The United Auto Workers are also negotiating new contracts with the big three US car manufacturers and have announced that they’re prepared to strike if they can’t get a fair deal.
on the topic of not using AI for research, also be aware of using automatic Google results because they rely on AI too and don’t ACTUALLY know what they’re talking about
case in point: oh let’s Google what flowers are safe for cats!
Google: lilies! source? trust me bro
Lilies?
You mean perhaps the most poisonous plant for cats there is? that can cause sudden Organ Shut Down and Death? Thanks Google! Good thing I can rely on your handy suggestions so I don’t have to click on any actual websites and read to make sure your information is correct! (Also tulips and daffodils will also definitely Smite your cat but I’m not sure about the other flowers)
remember just because Google or an AI is telling you something confidently doesn’t mean it actually knows what it’s talking about
I trust no seasoned writer or researcher does this but this is more a message to newer or younger writers or anyone with less experience with Google and how it works
if you’re like. 14 and trans on tumblr rn and getting ur first anon hate from terfs. word of advice. stop responding to that shit. theyre only gonna send more, it’s only gonna make you spiral even if you put on a strong face. report + block messages as soon as they come in, don’t let them sit in your inbox it’s gonna make you feel like shit. turn off anon for a few days, block anyone suspicious in your notes liberally for a little while. repeat as needed. don’t give them the time of day. it sucks, but like. i dont know any trans person on the internet with any following who hasn’t gotten some disgusting messages. just. be safe yknow
so many young teens feel the need to have a snappy comeback, to explain you could never be cishet bc you’re actually t4t!! or whatever but like. just. don’t say any of that. they love that shit, they eat it up. do what u can to bore them into stopping. and sometimes they dont stop, and that sucks too but like. you do not want to get in public arguments with people who can hurt you more than you think they can, its not cowardly to delete discourse posts and shit if you feel like you can’t handle the notifications anymore. like just. you may not be able to completly prevent this stuff but take a few steps if you can, it will at least lower your chances
That moment when you go HEY GIVE THIS PERSON A PRIZE!!
[text from twitter user lovedoveclarke: “are we living through traumatic event after traumatic event or are we just the first generation with worldwide communication and social media and life has always been this fucking horrific?”]
two notes, however:
It’s both, guys. Both is good. We are living through traumatic event after traumatic event AND this has been human experience since before we were humans.
No no it was often, on average, much Much MUCH worse!
We are living in the best time to be alive, basically ever. We have massively reduced cancer, we have amazing vaccines and technology to rapidly produce more, child mortality is not 50%, there are fewer wars going on than basically ever (Ukraine is big, but there are a lot fewer civil wars going on, and it’s still small by the scale of, like, the Franco-Prussian War, which was like the 3rd major Prussian war in 10 years), global poverty is like 10% of what it was a decade ago, murder rates are super low (they are up a lot, but still a fraction of the 1990s), and American prosperity is at the highest level ever. (Yes I know the US has a lot of rights backsliding in the last 5 years, but it’s still way better than even 20 years ago).
You see a lot more about what you don’t have and a constant stream of bad stuff going on, but I promise all of that was going on absolutely constantly.
Yeah like very often these kinds of questions have a hidden and unexamined assumption that there’s a baseline state of Not Awful that is normal, for humans; a baseline state of “No Mass Trauma Events Happening” from which all else is deviation.
This has not been our history, as a species. It’s not really ANY species’ experience. There’s this nonsense book out there about ~*why zebras don’t get ulcers*~ when a) because ulcers in humans are caused by an h pylori infection that does not affect zebras and while the symptoms can be exacerbated by stress (and while stress can cause heartburn severe enough to feel like an ulcer even though it isn’t one) it is not caused by it but also b) stress can make zebra mares literally abort near-term pregnancies while they’re running and actually zebras (and other wild animals) die of stress-related ailments all the time. They just immediately get eaten or otherwise die of the environment by the time it gets bad enough.
The life of a living creature on this world is not “ahh I have reached my Assigned Niche of Perfect™ and now I shall live in equilibrium and harmony”, it is “shit fuck shit that’s a predator crap do I have enough to eat augh where’s my offspring” until death.
(Interspersed, of course, with moments of delight and joy and fierce pleasure at being alive and success and so on.)
Is that gonna make anyone feel better to engage with and realize? I dunno - I’m a chronic major depressive, I am kind of an outlier and can only carefully be counted. For ME remembering that humanity has been reeling from traumatic event to traumatic event since before we were modern humans is very helpful and grounding.
YMMV.
I’m training as a tour guide at the moment in London and doing a lot more history research than ever before. And this is so true. We look at a snapshot of history, 100 or so years and it’s like
And then we had Henry VIII and his violent dissolution of the monasteries, and then his daughter Mary took the throne and rounded up and killed protestants, and then her sister Elizabeth took the throne and rounded up and killed catholics, and then there was the English civil war and Christmas got banned, and then there was the Great Plague of 1665, and then there was the Great Fire of London of 1666
And it just goes on and on and on.
And in each of those times people still loved, and ate together, and made art, and sang and danced¹
¹ okay they did get told off a lot for singing and dancing when Oliver Cromwell was in charge
by the way, it’s real bold of hollywood to be like “the writers and actors have unrealistic expectations, but WE know what we’re doing” when they got tricked into releasing morbius in theaters a second time.
Star | 20+| she/her | I reblog a lot of stuff ☆ ART BLOG @purpurart // TWITTER @purpurastar
