me about?" said Leonard.

"No. I came to talk to you," said Lord Vetinari, "about the gonne."

"Oh, dear. I'm very sorry."

"I am afraid it has...escaped."

"My goodness. I thought you said you'd done away with it."

"I gave it to the Assassins to destroy. After all, they pride themselves on the artistic quality of their work. They should be horrified at the idea of anyone having that sort of power. But the damn fools did not destroy it. They thought they could lock it away. And now they've lost it."

"They didn't destroy it?"

"Apparently not, the fools."

"And nor did you. I wonder why?"

"I...do you know, I don't know?"

Terry Pratchett, Men at Arms

[bassgif]

source

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - December 15-21

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles for 50% off this month!

1. 7 good things humanity did to combat climate change in 2024

“The UK […] closed its final coal power plant in October. [… In India,] the share of power provided by coal dropped below 50% for the first time since the 1960s. [… A non-profit] has provided solar energy to more than 6,000 of the poorest Nigerians.”

2. California Voters Said Yes to Prop 4, a Win for Birds, People, and Our Shared Future

“[…] Prop 4 will direct millions of dollars for water conservation and habitat restoration [… and] includes a requirement that at least 40% of its funding go to lower-income and climate-vulnerable communities.”

3. This Pennsylvania school is saving big with solar and EV school buses

“Steelton-Highspire’s solar arrangement will save it about $3.6 million over the next 20 years. As for the electric school buses, Steelton-Highspire is one of thousands of districts able to access federal rebates from a $5 billion program created by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”

4. Autism Speaks Canada shuts down in January. Good.

“As Canada’s autistic-led advocacy group […] we are relieved that Autism Speaks Canada will be shutting down in January of 2025. This is an opportunity for autistics and our families to collaborate locally to build new, neuro-affirming spaces and projects.” [If you don’t know why this is a good thing, please click here]

5. LA Zoo hatches first-ever perentie lizards, one of largest lizard species in the world

“The LA Zoo is one of only three institutions accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that have successfully reproduced them[….] Adult perentie lizards can reach more than 8 feet (2.4 meters) in length and can weigh more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms), the zoo said.”

6. Research reveals an inexpensive fix for California's struggling wildflowers

“[… R]aking [“dead, invasive grasses”] is decidedly less labor-intensive and more ecologically friendly [than other management techniques…, but doing so] increased plant diversity overall, reducing invasive grasses […] while increasing both native and exotic wildflowers[….]”

7. A new EV battery could last more than 8 times longer, travel farther

“[… A] typical battery lasts 2,400 cycles, while the new battery lasted more than 20,000 cycles. [… Used batteries could be repurposed] for grid storage on wind and solar farms, the study notes.”

8. Women who are homeless in Boston find safe space and care at 'HER Saturday'

“Women can get lots of other care on the spot — from sick visits and basic health screenings to Pap smears and contraception. [… They also come for] "The makeup, the snacking and the girl talks. And ... picking out a new outfit," said Pinky Valentine [“a homeless transgender woman”].”

9. ‘It absolutely took off’: five UK biodiversity success stories

“[…N]ew methods are emerging to preserve, improve and generate new habitat and, in many cases, attract back or reintroduce species not seen for decades. After a nudge, ecosystems are often doing much of the heavy work themselves.“

10. Personalized gifts really do mean that little bit more to your loved ones, says research

“Research has also shown that receivers of personalized gifts are more likely to take care of them. […] In this sense, gift-giving can be not just an emotional exchange, but also a more sustainable one. A carefully preserved [personalised] gift avoids waste and brings long-term satisfaction.”

December 8-14 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[389]

[mythsec]

TW post

We live in a world built on corruption, greed, envy, oppression, and a fuck ton more. The more our group discusses these things with our neighboring friends overseas and across the pond, we note that they're fighting too but they're watching us grow as a unit. We're fighting to stay sane, to band together, to fight finally for our own rights whether you're red or blue there's no side. There's only understanding. All it takes is time to want to learn. When you find out that people can see eye to eye, that's when we can make forward motion. A well oiled machine. We defend it as a unit for Luigi Mangione. He took the life of a criminal. Someone invested in stealing from others, denying healthcare and covering up spending. When this man was killed the city took all their research to find one man when they can't do that for missing children, endangered women, men that have been r*ped and the person is still at large. There lies their priorities. There lies the issue. They don't care. They've never cared, they only want to line their pockets and keep us silent. Well no more. We take the streets and show them how we riot. How we protest. How we show them we're fed up. We've given you doxxes, we've been informing you on how to stay safe online and use a VPN and how to mask your emails. We've shown you end-to-end encrypted messaging apps to stay connected. We're here on Tumblr in case Tiktok goes down permanently. To inform the masses of when to organize and how to stay safe.

