twowaypr reblogged
twowaypr reblogged
I’m going to improve that other guy’s question. Have you met all seven stars of Star Trek TOS, and if you haven’t, who didn’t you meet?
Not only have I met them, I am privileged to call many of them my friends. George has been a mentor to me since 1987, and he only found out (because I told him) last year that I've been modeling my choices and interaction with fans after what I saw him do for so many years.
You probably know that my father is an abusive, bullying, piece of shit who terrorized me my entire childhood before going out of his way to be cruel to me when I was really struggling with all the attention I got as a teenager. So it was in that environment that I first met George and Walter and Nichelle, and they all treated me with love and kindness that I had never gotten from any of the adults in my life (save my Aunt Val). They made sure I knew that I was part of a family, now, if I wanted to be, and that they accepted me just the way I was.
I had never experienced that before. Attention, approval, even basic affection were all conditional and never freely given in my home. I lived in a house with four other people, but I didn't have a family because my father wouldn't let me into the family he made with my brother and sister; I was a thing my mom used to chase her dreams of fame, and -- worst of all -- they hated each other so much, I got put on her "team" without my knowledge or consent, and my dad treated me accordingly.
It was just an awful, painful, lonely existence that was only made better at all by my Star Trek family, who made me feel loved and valued for 10 hours a day. And that didn't just start and end on my set; it was handed down to us from the original series cast (well, most of them, anyway) and I do my best now, as a 51 year-old Legacy Trek Cast Member, to be for the new cast members who George and Frakes were and are for me.
twowaypr reblogged
Your answering of my ask about cats has caused shock and awe to ripple throughout my star trek obsessed family.
I love that!
Live long and prosper!
I love the joy that Wil's account brings to so many
twowaypr reblogged
As a rule of thumb, don't reblog donation posts or people asking for donations unless they've been vetted and reblogged by Palestinian bloggers. We usually go to lengths to verify this shit because we know scammers have been faking to get people to send them money, using the urgency of our genocide as bait.
It's disgusting this is what we're dealing with, but people are losing money because of some truly evil people out there.
Accounts don't just randomly spring up on tumblr without gofundmes while asking for someone to help them create a campaign. Fuck out of here with that shit.
I'm also gonna stop listing the reasons why I recognize something is a scam. It's becoming more and more clear there is 1 person behind this STRING of scams and they're leaving less trails behind but it still reeks of them and their MO.
DO NOT TRUST ANY GOFUNDME OR REQUEST FOR CROWDFUNDING THAT PALESTINIAN BLOGGERS HAVEN'T VERIFIED.
At this point I'm fine receiving a bunch of inbox messages asking me to vet x y z so y'all can avoid this shit. But please have some critical thinking!
People are exploiting our situation.
Reblog this post.
Whether you wanna read the whole thing or not idc.
REBLOG IT.
The person this was about deleted the 4th or 5th scam account they made and are definitely gonna make a new one soon. I don't want anybody falling for this anymore.
every little bit helps.
twowaypr reblogged
Reblog the fundraisers you mfs!!!!! I don't know why you all skip those to reblog some pic of a banner saying "FREE PALESTINE" or of news from Columbia University! Literally these people from Gaza have made an account on Tumblr and is writing in english to communicate what they need and you all are coming onto my blog or on the tag and not reblogging their posts. We have people both Palestinian and non Palestinian vetting the fundraisers! I mean more the reblogs, more the chance of the fundraisers gaining momemtum, the more there would be a chance of a donation. Please donate if you can and reblog!!! and follow them if it is possible.
@/mohammedayesh has posted about getting leaflets, telling them to evacuate Rafah. They are very low on funds. Go follow them and reblog their posts and donate if possible.
We have @/haneenatya too whose mother is suffering from eye stroke and need to evacuate. Please I have been following them for some days and it doesn't seem their own posts are getting much attention.
Follow them! They are on tumblr. Reblog their posts and donate. The protests in universities are being done on account of them. They should be our focus.
(EDIT: on re-reading my post it seems as if I am dismissing all that the students of universities are doing. I am not. I just meant, since all of it is to help Palestinians, we must not ignore them when they ask for help).
twowaypr reblogged
TDLR: I'm an artist who has been victimized by AI, and I need some help.
If you follow me, you probably know I'm an artist on Etsy, but I also have a lot of work on print-on-demand stores. I don't normally post that stuff here just because I'm trying to keep this account as separate from my personal accounts as possible for general safety/anonymity (my POD stores have my name and other info).
However, I believe I've been the victim of AI tools used by Redbubble (a popular POD site), and I'm taking the first steps towards opening an informal dispute with them, which may end in arbitration. If you all would be willing, would you send a quick message to Redbubble here saying something like:
I am messaging on behalf of the shop OHPhotography, which was recently suspended from your site. I know the artist behind it online, and based on her story, I suspect your AI tools have falsely characterized her hard work as "fraudulent activity." I would like to see her shop immediately reinstated and the conditions for suspension clarified in your user agreement so that another artist is not victimized by poor use of AI.
