@justawholebunchofcows / justawholebunchofcows.tumblr.com
we should globally ban the introduction of more powerful computer hardware for 10-20 years, not as an AI safety thing (though we could frame it as that), but to force programmers to optimize their shit better
I reblogged this like 9 times kinda jokingly, but software should be able to run on older and less powerful hardware, and consume less power on newer hardware. Like, this is a real problem imo
hey dont cry. thousands and thousands of bisexual trans people in the world ok?
also I promise this is unrelated to anything else I've been posting about but like. We're not doing the "rainbow capitalism" complaint this year. Sorry. I know pitching this particular hissy fit is really important to some of you. But years when the conservative movement du jour is to have a literally identical tantrum about any company that's putting rainbows on drink cans or reusable grocery bags because they view that as "supporting groomers and pedophiles," we don't get to throw fuel on that fire. Even if you disagree with the fire on an ideological level, it doesn't matter to the fire! This year, feel however you want to feel about any given company making their logo into a rainbow flag, but I promise the "boycott Anheuser Busch because they're supporting Deviants by making our beer gay" people do not give a shit whether you're supporting their cause from a gay standpoint or a homophobic one, they just care about the net result, which is that by getting outwardly mad about this, you are lending them support
Can you elaborate the story of the ”Free Willy” orca (forgot his name). From my understanding the orca couldn’t survive in the wild and imprinted on hunans to the point that he seeked out human compaionship
Oh Keiko. His is a sad story. In 1979, he was tragically captured from his native Icelandic waters as a calf and, after bouncing around for several years, was sold to an amusement park in Mexico City that would eventually become Six Flags Mexico. It was here that he found fame as the star of Free Willy, a very sweet and very fictional story (a favorite of mine as a child!) that later spawned a trilogy, all while convincing the public that it’s easy to free a whale.
The tank you see in the movie is the same tank Keiko lived in during his time in Mexico. Intended to house dolphins, it was incredibly undersized, and the water was far too warm for an orca. Worst of all, he was isolated from others of his kind, with only the companionship of his human caregivers and a few bottlenose dolphins. The years of poor husbandry took their toll on poor Keiko, and he was lethargic and in ill health when his story because known throughout the world.
Although many parties were involved in what happened next, Warner Bros. studios (the filmmakers behind Free Willy) and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS, my beloathed) were at the forefront. Once it became public knowledge that the real Willy was not, in fact, returned to the wild to live with his family and was still living in that too-tiny pool, many of Keiko’s fans (mainly children) began writing letters asking for their favorite cetacean movie star to be released.
Doesn’t that warm your heart? *she says sarcastically*
Some time—and an incident in which Michael Jackson (yes, that Michael Jackson) tried to purchase the whale for his personal collection—later, Keiko’s owners relented. It was decided by the newly formed Free Willy-Keiko Foundation, founded by Warner Bros. and cell phone mogul Craig McCaw (and still in operation to this day, unfortunately), that it was time to make fantasy a reality and set Keiko free. In 1996, Keiko was transferred to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for rehabilitation, where he would spend two years.
Under the quality husbandry and veterinary care Keiko received in Oregon, his health began to improve. In my opinion, this beautiful habitat, with trainers who loved and cared for him, should’ve been his forever home. One would think this was the plan all along, considering his trainers were still doing waterwork with him. That doesn’t exactly scream “this animal is a candidate for release!”
But the HSUS and Free Willy-Keiko Foundation had promised the children of the world that Keiko would return to the wild. Think of the children, people.
In 1998, Keiko tasted the crisp saltwater of the Icelandic seas for the first time in nearly two decades. For the next four or so years, Keiko lived in a sea pen, with the intentions of gradually habituating him back to his native environment. Over time, his trainers took him on longer and longer “walks” in the open ocean. One day in 2002, the walk didn’t end.
Keiko was free.
15 months later, he was dead.
The cause of death was pneumonia, the most common disease of cetaceans both in the wild and in human care. He was 27 years old (average life expectancy of a male orca is about 30 years).
Perhaps it would’ve been worth it, had Keiko spent those last 15 months with his long-lost family. But he didn’t. Though he was occasionally observed trailing pods of orcas, Keiko never rejoined a wild pod. Instead, he spent those 15 months traveling the coasts of Iceland and Norway seeking out the only family he knew. Humans.
Keiko would approach swimming children, allowing them to ride on his back as he had with his trainers over the years. He would follow boats in search of food and companionship, as his caregivers had interacted with him from boats during his ocean walks. These escapades became so frequent that the local government passed ordinances to stop its citizens from interacting with the whale. Although the HSUS claimed otherwise, Keiko was never again a truly wild whale. He was a whale dependent on humans, humans who ignored the advice of experts and tried to bring fiction to life. In 2009, the journal Marine Mammal Science did a retrospective review of Keiko’s rehabilitation and release. They determined it was a failure.
