anyroads

[anyroads]

explain your gender in 10 words or less without using boring words like “male”, “female”, “nonbinary”, “masculine”, “feminine” or “androgynous”.

go!

[anyroads]

So if you're in the UK you have probably heard about the proposed changes to disability benefits. If not, here is a BBC News article (link) about it, and the Big Issue (link) have been running basically non-stop articles about it since the announcement.

Crucially, the government is holding a consultation. Will as many of us as possible weighing in change the outcome? Possibly, though it's far from guaranteed. Will not filling it in help the situation in the slightest? No. So let's all have a go.

You can find the full Green Paper here: (link) and the options to respond are at the bottom of it, including the link to respond online, which is also here: (link)

It's also always worth contacting your MP to let them know what you think, if only to get a response on fancy Commons stationery. You can find your MP here: (link)

So, have at it, UK folks! (These proposals don't apply to Northern Ireland as benefits are transferred, but they are still taking NI comments and sharing them with the Department for Communities, so you may be able to influence whether this approach is taken up in NI in future, too)

And if nothing else, please reblog!

[anyroads]

i'm not saying people shouldn't be reading more books, but i do think it's funny how many people thinking "reading comprehension" is just about how good you are at reading books and not like. criticial thinking skills.

[anyroads]

1975 Juneteenth celebration

[anyroads]

The UK has just experienced its warmest and sunniest spring on record, and the driest in more than 130 years.

Per press release, England's Environment Agency convened a National Drought Group meeting on 5th June 2025 - following the driest March, April, and May since 1893 - to discuss the latest outlook and hear from water companies about steps they are taking to prepare for the summer.

Water Minister Emma Hardy: "We face a water shortage in the next decade."

Dr Will Lang, Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office: "Looking further ahead, the chance of a hot summer is higher than normal with an associated increased risk of heatwaves and related impacts."

Sarah Keith-Lucas, the BBC's Lead Weather Presenter explains the impact of extreme heat on drought: "extreme heat increases evaporation of moisture from the ground leading to drier ground. Drier ground heats up more quickly, which in turn pushes the temperature of the air above it even higher."

The area of the UK burnt by wildfires this year (as of 27th April, so not including wildfires that have occured since then) is already higher than the total for any year in more than a decade, a result of prolonged dry, sunny weather, and lack of rainfall in March and April.

And now, the Guardian reports this week that the Environment Agency cannot accurately predict how much water England will be short of in future decades, due to the boom in AI usage.

AI datacentres, which use vast quantities of water to cool their servers - preventing them from overheating and shutting down - are not required to report how much water they use. As a result, the EA cannot model for how much water - which largely comes from the public water supply - these datacentres may require in the years to come.

"The regulator added that the majority of datacentres were using the public water supply rather than alternative sources, and that they did not want this to stop, or [want] transparency over their figures."

Meanwhile, Keir Starmer, looking to boost the UK's AI infrastructure, has pledged £1bn of extra funding for AI compute – the microchips, processing units, and cabling that make AI systems function. 💩🙃

TL;DR - as temperatures rise and Spring months become increasingly drier, the UK is facing a water shortage, and the Environment Agency cannot even accurately predict how much water we will be short of because AI datacentres - which notoriously use a lot of water to cool their servers - do not have to report how much they use.

[anyroads]

Here's the thing - the point of college, on a purely practical, pragmatic level is twofold: to learn how to think and analyze information, and to network. The foundation of a lot of people's careers is rooted in their college social networks and internships.

That only gets your foot in the door, though. What you do once you're there will define how successful you'll be. The people who do well, get promotions, and rise up in both ranks and salaries are the ones who have something to contribute. They're the ones who can think and analyze. This is what college is supposed to prepare you for. And if you can't do this because you spent 4 years throwing tens of thousands of dollars at getting passing grades while chatGPT does your homework for you, then you will not be valuable to any workplace beyond your ability to follow basic directions and half-ass projects. You will not be the person getting promoted because you will have nothing to offer that warrants it.

And in the current job market where there's little stability and people end up changing jobs every few years, companies shift and change and get bought and sold, centuries-old industries are struggling etc., you need to be adaptable and your skills and abilities need you to be able to move laterally as well as upwardly in order to survive.

ChatGPT cuts your ability to do any of this off at the knees. So even if you aren't studying something that requires practical skills like medical students, you absolutely need to learn how to think and analyze and apply knowledge, or you will find yourself in deep, deep shit within the first five years of entering the workforce. And there won't be a single person to complain to - your college isn't going to refund you, and you won't be able to get any of the hours back that you wasted cutting corners with chatGPT. It'll be gone. Your brain will be older and it'll be harder to train it and you won't have the absolute fucking GIFT that is college again, where you have time and resources and people whose literal job it is to help you learn. The point of college is to learn and be curious and explore. Why are you there if all you're going to do is have a robot come up with delusions for you to hand in so you can end up being a mediocre, expendable drone in a workplace that values skills you deliberately avoiding gaining?

