#but it shows how all these changes are not for the benefit of the user and are always unpopular

[valmillion]

really funny that every website is in an arms race to make itself as bad as possible and immediately someone makes a firefox extension to fix it

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Tech’s benevolent-dictator-for-life to authoritarian pipeline

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/10/bdfl/#high-on-your-own-supply

Silicon Valley's "authoritarian turn" is hard to miss: tech bosses have come out for autocrats like Trump, Orban, Milei, Bolsonaro, et al, and want to turn San Francisco into a militia-patrolled apartheid state operated for the benefit of tech bros:

https://newrepublic.com/article/180487/balaji-srinivasan-network-state-plutocrat

Smart people have written well about what this means, and have gotten me thinking, too:

https://www.programmablemutter.com/p/why-did-silicon-valley-turn-right

Regular readers will know that I make a kind of hobby of collecting definitions of right-wing thought:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/29/jubilance/#tolerable-racism

One of these – a hoary old cliche – is that "a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged." I don't give this one much credence, but it takes on an interesting sheen when combined with this anonymous gem: "Conservatives say they long for the simpler times of their childhood, but what they miss is that the reason they lived simpler lives back then wasn't that the times were simpler; rather, it's because they were children."

If you're a tech founder who once lived in a world where your workers were also your pals and didn't shout at you about labor relations, perhaps that's not because workers got "woke," but rather, because when you were all scrapping at a startup, you were all on an equal footing and there weren't any labor relations to speak of. And if you're a once-right-on tech founder who used to abstractly favor "social justice" but now find yourself beset by people demanding that you confront your privilege, perhaps what's changed isn't those people, but rather the amount of privilege you have.

In other words, "a reactionary tech boss is a liberal tech boss who hired a bunch of pals only to have them turn around and start a union." And also: "Tech founders say things were simpler when they were running startups, but what they miss is that the reason no one asked their startup to seriously engage with the social harms it caused is the because the startup was largely irrelevant to society, while the large company it turned into is destroying millions of peoples' lives today."

The oft-repeated reactionary excuse that "I didn't leave the progressive movement, they left me," can be both technically true and also profoundly wrong: if progressives in your circle never bothered you about your commercial affairs, perhaps that's because those affairs didn't matter when you were grinding out code in your hacker house, but they matter a lot now that you have millions of users and thousands of employees.

I've been in tech circles since before the dawn of the dotcoms; I was part of a movement of people who would come over to your house with a stack of floppies and install TCP/IP and PPP networking software on your computer and show you how to connect to a BBS or ISP, because we wanted everyone to have as much fun as we were having.

Some of us channeled that excitement into starting companies that let people get online, create digital presences of their own, and connect with other people. Some of us were more .ORG than .COM and gave our lives over to activism and nonprofits, missing out on the stock options and big paydays. But even though we ended up in different places, we mostly started in the same place, as spittle-flecked, excited kids talking a mile a minute about how cool this internet thing would be and helping you, a normie, jump into it.

Many of my peers from the .ORG and .COM worlds went on to set up institutions – both companies and nonprofits – that have since grown to be critical pieces of internet infrastructure: classified ad platforms, online encyclopedias, CMSes and personal publishing services, critical free/open source projects, standards bodies, server-to-server utilities, and more.

These all started out as benevolent autocracies: personal projects started by people who pitched in to help their virtual neighbors with the new, digital problems we were all facing. These good people, with good impulses, did good: their projects filled an important need, and grew, and grew, and became structurally important to the digital world. What started off as "Our pal's project that we all pitch in on," became, "Our pal's important mission that we help with, but that also has paid staff and important stakeholders, which they oversee as 'benevolent dictator for life.'"

Which was fine. The people who kicked off these projects had nurtured them all the way from a napkin doodle to infrastructure. They understood them better than anyone else, had sacrificed much for them, and it made sense for them to be installed as stewards.

But what they did next, how they used their powers as "BFDLs," made a huge difference. Because we are all imperfect, we are all capable of rationalizing our way into bad choices, we are all riven with insecurities that can push us to do things we later regret. When our actions are checked – by our peers' social approval or approbation; by the need to keep our volunteers happy; by the possibility of a mass exodus of our users or a fork of our code – these imperfections are balanced by consequences.

Dictators aren't necessarily any more prone to these lapses in judgment than anyone else. Benevolent dictators actually exist, people who only retain power because they genuinely want to use that power for good. Those people aren't more likely to fly off the handle or talk themselves into bad places than you or me – but to be a dictator (benevolent or otherwise) is to exist without the consequences that prevent you from giving in to those impulses. Worse: if you are the dictator – again, benevolent or otherwise – of a big, structurally important company or nonprofit that millions of people rely on, the consequences of these lapses are extremely consequential.

This is how BDFL arrangements turn sour: by removing themselves from formal constraint, the people whose screwups matter the most end up with the fewest guardrails to prevent themselves from screwing up.

No wonder people who set out to do good, to help others find safe and satisfying digital homes online, find themselves feeling furious and beset. Given those feelings, can we really be surprised when "benevolent" dictators discover that they have sympathy for real-world autocrats whose core ethos is, "I know what needs to be done and I could do it, if only the rest of you would stop nagging me about petty bullshit that you just made up 10 minutes ago but now insist is the most important thing in the world?"

That all said, it's interesting to look at the process by which some BDFLs transitioned to community-run projects with checks and balances. I often think about how Wikipedia's BDFL, the self-avowed libertarian Jimmy Wales, decided (correctly, and to his everlasting credit), that the project he raised from a weird idea into a world-historic phenomenon should not be ruled over by one guy, not even him.

(Jimmy is one of those libertarians who believes that we don't need governments to make us be kind and take care of one another because he is kind and takes care of other people – see also John Gilmore and Penn Jillette:)

https://www.cracked.com/article_40871_penn-jillette-wants-to-talk-it-all-out.html

Jimmy's handover to the Wikimedia Foundation gives me hope for our other BDFLs. He's proof that you can find yourself in the hotseat without being so overwhelmed with personal grievance that you find yourself in sympathy with actual fascists, but rather, have the maturity and self-awareness to know that the reason people are demanding so much of you is that you have – deliberately and with great effort – created a situation in which you owe the world a superhuman degree of care and attention, and the only way to resolve that situation equitably and secure your own posterity is to share that power around, not demand that you be allowed to wield it without reproach.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Caffeine

Caffeine - A mild alkaloid stimulant made by some plants.

Found in coffee beans, tea leaves, and cocoa beans; added to soft drinks, energy drinks, and energy bars; and sold in capsules and tablets as a dietary supplement.

A mild stimulant. It is used to temporarily relieve fatigue and increase mental alertness. Caffeine is added to some antihistamine drugs to help counteract the sleepiness they may cause. It is also added to over-the-counter headache remedies (e.g., Excedrin) and migraine headache drugs to enhance their painkilling effects. Under medical supervision, citrated caffeine (a prescription drug) is used to treat breathing problems in premature infants.

From the Italian word cafée, meaning "coffee", is naturally made by about 60 plants. The most familiar of these are coffee leaves and beans, tea leaves, kola nuts, yerba mate, guarana berries, and cacao (the source of chocolate). In plants, caffeine is a pesticide. Insects eating plants that contain caffeine become disabled or die.

It has no nutritional value. But there seem to be some benefits to regular caffeine consumption, despite conflicting research.

Effects on the Body

Increases heart rate

Temporarily increases blood pressure

Relaxes smooth muscle cells in the airways

Releases fatty acids and glycerol in the body for energy use

Easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and changes the level of neurotransmitters in the brain

Passes into breast milk

Caffeine is absorbed in the stomach.

Its effects are noticeable in about 15 minutes and usually last several hours.

However, there is a huge variation among people both in their sensitivity to caffeine and in how long it stays in their bodies.

Although the average time it takes half a dose of caffeine to be eliminated from the body is 3-4 hours, this time may extend to 6 hours in women taking oral contraceptives; much longer in pregnant women and in people with liver damage.

Many well-designed, well-documented studies show that caffeine makes people more alert, improves short-term memory, enhances the ability to concentrate, increases the individual’s capacity for physical work, and speeds up reaction time.

