There’s a book out there that’s either one of the last great unsolved cyphers or a massive medieval hoax. Welcome to the weird world of the Voynich Manuscript. And no, it isn’t solved yet.
I fucking love the Voynich Manuscript you guys
Personally, I’ve always loved xkcd’s theory.
since the cowboy and the samurai were both dying out in the 1800s i want an action adventure historically wildly inaccurate comic about the last cowboy and the last samurai teaming up BUT one of them is gay and the other doesn’t understand what being gay is and there are multiple comedic mishaps resulting from this
after lots of frantic googling of “were samurais gay” “were cowboys gay” “how did gay samurais work” “did gay cowboys love each other” ad nauseam i have decided that it’s actually funnier if both the cowboy AND the samurai are gay but not for each other and also they both have their very culturally specific understandings of gay social politics so both of them still are equally like “dude why are you like this” to each other
samurai, trying to comfort the cowboy who just got dumped over pony express: when my lover left me for another man, i killed both him and his new lover, and proved to all in shudo that it is what happens when you leave me for another, and i felt much lighter. would doing that also help you?
cowboy, absolutely reeking of the flask, who stopped howling purely out of confusion to try and figure out if the samurai was being serious: dude what the fuck is wrong with you
the depictions of homosexual identity at the time are painstakingly accurate and very clearly heavily researched, and this is purposefully in direct contrast to how absolutely absurd and crazy the entire rest of the premise of the comic is
I'd read this. Please make this
🌪 TORNADO 🌪
That is horrifying that close and I love it
wait they usually don't go up, right?
Ok, even with the modern knowledge I have of how tornadoes actually form,
Seeing shit like this, I can completely understand how ancient peoples would have thought that was a god.
Tornadoes kind of...meet in the middle. Like a large swirly from the sky and a small swirly from the bottom lock lips and and become a tornado.
Youre welcome.
Ohhhh caesar zeppeli you done this again to my wine glasses
Even Weird Al has had that™ experience with Tony Hawk
Tony Hawk IS Forrest Gump
So I looked up why and how this happened, and it turns out Weird Al hired a company called Birdhouse Skateboards to provide some “skate/punk” extras for the video. Birdhouse Skateboards is a company started by Tony Hawk, so not only did Weird Al end up putting Tony Hawk in his video without realizing it, he actually hired Tony Hawk’s company without realizing it! And then Tony Hawk just decided to go along as one of the extras himself.
BTW, he’d already won like 40 contests already, some of them international skateboarding contests. So it’s not like Weird Al cast some unknown skateboarder who ended up becoming World Famous Skateboarder, he was already well known and was running his own Skateboarding company.
Think of it this way. This wasn’t ‘Weird Al got Tony Hawk to be in his video’, this was ‘Tony Hawk found a way to be in a Weird Al Video.’
The chance that Tony Hawk has infiltrated your location or piece of media is low
BUT NEVER ZERO.
how did they learn to translate languages into other languages how did they know which words meant what HOW DID TH
English Person: *Points at an apple* Apple
French Person: Non c’est une fucking pomme
*800 years of war*
Fun fact: There are a lot of rivers in the UK named “avon” because the Romans arrived and asked the Celts what the rivers were called. The Celts answered “avon.”
“Avon” is just the Celtic word for river.
Fan Fact #2: When Spanish conquistadors landed in the Yucatán peninsula, they asked the natives what their land was called and they responded “Yucatán”. In 2015, it was discovered that in those mesoamerican languages, “Yucatán” meant “I don’t understand what you are saying”
W H E E Z E
Just lemme open my ol whatthat
does anyone else find it weird that theres been like.... a surplus of front page news to cover other news? like i know people do it... but this much?
As most of us know while the OceanGate Titan submersible fiasco was happening, several people migrants have drowned and have gone missing off the coasts of greece. But the news was covering a rescue (now recovery) of.... 5 billionaire men?
The tiktok trial? Where they had the ceo of tiktok in court and yelling about spyware and stupid shit like filters? The pentagon files got leaked by a FUCKING DWEEB on discord. and it was ina fucking MINECRAFT SERVER on DISCORD. named thug shaker central 😭 and he did it just to show off.
While the news was covering trump and that fucking plane? hundreds of people were marching in tennessee about the gun violence. and really not much was done in action besides expelling three members if the democratic party in tennessee house.
why is this happening? im not smart enough for all this
Jller by Benjamin Maus and Prokop Bartonicek - a kinetic artwork that sorts thousands of random river stones by age
they made an autistic robot
Hi, Mr. Gaiman.
My best friend has recently left this world. I am (naturally) quite upset about it. His name was Nick. He was only 19. We had a lot of plans we won’t get to.
I apologize for sending you a message with this level of vulnerability, but as Good Omens is very much a comfort to me, and I have thrown self-awareness to the wind as a grieving person does, might I ask what advice Crowley or Aziraphale would give for times like this?
They would tell you what I would tell you, which is to grieve, and let yourself grieve. And then, when your life returns, not to feel guilty for having a life, and not to feel bad about feeling bad either. Be there, and remember your friend.
This ^^^^ is one of the best responses I've seen to questions about grief.
