Cefr

RickiTarr, 26 days ago to random

Saw this in the bathroom of the Queer Friendly Coffee House:

Cefr, 7 months ago to random

"Love locks" nearly destroyed a footbridge in France after decades of tourists adding to it, so now folks are leaving "love locks" on mountain paths and at national parks instead. Fastening it to a railing, locking it and throwing the key into the chasm as a symbol of their commitment. Other couples latch on and repeat.

Park rangers are cutting them off now. The keys being the worst part: endangered bird species who scavenge canyons are finding the keys and getting injured.

So stop it. Yes, we are impermanent people seeking to make something permanent that outlives us. Find a better way to do it if you must, but the best physical option that doesn't harm the environment is doing nothing at all.

https://www.backpacker.com/news-and-events/news/love-locks-grand-canyon-california-condors/

RickiTarr, 1 month ago to random

Young people wanting to eat good food?! What's next?! Are they going to want to get paid more, own houses, take vacations?!

https://www.businessinsider.com/millennials-gen-z-splurge-groceries-spending-inflation-gen-z-boomers-2024-4?amp

RickiTarr, 28 days ago (edited 28 days ago) to random

What advice would you give to someone just starting out in a relationship?

Mine might sound kind of dark in relation to the question, but here goes:

People change, and they should, it's part of being a person. Some people are lucky, and they change in the same direction, but some don't, and that's okay too. There's no shame in leaving a relationship or changing the nature of a relationship that no longer serves you. We are all taught that every relationship, whether romantic or friendship, is supposed to last forever, but nothing is forever, and forcing something that no longer works, just ends in anger and bitterness. Knowing when to let go is as important as knowing when to hold on through a rough patch, and how to know either of those things is the most cliché advice of all, COMMUNICATE.

StillIRise1963, 13 days ago to random

If we all vote, we can feel this way many more times.

RickiTarr, 26 days ago to random

It's so weird that we are all supposed to be ashamed for burping and farting. I deeply apologize to everyone for keeping my body from literally exploding, so uncouth.

Cefr, 8 months ago to random

The rapid comparison to Thomas Edison is becoming more true. Sheesh.

Elon lied about monkeys close to death, Neuralink caused horrific outcomes.
https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/20/23882888/elon-musk-brain-implant-startup-neuralink-monkeys-euthanized

RickiTarr, 17 days ago to random

How much alone time vs socializing do you need?

For me there are a few people who are usually equalizing, and I can just be around them, so I won't count that. But generally, I find about 3 times a week, I'm game for socializing. A day in between to rest is usually nice, but the larger the gathering or if we go somewhere particularly noisy or I'm meeting new people that involves more effort, and my social battery empties sooner. I'm very curious where everyone else falls on this!

RickiTarr, 9 days ago to random

Alright, lots of heavy discussions today, so let's talk about something silly!

What is a movie that always makes you laugh?

Personal pick:

Anything Mel Brooks, but Robin Hood: Men in Tights, it's just funny every time I watch it.

neurothing, 4 months ago to random Italian

Hello, people!

Sometimes, we need to quiet ourselves and escape from the noise around us to recharge our batteries.

So, this #ThursdayFiveList will be quite a paradox.

Because it will be asked to share 5 songs about silence, quietness and tranquillity.

Be still, be immersed in #TheSilence

Mine in the next toot.

Cefr, 10 months ago to climate

Hi, former SoCal resident here, and former High Desert dweller. 30+ years out there.

I've been outside during 120 degrees F only ONCE in my life. I was a teenager, and ran HS Track, so I brought twice as much water and ran a half mile outside to keep up with my conditioning for a meet the following week.

I woke up some time later next to a large fan with my brothers and sisters putting wet towels on me indoors and encouraging me to sip water. No memory of how I wound up falling, I lost consciousness 500 ft. away from the house. If my brother wasn't driving back from the store I wouldn't be typing this today.

My point? Saying "I went out in extreme temps and lived" isn't a badge of honor. In my case, it was stupidity. I didn't escape it totally, a week later I learned along with near heat stroke, I had a ruptured ear drum from the fall and temps. My sense of balance has been screwed up ever since. A subtle reminder every time I climb a ladder or go to a height without a railing how that came to pass.

