#technical literacy

[lunaiz4-misc]

Reminds me of the time my grandmother discovered Spotify.

She was, I think, 76 or 77 at the time. They had a computer and she vaguely knew how to use a few programs, but my cousins had decided to get her a tablet and she was trying to learn how to use it. Spotify was still new and cool at that point, and I knew she really liked big band music from the 40's, so I decided to show her.

First we put together a playlist on my phone, with me asking her for her favorite artists and albums and looking them up for her. She was absolutely delighted, and asked me to help her set up her own account.

After I had convinced her it was okay to lie to Spotify about her birthday (they didn't HAVE 1925, how dare they), we quickly ran through how to search for music and add it to a playlist, and off she went.

As of today she knows how to use email, her browser, Spotify, and a greeting card creator program, and she's quite content with that. For anything else she just calls my dad. I think she does know how to video call him and share her screen, so there's that at least.

Me: “How can I help you today, ma'am?” Client: “Is e-mail internet”? Me: “I beg your pardon?” Client: “Is e-mail on the internet? I have no internet, can I still read my e-mail?” Me: “Well yes, you must be able to get online to view your e-mail.” Client: “Oh, dear. I can’t see my e-mail.” Me: “Well, let’s see. Can you open up Internet Explorer for me and tell me what you see?” Client: “Open what?” Me: “Your browser, can you open up your browser?” Client: “My…my…?” Me: “What you click on when you want to browse the internet?” Client: “I don’t use anything, I just turn my computer on, and it’s there.” Me: “Okay. Do you see the little blue ‘e’ icon on your desktop?” Client: “You mean I have to start writing letters again?” Me: “I’m…what, I’m sorry?” Client: “I don’t have any pens at my desk. I just want my e-mail again.” Me: “No, ma'am, your desktop, on your computer screen. Can you click on the little blue ‘e’ on your computer screen for me?” Client: “Oh, this is too much work. I’m too upset. Just send me my e-mail. Can’t you send me my e-mail?” Me: “We…okay, ma'am. Can you tell me what color the lights are on your router right now?” Client: “My what?” Me: “The little box with green or possibly a couple of red lights on it right now - it’s most likely near your computer?”

Client: “Lights and boxes, boxes and lights, just get my e-mail for me.

Me: “My test is showing that you should be able to get online right now. Can you tell me what you’re seeing on your computer screen?” Client: “It’s been the same thing for the last two hours.” Me: “An error message?” Client: “No, just stars. It’s black and moving stars.” Me: “…Do you see your mouse next to your keyboard?” Client: “Yes.”

Me: “Move it for me.” Client: “Move it?” Me: “Yes. Move it.” Client: “My e-mail!”

[naranjapetrificada]

Taking breaks when you need to is important but I'm not about to let the devil steal my joy over third and fourth hand accounts of what was said at panels I was never gonna watch in the first place.

Television production is such a massively collaborative kind of creative work that the piece of the puzzle that any one individual makes up of it is always smaller than it seems. Even when that person is the creator, showrunner, screenwriter, star, director, editor, composer, or any other part of the process. There are just so many moving parts.

That's why works have to stand on their own at the end of the day. Sometimes it's nice to hear from those people who have insider knowledge, but seeking absolutes in their perspectives is like a kaleidoscope made with a single color. You rob their work of its complexity and you rob yourself of the chance to experience the fullness of the thing they made. Seek context, but never forget to come back home to The Text.

[alt-alert-art]

I have tried to post this three times now but tumblr does this funny thing called deciding not to work, anyway here’s demo with a cat

[snowandstarlight]

when a patient’s family member starts referencing the “vermiform appendix” you know it’s going to be a long conversation

[phoenixinthefiles]

I’m not a Bruce Wayne apologist

BUT IF I SEE ONE MORE GODDANG COMMENT ABOUT HOW “maybe Bruce should stop employing child soldiers” MAYBE YOU SHOULD PICK UP YOUR FREAKING PHONE AND GOOGLE THE FREAKING ORIGINS OF THE CHARACTERS YOU LIKE??????

