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UBLUBLU

@maxxiedemon / maxxiedemon.tumblr.com

Personal blog. Expect art, stuff I enjoy, and lots of games and funsies. Oh, and eventual politics too. If you want to look at more art stuff, check out my tag "sketches"
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The AI tech bubble finally bursting is going to be both catastrophic and very funny.

Like it’s going to be wild, it’s already starting to hit NVIDIA stock. The chain reaction will hit tech giants and everyone depending on them.

Line goes down.

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flipocrite

It really is the perfect example of a bubble.

  1. Budding new technology shows the potential for promising new applications.
  2. Under late-capitalism, short-term profit always takes precedence over long-term gains because the assumption is that you can take the cash upfront and choose to A.) reinvest it into the original idea to make it a more viable investment, both by funding R&D and pulling more investors B.) run.
  3. Technology gets advertised, bought, and sold before any reliably useful applications can actually be developed. Pushing money into an unfinished technology does not mean it gets developed before investors want their return.
  4. Consumers and investors realize that without any viable applications, it’s a scam and they fell hard for it. The bubble deflates as investors try to minimize their losses. Those who took the money and ran reap massive profits from the misfortune they pushed on everyone else.

The nature of ai was ESPECIALLY seductive to investors because it promised to be the capitalist holy grail:

  • Just like crypto, it’s too new to have any sort of government oversight. Right-wing clowns are still convinced this is a good thing (“Why won’t the police help me retrieve my stolen jpeg?”).
  • Your “labor” would follow orders to the letter. You, wise, exalted executive, would never have your untrained artistic talent or unsolicited advice questioned again.
  • Most importantly, you could have employees you don’t have to pay. Paint the backdrop for a cinematic masterpiece with only a prompt! Use ai to ghostwrite a new romance novel seven days a week! Lay off your entire customer service department! The possibilities are endless!

The ai bubble wasn’t just a representation of its own overpromised potential, it also inflated every major tech corporation as they all expectantly awaited their first financial quarter with a 95% reduction in labor costs. Some of them prepared to lay off significant chunks of their workforce, expecting a fully automated replacement any day. But customer service chatbots are giving away free flights, some lethally unreliable books on mushroom foraging got published on amazon, and the wonka spectacular guy practically got a public stoning. It’s apparent (and more so every day) that the ai hatchling was pushed out of the nest without any feathers.

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13yearslater

Successful trans men

I wish I knew about men like these growing up, I wish I knew that trans men could be successful after a lifetime of never seeing anyone ‘like me’ excelling in life. So here are some trans men - some that you may have heard of, some that you may not - that are successful in a range of careers. Never let being trans hold you back, never think you can’t do something, never think there is not a place for you.

Ben Barres American neurobiologist for Stanford University and advocate for women in science. Barre’s research on the interactions between glial cells and neurons changed the way that we understand the brain and opened up a whole new field of research.

Stephen Whittle Professor of equalities law. Founder of FTM Network in 1989 and Press for Change in 1992. Whittle has been heavily involved in trans activism since joining the Self Help Association for Transsexuals in 1979. His research and activism has been instrumental in ensuring the rights of trans people in the UK.

Michael D Cohen Actor, teacher and coach. Making his break in award-winning Nickelodeon sitcoms Harvey Danger and Danger Force he was the first series regular actor to publicly come out as transgender. Cohen has a BSc in cell biology and a masters degree in adult education, teaching at his own acting studio and providing workshops.

Chris Mosier American triathlete and award-winning coach. Six time member of Team USA in both duathlon and triathlon, Mosier also won two national championships in racewalking and was the first transgender athlete to qualify for the Olympic trials to compete against other members of his gender.

Yance Ford African-American film producer and director. Ford received an Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking and was nominated for an Oscar for his part in producing and directing the documentary Strong Island which follows the death of his brother.

