#disable wps

[distortedclouds]

Welp! looks like i'm gonna need another writing software, because on WPS Office when I right-click:

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Tesla's Dieselgate

Elon Musk lies a lot. He lies about being a “utopian socialist.” He lies about being a “free speech absolutist.” He lies about which companies he founded:

https://www.businessinsider.com/tesla-cofounder-martin-eberhard-interview-history-elon-musk-ev-market-2023-2 He lies about being the “chief engineer” of those companies:

https://www.quora.com/Was-Elon-Musk-the-actual-engineer-behind-SpaceX-and-Tesla

He lies about really stupid stuff, like claiming that comsats that share the same spectrum will deliver steady broadband speeds as they add more users who each get a narrower slice of that spectrum:

https://www.eff.org/wp/case-fiber-home-today-why-fiber-superior-medium-21st-century-broadband

The fundamental laws of physics don’t care about this bullshit, but people do. The comsat lie convinced a bunch of people that pulling fiber to all our homes is literally impossible — as though the electrical and phone lines that come to our homes now were installed by an ancient, lost civilization. Pulling new cabling isn’t a mysterious art, like embalming pharaohs. We do it all the time. One of the poorest places in America installed universal fiber with a mule named “Ole Bub”:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Previous tech barons had “reality distortion fields,” but Musk just blithely contradicts himself and pretends he isn’t doing so, like a budget Steve Jobs. There’s an entire site devoted to cataloging Musk’s public lies:

https://elonmusk.today/

But while Musk lacks the charm of earlier Silicon Valley grifters, he’s much better than they ever were at running a long con. For years, he’s been promising “full self driving…next year.”

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

He’s hasn’t delivered, but he keeps claiming he has, making Teslas some of the deadliest cars on the road:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/06/10/tesla-autopilot-crashes-elon-musk/

Tesla is a giant shell-game masquerading as a car company. The important thing about Tesla isn’t its cars, it’s Tesla’s business arrangement, the Tesla-Financial Complex:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/24/no-puedo-pagar-no-pagara/#Rat

Once you start unpacking Tesla’s balance sheets, you start to realize how much the company depends on government subsidies and tax-breaks, combined with selling carbon credits that make huge, planet-destroying SUVs possible, under the pretense that this is somehow good for the environment:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/14/for-sale-green-indulgences/#killer-analogy

But even with all those financial shenanigans, Tesla’s got an absurdly high valuation, soaring at times to 1600x its profitability:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/15/hoover-calling/#intangibles

That valuation represents a bet on Tesla’s ability to extract ever-higher rents from its customers. Take Tesla’s batteries: you pay for the battery when you buy your car, but you don’t own that battery. You have to rent the right to use its full capacity, with Tesla reserving the right to reduce how far you go on a charge based on your willingness to pay:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/09/10/teslas-demon-haunted-cars-in-irmas-path-get-a-temporary-battery-life-boost/

That’s just one of the many rent-a-features that Tesla drivers have to shell out for. You don’t own your car at all: when you sell it as a used vehicle, Tesla strips out these features you paid for and makes the next driver pay again, reducing the value of your used car and transfering it to Tesla’s shareholders:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21127243/tesla-model-s-autopilot-disabled-remotely-used-car-update

To maintain this rent-extraction racket, Tesla uses DRM that makes it a felony to alter your own car’s software without Tesla’s permission. This is the root of all autoenshittification:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

This is technofeudalism. Whereas capitalists seek profits (income from selling things), feudalists seek rents (income from owning the things other people use). If Telsa were a capitalist enterprise, then entrepreneurs could enter the market and sell mods that let you unlock the functionality in your own car:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/11/1-in-3/#boost-50

But because Tesla is a feudal enterprise, capitalists must first secure permission from the fief, Elon Musk, who decides which companies are allowed to compete with him, and how.

Once a company owns the right to decide which software you can run, there’s no limit to the ways it can extract rent from you. Blocking you from changing your device’s software lets a company run overt scams on you. For example, they can block you from getting your car independently repaired with third-party parts.

But they can also screw you in sneaky ways. Once a device has DRM on it, Section 1201 of the DMCA makes it a felony to bypass that DRM, even for legitimate purposes. That means that your DRM-locked device can spy on you, and because no one is allowed to explore how that surveillance works, the manufacturer can be incredibly sloppy with all the personal info they gather:

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/29/tesla-model-3-keeps-data-like-crash-videos-location-phone-contacts.html

All kinds of hidden anti-features can lurk in your DRM-locked car, protected from discovery, analysis and criticism by the illegality of bypassing the DRM. For example, Teslas have a hidden feature that lets them lock out their owners and summon a repo man to drive them away if you have a dispute about a late payment:

https://tiremeetsroad.com/2021/03/18/tesla-allegedly-remotely-unlocks-model-3-owners-car-uses-smart-summon-to-help-repo-agent/

DRM is a gun on the mantlepiece in Act I, and by Act III, it goes off, revealing some kind of ugly and often dangerous scam. Remember Dieselgate? Volkswagen created a line of demon-haunted cars: if they thought they were being scrutinized (by regulators measuring their emissions), they switched into a mode that traded performance for low emissions. But when they believed themselves to be unobserved, they reversed this, emitting deadly levels of NOX but delivering superior mileage.

