#and thats what all the info about the policies is about

[mostlikelyshutup]

... (absolutely useless rant in tags)

[determinate-negation]

how would you help someone break free from zionism? (please serious answer i'm panicked)

my family isnt zionist so i havent really had to argue with them about palestine and so idk if i can give you perfect advice on how to talk to someone whos close to you about this, maybe some of my followers can add stuff

but still ill say this, (if theyre jewish) a big part of it is the emotional connection people have in light of the history of the holocaust, and like a visceral feeling of fear, which is purposefully imprinted onto peoples communities. so i think dismantling all the myths that israel has specifically about the holocaust and jewish safety might make them question this? its unfortunate but i think a lot of zionists wont react well if you talk about the amount of violence and dispossession palestinians face just because theyve already been dehumanized in their mind, and they genuinely feel that these people want to kill them for being jewish, and israel is the only way to ensure jewish safety, so you have to get past that first. im not sure what their perspective is on israel and why theyre a zionist, so idk. but showing people that israel is not actually protecting jews, its protecting european and american interests in the region and was supported by europeans literally as a solution to their "jewish question", especially with the vast amounts of jewish holocaust survivors in refugee camps in europe for years after the war. like ask the question why do all these european governments put tons of financial and military aid to israel instead of helping their jewish diaspora communities thrive and attract people to them? why do they actually make things harder for jews and have shitty convoluted policies for european jews who were expelled to return, but also support israel? is this something thats really good for us? also learning about how apathetic and even pro nazi america was during ww2, and how much holocaust revisionism they engage in to make themselves look historically better and twist their reasons for supporting israel, really made me feel like the us government line on israel is just ridiculous hypocrisy. ive made some posts about this which ill try to find

this post i reblogged has a lot of info dismantling stuff about israel and theres another post i saw that ill add to this too. i would also look in mondoweiss and jewish currents for articles about judaism and zionism. this article is good and might not be something you can directly send to this person but maybe the ideas in it will be useful to you

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

WIBTA if I reported my roommate for smoking weed?

🖍 for identification

Okay so I (19, F) live in the dorms on my university campus. Specifically, I'm in the normal, freshman-only dorms. This means that while weed is legal in my area, very few if any of of people in my building are legally allowed to use it, only the RAs would be old enough

My schools drug policy is basically "Don't, especially on campus or in a way where you can get caught on campus. It we smell it from your room there will be consequences, and if you're somewhere where it's happening but not doing it yourself you will still face consequences". A lot of people don't really care and will smoke it on campus, or return to their dorms still smelling of it anyway. In addition, the smell is a major sensory issue for me (as in, feel sick, break down crying if there too long, very much not okay level). I do what I can for dealing with this myself (walk a bit out of my way to avoid area I know tends to be a spot people will smoke, hold my breath if I can avoid the smell, etc). It's not my business what people do, I get that.

Recently, after my roommate (F, don't know age but about my age) returns to our room she, and consequentially, the room, smell strongly of weed. This is, to me at least, a different situation than the walkway outside the dorm building/dorm lobby/other areas where I have to deal with the smell of weed because, well, it's partially my room. It's where I sleep and work and typically am when I don't have class or show work. And because it's a smaller more confined space, the smell is even stronger, permeates everything, and doesn't just go away.

While I've had things my roommate did cause sensory issues before, I always went with a "just deal" route because 1. She's paying the same as I am to live there and 2. It was mostly things like strong smelling food or having the TV running late at higher volumes, which I didn't know how to bring up with her and aren't Go To The RA type problems.

However, this is a different level, and I've slept in my car last night and tonight and avoided the room all day except to grab things like a change of clothes, my toiletries bag, my purse, etc. which when I went to grab, the room still smelled like weed. Because this is 1. worse than other sensory issues I've run into with her and 2. Something that could potentially get me in trouble if I was in the room and someone came by to check and noticed the smell, I've considered going to the RA/housing staff and telling them about this, but since I've never actually talked to my roommate about any problems, including this, I'm worried it would be an asshole move. Plus, it's possible the campus police would end up involved and thats a whole other level of trouble I would feel bad putting her through. When I first escaped to my car last night I sent a vent text to my brother, which my mom ended up seeing, and she's pushing me to tell someone but I'm worried about it

So, wibta?

What are these acronyms?

[hey-hamlet]

BNHA AU Idea: Information Warfare

Analysis is Midoriya Izuku’s only hobby. He could almost count sketching, but considering all he drew were heroes, it was probably a stretch. Still, he didn;t think anything would come of it, but when he sees the news reporting about a villain at large with a telekinesis quirk when he knows it’s gravity manipulation - well. He has to tell someone. Bad info could get them killed.

