I feel really bad for everyone who didnt play deltarune 110% blind bc playing it the moment it dropped and watching that fucking thing pop out of that fucking dumpster was insane

Happy August Adipose! Also, Happy Fat Liberation Month!!

Reference model: realmisspeaches

Catfishes are my favorite fishes

So You Need To Buy A Computer But You Don't Know What Specs Are Good These Days

Hi.

This is literally my job.

Lots of people are buying computers for school right now or are replacing computers as their five-year-old college laptop craps out so here's the standard specs you should be looking for in a (windows) computer purchase in August 2023.

PROCESSOR

You can get away with a Ryzen 5 but an intel i3 should be an absolute last resort. You want at least an intel i5 or a Ryzen 7 processor. The current generation of intel processors is 13, but anything 10 or newer is perfectly fine. DO NOT get a higher performance line with an older generation; a 13th gen i5 is better than an 8th gen i7. (Unfortunately I don't know enough about ryzens to tell you which generation is the earliest you should get, but staying within 3 generations is a good rule of thumb)

RAM

If you don't have at least 8GB RAM on a modern computer it's going to be very, very slow. Ideally you want a computer with at least 16GB, and it's a good idea to get a computer that will let you add or swap RAM down the line (nearly all desktops will let you do this, for laptops you need to check the specs for Memory and see how many slots there are and how many slots are available; laptops with soldered RAM cannot have the memory upgraded - this is common in very slim laptops)

STORAGE

Computers mostly come with SSDs these days; SSDs are faster than HDDs but typically have lower storage for the same price. That being said: SSDs are coming down in price and if you're installing your own drive you can easily upgrade the size for a low cost. Unfortunately that doesn't do anything for you for the initial purchase.

A lot of cheaper laptops will have a 128GB SSD and, because a lot of stuff is stored in the cloud these days, that can be functional. I still recommend getting a bit more storage than that because it's nice if you can store your music and documents and photos on your device instead of on the cloud. You want to be able to access your files even if you don't have internet access.

But don't get a computer with a big HDD instead of getting a computer with a small SSD. The difference in speed is noticeable.

SCREEN (laptop specific)

Personally I find that touchscreens have a negative impact on battery life and are easier to fuck up than standard screens. They are also harder to replace if they get broken. I do not recommend getting a touch screen unless you absolutely have to.

A lot of college students especially tend to look for the biggest laptop screen possible; don't do that. It's a pain in the ass to carry a 17" laptop around campus and with the way that everything is so thin these days it's easier to damage a 17" screen than a 14" screen.

On the other end of that: laptops with 13" screens tend to be very slim devices that are glued shut and impossible to work on or upgrade.

Your best bet (for both functionality and price) is either a 14" or a 15.6" screen. If you absolutely positively need to have a 10-key keyboard on your laptop, get the 15.6". If you need something portable more than you need 10-key, get a 14"

FORM FACTOR (desktop specific)

If you purchase an all-in-one desktop computer I will begin manifesting in your house physically. All-in-ones take away every advantage desktops have in terms of upgradeability and maintenance; they are expensive and difficult to repair and usually not worth the cost of disassembling to upgrade.

There are about four standard sizes of desktop PC: All-in-One (the size of a monitor with no other footprint), Tower (Big! probably at least two feet long in two directions), Small Form Factor Tower (Very moderate - about the size of a large shoebox), and Mini/Micro/Tiny (Small! about the size of a small hardcover book).

If you are concerned about space you are much better off getting a MicroPC and a bracket to put it on your monitor than you are getting an all-in-one. This will be about a million percent easier to work on than an all-in-one and this way if your monitor dies your computer is still functional.

Small form factor towers and towers are the easiest to work on and upgrade; if you need a burly graphics card you need to get a full size tower, but for everything else a small form factor tower will be fine. Most of our business sales are SFF towers and MicroPCs, the only time we get something larger is if we have to put a $700 graphics card in it. SFF towers will accept small graphics cards and can handle upgrades to the power supply; MicroPCs can only have the RAM and SSD upgraded and don't have room for any other components or their own internal power supply.

WARRANTY

Most desktops come with either a 1 or 3 year warranty; either of these is fine and if you want to upgrade a 1 year to a 3 year that is also fine. I've generally found that if something is going to do a warranty failure on desktop it's going to do it the first year, so you don't get a hell of a lot of added mileage out of an extended warranty but it doesn't hurt and sometimes pays off to do a 3-year.

Laptops are a different story. Laptops mostly come with a 1-year warranty and what I recommend everyone does for every laptop that will allow it is to upgrade that to the longest warranty you can get with added drop/damage protection. The most common question our customers have about laptops is if we can replace a screen and the answer is usually "yes, but it's going to be expensive." If you're purchasing a low-end laptop, the parts and labor for replacing a screen can easily cost more than half the price of a new laptop. HOWEVER, the way that most screens get broken is by getting dropped. So if you have a warranty with drop protection, you just send that sucker back to the factory and they fix it for you.