The conversion of the VW diesel fleet into mobile gas-chambers wouldn’t have been possible without DRM. DRM adds a layer of serious criminal jeopardy to anyone attempting to reverse-engineer and study any device, from a phone to a car. DRM let Apple claim to be a champion of its users’ privacy even as it spied on them from asshole to appetite:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Now, Tesla is having its own Dieselgate scandal. A stunning investigation by Steve Stecklow and Norihiko Shirouzu for Reuters reveals how Tesla was able to create its own demon-haunted car, which systematically deceived drivers about its driving range, and the increasingly desperate measures the company turned to as customers discovered the ruse:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/tesla-batteries-range/

The root of the deception is very simple: Tesla mis-sells its cars by falsely claiming ranges that those cars can’t attain. Every person who ever bought a Tesla was defrauded.

But this fraud would be easy to detect. If you bought a Tesla rated for 353 miles on a charge, but the dashboard range predictor told you that your fully charged car could only go 150 miles, you’d immediately figure something was up. So your Telsa tells another lie: the range predictor tells you that you can go 353 miles.

But again, if the car continued to tell you it has 203 miles of range when it was about to run out of charge, you’d figure something was up pretty quick — like, the first time your car ran out of battery while the dashboard cheerily informed you that you had 203 miles of range left.

So Teslas tell a third lie: when the battery charge reached about 50%, the fake range is replaced with the real one. That way, drivers aren’t getting mass-stranded by the roadside, and the scam can continue.

But there’s a new problem: drivers whose cars are rated for 353 miles but can’t go anything like that far on a full charge naturally assume that something is wrong with their cars, so they start calling Tesla service and asking to have the car checked over.

This creates a problem for Tesla: those service calls can cost the company $1,000, and of course, there’s nothing wrong with the car. It’s performing exactly as designed. So Tesla created its boldest fraud yet: a boiler-room full of anti-salespeople charged with convincing people that their cars weren’t broken.

This new unit — the “diversion team” — was headquartered in a Nevada satellite office, which was equipped with a metal xylophone that would be rung in triumph every time a Tesla owner was successfully conned into thinking that their car wasn’t defrauding them.

When a Tesla owner called this boiler room, the diverter would run remote diagnostics on their car, then pronounce it fine, and chide the driver for having energy-hungry driving habits (shades of Steve Jobs’s “You’re holding it wrong”):

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/

The drivers who called the Diversion Team weren’t just lied to, they were also punished. The Tesla app was silently altered so that anyone who filed a complaint about their car’s range was no longer able to book a service appointment for any reason. If their car malfunctioned, they’d have to request a callback, which could take several days.

Meanwhile, the diverters on the diversion team were instructed not to inform drivers if the remote diagnostics they performed detected any other defects in the cars.

The diversion team had a 750 complaint/week quota: to juke this stat, diverters would close the case for any driver who failed to answer the phone when they were eventually called back. The center received 2,000+ calls every week. Diverters were ordered to keep calls to five minutes or less.

Eventually, diverters were ordered to cease performing any remote diagnostics on drivers’ cars: a source told Reuters that “Thousands of customers were told there is nothing wrong with their car” without any diagnostics being performed.

Predicting EV range is an inexact science as many factors can affect battery life, notably whether a journey is uphill or downhill. Every EV automaker has to come up with a figure that represents some kind of best guess under a mix of conditions. But while other manufacturers err on the side of caution, Tesla has the most inaccurate mileage estimates in the industry, double the industry average.

Other countries’ regulators have taken note. In Korea, Tesla was fined millions and Elon Musk was personally required to state that he had deceived Tesla buyers. The Korean regulator found that the true range of Teslas under normal winter conditions was less than half of the claimed range.

Now, many companies have been run by malignant narcissists who lied compulsively — think of Thomas Edison, archnemesis of Nikola Tesla himself. The difference here isn’t merely that Musk is a deeply unfit monster of a human being — but rather, that DRM allows him to defraud his customers behind a state-enforced opaque veil. The digital computers at the heart of a Tesla aren’t just demons haunting the car, changing its performance based on whether it believes it is being observed — they also allow Musk to invoke the power of the US government to felonize anyone who tries to peer into the black box where he commits his frauds.

