Tumgik
#social worker email addresses
decolonize-the-left · 10 months
Text
This is not a drill
Tumblr media
This is IMPORTANT especially if you live in the USA or use the internet REGULATED by the USA!!!!
Do not scroll. Signal boost. Reblog.
Reblog WITHOUT reading if you really can't right now, I promise all the links and proof are here. People NEED to know this.
( I tried to make this accessible but you can't cater to EVERYONE so please just try your best to get through this or do your own research 🙏)
TLDR: Homeland Security has been tying our social media to our IPs, licenses, posts, emails, selfies, cloud, apps, location, etc through our phones without a warrant using Babel X and will hold that information gathered for 75 years. Certain aspects of it were hushed because law enforcement will/does/has used it and it would give away confidential information about ongoing operations.
This gets renewed in September.
Between this, Agincourt (a VR simulator for cops Directly related to this project), cop city, and widespread demonization of abortions, sex workers, & queer people mixed with qanon/Trumpism, and fascism in Florida, and the return of child labor, & removed abortion rights fresh on our tails it's time for alarms to be raised and it's time for everyone to stop calling us paranoid and start showing up to protest and mutual aid groups.
🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨🚨
These are the same feds who want to build cop city and recreate civilian houses en masse and use facial recognition. The same feds that want cop city to also be a training ground for police across the country. Cop city where they will build civilian neighborhoods to train in.
Widespread mass surveillance against us.
Now let's cut to some parts of the article. May 17th from Vice:
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is using an invasive, AI-powered monitoring tool to screen travelers, including U.S. citizens, refugees, and people seeking asylum, which can in some cases link their social media posts to their Social Security number and location data, according to an internal CBP document obtained by Motherboard.
Called Babel X, the system lets a user input a piece of information about a target—their name, email address, or telephone number—and receive a bevy of data in return, according to the document. Results can include their social media posts, linked IP address, employment history, and unique advertising identifiers associated with their mobile phone. The monitoring can apply to U.S. persons, including citizens and permanent residents, as well as refugees and asylum seekers, according to the document.
“Babel data will be used/captured/stored in support of CBP targeting, vetting, operations and analysis,” the document reads. Babel X will be used to “identify potential derogatory and confirmatory information” associated with travelers, persons of interest, and “persons seeking benefits.” The document then says results from Babel X will be stored in other CBP operated systems for 75 years.
"The U.S. government’s ever-expanding social media dragnet is certain to chill people from engaging in protected speech and association online. And CBP’s use of this social media surveillance technology is especially concerning in connection with existing rules requiring millions of visa applicants each year to register their social media handles with the government. As we’ve argued in a related lawsuit, the government simply has no legitimate interest in collecting and retaining such sensitive information on this immense scale,” Carrie DeCell, senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute, told Motherboard in an email.
The full list of information that Babel X may provide to CBP analysts is a target’s name, date of birth, address, usernames, email address, phone number, social media content, images, IP address, Social Security number, driver’s license number, employment history, and location data based on geolocation tags in public posts.
Bennett Cyphers, a special advisor to activist
organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told Motherboard in an online chat “the data isn’t limited to public posts made under someone’s real name on Facebook or Twitter.”
The document says CBP also has access to AdID information through an add-on called Locate X, which includes smartphone location data. AdID information is data such as a device’s unique advertising ID, which can act as an useful identifier for tracking a phone and, by extension, a person’s movements. Babel Street obtains location information from a long supply chain of data. Ordinary apps installed on peoples’ smartphones provide data to a company called Gravy Analytics, which repackages that location data and sells it to law enforcement agencies via its related company Venntel. But Babel Street also repackages Venntel’s data for its own Locate X product."
The PTA obtained by Motherboard says that Locate X is covered by a separate “commercial telemetry” PTA. CBP denied Motherboard’s FOIA request for a copy of this document, claiming it “would disclose techniques and/or procedures for law enforcement investigations or prosecutions”.
A former Babel Street employee previously told Motherboard how users of Locate X can draw a shape on a map known as a geofence, see all devices Babel Street has data on for that location, and then follow a specific device to see where else it has been.