So, if it is at all possible, check if the manufacturer of a laptop you're looking at has a warranty option with drop protection. Then, within 30 days (though ideally on the first day you get it) of owning your laptop, go to the manufacturer site, register your serial number, and upgrade the warranty. If you can't afford a 3-year upgrade at once set a reminder for yourself to annually renew. But get that drop protection, especially if you are a college student or if you've got kids.

And never, ever put pens or pencils on your laptop keyboard. I've seen people ruin thousand dollar, brand-new laptops that they can't afford to fix because they closed the screen on a ten cent pencil. Keep liquids away from them too.

LIFESPAN

There's a reasonable chance that any computer you buy today will still be able to turn on and run a program or two in ten years. That does not mean that it is "functional."

At my office we estimate that the functional lifespan of desktops is 5-7 years and the functional lifespan of laptops is 3-5 years. Laptops get more wear and tear than desktops and desktops are easier to upgrade to keep them running. At 5 years for desktops and 3 years for laptops you should look at upgrading the RAM in the device and possibly consider replacing the SSD with a new (possibly larger) model, because SSDs and HDDs don't last forever.

COST

This means that you should think of your computers as an annual investment rather than as a one-time purchase. It is more worthwhile to pay $700 for a laptop that will work well for five years than it is to pay $300 for a laptop that will be outdated and slow in one year (which is what will happen if you get an 8th gen i3 with 8GB RAM). If you are going to get a $300 laptop try to get specs as close as possible to the minimums I've laid out here.

If you have to compromise on these specs, the one that is least fixable is the processor. If you get a laptop with an i3 processor you aren't going to be able to upgrade it even if you can add more RAM or a bigger SSD. If you have to get lower specs in order to afford the device put your money into the processor and make sure that the computer has available slots for upgrade and that neither the RAM nor the SSD is soldered to the motherboard. (one easy way to check this is to search "[computer model] RAM upgrade" on youtube and see if anyone has made a video showing what the inside of the laptop looks like and how much effort it takes to replace parts)

Computers are expensive right now. This is frustrating, because historically consumer computer prices have been on a downward trend but since 2020 that trend has been all over the place. Desktop computers are quite expensive at the moment (August 2023) and decent laptops are extremely variably priced.

If you are looking for a decent, upgradeable laptop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

If you are looking for a decent, affordable desktop that will last you a few years, here are a couple of options that you can purchase in August 2023 that have good prices for their specs:

If I were going to buy any of these I'd probably get the HP laptop or the Dell Tower. The HP Laptop is actually a really good price for what it is.

Anyway happy computering.

Everything else is pretty spot on, but are you seriously recommending Dell or HP to people as if they're not notorious bad actors? Proprietary hardware, shit cooling, preinstalled bloatware, all at usually higher prices :/

Also, since OP didn't include it: GRAPHICS CARDS (GPU) I'm not gonna talk about laptops since I don't know enough in that area.

Desktops however... Some Processors (CPU) come with integrated graphics some don't. If your CPU doesn't have integrated graphics you will need a graphics card. Integrated graphics are serviceable if all you need to do is browse the web/use stuff like microsoft word/google docs.

For Intel all CPUs come with integrated graphics unless the product line suffix ends in an F

For AMD it's the opposite, only products with the G suffix have integrated graphics

Ok so what if your CPU doesn't have integrated graphics or you need a stronger card? Well, this all depends on your needs and your budget of course, but I think the "stay within 3 gens" rule of thumb is a good place to start. Graphics cards have had situations where higher end cards from an older generation ended up more powerful than lower end cards from a newer generation, so it's a good practice to look up the card you plan to buy and compare it with some of the alternatives. Also if you're buying a new card for an old desktop double check the dimensions, newer cards are larger and might not fit the case.

Having said that here's some recommendations: The newest cards are the Nvidia RTX 4090 (AMD Radeon RX 7900), but they are ridiculously expensive and not really needed for the average user. So I'll put the minimum at Nivdia RTX 2070 or GTX 1080 (AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT), the great price for power as Nvidia RTX 3060 (AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT), the beefy card that will last you a long while as Nvidia RTX 3090 (AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT).

English added by me :)

Khitan (契丹) attire from the Liao Dynasty (916-1125), when the nation was ruled by the Khitan people, a northeastern nomadic group. Today, the Daur (达斡尔族) ethnic group is the closest genetic descendant of the Khitan, who otherwise assimilated into other ethnic groups over time.

People dressed up in various styles of Yi attire. The Yi people (彝族) are one of 56 official ethnic groups in China.

Son sewed a shirt for his Dad.

