tunglo

[tunglo]

I swear to God the DWP is trying to kill me with stress.

They decided my parents needed to switch from ESA to UC in order to 'streamline' their benefits. They're too ill to deal with any of it alone so, so far I've had to attend six job centre appointments, plus fill out countless forms, phone calls, and doctor's/psychiatrist's appointments with them for the mountain of information they want. (None of which is any different to the info the DWP already had for the ESA claim.)

The end seems to finally be in sight, except now they get two payments - one from UC and one from ESA to cover the employment element - and have to report any changes, get updates, etc, from both departments. In what world is this system making life easier for anyone???

Then, to compound matters, I got my own UC statement this month to find they were gonna pay me £24. Because apparently my child no longer exists. So obviously I had an ugly crying meltdown because, okay, I'd get by, but my composure has only been hanging by a thread for months.

I *think* it'll get sorted out quickly but the reason is only more infuriating. Because when we split our claim apparently I was supposed to put that day as the date the child began living with me, not the day she was born like one might imagine...

Just, argh. Makes me want to scream into the abyss!

[tunglo]

[tunglo]

Something that I get chills about is the fact that the oldest story told made by the oldest civilization opens with "In those days, in those distant days, in those ancient nights."

This confirms that there is a civilization older than the Sumerians that we have yet to find

Some people get existential dread from this

Me? I think it's fucking awesome it shows just how much of this world we have yet to discover and that is just fascinating

[tunglo]

The Vulcan children's hospital recently redecorated. I'm not convinced they chose the most logical option

[tunglo]

Reblog if you're a fanfic writer and you wanna know what your followers' favorite story of yours is ❤

[tunglo]

I’m still on a Superman kick which means I’m spending all my free ‘net time whining that nobody’s writing the hyper specific should-be-juggernaut-but-isn’t slash that I want to read. I mean, really, have I gotta do everything? Lol.

[tunglo]

brb the whole discord in an uproar at the UNCONSCIONABLE results of Mister Global 2022

[tunglo]

LADIES, LADIES, LADIES! ONE AT A TIME PLEASE ✋🏻

[tunglo]

[tunglo]

daily reminder that there is absolutely nothing normal about being expected to waste a majority of your life at a corporation to survive instead of indulging in better life experiences ✨

[tunglo]

luke skywalker should have a rainbow lightsaber. i feel like he deserves one

[tunglo]

for anyone in the UK, needing to access discord and unable or unwilling to provide an ID:

[tunglo]

I found the mainstream blog post I wrote about the stupidity of the online safety act from one of its previous launch dates…

It is now less than four months until the government starts enforcing their latest ill thought out piece of morality legislation - from April 2018 any website containing pornographic content will require visitors to fully verify their age or be forcibly blocked by ISP providers. In other words, unless you're willing to input sensitive personal data into every website designed to titillate, you will be prevented from viewing anything the government deems too risque.

The point of the legislation is to protect children which, of course, is an admirable aim. We all want young people to be safe online. How blocking access to Pornhub for anyone with the good sense not to leave themselves open to credit card fraud will achieve this is less clear. Children, the government says, should not be able to stumble across pornography.

This was presumably why parental filters and their ilk were developed. Although, as anyone who employs such restrictions will know, it's not as simple as saying 'no porn, please'. Sometimes the filter casts the net too wide - school filters for guns and Nazis, for instance, also prevent access to BBC GCSE revision guides on WW2 - other times the filter doesn't cast it wide enough. Social media networks spring to mind, many renowned for poor moderation of content, x-rated spambots, and so on. As the websites are not intended for the distribution of porn they should be exempt from the law - yet a cursory use of the search function reveals how easy it is to access inappropriate content. As an individual I can block or allow websites on a case by case basis for the needs of myself and my family. An institution enforcing a blanket ban is unable to use such a nuanced approach.

(And this isn't even something unique to the internet age. Just think of how many classics of literature - openly available at any library or book shop - contain sex scenes, for example. It's easy to say 'ban sex' but much more difficult to enforce it. Especially if you want to start arguing the toss, pun intended, about what counts as pornography. Does something have to depict penetrative sex or even nudity for it to have been principally created for the purposes of inducing sexual arousal?)

Someone, somewhere, is getting much more than pricing info from your local chiropodist’s website.