Why are you using chatgpt to get through college. Why are you spending so much time and money on something just to be functionally illiterate and have zero new skills at the end of it all. Literally shooting yourself in the foot. If you want to waste thirty grand you can always just buy a sportscar.

[anyroads]

No waaaaaaaay whaaaaaaat

[anyroads]

Ah these children who always create problems for poor mothers....

[anyroads]

I know that some British people take umbrage at Americans calling the Great British Bake Off relaxing, but it's just because GBBO is such a different kind of stressful from American baking shows.

American baking shows will be called something like "Cupcake Knife Fight", there's horror movie lighting everywhere and dramatic stings every 5 seconds. All of the contestants are shit talking each other and fist fighting over the one single deep fryer provided by production. It will show the judges all whispering to each other at their super villain table overlooking the whole kitchen, and one will be like, "Oh my god. Everyone look at Brenda right now. She's straight tanking it." And it will cut to Brenda, who is running around covered in flour and crying and also bleeding for some reason. Then you get a clip from an interview with one of the contestants, and they're like, "I really need to win this. Without this award money, I'm gonna need to close my restaurant, sell my dad, and live out of my car. AGAIN." Then the giant digital doomsday clock overhead lets out a horrid klaxon, the judges tell half of them that their cupcakes taste disgusting, and one of them gets eliminated and sent to walk down the dramatically-lit shame hallway never to be seen again.

Meanwhile GBBO is in a lovely, brightly colored tent, there are delightful and friendly hosts/jesters there to keep everyone entertained, and all of the B Roll is of like... a bumblebee going into a flower, or a lamb running in a field. And yes, there will be moments where someone will mess up their timing or something, and they'll be looking at their bake through the oven door like, "oh gosh I don't think this will rise in time!" Then they stand up to find Paul Hollywood directly behind them ominously. His creepy whitewalker eyes will glow white, and he'll say something like "the 12th of June. 2035. Drowning." And his eyes will go back to normal and he'll walk away. Then the baker gives a playful grimace to the camera and says "that didnt sound great, did it?". Cut to a sweet looking older woman sipping tea on a stool and she says "oo I do hope that Prue enjoys the taste of my sugary, sticky baps!". Then, at the end, someone gets a gold star for doing good, and the loser of the episode gets in the middle of a giant group hug. You see all of them at the end of the series at a giant carnival with their families and the post credits informs you that all of the contestants have become a Partridge Family-style traveling band and stayed friends forever.

[anyroads]

Anonymous ally of the day is whoever “conveniently” forgot to grease the treads of the Sherman tank, knowing full well the crowd would be too exhausted to cheer. May the memes live on in your honor.

[anyroads]

Americans: Can we please have a day off to celebrate overcoming the greatest human rights atrocity in our collective history

Ebenezer Trump: A POOR EXCUSE FOR PICKING A MAN'S POCKET EVERY 19TH OF JUNE!

[anyroads]

(reply to the kroger & walmart chicken fettucine alfredo listeria outbreak)

hey holy shit. the sound I made when I read this. this is exactly why the chicken fettucine recall is so scary, it is such a huge comfort food and a bunch of folks eat it while pregnant. I am so fucking glad my post found you and that you got medical attention right away.

yours is an example of doing exactly the right thing: listeria is especially dangerous while pregnant, and there are antibiotics that can be prescribed for high-risk folks during the early stages of symptoms or even before symptoms begin. and while listeria can take up to 80 days to cause illness, it can also cause issues within hours or days of eating contaminated food.

for you and for everyone else trying to avoid the general news right now, here is a list to help keep up with recalls and foodborne illness outbreaks in the united states since I do not post all of them:

FDA recall list (food, drug, medical device, etc recalls with press announcements, usually bigger food recalls have announcements)

FDA enforcement reports (more recalls go here, but more difficult to navigate than the recall list with announcements)

USDA FSIS recall list (they cover different food than FDA, especially meat. the chicken fettucine alfredo recall was posted here)

NHTSA recall list (vehicles, car seats, tires, and equipment recalls!)

CPSC recall and safety warning list (products! there have been a LOT of recalls of baby stuff recently!)

FDA outbreak investigations (you can see the status of outbreaks as they happen and get investigated, this is often where recalls start)

CDC active investigations of foodborne illness outbreaks (outbreaks can have both an FDA page and a CDC page. they cover different information)

foodsafetynews (news about food safety ONLY! not a government source. mostly focused on the US and canada, but also news around the world. some of what they post involves commentary on the current administration, BUT they post about bigger and more relevant recalls that wind up in the ever-tricky FDA enforcement reports.)

best of luck to you and your baby, and make sure you get plenty of rest!!!!!