Sir Nighteye very rarely receives fan emails, even with his history of being All Might’s only sidekick, so it’s still agency policy to read each one. When what is clearly an information broker pops up in his emails, sending packet after pack of analysis on active cases, he sees it. He isn’t stupid enough to dismiss it either.

When the information saves his young intern’s life, he gets invested.

It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, huh? Lets hope I’m not too rusty.

So, set when Izuku is in his second last year of middle school, about 13 years old. His father told him his mother left when he was 8, they up and left Mustutafu and he hasn’t seen her since. Midoriya Hisashi is negligent and mean, doesn’t care where his son is as long as he can’t see him and no cops or heroes end up at his door.

Not a villain because it’s too risky, but he works as a laborer and doesn’t really care about how dodgy the job is. Make enough money for himself to live comfortably in a low income area. Doesn’t make enough to live comfortably with a son - so he pays the bare minimum heeded to keep social services off his back.

He considered sending the emails to All Might, but he knew they’d get buried under all the fan mail he’s constantly sent, and he trusted Nighteye to not brush it off instantly.

Hes not exactly shocked when the man assumes hes an information broker - technically he almost is, he’s just not charging for it. And only sending information to one person. Ok so he’s probably more an informant, and being associated with villains is kinda rough, but it lends him a lot of credibility if they think he has better connections to the underworld than a wifi hotspot, a house in a shady area and some security cameras someone else hacked into.

Nighteye asks if he’d be willing to meet up, which Izuku declines. Undeterred, he asks if Izuku would instead be ok with joining in on a briefing via video. It’s a terrible idea, but he can’t help but say yes. He keeps his camera off and taped over, and downloads to voice modulation program.

He also spends a solid hour trying to think of an alias. He picks Snitch. Thats what they think he is, and he’s been called as much before for asking for help. It’s different, this time.

it takes him a while to feel comfortable chiming in - he’s use to what happens if he tries. but he’s not Deku right now, not here. He’s an information broker. He’s Snitch. He could blow the underworld right open if he set his mind to it.

He helps plan their attack better, draws maps through floorplans for the most effective routes to check the rooms of interest, marks the most likely places for the goods to be hidden. With his information they are in and out in 20 minutes. It’s shockingly effective.

Nighteye was interested before. Now he’s invested.

Snitch is clearly a social outcast, but hes practised enough at social interaction that hes not totally isolated. Unlikely to have any strong social ties, which reduces the likely hood of him working for any specific group. He’s probably a contract worker, maybe didn’t choose villainy but fell into i. He could still be helped. He could get an information hero license, really help. But first, he has to find him.

In Mutsutafu, a mother looks for her son, kidnapped by his father when he was 8 years old. An angry boy feels crushing guilt for letting it happen - Deku was right there and he just let the bastard take him and run.

They still search.

[aggressiveworldbuilding]

i hate elves.

i say this, having played an elf before so i know why powergamers like them. there is nothing wrong with enjoying the aesthetic of 'twink with a sword' or 'elven accuracy go brrrr'.

but having read the 'elf book' (i think it was the same book as them releasing all the new variants of tieflings? i cant remember now) i was underwhelmed.

Elf lore is that they are basically No Name brand Tolkien elves with none of the interesting, ethereal bits and all of the xenophobia. Which - wanna preface this - there is nothing bad about exploring themes of discrimination in ttrpgs. It just. has to be handled with something other than misinterpreting or straight up copying Lord of the Rings?

I cannot for the life of me find the book it was in, but i remember reading that elves want to travel back to their homeland or feel a call to the beyond or something like that. Which is just. LotR elves but less interesting.

My main issue is that elves in WotC worlds offer nothing new to the genre. They are generic, easily digestible, bland ass creatures. I'm not as familiar with Pf2e lore but at least they actually bring up the problem of different lifespans in their description. Also! Elves change in appearance in pf depending on where they live. so we don't NEED 700 different kinds of elves.

Doing a cursory glance at a wiki (which is sad that only Fandom has info on WotC. one would think they would care more about their lore.) I get this.

This is everything they have on the general culture for elves. If i click into the lore sections for Sun Elves, it provides me with a little bit more - which is nice.

only issue is that Sun Elves aren't a thing anymore.

The most expansive lore for elves is. Drow. Eughhhhhh spider sex cult.

anyone who knows me irl has gotten the Drow Rant before; but recently I changed my mind. I don't hate Drow for what they do - but rather how it is presented.

