#not adding the source to this for privacy reasons

[colinodonoghue]

(This picture was edited due to the privacy of his children)

[lifehacksthatwork]

Just a bunch of Useful websites - Updated for 2023

Removed/checked all links to make sure everything is working (03/03/23). Hope they help!

Sejda - Free online PDF editor.

Supercook - Have ingredients but no idea what to make? Put them in here and it'll give you recipe ideas.

Still Tasty - Trying the above but unsure about whether that sauce in the fridge is still edible? Check here first.

Archive.ph - Paywall bypass. Like 12ft below but appears to work far better and across more sites in my testing. I'd recommend trying this one first as I had more success with it.

12ft – Hate paywalls? Try this site out.

Where Is This - Want to know where a picture was taken, this site can help.

TOS/DR - Terms of service, didn't read. Gives you a summary of terms of service plus gives each site a privacy rating.

OneLook - Reverse dictionary for when you know the description of the word but can't for the life of you remember the actual word.

My Abandonware - Brilliant site for free, legal games. Has games from 1978 up to present day across pc and console. You'll be surprised by some of the games on there, some absolute gems.

Project Gutenberg – Always ends up on these type of lists and for very good reason. All works that are copyright free in one place.

Ninite – New PC? Install all of your programs in one go with no bloat or unnecessary crap.

PatchMyPC - Alternative to ninite with over 300 app options to keep upto date. Free for home users.

Unchecky – Tired of software trying to install additional unwanted programs? This will stop it completely by unchecking the necessary boxes when you install.

Sci-Hub – Research papers galore! Check here before shelling out money. And if it’s not here, try the next link in our list.

LibGen – Lots of free PDFs relate primarily to the sciences.

Zotero – A free and easy to use program to collect, organize, cite and share research.

Car Complaints – Buying a used car? Check out what other owners of the same model have to say about it first.

CamelCamelCamel – Check the historical prices of items on Amazon and set alerts for when prices drop.

Have I Been Pawned – Still the king when it comes to checking if your online accounts have been released in a data breach. Also able to sign up for email alerts if you’ve ever a victim of a breach.

I Have No TV - A collection of documentaries for you to while away the time. Completely free.

Radio Garden – Think Google Earth but wherever you zoom, you get the radio station of that place.

Just The Recipe – Paste in the url and get just the recipe as a result. No life story or adverts.

Tineye – An Amazing reverse image search tool.

My 90s TV – Simulates 90’s TV using YouTube videos. Also has My80sTV, My70sTV, My60sTV and for the younger ones out there, My00sTV. Lose yourself in nostalgia.

Foto Forensics – Free image analysis tools.

Old Games Download – A repository of games from the 90’s and early 2000’s. Get your fix of nostalgia here.

Online OCR – Convert pictures of text into actual text and output it in the format you need.

Remove Background – An amazingly quick and accurate way to remove backgrounds from your pictures.

Twoseven – Allows you to sync videos from providers such as Netflix, Youtube, Disney+ etc and watch them with your friends. Ad free and also has the ability to do real time video and text chat.

Terms of Service, Didn’t Read – Get a quick summary of Terms of service plus a privacy rating.

Coolors – Struggling to get a good combination of colors? This site will generate color palettes for you.

This To That – Need to glue two things together? This’ll help.

Photopea – A free online alternative to Adobe Photoshop. Does everything in your browser.

BitWarden – Free open source password manager.

Just Beam It - Peer to peer file transfer. Drop the file in on one end, click create link and send to whoever. Leave your pc on that page while they download. Because of how it works there are no file limits. It's genuinely amazing. Best file transfer system I have ever used.

Atlas Obscura – Travelling to a new place? Find out the hidden treasures you should go to with Atlas Obscura.

ID Ransomware – Ever get ransomware on your computer? Use this to see if the virus infecting your pc has been cracked yet or not. Potentially saving you money. You can also sign up for email notifications if your particular problem hasn’t been cracked yet.

Way Back Machine – The Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites and loads more.

Rome2Rio – Directions from anywhere to anywhere by bus, train, plane, car and ferry.

Splitter – Seperate different audio tracks audio. Allowing you to split out music from the words for example.

myNoise – Gives you beautiful noises to match your mood. Increase your productivity, calm down and need help sleeping? All here for you.

DeepL – Best language translation tool on the web.

Forvo – Alternatively, if you need to hear a local speaking a word, this is the site for you.

For even more useful sites, there is an expanded list that can be found here.

[geonij31]

Hey Newsies Fandom, LETS TALK LODGING HOUSES (by someone who wrote a 13 page essay on them for a university class)

I’ve recently delved into the world of Newsies Fanfiction and I’ve been going a little crazy over some of the representation of the Lodging House so I thought I’d offer up some FACTS regarding some things I’ve seen. For this I’m going to focus on the N°9 Duane Street Lodging-House.

(If you want a basic idea without doing too much research or reading this post, just go watch the 1992 Newsies, it’s not perfectly accurate but it’s close enough.)

THE LAYOUT: the lodging house itself was 6-7 floors. The first floor was rented out to shops like some apartment buildings.

Floor 2: The second floor consisted of a large dining-room “where nearly two hundred boys can sit down at table” (Campbell et al, 1897, 122), as well as a kitchen, laundry room, store-room, servant’s room and living quarters for the lodging’s superintendent and their family.

Floor 3: The third floor contained the school-room as well as washrooms, leaving the two top floors for the dormitories.

Floor 4-5: Each dormitory was “furnished with from fifty to one hundred beds” (Campbell et al, 1897) with spring mattresses and plenty of comforters. There were also “private rooms” which were squared spaces quartered off by curtains for privacy. These beds, though more expensive, were almost ALWAYS filled.

A couple different sources mention the lodging house having a gymnasium (with a trapeze) but they can’t seem to agree exactly where the gymnasium was. My guess is it was on the 6th floor as mentioned in an article by The Journal. The attic was used as extra space for the winters when the dormitories were full.

COSTS: lodging was 6 CENTS (or 10 for a “private room”) and meals (breakfast and dinner) were the same price. Boys could have as many helpings of a mean as they wanted! Without paying extra! From what I could tell they didn’t serve lunch because the afternoon paper came out around noon and most boys just picked up something while they were out so they wouldn’t miss a prime selling time.

