#if it can be accessed remotely

[comatosecartesian]

If something you own can be remotely disabled - intentionally or not - by a third party, you don’t own it, you’re renting it.

Maybe rent is free!

But someday the person on the other end of that equation is going to either a) up your rent to increase profits, b) sell to someone who will up your rent to increase profits or c) go out of business and take your access with them. This is a feature, not a bug, of the endless-growth model. “Internet activated” means “remote kill switch”.

Welcome to the future, where you don’t own anything and the stuff you rent stops working once your phone has no signal.

[hunter-rodrigez]

Accessibility tip:

If you want to automate your home a bit, but you don't want any "smart" tech, you can just buy remote controlled power sockets instead

They are a lot cheaper and easier to set up and use than some home automation smart tech nonsense

They don't need an app (but some models come with optional apps and there are apps that are compatible with most of these)

Many of them use the 433mhz frequency to communicate, which makes most models compatible with each other, even if they are from different manufacturers

The tech has been around for a long time and will be around for a long time to come

You don't have to put any fucking corporate listening devices like an amazon echo in your home

Models for outdoors exist as well

[redbean-nom]

Rebel Admirals Rex & Kalani from an au where the clone and droid rebellions were a bit more successful

Rex's fleet (rebel fleet Remembrance) - the whole 'ahsoka's not actually a jedi' thing worked and most of the 332nd got dechipped. (maul still escaped, but they managed to patch up the maul-damage before he got to the hyperdrive, so the Tribunal is mostly okay). the extra resources & manpower allowed the clone rebellion to operate on a much larger scale, and they eventually allied with pantora as a whole with the backing of senator chuchi. cody and later wolffe brought their imperial fleets to join the rebellion about a year later (after the chips started wearing off).

the fleet (one venator (the Tribunal), four star destroyers, associated clones, gunships, fighters, and tanks, plus a handful of stolen imperial walkers and shuttles) formally joined the rebel alliance around 10bby.

(rex got put in charge of the fleet because he's the least traumatized out of all the surviving officers. cody ran off to live with obi wan on tattooine.)

Kalani's fleet (rebel fleet Independence) - something happened and he and kraken managed to steal a chunk of dooku's ships (and later a good chunk of whatever was left of grievous' fleet on utapau) after his death. they essentially got lost in the chaos of o66, since the rest of the separatists thought they were deactivated after the shutdown order, and escaped with essentially a full separatist fleet. since they were active instead of stuck on agamar, kalani noticed that the leader of the empire happened to be the republic's supreme chancellor, and decided the empire was the new target of the CIS army. he later encountered the clone rebellion and decided that since the clones had effectively deserted the republic and were now fighting the empire, they were therefore allies.

the fleet (one dreadnought, three cruisers, one stolen imperial carrier, associated droids, fighters, transports, and tanks) formally allied with the rebel alliance around 10bby, with the backing of serenno and raxus secundus.

[goldkirk]

.

[the-starlight-papers]

I’m reading one of the most book series of all time in order to avoid echoes of wisdom spoilers so there’s going to be a series of kingdom keepers breakdown posts coming in the next few weeks because I have been taking notes.

[ratwars]

First migraine day at my new job wish me luck.

[californiaquail]

(salpingo-oophor-)hysterectomies should be free and they should check if you want one at your annual physical in case you're too scared to ask

[kaurwreck]

for the ask game: LILAC CHARCOAL AND RASPBERRY

anon this is so sweet 😭

[ask game provided below for reference; if you'd like to play, please reblog from OP here:]

[pepprs]

genuinely so angry and scared im shaking. how many other times this week this month this year have i been exposed without knowing it. do people even tell each other anymore. it’s just so grim. it’s so fucking grim

[good-to-drive]

John Lennon, Richard Nixon, and Presentism in Our Discussion of Mental Illness

So I'm reading a new book about Richard Nixon and it's got me thinking about presentism in how we discuss Richard Nixon's mental illness(es), and, because I have Beatles brainrot, it's also got me thinking about whether this same mentality could affect how we talk about John.

Both Nixon and John's lives were heavily influenced by their lifelong battles with severe, persistent mental illness, but understanding the historical context of that battle and how it was fundamentally different from what a person might experience today seems to be largely ignored.

We tend to talk about Nixon in particular as if a) he or someone around him had identified that he was exhibiting symptoms of depression, paranoid delusions, and (most likely) psychosis, b) that he or someone around him understood these conditions as so-called "no fault" illnesses that could/should be treated, and c) that this treatment would have been effective.

In other words, we still understand Nixon's mental deterioration as if it had happened today.

Now, to be clear, a LOT of people in Nixon's inner circle described behavior that they personally found unsettling, and the Pentagon had stopped taking orders from the White House by the end of Nixon's presidency because they were so disturbed by his degree of disconnection from reality. So I'm not trying to argue that his condition went unnoticed -- rather, we can reasonably say that almost no one in Nixon's inner circle believed he was "normal."