Drow are an 'Evil Race' - although not Naturally Evil like Orcs (which was wild to read and i have a bone to pick abt that)

Yet their lore emphasizes that 'all' drow have a massive superiority complex, a lack of conventional morality, are vengeful, taught to be power hungry, and mistrust everyone around them - even the ones that don't want to be 'evil'. And you know what?

Thats rad! I like that!

There is a non-perfect society that doesn't always get along with itself. Granted the reason they provide as to why Drow haven't just killed each other is kindof a cop-out but with very minimal tweaking you might actually have something. The only thing i don't really like abt drow is that there is no 'good' or redeeming traits about them. Culture is 2 sides of the same coin; for every horrible policy, there was something relatively good. Maybe their judicial system is tight. Maybe they have great infrastructure. Idk but I want to know more.

i should make a post abt them.

Anyways TLDR: Elves deserve better. I find them bland because they are just empty husks stolen from Lord of the Rings, and half their lore no longer applies to modern dnd. Drow are the only semi-fleshed out elves and that scares me bc they are a spider sex cult. ;/

[trash-can-sam]

OKAY this is a long one but I dont see people talk about Grace and I deeply adore her shes my second favorite (almost tied with first (Qi) tbh) and deserves more love.

Heres the line that I pretty much based this on:

When I fist saw that line I was like oh thats interesting but then I learned about what she was and I was like OH MY GOD SHES TALKING ABOUT HERSELF. Because what are the chances she just happens to have a sister with a very similar job as her, and the wouldnt you get sick of a life like that implies she doesnt like her job even if she does actually have a sister.

(Also this line from her engagement letter)

NOW THINGS THAT I IMPLY THAT ARE NOT CERTAIN BUT ARE TRUE TO ME (you do not have to read this to understand anything I just want to talk about her):

She genuinely is interested in archeology. Her collecting various things for archeolgy could have just been her making herself seem more convincing, but she does genuinely seem very informed on the topic. AGAIN, could be her being more convincing, but I wouldnt doubt if she actually majored in it (or at least took a few classes) because it would make sense to play a character with something youre kind of knowlegable about, and she seems to know quite a bit about specific school practices and genuinely be opinionated on archeology's place in the world. Also, her likes indicate this is something shes genuinely interested in and passionate about. THE DIGGING HOLES IN THE GARDEN THING ALSO IS NOT MADE UP, and she says "Old habits die hard I guess", implying (at least to me) that she did it for similar reasons or maybe that she found something that inspired her to be interested in archeology.

She definetly seems to not really have faith in the system shes in, or at least doubt in it. Im not saying shes radical or anything (IF WE ARE GETTING SPECIFIC (Using current day terms) she seems reasonably moderate, pretty center left yk but I wouldnt be surprised if she believed in more socialist policies and shes clearly informed in whats going on, partially because of her job and also because I think being informed is important to her) and she still does work for the government, but she seems to not really be completely content with it. I dont really have any concrete proof for that besides this line which is really just how she thinks:

NOW she says she wasnt really involved in politics, which I think at the time shes saying this is true. I wouldnt be surprised if she was more involved when she was younger, but I think for the most part she has ideas. She really likes to think (also proved by this line, I think she thinks a lot of thoughts in a similar vein but for the most part doesnt share them because they dont really fit her brand) and I feel like that would translate more into thinking more of ideals than actual politics, especially since she feels like people who are noble and want to make a difference cannot under the current system.

I feel like there were more lines in quests and what not with her being more disillusioned but full disclosure this could entirely be an illlusion of the mind palace.

Since she also mentions specifically making a difference, I also decided to extrapolate that was strongly about her as well. Wanting to make a difference being attatched to her choosing the job is also something not said at all, but something I decided to connect because it makes sm sense to me

I THINK THATS ALL. But a lot of this is largely headcanon since we dont have that much info on her (Character development is still low, therefore I cry and sob and make things up completely BECAUSE ITS FUN.)

please think about her more so i dont have to make another 12 page kind of comic, mostly illustrated writing.

[cosmicanger]

“ppl talk abt the george floyd uprisings as failing i just dont think thats true. energy from them went into the revitalized labor movement and the clarity from them have been informing the pro-palestine movement, ppl need to see this as a long process rather than being defeatist.”