(Don’t forget that most papers cost 1¢ for customers so a newsie would only have to sell 6 papers to stay the night or get a meal)

AMENITIES: THEY. HAD. SHOWERS. They had access to both hot and cold water and free towels. Boys were expected to wash up after entering the lodging house. Also, as mentioned, there was a laundry room. From my understanding it was most often used to clean the sheets of the beds which were used every day, but there were also boys said to be around helping with chores, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also able to wash their clothes there when they wanted.

There was also a free clothes ‘closet’ with donated clothing for boys to access. It seemed most boys chose not to make use of it out of pride, but it didn’t go UNUSED. When a kid really needed stuff they would give it to them.

SCHOOLING: boys staying at the lodging house who did not receive a pass to stay out late were expected to attend the night school held there from 7:30-9. During the day the lodging house also held trades classes and other such courses for those who couldn’t attend a full day of school for whatever reason.

There’s so much more but that’s the basics of it and some of the stuff I’ve seen people get wrong (both in fanfics AND here on Tumblr) I’ve added photos from the Lodging house as well as some links of interest for those who want to go do their own research.

Campbell, H., Knox, T. W., & Byrnes, T. (1897). NEW YORK NEWSBOYS-- WHO THEY ARE, WHERE THEY COME FROM, AND HOW THEY LIVE-- THE WAIFS AND STRAYS OF A GREAT CITY. In Darkness and Daylight; or Lights and Shadows of New York Life; A Pictoral Record of Personal Experiences by Day and Night in the Great Metropolis (pp. 111–138). essay, Hartford, Conn. The Hartford Publishing Company. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://archive.org/details/darknessdaylight00campuoft/page/137/mode/1up.

^ Chapter IV: NEW YORK NEWSBOYS— WHO THEY ARE, WHERE THEY COME FROM, AND HOW THEY LIVE— THEY WAIFS AND STRAYS OF A GREAT CITY.

Riis, J. A. (1890). How The Other Half Lives. Charles Scribner’s Sons. November 23, 2024, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/45502/45502-h/45502-h.htm#Page_82

^Chapter XVII: The Street Arab

Riis, J. A. (1908). The Children of the Poor. Charles Scribner’s Sons. November 23, 2024, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/32609/32609-h/32609-h.htm#Page_122

^Chapter XIV: The Outcast and the Homeless

Smallest saving bank in the world. (1896, February 16). The Journal, pp. 19–19. Retrieved November 23, 2024, from https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84031792/1896-02-16/ed-1/?q=Great+Depression&sp=19&st=image&r=-0.421,0.085,1.842,1.398,0.

[fabaulti]

I think most of us should take the whole ai scraping situation as a sign that we should maybe stop giving google/facebook/big corps all our data and look into alternatives that actually value your privacy.

i know this is easier said than done because everybody under the sun seems to use these services, but I promise you it’s not impossible. In fact, I made a list of a few alternatives to popular apps and services, alternatives that are privacy first, open source and don’t sell your data.

right off the bat I suggest you stop using gmail. it’s trash and not secure at all. google can read your emails. in fact, google has acces to all the data on your account and while what they do with it is already shady, I don’t even want to know what the whole ai situation is going to bring. a good alternative to a few google services is skiff. they provide a secure, e3ee mail service along with a workspace that can easily import google documents, a calendar and 10 gb free storage. i’ve been using it for a while and it’s great.

a good alternative to google drive is either koofr or filen. I use filen because everything you upload on there is end to end encrypted with zero knowledge. they offer 10 gb of free storage and really affordable lifetime plans.

google docs? i don’t know her. instead, try cryptpad. I don’t have the spoons to list all the great features of this service, you just have to believe me. nothing you write there will be used to train ai and you can share it just as easily. if skiff is too limited for you and you also need stuff like sheets or forms, cryptpad is here for you. the only downside i could think of is that they don’t have a mobile app, but the site works great in a browser too.

since there is no real alternative to youtube I recommend watching your little slime videos through a streaming frontend like freetube or new pipe. besides the fact that they remove ads, they also stop google from tracking what you watch. there is a bit of functionality loss with these services, but if you just want to watch videos privately they’re great.

if you’re looking for an alternative to google photos that is secure and end to end encrypted you might want to look into stingle, although in my experience filen’s photos tab works pretty well too.

oh, also, for the love of god, stop using whatsapp, facebook messenger or instagram for messaging. just stop. signal and telegram are literally here and they’re free. spread the word, educate your friends, ask them if they really want anyone to snoop around their private conversations.

regarding browser, you know the drill. throw google chrome/edge in the trash (they really basically spyware disguised as browsers) and download either librewolf or brave. mozilla can be a great secure option too, with a bit of tinkering.

if you wanna get a vpn (and I recommend you do) be wary that some of them are scammy. do your research, read their terms and conditions, familiarise yourself with their model. if you don’t wanna do that and are willing to trust my word, go with mullvad. they don’t keep any logs. it’s 5 euros a month with no different pricing plans or other bullshit.

lastly, whatever alternative you decide on, what matters most is that you don’t keep all your data in one place. don’t trust a service to take care of your emails, documents, photos and messages. store all these things in different, trustworthy (preferably open source) places. there is absolutely no reason google has to know everything about you.

do your own research as well, don’t just trust the first vpn service your favourite youtube gets sponsored by. don’t trust random tech blogs to tell you what the best cloud storage service is — they get good money for advertising one or the other. compare shit on your own or ask a tech savvy friend to help you. you’ve got this.

[smellslikebot]

"how do I keep my art from being scraped for AI from now on?"

if you post images online, there's no 100% guaranteed way to prevent this, and you can probably assume that there's no need to remove/edit existing content. you might contest this as a matter of data privacy and workers' rights, but you might also be looking for smaller, more immediate actions to take.

...so I made this list! I can't vouch for the effectiveness of all of these, but I wanted to compile as many options as possible so you can decide what's best for you.

Discouraging data scraping and "opting out"

robots.txt - This is a file placed in a website's home directory to "ask" web crawlers not to access certain parts of a site. If you have your own website, you can edit this yourself, or you can check which crawlers a site disallows by adding /robots.txt at the end of the URL. This article has instructions for blocking some bots that scrape data for AI.