In habitual caffeine drinkers, caffeine achieves this by preventing the detrimental effects of withdrawal.

It does not boost functioning to above normal levels.

All of these effects are temporary.

Caffeine does not replace the need for rest or sleep.

Caffeine Withdrawal

Discontinuing caffeine among regular users can cause withdrawal symptoms. These can include:

Headaches (very common)

Irritability

Nausea

Fatigue

Sleepiness

Inability to concentrate

Mild depression

Caffeine withdrawal symptoms begin 12–24 hours after caffeine is stopped.

Withdrawal symptoms peak at around 48 hours, and can last up to 5 days.

Tapering caffeine use, for example cutting down on caffeine by the equivalent of half a cup of coffee (about 50 mg) a day, minimizes or eliminates withdrawal symptoms.

Caffeinism

People who consume more than 500 mg of caffeine a day—equivalent to about five cups of coffee—may develop a condition called caffeinism, though the threshold varies among individuals.

Produces unpleasant sensations, some of which are similar to withdrawal symptoms. Symptoms of Caffeine Overuse include:

Restlessness

Irritability

Nervousness

Anxiety

Muscle twitching

Headaches

Inability to fall asleep

A racing heart

Related Disorders

Severe overuse of caffeine can cause a number of related disorders, including:

Caffeine Intoxication—usually the result of taking caffeine pills (e.g., NoDoz), this condition causes mental changes, rambling thoughts and speech, irregular heartbeat, and other symptoms associated with overuse. In severe cases death can result from ventricular fibrillation (unsynchronized contractions of the ventricle of the heart).

Caffeine-Induced Anxiety Disorder—severe anxiety that interferes with daily social interactions and occurs after caffeine intoxication or heavy long-term use of caffeine.

Caffeine-Induced Sleep Disorder—an inability to sleep that is so great it requires medical/psychiatric attention and occurs after prolonged caffeine consumption.

Non-Specific Caffeine-Induced Disorder—disorders not listed that are attributable to either acute or long-term caffeine consumption.

Source ⚜ More: Writing Notes & References ⚜ Describing Food ⚜ Cocktails

[nasa]

For the Benefit of All: Assistive Tech Developed from NASA Tech

What do modern cochlear implants and robotic gloves have in common? They were derived from NASA technology. We’ve made it easier to find and use our patented inventions that could help create products that enhance life for people with disabilities.

October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, which highlights the contributions of American workers with disabilities – many of whom use assistive technology on the job. Take a look at these assistive technologies that are NASA spinoffs.

Low-Vision Headsets

The Joint Optical Reflective Display (JORDY) device is a headset that uses NASA image processing and head-mounted display technology to enable people with low vision to read and write. JORDY enhances individuals’ remaining sight by magnifying objects up to 50 times and allowing them to change contrast, brightness, and display modes. JORDY's name was inspired by Geordi La Forge, a blind character from “Star Trek: The Next Generation” whose futuristic visor enabled him to see.

Cochlear Implants

Work that led to the modern cochlear implant was patented by a NASA engineer in the 1970s. Following three failed corrective surgeries, Adam Kissiah combined his NASA electronics know-how with research in the Kennedy Space Center technical library to build his own solution for people with severe-to-profound hearing loss who receive little or no benefit from hearing aids. Several companies now make the devices, which have been implanted in hundreds of thousands of people around the world.

Robotic Gloves

Ironhand, from Swedish company Bioservo Technologies, is the world’s first industrial-strength robotic glove for factory workers and others who perform repetitive manual tasks. It helps prevent stress injuries but has been especially warmly received by workers with preexisting hand injuries and conditions. The glove is based on a suite of patents for the technology developed by NASA and General Motors to build the hands of the Robonaut 2 humanoid robotic astronaut.

Smart Glasses

Neurofeedback technology NASA originally developed to improve pilots’ attention has been the basis for products aimed at helping people manage attention disorders without medication. The devices measure brainwave output to gauge attention levels according to the “engagement index” a NASA engineer created. Then, they show the results to users, helping them learn to voluntarily control their degree of concentration. One such device is a pair of smart glasses from Narbis, whose lenses darken as attention wanes.

Anti-Gravity Treadmills

A NASA scientist who developed ways to use air pressure to simulate gravity for astronauts exercising in space had the idea to apply the concept for the opposite effect on Earth. After licensing his technology, Alter-G Inc. developed its anti-gravity G-Trainer treadmill, which lets users offload some or all of their weight while exercising. The treadmills can help people recover from athletic or brain injuries, and they allow a safe exercise regimen for others with long-term conditions such as arthritis.

Wireless Muscle Sensors

Some of the most exciting assistive technologies to spin off may be yet to come. Delsys Inc. developed electromyographic technology to help NASA understand the effects of long-term weightlessness on astronauts’ muscles and movements. Electromyography detects and analyzes electrical signals emitted when motor nerves trigger movement. Among the company’s customers are physical therapists developing exercise routines to help patients recover from injuries. But some researchers are using the technology to attempt recoveries that once seemed impossible, such as helping paralyzed patients regain movement, letting laryngectomy patients speak, and outfitting amputees with artificial limbs that work like the real thing.  

To further enhance the lives of people with disabilities, NASA has identified a selection of patented technologies created for space missions that could spur the next generation of assistive technology here on Earth.

Want to learn more about assistive technologies already in action? Check out NASA Spinoff to find products and services that wouldn’t exist without space exploration.   

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space!

[alphajocklover]

Hello, basic 40 year old flabby, short, wimpy nerd nerd here. Been trying and failing to get fit and transform into a stud since I've been thirteen to no avail. Pretty much decided that that the project is genetic. I don't suppose you can genetically graft me to a hypermasculine dad or maybe a hypermasculine brother so puberty could have dealt me a way different hand?

Huh. I’ll admit, I’ve never really done anything like that before. I mean, I’ve talked about changes that alter someone’s past in previous post, and I performed one myself using time travel (I fucking hate time travel), but what’s you’re asking is so much more intense. You want me to make it so that you grew up with a super manly dad or brother. You want me to make it so your genetics are different, your history is different, so that you’re basically an entirely different person. I’m not sure I’ve ever altered anyone that much before. But… I’m willing to give it a try.

You’re an only child right? And you never knew your dad? Raised only by your mom? Good, that will make this much easier. Now, I should warn you that we’re going to have to be very careful. We’re going to use an artifact that my Uncle left to me. I’ve mentioned him before. I really should tell you all about him one day. Anyways, what we’re using to change you might not look like much, but… it’s very powerful. We need to use it carefully.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. It’s a little statue of a metal tree. Yes I know I sound crazy but in a world with time travel, an app that turns people into meatheads, and reflections that can swap places with the person they’re reflecting, I think you can give me the benefit of the doubt. The little statuette doesn’t look like much, but it’s one of the most dangerous magic items I own. It’s known as the Family Tree, and it allows the user to, well, alter their family tree. Literally. All you have to do is press your thumb to the wooden base, and the tree grows and changes until it resembles your own family tree, complete with pictures. Then it’s as simple as moving some things around, or adding a picture to the tree. So, let’s get to work.

You asked for a super manly dad, or a super manly brother. But since we’re already changing your family, why not give you both? First let’s change out your deadbeat dad for someone a little more… impressive. A real man, a man’s man, one so muscular and sexy that if he walked out on your mom you’d still thank him for the amazing genetics. But don’t worry, your new dad isn’t going to walk out like the old one. He stayed with your mom (who as it turns out is a real babe with the right man encouraging her), and raised you to be just like him. He taught you how to play sports, how to workout, how to shave your hairy face, even how to make a girl putty in your hands. You were always especially talented at that last one. You’re starting to remember it aren’t you? Everything your dad taught you, how far you pushed yourself because you wanted to make him proud. You especially remember him showing him how to throw a football. In this world you were a natural.

Next is your brother. I don’t wanna give away your identity, or his, so let’s call him Brad. He’s actually your younger brother, not your older brother. You were the one who taught him how to be a man, how to be a stud, and in doing so, became an even better one yourself. As reality changes you remember growing up with him, teaching him the ropes, playing and working out with him. You even remember the girls you’d sometimes fuck together. You remember the first time you and him spitroasted a bimbo, how hot the girl looked and how proud and manly your brother was.