“Yeah but the goal was defunding the cops and police funding increased. I'm not knocking energy and joy, but at some point, morale has to create a material result. We can't just "long process" ourselves forever. Believing in ourselves enough to go back to the drawing board and start figuring out how to do more is the opposite of defeatism. I marched with Occupy Boston. I marched after Michael Brown was killed too. I understand that *in theory* it is a long game. What incremental leftists don't understand is that the 21st century does not have to be like the 20th. The whole idea that long games work is based on 1) the civil rights movement, 2) smaller policies that marching has more consistently worked for. In both cases the results came from convincing people in power, which involved A LOT more than just marching. The electoral organization, the militant wings, the ability to overcome resistance from the right, none of those pieces are in place for big stuff because the country is structurally different now. We have a lot more people, A LOT fewer at the top, and multiple info bubbles. The "long game" argument is based on the idea that the majority will eventually win out, but the country is now structured in such a way that that's simply not true. Billionaires & politicians have figured out how to game the system to keep us constantly in a state of cope. This is why I've been doing threads on how they're playing us with Palestine. They do not care one bit that we're shutting down the streets. There does not eventually have to be a stop to the genocide just because the majority wants it. Those are 20th century assumptions. I understand that this is scary because it throws out the model of activism that incremental leftists have become entrenched in. But I expect that, as leftists, you should be able to face that fear head on. Otherwise you all are just street party Democrats. Also, finding new models of activism doesn't mean violence. There's more tactics in the world than marches, symbolic shutdowns, and violence. I'm begging you all to stop being so complacent about the long game and start thinking bigger. On Palestine, the past month has gone from "If we threaten not to vote for Biden, the Democrats will call off the genocide" to "Maybe if we get everyone in the streets?" to "Well, it's a long game, Palestine will be free eventually." Seasoned activists on here pivoted very smoothly from "The people united can never be divided" to "Well, look, boycotts take a year to really work, and movements are a long game." THEN WHY ARE WE USING THESE TACTICS, WHEN GAZANS MIGHT MASS STARVE IN A COUPLE OF MONTHS?????? If you see a short term problem and funnel everyone into long term tactics that OBVIOUSLY will not work in the scheduled timeframe, then as far as I'm concerned you are just as complicit as our entire government.”

[bye-bye-firefly]

Oh! Is this about the new ao3 ai policy? I think I heard about that last night. I had checked Unseeliekey’s account and saw that he had deleted all of his works. Read that he had been thinking of deleting them for awhile because of ao3’s policies and he didn’t wanna support them but the ai thing is what sent him over the edge. Might wanna double check that though since I was sleepy when I read that and may not have absorbed all the info or absorbed it correctly. I have most of Unseeliekey’s works saved in my google drive so I can still reread them, which I’m very thankful for, would be so heartbroken if I could never see them again.

Anyway, I’m really sorry you have to make all your works account only just so the stupid ais can’t get their little grubby ai mining hands on them! All this ai stuff is really gross and really sucks

that whole thing i posted was actually sparked by unseeliekey leaving! which is really sad honestly. and imo with my two cents if i am to say anything about that. ao3 doesnt even support ai they just dont know what to do at this time Legally. i disagree with a lot of unseeliekey's points, but that's not really up to me to convince him i did not even know him and i dont want to tell him hes wrong. its his thoughts and his worldview so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ sad to see him go, though. thats fandom history lost right there. newer fans will never get to see fics that literally SHAPED the fandom. unseeliekey is pretty much responsible for the phantom thief au as it is today. it really is such a great loss. i hope that maybe he changes his mind, makes them public but not on ao3. maybe puts out the chapters that never made it to the light of day; i know there were chapters that were done, just not published before he left the fandom, if he still has those files

and goddd the fucking ai. i hate having to make my fics ao3 accounts only it pisses me off so bad i just want people to be able to read my shit without having to worry about scrapes and shit like that like. i am still kind of on the fence about making some of my newer stuff account only. like making nameless and nobody move account only? i hate that. maybe ill make my finished works account only and then wait until everything that i havent abandoned is done to make them account only. that might be the better plan. just pisses me off theres nothing we can do right now IM SO SERIOUS we need to find a way to make glaze for writers im not tech savvy but there has to be a way where people on ao3 can be able to read the work but ai cant and it just fucks them. that would be great but i dont even know if thats possible

[allamericansbitch]

it's the noah kahan concert anon again! if you don't mind could i ask a few questions? since it's my first concert ever, i'm a little nervous. like what time should i get to the venue, are there any bag restrictions and what are some general things i should expect/prepare for? also, i am going by myself! super excited, but that makes me a bit more nervous

omg im so happy to help! so the time you get to the venue depends on what time it says that specific show starts, and that usually means when the opener goes on- no the main act. lets say it says it starts at 8, im sure you wanna be one the safe side and arrive in plenty of time to park, check out the merch, use the restroom, etc. so i'd get there at 7- an hour before it starts if you also wanna see the opener.

