The frog era is upon us

unfortunately even if you divorce it completely from christian rhetoric &c saint francis hagiography remains incredibly cool and also kind of hysterical

he was born as giovanni but one day his father decided to change his name to francesco because he made money selling fabrics imported from france. he grew up in a well off family joining his father's business and drinking and sucking and fucking with all the other young men in assisi. then he was sent to war on his horse. he was imprisoned. then he was gravely ill. he recovered. then he was about to go back to war but said nope actually and turned his horse around. he fell ill again. and at this point he went crazy. just kind of insane. he started throwing out his father's fabrics. he threw his money at people. he kissed lepers with tongue. he went all the way to rome just to take his clothes off and gift them to random people. his father pressed charges against him for being batshit insane but he got naked (again) during his public hearing in the town square and people kind of didn't know what to do so they just let him go. he started his order and he was being borderline heretical with his pauperism but the pope thought he was a chill guy and let him do his thing. women thought he was a chill guy and formed an order adjacent to his. he went to gubbio where he talked to and became friends with a wolf (allegedly). he went to egypt where he had a situationship with sultan al-malik al-kamil (reportedly). he asked a rock really nicely to produce water and it did (allegedly). he received stigmata but was shy and modest about it and didn't mention it to anyone. he often talked to birds and liked to be alone on top of hills and mountains. one of his contemporaries wrote that he was short and unattractive with a long hollow face and tiny black eyes but that his lifeless body was kinda handsome (?). one of his most controversial and talked about moments was him cutting santa chiara's hair short that one time

Titanic: Project 401 allows you explore a jaw-droppingly authentic recreation of the RMS Titanic, from first class all the way down to the engine rooms.

Read More & Play The Alpha, Free (Windows)

Can't wait for the submersible DLC

I say this with affection: the Honor & Glory guys are absolutely fucking insane. They’re going on? Eight years of work now? With the eventual end goal of recreating every inch of Titanic in painstaking historic detail. There used to be an actual game planned for the environment as well but I think at this point it’s 100% about the ship.

Godspeed, you lunatics. Hopefully my computer will be able to handle the end product.

@aimmyarrowshigh you seen this?

!!!!!

"don't go grocery shopping when hungry" doesn't work for me because Not Hungry Me cannot conceive of a universe in which food is needed so she buys like a cup of pomegranate seeds and some fancy cheese and thinks that'll get us through the week.

FUN FACT the scientist who said that made it the fuck up! he's also the same dude who said that if kids made eye contact with the character on food boxes they wanted it more. so now all the cereal mascots/kids mascots look downwards to a child height. but THEY MADE IT UP and it's allllllll bullshit and bad science to the point cornell deleted the fuckin cereal eyes study from the face of the earth and modern research is saying you SHOULD shop when ur hungry because it makes you put more value on food that would give you more nutrition and actually sharpens your ability to feed yourself well

So I think the cereal box guy was Brian Wansink and honestly that tracks. If Wansink thinks we should be grocery shopping when full then we should definitely be doing it when hungry. Bruh is an absolute joke.

THAT'S THE BASTARD

IT'S HIM

imagine being so bad at science that your university forces you to stop

things he also came up with that are BULLSHIT:

also he committed kickstarter fraud in 2018 and is a massive fatphobe who thinks fat people recruit others to become fat by just existing. fuck him lmao

there’s an agenda at play

from her autobio comics:

#on a darker level #being from Hokkaido means she has reason to be personally invested in the Ishbal annihilation #because Hokkaido is stolen land #like a lot of other places colonized in the last few hundred years #if you’re sensitive to this kind of thing #it gives you a personal stake #in genocide stories #that most Japanese people don’t have #>> #idk i felt the way she handles the genocide #speaks to having been aware of that #from a formative age (via whetstonefire)

Those tags are 100% right and Arakawa has confirmed that it was intentional in an interview as she has family that are part Ainu.

So her family history definitely had a role in how she presented the genocide in FMA.

Just wants someone to pet him

UK babes there's another ceasefire vote happening on Wednesday 21st Feb

Everyone should be emailing their MP pushing for them to vote for a ceasefire

Go here for your MPs details and a email template. We need to be forcing their hands about this. Email them every minute if you have to. Make them hear you.

Also, if you can get to parliament on Wednesday between 11:30-4pm, Palestine Solidarity Campaign will be lobbying MPs as they go to vote. You dont need to be an expert, just register to join them here. They'll tell you everything you need to know.

If out of interest you want to see how MPs voted last time

Reblogging this version as well because I think it's an important addition. Find your MPs name on the list. Include in your email that you know this. Ask them to vote differently this time. Ask them to vote at all if the abstained.