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/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

This Sunday (July 30) at 1530h, I’m appearing on a panel at Midsummer Scream in Long Beach, CA, to discuss the wonderful, award-winning “Ghost Post” Haunted Mansion project I worked on for Disney Imagineering.

Image ID [A scene out of an 11th century tome on demon-summoning called 'Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros. Anno 1057. Noli me tangere.' It depicts a demon tormenting two unlucky would-be demon-summoners who have dug up a grave in a graveyard. One summoner is held aloft by his hair, screaming; the other screams from inside the grave he is digging up. The scene has been altered to remove the demon's prominent, urinating penis, to add in a Tesla supercharger, and a red Tesla Model S nosing into the scene.]

Image: Steve Jurvetson (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tesla_Model_S_Indoors.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[tinystepsforward]

automattic vs wp engine mastterpost

adrienne's GitHub recap is probably the best place to see a comprehensive timeline of what's going down. it's been kept up to date. my (very out of date) previous writeup is here.

what's happened/other links

Matt has not logged off, just switched platforms, so there's lots on X/Twitter, Reddit, and Hacker News. it's really not worth wading through.

WP Engine actually filed suit.

the complaint includes some truly remarkable screenshots of Matt trying to blackmail the CEO of WP Engine.

which... personally i would not happily work for someone who just blackmailed me while not even my boss, but that's just me. he hasn't denied this at all, in fact confirming on Hacker News:

I haven't doxxed any private texts from other parties like they have. [source]

and, notably,

I even invited her to my 40th birthday on Jan 11, another text message she decided not to share. [source]

this gives me the creeps. in the context of the rest of the way he's talking to her, and the ways in which he's interacted with women in general, it's. not great.

also he slid into an ex-employee (also a woman)'s DMs asking why she was being mean to him bc he'd never been nothing but nice to her, while also making legal threats. so y'know, pattern of behaviour.

a good writeup of the social side of things

if you don't care so much about the open-source stuff, Steph Lundberg's writeup is, like her previous one on Matt's Tumblr meltdown, pretty solid and people-focused.

Mullenweg has already demonstrated egregious lapses in judgment and abuses of power, it’s just that up until now he’s wielded his power against vulnerable populations without access to high-powered lawyers and their own massive platforms.

a more technical writeup

this one is melodramatic in the same ways Matt was (uses war terminology), which i don't agree with, and which led to some... internal arguments at Automattic. that part's not my story to tell, but a little more on that later. it's a solid writeup of the actual WordPress side of things. there's some seriously dodgy trademark behaviour going on here.

of note: this blogger locked comments on his post:

and then Matt, uh, found a way around that:

wild!

10% of Automattic leaves

that's a link to Matt's blog post. here's an Internet Archive link.

in short, staff were offered a severance deal of the higher of $30k or six months' salary. while that's very generous, it's still very risky in today's tech market, especially (for the same reasons i mentioned when Matt was melting down on here) for people outside the US, people who need the health insurance, or people with young kids. despite that, 10% decided with very little notice (they had two days to decide) to leave.

However now, I feel much lighter. I’m grateful and thankful for all the people who took the offer, and even more excited to work with those who turned down $126M to stay. As the kids say, LFG!

i'm thrilled to see some of my ex-colleagues make it out. i'm keeping the rest who have stayed on in my thoughts. i don't know anyone who's wholesale shilling for Matt.

Matt's been pressuring staff to post in support of him, @-ing the entire company to vote on Twitter polls in his favor, and so on. many of the people who stayed have written blog posts about it, all starting with "I stayed". people on social media have pointed out the very clear pattern of Automatticians jumping into discourse to defend Matt, and it doesn't look good.

i don't have a lot to say about those posts, except to highlight Jeffrey Zeldman, whose "I stayed" post is perhaps one of the more honest ones. (his Rodney King reference was in poor taste, and he... i don't like his role at automattic, tbc) but like. he's nearly 70. he helped shape the modern internet and develop its accessibility standards. he has often put his neck on the line for disabled staff who don't have as much clout as he does. given the financial troubles he talks about and the state of this market and how old he is, i personally have read between the lines of what he's saying in a particular way.

fuck, man. i'm sad. i'm sad for all my friends who are creaking under the strain and watching others leave but who can't do that. i'm sad that many of them are left in teams which are half-empty or divisions where significant senior leadership are just gone, with no time to document what they had in progress.

i'm sad for Josepha Haden Chomphosy, the former executive director of the WordPress Foundation, who was dealing with a personal emergency and ended up having to miss WordCamp US (where Matt started publicly starting shit with WPE). she came back from that to a gigantic fire in the community she's invested a decade of careful, Matt-negotiating, stewardship to, and decided to take the severance offer. she deserved better.

