#trigger warning: epilepsy

[sprinklesharkie]

the flickering like a zedaph horror movie

[fratricideknight]

people with epilepsy: would you be willing to tell me what your preferred way of tagging for flashing lights is? like, 'cw flashing' or just, 'flashing lights' or something? because i'm not sure and i'm also not entirely sure how dangerous flashing lights through a screen can be, so don't want to risk getting it wrong

[strawberry-metal]

Alright, I’ll be ending it with this! Vivid! At last, Vocaloid metal at a Vocaloid concert, and it’s a Miku and Luka duet no less. I hope you all enjoyed my drunken ass trying to get good short snippets of the majority of the songs and I hope you all have a lovely evening! Love you all!

Ok so I drank the Miku margerita… when I took a fucking clonazepam and migraine med. So I got blackout drunk after the concert. I was literally only sober for the first song lmao

I apologize for video quality! Phone didn’t want to focus. They looked FAR better in person I assure you. I also tried to film the bandmates and lighting effects whenever I could remember to.

THANK YOU DALLA

[beetlegoose01]

psa: don't put tw: epilepsy in your tags! instead put tw: flashing lights

[transfemmes]

wild robot was so good omg

IT WAS from frame one the animation alone was so beautiful and everyone in my theater was tearing up at the climax

[0xy--m0r0n]

words.

(i have none)

uhh i also wanna mention that if you like my art, it would make me extremely happy if you could check out some of my other stuff too? thanks afghijh

[rowanyourlocalarsonist]

They've made Bad Apple on r/place...

Also: Be warned before watching the video. For some reasons, the recording of the event glitched multiple timpes in the row, so it happened multiple times in a row that flashes of white, the logo of r/place appeared for one second before the video proceeds normally or there are weird zooms in and out. Please don't watch this if you have epilepsy or other forms of photosensitivity.

[strawberry-metal]

Just a reminder that concert snippet vids are from here on out, I’m completely drunk in so I apologize for quality lmao. I’m also gonna give it a break for an hour or two because I think tumblr is starting to get mad at the constant video posting-

One of my favorite songs the twins sing. :3 (I KNOW THEY’RE MIRROR IMAGES SHUT)

Ok so I drank the Miku margerita… when I took a fucking clonazepam and migraine med. So I got blackout drunk after the concert. I was literally only sober for the first song lmao

I apologize for video quality! Phone didn’t want to focus. They looked FAR better in person I assure you. I also tried to film the bandmates and lighting effects whenever I could remember to.

Oh yeah, later on I tried to get a nice picture of Rin and Miku singing Gimmie x Gimmie and uh… this was the best one. I think by that point I was too dang wasted to actually get a good photo hahaha!

[thisisdefinitelyacreativename]

The ad where the girl steps on a nail activates my fucking vaso vagal or however it's spelled so bad I think it might in fact be a disability!! I've nearly passed out from random un warned scenes in so many movies and shows!! Nobody even has accessibility features for this wtf

[valvesoftware]

hey guys can we NOT post dogs and tag them cynophobia. thanks!!

[singersalvaged]

big carrd updates! lots of excerpts in relation to Allie. Click here if you want to take a look.

[strawberry-metal]

By this point in time I was drunk lmao. I— don’t remember what I was laughing at and saying “damn” about lol. Anyway Rin is my third favorite Vocaloid~

Ok so I drank the Miku margerita… when I took a fucking clonazepam and migraine med. So I got blackout drunk after the concert. I was literally only sober for the first song lmao

I apologize for video quality! Phone didn’t want to focus. They looked FAR better in person I assure you. I also tried to film the bandmates and lighting effects whenever I could remember to.

Also I forgot to post these selfies of my boyfriend and I waiting in line outside so uh, here they are. It was fun chatting to fellow fans while we waited. Headphones helped alot with noise.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The US Copyright Office frees the McFlurry

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

I have spent a quarter century obsessed with the weirdest corner of the weirdest section of the worst internet law on the US statute books: Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the 1998 law that makes it a felony to help someone change how their own computer works so it serves them, rather than a distant corporation.

Under DMCA 1201, giving someone a tool to "bypass an access control for a copyrighted work" is a felony punishable by a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine – for a first offense. This law can refer to access controls for traditional copyrighted works, like movies. Under DMCA 1201, if you help someone with photosensitive epilepsy add a plug-in to the Netflix player in their browser that blocks strobing pictures that can trigger seizures, you're a felon:

https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-media/2017Jul/0005.html

But software is a copyrighted work, and everything from printer cartridges to car-engine parts have software in them. If the manufacturer puts an "access control" on that software, they can send their customers (and competitors) to prison for passing around tools to help them fix their cars or use third-party ink.