Even walking and casually touring Death Valley is a dumb move in heat like this, especially anyone over 45 (Know your risk for a stroke or embolism right this second? Yeah, neither do I. But you're definitely increasing it out there and it's a bad way to die.) Please don't join them to earn a T-Shirt.

Stay indoors. Drink water more than normal. If you need to do outdoor stuff, consider it tomorrow AM, or 2 hours after sunset with lights when the heat starts to dissipate. https://www.insider.com/tourists-visit-death-valley-during-dangerous-heatwave-2023-7

#DeathValley #ClimateChange #Heatwave

Cefr, 4 months ago to random

Fastest way to get me to stop reading a news article:

"Experts warn..."
"People say..."
"Citizens agree..."
"It has been rumored that..."
"Our analysts have stated..."

Cefr, 4 months ago to random

Ah, so it really wasn't a coincidence when I visited my parents out of state, the same radio station was on the dial on six frequencies.

Christian Radio conglomerate “Educational Media Foundation” buys out both non-profit and private stations to turn into Air1/K-LOVE clone repeaters. Unlimited growth, no laws to stop them. And Non-Profit: CEO makes more than Clear Channel in yearly income, tax-free.

I wonder what the airwave war between Clear Channel and EMF will look like when there’s nobody left to buy?
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/christian-radio-educational-media-foundation-1234946121/

"But for now, EMF and the Christian-rock industry, it seems, are happy to be a joke if it keeps scrutinizing eyes off them. “The public just doesn’t really care what they’re doing,” says Urick.

Keep letting Christian rock be nothing more than a punchline. The Educational Media Foundation, it seems, thanks you."

Cefr, 9 months ago to random

My Mastodon Battle Plan:

-- Boost BIPOC voices and views! (Until white people stop saying "I haven't seen any racism or bigotry on Mastodon!" cause it is here.)

-- Boost Indigenous voices! (They're not vanished, they aren't diluted or bred out, and they want their land back. White ancestors fucking took it, it's up to their descendents to make it right.)

-- Boost Trans Joy! (Because trans people are just that... people. Cute, strong, clever, and if they want to be, beautiful people. They deserve to be who they are and who they want, same as any of us. Even if it's "mundane," that's fine. I'm not a physicist, they don't have to be big and important in whatever field they're in either to become 'valid.')

-- Boosting the fails of Fascism, from the fight of our lives all the way to the last dying whimpers of white supremacists holding onto power in the United States (before people of color take over and fix what whites couldn't accomplish.)

-- And finally, tell stupid jokes. Shit is way too severe about everything and everywhere. Laugh at something, even if it's AT me.

theropologist, 26 days ago to random

I know everyone hates AI and I get it, I really do. I'm not trying to diminish people's concerns. All I'm saying is I tried a month of Midjorney to see what all the fuss was about and I blew through my credits in two days generating pictures of people covered in spaghetti.

So perhaps this is a cautionary tale after all.

Cefr, 6 months ago to random

No new MST3K in 2024 it seems.
#MakeMoreMST3K #Gizmoplex

StillIRise1963, 25 days ago to random

Each non nazi white person needs to convert 5 white nazis.

Cefr, 6 months ago to random

Do you know how many IT Departments I've been a part of that asked if cryptocurrency mining at work was legal? All of them.

Do you know how many had IT Employees who did it anyway not caring what the answer was and trying to hide it? Several, but it happened in every department I was a part of.

Do you know how many of those departments fired them after I pointed out to management that they're literally profiting off of the campus electric/Internet bill? NONE. Counter arguments resulting in dismissal of my complaints include "it's fun money, Bitcoin can't become US Currency" (you probably didn't laugh as hard as I did when I heard that) and "Who told you to initiate this investigation?" (when their own board policies state "No side jobs allowed" and "You can't use campus resources for personal or private use." They'll crack down on over employment by stopping Remote Work, and totally ignore this.)