Feel free to make modifications to that after reading my story. Here's what happened:
I started OHPhotography to serve as a print store for my photography over a year ago. Before coming back to it this month, I had about 100 designs on there. I wanted to do this because Redbubble delivers quality prints at a really good price point, and I wanted my art to be accessible (affordable) to others. The plan was to open this shop so that people could order quality but cheap prints of my work and then give more particular buyers the option to order directly through me to get a signed and numbered gallery-quality print at a higher price.
In a long career in photography, I have accumulated about 4,000 photos, 1,500 of which I consider my catalog of best work. I wanted to get them all up on my shop. Redbubble does not have design upload limits beyond that you can only upload 30 per day (which was not always the case - there used to be no limit). I began uploading 30 works a day in early to mid-April. I uploaded every design manually (Redbubble's user agreement forbids using bots or automation to do this). It takes a long time, but my job is partially work-from-home, so it was something that was easy for me to do while doing other work.
In the course of doing this, I had five works out of 370 come under review, which is obviously an AI-enabled automated process that temporarily pulls works that may be in violation of trademark or copyright. In each case, the emails started like:
"We’re reaching out to let you know that your work is currently under review and as a result, is temporarily unavailable for purchase.
We know this may sound alarming, but worry not. The review process is temporary and doesn't necessarily mean there is anything wrong with your work or account."
Two of these were cleared, one I never heard back about, and two were taken down for small Coca-Cola logos in the background of photos that I didn't notice. The communications just said that they were sorry, but they had to remove the works for that trademark. I did not challenge this because informed of the issue, I agreed with the decision. Both works were from the same photo series in the same location, and I uploaded them back-to-back on the same day. As such, they were reviewed at the same time, and I received the results of the reviews at the same time.
A week later my account was suspended without explanation on the day another of my works went under review (which was cleared even after my suspension) but right after I clicked the button to upload more work. This is the communication I received from Redbubble:
"We’re writing to let you know that your account has been suspended.
Accounts may be suspended for the following reasons:
- There was fraudulent activity connected to the account.
- The products listed in the shop may not have been originally created by the user, such as mass produced art reproductions, stock images, or vector packs.
- The shop may have contained products that could be misleading to consumers, such as claiming to be products not offered on the Redbubble marketplace or possessing inaccurate qualities or materials not offered on Redbubble.
- The account was created after an associated account was disabled.
- The account was found to be owned or operated by someone under 16 years of age."
Because the suspension was instantaneous with my clicking the upload button (and came a full week after the two accidental trademark issues), I believe that they falsely categorized my uploading the maximum number of works per day for a week straight as "fraudulent activity." The other reasons are all objectively untrue. I also reached out to Threadless about whether or not they employ a similar automated spam detection bot, and they confirmed that they did, but it would just temporarily limit my access to the server rather than suspend me if I uploaded work too quickly. In short, stuff like that is not uncommon with POD providers.
I submitted an appeal with what Redbubble asked for: a selfie of me holding a card with the day's date, my shop name, and my name written on it.
Two days later my appeal was rejected with the cause now narrowed down to three reasons:
"Hi OHPhotography,
Thank you for getting in touch with Redbubble.
Your appeal has been reviewed and your account is not eligible for reinstatement.
Your account may have been suspended for one of the following reasons:
- There was fraudulent activity connected to the account;
- the account was found to be in violation of our User Agreement and/or other published content policies;
- the account was connected to a previously disabled account.
Please do not attempt to open another account. Usernames and email addresses suspected of being connected to a removed account will also be disabled.
Thank you for understanding."
The only reason I can think for my appeal being denied is that they have assumed that in order to upload works as frequently as I did, even thought I have proved I'm a real person, I must be using some form of bot or coding routine that violates their policy and counts as fraudulent activity. Of course, they also refuse to tell me the exact reason, so I can't be sure.
But once again, ALL THAT ACTIVITY WAS ME WORKING MANUALLY. I don't actually possess the computer skills to code or use the kind of things that could automate that for me.
Additionally, I don't believe the issue with the two works that were taken down qualifies under Redbubble's "repeat infringer," guidelines or their discretionary ability to ban artists they believe are violating copyrights/trademarks on purpose because:
- The two works that got taken down were submitted on the same day, so their results came in on the same day. There was no way for me to get separate feedback between uploads so that I'd be alerted to be more careful about the backgrounds of the rest of my photographs.
- That was two works out of 370
- In the two that were taken down, I did not use "Coca-Cola" in the title, tags, or description, implying (correctly) that I was not trying to use the logo to promote my work.
- I have had similar issues on Society6, and I was not banned for it. One work had a small Honda logo on a car that I didn't see, and a REAL PERSON explained to me why that had to be taken down. Additionally, I had another work there where I tried to give credit to Andy Warhol as the inspiration for the style of the work in the title and description. That was taken down, and yet again, a REAL PERSON explained to me that that usage, even to give credit for inspiration, is not allowed by his estate. I renamed the work and was not banned.
- If the ban had been related to the trademark issues, I don't think it would have taken a full week after that for my shop to be suspended.
