When South Africa dismantled apartheid, it did not end with the expulsion of all white South Africans. They became part of the new South Africa, just without the criminal discriminatory oligarchic powers the apartheid goverment had. When Bolivia recognized its indigenous heritage and became a plurinational state, it did not mean that people of European descent were expelled in masse. It meant the recognition of the previously discriminated indigenous and mestizo people of Bolivia and the beginning of a path of integration and revalidation.

What I mean is that it's ridiculous to think that decolonization inherently means mass suffering and relocation, that's what colonization does. Decolonization is recognizing the crimes of colonization, but more importantly, material, political and social steps to give power and self-determination to the exploited native people who were victims of colonialism and imperialism.

In multicultural societies, you don't go like in that Peter Griffin meme with a skin tone chart and saying 'well, you go back to Europe, you go back to Africa, you stay here'. You build a new society on the paradigm of dignity for exploited people and equality under the law. People are acting like this is some sort of fantastic utopia instead of real initiatives that were done in living memory, with successes and failures, as all such initiatives have. One must ask why are some so insistent that multicultural societies can't thrive, especially when for most of history, societies were indeed like that. Consider why you think like that.

i love this post so much this is 10 minutes away from where i live and just out of frame is an absolutely dilapidated YMCA. that’s my target!!!!!

you live in italy?

i cooka da pizza

I used to see this everyday on my way to work years ago. Highly amusing. 😄😆

me as a hotel receptionist: *greets guests by playing hotel california but cutting it off right before they say california*

Me presenting my rock collection: *plays the start of Roxanne but cuts it off before the “anne”*

the Champton of Brampton

This is a Sun Bittern

It’s wings are just Like That.

Cool bird

Hope you like it :)

Huh, I never considered putting butterfly patterns on birds until now.

Oh, my. 😮🤩

Everyone's thinking "witch" but the owl was actually going as a cowboy.

Iirc the original images are from years ago, and everyone was worried that the owl was actually stuck to the toy - but apparently the townspeople had seen him put it down to hunt and such, and then go back to pick it up again. Which straight up triples my enjoyment of this story.

"How am I supposed to learn if there are consequences?"

You will learn from the consequences. Hope this helps

again, mentioning my security job, but do you know how many people of all ages justify their stupid, shitty behaviour by saying, "everyone else lets me do this", "other security guards don't have a problem with it", "nobody's told me not to before", "I've been doing this my whole life", "You're the only one who's said anything about it", "the other guy only gave me a warning", "you're not going to go easy on me because I'm a kid/old/have a disability?"

If I'm willing to risk my job kicking you out of a place, then the thing you did is serious, and warnings didn't sway you. It's persistet or particularly heinous problem, and likely a danger to yourself, other people, or the location or equipment you are using. If I'm going to let you come back another day, I need to know that you know that your actions may impact you.

Because you have proven that you lack common sense or courtesy, or that you cannot understand why your choices are bad ones, we are making this simpler: Will X action make Us wreck Your day? Regardless if you think it makes sense or not? Yes? Then hopefully you will not do it.

Some other person gave you a warning and it was fine after that? Then what I'm hearing is, "I was explicitly told not to do this, and I'm doing it anyway."

Having a disability does not grant you the right to park your car in the way of an emergency door. Being a kid does not allow you permission to shove a screwdriver into the coin slot of a vending machine.

And if you did do those things, and something bad happened, the universe is not going to absolve you of responsibility just because you thought it was too harsh.

So I will do my best to protect you from that, and if you ignore me, then I will find a less dangerous solution. Like, maybe, escorting you from the premises.

You are, from an early age as a child, taught the difference between right or wrong.

Once you know the theory, you may begin making educated choices.

If those educated choices result in bad things, then congratulations!

You have, through the scientific process, learned how to verify a fact.

Next time you will remember what you now know to be true:

Don't do that thing.

did this morherfucker just make apples out of apples??

[vd: A snow leopard kitten absolutely DESTROYING pumpkins, most already conveniently hollowed and with holes pre-cut so it can shove its whole baby head in and maul and kick and maul and kick and-- End vd.]

writing advice for characters with a missing eye: dear God does losing an eyes function fuck up your neck. Ever since mine crapped out I've been slowly and unconsciously shifting towards holding my head at an angle to put the good eye closer to the center. and human necks. are not meant to accommodate that sorta thing.

other things I'm bitching about but which could still be useful as writing advice for 1 eyed characters:

2. they're going to favor their sighted side, obviously, but it doesn't always manifest in the way you think. when I walk down a hall I walk much closer to the wall on my sighted side than on my blind side. which is the opposite of how it might seem logical to do that bc it means the world at large is on your bad side, but the reason is I can't fucking See the wall if it's right next to me in the blind side and I end up knocking into it.

3. door frames and poles are my enemy. If your character is smart this will not be a problem but for me it is. I am King of walking into shit I could absolutely see but couldn't tell how far away from me it was. on this note, their blind side hand is getting bashed into every jutting out thing in a 5 mile radius.

4. having 0 depth perception is less of a big deal than you'd think it is. Especially with driving. I've become a Much safer and more wary driver because I can't tell how far the other cars are from me. however I fucking suck at parking now. because I can't tell how far the lines are from me either.

5. you know how people who lose limbs get phantom pains? that happens with eyes too but like. phantom sights. for me it's like. a lot of bugs. like every so often my brain will just put something suddenly skittering beside me there. hate that.

6. it is completely possible to "get stuck" somewhere because your ability to tell how wide a space is is just Gone. shopping isles especially where bumping something or Someone is matter of embarrassment or potentially breaking something. it can be legitimately paralyzing and also irritate everyone around you because they can tell there is Plenty of space for you to get your cart through even if you can't.