But let’s move on to you. In this life you took after your dad and your little brother, being a natural stud. You were a strong kid, an active kid, but puberty hit you like a dump truck. You shot up, your shoulders widened, and you gained an almost obscene amount of muscle and hair. You’ve got a different personality too. Cocky and confident, a constant flirt and a total bro. You thought you’d never settle down, fucking a different girl every night. Until… you met your wife. Yes, in this world you have a wife. She’s a bit of a bimbo, but the kindest person you’ve ever met. She enchanted you, and soon… while, you were married, and have stayed married for almost 20 years.

You’ve changed your past, your future, and everything about yourself. You’re finally the man you always wanted to be… but your kids are really the lucky ones. They’ve got awesome genetics, killer bodies, and a great dad to show them how to use it, just like how you did growing up.

[toskarin]

As someone knowledgeable about MMOs, and given the topic of SAO just came up. If you were to write a .Hack/SAO/Log Horizon style story, what kind of things would you focus on? I personally feel like there are a lot of different elements of MMO culture anyone writing about them could really delve into. So I'm curious what Tumblr user Toskarin would choose.

condensed

back when I played Perfect World, it had some empty spaces. this wasn't uncommon for mmos, and if you can name one older than 15 or so years, you can bet there were vast empty spaces on the world map that existed to pad it

but they were important! sure, they added nothing of obvious value and could cynically be read as existing just to pad travel time, but they also made the worlds feel bigger than you what you were doing in them. and more mysterious.

some friends in my guild and I got a message one day that one member was going to roll a new character and wanted help levelling. a complication: their starting zone was across the sea.

a few friends and I volunteered to swim across the sea to their zone. there were definitely easier ways to go about it, but setting out to do something just to see if it was possible seemed fun

now, they may have changed this since then, but the sea in Perfect World felt strange in a way I haven't seen any game really emulate since. the sky was a dull, and as was the fashion, everything was a bit muted. the sea itself was opaque, and when you swam under it, there was a significant amount of grey-blue terrain that seemed to stretch on forever into the fog

and of course, there was fuck all in it. nothing alive. no monsters until you got close to a shore. just vast empty sea that you swam through, only your friends' characters to break up the odd stillness of it. you probably turned the music off at this point, too, so there was only ambient sound and splashing

this is because you were supposed to fly over it, if you crossed it at all. and because there wasn't really a good centralised source of knowledge on these things, it wasn't really clear if it was entirely empty

the trip there was fine, if a bit boring and lonely. during the trip back, I accidentally clicked on something in the middle of the ocean

now, there weren't supposed to be things there. I had my friends, but I clicked on a monster, and when I swam down to look at it, I saw that it was actually an enormous sea monster

so I pinged one of the guildmates swimming with me and they thought I was lying, so I showed them, and then we repeated this several times until everyone in the group had seen this weird thing that felt like it came from a schoolyard rumour

Ancient Sea Dragon. 99,999,999 health points and none of us could find anything on it posted online. it was pretty common for players to run into it and be shocked, but we didn't know that

so we naturally let the rest of the guild know, got a hunting party together, and spent the better part of a day just whittling its health down

with the benefit of hindsight and documentation of this thing existing now, I can spoil this and tell you it didn't drop anything, but this long down the line, I still think about how deeply surreal it felt to stumble on an enormous sea monster in the middle of what my brain had come to understand as a liminal space. the sea was supposed to be mostly empty, and here was this thing

which is a very long way to introduce what I think is lacking here: we need more of those enormous empty spaces that leave characters with nothing to do but talk and feel completely isolated. sometimes you get to a sprawling castle city and it's completely empty because the players moved on. sometimes the devs threw an enormous monster in the middle of nowhere just to fuck with you, and that was kind of cool even if it sucked

[theyanderespecialist]

Base Yandere Lord Muzan Kibutsuji Headcanons: Power And Control (Demon Slayer)

[Hello, My Sexy Muffins, and Bad Butt Biscuits! I am here with a new chapter! This one has The Original Version of Muzan as I did the Female/Genderbent Version of him! So now let's Do Muzan! I hope that you all enjoy this chapter!] 

(Disclaimer: Muzan is not yandere in canon this is just for fun and not to be taken seriously at all! Simping for fictional and yandere characters is fine just do not be illegal or gross about it! You know who you are, you dirty flaky biscuits! Yanderes are not ideal partners to have in real life! Also, remember to separate fiction from reality and headcanon from canon! Thank you!) 

-Base Yandere Headcanons With Lord Muzan Kibutsuji- 

.He is a man that loves power and control and hates a lot of change.  .He does like things when they do change in his benefit. .Because if you look at him, he wears more modern clothes, has a more modern chair, and a more modern car (For the time period of the show)

.He may say he does not like change, but he does like the benefits of the modern age he is in. 

.Though the change he does not like it more the things to do with his demise, he has a fear of death. 

.He had this fear of death since he was alive and was close to death, being the first demon was not enough for him. 

.He has to conquer the sun as well. 

.He was not a good husband, as he pushed his five wives to take their own lives.  .He was not the best partner to have that was for sure as he had never felt love for anyone.    .That was until he met you, something about you consumed him. 

.He did not like the control he did not have over it or how he felt. 

.How his heart raced, how you were always on every single thought he had, how he longed to have you in his presence.  .It goes on and on and he hated it with all his being and blamed you for the lack of control you made him have. 

.Yes he would blame all these new and strange feelings on you, you must be some sort of magic user that has cast a spell on him and made him weak for a pathetic human like yourself.  .That is what he thought, at least at first.  .For at some point he could not stand being without you and you would become a prisoner in the infinity palace.  .That is right, Lord Muzan is the type of yandere to capture you/kidnap you, and keep you in a gilded cage.  .He finds himself to like your company and he likes the power he has on you.  .That you are fully dependent on him for food, company, and well anything really.  .Some days he forgets to feed you and other days he makes you beg. 

.He can be a very mocking yandere and loves the power he has over you.  .Though if you did try and hurt yourself or kill yourself to escape him, he would grab you by the throat, in a bloodthirsty enraged way.  .He learns in this moment that you are something special to him, and he is not going to let you take the easy way out and leave him. .This moment that happens will actually have him treating you better, he is less cold to you, and remember to feed you more often. 

.At this point he has learned that he cannot live without you, and he only would not have turned you into a demon yet because of the demon slayers.  .Even if he gave you a lot of his blood, you would still not be strong enough to fight off Hashiras.  .So he is not going to risk his prize being harmed or stolen from him. 

.He still has the power and control over you, he just allows you more freedoms now.  .Everyone now knows that you belong to him, so no one dares lay a hand on you, if they did well they would be slaughtered and made an example of.  .He also finds himself considering something, that you would need the best of things, if you are going to belong to the Demon King, then you must look the part.  .So he would spoil you, yes this is Muzan as a yandere for sure, once he accepts that he has a darling that is.  .Him showering you with gifts, is a way of having his ownership over you. 

.You are wearing the clothes, he thinks is nice. You have on the make-up that, he thinks you look good in, your hair is done in a way he loves. The list can go on and on. 

.But of course, Muzan is a master manipulator, so you would not know any of this.  .Muzan would have successfully tricked you into thinking that all of it is things you chose and things you liked. .And you are so deep into his mind games that you do not realize it was him pulling the strings. 

.He is the type of yandere that would mold you because he is not the type of yandere that needs to change for his darling.  .Why would he have to change, he is almost nearly perfect. 

.All he has to do is conquer the sun, and make you his spouse!  .That is all that he needs to do and then his life will be perfect.  .On a bit of a more steamy note, he would have much desire to claim you in an intimate way over and over and over.  .He will show you just a great lover, and future husband he can be. .If he did have "rivals" well let's be honest, it is laughable that they even consider themselves to be his rivals.  .No, Demon Slayer, Human, or Demon (other than himself of course) was good enough for you.  .So if someone claimed you to be theirs, they were simply erased from the world. 

.He would not confess his love, instead, he is going to just one day declare that you are his and that you were his the day he kidnapped you, you just did not know it yet. 