- None of the communications I received from Redbubble even hinted that my shop was near suspension or that continuation of any kind of behavior would result in suspension.
After their rejection of my appeal, I submitted another request for review of my situation to their artist portal this past Sunday at the recommendation of RedbubbleHelp on Twitter. I have not heard back yet. If I don't by the end of today, I'm mailing my notice of dispute to the company's legal department to begin the informal dispute process. 45 days after that, if the issue is not resolved, I can move for arbitration, and I so far intend to because I believe this is an issue that affects all artists and designers. I would very much appreciate your help in putting pressure on Redbubble to treat its artists fairly and with an appropriate level of human-review to distinguish a fast and dedicated artist adhering to the user agreement to the best of their knowledge from a spam bot. Below is a brief summary of the timeline of things in image form.
twowaypr reblogged
You’re a regular office worker born with the ability to “see” how dangerous a person is with a number scale of 1-10 above their heads. A toddler would be a 1, while a skilled soldier with a firearm may score a 7. Today, you notice the reserved new guy at the office measures a 10.
wakeupontheprongssideofthebed
You decide it’s best to find out what you can about this person. Cautiously, you approach his desk. He’s a handsome man, tall, but with a disarming smile. How could such a friendly guy with such cute, dorky glasses be dangerous?
You extend your hand. “I noticed you’re new here. What’s your name?”
He shakes your hand warmly. His gaze is piercing, as if he’s looking right through you. “The name’s Clark,” he says. “So, how long have you worked for the Daily Planet?”
This one wins.
It’s been a few weeks, and one of Clark’s friends shows up. She’s pretty and all, enough muscle that she must work out. First thought would be that she should be maybe a 6.
Clark’s introducing her around. “This is my good friend, Diana, she’s in from out of town.”
You blink, and take a step back in fear. You’ve never seen an 11 before.
The day Bruce Wayne shows up for his long promised interview with Lois Lane, you can’t help it, the mug your holding drops from your fingers and sends a shock of hot coffee and ceramic shards across the floor.
Clark stops a few feet away and squints at you worriedly from behind those ridiculous glasses you’re 99% sure he doesn’t actually need, and asks tentatively, “Everything all right?”
You ignore him in favor of staring at the inky dark numerals hovering over the beaming fool gesticulating some fantastic yacht story for a gaggle of secretaries and minor columnists.
That’s it. Your gift has officially gone haywire. There is no other explanation. Because there is absolutely no way that Brucie Wayne is a 10.
At this point, you’ve seen it all. Miled manner reporters and billionaires at a 10 and a model-like woman at 11. You were really starting to doubt your power. The day you really stopped believeing in it was when Bruce Wayne came for another visit, and this time with a kid. The kid couldn’t be more than 10 years old, a bit on the short side.
He was an 8.
The day you started believing in it again was when you saw on tv the formation of something called the justice league.
There were those same numbers over superman, batman, wonder woman and robin. That’s when you put two and two together. You wonder how nobody at the daily planet noticed that Clarke was Superman with glasses. You wonder why you didn’t notice. You wonder why nobody put two and two together that Diana Prince and Wonder Woman looked exactly the same. You look in the mirror as the realization hit you and you see your own number change from a 3 to a 9.
I don’t think I’ve ever actually reblogged this magnificent post and that’s shame.
twowaypr reblogged
twowaypr reblogged
twowaypr reblogged
If you'd told me I'd start May by covertly delivering medical supplies to protestors and preparing to take an international company to arbitration over the way it uses AI and bot tools when dealing with small artists, I would've said "fucking probably," because that's just the way things are going right now.
twowaypr reblogged
twowaypr reblogged
To The Person Who Walked Past The Window - Jordan Bolton
My first book ‘Blue Sky Through the Window of a Moving Car’ is now available to pre-order! Get it here - https://smarturl.it/BlueSky
beautiful!
twowaypr reblogged
Hi , can you help me to share my gofundme link please 🙏
I will be very grateful to you🤍🙏
Of course!
Hello everyone! Please check out Mohammad's story on his tumblr or read about it on his GoFundMe page.
He is a a recently graduated software engineer who has survived multiple assaults on Gaza with his family and now they've lost everything they have.
Their GoFundMe is only at around £1000 out of £50000 and they really need your help
Here is footage of the destruction to their home
Here's the GoFundMe. Please share and donate if you can!
twowaypr reblogged
On April 30th while reporting on the Students Revolution at Columbia University, CNN anchor Kasie Hunt made reference to Hind Rajab as 'A Woman Who Was Killed in Gaza." Hind Rajab was six years old.
IDF murdered a six year old in the worst way imaginable, truly thinking no one in the world would remember her.
Turns out we didn’t.
twowaypr reblogged
Please don’t ever forget how campus presidents, mayors and governors sicced the police on college students who were protesting for peace and against war & genocide. Because years from now, I guarantee you that the people who currently hate the protesters will absolutely try to retcon their roles and paint themselves as heroes who were in the right side of history. They were not. Don’t let them whitewash their history.