HTML metadata - DeviantArt (i know) has proposed the "noai" and "noimageai" meta tags for opting images out of machine learning datasets, while Mojeek proposed "noml". To use all three, you'd put the following in your webpages' headers:

<meta name="robots" content="noai, noimageai, noml">

Have I Been Trained? - A tool by Spawning to search for images in the LAION-5B and LAION-400M datasets and opt your images and web domain out of future model training. Spawning claims that Stability AI and Hugging Face have agreed to respect these opt-outs. Try searching for usernames!

Kudurru - A tool by Spawning (currently a Wordpress plugin) in closed beta that purportedly blocks/redirects AI scrapers from your website. I don't know much about how this one works.

ai.txt - Similar to robots.txt. A new type of permissions file for AI training proposed by Spawning.

ArtShield Watermarker - Web-based tool to add Stable Diffusion's "invisible watermark" to images, which may cause an image to be recognized as AI-generated and excluded from data scraping and/or model training. Source available on GitHub. Doesn't seem to have updated/posted on social media since last year.

Image processing... things

these are popular now, but there seems to be some confusion regarding the goal of these tools; these aren't meant to "kill" AI art, and they won't affect existing models. they won't magically guarantee full protection, so you probably shouldn't loudly announce that you're using them to try to bait AI users into responding

Glaze - UChicago's tool to add "adversarial noise" to art to disrupt style mimicry. Devs recommend glazing pictures last. Runs on Windows and Mac (Nvidia GPU required)

WebGlaze - Free browser-based Glaze service for those who can't run Glaze locally. Request an invite by following their instructions.

Mist - Another adversarial noise tool, by Psyker Group. Runs on Windows and Linux (Nvidia GPU required) or on web with a Google Colab Notebook.

Nightshade - UChicago's tool to distort AI's recognition of features and "poison" datasets, with the goal of making it inconvenient to use images scraped without consent. The guide recommends that you do not disclose whether your art is nightshaded. Nightshade chooses a tag that's relevant to your image. You should use this word in the image's caption/alt text when you post the image online. This means the alt text will accurately describe what's in the image-- there is no reason to ever write false/mismatched alt text!!! Runs on Windows and Mac (Nvidia GPU required)

Sanative AI - Web-based "anti-AI watermark"-- maybe comparable to Glaze and Mist. I can't find much about this one except that they won a "Responsible AI Challenge" hosted by Mozilla last year.

Just Add A Regular Watermark - It doesn't take a lot of processing power to add a watermark, so why not? Try adding complexities like warping, changes in color/opacity, and blurring to make it more annoying for an AI (or human) to remove. You could even try testing your watermark against an AI watermark remover. (the privacy policy claims that they don't keep or otherwise use your images, but use your own judgment)

given that energy consumption was the focus of some AI art criticism, I'm not sure if the benefits of these GPU-intensive tools outweigh the cost, and I'd like to know more about that. in any case, I thought that people writing alt text/image descriptions more often would've been a neat side effect of Nightshade being used, so I hope to see more of that in the future, at least!

[aphelion-alifer]

☽ welcome ☾

EDIT 12/3/24: CONSIDER HELPING ME OUT! https://www.tumblr.com/aphelion-alifer/768176073578086400/from-one-nonhuman-to-another-i-need-help?source=share

✩

hi, I'm aphelion alifer (he/they), and this is my blog! you can call me aphelion (pronounced "uh-FEE-lee-un"). my name means furthest from the sun (aphelion), or a winged creature existing in freedom in the distance (aphelion alifer). this isn't my real name, but it's what I want to be called by at least on this blog for privacy reasons.

✩

I'm an adult (19 years old) and have been around the nonhuman community for at least 10 years as of writing this. I support all kinds of nonhuman identities, experiences, and beings. my blog is directed towards any nonhuman looking for a safe space, specifically those who are physically nonhuman (shapeshifters, extra limb growers or wing growers/avians, etc), but anyone is welcome. I also consider myself to be spiritual, a reality shifter, furry, and witch, so I might reblog things other than nonhuman stuff. I mostly share posts relating to my experiences, thoughts, things I like, etc. on this blog, I prefer not to talk about my mental health struggles, but I might reblog posts related to mental health. this blog is SFW.

✩

physically I am an avian (as well as a werewolf-like being) and have had a very strong calling to the sky since I was a child, which is how I knew that I am physically meant to have wings. this is an experience that is very deep and personal to me. aside from being an avian, I also tend to have werewolf-like instincts and mental shifts occasionally, and I believe that I can physically shift into a wolf-like creature but I'm not sure yet! and spiritually I am some kind of horned black kite that resembles maleficent's phoenix form which isn't physical. I am still figuring myself out, and this may change, except for my calling to the sky and general connection to winged beings/wings in general. my calling is permanent and lifelong. also, I believe that my soul originates from a different planet in a different universe and that this may be one of my first times on earth in a physical body, but I'm not sure where I come from or if this is 100% true. I'm still discovering myself just like everyone else!

✩

I'm the author of "Nonhumanity: A history", a document that is a timeline of the nonhuman community and also serves as an archive for older articles and websites. it can be found here: Aphelion Alifer - 2024 (google.com)

✩

I believe in good energy and keeping bad vibes out, and I'm not here for discourse or fights! anything anti therian/otherkin/alterhuman and nonhuman will be blocked. adding on, I do believe in DNI's and respecting them, and I should have one, but I just freely block, ignore or report anyone who makes me feel unsafe or uncomfortable without making it a big deal (things like radqueers, trump supporters/right wing folks, anti furry, anything paraphilia related, or individuals that are hateful or generally rude to me or try to cause issues, as well as other topics that I didn't bring up will be blocked, ignored or reported!)

✩

thanks for taking the time to read this and check out my little corner of the web, I look forward to being on this journey with like-minded individuals!