.You also would no longer be allowed to see family and friends, and if he deems it, he will be the only other person you ever see again.  .So you might as well as give up and accept your fate, be a good little spouse for him, and warm his bed.  .If you can do that you will get a treat, remember It does not matter if you love him right now, you will be immortal like him and then you both have all the time in the world... 

.And Muzan he will have all the power and control over you for all this time and all the time to come.  .You are his, you never had a choice. 

[YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS another chapter done! I hope you all enjoyed and stay sexy, all of my sexy muffins!] 

[h0ney-dames]

Putting all the drama because someone just couldn’t let it die

All names have been blurred bar mine and the offenders, if you know anyone involved in this please keep them anonymous :)

This you ghosting me for a week because I stated my boundaries?

This you trying to turn me against people I trust? This you trying to “totally not force me” to change my opinion of my friends?

This you victim-blaming me in an SVR? A svr that I brought up my issue with the owner at the TIME of the incident and not months after and when no action was taken I elected to avoid and ignore you? This you after I felt uncomfortable so I told someone I trusted the information? This you? (Btw it should be “going behind someone's back” not “gone behind someone's back” Telling people I TRUST that you were being WERID IN MY DM’s, isn't going behind your back it's setting a boundary. If you tell me something no matter how hard I've promised I won't tell you that promise is null and void when it starts to affect me offline.)

This you asking to roleplay NSFW and make nsfw head canons with my OCs even tho I stated I was a minor? And you were also a minor? Who.. hmm… snuck their way into an NSFW channel, and flirted with people older who were uncomfortable? You knew I was a minor and you still decided NSFW was ok?

This you struggling to understand the term “I can't”? This not only happened once but on multiple occasions. You also oh I don't know, spammed me about 4 times a day when I stopped responding to you. I used to put myself on invisible any time you would DM me because I couldn't stand the thought of texting you without feeling the need to vomit!

This you claiming these are your highest kins after I changed my name to Damien and you proceeded to start going by Lasky (more openly? I'm unsure if you already went by that but you had never put it in any of your names till I started going by Damien, I didn't say it at the time but this made me uncomfortable. I'm aware I should have said something sooner.)

This you??

This you denying that gay has become an umbrella term? Don't worry babe you can still be gay! Just because it's an umbrella term doesn't mean it's not a sexuality! You know that right? This isn't the 1920s 🥰🤩

I was willing to not make a call-out post the first time but if you're willing to “bring a situation to light” then I'm willing to show the other corner.

I tried to handle this respectfully and with the dignity that you couldn't uphold. I will not let you drag me through the dirt without educating people on what you have done so that no one else has to cause themself mental stress. You haven't just upset me but others.

You broke boundaries that were put in place to keep others safe and only talked to people you believe would have benefited you or that you could somehow manipulate and blame others/your mental health is not a valid reason to be a fucking prick.

And if the person in the post sees this, one, is good! Two, take your issues up with me. I had my time, and I said my bit when it happened, you do not have a right to go pull up old drama to get people banned after YOU made them uncomfortable, not only did I have to change my boundaries because of people like you I also had to change how I trust people because YOU abused that trust

For anyone wondering where you can find this lovely LOVELY individual

This you?

Ps sweetheart your not 18, your 16-17 at most, 🥰😘

it's not a call out without their users now is it?

I apologise that this isn't my normal post, I was willing to not do a call-out the first time this happened, but it seems only reasonable if they are going to drag my name down :) Hope this helps you all avoid this creature

Happy Halloween everyone remember to lock up all your monsters real tight or they will start spreading bullshit :)

[ecargmura]

Blue Lock Episode 38 Review + Final Thoughts - No Longer PNG Lock

I don’t care what you say about this episode and the entirety of Season 2 as a whole. Call it PNG Lock; call it Powerpoint Lock; call it whatever you want. I was entertained, so I like it! The whole finale was crazy and I honestly can’t wait for more as you know a Season 3 is on the horizon with what the ending showed.

Anyways, the finale is basically what happens when Rin awakens his flow, which is a more ominous depiction compared to his competitors who had more of a positive depiction. He can hyper analyze his opponents, detect their weaknesses and use it to his advantage. Unlike the other instances where it mainly benefits the user without hurting others, Rin’s Flow feels as if it’s intended for harming his opponents, as his move against Niou did feel like he was purposely harming him. It’s basically berserk mode for Rin.

Though, I have to say, despite the animation being subpar for these past three months, the one-minute additional time segment was seriously well-animated. Like the quality upgraded so much just from this segment alone—heck, it’s not even CG! It feels like I’m watching an anime film with the cinematography and how each character is moving so fluidly. I especially loved the part where Isagi swoops in to take the final goal, securing the win for Blue Lock.

To be honest, Isagi was a bit meh as an MC to me, but this season really got me liking him a lot more than before. I like that, while he is affable, he’s not afraid to be selfish and will steal another person’s glory to do so. In fact, the last goal he made wasn’t for Rin; it was for him and his ambitions only. His actions actually affect those around him, which I like. This actually causes Rin to mark Isagi as his rival as Sae acknowledged Isagi as the one who could change soccer and not his own brother. It’s also thanks to Isagi that the Blue Lock project is able to continue and allow Ego to continue his nefarious schemes to raise the top striker. It was nice seeing him change from the kid who lost because he passed a goal to the guy who stole the ball from Rin and made a goal. That’s his ego, after all.

The season ends with a phase 2 called Neo Egoist League. I wonder how many phases there are and just what sort of trials await the Blue Lock players. From what I know, this next phase will be global as the Blue Lock players will be on teams in different countries. That’s why white German boy Michael Kaiser was trending and still is even after like what, 12 hours, after the episodes aired? Also, he’s voiced by Mamoru Miyano who seems to be voicing blonds in sports anime recently as he was Atsumu from Haikyuu and voiced Kei Kaname from Oblivion Battery in the spring season. I haven’t read the manga, but I know a lot about Kaiser due to research. I honestly believed Tetsuya Kakihara would voicing Kaiser as he is native German, but I do hope he gets casted as Ness as he speaks more German than Kaiser does!

Also, Kunigami shows up too with a very changed appearance. That doesn’t look good for the viewers, fans, fellow Blue Lock players and Chigiri. Will we ever get a side story about what happened in Wild Card? I’d love to learn about it—why does it exist?

FINAL THOUGHTS

It sucks that the second season was a product of rushed production. An anecdote I read stated that the animators had to cut some frames to meet deadlines, hence why Blue Lock became the annoyingly memed PNG Lock. The additional time segment in the final episode of the season showed that if they weren’t rushing, the quality of the matches would’ve been really good. I get that 8Bit was busy with both the Episode Nagi movie and Season 2, which both came out this year.

Regardless of the issues, I actually enjoyed this season a lot. Yes, it’s not visually appealing, but I still liked the story and what the next phase of the competition came with. I liked seeing Isagi meeting these new characters and seeing what they’re like. I liked Hiori, Karasu, Otoya and Yukimiya thanks to this new season. It’s also nice seeing the world building expand with Blue Lock players having to face off against the national U-20 team and what sort of people the opponents are. The standouts are easily Aiku, Sae and Sendou—Shidou doesn’t count because he’s a Blue Lock player. I’m still surprised that Aiku and Niou are under twenty years old—they look so old for their age.

The first few episodes was nice to see as Isagi has to be teamed up with new people and we also see other characters paired up with new people to see if they got chemistry or not. After that, the U-20 is introduced. Seeing how much fans they have really showed the difference between them and a bunch of teenagers in a competition. I also liked seeing the beef between the Itoshi brothers and how Rin is dealing with it from his perspective.

Though, what surprised me the most in the second season was the voice cast. They really did a crazy job with the casting, especially with the U-20 cast. If you look them up, they’re practically names you see in recent anime. Not only that, but even the characters’ childhood selves and their parents get amazing voice actors too. You didn’t expect Sae’s childhood self to be voiced by Boruto Uzumaki’s voice actress, right? Or how Chigiri’s sister Koyuki is voiced by Mem-cho’s voice actress? Heck, they even casted Mamoru Miyano as Kaiser! You know what that means? The characters that will appear in the Neo Egoist League will get crazy casting as well. Given how popular Blue Lock is, casting choices will be a lot more rigorous. I’m still praying for Kakihara to be casted as Ness. It’d be a waste to not cast the native German speaker as the German speaker—the anime already casted Subaru Kimura and Wataru Komada as other characters in the show.

