I believe Tim means to say that the spread of misinformation can be linked to the rise of Flat Earthers. That if we can only trust what we see before us, and we see a flat horizon, we can directly interpret this visual to mean that the Earth is flat. Thus, if we cannot trust our own eyes and ears, how can future courtroom evidence be trusted?

"Up to the Twentieth Century, reality was everything humans could touch, smell, see, and hear. Since the initial publication of the chart of the electromagnetic spectrum, humans have learned that what they can touch, smell, see, and hear is less than one-millionth of reality." -Bucky Fuller

^ basically that

I will drive my 2003 Envoy I inherited into the ground, and after that it's a 2008 Camry, and then I'll ride that into the ground. Good God, if kid-me would have known adult-me would have turned into a Luddite..

"They go low, we go high."

😂 🔫

From my understanding, it was in orbit for three years before reentering our the atmosphere in an uncontrolled descent, then it fell through dude's roof.

Personally I think the example shot in the thumbnail looks worse after being "enhanced." Arnold's hair was a dead giveaway, shit just looks weird.

Hopefully it doesn't impact them too much. So tired of this AI train man.

I'm not sure what the purpose of this comment is. Sharks are insurmountably important for the oceanic ecosystem and the historic methods of research and development are really interesting. You have a greater chance of drowning at the beach, no question.

<3 I appreciate you.

If the goal is in fact to value traditionally feminine accomplishments in a way that empowers all women, it’s fair to ask why the contestants are, for the most part, being judged according to a very narrow standard of physical beauty. Is it actually empowering women as a class? Or is it empowering a small group of individual women who have a good time competing in pageants because they fit the brief?

The leaked video of Jakrajutatip’s meeting puts the lie to Miss Universe’s mission statement in the same way that the swimsuit competition does. It shows an organization that uses empty rhetoric about inclusion and diversity as a cover for the same blinkered vision of womanhood it has always pursued: a pageant queen who is thin, cis, and very young, a Barbie doll pre-epiphany.

The living room here has an ornamental equine vibe—lit by a horse lamp, wall adorned with images of horses—except for the bookshelf, where what might have been a cowboy hat has been replaced by a Trump hat. Martha Chansley doesn’t subscribe to cable television. She believes that the buffalo is a “mystic” animal. When a reporter and camera crew from FOX 10 Phoenix descended on her house after her son had been taken into custody, she noted another mystical bond, this one with Donald Trump: “We are a part of him, and he is a part of us.”

I don't have much to add other than just how fascinating this is to me. It's just so interesting seeing how/why people end up believing this sort of thing, that crunchy-to-alt-right pipeline is real. Hell, I read Be Here Now and played TOOL on repeat back in high school in the Deep South, this could have easily been me. "Yeah man, turns out 'my shadow' is referring to Jungian psychological principles about about your self conscious and..."

Thanks for sharing, utterly fascinating read.

Heck yeah, that is so wonderful to hear!!

My wife and ai keep talking about this. We plan to flee our deep south red state, but it fills us with survivor's guilt knowing we have the means to do so, and so so many just do not.

Week's going pretty well so far. I recently got back into photography, and I happen to live directly under a landing pattern for the local airport, so I've been trying to get decent shots of planes landing. It's a lot of fun watching the flight radar, tracking flights, and running out to set up my camera in time. I only have a short moment before they dip behind the trees, but I'm getting there! I'm also getting some pretty good shots of the moon from my balcony. This camera's from 2017 and is used, but it's not bad!

Having to prepare myself for this weekend though. CW: grief: this will be the first time we celebrate my mom's birthday without her, and I already know it's going to be equal parts hard, surreal, and sad. We're going to go out and see my dad and just hang out, not really sure what the plan is. My aunt wants to release butterflies or something, which seems a bit trite and exploitative to the animals, but to be honest Bees, I'm not trying to get into that. We're all grieving in our weird little ways. I think I'll try and find her old camera equipment, swap this bag I'm using out for her old one.

But enough about that. It's good to let it out and all, but I'm not trying to dwell on that shit, so have some pictures!

That is exactly what I was looking for, thank you so much!

I'd say it's going well! The sun decided to come back out, literally and figuratively, which is great for my new plane photography hobby lol. Mother's Day was alright, we went to my aunt and uncle's with my dad to barbecue. First Mother's Day without my mom, which was rough, but it's just a celebration to capitalism more than anything, so keeping that in mind helped when seeing all the cards and flower displays at the store. I did allow myself the opportunity to feel sad by walking up to the card section and picking out the one I know I'd have gotten her (it had butterflies, which she loved).

Thanks for letting me journal like this. It really does help to write it out, kind of like writing a letter and not sending it to anybody.

Anyway, have some pictures. I'm getting into photography again, and I'm excited to share :)

We have a box of old recipe cards from my grandmother that my wife cherishes. My parents gifted them to her because out of all their daughter-in-laws, she is the one that loves to cook and explore recipes the most. I just can't imagine someone wanting something like that in a sterile technological aspect like an "AI-powered" app.

"But Trev, what if you used an LLM to generate summaries-" no, fuck off (he said to the hypothetical techbro in his ear).