✩

dividers by: https://www.tumblr.com/saradika/729485214970216448/hi-im-just-a-big-fan-of-your-blog-everything?source=share

[systastic]

Sleepover / Pillow Fort Headspace

an addendum onto this pack fur anon! —🍥

An Outsider’s View

On the outside, this realm doesn’t look like much compared to other places in headspace. NPC passerby tend to gossip about it: “What’s all this fuss about a tent made of blankets for? Can’t you make that at home?” It gets quite irritating to hear that ad nauseum… Such is the reason why the entryway to this part of headspace moves around so often. It could be set deep in the forests on one day, masquerading as part of a circus troupe the next, or found in one’s basement on the third. No matter the location of the entrance, one thing remains the same: it takes the form of a comfortable-looking blanket fort of impressive size, able to support at least a few people inside of its walls. Looking at it evokes a sense of nostalgia in your heart… Surely you can spare a few minutes to take a look around, no?

source: here!

Personal Rooms

The word “room” has a very loose definition in this headspace. When the walls, floors, and ceilings are all made of blankets and plush, it can be hard to make anything solid. Fortunately, all of the extra padding serves as an excellent way to practice individuality in other ways. Embroidering walls and pillows to signify them as one’s own is common, as is changing the colors of the lights in one’s room, the addition of plushies and stuffed animals, and creating piles of pillows to function as “sleep mountains”. Rooms can be stylized through the fabric used as well: color and style is an easy change, as is most of everything else. Privacy is a bit harder — but as long as you have a curtain to pull back over the front door, you’ll be just fine in keeping your things away from others.

source: here, here!

Court of Pillows and Plush

Most system require some level of internal communication in order to make their needs known and establish rapport among fellow headmates. This is why the Court of Pillows and Plush is so important: without it, there would be no way for headmates to congregate and have talks amongst one another. Gentle light fills the entire room from top to bottom, allowing all parties to speak on level terms without having to fight to be seen.

Being made out of fabric, blankets, and soft pillows helps to soothe unruly headmates or those with a penchant for punching things. Pillows can’t exactly complain about being hit, now can they? Fellow headmates on the other hand… Well, perhaps it’s better to stick to pillow punching for now.

source: here, here!

Lamplighter’s Workspace

Every individual light, every tiny piece of the headspace must be crafted and maintained. Thousands upon thousands of hours have gone into mastering the art of creating light. It is with these lights that the headspace flows and churns, able to keep up with the population of those who reside within it. Upon entering the Lamplighter’s Workshop, one is immediately struck by how bright it is. Motes of golden light hover and dance in the air, moving about from a simple touch of one’s fingers. Oak wood that makes up the Lamplighter’s desk is the only thing in this world not made of pillows and fabric. Trinkets and tools hang from the walls in an orderly fashion, filling up the drawers close to bursting. Other headmates may try their hand at creating new lights and altering the layout of this headspace… but without the role of architect or the prior permission of the Lamplighter, the tools can be somewhat uncooperative.

source: here, here!

The Space Between

All of these comfortable, cozy places residing within one headspace… what a wonderful paradise. It raises the question, though: how does one travel between these places? What prevents headmates from getting lost among the sheets? The answer to these is simple: not all of these places are directly connected in the same tent. Some tents have open flaps that allow residents to dip into a Dark Zone known as The Space Between. These flaps offer direct routes to other locations, making for easy access to other spaces such as the Court or to Front.

The Space Between is pitch black and near impossible to see anything in. All that can be made out is the orange glow of other rooms and the starry night sky swirling overhead. It’s recommended to avoid staying in The Space Between for too long and stick to the shortest path lest you lose yourself among the stars. Rumors say that those who become lost may hear strange voices or clipped conversation from things they aren’t meant to remember… Surely that’s just a rumor and nothing more.

source: here, here!

Extra: The Lamplighter

All things that are in existence have to have come from somewhere. The Lamplighter is that “somewhere”. It makes the light that spreads throughout the fabric walls of the headspace, spreading pieces of itself anywhere and everywhere to ward off the ever-encroaching reach of the night. It is akin to a minor deity within the bounds of headspace, keeping those who fear the dark safe. No headmates have ever seen the Lamplighter in person; in fact, some argue that it doesn’t even exist to begin with. If it does not exist, though… then who is constantly altering and maintaining this headspace?

source: here!

[azuremosquito]

Gratitude.

It was not a concept with which Astarion had much experience. Two hundred years of seducing people and luring them to their deaths for his master lent itself more to resentment and hatred. But this gratitude thing was rather nice.

Sure, he had saved Halsin for selfish reasons, of course - he had a mindflayer worm in his head and he did not fancy losing his good looks to tentacles, thank you so very much - but in doing so, Astarion and the other survivors of the crashed nautiloid had also cleared the road to Baldur’s Gate for the tiefling refugees and restored peace to the druid’s grove. The refugees had been so elated, they’d insisted on joining the camp for the night and celebrating properly.

Properly, it seemed, included a great deal of wine. The vampire had already had several bottles and mugs thrust into his hands from people who gazed at him like… like… some sort of hero.

At first it had alarmed him, his finely honed self-preservation senses tense and wary. Surely this was some sort of trap or ploy. He mustn’t lower his guard for a moment because that was how people ended up as vampire food. He should know because he’d been very good at it.

But these happy faces around the campfire seemed… genuine. He didn’t know what to make of it. All these innocents smiling at him, unafraid. Old habits urged him to lure them off in secret one by one but… Cazador wasn’t here. Astarion, for the first time in two centuries, was free.

And he had to admit, it felt good to have these people looking up to him. Very good. In fact, he could quite get used to this sort of adoration. He deserved nothing less, if he were being honest with himself. Although, it did admittedly have some downsides. He thought back to Lae’zel’s ‘proposition’ and a shudder squirmed its way down his spine.

While he had been forced to seduce women and men alike to feed Cazador’s insatiable hunger, he had a preference for male companionship, and certainly none that sounded quite so violent as Lae’zel had hinted at.

“You should be out there mingling. Everyone wants to celebrate with you,” a quiet voice spoke somewhere behind and above him.

Astarion felt another tremor through his body. How had a man as big as Halsin managed to sneak up on him in utter silence? Rearranging his face into a flirtatious smirk, the pale elf turned in place and gazed up at the taller man through his eyelashes. “I was looking for you, actually.”