I suffered a staggering loss 19 years ago and my husband said to me then, "I can't know what you're going through exactly but it is obvious that you're devastated. I'm here for you and it's okay to be sad."
Many people panic at the sight of other people grieving and try to make them feel better to "fix" the problem and make it go away so they can be more comfortable. But the only way through grief is to take the time to be sad.
At the worst of it, I didn't want to feel better, I needed that sadness because it was real and the only thing I had left of what was supposed to be a great joy. The people closest to me accepting that and making room for my sadness and not pushing me away let me come out of it much faster than I'd come out of less terrible things before. That wasn't their goal, it just worked out that way.
In the words of my favorite and only sister:
This shit is legitimately hard. Anyone would have a hard time with what you're going through. It doesn't mean you're weak, it means you're human.
My mother told a friend who was deep in grief: Now, so soon after your loss, it's normal and understandable if you are not very functional or coping with it. Your primary purpose right now is to grieve, to let yourself feel your feelings. It's okay to wallow in it. If you're still having a hard time getting out of bed in six months or a year, the conversation might be different. But for now, the only way out is through.
And for me, I can say that without a doubt, letting myself feel my feelings without judgement or rush is the only productive way to move through the process. When I have needed to function short term in the face of grief, it is possible to metaphorically put those feelings in an envelope before I walk in the door of the place I need to function at, but it is still vitally important to take them back out again when I leave.
Go easy on yourself.
A Texas law that bans all abortions - except in dire medical circumstances - is one of the strictest introduced since the right to the procedure was overturned. Critics say it is forcing many women, and their doctors, to choose between breaking the law and making the right decision for their health. Amanda Zurawski and her husband Josh had recently bought their dream home. Located in one of the most sought-after areas of Austin, Texas, it had scenic views of a lake and a golf course. With their first child on the way, it was perfect for their growing family. But their moving day last August was not at all what they had envisioned. Amanda had just been released from the hospital after her life was put at risk when she was denied an abortion. "It felt like I was living in a dystopian world," Amanda told the BBC. "In the United States, as a pregnant person, you should not be afraid of your life because of the laws."
I’m not sure where I fall on the “swans are evil” debate, but I kinda like this one.
This one is PARTICULARLY concerning because there is a distinct possibility that it KNOWS what the sign says and is trying to remove it in order to attract more victims.
resist the labels that do not apply to you
That would make an amazing tattoo 👀
Love the artwork!
Like a Trump supporter only more accepting. And cis-hets HATE it. Y'know the kind of people who would have a Trump 2020 or Confederate flag on theirs. But I guess they don't like when we're loud about our beliefs like them.
Anyways, today a straight white male popped a U-turn when he saw my flag, just to follow me to the next light so he could flip me off.
I have him the gayest heart symbol in return. I wonder what upsets him so much about letting a group of people that will never hurt him? Maybe he's afraid I'll turn him gay?
Well he doesn't have to worry cuz hate isn't my type. He's gonna have a long, awkward pride month cuz he's not comfortable with his sexuality. But I hope y'all's is amazing!
Btw I keep my flag up year 'round, not just for pride month, cuz our rights are at stake every day. Especially now with DeSantis running for president.
Do not scroll. Signal boost. Reblog.
Reblog WITHOUT reading if you really can't right now, I promise all the links and proof are here. People NEED to know this.
( I tried to make this accessible but you can't cater to EVERYONE so please just try your best to get through this or do your own research 🙏)
TLDR: Homeland Security has been tying our social media to our IPs, licenses, posts, emails, selfies, cloud, apps, location, etc through our phones without a warrant using Babel X and will hold that information gathered for 75 years. Certain aspects of it were hushed because law enforcement will/does/has used it and it would give away confidential information about ongoing operations.
This gets renewed in September.
Between this, Agincourt (a VR simulator for cops Directly related to this project), cop city, and widespread demonization of abortions, sex workers, & queer people mixed with qanon/Trumpism, and fascism in Florida, and the return of child labor, & removed abortion rights fresh on our tails it's time for alarms to be raised and it's time for everyone to stop calling us paranoid and start showing up to protest and mutual aid groups.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
These are the same feds who want to build cop city and recreate civilian houses en masse and use facial recognition. The same feds that want cop city to also be a training ground for police across the country. Cop city where they will build civilian neighborhoods to train in.
Widespread mass surveillance against us.
Now let's cut to some parts of the article. May 17th from Vice:
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using an invasive, AI-powered monitoring tool to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens, refugees, and people seeking asylum, which can in some cases link their social media posts to their Social Security number and location data, according to an internal CBP document obtained by Motherboard.
Called Babel X, the system lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data in return, according to the document. Results can include their social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone. The monitoring can apply to U.S. persons, including citizens and permanent residents, as well as refugees and asylum seekers, according to the document.
“Babel data will be used/captured/stored in support of CBP targeting, vetting, operations and analysis,” the document reads. Babel X will be used to “identify potential derogatory and confirmatory information” associated with travelers, persons of interest, and “persons seeking benefits.” The document then says results from Babel X will be stored in other CBP operated systems for 75 years.