Bull Thistle and Dandelion   -  Matt Bollinger , 2022

American, b. 1980 -

Flashe and acrylic on unstreched canvas ,  30 x 24 in.

[image description: a painting of a patch of flowering thistles and dandelion buds, set against a grey sky]

Spread Love!

[Image ID: A digitally illustrated gif of Hatsune Miku in the colors of the trans flag. Her hairpieces are white with a pink stripe in the middle, making a trans flag when combined with her light blue hair. Additionally, her tie, the ribbon around her waist, and the hem of her dress all have a trans flag on them. Her boots are white and blue. She is leaning towards the viewer with a neutral expression on her face while holding a small trans flag behind her back, before she leans to the side, closes her eyes and smiles. When she does this, blue and pink heart and sparkle-shaped glitter appear and shoot away from her. End Image ID]

Y’all in the American SW and west Mexico better check the national hurricane center and your weather for this weekend and next week.

Hurricane Hilary is about to make landfall and that whole desert area is supposed to get a years worth of rain or more. Death Valley is supposed to get twice the annual rainfall. Severe winds, massive flooding, and landslides are all strong possibilities.

This is gonna get ugly. Please spread the word. This is a majorly anomalous event and people may be unaware of the threat headed their way.

Flash floods are definitely gonna kill people, so here’s your regularly scheduled PSA:

Desert soil does not absorb a significant amount of water. It reaches maximum saturation very very quickly, and all the rest of the water rushes downhill. Even if you can’t tell that the ground is not perfectly flat, the water can. And it will move. Quickly. No, faster than that. Nope, still faster. If you try to cross moving floodwater, you will get swept downstream and probably die.

Do not try to wade in/cross flood water that is any deeper than the thickness of the sole of an average athletic shoe, no I am not kidding, the water will get deeper literally while you’re standing in it.

This goes for cars, too. I’ve seen entire vehicles getting swept downstream in flash floods because the driver thought they could cross the “puddle” and Found Out.

Stay safe, y’all.

also if you're going into water intentionally (cleanup, obviously as things RECEDE), PROTECT YOUR EYES. Flood water is NASTY AS HELL and you will be getting a tetanus booster right off the bat if you end up in the ER for any reason.

Related to the above: After wading in the water, get somewhere with clean water and wash every inch of your body. The water being nasty means: There can be gases, oils, other harmful/irritating contaminants, there can be sewage (probably will be tbh), and then (And I'm sorry for this) animals will be dead in the water around you. Things like squirrels, birds, etc. They will be decomposing in there. You're basically wading in a soup of the nastiest shit you can imagine. So, post clean-up in the water: Shower, then GET YOUR FRICKIN' TETANUS BOOSTER.

Also, if you have a vagina, be extra careful. If you think yeast infections are nasty, they're nothing compared to contact dermatitis of the vulva, and the vulva is EXTREMELY sensitive along with the vagina. (Source: Me. I had an allergic reaction to a laundry detergent and it was the WORST experience of my life, I can't imagine how much worse it'd be in THAT kind of water.)

Y’all in the American SW and west Mexico better check the national hurricane center and your weather for this weekend and next week.

Hurricane Hilary is about to make landfall and that whole desert area is supposed to get a years worth of rain or more. Death Valley is supposed to get twice the annual rainfall. Severe winds, massive flooding, and landslides are all strong possibilities.

This is gonna get ugly. Please spread the word. This is a majorly anomalous event and people may be unaware of the threat headed their way.

Flash floods are definitely gonna kill people, so here’s your regularly scheduled PSA:

Desert soil does not absorb a significant amount of water. It reaches maximum saturation very very quickly, and all the rest of the water rushes downhill. Even if you can’t tell that the ground is not perfectly flat, the water can. And it will move. Quickly. No, faster than that. Nope, still faster. If you try to cross moving floodwater, you will get swept downstream and probably die.

Do not try to wade in/cross flood water that is any deeper than the thickness of the sole of an average athletic shoe, no I am not kidding, the water will get deeper literally while you’re standing in it.

This goes for cars, too. I’ve seen entire vehicles getting swept downstream in flash floods because the driver thought they could cross the “puddle” and Found Out.

Stay safe, y’all.

also if you're going into water intentionally (cleanup, obviously as things RECEDE), PROTECT YOUR EYES. Flood water is NASTY AS HELL and you will be getting a tetanus booster right off the bat if you end up in the ER for any reason.

Related to the above: After wading in the water, get somewhere with clean water and wash every inch of your body. The water being nasty means: There can be gases, oils, other harmful/irritating contaminants, there can be sewage (probably will be tbh), and then (And I'm sorry for this) animals will be dead in the water around you. Things like squirrels, birds, etc. They will be decomposing in there. You're basically wading in a soup of the nastiest shit you can imagine. So, post clean-up in the water: Shower, then GET YOUR FRICKIN' TETANUS BOOSTER.