Halsin was a giant of an elf, towering over him (and everyone else, for that matter), with arms like muscled tree trunks; Astarion was fairly certain those arms were bigger around than his waist, and the thought sent a tingling heat to his loins. Halsin was a powerful man who commanded respect, a renowned healer who led with fairness and kindness, not through fear and domination. And yet, Astarion had seen firsthand how ferocious the druid could be in a fight, when something he cared about was threatened.

Here was a valuable ally, if only he could properly ingratiate himself with the gentle giant. Astarion had been flattering Gale previously; what better source of protection than an eminently powerful and skilled wizard, one who had caught the eye of a very goddess? And then the blasted man had gone and revealed that he was a walking bomb, disgraced by said goddess. Astarion had enough problems without adding that to his list.

He purred at Halsin, taking a step closer into the big man’s personal space. “I thought we could find ourselves a little privacy. Get to know each other better.” He waited a beat before dangling the carrot. “Or, perhaps there’s something else you’d rather do besides talking?” The flirting came easily to him, as natural as breathing had once been. A means to make himself useful. A way to protect himself.

He saw interest kindle in the tall druid’s eyes, felt the man take a deep, steadying breath, his snug leather robes creaking around his barrel of a chest. A gentle smile played around the man’s lips as he gazed down at Astarion.

His words, however, were a gentle rebuff.

“Hmm… I’m sure there are. You strike me as extremely… resourceful. But there are many grateful people here who want to spend time with you. I must not keep you all to myself.” Astarion felt a sinking sensation in his gut, until Halsin added, “as enjoyable as that may be.”

Playing hard to get, was he? Astarion generally chose easier marks but something about this massive bear of a man called to him. Certainly, ingratiating himself with Halsin would have many advantages, not the least of which was having his very own resident healer with a great deal of knowledge about these damned illithid tadpoles squirming around in their heads.

No, he could be patient.

In the meantime, he rather thought he could go enjoy being adored.

“Some other time, then.” With a last, lingering glance at the druid, Astarion left the shadows and rejoined those gathered around the campfire in celebration.

[sussex-newswire]

"An immigration expert with knowledge of the case told Vanity Fair that the prince’s records are private documents, like all immigration records. 'The duke is facing an extraordinary level of scrutiny over his immigration status—far beyond what almost anybody else would ever experience,' the source said. 'The US government has a very long standing policy of protecting the privacy of individuals rather than disclosing the personal details found in their immigration files. There are many reasons for this. To name a few: national security, law-enforcement priorities, and to protect the public against wrongdoing, extortion, blackmail, and identity theft.'

"The expert added that the previous decision to keep the records private was standard. 'It was the US government—not the duke—and subsequently a judge, that determined his records should remain private, upholding the very policies designed to ensure fairness and consistency across the system,' the source said. 'In fact, from an outside vantage point, this is anything but favoritism—the duke has been unfairly singled out by the Heritage Foundation.'

[maypop-the-dragon]

PSA: Free Software

Reading this may really save your time, privacy, and money! Reblog or share to spread awareness!

Folks often use software that’s expensive and sometimes even inferior because they don’t know there are alternatives. So to those unfamiliar: basically, free and open-source (FOSS) or "libre" software is free to use and anyone can access the original code to make their own version or work on fixing problems.

That does not mean anyone can randomly add a virus and give it to everyone—any respectable libre project has checks in place to make sure changes to the official version are good! Libre software is typically developed by communities who really care about the quality of the software as a goal in itself.

There are libre alternatives to many well-known programs that do everything an average user needs (find out more under the cut!) for free with no DRM, license keys, or subscriptions.

Using libre software when possible is an easy way to fight against and free yourself from corporate greed while actually being more convenient in many cases! If you need an app to do something, perhaps try searching online for things like:

foss [whatever it is]

libre [whatever it is]

open source [whatever it is]

Feel free to recommend more libre software in the tags, replies, comments, or whatever you freaks like to do!

Some Libre Software I Personally Enjoy…

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an office suite, much like Microsoft Office. It includes equivalents for apps like Word, Excel, and Powerpoint, which can view and edit files created for those apps.

I can't say I've used it much myself yet. I do not personally like using office software except when I have to for school.

OpenShot

OpenShot Video Editor is, as the name suggests, a video editing program. It has industry-standard features like splicing, layering, transitions, and greenscreen.

I've only made one video with it so far, but I'm already very happy with it. I had already paid for a video editor (Cyberlink PowerDirector Pro), but I needed to reinstall it and I didn't remember how. Out of desperation, I searched up "FOSS video editor" and I'm so glad I did. There's no launcher, there's no promotion of other apps and asset packs—it's just a video editor with a normal installer.

GIMP

GNU Image Manipulation Program is an image editor, much like Photoshop. Originally created for Linux but also available for Windows and MacOS, it provides plenty of functionality for editing images. It is a bit unintuitive to learn at first, though.

I've used it to create and modify images for years, including logos, really bad traceover art, and Minecraft textures. It doesn't have certain advanced tech like AI paint-in, but it has served my purposes well and it might just work for yours!

(Be sure to go to Windows > Dockable Dialogs > Colors. I have no idea why that's not enabled by default.)

Audacity

Audacity is an audio editing program. It can record, load, splice, and layer audio files and apply effects to them.

Audacity is another program I've used for a long time. It is not designed to compose music, but it is great for podcasts, simple edits, and loading legacy MS Paint to hear cool noises.

7-Zip

7-Zip is a file manager and archive tool. It supports many archive types including ZIP, RAR, TAR, and its own format, 7Z. It can view and modify the contents of archives, encrypt and decrypt archives, and all that good stuff.

Personally, I use 7-Zip to look inside JAR files for Minecraft reasons. I must admit that its UI is ugly.

Firefox

Firefox is an internet browser, much like Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Safari. While browsers are free, many of them include tracking or other anti-consumer practices. For example, Google plans to release an update to Chromium (the base that most browsers are built from these days) that makes ad blockers less effective by removing the APIs they currently rely on.

Aside from fighting monopolies, benefits include: support for animated themes (the one in the picture is Purple Night Theme), good ad blockers forever, an (albeit hidden) compact UI option (available on about:config), and a cute fox icon.

uBlock Origin

As far as I know, uBlock Origin is one of the best ad blockers there is.