Cyphers from the EFF added “most of the people whose location data is collected in this way likely have no idea it’s happening.”
CBP has been purchasing access to location data without a warrant, a practice that critics say violates the Fourth Amendment. Under a ruling from the Supreme Court, law enforcement agencies need court approval before accessing location data generated by a cell phone tower; those critics believe this applies to location data generated by smartphone apps too.
“Homeland Security needs to come clean to the American people about how it believes it can legally purchase and use U.S. location data without any kind of court order. Americans' privacy shouldn't depend on whether the government uses a court order or credit card,” Senator Ron Wyden told Motherboard in a statement. “DHS should stop violating Americans' rights, and Congress should pass my bipartisan legislation to prohibit the government's purchase of Americans' data." CBP has refused to tell Congress what legal authority it is following when using commercially bought smartphone location data to track Americans without a warrant.
Neither CBP or Babel Street responded to a request for comment. Motherboard visited the Babel X section of Babel Street’s website on Tuesday. On Wednesday before publication, that product page was replaced with a message that said “page not found.”
Do you know anything else about how Babel X is being used by government or private clients? Do you work for Babel Street? We'd love to hear from you. Using a non-work phone or computer, you can contact Joseph Cox securely on Signal on +44 20 8133 5190, Wickr on josephcox, or email [email protected].
Wow that sounds bad right.
Be a shame if it got worse.
.
.
It does.
The software (previously Agincourt Solutions) is sold by AI data company Babel Street, was led by Jeffrey Chapman, a former Treasury Department official,, Navy retiree & Earlier in his career a White House aide and intelligence officer at the Department of Defense, according to LinkedIn.
🙃
So what's Agincourt Solutions then right now?
SO FUCKING SUS IN RELATION TO THIS, THATS WHAT
Tumblr media Tumblr media
In essence, synthetic BATTLEVR training is a mixture of all three realities – virtual, augmented and physical. It is flexible enough to allow for mission rehearsals of most types and be intuitive enough to make training effective.
Anyway the new CEO of Babel Street (Babel X) as of April is a guy named Michael Southworth and I couldn't find much more on him than that tbh, it's all very vague and missing. That's the most detail I've seen on him.
And the detail says he has a history of tech startups that scanned paperwork and sent it elsewhere, good with numbers, and has a lot of knowledge about cell networks probably.
Every inch more of this I learn as I continue to Google the names and companies popping up... It gets worse.
Monitor phone use. Quit photobombing and filming strangers and for the love of fucking God quit sending apps photos of your actual legal ID to prove your age. Just don't use that site, you'll be fine I swear. And quit posting your private info online. For activists/leftists NO personally identifiable info at least AND DEFINITELY leave your phone at home to Work™!!!
7K notes · View notes
fallintosanity · 2 years
Text
psst, let me tell you a secret
are you listening? 
ready? 
Tumblr Blaze is the biggest fuck-you to Facebook, Twitter, Google, Amazon, and other advertising companies in basically ever
wanna know why? 
On Facebook, I could show this post only to white, politically undecided, lesbian college students aged 18-21 who live in zip codes 75023, 75024, and 75025 (yes, even after the changes Facebook recently announced). Anyone who interacts with the post, therefore, is extremely likely to be a white, politically undecided, lesbian college student aged 18-21 who lives in Plano, Texas. If this post was an ad, and you clicked the ad and bought the thing it was advertising, then I’d also know your name, physical address, telephone number, email address, and approximate financial status. 
You probably don’t want me to know all that about you, right? 
Do you want your health insurer to know? What about your employer? If you’re queer and not out to your family and friends, would you want them to know? What if you’re a domestic violence survivor, hiding from your ex-spouse?
All they need to do to get all that information is buy a Facebook ad for under $5.
And before you say that you don’t share all that on Facebook: too bad! Even if you don’t, Facebook (along with pretty much every ad company out there) buys, sells, and/or trades the data it collects about you with other companies. Facebook collects data about you even if you don’t have a Facebook account.
Wanna know what’s scarier? 