Absolutely horrendous and disappointing. Ask them what kind of person votes against a ceasefire. Tell them they have blood on their hands.

The vote is in two days. Don't stop emailing. Come to parliament if you can.

i always thought of transphobia as a short hand for bigotry and not an actual phobia phobia, but this guy legit ran away from a child

one of my father’s hindu colleagues was surprised that my family didn’t make everyone say a christian prayer before we sat down to eat dinner. we were like “….this is your house.” and she laughed and said that her christian friends “make” her pray all the time. like what the fuck. how fucking rude can you be to make the host pray to your god. you are in their fucking house.

I say this as a former Christian

Christians will deadass claim to be oppressed but feel comfortable and safe enough to:

In short, Christian Supremacy needs to be addressed and religious imperialism stopped.

I just realized something really heinous about the Spotify announcement.

So, they gave us exactly 30 days' notice to withdraw our work from the new ToS agreement.

Except it can take up to 30 days for them to process that request.

So, if you didn't do it yesterday when it was announced, your work will remain up past the 30-day limit and be considered acceptance of the new ToS.

...

That's evil. And the thing is, they know we don't have anywhere else to go. Even Author's Republic requires me to sign a ToS with Findaway/Spotify (Spotify bought Findaway) to maintain library access.

Oh, I fucking hate it here.

I can also guarantee that they don't have the staff to handle the mass exodus taking place, so that'll add to the amount of time it takes to process requests. Ugh.

They absolutely do not, not least of all because they laid off 17% of their workforce, approximately 1500 jobs, right before Christmas. This follows on the heels of a year of rolling layoffs. (600 employees in January of 2023, and another 200-ish people in June.)

They were already operating at the bare minimum before, it's going to be a catastrophe now.

And I'm just going to take a moment to say, as angry as we (authors, voice actors, consumers) are, what we are not going to do is take it out on the customer service reps who are absolutely not getting paid enough to deal with any of this.

We're going to keep our complaints and our requests to withdraw from the service as polite and businesslike as possible because none of the people who will be reading our emails have any say in any of this.

Worker solidarity, friends. It's not the little people on the ground screwing us over.

IANAL, but:

If they (Spotify's lawyers, not the CSRs) try to fuck you on the timing, you could point to the timestamp of when the request was submitted. That way, if they try to claim it wasn't done in a timely manner, you can tell them to fuck themselves, because they're the ones who slow-walked it.

(sorry, I am feeling court-feisty after devouring the summary judgment against TFG for a zillion dollars and may be giddy)

Yeah, that would be the first thing I'd think, too.

I just wouldn't put it past the company to try and pull something like this/they're banking on people not having the time/energy/know-how about what to do about the changes they're making.

I will state here, as I did on the other post I made about it, that they are apparently walking this back. We got an email 11 hours after the initial one going "oh our bad the language wasn't clear, we're totes not stealing your stuff" but the language was pretty clear, imo.

They just weren't banking on the immediate mass outrage.

We'll see what the new "clarified" ToS will say, but honestly, I won't be using Spotify streaming ever again, either as a customer or a client. If they force me to withdraw from Findaway entirely, that's a financial loss I'll just have to take because fuck everything about the proposed changes to licensing and distribution.

Not even Amazon tries to retain the rights to make translations and derivatives of our works. The bar for what authors are already putting up with from the industry is already so low it's in Hell, and Spotify really just tried to limbo under it.

oh he 100% doesnt know what year it is

i am not happy with our choices this election. But you should know that the reason he's the first president to "refuse" a cognitive test is because one isn't included in the presidential physical exam in the first place.

There was a petition of doctors who wanted Trump's cognitive function tested during his physical exam, and everybody involved on the republican side said no, and then Trump himself actually insisted he did take one in a fit of ego. He was, as far as i can tell, the first president to ever take one while in office.

At his request for the cognitive testing, Trump's doctor administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment which is like 5 questions and has not been proven to be an accurate test of much at all. It's a lot like when you hit your head and they ask you the date and your name and stuff -- answering correctly in no way means you don't have a head injury or concussion or whatever, it's just a couple of first step questions. Then Trump said a lot of lies and bullshit about his "cognitive test"

Now republicans and right leaning publications are spreading shit like this. Biden didn't "refuse" a cognitive test, his aides confirmed that, as usual, a cognitive test is not included during the president's doctor visit.

again, i think our choices are shit this election, i don't like how old Biden is, and i think the way our first-past-the-poll voting system automatically results in an extremist two party system fronting candidates that the majority of the country doesn't like is some fucked up bullshit

but our house is on fire and one candidate is a bucket of water that won't help much and the other is a bucket of gasoline, and, y'know, angry as i am about it all i am still going to vote for the bucket of water while we look for other solutions

Don't let them trick you into letting gasoline get thrown on this fire please

At this point I’m not even posting this for politics reasons, I’m posting it because my GOD you gullible bitches need to learn how extremely basic propaganda works. Jesus christ.