I also liked the increase in comedy from the Additional Time segments at the end of the episodes. They’re so hilarious and very fruity. I seriously loved the YukkiNagi segments where they compared players to animals and then Rin comes in annoyed, but still participates too. I feel like the writers for these segments really amped up the scenarios for this season because the animal comparison thing was seriously hilarious. They know what the viewers want!

I guess if I were to pick out gripes that are NOT THE ANIMATION, I guess it’d be a lack of Raichi? I have a bit of a soft spot for him, so the lack of Raichi screen time saddened me a bit. Other than that, I’d love to learn more about the other U-20 characters that aren’t the central ones a bit more. Too bad that there are already so many characters that not all of them, whether they be from BL or U20, will get the screen time they deserve.

I do wonder when they’ll announce Season 3. I just hope they have a better production schedule next time. I’ll be waiting patiently for when that comes! Let me know your thoughts on the final episode and Season 2 as a whole!

[team7-headquarter]

Do you ever think about how the two kyubi jinchurikis previous to Naruto were married to a hokage? How the women serving as the recipient of the feared beast were some of the most beloved people of the head of the militar state?

The strongest man in the village marries the deadliest woman in the village and people were like "I trust our leader but I am terrified of his wife".

What about the children?

Not even one mention of how the Uzumaki and Senju kekkei genkais mixed. What about the contrast of the Uchihas marrying within the clan to maximize their sharingan users while the Senjus and the Uzumakis married?

There's no mention either of Hashirama and Mito's kids. Would their mixed blood make them more or less powerful? Would some of them still get the red hair? Would some of them choose to move with the majority of the Uzumaki clan? Would they rather use the last name Senju to prevent getting hunted like their cousins outside of Konohagajure?

Tell me, if Tsunade is a direct descendant of Hashirama and Tobirama, doesn't she also has Uzumaki blood from Mito?

What about the influence?

Mito raises all those children and they knew to fear the kyubi, but how did they feel about the jinchuriki? What about their mother? And how did it shape the way they would later perceive Kushina? How did the Senjus treat Kushina? Was she family to them? Had Mito any influence over how Kushina was raised and trained even as old as she was?

What type of influence did Mito have over Hashirama? Even if she never mediated on the Hokages duties, how her beliefs shaped the beliefs of her children? Of the Senju clan? Of the Uzumakis? Of the people of Konoha? When Hashirama died, did Tobirama pushed aside? Or she retired herself given her age?

When did the Uzumakis and the Senjus disappeared from Konoha? If you follow the Minato one-shot manga recently published by Kishimoto, the Uzumakis were still highly respected on Konoha-- or at least had their own space, a place to keep their legacy and train their own. So when did it all come down and when did the Senju and Uzumaki clans started dying enough to be completely gone when Naruto was born?

The Minato manga shows that Kushina was a reason for him to take certain choices. So did he have a plan to change Konoha to become a place for his wife and son to live happy and not rejected? What type or political changes would he have applied if given the chance?

The only real option to try and make sense of the history of Konoha is if you acknowledge that 1) Tobirama did make the militarization more efficient, but not necessarily made life better for everyone; 2) Hiruzen must be the WORST hokage given his indecision between doing what Tobirama did which would have turned him into Danzo or try to benefit the lives of the people under his commands even if it meant risking Konoha as a militar state.

Then again, what exactly means to have the advice of an Uzumaki woman? How does it change things? Did Mito ever tried to be the mediator between Hashirama and Madara? What could a friendship between Kushina and Mikoto could have changed the future?

Is there something to say about the positions of both Mito and Kushina as women from a clan that's hunted down for their power and that has been turned to weapons/sacrifices? How would their identities parallel the Uchiha clan?

How could this all reflect on the story and the theme of the manga?

Framing Naruto as the survivor of a genocide would have been an amazing point to meet or finally understand Sasuke in his rejection of Konoha. Sasuke saw his clan died but they denied Naruto that knowledge. Sasuke lost it but they didn't even allow Naruto to have it. Sasuke can return to the Uchiha compound and visit the sacred secrets of his people, but the story denied Naruto of that. Itachi cursed Sasuke with his choice to kill the clan in order for Sasuke to live and Konoha to be safe, Minato cursed Naruto by sealing Kurama in him to protect his life and the village. They were manipulated from the start, everyone deciding which parts of the story they got to listen to, never allowing them to decide with eyes wide open. Of course they can speak to each other without words. They don't know how similar their experiences are.

Hashirama and Minato didn't mean for the jinchurikis to be just a weapon of the state (those were their wives!!!!!!!), but Tobirama allowed that to happen and Hiruzen actively dictated rules to make sure it'll be the result (isolating Naruto from the village, like they did with the Uchiha clan). Tsunade only tried to keep things rolling, but she at least can defend with her medical achievement and the fact the system was rotten to the core when she became hokage.

Even Sakura and Hinata benefit from this, both in the deepening of their characters and the canon romantic plotlines. To be soft or wild, to be bullied by others or constantly left behind given their lovers' duties, to be raised under the pressure of a legacy or to be helpless and wanting to stop being a burden, to break the expectations and reclaim your identity, to make your own path and become a great kunoichi who can also love and fight to he loved, to be seen, to be there with the man they love.

Thinking about Mito and Kushina make me spiral because they are so important!!! Yet we don't have many mentions of them!!!! Why!!!!

[terribledactyl]

I hate to be #thatbitch who’s joyless in main tags, but I wish fanartists and fic writers put just a *hair* more thought into how they write/draw Viktor’s disability, especially in modern AUs.

To start, let’s try to unpack what in particular seems to be his disability. It’s nonspecified in show, but we can at least look at the areas he seems to be struggling in most. I’ll try not to be too biased towards projecting my own disability onto him and only talk about what’s shown on screen.

Let’s start with the obvious: examining his mobility aids. Through most of the “past” (from childhood to first meeting Jayce) he only uses a cane. I’m going to focus on the ones that seemed to give him the most support, which are his crutch and his brace.

The brace seems to be stabilizing his whole leg, with extra support around the knee and ankle, plus two straps at the thigh and one at the calf. Consistent with what we’ve seen in childhood flashbacks as well, where his ankle is held at an angle I recognize most as what mine look like when I roll it.

When he trips in the flashback, it seems to be primarily over his own feet, which emphasizes the weak ankle to me. As a whole, that leg seems to be capable of supporting a bit of weight, but not consistently.

We also see him transition from a cane to a crutch. It’s not a more stylish version of the cane, it’s got a different function. And not just any crutch, but an ergonomic one. I recognize it off my wishlist.

Now branching into personal interpretation and what I’d like to see more of, I think he needed that extra support all along. Using a cane when you need more support than that really sucks, spoken from experience. So why would someone use a cane with no brace when they need a crutch and a brace?

The truth is, there are a lot of reasons. Pride, cost, internalized ableism, any mix of those and more. And I think if you’re going to give him only a cane in your modern AU, I’d like to see some consideration as to why someone who needs more support than that is only using a cane.

Is he having a good day, and he keeps the crutch and brace for emergencies? Would a good brace be too expensive? Can he not afford an ergonomic crutch? Would he benefit from having more chairs in school/work/The Lab(tm)? Would he benefit from being an ambulatory wheelchair user? Could he afford one even if he did? Is he too stubborn to admit he needs more support than he’s getting from a cane? Embarassed? Afraid of what it means for him? If he’s only using a cane, does he have to go out less and that’s what makes him more of a homebody? These are all REALLY interesting things to explore!

This is me not so subtley begging people to explore his disability more, because it affects everything. I’d really love to see more fanart of him with a crutch and not a cane, although he does use canes canonically into adulthood so I can’t say that’s not a founded choice to make. I’d love for fic writers and fanartists who give him a cane to know that’s an intentional choice and how it would change how he interacts with the world, even in small ways.

Learn the different types of braces and what they’re good for! Learn about bandages, tape, compression braces, hinged braces! Learn about forearm crutches, ergonomic crutches, canes, walkers, wheelchairs! Just please be intentional with the choices you make!