I have yet to see any news of a state making cryptocurrency mining at a state owned property like schools, libraries, and government buildings illegal.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/secret-cryptomining-rig-found-hidden-in-the-floors-of-a-polish-court/

#whitepeoplesuck #techbros #corruption

Cefr, 7 months ago to random

How to fight bigotry on Fediverse.

1- Read perspectives other than your own. It is okay to have a safe space to be yourself, but if all of your followers are white or 'act white', you should do something about it. Don't be insular. Follow people different from you.

2- Boost the ones that you not only agree with, but ones that you have learned from. (Boosting isn't endorsement, but it isn't "Hey, everyone reply to this" either. It just spreads a post further than followers.)

3- Don't post a reply in conversations specific to a shared experience you don't have in your memory. (E.g.: BIPOC, Indigenous, being a woman, queer.) None of this is a test on how much you know other people, you don't have to prove what you know. Some of it might be wrong anyway.

4- A simple pattern to block people. If you see the reply "(Hey you/If you don't like ___) go back to (other social network/other country/religious destination that isn't generally desirable)", no need to tell anyone or start an argument... Block that user. Move on with your day.

That's all for now. More ideas, feel free to add on below.

Cefr, 4 months ago to random

I don't know why restrooms are so fucking hard.

Solution for restroom problems via politics when your business doesn't have the funds/space to redo it:

1. Put up a Round Bathroom sign with a man, woman, child inside it on all restrooms. If people seem confused, a nameplate that says "Unisex Bathroom" should straighten it up. If not, you got smart customers.
2. Install a door lock (one sided with a service pin release in case someone locks themselves in and doesn't respond), and sufficient amenities for any biological need for anyone at any age.
3. There is no step 3.

Men who need to go and the traditional 'Men's Room' being occupied can simply use the other one. Women don't need to rush while using an empty men's room in fear that a man is waiting when she's through. If there's baby stations, any bathroom can be a family bathroom if you lock the door. Bathroom has a tampon dispenser and a 'men can' next to your toilet? If you don't have the associated parts, simply ignore them.

Cefr, 7 months ago to random

Why I like Mastodon engagement.

A month ago, I had a post that got 300 likes, and my phone network kept blowing up for a week straight with notifications.

Today, I had no notifications coming home from work. That's great, because I had a busy day and I don't want to spend every day having that much attention given to me. Because that is sane.

Cefr, 10 months ago to random

While Apple and Google Chromebook’s End-Of-Life plans are routinely discussed, Android is far less so. Android 4.4 KitKat is being dropped from Google Play Services support at the end of July. A KitKat device that is hard reset after this time, or on the next Google Play Services update will prevent log in to Google, thereby preventing end user activation.

Anyone with a 10-year old tablet (or a sub-$100 tablet from Big Lots or Walmart) that is collecting dust or handed-down to siblings may want to check the software on it. It it is running Android 5 or older, it may be time to get your data off of it and take it to someplace that does Electronics Disposal. If your town doesn’t have one, go visit a Best Buy and use the front bins for disposing old tech. (Anything 5+ years past discontinuation isn’t going to go toward an upgrade to a new device.)

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/07/google-drops-play-services-support-for-android-4-4-kitkat-after-10-years/

Cefr, 10 days ago to random

Pulled out my Car Thing from my vehicle today to learn... There is literally no "replacement". Spotify is full of shit.

Google killed Android Auto in 2021 (which is why I agreed to it) in favor of Google Assistant's own voice centered car mode, now that is gone too.

Spotify also had a driving mode while Car Thing existed that was also scrapped before this decision was made. I know Car Thing was a failed release and they shouldn't support it indefinitely, but less than 2 years from discontinuation is needling "as soon as possible." 4 years, I'd have no comment. (Likely guess: API change that not only kills off Car Thing, but severs a lot of Spotify-compatible helper apps. Stay tuned.)

So the official guidance from Google is: if you have a new vehicle in your future look for Android Auto Built In (except GM in the US who nixed it for their own deal). Otherwise, older cars and the few models left with no "infotainment" screen, you are too poor to use a phone on the road. Be distracted and enjoy being a danger to others.

Jyoti, 10 days ago to random