I was on a sketchy website with my brother, and he was using Opera GX's ad blocker. Much of the time when he clicked on anything, it would take us to a random sponsored page. I suggested that he try uBlock Origin, and with uBlock Origin, that didn't happen anymore.

Linux

Linux is a kernel, but the term is often used to refer to operating systems (much like Windows or MacOS) built on it. There are many different Linux-based operating systems (or "distros") to choose from, but apps made for Linux usually work on most popular distros. You can also use many normally Windows-only apps on Linux through compatibility layers like WINE.

I don't have all four of these, so the images are from Wikipedia. I tried to show a variety of Linux distros made for different kinds of users.

If you want to replace your operating system, I recommend being very careful because you can end up breaking things. Many computer manufacturers don't care about supporting Linux, meaning that things may not work (Nvidia graphic cards notoriously have issues on Linux, for example).

Personally, I tried installing Pop!_OS on a laptop, and the sound output mysteriously doesn't work. I may try switching to Arch Linux, since it is extremely customizable and I might be able to experiment until I find a configuration where the audio works.

Many Linux distros offer "Live USB" functionality, which works as both a demo and an installer. You should thoroughly test your distro on a Live USB session before you actually install it to be absolutely sure that everything works. Even if it seems fine, you should probably look into dual-booting with your existing operating system, just in case you need it for some reason.

Happy computering!

[warningsine]

All right, since I bombarded a poor mutual yesterday...

Privacy is not security and security is not privacy. These terms are not interchangeable, but they are intrinsically linked.

While we're at this, anonymity =/= security either. For example, Tor provides the former, but not necessarily the latter, hence using Https is always essential.

It is impossible to have privacy without security, but you can have security without privacy.

A case in point is administrators being able to view any data they want due to their full-access rights to a system. That being said, there are ethics and policies that usually prevent such behavior.

Some general tips:

Operating System: Switch to Linux. Ubuntu and Linux Mint are widely used for a reason. Fedora too. And don't worry! You can keep your current operating system, apps and data. If you're on a Mac computer, you can easily partition your hard drive or SSD by using Disk Utility. If you're on Windows, you can follow this guide.

You want to go a step further? Go with Whonix or Tails. They're Linux distributions as well, but they're both aiming for security, not beauty so the interface might not be ideal for everyone. Many political activists and journalists use them.

You want anonymity? Then you need to familiarize yourself with Tor. Also, Tor and HTTPS and Tor’s weaknesses. When you're using it, don't log in to sites like Google, Facebook, Twitter etc. and make sure to stay away from Java and Javascript, because those things make you traceable.

Alternatives for dealing with censorship? i2p and Freenet.

Is ^ too much? Welp. All right. Let's see. The first step is to degoogle.

Switch to a user-friendly browser like Firefox (or better yet LibreWolf), Brave or Vivaldi. There are plenty of hardened browsers, but they can be overwhelming for a beginner.

Get an ad blocker like Ublock Origin.

Search Engine? StartPage or Duckduckgo. SearXNG too. Like I said degoogle.

Get a PGP encrypted e-mail. Check Protonmail out.

There's also Tutamail that doesn't cover PGP, but uses hybrid encryption that avoids some of the cons of PGP.

Skiff mail is also a decent option.

Use an e-mail aliasing service such as SimpleLogin or AnonAddy.

Check OpenPGP out. Claws Mail is a good e-mail client for Windows and Linux, Thunderbird for Mac OS.

Gpg4win is free and easy to use for anyone that wants to encrypt/decrypt e-mails.

Instead of Whatsapp, Facebook messenger, Telegram etc. use Signal for your encrypted insant messaging, voice and video calls.

Get a metadata cleaner.

Get a firewall like Opensnitch, Portmaster or Netguard which can block Internet for trackers.

Alternatively, go with a private DNS that blocks these trackers. NextDNS is a good paid service. Rethink a good free option.

Replace as many of your applications as you can with FOSS (free and open source) ones. Alternativeto can help you.

Always have automatic updates on. They are annoying af, I know, but they are necessary.

Keep your distance from outdated software.

Always have two-factor authentication (2FA) enabled.

Do not use your administrator account for casual stuff. If you're on Linux, you probably know you can be sudo, but not root.

On Linux distributions use AppArmor, but stay away from random antivirus scanners. Other distributions default to SELinux, which is less suited to a beginner.

Never repeat your passwords. If you can't remember them all, use a password manager like KeePass.

Encrypt your drive.

Honestly, VPNs have their uses and ProtonVPN, Mullvad and Windscribe are decent, but eh. If you don't trust your ISP, why would you trust the VPN provider that claims they don't log you when you can't verify such a thing?

[aesethewitch]

Is adding protections necessary? I'm not worried about spirits getting through but I want to insure that the deck isn't being affected by external energy. Though I don't hear much about placing protections on divinatory tools.

Hello!

So, like most things that are "necessary" in witchcraft, it's entirely up to you whether adding protections to a divination tool (or to your divination setup) is something you need to do.

Personally, I've never put protections on a tool itself. I don't usually put up specific protections when doing divination, either, unless I'm in a volatile environment or want to repel a specific type of entity or energy. And even then, the regular protections I wear on my person (charmed clothing, a veil, jewelry, etc.) are more than enough to get me through almost all divination sessions in most environments.

Depending on what source you're tapping into while working your divinations (a deity, the universe, spirit guides, your own subconscious, etc.), it will probably be difficult to prevent all external energies or presences from influencing your deck's output. You could certainly charm a tool with a protection that only allows certain spirits/energies to touch and/or influence it.

I think part of the reason you don't see it talked about much is that a lot of divination is done specifically to receive input, influence, and energy from external sources -- again, such as deities, the universe, spirit guides, and so forth. When I do it, for example, I'm tapping into the web of connections between all things.

So, again, if you want to prevent all external influence, you could certainly cast a protection around your deck. It's something you may have to renew regularly, perhaps on a cycle with regular cleansings to ensure nothing unwanted is "sticking" to the deck.

Come to think of it, I do actually do this, in a way. I keep one of my decks wrapped in a charmed white cloth to protect it from "prying eyes" on behalf of the spirit that calls the deck home. It's sort of like drawing the blinds for privacy. Maybe it isn't a full-blown protection, but it's food for thought.