bag restrictions are specific to each venue so your best bet is to just google the name of the venue + 'bag policy' and a link to their website page with that info should pop up.

specific things that i've learned:

if it's in the summer (which in this case and if you live in North America then yes) i'd bring a foldable fan! you just get them on amazon, they'll fit in most small bags. it can sometimes get hot so it's nice to have.

drink plenty of water beforehand! i usually drink plenty while I'm home and then stop about 2 hours before i leave so i dont have to use the restroom badly during the show, plus i keep a bottle of water in the car for the drive back (you can always get water at the venue, but be prepared for it to be very expensive lol).

bring a portable phone charger for your phone and remember to charge it up beforehand! just a good thing to have.

this may be controversial, but i dont like waiting in traffic at the end of shows for 1+ hour, i leave during the last song. this is completely up to you and if you wanna stay then stay! but just know traffic afterward is gonna be rough.

i like to buy my merch beforehand the show rather than after, they tend to run out of sizes the later you go.

comfortable shoes! wear shoes you wear often and know you can stand a long time in and walk a decent amount in.

my bag normally consists of: a small wallet with 1 or 2 credit cards, some change and like $20, the portable charger, the fan and my keys. thats really all i've ever needed.

the noah show i went to was so calm and peaceful, i think it's a great show to be your first! you'll have so much fun and if you have any other questions i'd be happy to help!

[ranidspace]

Tumblr live is doing some stuff that allows u to use OBS and stream from desktop, which i'm assuming a lot more people would want to do than the whatever Tiktok/Instagram live bullshit they're doing right now. Lets take a look at the terms of service and privacy policy.

THIS POST DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AS LEGAL ADVICE OR A FULL COMPREHENSION OF THEIR TERMS. please read the original as well

heres the terms and privacy policy specifically for live. Heres the section on how they use the data they collect:

Here's one thing they send:

"For marketing purposes: We share information with companies we do not own, including information collected from cookies, such as your location, IP address, AdID or IDFA and certain demographic information, in order to allow our marketing partners to optimize our ad campaigns. For advertising purposes". We share information with companies we do not own, including information collected from cookies and across the devices used to access the Service, such as your location, IP address, AdID or IDFA and certain demographic information (such as age, gender, parental status, relationship status, religion, education, and ethnicity), in order to allow these companies to deliver relevant ads.

Note AdID and IDFA, these are the advertiser IDs for Android and Apple respectively. Both of these can be turned off. Location is also based off your IP, which all websites can see anyway unless you have a VPN(but then the VPN gets to see your IP instead), thats just how the internet works, and the location data is probably just "what country you live in" drop down menu. If they want your precise location, they will ask your browser, to where your browser will ask YOU, and you can just hit "Deny". Cookies are also just what all websites have on you, though use firefox

The "Demographic Information" Section seems a bit concerning, however in the previous section, III. Information We Collect, none of the above demographic information is collected at all, usually this is inferred by you using the app. Twitter does this, as well as Tiktok, and nearly every other social media. Tumblr live however, probably wont be able to get any sort of this info out of you due to it being a pretty limited platform.

None of this is out of the ordinary really. Tumblr does this as well, here's a section from their privacy policy:

Tumblr selectively runs advertisements so we can provide you with Tumblr content for free. To help select which ads to show you, we may share some of your information with advertising partners, or allow our advertising partners to “collect” certain information. The personal information we share includes online identifiers and internet or other network or device activity (such as cookie information, other device identifiers, and IP address), and geolocation data (approximate location information from your IP address). In some US states, this data sharing may be considered a “sale.” To learn more about how we select the ads you see, check out Tumblr’s Ads & You. We do not sell (or share) information that identifies you personally, like your name or contact information, in our ads program. Also, we do not knowingly "sell" your personal information if you are under 16.

Thankfully you can opt-out. (residents of EU and US only i guess)

Heres another section from TMG's privacy policy:

"Cooperation with law enforcement. We cooperate with government and law enforcement officials to enforce and comply with the law. We report threats of violence or self-harm and other illegal activities proactively, and we may disclose information about you to government or law enforcement officials in order to: (1) protect the safety and security of our users and members of the public or (2) satisfy subpoenas, court orders, or other governmental requests."

