#achiever computer

[incorrect-hs-quotes]

DAVE: i took a controversial new pill that accelerates my brain

ROSE: So you’re smart now?

DAVE: im stupid faster

DAVE, TRIUMPHANTLY: im doing 1000 calculations per second and theyre all wrong

[viralarcadian]

[humdrummoloch]

How do I put what's in my head onto the page? Is it always hard?

Hello!

If you're asking me how to make the writing live up to the fantasy, just remember: writing isn't a transcription service, it's an art form.

Writing isn't thinking, but between you and me, thinking isn't that great anyways. It's like singing in the shower. Thinking needs to be translated through a skill like writing before it'll make a good scene.

Creation is choices and actions, not recreation. Let me give you an example: I crocheted my dog recently, and I didn't aim to perfectly recreate my dog in tiny crochet form. Instead, while I crocheted, I converted her into a small character with plushie proportions. She had all her recognisable features and was a pretty good crochet dog, checked all the boxes, Dad was happy. But the little crochet dog didn't look exactly how the subject did, sat there wagging on the rug. That's because I wasn't trying to copy her. I was trying to crochet her. In the same way, I don't transcribe my daydreams, I convert them into writing form, and that's 90% less frustrating and 100% more possible.

As for whether writing remains hard forever, yes and no. Writing becomes easier with practice the same way anything does, but it gets harder as you naturally challenge yourself to write better, like a bodybuilder increasing the weights. But if you stop expecting writing to come out 'correctly' and instead lose yourself in the process, you won't feel the dead ends, you'll be too busy finding solutions and thinking on your feet -- you'll be in the zone.

I just wish I knew how to do that on command!

-HM

[infiniteglitterfall]

Palestinians to platform, part 1

مؤمن الناطور / Moumen Al-Natour

@MoumALnatour

رئيس الشباب الفلسطيني للتنمية / President of Palestinian Youth for Development

Moumen Al-Natour is amazing. Not only does he run a Palestinian youth organization that is doing great work in Gaza, but he's also one of the organizers of the 2019 anti-Hamas protests.

Even to criticize Hamas, in Gaza, means to be interrogated, and potentially jailed, tortured, and/or killed. To actively protest Hamas is many times more dangerous.

To have survived that work and continued doing it? I cannot imagine the emotional strength this dude has.

Here's what Center for Peace Communications (another great organization) has said about him:

So many Palestinians, in or from Palestine, are out there talking about what everyday life in Gaza is like. About Hamas, about Israel, about what they want and what they need, about their struggles and their interests and their families.

My goal, in finding people for you to follow and platform, is to help more voices get out of Gaza after years of suppression, and to help more outsiders (like me) connect with them.

People care SO MUCH about Palestine. But frequently, all there is to share is outrage, semi-accurate news, and more outrage. Frequently, we're not calling for the same things they are. We call for a ceasefire; they demand Hamas return the hostages and surrender. We call for Israel to let aid in; they say Israel is letting the aid in, but it's being stolen, and call for air drops rather than trucks. We call for Israel to stop fighting; they say they hope Israel takes Hamas out first.

We aren't centering their voices and experiences. We aren't lending our reach and our strength to their demands.

I want to make that possible.

Ala Mushtaha, the son of this imam, evidently said, “On Saturday December 30, our front door was busted down and twenty masked men barged in and took my father, a widely respected and deeply learned imam here in Gaza."

“One dragged him by his head and another grabbed him by his beard. My younger brother tried to intervene and reason with the kidnappers, but they beat him. I have a medical condition that makes it hard for me to breathe, so all I could do was watch as the horror unfolded.

“He wouldn’t preach what Hamas told him to. He refused to tell Gazans that violent resistance and obedience to Hamas, is the best way out of our current hell.”

ok this dude needs his own post honestly, he goes on to say so much intense stuff about their lives.

OMG his dad was actually released!

This is what I'm talking about. This is effective activism. Imagine what all these people could do if they had the entire global pro-Palestinian movement behind them.

Al-Natour posts a fair amount of political commentary.

The "we want to live" hashtag is a callback to the amazing "We Want To Live" protests he co-organized against Hamas, in Gaza in 2019, and again in the summer of 2023. Activist Hamida Howidzy (who will also be getting a separate post) wrote about them in Newsweek recently.

Some things he posts in Arabic and then in English. Some of his posts are in Arabic only. In the thread above, he actually posted a couple more that were just in Arabic, presumably aimed at Arabic-language comments.

What I like about Twitter is that you can whack the "translate post" button and get a pretty decent translation most of the time.