[wolfliving]

It starts with him

What was once a promise of technology to allow us to automate and analyze the environments in our physical spaces is now a heap of broken ideas and broken products. Technology products have been deployed en masse, our personal data collected and sold without our consent, and then abandoned as soon as companies strip mined all the profit they thought they could wring out. And why not? They already have our money.

The Philips Hue, poster child of the smart home, used to work entirely on your local network. After all, do you really need to connect to the Internet to control the lights in your own house?  Well you do now!Philips has announced it will require cloud accounts for all users—including users who had already purchased the hardware thinking they wouldn’t need an account (and the inevitable security breaches that come with it) to use their lights.

Will you really trust any promises from a company that unilaterally forces a change like this on you? Does the user actually benefit from any of this?

Matter in its current version … doesn’t really help resolve the key issue of the smart home, namely that most companies view smart homes as a way to sell more individual devices and generate recurring revenue.

It keeps happening. Stuff you bought isn’t yours because the company you bought it from can take away features and force you to do things you don’t want or need to do—ultimately because they want to make more money off of you. It’s frustrating, it’s exhausting, and it’s discouraging.

And it has stopped IoT for the rest of us in its tracks. Industrial IoT is doing great—data collection is the point for the customer. But the consumer electronics business model does not mesh with the expected lifespan of home products, and so enshittification began as soon as those first warranties ran out.

How can we reset the expectations we have of connected devices, so that they are again worthy of our trust and money? Before we can bring the promise back, we must deweaponize the technology.

Guidelines for the hardware producer

What we can do as engineers and business owners is make sure the stuff we’re building can’t be wielded as a lever against our own customers, and to show consumers how things could be. These are things we want consumers to expect and demand of manufacturers.

Control

Think local

Decouple

Open interfaces

Be a good citizen

1) Control over firmware updates.

You scream, “What about security updates!” But a company taking away a feature you use or requiring personal data for no reason is arguably a security flaw. 

We were once outraged when intangible software products went from something that remained unchanging on your computer, to a cloud service, with all the ephemerality that term promises. Now they’re coming for our tangible possessions.

No one should be able to do this with hardware that you own. Breaking functionality is entirely what security updates are supposed to prevent! A better checklist for firmware updates:

Allow users to control when and what updates they want to apply. 

Be thorough and clear as to what the update does and provide the ability to downgrade if needed. 

Separate security updates from feature additions or changes. 

Never force an update unless you are sure you want to accept (financial) responsibility for whatever you inadvertently break. 

Consider that you are sending software updates to other people’s hardware. Ask them for permission (which includes respecting “no”) before touching their stuff!

2) Do less on the Internet.

A large part of the security issues with IoT products stem from the Internet connectivity itself. Any server in the cloud has an attack surface, and now that means your physical devices do.

The solution here is “do less”. All functionality should be local-only unless it has a really good reason to use the Internet. Remotely controlling your lights while in your own house does not require the cloud and certainly does not require an account with your personal information attached to it. Limit the use of the cloud to only the functions that cannot work without it.

As a bonus, less networked functionality means fewer maintenance costs for you.

3) Decouple products and services.

It’s fine to need a cloud service. But making a product that requires a specific cloud service is a guarantee that it can be enshittified at any point later on, with no alternative for the user owner. 

Design products to be able to interact with other servers. You have sold someone hardware and now they own it, not you. They have a right to keep using it even if you shut down or break your servers. Allow them the ability to point their devices to another service. If you want them to use your service, make it worthwhile enough for them to choose you.

Finally, if your product has a heavy reliance on the cloud to work, consider enabling your users to self-host their own cloud tooling if they so desire. A lot of people are perfectly capable of doing this on their own and can help others do the same.

4) Use open and standard protocols and interfaces.

Most networked devices have no reason to use proprietary protocols, interfaces, and data formats. There are open standards with communities and software available for almost anything you could want to do. Re-inventing the wheel just wastes resources and makes it harder for users to keep using their stuff after you’re long gone. We did this with Twine, creating an encrypted protocol that minimized chatter, because we needed to squeeze battery life out of WiFi back when there weren’t good options.

If you do have a need for a proprietary protocol (and there are valid reasons to do so):

Document it. 

If possible, have a fallback option that uses an open standard. 

Provide tooling and software to interact with your custom protocols, at the very least enough for open source developers to be able to work with it. This goes for physical interfaces as much as it does for cloud protocols.

If the interface requires a custom-made, expensive, and/or hard-to-find tool to use, then consider using something else that is commonly available and off the shelf instead.

5) Be a good citizen.

Breaking paid-for functionality on other people’s stuff is inherently unethical. Consider not doing this! Enshittification is not a technical problem, it is a behavioral one. Offer better products that are designed to resist enshittification, and resist it yourself in everything you do.

Nothing forced Philips to do what they are doing: a human made a decision to do it. They could have just as easily chosen not to. With Twine’s server lock-in, at least we chose to keep it running, for 12 years now. Consider that you can still make a decent living by being honest and ethical towards the people who are, by purchasing your products, paying for your lifestyle. 

We didn’t get here by accident. Humans made choices that brought us to this point, and we can’t blame anyone for being turned off by it. But we can choose to do better. We can design better stuff. And we can choose not to mess things up after the fact.

We’re putting this into practice with Pickup. (We also think that part of an IoT reset is giving users the creative freedom of a general-purpose device.) If you’re looking for something better and our product can fill a need you have, consider backing us. We cannot claim to be perfect or have all of the answers, but we are absolutely going to try. The status quo sucks. Let’s do something about it.

Published October 15, 2023 By Jeremy Billheimer

[ms-demeanor]

As I understand it you work in enterprise computer acquisitions?

TL;DR What's the general vibe for AI accelerating CPUs in the enterprise world for client compute?

Have you had any requests from your clients to help them upgrade their stuff to Core Ultra/Whateverthefuck Point with the NPUs? Or has the corporate world generally shown resistance rather than acquiescence to the wave of the future? I'm so sorry for phrasing it like that I had no idea how else to say that without using actual marketing buzzwords and also keeping it interesting to read.

I know in the enterprise, on-die neural acceleration has been ruining panties the world over (Korea's largest hyperscaler even opted for Intel Sapphire Rapids CPUs over Nvidia's Hopper GPUs due to poor supply and not super worth it for them specifically uplift in inference performance which was all that they really cared about), and I'm personally heavily enticed by the new NPU packing processors from both Team Red and Team We Finally Fucking Started Using Chiplets Are You Happy Now (though in large part for the integrated graphics). But I'm really curious to know, are actual corporate acquisitions folks scooping up the new AI-powered hotness to automagically blur giant pink dildos from the backgrounds of Zoom calls, or is it perceived more as a marketing fad at the moment (a situation I'm sure will change in the next year or so once OpenVINO finds footing outside of Audacity and fucking GIMP)?

So sorry for the extremely long, annoying, and tangent-laden ask, hope the TL;DR helps.

Ninety eight percent of our end users use their computers for email and browser stuff exclusively; the other two percent use CAD in relatively low-impact ways so none of them appear to give a shit about increasing their processing power in a really serious way.

Like, corporately speaking the heavy shit you're dealing with is going to be databases and math and computers are pretty good at dealing with those even on hardware from the nineties.

When Intel pitched the sapphire processors to us in May of 2023 the only discussion on AI was about improving performance for AI systems and deep learning applications, NOT using on-chip AI to speed things up.

The were discussing their "accelerators," not AI and in the webinar I attended it was mostly a conversation about the performance benefits of dynamic load balancing and talking about how different "acclerators" would redistribute processing power. This writeup from Intel in 2022 shows how little AI was part of the discussion for Sapphire Rapids.

In August of 2023, this was the marketing email for these processors:

So. Like. The processors are better. But AI is a marketing buzzword.

And yeah every business that I deal with has no use for the hot shit; we're still getting bronze and silver processors and having zero problems, though I work exclusively with businesses with under 500 employees.

Most of the demand that I see from my customers is "please can you help us limp this fifteen year old SAN along for another budget cycle?"