7. if the eye is still in their skull it can still be the normal kind of painful. Glares off of shiny surfaces causing weird sharp pains you can't figure out the cause of are genuinely one of gods greatest tests of my patience.

Entergalactic pt3 by Michal Lisowski

"lying is wrong" what evangelical nonsense is this???

listen to me. lying is morally neutral. and for many people in shitty situations it's a survival tactic.

lying in order to cause harm is often wrong, because causing harm is generally wrong. lying is also done for a myriad of other reasons, including because it isn't safe to speak truth, or because privacy is a thing and damn what an incredibly invasive question to ask in the first place.

truth is earned, my friend.

also, sometimes lying is funny. sometimes it saves time. sometimes it's easier, sometimes it accomplishes a goal, sometimes the truth is nobody's business, or is tricky to articulate, or you don't know what the truth is but are expected to have an answer regardless. sometimes you just straight up want people to stop bothering you. sometimes lying is an experiment to see how much you can get away with. sometimes you just want to be a little mean, yeah.

and in none of these situations is lying automatically "right" or "wrong" it is simply a tool that people will use, and that you will have to make your own decisions about based on situation and context.

climb out of the dark pit of assigning moral values to neutral behaviors. that's puritan thinking that's got its greedy fangs in you, rip 'em out by the root

So I'm going back to school for automotive tech, learning to be a mechanic because hell, I gotta do SOMETHING. Only woman in the whole department. Here's how it's going so far:

The Electrical Systems Professor: Here is the most difficult method to join two wires together, it's almost impossible for beginners to do. Just twist the bare bits together for now, I JUST want to practice soldering techniques... Angie... Angie, why are you doing that, I said you didn't have to do the hard method??? Me: It's just a wet splice, though, minus the water. Knitters have been doing this for years. Professor: ..................................... Me: My grandma taught me how... Professor: ...................................... Me: Hey, this solder basically works like hot glue! Professor: I... no... Me: LOOK, I MADE A PRETTY BRACELET OUT OF THE PINK WIRE!

I am SO happy for you, Angie. Get his @ss. 😁

ur future nurse is using chapgpt to glide thru school u better take care of urself

Yep. This is terrifying. I’ve caught nursing majors, engineering majors, architecture majors relying on ChatGPT to do their homework. These are people who need to know their field well to ensure people don’t die and they’re letting a glorified algorithm cheat them through school. It’s so dangerous

hey. hi. I work in academia. and there are a lot of student-age folks on this site.

don't do this. don't use genAI. even if your professors give you permission. even if they ask for it or suggest it. if they do anything short of directly requiring it (and I weep, because I've already seen assignments that require it) don't touch that crap. if they do require it, stick it to them. be as maliciously compliant as possible. be a nightmare.

I know it might sound easier right now -- just plug in your assignment and get the answers. you don't care about this class anyway, it's not for your major, you don't see the value of the assignment.

but for your own sake, for the sake of your education and mind, and for the sake of the future world we want to have: learn the stuff. you are not as stupid as the corporate bizzaro kings who want to rule the world think you are, so don't give them reasons to believe it.

and odds are good genAI is gonna give you corrupted info anyway -- more and moreso as the machines cannibalize themselves.

just don't do it. not even "I just do it for XYZ--" no. stop. there is no valid use of generative AI, and even using it for memes or lolz feeds the system and directly feeds the pockets of the people who want to replace you anyway.

You'd think people would be ashamed of using ChatGPT/AI to do their schoolwork for them, but in my experience, when caught they get defensive, aggressive, and totally non-apologetic. And because this is high school, their parents usually run to their defense, all guns blazing.

I have heard even educators say, "I mean, it's okay to use it for generating ideas...."

No. You are are human being. You have a mind. Come up with your own ideas. If you are incapable of coming up with your own ideas, then admit it, and either buckle down and learn how to think, or, if that doesn't appeal to you, then education obviously isn't something you're interested in, so bow out gracefully before you're kicked out ignominiously.

I also work in academia and something I have noticed is that it doesn't even work most of the time. Yes the text sounds good, but once you look past that, the arguments are incoherent, and the evidence is missing. You won't get a good grade for it if the marker is paying attention. With code, it doesn't do exactly what you want it to do, so you end up having to understand it anyway.

You'll actually save time and get a better grade by skipping the chat gpt step.

The one situation I can see it being helpful is if you have severe issues with the language being used, but in that case you would still need someone checking the output to make sure it says what you want it to say.

I recently returned to college, and my closest friends there are all professors that I had the first time I went, and we're equals now, and it's great. But two of my old English teachers are losing their minds because half of the papers that get turned in are so obviously written by AI that it's painful. Like, so many people use ChatGPT to write porno that my old theater prof keeps getting essays turned in that read like Harlequin romances.

And today, my computer science prof told the whole class that no teacher can REALLY tell the difference between AI and human-written, and if they say they can then they're bluffing. And he gave us an assignment to use ChatGPT to write a 3-page "scary story" so that we know how to use it to make a convincing product.

I'm torn between using the app to write an absolute GARBAGE piece of prose, then feeding it back to the AI over and over until it's done more harm than good, and turning in something I wrote myself and daring him to call me out as a cheater. "WHAT'S THE MATTER, PROFESSOR, I THOUGHT YOU SAID TEACHERS COULDN'T TELL THE DIFFERENCE????"

Oh, good, I see we're already starting another round of 'men only become alt-right misogynists because feminists on the internet are such bitches'. Right on fucking schedule.

More coherent thoughts: we have had this discussion a million times and the things that always come out of it are:

-while many feminists love and support the men in their lives, they don't revere masculinity, which disturbs a lot of guys

-this need a lot of guys have, to be respected as a superior rather than respected as an equal, and the violent revulsion they feel for women who won't do that, is one of the things feminists are right to criticize