Translation:

"I saw all the responses... What is wrong and forbidden in reuniting the West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem through elections in which the people choose who will represent them??!?? Why are all the responses offensive...a collaborator, a traitor, and contain insults that indicate that whoever wrote them needs restructuring?! What prevents us, after ending the war, from returning our choice and choice to the Palestinian people?!+

"Everyone wrote that I opened??!! how did you know???!! Stopping the war is the most important thing now... Whoever sees the condition of the people and feels all this is easy for him does not have humanity, and is not a human being... Whoever, after the destruction of more than 80% of Gaza and the North, and still writing in a way that wants the war to continue while he lives abroad, should reconsider. He accepted to live the same suffering!++"

Note: I copied the "I opened" bit and threw it into Google Translate separately, because that cannot be right. It still insisted that it meant "I opened".... but it gave me the transliterated words, "ani fatah."

Everyone wrote that he's Fatah -- the party that runs the West Bank, the one Hamas violently kicked out of Gaza in 2007-08.

"The end of my speech... I know... whoever is not with you is a traitor and an agent... shameful... by God, by God, by God... there will be an account[ing] for all of this talk... so that you understand the word agent... and the account will be through a government of law... It is clear that there are many who benefit from the poverty and destruction of Gaza, and they must be held accountable according to the law.

"Have mercy on people with your tongues"

The comment on that one is noteworthy:

"Yes, whoever is not with the resistance is indeed a traitor, and those who must be held accountable are the traitors, agents, hypocrites, liars, and racists who slander the resistance and who want to hold it accountable only because it fights the enemy of humanity and defends truth and the oppressed. If you want to apply the law, apply it to yourselves first."

It highlights how much of what we hear in the West is Hamas propaganda. That's a whole other post too. But Hamas claims to be "the resistance," to "defend truth and the oppressed," while arresting people who refuse to preach its propaganda. While jailing and torturing someone 20 times for organizing a protest.

Which are the exact tactics that make it so easy for their propaganda to reach us . And so hard for us to even know that there has been an entire protest movement against Hamas in Gaza, much less to support its activists.

I'll just cut and paste the translations from his most recent thread, above. All emphasis is mine:

"When demonstrations took place in Israel demanding that Netanyahu stop the war and free the hostages, Al Jazeera and Hamas considered it a victory and an achievement, and that the Israeli government was under pressure. But what is striking is that these demonstrations were not suppressed. They were secured. The hostage issue and public pressure were dealt with professionally.

"The demonstrations that took place in Gaza demanding an end to the war and the return of the displaced...they were classified as suspicious [by Al Jazeera etc] ...even though the displaced Israeli lives in a 5-star hotel and has the privileges of the displaced, and when the Palestinian displaced in Gaza receives help, he needs a mediator, and if he wants a tent, he needs leadership intervention, and if he does not have the mediator And the intervention wants to scratch his pocket..+++

"Why did Israel allow demonstrations and look pressured, always trying to contain everything... while we have a displaced person lost, homeless, and no one is trying to contain him, and when he talks, they call him a fifth column???"

Last month, he posted about pregnancy in wartime. Note the cost of the tent later in this thread! Numerous Palestinians have posted about humanitarian aid getting stolen -- by Hamas, by NGOs, by others -- and sold on the black market. Food and tents especially get mentioned a lot. Everyone mentions the tents are being sold for more than (the equivalent of) $700, even though they were supposed to be free.

I'll leave you with this one for now:

You can read all the posts in this series in my "platform palestine" tag.

[3416]

rate austons attractiveness 1-10. like honestly

i mean............. 10. LOL

[mushtoons]

P l e a s e tell us about your comfort game

EHEHEHEE OKAY OKAY WHERE TO START!!!

okay so outlast for those who dont know is a first person kinda survival horror game! its SOOOOO well done mostly for a game made back in 2013!! the characters are so unique and recognizable!!!!! my favorite personality tho is the whistleblower dlc where as in the first game u play as miles upshur a journalist who received an email from someone who works in murkoff at mount massive asylum who wants murkoff exposed for inhumane human experiments! in the DLC u play as the worker who blew the whistle!!! (aka sent the email!) waylon park!! but they find out PRETTY fast that u sent an email and forcibly admit u into the asylum and the walrider program but u go in and out of consciousness and end up coming fully to when billy hope finally ascends (unleashes the walrider) and in both the main game and the dlc u have a camcorder thats equipped with night vision u keep with u throughout the game so u record and document evidence to expose them!!!! and while at first in the main ur objective is to gather evidence in the DLC ur main goal is ESCAPE!!! and u encountered a bunch of prisoners who wanna hurt u and stuff then there are three or so main main baddies that are reoccurring through the game!! like in the dlc eddie, the groom who mutilates and castrats inmates to make them women and his wife, frank the cannibal with the bone saw! chris walker! a former military man who is trying to kill everyone in the asylum to keep it 'contained' then in main is chris again! then the twins who work for the priest, they're unsettling and silly love them, the priest which doesnt really count as a big bad ig but i added him anyways and dr trager!! a former doctor who was admitted in the asylum! and a bit of a spoiler but in the end of the game of the dlc u see that apparently u (waylon) and miles were in the asylum at the same time (ig obviously but when i first saw that i was like !!!!!!!!!!!) BRUH I COULD KEEP GOING ITS SUCH A GOOD GAME