[drst]

So this is what the Biden administration spent it's last week in office doing. It's important to know this isn't unusual activity for them. But this is all just in one week:

"Out With a Bang: Enforcers Go After John Deere, Private Equity Billionaires

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/out-with-a-bang-enforcers-go-after

At least for a few more days, laws are not suggestions. In the end days of strong enforcement, a flurry of litigation is met with a direct lawsuit by billionaires against Biden's Antitrust chief.

Matt Stoller

Jan 16, 2025

It’s less than a week until this era of antitrust ends. And while much of the news has been focused elsewhere, enforcers have engaged in a flurry of action, which will by legal necessity continue into the next administration. One case in particular angered some of the most powerful people on Wall Street, the partners of a $600 billion private equity firm called Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR).

But before getting to that suit, here’s a partial list of some of the actions enforcers have taken in the last two weeks.

The Federal Trade Commission

Filed a monopolization claim against agricultural machine maker John Deere for generating $6 billion by prohibiting farmers from being able to repair their own equipment, a suit which Wired magazine calls a “tipping point” for the right to repair movement.

Released another report on pharmacy benefit managers, including that of UnitedHealth Group, showing that these companies inflated prices for specialty pharmaceuticals by more than $7 billion.

Sued Greystar, a large corporate landlord, for deceiving renters with falsely advertised low rents and not including mandatory junk fees in the price.

Issued a policy statement that gig workers can’t be prosecuted for antitrust violations when they try to organize, and along with the Antitrust Division, updated guidance on labor and antitrust.

Put out a series of orders prohibiting data brokers from selling sensitive location information.

Finalized changes to a rule barring third party targeted advertising to children without an explicit opt-in.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Went to court against Capital One for cheating consumers out of $2 billion by deceiving them on savings accounts and interest rates.

Fined cash app purveyor Block $175 million for fostering fraud on its platform and then refusing to offer customer support to affected consumers.

Proposed a rule to prohibit take-it-or-leave-it contracts from financial institutions that allow firms to de-bank users over how they express themselves or whether they seek redress for fraud.

Issued a report with recommendations on how states can update their laws to protect against junk fees and privacy abuses.

Sued credit reporting agency Experian for refusing to investigate consumer disputes and errors on credit reports.

Finalized a rule to remove medical debt from credit scores.

The Antitrust Division

Sued to block a merger of two leading business travel firms, American Express Global Business Travel Group and CWT Holdings.

Filed a complaint against seven giant corporate landlords for rent-fixing, using the software and consulting firm RealPage.

Got four guilty pleas in a bid-rigging conspiracy by IT vendors against the U.S. government, a guilty plea from an asphalt vendor company President, and convicted five defendants in a price-fixing scam on roofing contracts.

Issued a policy statement that non-disclosure agreements that deter individuals from reporting antitrust crimes are void, and that employers “using NDAs to obstruct or impede an investigation may also constitute separate federal criminal violations.”

Filed two amicus briefs with the FTC, one supporting Epic Games in its remedy against Google over app store monopolization, and the other supporting Elon Musk in his antitrust claims against OpenAI, Microsoft, and Reid Hoffman.

And honorary mention goes to the Department of Transportation for suing Southwest and fining Frontier for ‘chronically delayed flights.’"

It's worth reading the entire piece because the Biden people have also gone after KKR which is one of the biggest and most well-connected private equity firms. Remember when suddenly last year all the rich people who used to donate to both parties stopped giving money to Democrats? The billionaires coup against Biden was because of anti trust enforcement.

IF YOU'RE THINKING "GOSH I NEVER HEARD ABOUT ANY OF THIS BEFORE" I HOPE YOU CAN PUT TOGETHER THAT THE NEWS AND SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS ARE ALL OWNED BY BILLIONAIRES WHO ARE VERY ANGRY ABOUT ALL OF THIS AND MAYBE THAT'S WHY YOU NEVER SAW ANYONE TALK ABOUT THE HUGE RESURGENCE OF ANTI TRUST WORK DONE BY BIDEN FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS.

And no, Trump cannot magically make this all go away. The lawsuits will have to be played out and many of them have state level components that mean the feds can't just shut them down.

X

[degreedummy]

Bridgerton Astrology- Part 2: LADY AGATHA DANBURY

Capricorn Ascendant-

To start off, I believe a Saturnian rulership is a beautiful placement for Lady Agatha. I feel like the balance this placement finds in her chart will be better explained by other placements, but for her Ascendant: I believe a Capricorn Ascendant most accurately reflects the way that her journey through complete loneliness stays misunderstood, by her own control. An immediate example of this rulership, as morbid as it may be, is her detailing the way she was raised to be a wife-- not just anyone's wife, but Lord Danbury's wife. Her identity wasn't just neglected, it was entirely rejected for the benefit of other people. There was no punishment, the purpose given to her in life was treated as a matter of fact. The reason I see beauty in her Ascendant is because of how [Saturn] death itself is what gives her freedom. Death allows her to find herself, to experience love for the first time, to realize that she can enjoy and want to have sex with someone. More than that, I think Saturn is visible through the way her world crashes around her, and how she's suddenly told that everything she was taught means nothing. In her back-and-forth with the Dowanger Princess, the Princess refuses to let her cry, not even because she is trying to neglect Lady Agatha's feelings, but because her need for strength is, again, treated as a fact of life. Continuously, her need to fight is not a choice, but you would never see that struggle in her eyes. In fact, the only emotion she couldn't hide was love, and it's what brought her closer to Lady Violet, the second person she's ever called a friend.

(8H) Leo Sun-

When it comes to her Leo Sun, I think this is most easily expressed through the way she simply refuses to let anyone ruin her happiness, like her brother for example. She has a bright personality, she's a loving person, but that intense energy so quickly snaps back to ravenously bite anyone who threatens her mood. To me, [Sun conjunction Mars] this shows the root of why she simply will never change, and why not changing works for her. This shows why she never wants to be married again, and why not getting married works for her. Normally, an unmarried older woman would be cast aside to the shadows, dismissed by the ton, but her story is one that even the youngest children love to hear pieces of. She is a mystery that people want to unravel, the interest people have in her life isn't something she's ever had to perform for. I think the 8H placement of this Sun would reflect back onto her life in the most literal sense, with how death gave her the freedom she needed to explore herself, but I think this 8H placement also speaks to the Queen, Lady Violet, the Den of Iniquity, Lady Whistledown, the way she keeps other women's secrets no matter what. I think, maybe the most arguable point I can make about every placement I've listed, this is the hardiest of them all. It shows her heart, the strength she finds in understanding the struggle women face in this world alone, even when married.

(5H) Taurus Moon-

Easily explained by her experience with her first marriage, with how she had no concern for love knowing that her material needs were cared for, I think this Moon can actually go much deeper than the money. She is no user, she's never taken more than she needs, but life demands that she carve a place for herself with her own hands. She learns she must demand respect, that she can't wait for people to eventually realize her worth, Lady Danbury accepts never marrying again because her individuality is a demand she makes. Being a 5H Moon, she is more than prepared to face the world alone, but that is directly contrasted by her genuine desire for community, to be involved with the happiness and love around her. Nothing she's gone through has alienated her from her desire to be a part of something more, to make something of herself, and even the most challenging people were understanding of her fight. Comfort, security are both heavy topics in her life, her entire life weighing on every decision she makes. While the same can be said for other people in the ton, I think it's easily neglected that that she has no one to turn to, a fact she's grown so comfortable with that the Queen has to tell her it would be disrespectful to not ask for help. I think her Moon is also visible in the way she forms a relationship with the Queen, the way her sense of innocent humanity makes the Queen feel safe enough to run away to live in her home. In that same breath, [Moon trine Ascendant] she quickly has to steady herself, just to give the Queen enough confidence to go back. Through her own experiences, I think she understands that growing complacent in any way is dangerous, and it's like she waits until people are at their most vulnerable to give them a push forward. While I think this gives her an Earthy chart, I don't think she's someone people expect to live perfectly, I actually think this influence is why people give her so much grace. There is never a question of how hard she works, of what she deserves, people leave her untouched to take on a war she can only win for herself.