Every sales job I’ve worked has that one item. The white whale. The biggest ticket you can sell. The sale you brag about when you’re chatting with other industry people.

When I sold mattresses it was a split king adjustable base. That’s two twin extra long mattresses next to each other to make a king, but each side can move independently. They’re insanely expensive and honestly kind’ve impractical but it was the biggest ticket thing to sell.

When I sold sex toys though our white whale was the 20lb ass. It was a female pelvis, a cut out from the waist to the tops of the thighs. It was hyper realistic material and cost about $500. I definitely had bigger tickets but not in one item typically.

In my time at the sex shop, I sold three. Each time was completely different in terms of how the guy acted about buying it. The first man was a little embarrassed and shy about it. I was professional and supportive as I rang it up. Once I handed him the receipt he looked at the box. Then he looked at me.

If you’ve ever wondered how big a box has to be to fit a 20lb ass let me just tell you: it’s pretty damn big. It’s an uncomfortably large armful of box and every side has a picture of the sex toy inside on it. It’s not subtle.

“Could I get a bag….?”

There was no bag that existed that could possibly contain all that ass. “Hang on,” I told him.

I got scissors and tape and covered the box in cut up black bags. Looking relieved he picked up his purchase and left.

The next man to buy one carried it proudly to the counter; self assured and not embarrassed in the least. When I said I didn’t have a bag, but I could wrap it for him he gave a hearty shrug and hefted it into his arms, marching out the door with the butt on full display.

The last man to get one was just kind’ve an odd guy. Not creepy, but eccentric. We got along great, and as I rang him up I said, “Well one guy wanted his taped over, and one guy carried it out. What would you prefer?”

“There’s no bags?”

“No store bags. I think our jumbo trash bags in the back might fit it….?” It seemed rude to suggest putting a $500 item into a trash bag, but he wasn’t bothered.

He considered this then said, “Bring me the trash bag.”

When I delivered it to him he still managed to surprise me. Instead of shoving the huge box into it he opened the box. He took out his new $500 sex toy, and all the little things it came with, tipping them unceremoniously into the trash bag.

“There! Now I don’t have to deal with the box later!”

I was slightly stunned but agreed that I could easily deal with the trash. Then in a move I still think about with delight he flung the trash bag over his shoulder like a Santa with a sack full of ass and sauntered out the door.

Starting to think a cooler headcanon for Clark’s upbringing might just be that the entire town of Smallville collectively decided to just go with it and accept that Martha and John's kid has superpowers, but we don't talk about it.

Someone's tractor gets stuck and nothing can get it out? "Be a dear and run down to the Kents, would you? Ask for Clark?"

"Why Clark, we need a machine--"

"Run along now."

Or if he kicks too hard and the football vanishes into the upper stratosphere, no it didn't, we all collectively saw it land over there *vague hand movements*

Clark: *does anything beyond human limits*

Smallville citizen:

The Kent's found an abandoned baby in a cornfield? Well good for them they've been longing for a child for years

I swear that Kent boy was running faster than that train...welp none of my business

Jonathan! Your witch child busted my tractor!

these are small town Midwest farmers they ain't saying shit to FEDS

why would I camp somewhere named Hole Where You'll Freeze To Death

Yeah I'm going on a camping trip to the Hole Where You'll Freeze to Death. No I won't be back soon.

If people are curious about what the video title means, I watched it some time ago, and it's actually pretty important info to know if you're going camping/backpacking: heat rises, and cold sinks, so the lowest point of the terrain can become much colder than the surrounding area, especially at night. If the temperature in these low-points drops farther than the temperatures your camping gear is rated for, you can definitely freeze to death.

"Don't sleep in holes" seems like a pretty obvious statement to make a video about. But it isn't talking about what we normally think of when we're asked to describe a hole in the ground. The video is talking about low-lying meadows or depressions, often in cold mountains like the Alps, that are free of trees and large plants. They seem like good flat ground to camp on. And to compound the problem, maybe some poor sucker tried to build a now-abandoned log cabin or shack right in the middle of one that you may be tempted to sleep in, like the one in the thumbnail. But the reason the meadow is free and clear of trees, is because even pine trees, which grow in high altitudes and low temperatures, can't survive the temperature difference. The downhill slope of the terrain collects the freezing air like water in a bowl, and with nowhere for it to go, it may become even colder than temperatures recorded at much higher elevations in the same area. And you'll be right there in the middle of it, because it looked very nice in the daylight. Now? Not so much.