other things Matt's been up to

mostly linking to comments or posts which compile things here, bc it's too scattered otherwise.

blocking people from the official WordPress X account if they disapprove of his actions.

publicly talking about a vulnerability in ACF, a plugin WPE maintains, which could put thousands of sites at risk. this is not normal, and he met with so much horror even from current staff that he deleted his post.

saying he comes across badly because he's "a little ASD", which is driving me personally up the fucking wall. he's never once said it before and he really is turning into Temu Elon.

generally bragging that he still has more planned. jesus fucking christ

continually saying that WPE's suit is against WordPress.org and the community, which is not true. on which note, his pinned tweet is certainly something:

his choice of lawyer is uh. the kind of guy to defend nestle against literal child slaves.

as always, while i think WordPress crumbling will disproportionately affect websites in poorer parts of the world, there are certainly tyrants who are causing much more immediate and potent suffering. if you've read this far, please do send anything you have spare to gazafunds.com.

[autisticadvocacy]

Today, ASAN commemorates the 25th anniversary of the Olmstead Decision, a landmark Supreme Court case about disabled people’s right to live in the community. 

Check out our Easy Read factsheet on Community Living: https://autisticadvocacy.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Community-Living-Fact-Sheet-ER.pdf

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

Hi! am working on big resource library of writing by nonspeaking & nonverbal people , ( some stuff by speaking people who know us deeply or disabled people who have similar but not same experiences that important to understand our lives but I am mostly centeirng us). is sorted by topic - communication methods is one , relationships & emotions & trauma is another , sensory & motor & cognitive & language process & body experiences is another , ableism is another section , terminology section , section on race culture language ect.

1 ) is it ok if I include some of your posts on our library? is mostly so far writing by nonspeaking spellers & supported typers but really want include more diverse range experience.

2)if yes , do you have any specific posts you want linked? or recomendations for posts of other people.

3) do you prefer links to your tumblr , instagram or other social media?

thanks!!!

ough this made me so excite!!. would love talk more w u abt this!!! would love see

1) yes, absolutely!

2) none on top of head. tag “#loaf screm” maybe helpful for this. need go through them n sort them some point anyway tho so can talk in DM abt it

3) tumblr have everything. but also been thinking long time about (re)create website blog on wordpress (or sth else. WP is only thing know abt) for list more formal writings, since this tumblr is mess. plus if try look tumblr link without account can get weird funky lock you out.

TL;DR yes! can link tumblr + future more put together blog. will look thru my posts n you also feel free look thru, n then tell me which ones u wanna link n so can prioritize post those on (wordpress?) blog :)

edit

oh some good ones

[anim-ttrpgs]

Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy December Patreon Update

We have a few new Traits and many new Snoops to show our $5+ patreon subscribers in this update, as well as some improvements to disability aid mechanics and Travel Tick mechanics.

If you want to get your hands on the most up-to-date version of the Eureka rulebook, as well as adventure modules, and Eureka short stories, you can sign up to our patreon for $5 or more. If you don't want to sign up to a monthly subscription, you can buy the beta on itchio for a one-time purchase (or free)!

Full changelog below!

CHANGE LOG 

Copy-editing Progress: Thoroughly copy-edited up to p. 302. Half-ass copy-edited up to p. 322.

WHOLE BOOK

CHAPTER 1 

Better clarified Unconsciousness. 

Better clarified the penalty negation of Grievous Wounds, gave guidelines for what aid may negate what Grievous Wounds, and made it so that these aids can stack to a penalty negation of up to 4.

Edited and simplified the travel time math when using Ticks.

CHAPTER 2

New Traits: The Truth Comes Out, Poser

Buffed Believer Trait

Nerfed I’m Okay, You’re Okay Trait

Made vampires and characters with the Arithmomaniac Trait immune to the “Click” Woo Roll effect

Added Crutches to Item List

More art has been added

CHAPTER 3

Added a Compromise Armor attack that is also a Movement and can only be done starting from a Grab

More art has been added

CHAPTER 8 

Made it so fairies have to make a reflexes roll to be able to spirit away people with extremely brief contact. 

Better clarified some other things about Spiriting Away and “voluntary” skin-to-skin contact.

Added that a Potion of Healing can also cure non-chronic disease. 

Added that more potions than just the curse potions can be made curative by adding an extra Table 3 ingredient, and that curative potions can be bought with WP just like other potions. 

Clarified that gorgons can’t eat rocks.

Clarified that advanced curses can override each other.