Now, even though the DMCA is a copyright law (that's what the "C" in DMCA stands for, after all); and even though blocking video strobes, using third party ink, and fixing your car are not copyright violations, the DMCA can still send you to prison, for a long-ass time for doing these things, provided the manufacturer designs their product so that using it the way that suits you best involves getting around an "access control."

As you might expect, this is quite a tempting proposition for any manufacturer hoping to enshittify their products, because they know you can't legally disenshittify them. These access controls have metastasized into every kind of device imaginable.

Garage-door openers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

Refrigerators:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/12/digital-feudalism/#filtergate

Dishwashers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/03/cassette-rewinder/#disher-bob

Treadmills:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/22/vapescreen/#jane-get-me-off-this-crazy-thing

Tractors:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#deere-john

Cars:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

Printers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/07/inky-wretches/#epson-salty

And even printer paper:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/16/unauthorized-paper/#dymo-550

DMCA 1201 is the brainchild of Bruce Lehmann, Bill Clinton's Copyright Czar, who was repeatedly warned that cancerous proliferation this was the foreseeable, inevitable outcome of his pet policy. As a sop to his critics, Lehman added a largely ornamental safety valve to his law, ordering the US Copyright Office to invite submissions every three years petitioning for "use exemptions" to the blanket ban on circumventing access-controls.

I call this "ornamental" because if the Copyright Office thinks that, say, it should be legal for you to bypass an access control to use third-party ink in your printer, or a third-party app store in your phone, all they can do under DMCA 1201 is grant you the right to use a circumvention tool. But they can't give you the right to acquire that tool.

I know that sounds confusing, but that's only because it's very, very stupid. How stupid? Well, in 2001, the US Trade Representative arm-twisted the EU into adopting its own version of this law (Article 6 of the EUCD), and in 2003, Norway added the law to its lawbooks. On the eve of that addition, I traveled to Oslo to debate the minister involved:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/28/clintons-ghost/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

The minister praised his law, explaining that it gave blind people the right to bypass access controls on ebooks so that they could feed them to screen readers, Braille printers, and other assistive tools. OK, I said, but how do they get the software that jailbreaks their ebooks so they can make use of this exemption? Am I allowed to give them that tool?

No, the minister said, you're not allowed to do that, that would be a crime.

Is the Norwegian government allowed to give them that tool? No. How about a blind rights advocacy group? No, not them either. A university computer science department? Nope. A commercial vendor? Certainly not.

No, the minister explained, under his law, a blind person would be expected to personally reverse engineer a program like Adobe E-Reader, in hopes of discovering a defect that they could exploit by writing a program to extract the ebook text.

Oh, I said. But if a blind person did manage to do this, could they supply that tool to other blind people?

Well, no, the minister said. Each and every blind person must personally – without any help from anyone else – figure out how to reverse-engineer the ebook program, and then individually author their own alternative reader program that worked with the text of their ebooks.

That is what is meant by a use exemption without a tools exemption. It's useless. A sick joke, even.

The US Copyright Office has been valiantly holding exemptions proceedings every three years since the start of this century, and they've granted many sensible exemptions, including ones to benefit people with disabilities, or to let you jailbreak your phone, or let media professors extract video clips from DVDs, and so on. Tens of thousands of person-hours have been flushed into this pointless exercise, generating a long list of things you are now technically allowed to do, but only if you are a reverse-engineering specialist type of computer programmer who can manage the process from beginning to end in total isolation and secrecy.

But there is one kind of use exception the Copyright Office can grant that is potentially game-changing: an exemption for decoding diagnostic codes.

You see, DMCA 1201 has been a critical weapon for the corporate anti-repair movement. By scrambling error codes in cars, tractors, appliances, insulin pumps, phones and other devices, manufacturers can wage war on independent repair, depriving third-party technicians of the diagnostic information they need to figure out how to fix your stuff and keep it going.