Also, if you have a vagina, be extra careful. If you think yeast infections are nasty, they're nothing compared to contact dermatitis of the vulva, and the vulva is EXTREMELY sensitive along with the vagina. (Source: Me. I had an allergic reaction to a laundry detergent and it was the WORST experience of my life, I can't imagine how much worse it'd be in THAT kind of water.)

see i think what people get caught up in is going "oh this and that are fetish art......hey did you know x thing is a fetish...pretty crazy right.....this piece of art is actually a fetish for the artist........" and like. see the problem is thinking that devalues the art. i don't think something being a fetish or sexual in nature or whatever actually detracts from any meaning or emotional weight something could have. i don't think "horny" is a worthless or meaningless emotion and i don't see why exploring it in art is any different from "sadness" or "happiness" or "anger". does that make sense? im just sayin we should examine why we view sexuality as inherently detracting/meaning less in art than other things

this blew up so lightning round:

"as long as they're not posting it publicly"/"well its not always horny dont assume its horny": you're missing the point, this is a post about how horny is an emotion of equal artistic value to any other and if people want to post their fetish art i think that's fine

"i was raised christian/came from a christian background and this was a hard thing i had to learn but so important"/"the idea of sexual feelings being less worthy of showing is christian": i'm proud of you you're doing great. also that's true

"it's more interesting actually"/"fetish art ends up being better bc people put a lot more focus into their work when they're obsessed with it": you're right

"stop it with the horny jail thing": you're also right

the "It ain't much but it's honest work" farmer passed away :(

Here's an article from last year about his life and work and his reaction to being a meme:

Ain't Much - For Farmer Dave Brandt, Being a Meme is Honest Work

[ID: a headline of an article reading: Brandt passed away, leaving a legacy of conservation.

Next image are tags from rainGauge that say: wait wait I wanna hear about his conservation efforts...! /end]

it's important for non Indigenous people to note that over 50%, yes OVER HALF of the population of the northwest territories are First Nations, Métis, and Inuit being displaced from their ancestral territory due to these fires. the climate crisis is inherently linked to colonialism, never forget this.

If you are someone with trauma-- maybe someone with C-PTSD, or a dissociative disorder, or a cluster A or C personality disorder-- who feels comfort in scapegoating your trauma to "borderlines" or "narcissists" or "sociopaths"... I just want you to process and understand that you are capable of harm.

Cluster B personality disorders are demonized heavily because their symptoms are often outward, loud. They are noticeable, they stand out. That is what separates you from them more than anything. Not that you are a victim and they are a perpetrator.

Passivity can hurt people. Dependency, avoidance, paranoia, self-hatred. These can all take a toll on people around you. You can eat someone from the inside out without ever being loud or angry. You can manipulate, you can be self absorbed, you can cause trauma. You are the same as those other mentally ill people. You have the exact same capacity to heal and harm others.

Abuse is a cycle, not group of people you can isolate and avoid. Even the most neurotypical human being on earth is capable of hurting others.

(link to bypass paywall)

7 august 2023:

(archive link to bypass paywall)

…

…

The band, the music, the dance.

puts on sound 📣🎶🎵

Ok, I NEED you to understand just how insane even ATTEMPTING this was for them.

1. Playing an instrument is difficult. Doing so in sync with others even more so. Don’t think I’m stepping on any toes saying that.

2. Dancing is difficult. Doing so in sync with others even more so. Still not controversial.

3. YOU AVOID, AT ALL COSTS, MOVING YOUR BODY WHILE PLAYING A WIND INSTRUMENT.  To make the correct, pleasant sounds, you need to be in the correct form. And that form involves your ENTIRE body, even your legs when sitting down.

4. “oh, but I’ve seen marching bands before and-” MARCHING BANDS HAVE ENTIRE SCIENTIFIC FIELDS DEDICATED TO FIGURING OUT HOW TO MARCH WITH MINIMUM BREAKING OF PROPER FORM. A marching band tries to be as smooth as possible while moving, so as not to jar their instrument, mouth, neck, arms, torso, or anything else.These ladies and gentlemen are BOUNCING and still playing properly, what the FU-!

5. AND ANOTHER THING! Wind instruments and dancing BOTH make demands on your breathing, so the fact that they are dancing (making you breath faster for extra oxygen) AND playing wind instruments (making you effectively hold your breath) AT THE SAME TIME is HUGE. Their lungs must be MASSIVE.

All of that also; the song is Sing, sing, sing (with a swing). If you wanna listen to some of THE SPICIEST big band ever recorded. Its a big hard song and this band does it expertly.

Evidence against the argument that Superman's disguise wouldn't fool anyone:

Tony Hawk