[404icy]

i completely forgot to post during finals season 😅

[lastoneout]

Like fr it is very funny in a pathetic way to me that TERFs and radfems make absolutely everything about hating men including uplifting cis women. They say they're feminists but they can't even actually talk about a woman without dragging men into it. I know the bechdel test is for media and not real life but it sure is funny to see real living feminists who claim to be all about women trip over the lowest bar imaginable. Fucking pathetic.

[gideonisms]

can tamsyn send me the google docs link to atn I have experience as a beta

[sientifiksiameez]

I'd never heard of Make A Terrible Comic Day before today.

[ruinationz]

have you ever really thought about the fact that caine obviously knows what the area around his computer looks like (office maze) but he doesn't know what's outside of that ....

THAT IS SOMETHANG I THINK ABOUT . THAT IS SOMETHANG I THINK ABOUT SOMETIMES .

[izicodes]

Final grade from Night Coding Class

Checked the grading app that the class uses and this is my final grade! Higher than B grade I had a couple of weeks ago! 98.2% is a good score!

[aggressiveguitarnoises]

reminder to speak ur mind as soon as u want and can especially if its about smth u wanna change cuz its gonna come out eventually and sure sometimes its better later but sometimes its also better to do it as early as possible

[the-penguinspy]

Ava x Lilith 😘

thanks for the prompt, esther :) tysm for including the screenshot too, it was impossible to write seriously while looking at the sims option. blasted my focus to bits

--

A quick tug in her belly and then she’s inside the office, muscles tense and body stock-still as her eyes rove around the dark room. Her gaze flicks to the security cameras interspersed along the edges of the ceiling, taking in the lack of blinking red lights – there won’t be any prying eyes on them.

“All clear. Cameras dark, no hostiles. Cam, time please?”

A crackle of the comms, then: “Five minutes, forty-three seconds.” 

“Copy. Thanks, Cam.”

A beat, two. A tell-tale hum at the base of her head, and Ava phases through the ceiling and lands in a crouch beside her. She straightens with a small hop and brushes the imaginary dust off of her shoulders. Ava’s decked out from head to toe in form-fitting dark leather armour, cruciform sword strapped to her back, face set in grim determination, and she’d cut quite the imposing figure of Warrior Nun if she didn’t insist on wearing that ridiculous baseball cap at every opportunity.

Ava looks over to her and smirks, tipping the frayed bill of her cap towards Lilith while giving her a shameless once-over. “Now, what’s a place like you doing in a girl like this?”

Lilith glares. “I’m on a stealth intel-retrieval mission. You are too.”

Ava chuckles, undeterred by Lilith’s sour expression. “Yes, I know.” It only takes her two small steps before they’re chest-to-chest, bodies flush against each other, and the burst of warmth that travels up Lilith’s spine makes her want to spread her wings out to better dissipate the heat. 

“We don’t have a lot of time, just put it in already.”

“That’s what she said.”

“Must you test the limits of my patience in each and every mission?” Lilith hisses.

“Relax,” Ava murmurs, “We’ve got plenty of time.” Her voice drops low to keep the illusion of quiet. Their gazes stay locked as Ava brings a hand to the side pocket of her vest, the growl of the zipper deafening in the silence of the room. 

She retrieves the USB stick and brings it up until it’s within Lilith’s line of sight, and she waggles her eyebrows for good measure before turning away to insert it into the laptop with a soft click. “Okay! Cam, you’re up.” Lilith exhales, slow and even. Focus.

“Copying files now; this shouldn’t take more than three minutes. I’ll let you know when you can remove the disk.”

“Roger that.” The progress bar pops up, percentage increasing at a merry rate. 