This is bad enough in normal times, but during the acute phase of the covid pandemic, hospitals found themselves unable to maintain their ventilators because of access controls. Nearly all ventilators come from a single med-tech monopolist, Medtronic, which charges hospitals hundreds of dollars to dispatch their own repair technicians to fix its products. But when covid ended nearly all travel, Medtronic could no longer provide on-site calls. Thankfully, an anonymous hacker started building homemade (illegal) circumvention devices to let hospital technicians fix the ventilators themselves, improvising housings for them from old clock radios, guitar pedals and whatever else was to hand, then mailing them anonymously to hospitals:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#medtronic-again

Once a manufacturer monopolizes repair in this way, they can force you to use their official service depots, charging you as much as they'd like; requiring you to use their official, expensive replacement parts; and dictating when your gadget is "too broken to fix," forcing you to buy a new one. That's bad enough when we're talking about refusing to fix a phone so you buy a new one – but imagine having a spinal injury and relying on a $100,000 exoskeleton to get from place to place and prevent muscle wasting, clots, and other immobility-related conditions, only to have the manufacturer decide that the gadget is too old to fix and refusing to give you the technical assistance to replace a watch battery so that you can get around again:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/26/24255074/former-jockey-michael-straight-exoskeleton-repair-battery

When the US Copyright Office grants a use exemption for extracting diagnostic codes from a busted device, they empower repair advocates to put that gadget up on a workbench and torture it into giving up those codes. The codes can then be integrated into an unofficial diagnostic tool, one that can make sense of the scrambled, obfuscated error codes that a device sends when it breaks – without having to unscramble them. In other words, only the company that makes the diagnostic tool has to bypass an access control, but the people who use that tool later do not violate DMCA 1201.

This is all relevant this month because the US Copyright Office just released the latest batch of 1201 exemptions, and among them is the right to circumvent access controls "allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment":

https://publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-ifixit-free-the-mcflurry-win-copyright-office-dmca-exemption-for-ice-cream-machines/

While this covers all kinds of food prep gear, the exemption request – filed by Public Knowledge and Ifixit – was inspired by the bizarre war over the tragically fragile McFlurry machine. These machines – which extrude soft-serve frozen desserts – are notoriously failure-prone, with 5-16% of them broken at any given time. Taylor, the giant kitchen tech company that makes the machines, charges franchisees a fortune to repair them, producing a steady stream of profits for the company.

This sleazy business prompted some ice-cream hackers to found a startup called Kytch, a high-powered automation and diagnostic tool that was hugely popular with McDonald's franchisees (the gadget was partially designed by the legendary hardware hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang!).

In response, Taylor played dirty, making a less-capable clone of the Kytch, trying to buy Kytch out, and teaming up with McDonald's corporate to bombard franchisees with legal scare-stories about the dangers of using a Kytch to keep their soft-serve flowing, thanks to DMCA 1201:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/20/euthanize-rentier-enablers/#cold-war

Kytch isn't the only beneficiary of the new exemption: all kinds of industrial kitchen equipment is covered. In upholding the Right to Repair, the Copyright Office overruled objections of some of its closest historical allies, the Entertainment Software Association, Motion Picture Association, and Recording Industry Association of America, who all sided with Taylor and McDonald's and opposed the exemption:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/us-copyright-office-frees-the-mcflurry-allowing-repair-of-ice-cream-machines/

This is literally the only useful kind of DMCA 1201 exemption the Copyright Office can grant, and the fact that they granted it (along with a similar exemption for medical devices) is a welcome bright spot. But make no mistake, the fact that we finally found a narrow way in which DMCA 1201 can be made slightly less stupid does not redeem this outrageous law. It should still be repealed and condemned to the scrapheap of history.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/28/mcbroken/#my-milkshake-brings-all-the-lawyers-to-the-yard

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[merenwennolat]

Also, minor other spot - as in season 1 all the lighting in Hell is shit, so there is some flickering in scenes in Hell. It's not strobe lighting by any means but take care. I am attempting to go through and find the exact scene that threw me (I believe the scene I had issue with was in episode 4, but once I find it again I will reblog)

Photosensitivity warning for Good Omens season 2.

I can’t believe we have to keep doing this over and over again but in season 2 episode 1 of good omens there is a long scene (upwards of ten seconds, which to me is long for an extremely dangerous epilepsy trigger) of very bright white and red flashing lights. It’s the entire screen. Unfortunately for me I was already watching this with a migraine coming on and I’m immediately in agony. There was no warning whatsoever before this happened. It’s at almost the very end of the episode. Please reblog to save someone a migraine or seizure.

[genderqueerdykes]

please for the love of god, if you are someone who creates videos or know someone who does, PLEASE include a voice-over warning with your on-screen text warning when it comes to epilepsy and photosensitivity. it is DANGEROUS to force the person to look at the screen in order to see the warning. what if they look away just long enough to miss it? what if they left the video playing and left the room for a few to get a drink?

a text warning is great for deaf and hard of hearing people, but a voice over alongside it is also needed alongside it. BOTH are needed to ensure that all photosensitive people are given proper warning. also please make sure the text stays on screen long enough for people to actually read. if you don't include a text warning that is actually readable you are putting deaf/HoH epileptic people at risk.