[anyroads]

odysseus absolutely does present a threat to penelope if he perceives her as at all unfaithful, and i feel the unfairness of this, and i think people tend to undersell how much tension at least potentially exists between odysseus and penelope. but i'm also like. his reaction, all speculation aside, his actual reaction in the odyssey to her flirting with the suitors is delight, because he immediately ascertains that she is running a con. sorry that they're so in-sync in spite of the forces that try to drive a wedge between them, including their own misgiving hearts. sorry that they invented homophrosyne ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[anyroads]

🇺🇸recall of chicken fettuccine alfredo sold nationwide at kroger and walmart due to deadly listeria outbreak, multiple deaths reported🇺🇸

as a reminder, listeria can take months to cause illness after eating contaminated food.

it is currently unclear if a specific ingredient is contaminated or if there might be further recalls. I will update everyone when this information becomes available, and with any further updates. but if you have these in your fridge or freezer, clean and sanitize anything it may have touched, and keep an eye on your health.

https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/freshrealm-recalls-chicken-fettuccine-alfredo-products-due-possible-listeria

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2025 – FreshRealm establishments in San Clemente, Calif., Montezuma, Ga., and Indianapolis, Ind., are recalling chicken fettuccine alfredo products that may be adulterated with an outbreak strain of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today. Out of an abundance of caution, the company is voluntarily recalling all products produced prior to June 17, 2025, that are available in commerce under the following brand names.

ALL lots of food produced before june 17 2025 are being recalled. if you have these in your fridge or freezer, you are affected.

The following ready-to-eat products were shipped to Kroger and Walmart retail locations nationwide [view labels]:     -32.8-oz. tray packages containing “MARKETSIDE GRILLED CHICKEN ALFREDO WITH FETTUCCINE Tender Pasta with Creamy Alfredo Sauce, White Meat Chicken and Shaved Parmesan Cheese” with best-by date 06/27/25 or prior. -12.3 oz. tray packages containing “MARKETSIDE GRILLED CHICKEN ALFREDO WITH FETTUCCINE Tender Pasta with Creamy Alfredo Sauce, White Meat

-Chicken, Broccoli and Shaved Parmesan Cheese” with best-by date 06/26/25 or prior. 12.5 oz. tray packages containing “HOME CHEF Heat & Eat Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo with pasta, grilled white meat chicken, and Parmesan cheese” with best-by date 06/19/25 or prior. 

The products bear the USDA mark of inspection on the product label as well as establishment numbers “EST. P-50784,” “EST. P-47770,” or “EST. P-47718” printed on the side of the packaging.

some emphasis mine. the brand names are marketside and home chef, sold nationwide by walmart and kroger. their packaging labels are at the top of this post.

FSIS and public health partners are investigating an outbreak of Lm that currently includes 17 ill people in 13 states. As of June 17, 2025, there have been three reported deaths and one fetal loss associated with this outbreak. The outbreak strain of Lm was isolated from ill people on dates ranging from August 2024 – May 2025. The same outbreak strain was isolated from a routine chicken fettuccine alfredo sample collected by FSIS in a FreshRealm establishment in March 2025.

...

The subsequent investigations at the establishment that produced this product, and into the product ingredients, have not identified the source of contamination.

...

This investigation is ongoing. FSIS is sharing what is currently known regarding products associated with the outbreak as the agency continues to work with public health partners to identify whether a specific ingredient in the chicken fettucine alfredo may be the source of this strain of Lm.

some emphasis mine. I cut out some parts about sick people confirming they ate chicken fettuccine alfredo. routine inspection linked a contaminated sample with cases of illness, and sick people were interviewed.

as of june 18 2025, there have been 17 cases of illness from 13 states linked to this outbreak. the true number of people sick is likely higher, and the number of states with currently linked illnesses does NOT represent all of where these products were sold. products were sold nationwide. reported illnesses were dated from august 2024 to may 2025. it can take months for listeria to cause illness, followed by weeks for an illness to be linked to an outbreak. there have been three deaths and one fetal loss, as listeriosis infection is especially dangerous during pregnancy.

the contaminated ingredient has not yet been identified and there may be further recalls related to this outbreak. I will update everyone when there is more information available, so check the notes or keep up with the FSIS USDA link.

Consumption of food contaminated with Lm can cause listeriosis, a serious infection that primarily affects older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Less commonly, people outside these risk groups are affected. Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance and convulsions sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery or life-threatening infection of the newborn. In addition, serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. People in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the health care provider about eating the contaminated food.

some emphasis mine. it can take up to TWO FUCKING MONTHS for listeria to cause illness, and that illness can be deadly. listeriosis is treatable with antibiotics. please seek medical attention if you are high risk, have eaten the recalled chicken fettuccine, and experience any suspicious symptoms up to two months after eating it. in some cases antibiotics may be prescribed before potential symptoms show up.

FSIS is concerned that some products may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

return them or throw them out!

for more information, check the recall announcement.

and if you experience any issues with food in the united states, PLEASE report it. US or not, reporting issues with food saves lives.

stay safe and take care!

[anyroads]

i never realized cuneiform was made with the corner of a cuboid tool, i thought the wedge shapes were carved such that you would press straight down with the tool at a 90° angle to the clay

[anyroads]

i hate you summer i hate you heat i hate you sweating i hate you burning sun i hate you warm weather i hate you climate change