TLDR: Necessary? No, because nothing is required. A good option if it suits your specific wants and goals? Yeah, absolutely.

[mariacallous]

Tim Sweeney, the CEO of Epic Games, had always worried that his company’s victory last year in a multimillion-dollar legal battle against Google’s app store monopoly wouldn’t be enough to open up competition. Even if Google could no longer keep alternative marketplaces out of Android, phone manufacturers could make them harder to access. In a US lawsuit filed in San Francisco today, that’s exactly what Epic alleges Google has conspired with Samsung to do.

Some newer Samsung phones have required settings changes to install apps from the web such as Epic’s app marketplace, according to Epic, which also develops Fortnite and Rocket Racing. The requirement became effective by default in July, and Epic launched its app store in August. Samsung claims the feature it calls Auto Blocker protects against “applications from unauthorized sources” and “malicious activity.” But it extends the installation process from 15 steps to 21, Epic alleges. The company says that it has found in the past that the greater the number of hurdles, the fewer people complete the process.

“It is not about reasonable measures to protect users against malware,” Sweeney told reporters in a briefing ahead of the lawsuit filing. “It's about obstruction of competition.”

“Contrary to Epic Game's assertions, Samsung actively fosters market competition, enhances consumer choice, and conducts its operations fairly,” said a Samsung spokesperson in a statement. “The features integrated into our devices are designed in accordance with Samsung’s core principles of security, privacy, and user control, and we remain fully committed to safeguarding users' personal data. Users have the choice to disable Auto Blocker at any time. We plan to vigorously contest Epic Game's baseless claims.”

Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

The litigation builds on an effort Epic launched in 2020 to deliver more choice to mobile users and boost its own bottom line. While downloading apps any which way from just about any source is generally easy on desktops and laptops, Apple and Google have used warnings and varying policy and technical curbs to keep users downloading from the iOS App Store and Google Play, which deliver enormous profits to the tech giants by virtue of sales commissions they collect.

Epic, through a lawsuit, won a minor concession from Apple that is still being fought over; penalties against Google are expected from a judge soon.

In the press conference, Sweeney acknowledged that Epic doesn’t have clear evidence that Google and Samsung collaborated to roll out Auto Blocker. But emails and notes presented by Epic during its jury trial against Google last year showed how the search company regularly engaged in discussions with Samsung aimed at limiting competition. Google denied those accusations.

Early this month, Sweeney reached out to two senior Samsung executives to ask them to rethink the approach with Auto Blocker and allow for a smoother process to download legitimate software. Sweeney said a resolution couldn’t be reached that benefitted all developers, prompting the lawsuit. “We are going to continue to fight until there is a level playing field,” he says. He added that it “sucks” to sue Samsung, which has promoted Epic’s offerings in the past.

Epic has notched over 10 million installations of its mobile app store, short of a goal to reach 100 million by the end of the year, Sweeney says. He believes Auto Blocker and other new impediments, as he views them, have hurt Epic’s ability to gain traction. And his focus on fighting Apple and Google is costing Epic significant sums, with no end in sight to the litigation. “The benefits only come in the future, when the obstructions have truly been eliminated,” he says.

[greatbritishsimchallenge]

"Cassian! I have amazing news!" beamed Elizabeth.

"Is that so, my love? Pray tell!"

"I'm pregnant!"

Cassian hugged Elizabeth and began to rub his hands over her bump, "How far along are you? This is... a sizeable bump."

"I don't know much about these things, sweetie. Must have been from one of our spirited love-making sessions a while back and it's just taken me a minute to realise."

"But we didn't make love in a manner that could bear children until quite recently?" asked Cassian, confused.

"What are you talking about?" laughed Elizabeth, "We've been at it since long before our wedding day! It's honestly a wonder this hasn't happened already."

"No, but -" Cassian tried to interrupt, but Elizabeth quickly covered him in kisses.

"Oh, you are going to be such a wonderful father, I can't wait! I must dash, sweetheart, I have a riding lesson booked and you know how fussy the squires get if you're late. Honestly, you'd think the mood of the horse was more important than my own!"

Before Cassian could challenge her further, Elizabeth had left.

Cassian sought out Henry to ask his thoughts.

"Perhaps she is right, father. Perhaps you just forgot one of your particular episodes with her? You have been rather active, after all."

"Maybe I am just becoming forgetful in my old age..." Cassian replied, unconvinced. "I'll try talking to her again when she returns from riding."

Hearing that Elizabeth was out riding, Henry quickly shifted tact.

"Although," he added cautiously, "If you are that concerned, I wouldn't wait. Perhaps she didn't feel able to speak openly in the castle - the walls have too many ears. Perhaps in the privacy of the woods she might feel able to be more honest?"

Cassian nodded sombrely, "I suppose... I'll go talk to her. I'm probably wrong, but... something just feels off."

"Better to be sure with these things," Henry agreed. As he watched his father leave, Henry felt a cautious happiness build within him.

Story continues under the cut (NSFW: sex, murder, domestic violence against women)

It took Cassian some time to find Elizabeth. Eventually it was the noise that drew him to her; at first it sounded like the intense rustling of animals fighting, then the noises became distinctly more human and sounded like moaning and groaning. Concerned she might be hurt, Cassian rushed towards the sound and halted to an abrupt stop when he was able to see the source of noise.

Cassian watched Elizabeth rolling around in the grass with her lover, his rage building as she failed to notice that she was being watched. As he watched, he thought of all the times she was with him. With him, sex with her suddenly seemed like an amateur dramatic performance filled with over-the-top cries of pleasure and performative declarations of love. Seeing her with this man, Cassian could see how real and genuine her pleasure was - and that only infuriated him more.

"Elizabeth!"

"Cassian!" Elizabeth pushed the man away from her and lept up, looking frantically around as if for some reasoning she could give to what Cassian had seen. "I... umm... thank goodness you're here! That man attacked me!"

Cassian looked the petrified, naked man once over and saw the way he looked at Elizabeth with eyes filled with hurt and betrayal.

"You're lying. I watched you two together and you were wanting every fucking second," Cassian snarled, before adding to the man, "Get out of here." The man grabbed his clothes and rushed to his horse, galloping off without looking back.