Changed Monsters Eating Monsters section to Monsters vs Monsters and made it a more generalized section about all kinds of edge cases that might come up when monsters interact with each other. The section is kind of disorganized right now but will be cleaned up in copy-editing. 

Clarified that all wolfmen have a human form as one of their three forms.

Redid the hunting tables and added the tables for the Bar/Nightclub, Gay Bar/Nightclub, and Gaming/Hobby Store. They are not fully complete but they are at least functional at this time. 

Vampires now have a chance to start partially phasing through objects when they are at 0 Composure.

Changed the standard Stealth bonus vampires have at max Composure from +3 to +2.

Adjusted the mechanics for how to permanently “kill” a vampire. 

More art has been added

[anarchywoofwoof]

Automattic, the company that owns WordPress.com, is required to remove a controversial login checkbox from WordPress.org and let WP Engine back into its ecosystem after a judge granted WP Engine a preliminary injunction in its ongoing lawsuit.  In addition to removing the checkbox—which requires users to denounce WP Engine before proceeding—the preliminary injunction orders that Automattic is enjoined from “blocking, disabling, or interfering with WP Engine’s and/or its employees’, users’, customers’, or partners’ access to wordpress.org” or “interfering with WP Engine’s control over, or access to, plugins or extensions (and their respective directory listings) hosted on wordpress.org that were developed, published, or maintained by WP Engine,” the order states. In the immediate aftermath of the decision, Automattic founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg asked for his account to be deleted from the Post Status Slack, which is a popular community for businesses and people who work on WordPress’s open-source tools. 

“It's hard to imagine wanting to continue to working on WordPress after this,” he wrote in that Slack, according to a screenshot viewed by 404 Media. “I'm sick and disgusted to be legally compelled to provide free labor to an organization as parasitic and exploitive as WP Engine. I hope you all get what you and WP Engine wanted.” His username on that Slack has been changed to “gone 💀” Mullenweg began to publicly denounce WP Engine in September, calling the web hosting platform a “cancer” to the larger Wordpress open-source project and accusing it of improperly using the WordPress brand. He’s “at war” with WP Engine, in his own words.  In October, Mullenweg added a required checkbox at login for WordPres.org, forcing users to agree that they are not affiliated with WP Engine. The checkbox asked users to confirm, “I am not affiliated with WP Engine in any way, financially or otherwise.” The checkbox was still present and required on the WordPress.org login page as of Wednesday morning. Automattic and Mullenweg have 72 hours from the order to take it down, according to the judge’s order.  WP Engine sent a cease and desist demanding that he “stop making and retract false, harmful and disparaging statements against WP Engine,” the platform posted on X.  Automattic sent back its own cease and desist, saying, “Your unauthorized use of our Client’s intellectual property has enabled WP Engine to compete with our Client unfairly, and has led to unjust enrichment and undue profits.” WP Engine filed a lawsuit against Automattic and Mullenweg, accusing them of extortion and abuse of power. In October, Mullenweg announced that he’d given Automattic employees a buyout package, and 159 employees, or roughly 8.4 percent of staff, took the offer. “I feel much lighter,” he wrote. But shortly after, he reportedly complained that the company was now “very short staffed.”   All of this has created an environment of chaos and fear within Automattic and in the wider WordPress open-source community.  Within 72 hours of the order, Automattic and Mullenweg are also required to remove the “purported” list of WP Engine customers contained in the ‘domains.csv’ file linked to Automattic’s website wordpressenginetracker.com, which Automattic launched in November and tracks sites that have left WP Engine. It’s also required to restore WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org, including reactivating and restoring all WP Engine employee login credentials to wordpress.org resources and “disable any technological blocking of WPEngine’s and Related Entities’ access to wordpress.org that occurred on or around September 25, 2024, including IP address blocking or other blocking mechanisms.” The judge also ordered Mullenweg to restore WP Engine’s access to its Advanced Custom Fields (“ACF”) plugin directory, which its team said was “unilaterally and forcibly taken away from its creator without consent” and called it a “new precedent” in betrayal of community access. “We are grateful that the court has granted our motion for a preliminary injunction,” a spokesperson for WP Engine told 404 Media. “The order will bring back much-needed stability to the WordPress ecosystem. WP Engine is focused on serving our partners and customers and working with the community to find ways to ensure a vigorous, and thriving WordPress community.” A spokesperson for Automattic told 404 Media: “Today’s ruling is a preliminary order designed to maintain the status quo. It was made without the benefit of discovery, our motion to dismiss, or the counterclaims we will be filing against WP Engine shortly. We look forward to prevailing at trial as we continue to protect the open source ecosystem during full-fact discovery and a full review of the merits.” 