They give your info to feds which i guess is important. Tumblr by itself also does that

Information Disclosed for Our Protection and the Protection of Others: We believe in freedom of expression, and, to the extent reasonable, we try to protect our community from baseless legal demands. That said, we also reserve the right to access, preserve, and disclose any information as we reasonably believe is necessary, in our sole discretion, to (i) satisfy any law, regulation, legal process, governmental request, or governmental order, (ii) enforce this Privacy Policy and our Terms of Service, including investigation of potential violations hereof, (iii) detect, prevent, or otherwise address fraud, security, trust and safety, or technical issues (including exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of improving security and preventing fraud, spam, and malware), (iv) respond to user support requests, or (v) protect the rights, property, health or safety of us, our users, any third parties or the public in general, including but not limited to situations involving possible violence, suicide, or self-harm.

Twitch also does, if you think other streaming platforms are better:

"Twitch may disclose user information if we believe in good faith that such disclosure is necessary to comply with U.S. state and federal laws or other applicable laws around the world (for example, in the country of your residence), or respond to a court order, judicial or other government request, subpoena, or warrant in the manner legally required."

At the end they have a section about Things they DO NOT share with anyone. This being:

your exact date of birth your first name your last name your biometric information (see “Biometric Information Collected with Your Consent for Limited Purposes” above) your address your phone number(s), or your email address

If the biometric data is worrying, it's a photo of your face you can use to verify your account, thats encrypted and stored on their servers and as said, not shared with or sold to anyone, for marketing or advertising purposes.

Due to GDPR laws you can request all data they have on you, and you can request to have it all deleted off their servers. This goes for any other websites that also operate in the European Union.

Unfun fact, Base Tumblr has a different privacy policy depending if you're inside the EU or not, and if you're a US citizen you can only request your data depending on what state you live in.

I remember there was a huge panic about Tumblr Live and the privacy of using it, because people were looking at the privacy policy and seeing bad stuff. You do realize you're reading that on a website with a nearly identical privacy policy? You know that most other websites are the same if not worse?

[daemonhxckergrrl]

re: your ask from greyr4t about win10: as you said in your answer its free, just needs a key for 'activation.' ime activating win10 has been worth it. like you mentioned, it isnt strictly necessary, one can make do fine in a somewhat limited capacity with the watermark in the corner forever (unless your monitor is an OLED then have fun with 100% guaranteed screen burn in lmao. or unless always seeing it enrages you disproportionately. as in my case). but having windows activated is honestly just nice, it makes many things easier and is more sustainable in the long run... worth the extremely minor hassle as like a QoL thing imo. you also brought up that its possible to circumvent microsoft (and its brazenly insane asking prices 🤬) & buy cheap keys online from third parties. i wanted to talk about how i did shit, hopefully it helps the original asker directly or at least comes in handy to know

so i bought my (shady bootleg, yes, but perfectly functional for years now) win10 activation key for even cheaper than what Synthia listed as a price point- iirc, under 5 bucks USD. (might be higher now w inflation, but id be surprised if its much more than around 10.) if things still work how they used to, you can do this on ebay. technically ebays policies dont allow it, so the accounts selling these keys come and go frequently due to getting shut down by ebay after popping up. thus, dont necessarily be put off if the seller hasnt existed for long, as often thats just how it goes (or it did. hopefully this sort of thing is still going strong🤞); do trust happy reviews. now, there are a few TYPES of activation keys– priced slightly different, nothing big– that correspond to different editions of windows 10. so basically its home edition, pro edition, and "pro for workstations". might be worth finding a brief summary of each to determine which edition best meets your needs. (there are more editions beyond the main trio, look into those too if you want, but the tldr on em is theyre for like niche markets w/ highly specific use cases.) fwiw, i got pro & am happy with it. another thing, from personal experience: may or may not be obvious but you're gonna wanna save a screenshot of your key somewhere safe and accessible. additionally though, label the screenshot somehow so you know what it is later, and if youre a disorganized scatterbrain like i am then put that in multiple places you can reliably access so if/when youre having trouble tracking it down you know where else to look; it came in handy for me to have access to it in places both online (cloud storage like google drive or dropbox for example, or even just saving the email copy of the ebay mssg in the designated folder in your email for the ones containing info you wanna save) & off (physical note on paper, stored in the files on one or more personal devices, etc). theres a huge chance youll need it again in the future– like say if you want to upgrade certain hardware– and likely more than once. final advice: highly recommend looking into comprehensive ways of "defanging" and/or "lobotomizing" windows, as they say. i.e., a tip that gets circulated is doing the initial setup for windows w your pc in airplane mode / ethernet unplugged so you dont have to make a microsoft account so they cant create a profile on you to collect your data to sell off & target ads at you (which is obvi totally reversible later if you decide the benefits of having an account outweigh the drawbacks). shit like that, plus the loads of guides out there– many here on tumblr itself– on extensive fucking around in various settings to disable bloatware / preserve privacy / other useful stuff, that can get pretty granular. i think ive even seen Synthia herself reblog posts like that here a couple times, maybe? perhaps try checking relevant-seeming tags from the tagging system in her pinned, or do a blog search for the term 'windows' and see what all there is to find