Cassian stepped menacingly towards Elizabeth.

"That baby is not mine, is it?"

"Cassian, darling, of course it is. This was a one time mistake, I -"

"Stop lying to me!" Cassian yelled, grabbing Elizabeth by the throat. "How long have you been lying to me? Did you ever even love me? Or have you just been using me all of this time? You were going to pass another man's child off as mine? You made me think you loved me! How could you do this to me, you evil whore!"

In his rage, Cassian failed to recognise how tightly he gripped Elizabeth's neck, nor how her flails were growing weaker. It was only when her eyes closed and her arms dropped to her sides that he released her. Her dead body fell in a crumple to the floor.

The moment her body fell, all of Cassian's rage left his body and was immediately replaced with sadness.

"What have I done? What have I done? What have I done?" I repeated over and over to himself.

Start (Iron Age) | Start (Roman Britain) | Start (Anglo Saxon) | Start (Medieval) | Start (Tudor)

Previous | Next

[steak-n-popotoes]

FFxivWrite '24 - 4

There was no real practical reason to pitch a tent in the desert, not when the inn had perfectly serviceable beds. That said, the idea of sleeping under the stars came with an appealing sense of privacy that paired well with the romantic scenery of the region.

The evening air simmered in ceruleum smoke and setting sunlight. L'kozu and Erenville sat shoulder to shoulder before the campfire as it steadily became the only source of light. Beef had 'borrowed' Erenville's lantern and was using it to record a few more scenes in his sketchbook before bed, sat atop a stone some number of yalms away. His companions kept an eye on its steady oil-burning glow past the flickering firelight before them.

Naturally, L'kozu had harbored ulterior motives of an intimate nature when he'd insisted on camping out that night, and he had certainly hoped Erenville would be aware of them, if not enthusiastically receptive toward them.

Surely he must...?

After all, he'd not protested when Kozu had leaned into his side...

But alas, the talk that Kozu thought might lead from one thing to the next had instead developed into a probing of the heart. He felt that Erenville could understand his troubles in a way others couldn't. Or perhaps he hadn't been willing to allow them the chance?

"What does your name mean?" L'kozu asked.

"'Mean'...? Do you wish to know more about my Shetona name, or...?"

"No," L'kozu clarified. Iyaate had referred to him with that name, but Kozu hadn't made a place for it in his memory. Much like his own. "I mean the one you prefer."

"It doesn't have any particular meaning, to my knowledge. I chose it for myself, yes, but it was only a practical decision. I suppose," Erenville added, "at some point it began to fit more comfortably than my old one."

"So it belongs to you alone." came the murmured reply.

Erenville took note, but chose not to press on unbidden.

After some time, during which the pulse Erenville felt at his side quickened, the conversation continued. "If I were to tell you that my own name had lost-" he took another moment to find his footing, "that the colors have begun to fade, what would you suggest for a replacement?"

Erenville considered the question. "I can make suggestions, but I cannot choose for you which one would be correct." His voice came out a touch stern. Perhaps he felt more deeply about such matters than he realized.

"Of course."

"Well, first, what is it about L'kozu that feels wrong?"

"It belonged to another before me. But I don't want to forget it, either."

"I see." Erenville said. "Perhaps you could retain it as a surname."

For a while, the two traded fragments of names and ideas; different cultures' conventions, counting a number out along the way. Simple enough for business use, not so derivative to belong to anyone else. A name that was his alone.

Erenville studied his companion. "Does the sound of 'Armas' strike you?"

"I don't mind it." he replied. "What does it mean?"

But Erenville's typical reticent manner returned without warning, and the two fell into a brief silence.

"Just remember that there is no need to rush such a decision."

"You're right." L'kozu soon snapped back to a teasing, overly positive tone, placing the subject firmly behind him. "Do you think Beef could hear us over there, were we to...?" He trailed off.

Erenville sighed.

And yet, he didn't lean away.

Beef could, of course, hear every word. He wasn't trying to eavesdrop, but because of Gale he couldn't help but catch the conversation.

He continued to sketch the ridge before him, content to pretend otherwise. Names are important. Some are only for family. Erenville means a lot to Kozu.

[fur-teeth-bones-earth]

Protection for the Digital Witch: Image Metadata

Just about every image posted online, taken by your camera, or even screenshotted on your phone contains hidden data called metadata. Some of this information is useful, such as how big the image is or how image viewers should render the colors in it. Some of it may be more concerning such as the time the image was taken, where it was taken, where it is saved on your device, what device it was taken on, and more. Mobile phones in particular love to stick metadata on everything that passes through their galleries. While this makes storing and organizing photos a breeze, it can be dangerous to upload photos online when your address is attached to them.

This, of course, raises important questions about online safety and how to keep sensitive information hidden from internet strangers. While there's plenty of resources online about mundane reasons to scrub information from your photos, what can the digital witch take away from this?

Consider metadata as a taglock. Taglocks in witchcraft are footholds for magic to jump from one practitioner's spelltable to another's and they aren't always used for blessings. Anything from a strand of hair to a name to an item you once owned could serve as a taglock and the closer the item is to you, the better. Imagine how powerful a photo of you or your space could be if it also happened to include your location, the time it was taken, and where it was saved on your phone before it hit your blog!

On the flip side, this information can be brandished for good. Photos of meaningful places during fortuitous astrological timing may serve as particularly protective wallpapers. Witches can attach hidden spells or information via image editing tools such as Gimp or Photoshop to their images.

If you work often in digital spaces, keep in mind what information your photos may have and how you can use it to keep yourself safe and explore new mediums for your work!

How to Prevent or Remove Metadata from Photos

Disable Geotagging in your device's settings.

Do a quick Google search to see if your computer or model of phone provides this option!

2. Use a third-party app designed to remove metadata. I recommend an open-source and locally downloaded app like ExifCleaner for PCs or Scrambled Exif for Android. Be wary of third party apps that require you to upload your image to their website, serve you questionable ads, or collect information on you. The goal is to protect your privacy after all!

Further Reading

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words, Including Your Location

Scrambled Exif

Exif Cleaner

Everything you wanted to know about media metadata, but were too afraid to ask