The frantic clicking of keys on the other end of the line turns into background lull, the sound familiar and comforting after a dozen missions. They’re on standby until Camila gives them the go-ahead to remove the hard-disk before she installs the virus to infect the local server. Ava’s already drifted off to inspect the various knick-knacks that line the office walls, and when she spots Lilith looking, she grins and jerks her thumb to the item hung behind her. 

Lilith stalks over to inspect the giant shark’s head mounted on the wall, her lip curling at the smooth, polished sheen of its skin. Weird, but definitely not the strangest office decor she’s ever encountered. 

The sudden whir of the elevator’s motors catches Lilith’s attention, her keen ears picking up the accompanying thuds of heavy boots, both ascending to their level. So much for a quiet mission. Her wings spread out and her claws unsheathe in tandem. “Aves, we’ve got company. Cam, status?”

“Just a bit more! Can you hold them off for the time being? There seems to be–” 

Static crackles for a second before the line shuts off completely. “Cam? Camila! Do you copy?”

No answer. “Damn.” Lilith glances over to Ava to find her already looking back, fingers tapping against her own earpiece and shaking her head. The march of combat boots on linoleum is getting louder, loud enough that even Ava can hear it, and she chances a look at the double doors before grabbing the laptop and shoving it into the open space beneath the desk, none too gently. Lilith winces at the dull thud it makes against the hardwood floor before she ducks underneath to hide, both of them barely managing to cower behind the desk. Ava’s elbow knocks into her ribs. One of her wings is caught between her body and the desk; it’s already starting to cramp. 

Ava’s kneeled in front of the laptop, back hunched and eyes squinting at the screen. “Uh, okay – I see the cursor moving around, and the progress bar’s at eighty-five – no, eighty-six percent now, so Cam’s still on it.”

Lilith growls. They’ll manage to have the files copied in time, but not fast enough to make a clean exit before they’re stormed. A fight it is, and Ava seems to have come to the same conclusion as she fidgets with the scabbard of her sword, with the chape of it. Impatience itches under her skin, and Lilith peeks over the edge of the desk, notes the lack of doors aside from the singular set that’s in front of the room – one entrance, one exit. 

A stairwell door bangs open somewhere on their floor and someone barks out a command, and suddenly she feels Ava’s hand cup around the nape of her neck, feels their mouths meet as she gives Lilith a quick but bruising kiss. Ava pulls away but stays close, ‘see you on the flip side’ murmured against her lips. 

Lilith grabs her hand before she can get too far. “Ava, wait.” The shouts get louder, boots thundering down the corridor towards their room. Ava’s forearms tenses in her grip, ready to bolt into action, but she heeds the request and arches an eyebrow; the plan’s already laid out, and Lilith’s never been one to stall. This isn’t the first discreet mission where they’ll have to go loud, either, and it certainly won’t be the last.

Lilith bites her lip and hesitates, the tempo of her heartbeat matching the rapid footsteps outside. Will she, won’t she, why won’t she – oh, fuck it. “Be careful.” 

Ava shoots her a grin, cocky and confident and so infuriatingly hot. “Always am.” 

“You literally got stabbed last time–”

“I love you too.” Lilith scoffs, but she curls the edge of a wing around Ava’s shoulder before she retracts it; nothing more than a light brush, a mere suggestion of something, but Ava’s smile softens. The backs of her fingers stroke gently against the inside of Lilith’s wing, and Lilith swallows; it’s too slow, too tender for a moment such as this, a moment that would very much be stained quick with the flash of steel and blood.

They’re interrupted by a cheerful ding! from the computer, and Ava gives a quiet whoop in celebration at the fully green progress bar. She tugs the thumb-drive out and tosses it up, snatching it out of the air and placing it securely in her pocket, right as the heavy oak doors blast open. Flashlights from guns sweep back and forth as they go searching, searching; the beams don’t find them, not yet. The Director’s office is luxurious in its square footage, but there’s only so much area to cover, only so much time before they’re found. 

Ava adjusts her cap so that it’s bill-backwards before she unsheathes her sword in one smooth, practiced motion. The blue glow of it plays across the contours of her face; it coaxes the shadows to settle above the arches of her brows, between the seam of full lips, behind the firm architecture of her nose. Her cheekbones cut sharp, her teeth glint with hunger, and Lilith thinks she’s never more beautiful than in moments like these – seconds away from a fight, where Lilith can almost taste the energy and anticipation radiating off of Ava’s skin, the thrum of it sharp and sweet in the air. 

She licks her lips. “Exfil?”

Ava looks over as she crouches in place, ready. She looks excited. She looks good. “We’ll make our own way out, Lil, you and me. Now, let’s show these guys exactly who they’re messing with.”