"The U.S. government’s ever-expanding social media dragnet is certain to chill people from engaging in protected speech and association online. And CBP’s use of this social media surveillance technology is especially concerning in connection with existing rules requiring millions of visa applicants each year to register their social media handles with the government. As we’ve argued in a related lawsuit, the government simply has no legitimate interest in collecting and retaining such sensitive information on this immense scale,” Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told Motherboard in an email.
The full list of information that Babel X may provide to CBP analysts is a target’s name, date of birth, address, usernames, email address, phone number, social media content, images, IP address, Social Security number, driver’s license number, employment history, and location data based on geolocation tags in public posts.
Bennett Cyphers, a special advisor to activist
organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Motherboard in an online chat “the data isn’t limited to public posts made under someone’s real name on Facebook or Twitter.”
The document says CBP also has access to AdID information through an add-on called Locate X, which includes smartphone location data. AdID information is data such as a device’s unique advertising ID, which can act as an useful identifier for tracking a phone and, by extension, a person’s movements. Babel Street obtains location information from a long supply chain of data. Ordinary apps installed on peoples’ smartphones provide data to a company called Gravy Analytics, which repackages that location data and sells it to law enforcement agencies via its related company Venntel. But Babel Street also repackages Venntel’s data for its own Locate X product."
The PTA obtained by Motherboard says that Locate X is covered by a separate “commercial telemetry” PTA. CBP denied Motherboard’s FOIA request for a copy of this document, claiming it “would disclose techniques and/or procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions”.
A former Babel Street employee previously told Motherboard how users of Locate X can draw a shape on a map known as a geofence, see all devices Babel Street has data on for that location, and then follow a specific device to see where else it has been.
Cyphers from the EFF added “most of the people whose location data is collected in this way likely have no idea it’s happening.”
CBP has been purchasing access to location data without a warrant, a practice that critics say violates the Fourth Amendment. Under a ruling from the Supreme Court, law enforcement agencies need court approval before accessing location data generated by a cell phone tower; those critics believe this applies to location data generated by smartphone apps too.
“Homeland Security needs to come clean to the American people about how it believes it can legally purchase and use U.S. location data without any kind of court order. Americans' privacy shouldn't depend on whether the government uses a court order or credit card,” Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard in a statement. “DHS should stop violating Americans' rights, and Congress should pass my bipartisan legislation to prohibit the government's purchase of Americans' data." CBP has refused to tell Congress what legal authority it is following when using commercially bought smartphone location data to track Americans without a warrant.
Neither CBP or Babel Street responded to a request for comment. Motherboard visited the Babel X section of Babel Street’s website on Tuesday. On Wednesday before publication, that product page was replaced with a message that said “page not found.”
Do you know anything else about how Babel X is being used by government or private clients? Do you work for Babel Street? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email joseph.cox@vice.com.
Be a shame if it got worse.
.
.
It does.
The software (previously Agincourt Solutions) is sold by AI data company Babel Street, was led by Jeffrey Chapman, a former Treasury Department official,, Navy retiree & Earlier in his career a White House aide and intelligence officer at the Department of Defense, according to LinkedIn.
🙃
So what's Agincourt Solutions then right now?
In essence, synthetic BATTLEVR training is a mixture of all three realities – virtual, augmented and physical. It is flexible enough to allow for mission rehearsals of most types and be intuitive enough to make training effective.
Anyway the new CEO of Babel Street (Babel X) as of April is a guy named Michael Southworth and I couldn't find much more on him than that tbh, it's all very vague and missing. That's the most detail I've seen on him.
And the detail says he has a history of tech startups that scanned paperwork and sent it elsewhere, good with numbers, and has a lot of knowledge about cell networks probably.
Every inch more of this I learn as I continue to Google the names and companies popping up... It gets worse.
DeSantis has recently signed a bill into law that's often called the "let them die" act. Which allows medical professionals too deny a patient care for any reason, even if the refusal to treat means death of the patient.
Queer besties in Florida. I know escaping will be hard with the immigrants also fleeing Florida, but please make it out safely.
And if you're not out in Florida, please wait until you can leave the state safely before you come out.
(I know it's triggering, but I don't want to snag on people's filters in case it prevents a queer person in Florida from hearing about it.)
-far
Everyone, please be careful where you share this. Don't let this fall into the wrong hands. Here are some links to help you find safe passage. If you need refuge along the way, please DM me.
"Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a horrifying bill Wednesday that will let the state take transgender minors away from their families if they are receiving gender-affirming care.
The new law will allow the state to take custody of a child if they have been “subjected to or [are] threatened with being subjected to” gender-affirming care, which includes puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy. Florida courts could modify custody agreements from a different state if the minor is likely to receive gender-affirming care in that second state. The text refers to gender-affirming care as “sex-reassignment prescriptions or procedures” and qualifies this care as a form of “physical harm.”
The bill also targets trans adults: Only physicians are allowed to offer gender-affirming care (not nurse practitioners). Anyone who violates the law could be charged with a misdemeanor.
Minors who have already begun transitioning will be allowed to continue to do so, but they are no longer allowed to receive care via telehealth, including for prescriptions. "