[storiesfromgaza]

"A video documents the moment the occupation aircraft dropped internationally banned 'white phosphorus' bombs on Gaza"

For you all to know: White phosphorus is a chemical compound with a sinister reputation, is a substance that poses severe dangers to human life. Its utilization in various contexts, particularly in warfare, has led to devastating consequences, leaving behind a trail of debilitating injuries. In this article, we will explore the nature of white phosphorus, and the grave risks it presents to individuals and communities.

White phosphorus, often referred to as "WP," is a waxy, white-to-yellow translucent solid that ignites spontaneously when exposed to oxygen. This property makes it a highly effective incendiary weapon and illuminant.

When white phosphorus comes into contact with the human body, it can result in severe burns and tissue damage. These burns are exceptionally painful and challenging to treat. The injuries caused by white phosphorus can have long-lasting effects on individuals, often requiring extensive medical treatment, including skin grafts and reconstructive surgery. The psychological impact of surviving such injuries can also be profound.

The severity of injuries resulting from an individual being struck by white phosphorus rockets can be extremely high and is dependent on several factors, including the quantity of white phosphorus exposure and the part of the body affected. Here's an overview of the dangers associated with injuries caused by white phosphorus bombs:

Severe Burns: The primary injuries caused by white phosphorus are severe burns. white phosphorus has the ability to penetrate tissues and bones, leading to deep and excruciating burns. These burns are difficult to treat and may leave permanent scars.

Respiratory Distress: When white phosphorus ignites, it can produce a gas that, when inhaled, irritates the respiratory system and can lead to breathing difficulties.

Psychological Impact: In addition to the physical pain, the intense pain resulting from burns can have profound psychological effects on individuals, necessitating additional psychological treatment.

Long-term Complications: Injuries from white phosphorus bombs can result in long-term complications such as physical deformities and disabilities. Treatment and rehabilitation can be prolonged and costly.

Environmental Impact: Along with its effects on individuals, white phosphorus burns can also harm the environment by contaminating soil and water.

In general, injuries caused by white phosphorus bombs are among the most severe and challenging to treat. It is crucial to take all measures to prevent these injuries and to restrict the use of such weapons in contexts where they could harm civilians!

Join our Telegram channel link for the latest updates: t.me/storiesfromgaza

[olderthannetfic]

https://www.tumblr.com/olderthannetfic/745427797079621632/so-ffn-was-my-only-mistress-for-years-but-then-i

I’m the anon that went on Wattpad for the first time, and then went “No.”

So I lowered my standards a little, and actually found a few more good fics on ao3, (my true love). Yea!

One the comments mentioned how most of the good fics on WP were just stolen from the original author. That reminded me of this smut I was reading on ao3: one day, the author took it down because she was tired of people reposting it to goodreads or something.

Thing is, she did let her readers know that she’ll be reposting the story on Wattpad. Now it was some top tier smut, in my opinion. But there’s other great smut on ao3 and I didn’t want to make an WP account for one story. So I never got to reread it again.

My question: is a story on WP less likely to be stolen than it is on ao3? I feel like it’s easier to steal stuff on WP, since on ao3, you can lock your stories.

--

WP has that shitty feature where you can't copy and paste text...

Except we all know that's easy as hell to disable, so all it actually does is annoy your fans if they want to quote a good line while reccing the fic elsewhere.

[disabled-systems]

in order for a physical disability to totally vary between alters there must be an issue in the brain: an alter not having access to some area (in this case in the visual cortex) for whatever reason.

so the line between physically and mentally disabled is blurry here.

Also here's a more recent case of dynamic blindness in DID from 2015: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/11/24/the-blind-woman-who-switched-personalities-and-could-suddenly-see/

Screenshot because I'm an anticapitalist anarchist:

The part of the article at the bottom proves the point that I made in my original post.

“…blindness wasn’t caused by brain damage, her original diagnosis. [The blindness) was instead… brain directive, a psychological problem”

A psychological problem, hence not physical, hence not a physical disability.

There is no blurriness about what is physical and mental. Mental disorders can have physical symptoms, however that doesn’t necessarily make one physically disabled. In this case, her blindness was likely some form of psychosis.

If you’re going to send me sources, at least read them first. While you are on the topic of reading, please direct yourself to our DNI and read that closer.