(7H) Cancer Mercury-

I think this could be the most debatable placement listed, but that's only if you're looking to the relationship and marriage side of the 7H. I think her Cancer Mercury is expressed in two contrasting ways, the first being the most emotional: Becoming friends with the daughter of the person she loved, learning how to release the guilt she felt and understanding that love is the most important feeling of all. She came to an understanding with Lady Violet about this, as half-spoken as it was, because they understood there was no ill intention behind either of their hearts. For as intense and driven as she can be, she stands in defense of love, completely still. I think this Mercury placement is why she never necessarily gets in arguments with people, she tries her hardest to handle all disagreements with grace. To bring it back to her brother, [Mercury sextile Moon] the only time she really gets angry is when someone is posing a threat to the safety and happiness of the people around her. Speaking to the frayed edges of a Cancer Mercury, we even see the way she misunderstands her brother's intentions, all because of something that happened years ago. That doesn't [Cancer] invalidate her feelings, but [7H] remembering things her own way and never hearing the other side left her with bitter memories, memories that did almost take happiness away from her. If she had never heard her brother out, she would have missed out on the opportunity to have a completely new relationship with him. Cancer 7H, she has to find balance with her emotions and the beliefs of other people. When it comes to the second side of her Cancer Mercury, I think we actually have to look at the shell of the crab, in how she understands that marriage is a contractual agreement. Even in having no interest in marriage herself, she plays a necessary part in bringing other people together, watching from the back of the room and finding the best matches for each season. While it's the Queen's word that sets things into motion, it's Lady Agatha's opinion that guides her hand. I think her 7H Cancer Mercury is about everything but the most obvious themes, it's about how she helps love itself find a voice. She doesn't need someone by her side to feel love, she watches it every time she brings people together, standing back as the world finds its own way. Cancer Mercury can be soft spoken, and she never demands anyone pursue a marriage they don't want, but it's made obvious many times that she knows what people want before they're ready to admit it.

(10H) Libra Venus-

When it comes to her Venus, I think this placement is more affirmation of many things I mentioned before, [Venus square Ascendant] with how she doesn't marriage to understand commitment and love. The 10H is known to represent peoples' career, and her place in society is literally to be a matchmaker, someone who uses silk-gloved hands to bring two people together. I think this placement affirms what I said before about how she stands by love, still and unwavering, but I think this also adds onto how... for all the positivity and enjoyment there is in her career, her reputation rests on her ability to make successful marriages happen. We see this in the show, when issues start being made public it instantly blew back to Lady Agatha, because the opinion she handed down to the Queen made the Queen look bad. I always find it interesting when a sign known for companionship is placed over the 10H, because I don't think they have to be the face of their own success. In Queen Charlotte, we see the Queen tell Lady Agatha that it would be disrespectful for her to behave like the Queen is not capable of helping her, but more than that, she was told that she shouldn't be afraid to rely on the power she has, even the power she has through other people. I think there's a deeper aspect of her personality that fears being manipulative or abusive in any way, and [Libra 10H] she makes it a point to never use force unless she's approached with it. I think this Venus simply speaks to an already confident person being surrounded by people who want her to be more confident. She doesn't often find herself around people with twisted intentions, she is loved by people who genuinely love her, which is why most conversations can go completely unspoken.

(8H) Leo Mars-

Jumping back to the sign that is Leo, I think her Mars calls back to the beauty I was saying I see in her chart. Having a Leo Mars, I believe this is why her intentions are clear and her decisions are precise. This isn't to say she doesn't keep secrets, but it's no secret that she is. I think a peak moment for her Mars is when she indirectly confirms to the Queen that she does know who Whistledown is. This wasn't a betrayal, this wasn't a lie, it was an understanding that she was keeping a secret so that they both can continue their game. I believe this even calls back to what I said before about her keeping secrets for other women, because as much as the Queen valued her game, Lady Agatha knew that Penelope valued her freedom, something she can very closely relate to. Her Mars isn't violent, it's forward, so much that everyone knows what she stands for. It's only as [Mars] the storm passes that she expresses her true feelings, like explaining to Penelope how she knew the entire time. If she were really destructive, there's so many cards she could play, but she simply doesn't. I think another peak moment of expression is actually when she broke down laughing, telling Lady Violet that she had no idea what to do anymore. I think [Mars inconjunction Ascendant] this speaks to the way she... is left alone to deal with the chaos that surrounds her, people claiming to have so much confidence in her that they never reach out a helping hand. I think her Mars really speaks to the simplicity of her chart, the way everything works together to make Lady Agatha... Lady Agatha, the one and only. I think it does become difficult to explain her personality, because she doesn't need a reason for anything, and she feels no reason to explain her decisions if she doesn't want to. Lady Agatha simply, is.

[senilthesynth]

RIP Cohost

Cohost is shutting down the end of the year. While I'm kinda sad because it was a good experiment to see if non-federated social media could be viable that doesn't rely on selling data or anything, I think Anti-Software Software Club just made too many assumptions that didn't or couldn't pan out. Including just... not understanding what they wanted in the end.

(Read more because this was originally a Bluesky post and got long)

Number 1 mostly being them being "blindsided" by Stripe clarifying their policy that, in the end, means ASSC couldn't use them as a way for users to tip each other or the Artists Alley section and such. That policy existed for years, well before Cohost ever existed. For context, ASSC originally wanted to build a Patreon competitor, not a social media site. They would have failed so hard if they stuck to a Patreon competitor on this alone.

And in my opinion, number 2 is their pay. They were paying themselves very well-off all things considered, and everyone was paid the exact same amount (~94k last I heard). That's… a lot of money going towards pay that could've gone to hosting costs. They're a startup. You pay yourselves what you can. I appreciate that they paid themselves well, but again. Startup. You pay what you can, and they were nowhere close to breaking even at any point.

I think their financial model didn't do themselves any favors - they started out with "we got a lot of loan money to do this and now we have to make it profitable" which, yeah, sometimes that's what it takes. But that's venture capitalism. Especially since Cohost's source code WAS the collateral! They acted as a leftist group trying to market themselves as a non-profit/not-for-profit (they're a LLC, they're legally not forced to do either), paying themselves well more than they realistically, and hoped they could get enough people to subscribe monthly to break even.

That… doesn't work.

Not to say this would've fixed things, but I think them registering as an LLC didn't help. That prevented them from bringing on anything resembling a volunteer, and since their whole thing was "everyone gets paid the same" it meant they had to operate with very few people. If I recall correctly, they had one moderator. Maybe two. Maybe. Two developers, an artist, and a moderator. Four people. MAYBE five, I forget the exact number.

This is entering hypothetical territory so everything is unknown and is me guessing a lot of things, but is based on what I do know.

Being a non-profit comes with its own set of problems, but if they could become and maintain a 501(c)3 non-profit, they could pay themselves what they could and have people willing to help volunteer moderate. They could never get code contributors, though, since their source code was their collateral it by nature had to be closed off. Also, donations (recurring or one-off) are tax-deductible for US-members, so while it's not a HUGE benefit it offers at least that small bonus.

I'm glad that they tried, and got as far as they did (even if it meant loan after loan to not die instantly). It showed that it could be possible - that there's hope in this idea. It's just a question of HOW to make it a sustainable reality. I don't think there's a clear answer there, though. Like my non-profit idea hinges heavily on maintaining 501(c)3 status (or similar) and being able to bring on volunteers as-needed. Using a public spec for the back-end (like ActivityPub or ATProto) so the focus can be on implementing it (even if federation is never a thing) instead of doing it raw - which avoids the back-end development time but then means having to work with an existing spec that may or may not change substantially over time.

IDK. I have no idea what would make a medium-form social media such as Cohost viable. Maybe it's the same idea but with lower pay so it's easier to bring new people on as-needed, with the expectation that this is a passion project 'til it gets off the ground. Maybe it takes the "use a public spec for back-end" approach and focuses on the implementation of it with their own additions and flair. ActivityPub is one spec, but you have Mastodon, Pixelfed, Misskey, Wafrn, etc. that all go in different directions. ATProto will likely be the same one day - Bluesky being the obvious "reference" implementation right now.

Maybe it's something else entirely that I could never ever think of. I don't know, but all I do know is that I'm glad they tried. Unfortunately, the writing has been on the wall for months now and honestly? If you didn't expect that, that's on you. People have been saying that Cohost wasn't sustainable for months.