phew, anyway, jesus christ! sorry this got to be such a long writeup!!! some of this blog's aggregate of resources have been a big help to me, so i wanted to try to pay it forward a little <3 and, Synthia, if you wouldnt mind, tagging the original asker in your response to this anon so that greyr4t is more likely to see all this would be very much appreciated by me!! ty in advance!! thanks also for your careful curation of useful info on this blog, plus the helpful posts and guides youve written here for us yourself 👍🌈

hi anon ! thanks for writing all this up !! lots of great points here - hopefully they help you out @greyr4t ! the airplane mode one is real important too if you care about privacy (and the fact you can't choose to make a local account during installation unless you are disconnected from the internet is awful and yet another dark pattern-type tactic.

i'm glad my blog's been good for you <3 (though i do need to go through and make all the important stuff a bit easier to access at some point)

iirc there's some reblogs on general privacy stuff (probably under one of the REPO tags and like "net privacy" or similar) as well as my own firefox post, and maybe more will happen in the future when i get to them

[determinate-negation]

do u know what news sites are good and which are bad regarding israel and palestine? ive heard cnn was bad for this and al jazeera good but im not really sure what the best way is to tell which news sites are best

cnn is bad in general, theyre imperialist media thats frequently dishonest and biased especially in their foreign reporting and generally affirm whatever the us state departments position is. same with new york times, washington post, wall street journal, the new yorker, and most mainstream american media tbh. they have a vested interest in justifying imperialism and violent american foreign policy, including the us’s alliance with israel. michael parentis book inventing reality: the politics of news media is a good book about the structure of the american media and their history of backing every single us foreign intervention since the 1950s, lying about socialists and revolutionary movements, and selectively presenting information to support warmongering and downplay u.s. and u.s. ally crimes. ive read and written a lot about this, mostly about us foreign policy and not as much about israel, but ill add more info about us media in general to this post if youre interested in just how fucked up american media is. these are the institutions that lie and misrepresent information about china and north korea, that lied about saddam and gaddafi and 9/11 and weapons of mass destruction and vietnam and cuba and nicaragua and so on. no media is neutral but its better to know that and pick a side than assume that they have no ideological program

al jeezera is pretty good. im not sure how much theyre posting rn about palestine but fairness and accuracy in reporting is a source i like for media analysis in general. redstream and breakthrough news are anti imperialist news that are good. electronic intifada, 972 mag, jewish currents, mondoweiss, and the intercept are also all generally good reporting on palestine. i also follow the instagram account eye.on.palestine which is a lot of reposts of videos from palestinians and not a news site but i think its important to see how bad the situation is :/ i also follow quds news network which is palestinian news and seems generally reliable

also adding middle east monitor, middle east eye, and the intercept

[9w1ft]

I think Taylor could’ve opted out of dynamic pricing… it’s straight up greedy at this point. Like I don’t personally feel a need to defend her but do agree that Ticketmaster is ultimately at fault. It’s like if Amazon broke on Black Friday… it shouldn’t happen. It’s clearly a bigger issue around monopolies and them not feeling a need to perform at their best, since what other option do ppl have, but TN also could’ve shared much more info around stage layout, pricing, etc.

i hesitate to theorize because i haven’t looked into the details of ticketmaster’s policies, nor have i personally seen any of the paperwork, but i believe that, given dynamic pricing is something ticketmaster likely wants all of its clients to adopt, its not just about incentivizing clients to do so, but surely its also about disincentivizing them from not adopting dynamic pricing. i think its not unreasonable to assume that there would have been penalties or big disadvantages if they did not do dynamic pricing. and this is assuming this is something you just opt into or out of.. which i do not know the details of intimately. but again this is just me theorizing.

therefore yes i tend to believe the underlying issue is ticketmaster having leverage on the situation because of the monopoly they have on the market.

still, this answer doesnt really provide emotional or practical relief for the situation everyone is presently going through. thats where i think people end up looking to taylor, for better or for worse.