-Ran (they/dae)

[ash-rigby]

Where do you write your stories before you post them? I've been looking for a good place to write that's more reliable than the notes apps on phones(I recently lost a collective 5 years of writing because my phone just. bricked. and nobody could/would fix it)

Aw, that sucks! Sorry to hear that. I do my writing exclusively on the computer because I'm way more proficient at typing on a physical keyboard that I am on a phone. As for where, I usually grab whatever free downloadable word-processing software I can find. I've been using WPS Office for a while and it's been working quite well for me. It did unfortunately roll out some AI features so I've been thinking about switching soon (my current WIP is on it so I'll finish that up first before jumping ship). But it doesn't force you to use those features (I don't) and most of them seem harmless to me if you want to check it out. It's probably going to get harder to find ones that don't incorporate AI features so the best we can hope for are ones where you can disable or at least ignore them 🙄

If anyone else has any suggestions for anon (and me tbh), please reply and let them know!

[autisticadvocacy]

Comprehensive sex ed must include info on healthy sex and sexuality for people with disabilities, and be taught to all of us. Check out our paper on reproduction and disability sex ed created with the National Partnership for Women & Families: https://nationalpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/repro-disability-sexed.pdf

[gordiita]

https://pwd.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Women-with-Disability-and-Domestic-and-Family-Violence-A-Guide-for-Policy-and-Practice.pdf

[homestuckexamination]

I'm not convinced Mituna isn't bad representation. Of course, there is a lot of dubious stuff in Homestuck. And I'm not saying you can't consume something critically. But I can't help feeling a hypocrite for boycotting Rowling and continuing to ignore the dubious stuff in homestuck (especially the use of the r*t*** word). I guess you could say that at least Hussie developed and learnt from their mistakes (not true for Rowling is it)... Is that a good enough excuse to continue to like Homestuck?

Yeah no, I said I don't think I could say he's good rep, at all.

However, I am going to make my stance on this very clear. 'Especially the use of the r slur'.

Homestuck is an indie Fandom Internet thing, that started as a parody of CYOA comics of the era, and has humor that is very of its era, as well as inherent biases of Hussie being a white American- Including, as you mentioned, the use of slurs, or racial insensitivity, and ableist stuff through the entirety of its run.

It doesn't matter how much you hate Homestuck. It doesn't matter whether you think any of this is redeemable or forgivable. Without even looking at the Authors and what they've done with their fame, Harry Potter is a mainstream franchise to an extent Homestuck could never be. Homestuck is an Internet Meme. Harry Potter is a Cultural Phenomenon. If you find a lone Homestuck reference in some new TV show, you point at it in surprise like "WHAT?". If a series has an Entire Episode parodying Harry Potter, it's almost basically expected. Even if they were equivalent in what they do wrong- With they're not- The reach and impact of these two franchises are entirely incomparable.

But then take, also, the Authors of the content. Hussie grew up alongside their work, work which queer youth related to, and they embraced it, and even eventually came out as non-binary themself. They let WP handle the franchise, with Hiveswap and HS^2- Regardless of what your personal opinion on the WP Team and any of what they've done may be, it's a largely queer group of artists and writers and musicians, who were given an 'official' blessing by Hussie to go wild, and they brought a lot of creativity and good rep to the table and interesting talking points. Take Homestuck. Take Psycholonials. At its core, there's an inherently queer, leftist narrative, interesting conversation regarding identity and what it means to Be, and growing up in different circumstances, and being friends with a bunch of people online, and dealing with the climate of world around us.

Then take Rowling, who's used her fame to promote blatant transphobia and cause harm- Tangible, real harm in UK Politics, to trans youth, who's emboldened transphobes and strengthened the TERF Movement, and whose work is entrenched in antisemitism, among other things, whose most recent work reads like an 'I'm not owned, I'm not owned!' scream villifying trans disabled youth and painting an analogue for herself as some helpless victim, and it's like...

I'm not saying Homestuck is perfect, god no. I am not saying you have to like it. I'm not saying you have to forgive Hussie for any of the times they have fucked up, or that they're beyond criticism. But dear God they're not the same, they're on two completely different scales, and if your sense of morality makes you feel that liking Homestuck is the same as liking Harry Potter, you need to re-evaluate how you gauge morality and harmful media.

And on that topic...

'Is there an excuse?' Why are you seeking, externally, for an excuse to consume media? Why do you need external validation in order to determine whether media is 'redeemable' before you can consume it? Only you can determine how much you can put up with Something until it becomes Not For You. Personally? I think what Hussie tried to convey with Homestuck, its themes, its characters, and the kind of author Hussie has shown to be, as well as how Homestuck has developed in general over the years, is really nice, and I still enjoy Homestuck, and I am going to keep enjoying Homestuck, no matter how many prior points are framed as problematic, or how many times something Hussie said once is brought up, unless Hussie did like, a 180 turn and started weaponizing Homestuck for queer hatred and an overt call to genocide or shit like that, which... Doesn't just happen, you know- Meanwhile in that same vein, Harry Potter has become entrenched, in my mind, with all the harm Rowling has caused, its monetization is being actively used to harm people like me, and Terfs have co-opted it entirely as a Dogwhistle. Those are my values. That's what I believe. Your values and what you believe may differ from mine.