Kael McKenzie Canadian judge. Serving in the Canadian Armed Forces for several years, McKenzie later attended law school and and worked as a lawyer before being appointed as a judge to the Provincial Court of Manitoba in 2015. 

Shane Ortega Native American former flight engineer in the US army, former marine and professional bodybuilder. Throughout his career Ortega has served in Iraq and Afghanistan in over 400 combat missions. He has a long history of advocating for the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the recent banning on transgender service members in the US army. 

Drago Renteria Chicano photojournalist and deaf and LGBT activist. Renteria founded the Deaf Queer Resource and is CEO of DeafVision - a webhosting and development company run by deaf people and the founder of the National Deaf LGBTQ Archives. Renteria has been instrumental in both creating and hosting many online deaf/queer spaces online along with being heavily involved in real-world activism for decades.

Phillipe Cunningham Elected city councillor for ward 4 Minneapolis and previous special education teacher, Cunningham holds a masters degrees in Organizational Leadership & Civic Engagement and in Police Administration and is passionate about tacking inequalities in his community. 

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jenroses

The vast majority of these men did not get puberty blockers early. I think that’s important for trans youth to know… that stupid legislation can’t stop them from being trans and transitioning well, even if the hoops are worse and take longer. (I think trans youth should be able to transition when and how they need to, but in the face of current transphobic legislation, you need to understand that even if they manage to delay you, they can’t stop you.)

Ben Barres, in fact, didn’t transition until he was 43 and already a full fledged neuroscientist in a faculty position. He chose to use his circumstances, and the differences in treatment he experienced after transitioning, to draw attention to gender discrimination in his chosen field in all directions. I’ve spoken to a number of people who knew him over the years and have never heard anyone express anything but profound affection and admiration for him as a mentor and a teacher as well as a groundbreaking scientist.

So, you know. They really can’t stop you. Sometimes in science I hear trans folks, especially transmasc folks, expressing fear that they’re somehow letting the side down by choosing to live life in the way that feels most authentic to themselves. Ben’s legacy puts the lie to that fear: in choosing to transition in 1997, very publicly — in academia your name is part of your publication record and all his previous work was obviously published under his deadname — he was able to use his particular perspective and unique experiences to advocate for others even harder than he might otherwise have been able to do.

His memory is a blessing. His legacy is a gift.

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So I’ve been teaching 6th grade since January, and one thing about my female students which made me upset to realize is how many of them are obsessed with skincare. I've heard the girls in my class discussing the EYE CREAM they use. Like tf you mean eye cream? You're ELEVEN!!! I'm a decade older than you and have never even touched eye cream!! The most skincare a middle schooler needs is cleanser and moisturizer, maybe some acne cream. Who tf is selling you all this other stuff? Who tf told you you needed all this?

It hurts me to see. Their brains are too young for these types of insecurities 😭 no 11 year old girl should be obsessed with wrinkles, I wanna beat tf out of whatever tiktoker made them believe they needed skin that perfect

Do you know how fucking miserable it is to watch a group of 11 year old girls obsessively check their skin on pocket mirrors? And hear them talk about how they need new products to fix “imperfections” created by tiktok?? I just taught them last week what the OCEAN TIDES are. I helped one of them spell the word “conduction” yesterday. They just learned what the atmosphere is. Who the fuck is telling these literal children that they need eye cream??!! When I catch you!!!

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tgraywrites

JK Rowling has used her billionaire legal team to silence a Jewish woman for telling the truth about her contempt for trans victims of the Holocaust.

Scotland’s network of “freedom of speech” organisations, as per usual, have nothing to say about the use of wealth to gag critics of the wealthy.

However fast they race to condemn the LGBT+ community for saying the names of those who harm us. Statements at the ready to insist that transphobes no one wants to work with anymore must be given every possible opportunity to gain from their bigotry.

But it's not the billionaires who are being silenced, as our media breathlessly echo their every hateful proclamation.

It's journalists and activists forced to publicly humiliate themselves under the weight and the threat of billionaire legal teams or be driven into destitution.