[notcatherinemorland]

[the ongoing ‘having a gender or lack thereof at uni’ saga ongoes]

have decided to keep a light chronical of this whole....... gender at uni saga... for fun and for kicks.

i have now met with the Nice Gender Lady of my uni. She was indeed a Nice Gender Lady. It was very much a ‘feral cat meeting a bowl of water’ vibe, but i get the vibe she’s been having a fair few feral cat meetings over the last 2 months lmao. it was very much a run down info meeting of what is going on with me, what the university can practically offer, what can and can’t be done. very informational. i was pleasently surprised that the bulk of the emphasis was on my wants and needs for myself and not what the uni could do for me, but more what i needed to be done. so that was very nice. big fan. delightful. Nice Gender Lady was very aware the university prior to 2 months ago was fucking shocking for trans student experinces & this year is the cumulative 9 years of several people’s work. so thats nice. im also on a list for gender specific counselling, which is also nice.

i did have the funniest possible experience of saying the building name out loud to someone whilst being very lost in the wrong building & watching them go on a face journey to match mine as we both came to the understanding that there was a Gender Building for Gender People and i was shown very gracefully to the Gender Waiting Room. i think this is beyond funny, i cannot lie. Having Gender Experiences in the Gender Room.

the crux of everything is that i am stubborn as a mule and frankly dont want the government nor my employers to know about Gender Things. Although i think there’s an unspoken acknowledgement between my tutor and i that i like reading queer theory because i am queer and also i do like theory very much. im going back into my post-structuralist era. but as i havent given up the pipe dream of academia in for the future i also uhhhhHHH dont want my cheeky little they/them pronouns being known because that scares the shit out of me and i am still living in a world where using alt pronouns is wildly unprofessional and also cringe. the reason i started all of this in the first place is because it is becoming less and less unprofessional and also cringe and i do like that a lot very much. im just unwilling to be on the front line, so to speak. so this has been an interesting few weeks.

my uni is very much at the front line of ~hollistic academia~ and inclusive policies, which it can afford to be, because its not redbrick lmao. but its very interesting being stood on the precipice watching people try hoist the Pronoun Scaffolding for an invisible bridge, to torture metaphors about it. i dont know. my feelings are very firmly mixed.

also i got theeee drag icon bimini to sign my copy of gerard genette’s narrative discourse which. sure is an artifact.

[goat-yells-at-everything]

So, apparently, the company I was looking at doesn't actually allow pets for solo drivers. You have to be a team to have a pet.

This doesn't effect Rosie as a service animal but Sparta is, at best, an ESA (emotional support asshole). He wouldn't be permitted unless I agree to be a team driver and, well, I HIGHLY doubt anyone would want to drive with me and my hell spawn.

I'm still gonna go to the recruitment event. Part cuse I've already made a hotel reservation and its non refundable. But mostly because it'll still give me the opportunity to talk with people. Both with the company and possibly other people who drive or are getting into driving. Thats what I REALLY want, to talk face to face with people about the whole idea.

And maybe the info I found is out dated. The policy was changed from none at all to only teams a couple years ago and from what I've read there was a lot of push back from solo drivers so maybe it has.

If not, I'll find a different company. I MIGHT be able to find someone to watch Sparta or to check in on him for a couple weeks of orientation/training runs but I'd have to rehome him (which would likely kill him. like, literally) if I couldn't take him with me.

Unfortunately thats looking like I'll have to take on the cost of getting a CDL myself. Plus side, local community collage has a program. Downside, it'll still be about 5k. I set up an appointment with a financial aid person just to talk about my options tomorrow.

Nothing is set in stone at this time.

My mother still thinks I'm nuts/stupid for even considering this...

[dashiellqvverty]

anyway i have been feeling like garbage all day bc i vowed yesterday that i would take a mental health (+ period cramps) day after i cried during my shift yesterday and anyway i called when i woke up and the fucking new manager picked up and was like “okay well just bring a doctors note to your next shift :)” and like this is the second time i’ve called out ever since i started the job at the end of may which is maybe still too often but like he doesnt know me and my other managers LIKE me lmao like i am a person who is terrified of skipping things its not something i DO unless i need to. and i Needed this i know i did. did i say i was sick to my stomach? yes. am i having a bad stomach time for real today? also yes. am i going to GO TO THE DOCTOR FOR THAT? no. is it literally policy to stay home if we are throwing up or have diarrhea? yes. (did i have a job interview this morning and want to go home and rest? also yes.)

anyway it absolutely fucking ruined my mental health day so thats fucking karma i guess on top of the guilt i already had over screwing my coworkers over. also i spent all afternoon running errands for my mom who has covid so like. idk. would be great if the birth control im on to make my period symptoms less bad actually Did That.