We will get through this. Georgia is fighting, the UK is fighting, all the nations are fighting. You may feel overwhelmed or in a ball, but even you can make a difference whether it's sharing news, liking posts to gain traction, making videos, making posts to keep people informed, going out and posting flyers with qr codes or getting people to wake up, whether you protest and stay a day or a week or longer, whatever you do matters and makes a difference. It's going to be a long fight but we can do this. You got this.

[ahmad-gaza-1]

Here in gaza we are humans.

We watched game of thrones and we always thought that winter would be beautiful, we didn't know we would be homeless and many of us would die of extreme cold.

We watched death note, and we all dream that we have a death note and write down the names of the causers of this genocide.

We love marvel, the world will not help us, so we need the avengers, we all wish they were real.

We watched hunter x hunter and we really need the determination and strength of gon and killua.

Here in gaza we love sports, movies, series, animals, music, art, technology, geography and history, we love what you love, we all dream of traveling, we all do what others on this earth do.

And finally WE LOVE, and there’s who loves us back.

So please treat us like humans.

Life is love❤️‍🩹

[haruka89]

And at times with only a couple passengers, they might use shorter/smaller busses. Or ones that only drive when called. (Don't ask me how the latter works. I only know something like that exists in my region.)

A bus may have only a couple of passengers, especially at the beginning or end of its route. But let's also take fuel efficiency into account.

[meret118]

In addition to slick websites indistinguishable from the real ones, AI helps to create hyper-personalized email messages and texts that seem like they’re coming from a trusted brand.

"It's not so much that these are new scams. It's that they've put a super jet-powered engine behind some of the old tricks"

“They may even be able to reference recent browser purchasing history, because of there's so much information about us out there from breaches, from what we're putting out there on social media, what we're sharing, what we're liking,” she said, adding that what would have taken lots of time, energy and money to create even two years ago can now be done quickly and cheaply with current AI tools.

. . .

Velasquez advised shoppers to slow down, especially if they’re on a site for a smaller or newer business. We’re most vulnerable when we’re hurrying to check things off the to-do list and get a good deal, especially one too good to be true. “But if you step back and take a few minutes to think, that can make all of the difference,” Velasquez said.If you’re interested in an item you see in an ad that comes your way via text or email or online, go directly to the site instead of clicking a link that can lead you to a fake one. While you may get the credit card charges reversed, scammers still could have already collected valuable information about you and sold it.

Fake charity scammers can also target big-hearted givers. Even if you recognize the charity, go directly to the actual site before you donate. Charity Navigator or an IRS tool are good places for verifying.

And finally, it’s never a bad idea to go to an actual store. “There's a lot to be said for shopping local,” Shackleford said. “Not only is it good for the economy and good for our communities, but it's much, much less likely that you're going to be hoodwinked.”

[yodaprod]

Home Office (1984)

[blackmagecat]

Time to tell you all a horror story. My own personal nightmare I’ve been living with for almost 2 years now.

[TW for pregnancy/childbirth trauma, stillbirth and infant mortality]

The minute I started my baby registry on Amazon was the minute I signed my soul away to unending torture. I lost my daughter at 34 weeks of pregnancy due to little blood clots that formed in my placenta that apparently nobody had been able to detect (but that's a story for another time...) Anywho, the algorithms had already been in full swing by that point, recommending and advertising every baby product under the sun.

But here's the thing. Those ads don't go away just because your baby is dead. In fact, they stick around, and assume that your kid is still there, growing. These things are so targeted, they have been literally serving me ads based around the relative age of my assumed-to-be-living child.

Do you have any idea how fucked up it is to have to watch your non-existent child age and grow in daily, targeted ads? To watch actors pantomiming milestones you'll never get to experience? And for what? To sell me diapers I can't buy?

Worse still, I think the algorithms are finally catching on that something happened to my daughter. Lately I've been getting ads like this:

They don't know what happened exactly, but you'd best believe they're ready to sell me something once they figure it out! My husband has also been getting St. Jude's ads left and right also, where previously he had next to none. Now it's every third ad on each YouTube video he watches, and that's been going on for weeks.

I wish it were illegal. I wish there was something I could do beyond praying that the VPN or ad-blocker I'm using will shield me. I've reported ads as often as I could, but my reasons are rarely listed in the little dropdown menu. I always end up picking "Other."

I can only imagine how many others are out there going through the same. Is it too much to hope we can all get together and file a class action somewhere, somehow? It's one thing to come across a random billboard, or actual TV commercial. I'm responsible for my own reaction to that. But its another thing entirely to have companies stalking you and using your personal history and trauma as a persistent, blunt force tool to make you spend money.

Also I've said this before but advertising is an industry that should be considered as pointless and harmful as fossil fuels.

[vintage-tech]

Excellent new cell phone you got for Christmas.

[mostly-funnytwittertweets]