We deserve better. Freedom of speech needs to mean something

The Streisand Effect strikes

This will swiftly become one of the primary things JK Rowling is remembered for. Trying to erase crimes of the Holocaust against trans people and then silencing Jewish journalists for calling her out.

With your help we can make sure JK Rowling is known as a Holocaust denier first, author of mediocre children's books second

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mapsontheweb

The most popular browsers in different countries in 2012 and 2022.

Nope! When Chrome first came to popularity, people switched over to it cause it was “faster” (turns out, it just eats through your device’s CPU) but since then Firefox has upped its game in a major way. Chrome just doesn’t measure up anymore. Plus, nowadays Chrome is just a data harvester designed to show hyper targeted ads - so even if Firefox ain’t for you, it’s still worth ditching Google for a different browser.

Legit though I switched to Firefox and it’s so so so much better

i’m gonna keep reblogging this ad infinitum so yall might as well convert now

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lillagrim
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relelvance

In what world is tall muscular man not conventionally attractive

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piedude

We've all been down here too long. I truly think there's a chunk of tumblr's population that can no longer survive sunlight.

women will say “hear me out” and show u a photo of pyramid head and then tumblr users will go “this is a perfectly normal man and an ice cold take”

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were--ralph

i need people do do me a favor and be absolutely normal about it

i have a completely normal coworker who does music and stuff and its good music and i want to send my army of followers to his video on yt and just +like it or something. something to boost him in the algorithm

the issue is no one can let him know this second life i live on the internet because if he finds out i have 25k followers on tumblr or 10k on twitter etc then the questions will flow and i will not be prepared for the conversation about werewolves that follows

Ok heres the video, just +like it and if you want to comment just say you're from reddit or facebook or somewhere

If someone DOES want to share it to reddit that'd be awesome and I'd love you but I dont have an active account there

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bogleech

It’s not just that the leaves will break down on their own (and enrich the soil while they’re at it!). During the winter, all sorts of insects use leaf litter for shelter, and they’re the first food available to larvae in early spring. Leaves also insulate the plants under them during the winter, which is important if you’re in an area prone to frost heaving.

One of the best thing you can do for native pollinators in your area is Leave the Leaves!

My mom stopped raking her leaves when she found out about this but her neighbor used his leaf blower to clear out her yard the first year she decided to try. So she started posting a Leave the Leaves sign in the yard each year with an explanation about why it’s good and two winters later only one house still rakes their lawn each year.

We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the biodiversity in the neighborhood since. We have birds that we haven’t seen since we moved into the city from living rurally and those birds are starting to nest in the trees and gardens in spring. The swallows and bats are back at night. The single woodpecker we would only occasionally see visits daily and even has a friend that has joined it. We have more squirrels and rabbits and shockingly fewer moles and voles. We heard an owl outside last fall.

Leave the leaves indeed.

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reblogged

I really like what this physicist, Lamar Glover, has to say in Behind the Curve

+ this part from Spiros Michalakis:

Incredibly good take which is really rare for these topics

Transcribed text:

Quote by physicist LAMAR GROVER:

“Truthers, flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers… when we leave people behind, we leave bright minds to mutate and stagnate. These folks are potential scientists gone completely wrong. Their natural inquisitiveness and rejection of norms could be beneficial to science if they were more scientifically-literate.”

Quote by Dr SPIROS MICHALAKIS:

“The problem I see is actually not from the side of the conspiracy theorists. It is actually from our side, from the side of science. Very often it is difficult not to look down. My friend said: “Sometimes, the way to change someone’s mind is to shame them”. And I say, I don’t think that’s the last resort, ever. This is the same as saying that, if a kid doesn’t get a particular subject, it’s not your fault as the teacher, it is their own fault. I do not believe that. It is you haven’t developed your empathy to see from their point of view where they’re getting stuck. The worst case scenario is you just completely push these individuals at the fringe of society, and then society just lost them.“

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