IT LITERALLY LAYS IT ALL OUT FOR YOU

THAT WIKIPEDIA FANPAGE AINT UP THERE FOR NOTHING

[tkhamensi]

As gentle as possible-

I didn’t know how to use a computer and all its fancy options when I was younger either. I’m 26 now. None of that stuff - key shortcuts, files & formatting, editing registry or other computer settings - was in school classes. But the Internet is a big place with a lot of lovely computer and technology resources, including beginner tutorials and guides. YouTube has so many video tutorials as well.

Please don’t let “schools didn’t teach us” stop you from learning. It’s all at your fingertips already. No one can put that knowledge directly into your head.

I was able to pick up a lot of my skills from installing and troubleshooting mods for Sims 3. If you like video games and play something that is mod-able, that could be a good way to start picking up more knowledge about your computer and how it works. You’d be surprised at how helpful that information can be, too!

this can't be true can it

[lumikinetics]

'child-endagerment' yeah okay sure but have people considered that shogo is always having the time of his life actually <3

[mr-orion]

"I want comments and people to talk to me and reblogs!!"

Okay, but. But real question. Are you friendly? Actually? Or are you a dickhead to people when you assume the worse of them? Are you condescending when explaining things?

Do you go out of your way to comment on other people's things? No?

I remember as a new user being absolutely turned off from commenting and reblogging because everyone assumed I came at them with the worse possible intentions. I have a lot of formative memories that really cemented that I will never interact with anyone outside of my niches. Ever.

I get why a lot of users don't comment/reblog on random peoples posts. It's because a lot of you have made it an unfriendly and overwhelming environment. A lot of people complain that reblog culture is dead but will go out of their way to pick on commentary they don't like and harrass others instead of hit the block button. Like y'all ruined it for everyone and then have the audacity to act like it's the viewers fault

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

some idiot tenderqueer on this website with of course no visible age in bio: *makes an entire blog revolving around Pinky and Pepper Forever by Eddy Atoms*

the idiot tenderqueers "basic dni" (which is of course a separate thing from just their "regular dni" where they tell 'maga' not to follow bc how could u not kno that?): proshipper, age play, nsfw...

Me: ... uh... Sweetie ..... Do you not understand the contents of the punk zine you're revolving your entire personality around? Do you know that Eddy Atom's also made an entire digital snuff themed zine revolving around the popular plush character Lamb Chop simply entitled 'LambChop' that you can purchase from his gumroad or whatever for like 5 dollars? And if 'Pinky and Pepper Forever' does not already qualify as at least some Filthy NSFW proship shit to you then can you please explain to me how the LAMB CHOP snuff themed digital zine that you can buy for 5 dollars off Atom's website in which an adult human fucks and dismembers Lamb Chop's little plushy body, or turns another human into a LAMBCHOP plushy or something and then probably fucks the remnants too... Isn't also just objectively some completely "NSFW" Age Play shit that only a "Proshipper" could come up with that just fucks with and complexly violates the entire ethos of your bullshit "dni criteria"?

Oh yeah it just got released like, you can buy a physical copy right the fuck now RIGHT HERE.

Eddy Atom's "Fans": No KINK/BDSM, NO NSFW, NO AGE PLAY/LITTLE SPACE SHIT, DEFINITELY NO HAZBIN HOTEL!! UWU

Eddy Atom's: *writes and publishes fur fag dog girl BDSM erotica fanfic based on mediocre furry coded children's toyline, writes and publishes an entire LambChop Plushy Snuff Erotica Zine "Guaranteed to Shock and Excite you! Comes with 'precious Little sticker!' ;)", has to explicitly instruct his own fanbase to shut the fuck up and stop harassing him after making a harmless joke on a whim comparing his own work to that of Viv Medrano's no more than just once*

Like seriously I don't know if this dude even has like a genuine fanbase? Like I was fucking introduced to Pinky and Pepper in like my mid 20's through a younger "anti" and the majority of y'all I've seen online are tenderqueer "antis" so like the majority of you are like these barely legal puritanical posers who shouldn't even be engaging with this man's shit ...Like I've already been over why y'all are so obnoxiously insufferable and annoying Like That but I just feel bad for Eddy at this point ... Like, the sheer amount of inexplicably Severe Cognitive Dissonance occurring here between a Fanbase and it's Artist is even worse than that of Viv Medrano's... ASDFGHJKL:!!!!