Despite this, Keiko remains a poster child for anti-zoo activists. The still-hypothetical Whale Sanctuary Project (my even more beloathed) uses Keiko as an example of why their experiment is a good idea, tugging at heartstrings of well-meaning animal lovers like HSUS did all those years ago.
In reality, Keiko was quite possibly the worst candidate imaginable for release. He was a fully mature male, with a history of poor health, who had spent decades in the care of humans with absolutely no contact with others of his kind since he was basically a toddler. The decision to release him was made entirely on emotion and carried out by movie executives and animal rights activists. For further insight into the political and financial woes of the release, I highly recommend Killing Keiko by Mark Simmons, one of Keiko’s caregivers throughout the rehabilitation process.
RIP Keiko. You were a beautiful, sweet man who inspired millions 🐳
With the recent news of Miami Seaquarium’s intent to “release” their elderly killer whale Lolita (Tokitae), please remember Keiko. Much like him, Tokitae was captured from the wild as a youngster (nearly a decade before Keiko himself was taken) and has lived with only the companionship of humans and smaller dolphins. She has spent over half a century away from the wild and other orcas, and it has been genetically confirmed that none of her wild family is still alive. Like Keiko, the only family she knows are humans.
Don’t let Keiko’s death be in vain. Don’t let the same fate befall Toki.
not to hop in on the Hottest Discourse but:
age gaps aren’t inherently bad between adults, but they are incredibly suspect in instances where one party has significantly more agency and experience due to their age. a thirty year old dating a forty year old, for instance, isn’t all that big a deal. but an eighteen year old should be VERY suspicious of a thirty year old wanting to get with them. they’ve had twelve years to establish themselves as an adult. an eighteen year old has had maybe a few months to do so.
i’m saying this as a person who briefly dated a thirty year old at age 19 (it wasn’t good lol), and also as a person with happily married parents who have a 12 year age gap. the difference is that my mom was in her thirties when she met my dad; she’d had plenty of time to find a career and a name for herself in the world.
stay safe, love urself, try to make good decisions but don’t beat yourself up if you’ve ever been the victim of an unbalanced or abusive relationship
I need yall to understand that healthy 30 year olds look at 19-year-olds and see kids. Not in a demeaning way – but in a way that automatically removes that 19-year-old from romantic consideration. And even if you “look very mature for your age,” a healthy 30 year old will learn you are 19 and back out of that crush at 90 mph no matter how good your contour game is.
Not to be like “we live in a society” but I think a lot of people’s mental health would be significantly less fucked if they didn’t have to function in a system that forces them to think about their value as a human being as based on how productive they are/how much money people can make off them
This has been said before, and more articulately than I can, but it is just immeasurably evil when people ask "why don't incels just hire sex workers." The problem with Incels is not that they're lonely (said loneliness is vastly overstated), the problem is that they're a misogynistic terrorist organization. Incels vociferously hate sex workers, police are apathetic towards incidents of anti sex worker violence that they refer to them as "no humans involved," and you haven't pieced together what you're saying? The argument there is that the "solution" to misogynist violence is to offset it onto women you see as deserving of it.
We have GOT to stop being assholes to people with receding and balding hairlines. There's not a single person that it can't affect. It affects trans men, particularly on hormones, it affects trans women, particularly those not on hormones, it affects people with endocrine issues, something that's becoming more prevalent and common, and it can affect people without a particular cause, including cis women. It's a normal part of being human and we NEED to stop dehumanizing and humiliating ppl for it
ok but like can you fuckin imagine being Bumi in ATLA… you’re literally a hundred and twelve years old, you’ve witnessed the complete genocide of an entire race, which your childhood best friend was apart of, and have spent the last literal century believing said best friend was killed along with his people. you’re doing your thing one day, being the king of your city, when some little punks recreate one of the crazier stunts you tried with your long dead best friend back in the day. and yknow thats pretty funny, hits you right in the nostalgia, you’ll probably let them off with a warning, when in walks your goddamn best friend, the one that presumably died a century ago, and is now somehow alive and still twelve. no explanation is presented for any of these things.
i honestly can’t blame bumi for fucking with aang for the entire episode bcause honestly can you even imagine how much he must have been internally freaking out? i bet after the gaang got locked into their room for the night bumi just went off and had a good long scream because seriously what the fuck.
i must not get mad online. getting mad online is the mind-killer. getting mad online is the little-death that brings total obliteration. i will face my urge to get mad online. i will permit it to pass over me and through me. and when it has gone past, i will turn the inner eye to see its path. where the getting mad online has gone there will be nothing. only i will remain
We need to normalize hating women’s stupid boyfriends I’m so serious. The lost art of I hope jakey dies
if you don't know the context (Magic: the Gathering doing a Lord of the Rings set that has one single copy of a card called The One Ring), this is such a funny tweet
many hairdressers expect me to perform the unpaid emotional labour of a) talking to them and b) explaining how I would like my hair cut
Baby Horse Shoe
Microdosing on good luck
Guy who’s only ever seen Rocky Horror Picture Show watching his second movie with the word “horror” on the cover.