Don't look to the Internet and Popular Opinion for advice. Don't look for 'problematic points' and 'redeemability'. You can enjoy absolute trash that has a lot of problems just because you like it and you don't think it's like, harmful. You can be uncomfortable by problematic points in a series others tell you is good, because you can't handle that kinda stuff, and decide not to watch it.

There's no gauge.

This is not to mean you shouldn't trust people's opinions or anything but like... Don't look to others for morality trying to excuse yourself like it feels shameful otherwise. Inform yourself through what they say, but make your opinion yourself, once informed.

[ghostiegamer]

Had a Steven Universe AU bounce around my brain a little bit so here's what I have so far of it

PD- Queen of a very prosperous and peaceful kingdom. Lush and beautiful. Refugees come to her kingdom to thrive. Gained the nickname Rose Queen from her subjects because of how kind and beautiful she is. Throws lavish balls as an excuse to hire refugees for new jobs within her kingdom. Her kingdom is mainly fields, forests, and mountains. Lots of farmland and mines. Main export is food and gems.

WP- Head of PD royal guard. Is PD personal knight. Used to work for WD as a part of her royal guard but WD traded her for PP. Is extremely loyal to PD. Is very good with all kinds of weapons. Also has a green thumb and if not by her queens side or training, she can usually be found in the garden tending to her roses and medicinal herbs. Is also pretty good at alchemy. Is an orphan.

BD- Is generally considered a pretty merciful Queen. Will swoop in to kingdoms that desperately need help and offer to help in exchange for them joining her kingdom and acknowledging her as their queen. If they refuse, then she doesn't mind going to war. Kingdom is fairly big. A lot of her kingdom is coastal. Main export is fish.

BP- Is BD lady in waiting/heir. Very knowledgeable in other kingdoms culture and goods. Personally attends to all of BD needs. Knows how to make other kingdoms rulers lower their guard so BD can try to sway them into giving up their crown. Knows all the stuff about kingdom relations and is very knowledgeable about trade and commonly sits in and helps lead meeting about what to do with new territory's goods. Loves painting in her free time.

YD- A war queen. She tears through kingdoms either taking them for herself or leaving them for Blue or Pink to swoop in and pick up the pieces. Her kingdom is mainly mountainous. Main export is metal. Is extremely smart and very determined. Is very good at navigating a battlefield but not so much at navigating the workings of her court.

YP- Is YD lady in waiting/advisor/heir. Knows her way around a battlefield just as well as a ballroom. Tells YD everything that goes on with the commoners and nobles of the land. Is very devious and cunning. Often sits in on war meetings offering advice. Runs the court whenever YD is away at war, which is a fair amount of the time. Is very good with handling conflict and solving disputes. Often models for BP when the diamonds get together.

WD- A distant Queen. Her kingdom is very prosperous and large. She does not make many public appearances. Her pearl makes them for her. Her kingdom has several different biomes within it but it's mainly forest. Main export is lumber and weaponry. Does not often go to war, but when she does, she decimates whatever kingdom she goes against. Very few survivors. She's very blunt and tends to not waste time dancing around a subject when she can just get straight to the point. This has earned her a reputation for being cold from those who have met her. Secretly is a big softie for the other diamonds and their pearls. PD pearl use to be apart of her royal guard. Knows that she's the reason why PP is an orphan and has a disability and that's part of the reason why she adopted PP. Feels guilty for hurting a child like that.

PP- Use to be a royal jester in PD court. WD saw her at one of PD balls and thought she looked absolutely stunning. WD traded her pearl in the royal guard to PD for PP. Is an orphan. Now is WD lady in waiting and heir. Makes public appearances for WD and handles most of the ongoings of court and day to day life. Is a very skilled blacksmith and enjoys experimenting in her forge. Is also a very good dancer. Doesn't speak much when she doesn't have to. Parents were killed in an attack on PP kingdom of birth when she was a baby. This left her with a big scar across one of her eyes and partial blindess in it. Kingdom was attacked by WD forces. She is one of few survivors. Despite her scar, she's widely regarded as one of the most beautiful women in WD kingdom. Is extremely kind.

The Diamonds and Pearls travel between the kingdoms often and the 4 Diamonds are often referred to as The Sister Queens even though they're not really related. They did all grow up together though as their parents were close friends. Their parents all died due to a mysterious illness that plagued their land long ago. They're all unmarried. Most of the world is run by them with a few small countries still existing, mainly due to treaties with one of the Diamonds kingdoms.

If anyone wants to know more, please ask. I would love to talk about this and flesh it out a bit more.