So don't sleep in holes. Best case scenario is that you'll have a very chilly night's sleep and a lousy morning. Worst case is that you won't wake up in the morning at all.

(My memory and explanation isn't perfect, watch the video itself in case I got important stuff wrong. The creator also lists his sources in the video description if you wanted to check those out.)

I grew up in the desert where it rarely gets cold enough to need special cold-weather gear for camping. Here we don’t sleep in holes because if there’s a flash flood in the night within a hundred miles you’ll be swept away in your tent. You WANT to set your tent there because the soil is flat and there’s no poke-y weeds and a smooth gravel bed. It’s a wash/seasonal creekbed. Path of least resistance for thousands of square miles of mountains and even more thousands of sq. miles of slightly inclined plain. I am solemnly shaking hands with the ‘hole where you’ll freeze to death’ people. Don’t sleep in holes.

Me, after forgetting to cut the top off an onion before dicing it: “Aw dammit”

The Gordon Ramsey that lives in my head: “Don’t worry there, this mistake isn’t going to ruin anything. No need to be too hard on yourself”

Me: “Wow, that’s…not what I was expecting”

Gordon: “Of course, you ought to know by now that I don’t shout at cooks just to do so. I do it because the people in hit television show Kitchen Nightmares are putting their services out into the public and claim to be good enough to have the title of head chef. You’re just some guy in your twenties making beef stroganoff for yourself and your roommate. I’m kind of a dick, yeah, but I’m not gonna scream at you for a minor mistake like this”

Me: “Oh….well…thanks”

Gordon: “You’re welcome…cunt…”

I audition for the role of Ophelia.

Ophelia might be 18. She might be 25. We don’t know. We know she’s young and pretty. I’m 27 and fairly pretty. I’m not young.

The director says he won’t cast someone who “looks” older than 25. I know this means he won’t cast someone who looks older than he thinks 25-year-olds look like.

The truth is, your face when you’re 27 is the same face as when you’re 25. The truth is, your face when you’re 25 is usually the same as when you’re 23. It changes sometime in the night when you’re 21.

Your face when you’re 20 is your face when you’re 18 is usually very close to your face when you’re 16. But when you audition for a 16-year-old when you’re 16, you lose the role to someone who’s 25.

You realize that all of those teenagers you watched in movies growing up were adults. They needed to be beautiful. They needed to be desired. Not awkward, growing, acne, baby fat cheeks.

That’s why you never looked like them. You wanted so badly to look like them.

Now 27 is too old for 25 and you spent your life waiting to look old enough to look young until you’re too old to look your age.

I lie. He can’t tell whether I’m 23-25-27 or whatever age at which a woman is disqualified.

I get the role. I meet the actor playing Hamlet. He’s 45. I meet the actress playing Hamlet’s mother, and she’s 30.

God forbid a woman looks like she was born before she gave birth.

Imagine if she looked like a mother.

Would Ophelia like to be a mother?

Would she have to look like one? With stretch marks and tired eyes from late nights nursing her baby?

Would she have to grow up?

Luckily for Ophelia, she drowns before she gets the chance.

Luckily for me, I still look young enough for the audience to care.

Ophelia and I leave behind a perfect corpse. And happily, because who leaves flowers at a grave with crows feet and smiles lines?

The play is a tragedy, so we don’t smile much, anyway. Luckily.

The people will cry because I’m worthy enough to die,

and happy Ophelia will never become too old to play herself.

—

Ophelia— a somewhat lazy poem I recently found buried in my notes app.

surely the conses wont quence

peer reviewed

Hmm, is that the sound of chickens, beginning to come home to roost?

I also highly recommend reading the decision itself:

Highlights:

"In effect, Air Canada suggests the chatbot is a separate legal entity that is responsible for its own actions. This is a remarkable submission."

"While Air Canada argues Mr. Moffatt could find the correct information on another part of its website, it does not explain why the webpage titled “Bereavement travel” was inherently more trustworthy than its chatbot. It also does not explain why customers should have to double-check information found in one part of its website on another part of its website."

And not "AI" related, but delicious snark:

"Air Canada is a sophisticated litigant that should know it is not enough in a legal process to assert that a contract says something without actually providing the contract."