[sinners-go-to-drink-the-wine]

“No shade but…” *shades*

{post in reference}

I'm saying there's nothing wrong with wearing wigs. I'm not shading her for wearing them to her shows, and events, that's a smart choice. I encourage it in the post.

...Is advertising a growth serum while wearing wigs shady? 🤷 Maybe, but it's also what I expect from commercials at this point. I'm shading consumerist marketing tactics used by beauty companies. I don't hate her, if that's what you're trying to imply. Which you would know. If you read the post.

[snarp]

Well, Louis Harriger, I appreciate what you're doing here. But the wisest choice would be not to play "Dark and Darker."

Because if the devs are evil or stupid enough to have put this in a video game, the game is going to be a security risk in other ways, too.

A reply from either a crook targeting Steam users or a profoundly-doomed individual:

[widevibratobitch]

my toxic trait is getting into a show that's honestly mid at best and creating a version of it in my head that is so so good and nuanced and compelling and then seeing a take by an average fan with wet cement for a brain and just deflating like a months old helium balloon

[mosspapi]

My mother really likes the rug I'm making for my apartment and said she's genuinely considering commissioning some from me. And like. I seriously deeply appreciate the thought and the fact that she likes it so much that she not only wants one of her own but will pay me for it too, but I don't think she realizes that actually doesn't do anything. "My" bank account is still owned by, managed, and accessed by her and my father. She can put money in or take money out whenever she wants. She sees all of the transactions that go thru it. If she pays me for it she's just moving her own money from one of her accounts to another one of her accounts but this time I know it exists. It's not MY money even if she pays "me".

[nietzhat]

"oh har har aang's a pacifist well what about this sequence"

Nah shut up. Yes, you can show me a scene of firenation soldiers falling from a great height, or sand benders getting left behind, etc. I don't care. This is the kind of cinemasins nitpicky crap that people love but which flies in the face of storytelling.

Aang is consistently a pacifist, and the only IN-STORY time he's actually killed people is meant to be the finale of s1, when the ocean spirit takes over his body and rages against the fire nation fleet.

The other times that people like to emphasize, like when people fall etc. is not meant to signify their death; it's just an action sequence. Similarly, when Katara freezes those two boys in season 2 (toph's first appearance) it's played off as a joke--it's not meant to mean that they will die or lose limbs bc of frostbite, it's a comedy bit.

I think nuanced watching, particularly of animation, means accepting what we're directed to take as real and what we're not. And frankly, even if we're going to be as literal as possible, even the deaths from the falls wouldn't necessarily be fatal, since bodies clearly work differently in this world. (Ty Lee, for instance, can jump in ways that no one else can, Mai's knife throwing similarly defies logic, bending exists, etc.) I know people like to have fun, but just ignoring cinema shorthand and just trying to be as literal as humanly possible just kind of stunts our own storytelling literacy.

[vaya-writes]

My mum has now read the Wyverns bride. I told her that it contains smut and she’s never to discuss it with me. And then last phone call she described the story as ‘eye opening’. Yikes.

[noxiatoxia]

I like that the majority of people on this website's experience with narrative analysis began and ended in elementary school and you're out here still trying to drill it into their heads. It's so English Teacher-coded. I'll bless your heart because god certainly won't.

anon be careful saying these things to me because i'm already delusional about anything related to the carriage allegory youre gonna give me a superiority complex about this shit ..