nasa: we’re going to shoot three rockets directly at the sun during the total eclipse. for study and research purposes.
me: oh cool
nasa: we have named the rockets apep. this stands for atmospheric perturbations [in the] eclipse path.
me: oh cool
nasa: apep is also the ancient egyptian deity of chaos and darkness, who ceaselessly seeks to extinguish the sun. we launch these rockets directly at the sun in the name of apep.
me: oh… cool?
if gods are kept alive by their followers then NASA is single-handedly the caretaker of SO MANY GODS
Hey do y’all remember several years ago when we were all freaking out about net neutrality being overturned? Well despite net neutrality’s win in 2024, a federal court just overturned it.
For those who aren’t aware, net neutrality is the simple principle that companies like Verizon and Comcast should treat all web traffic equally – not pick and choose based on who is willing to pay more or who they like best. Big Tech companies obviously don’t like that – which is why they spent millions lobbying against it over the years.
Now, these megacorporations will be able to seize control back over our Internet. The likely result? Throttled access to streaming services, monopolistic pricing that cuts out competition, and a slower, walled off, and less free Internet for all of us.
And unfortunately, rulings like this will only get more common now that the Supreme Court has overturned the “Chevron deference” – giving judges, rather than qualified public servants, a blank check to toss out protections like net neutrality, environmental safeguards, or food safety standards.
When Trump’s FCC repealed net neutrality back in 2017, they gave big corporations total control over our Internet – putting free and open access at risk.
Internet providers responded by exploiting their newfound power to speed up certain websites, and slow down – or even block – others. They failed to provide crucial Internet infrastructure in rural areas, low-income communities, and communities of color. They even slashed firefighters’ Internet access during severe wildfires.
But over 126,000 people spoke out and we were able to reinstate net neutrality – until now.
The time has come again to take action: please sign this petition from Common Cause so we can reinstate net neutrality.
i know most people following me dont care about the weather, but i really need to share this because im genuinely gonna throw the fuck up dying of laughter over whoever runs this national weather service account on twitter fighting for their lives
This was intentionally manufactured by Facebook. Facebook implemented it’s “accountability culture” starting with its rule about only using your real name and photo on its service and encouraging you to disclose other information in your profile, and from there it just got normalized. It was entirely to gather data for advertising purposes, but now we associate that level of openness with “accountability”. Entire generations are now being raised with this as the norm. Privacy is no longer a priority, or even really seen as an option.
This is to your detriment. Your privacy protects you from predators of all kinds. You really should be guarding it carefully. Disclose what you feel is important on a case by case basis, but even your mental health status and beliefs are exploitable by big business and small-time bullies and abusers alike.
Even if you’re not overly fussed about what people know about you, just understand that not everyone has the luxury of feeling the same. Some people have stalkers and abusers they’re trying to evade, or don’t want to attract new abusers into their lives by being that vulnerable and open again. Some people have extreme social anxiety. Some people are protecting other people in their lives. Some people just don’t want their grandmothers to find their smutfics. Some people are Internet privacy advocates who keep their details private as a political statement and as a matter of principle.
You are not entitled to anyone’s information, and you do not owe anyone yours. You are allowed to just be an anonymous username until you feel safe to disclose more.
You are not entitled to anyone’s information, and you do not owe anyone yours.
There’s a whole demographic of people who are profoundly incurious and just assume everyone else is too, so when they see something unfamiliar they immediately rush to declare that not only have they never heard of it, none of you did either. You’re just pretending. You had to look it up, don’t lie. You didn’t know this
And like, so what if someone had to look something up. That’s how you learn new things. People usually say this about knowledge that’s pretty damn basic, but I can’t get over how they’re not only scornful at the idea of people trying to learn something new, they casually assume everyone else is, too
One of my friends constantly insists that she’s not very smart, certainly not as smart as the people around her. I keep pointing out that she’s constantly looking up things she doesn’t know about and asking follow-up questions when she doesn’t understand something. And that intellectual curiosity is 90% of what matters to being “smart.”
#glass ceiling#i thought a fascinating example of this was the fbi stats that got released#where white women and black men were the least-underrepresented of the Groups Not White Men (exception to follow)
#and while the white women got in more easily#but black men once in were seen as more promotion-worthy
#meanwhile black women were trailing due to the Intersectionality#latinos got shit-all#latinas got less
#and asian men were in fact wildly statistically overrepresented#(that’s the exception)#but never got promoted ever#asian women also technically overrepresented i think but just barely#and even less able to get past entry-level –tags via whetstonefires
also it’s kinda weird that some of you are treating the concept of presumption of innocence like a crazy leftist conspiracy instead of like. a fundamental right of the accused
even if you think him being innocent is unlikely, you should at least be able to understand why automatically treating him as if he is guilty just because the cops say so is a bad thing
ALT
amhrancas 