It's okay. Had another dream where my mom inexplicably comes back from the dead. She even joked about how we'd have to reevaluate how we think of the situation. It's wild how going back to sleep before my alarm can just ruin the rest of my week. There's a lump in my throat that just won't go away. I feel guilty writing these thoughts out, hell I'm tearing up now because I know so many other people have real problems and there's this fucking election, and my wife's work is so much more difficult than mine and I haven't a leg to complain upon.

poem

I wish

to beat my fists against this desk

until they are bruised and bloody

for that is something

I may yet control

Thank you for allowing me to vent. Much love to you all.

It's going okay. Tuesday was very difficult for me due to some sad dreams that just set the course for the rest of my morning. I'm very lucky to work a job where I'm able to take off if I need a mental health day, so I took advantage of that at wife's insistence. Yesterday was better, and today is "fine" so I'm just looking forward to the weekend now. Haven't worked out this week so I'm going to make sure to do something today, but the after-work walks with wife help get us moving and transition into a calmer evening, so it's not a total wash, exercise-wise. The plan for today is listen to music that makes me happy, drink more water, no alcohol, and carry on.

Will watch later, but can you briefly summarize so wife and I aren't freaking out until then? :(

For what it's worth, this Internet dude is very happy that you're making progress.

As McLuhan put it, “the medium is the message” and video games inherently work better through a synthesis of gameplay and story, without one dominating over the other. Games that lean too far in one direction or the other (Metal Gear Solid’s interminably long cut-scenes for instance) take you too far out of the gaming medium and too far into other, more detached mediums.

Absolutely banger take, I agree completely. Games have a difficult needle to thread, unlike a book or movie that can be strictly narrative-based, a video game has to somehow give the player enough agency while taking it away to allow the story to progress. And now I have DND on the mind again.

I'm reminded of a comment my older brother made about Final Fantasy X, all those years ago. He described it as basically playing a movie. Go figure, I liked the cutscenes!

Hope you're feeling better!

Chugging through the week, but work is looking pretty chill so far and the phones aren't too loud, so I'm grateful. My garden is looking good so far, really pleased with my kale. I keep grabbing my wife and going "look, it's taking off!" at least every day, lol. Some of my other seed trays are doing their own thing too, and it's giving me something to look forward to this summer. It's usually so fucking hot here, but that should make for spicier peppers >:D

Went to the farmer's market on Saturday, which was great. We usually try to sleep in, but waking up early let us take back our weekend a little bit and we came home with some locally grown teas and other goodies.

Dreamed about mom the other night. It didn't ruin my day the way the first dream did though. It actually became lucid because I knew it couldn't possibly be real, so it was kind of neat. I woke up and wrote a poem about it.

when I knew

that it was a dream

I stepped out into the night

and flew away

That's a Peanut! Thank you so much, the 50mm and auto focus did all the work. I just saw the yawn!

Every time. Surprised they're still around tbh.

"Cough cough, sorry I caught Covid, can't do anything sorry cough cough"

Yeah true, kid-me would be very proud that I'm opposed to anti-labor practices!

The square button second from the bottom mutes the audio. I've taken to carrying a marker in my car and writing "<--- MUTE" next to them. Alternatively, a small screwdriver between the speaker grating.

Welp, reckon it's time I take my happy ass down to the local used game store and sell my Xbox. Thing's collecting dust anyway. I think I'll get a new camera lens instead.

Faaaantastic! This actually could be pretty dope.

Basically this, for me. I want my devices to be more dedicated to a singular purpose, so I'm not tethered to my phone all day. Having a camera, an MP3 player, and a handheld makes my actions feel more purposeful. Building off that, having a "one-stop-shop" type of device or service or anything really imo makes the overall experience worse. Think Wal-mart versus a dedicated electronics store or something.

Gonna vent some. Long week, it's not Friday yet, stupid coworkers, stupid customers, managers who don't care about standard operating procedure, ahhh.

A man was not meant to sit in front of a computer monitor for nine hours a day.

Update: thank goodness I have the ability to take a bath. I was whining earlier, but I am very privileged. This is my affirmation.

<3 all the good vibes to you and sweet little Ziggy. You are not useless.

This really did help, thank you so much for your kindness. Your feelings are just as valid friend, and I hope you can take solace in hearing that from someone else, just as I did <3 We're gonna make it.

Thanks coy, I really do appreciate you taking the time to send some kindness my way. And that's true, it does get easier but it never really goes away, nor should it I guess. You're good people <3

I had blood tests recently and also tested for higher levels of potassium. Turns out it's one of the more common false positives, my second test came back fine. So hopefully that makes your weekend a little less stressful!

Thanks for the detailed explanation! That helps me understand it better myself. So basically, anything we put in orbit ourselves is always going to degrade, which requires routine positioning (i.e., expend some energy to keep the balloon in the air)?

If you only worked a little harder

Ha-ha

We want to cheer you on when things are great and bolster your spirits when they’re not.

Lally, you are just the best kind of people. Thank you for the kindness you provide.

This breaks my fucking heart.

I was in and out of children's hospitals from birth to legal adulthood. The fact that these children and their parents are being forced to feel fear, hopelessness, rage, on top of all the fear and stress they must feel, just fucking God dammit I don't know how I'm supposed to stop drinking in 2024 man God Almighty