That makes something like this almost impossible to police, although rumours are that the government is going to give the BBFC the responsibility. MindGeek, one of the proposed providers for the age verification service, claims up to 4 million websites could be blocked unless they comply - up to and including social media networks. Unsurprisingly the government has been painfully slow to provide proper guidance as to which sites will be affected by the ban, and how the age verification will actually work.

The reality is a) the law will be patchily enforced, if at all, and will make little difference beyond politicians grandstanding about how Britain is getting back to its core values [of censorship and restriction]. Much like the ban already in place on 'alternative' porn, which bans the production and distribution of porn containing acts like spanking, hair pulling and dirty talk in the UK. Or b) huge databases of sensitive information being held by companies vulnerable to hacking - just waiting for something like the Ashley Madison scandal but on a bigger scale.

The impact assessment came out in December and has already been signed off on because the benefits outweigh the risks. Allegedly. ISPReview has created a handy list of the risks it identified:

Deterring adults from consuming content as a result of privacy/ fraud concerns linked to inputting ID data into sites and apps, also some adults may not be able to prove their age online; 

Development of alternative payment systems and technological work-arounds could mean porn providers do not comply with new law, and enforcement is impossible as they are based overseas, so the policy goal would not be achieved; 

The assumption that ISPs will comply with the direction of the regulator; 

Reputational risks including Government censorship, over-regulation, freedom of speech and freedom of expression. 

The potential for online fraud could raise significantly, as criminals adapt approaches in order to make use of false AV systems / spoof websites and access user data; 

The potential ability of children, particularly older children, to bypass age verification controls is a risk. However, whilst no system will be perfect, and alternative routes such as virtual private networks and peer-to-peer sharing of content may enable some under-18s to see this content, Ofcom research indicates that the numbers of children bypassing network level filters, for example, is very low (ca. 1%). 

Adults (and some children) may be pushed towards using ToR and related systems to avoid AV where they could be exposed to illegal and extreme material that they otherwise would never have come into contact with.

…so they then used that 7 year delay to make it even shitter than originally planned, trading distribution of porn for any and all poorly defined ‘mature content’. And now we have the technology secretary stating that if you don’t like it you must be pro-child trafficking…

[tunglo]

Uk media reporting on the OSA:

Reality:

[tunglo]

'Im not defending homophobia im saying we shouldnt dehumanize homophobes just because we disagree with them.'

Amazing. No notes.

Also in-fucking-love with the people that think im homophobic for daring to understand why people are homophobic and seeing that for SOME people its because they were LITERALLY harassed, doxxed, and threatened for not revolving their fandom life around lgbt stuff.

Like wow

Also no i didnt read the whole ask because i wasnt going to talk about the other stuff the op said when i wrote the ask. I wanted it to be SPECIFICALLY about the picture because i have my own experiences to share and talk about regarding what was said in that picture.

Im not defending homophobia im saying we shouldnt dehumanize homophobes just because we disagree with them. Because like it or not the lgbt community is responsible for each other. To that one person who said they are only going to care about other lgbt people, are you saying you are just going to tolerate it when a friend of yours harassed a straight person to the point of suicide simply for being straight or for not shipping the right ship? Even if they aren't a friend are you just going to shrug your shoulders like it doesn't matter or affect you?

When you allow people within your group to make unnecessary enemies that just puts US ALL at more risk.

Its easy to say its just toxic fans and disassociate yourself with them and say its not your responsibility, but others are not going to know the difference. When people within your community are attacking others outside, even allies, for not revolving everything they do around your community it IS your, and everyone elses, responsibility to put a stop to that. Whether it be confronting the toxic people, supporting victims, or being intolerant of such behaviour in general even in your own space. And yeah not everyone has the energy for it, but its that or let it worsen, which it has. If you let toxic fans be the only ones with a voice then they will be the only ones heard and will be seen as spokespeople outside the community.

Also no I dont write an essay amount, its a few paragraphs made to look bigger than it is because you are used to everything being shorter so its easy and quick to read on your phone. Also i got into the habit of writing more so as to lessen the amount of people being confused by what I'm trying to say but that seems to not matter here as people decided to have a reactionary view of what i said instead of even trying to consider it.

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I get many long asks in my inbox. The ones worth reading are by people who aren't so lazy and self-involved that they jump into a conversation without actually reading it.

If people are confused or find you long-winded, it's because of your poor style, not because people reading here dislike multi-paragraph posts.

[tunglo]

[tunglo]