(I mean, he literally screamed at God and had conversations with portraits of former presidents. It wasn't subtle.)

But the entire conceptualization of mental disorders as legitimate illnesses that can/should be treated was nowhere near as prevalent during Watergate as it is today. Even if the people around him recognized that Nixon was "acting crazy", it's not realistic to project our own ideas about mental illness onto them and assume that they conceptualized that behavior as an illness that Nixon could not control and had not chosen, believed that it was possible to treat that illness, or even had any desire to see that illness be treated.

(Incidentally, the only significant medical intervention in response to Nixon's illness was to start dosing him with anticonvulsants, resulting in significant memory loss.)

It's less clear whether Nixon himself was aware that he was losing touch with reality (my guess is "kinda"), but even if he did have insight into his mental condition he almost definitely didn't have deep familiarity with terms like "PTSD" and "psychotic break" that might help him understand what was happening to him. We can also assume that, if he did have some inkling of what was happening to him, he likely felt an even greater sense of self-hatred and revulsion at his own condition than a person might experience today.

I know there's still a huge stigma around "bad" mental illnesses, but I also know I'm incredibly lucky to have experienced a psychotic break in 2014 and not 1974. Mental hospitals were still sometimes referred to as "snake pits" because they were so horrible, and the average person did not consider someone with severe, persistent mental illness to have any future or hope whatsoever. I'm not a doctor, much less a doctor from the 70s, so I truly don't know what the prognosis for someone like Nixon would have been. But Nixon himself most likely would have believed it was very poor.

To put this another way, Nixon’s ability to have insight into his own illness was impaired by the lack of insight in the society in which he lived, and the way he processed his own experiences would have been more heavily rooted in confusion, shame, and hopelessness. Also, the degree to which we can hold Nixon to blame for failing to manage his mental illness and pursue effective treatment definitely isn't zero, but it's certainly not on par with what you could expect of a person today.

Now I'm absolutely NOT saying any of that to give Dick a free pass for the horrible things he did and said (any more than I think we should give John a free pass). Nixon was a monster in many ways. But I'd rather understand a monster within their actual context than within an imagined one.

TL;DR I think it's worthwhile to ask ourselves whether we're looking at one of the defining factors in Dick and John's lives through a distorted lens, and, if so, how that distorts our perception of them as human beings.

[spicyliumang]

Asking because im curious. do you know some good blog or website for more yakuza content? Or zhao and ichi crew Or ichizhao? Id love to be able to share more love for them but the internet feel limited lately. Maybe a chat with active fans? Or a discord to share pic? :3

Oooo, to be honest, I'd say the most content specifically fanart of IchiZhao has to be on Twitter (some honorable mentions [x] [x] [x] [x]) Ao3 and also on Pixiv but if I'm being real while Pixiv has incredible artists the filter system is horrible😭 there's some RGG art you might stumble by upon accident which deserves to be put on the FBI watchlist DSFDFSDDS😭

[themetalvirus]

shadow very very shortly after escaping is just. wandering around in the woods in nothing but a hospital gown and with medical sticky pads still on his face. he can't use his powers and is just begging for someone to help him. and he's stuck like that for like 12 hours before amy shows up. and this guy, usually so tough and stoic, grabs both her hands and BEGS her to get him out of here and help him hide, shes the only one he can think of who would take pity on him.

[caterjunes]

i regret to announce my work is at it again trying to force me to come into the office

[haughttopics]

i’ve had such a distressing week, a few nights ago i got mugged in the street and had my phone stolen. and it’s sent my ptsd into overdrive. thankfully the network provider was able to brick the phone and render it useless, but i’ve still had to do the fun job of trying to remember every account i ever had on it to update the passwords (sigh). so i guess this is also an FYI for anyone who had my number - i know i’ve been a shit person to contact in general the last year, but now i don’t have access to that number anymore (the network said they should be able to move my existing number to a new phone, whenever it is i get one, but guess we’ll see what happens.

[katyspersonal]

Okay, I have Bloodborne gaming question

How TO enter specific dungeons glyphs? I honestly don't know, I keep seeing videos of players just set up a chalice dungeon by entering a glyph, but I do NOT see a field for this. And so far the only even remote explanation I could gather is that I have to be online at least once for data on them to load, is that true?

I've never entered Bloodborne online in my life lmao - physically can't do that because of my location - but I think I am onto a way to walk around this problem recently, so I want to know whether it's worth it? Guys if you can help let me know, I deadass can't find a coherent explanation what to do ANYwhere

[alex51324]

PSA:  I’m now back at GHQ, after an extended visit to my dad’s place in the Land of Limited Internet.  If there was anything you would have expected me to reply to in the last couple of weeks, I probably didn’t see it, so feel free to put it in front of my face again.