photosensitivity is triggered by someone LOOKING at the flashing lights with their eyes. please do not force people to have to scrub through a video visually in order to find a warning. this is so dangerous. please research epilepsy and photosensitivity if you are a video creator. i'm serious. you could injure or kill someone by not giving a proper warning. photosensitivity isn't just someone squinting because the lights are irritating. this can and will cause an episode that could mean people end up in the hospital. take this seriously. people's health and safety is on the line. people shouldn't have to worry about getting triggered into a seizure for the sake of entertainment.

a few seconds of voice over does not take that much time to include when voiceover is half of the video. you're going to be talking for a while anyway. just include a simple "Seizure warning: This video contains flashing/strobing/etc. lights that may trigger seizures in epileptic and photosensitive individuals, viewer discretion is advised." please. i'm begging you on behalf of one of my good friends. take this seriously.

[hollyhomburg]

Prey Animals (Masterlist)

—  Pairing: Yoongi x reader, Bts x reader

—  Subgenders: Omega! Reader, Beta! Yoongi, Alpha! Namjoon, Alpha! Jimin, Alpha! Taehyung, Alpha! Hoseok, Omega! Jungkook, Omega! Seokjin

—  Genre: Omegaverse, Mafia au, Polyamory au, Found family, Suspense, Eventual Smut, Enemies to friends to lovers, Angst with a happy ending, Hurt and Comfort,

—  Summary: In a world where Beta's are rare, valuable, and often have more than one pack; Beta Min Yoongi does everything he can to keep his mafia heritage a secret from his primary pack. Little does he know he's not the only one who's living a double life.

—  Words: 80k so far

—  Warnings: Violence, Blood, Murder, sexual and physical abuse, PTSD, themes of healing, suspense, mute character's, depictions of eating disorders, healing, hospitals, epilepsy, assassins, spyies,

Before you read:

This is the second version of this story, it's better, edited and longer. But if you want to read the first (near complete) version of this story you can read it on tumblr here, or on Ao3 here. there's like a million words of it lol.

not everything is tagged in this version. there is quite a bit of triggering content. i go into much more greater detail about the m/c and the abuse that she suffered at the hands of Geumjae in this version. if there is anything that doesn't get a tag and you feel it needs it, please don't hesitate to tell me!

This version is a lot longer than V1, and because of that the chapters don't line up, chapters 1-13 cover chapters 1-4.

While there are only a few things that have been taken out/restructured, but yoongi and the m/c get a dedicated slow burn love story in this now. i've also added 60k to what we did have so please give this tons of love!

i will not be reblogging these parts nearly as much as the others, because i want there to be less crowdedness on my feed. i will try my hardest to respond to comments if there are any this time around.

~-~

Prologue: Omens

Summary: you watch your husband murder someone, and try not to make it worse

Part 1: The Beta

Summary: Seokjin meets Yoongi when he's at his lowest.

Part 2: The Funeral

Summary: The death of a king pin makes the whole picture come crumbling down. In 120 days, Yoongi will decide who rules the criminal empire.

Part 3: The Alpha

Summary: Seokjin meets Namjoon when things are finally getting good, will the introduction of an alpha disrupt his and yoongi's little pack?

Part 4: Of Violent Dogs

Summary: Kim Namjoon will kill. That is a fact that you can count on.

Part 5: The Pups

Summary: Namjoon meets Jungkook in the Emergency room. "he's sick Joonie, and you can't make him better." that doesn't mean he's not going to try.

Part 6: Prey Animals

Summary: A death and A dinner party (a woman that yoongi can't take his eyes off of.)

Part 7: Hoseok

Summary: Yoongi brings home a stray, but luckily he's going to stay. (Yoongi won't, Yoongi is going to leave)

Part 8: Just Not her

Summary: Yoongi cannot decide if he trusts you or not. After being followed, he interrogates you to figure out your motives.

Part 9: Ribbons

Summary: A dinner at the Moon house prompt Yoongi to get closer and closer to you. But how close can he get before he pricks his finger?

Part 10: Junk Drawers and Daydreams

Summary: Yoongi just wants to figure you out. Just that. He promises.

Part 11: Warm Monsters

Summary: Yoongi's attraction gets harder to ignore, as does your suffering.

Part 12: The After

Summary: In Yoongi's absence the pack sort of falls apart.

Part 13: Bruises and Butterflies

Summary: One life doesn't equal seven.

~-~

Commonly asked questions:

Why the different name? because i thought it would be confusing to have two series's by the same name on the same page

Why are you editing this story? because i want to put it up for physical purchase either on amazon (ew i know) or some other alternative, the beginning of the story had always bugged me because it was not paced the same as the rest of it.