Bad guys can also buy targeted ads, and use them to convince you to do things like vote for a particular presidential candidate, or vote against unionizing Amazon workers. This is a very common tactic used by hostile foreign governments to foster extremism and isolate vulnerable minorities, and influence elections and other political and social events. Even the tech companies themselves can and do use this data to manipulate your emotions, making you happier or sadder according to their own whims.
(why do you know all this, Sanity? because I’ve worked in information security, fighting for data privacy and security, for over a decade)
Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon, and other advertisers claim that collecting all that data about you, and letting anyone target you with it, is absolutely, 100% necessary for the existence of the entire ad-funded Internet. They want you to believe that nothing bad could possibly come of it, despite proof to the contrary being in the news every other month. They want you to blindly continue letting them collect and use YOUR data to influence you to think, feel, and do what THEY want. 
But. 
BUT!!!
Enter Tumblr Blaze. 
Tumblr media
(from the Blaze FAQ)
Tumblr looked at advertising and said, you know what? we don’t need to target anyone. Targeted ads don’t actually work anyway. All that hyper-specific targeting is just an excuse for ad companies to raise prices and collect more data to use for their own purposes. 
Tumblr said, we bet people will pay real-life dollars to share their posts with up to 50,000 people, whether or not those people will care. 
Tumblr said, we’re going to blow up the entire online advertising industry.
That is fucking amazing, y'all.
15K notes · View notes
Text
America's largest hospital chain has an algorithmic death panel
Tumblr media
It’s not that conservatives aren’t sometimes right — it’s that even when they’re right, they’re highly selective about it. Take the hoary chestnut that “incentives matter,” trotted out to deny humane benefits to poor people on the grounds that “free money” makes people “workshy.”
There’s a whole body of conservative economic orthodoxy, Public Choice Theory, that concerns itself with the motives of callow, easily corrupted regulators, legislators and civil servants, and how they might be tempted to distort markets.
But the same people who obsess over our fallible public institutions are convinced that private institutions will never yield to temptation, because the fear of competition keeps temptation at bay. It’s this belief that leads the right to embrace monopolies as “efficient”: “A company’s dominance is evidence of its quality. Customers flock to it, and competitors fail to lure them away, therefore monopolies are the public’s best friend.”
But this only makes sense if you don’t understand how monopolies can prevent competitors. Think of Uber, lighting $31b of its investors’ cash on fire, losing 41 cents on every dollar it brought in, in a bid to drive out competitors and make public transit seem like a bad investment.
Or think of Big Tech, locking up whole swathes of your life inside their silos, so that changing mobile OSes means abandoning your iMessage contacts; or changing social media platforms means abandoning your friends, or blocking Google surveillance means losing your email address, or breaking up with Amazon means losing all your ebooks and audiobooks:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/08/facebooks-secret-war-switching-costs
Businesspeople understand the risks of competition, which is why they seek to extinguish it. The harder it is for your customers to leave — because of a lack of competitors or because of lock-in — the worse you can treat them without risking their departure. This is the core of enshittification: a company that is neither disciplined by competition nor regulation can abuse its customers and suppliers over long timescales without losing either:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys
It’s not that public institutions can’t betray they public interest. It’s just that public institutions can be made democratically accountable, rather than financially accountable. When a company betrays you, you can only punish it by “voting with your wallet.” In that system, the people with the fattest wallets get the most votes.
When public institutions fail you, you can vote with your ballot. Admittedly, that doesn’t always work, but one of the major predictors of whether it will work is how big and concentrated the private sector is. Regulatory capture isn’t automatic: it’s what you get when companies are bigger than governments.
If you want small governments, in other words, you need small companies. Even if you think the only role for the state is in enforcing contracts, the state needs to be more powerful than the companies issuing those contracts. The bigger the companies are, the bigger the government has to be:
https://doctorow.medium.com/regulatory-capture-59b2013e2526
Companies can suborn the government to help them abuse the public, but whether public institutions can resist them is more a matter of how powerful those companies are than how fallible a public servant is. Our plutocratic, monopolized, unequal society is the worst of both worlds. Because companies are so big, they abuse us with impunity — and they are able to suborn the state to help them do it:
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/perspectives-on-politics/article/testing-theories-of-american-politics-elites-interest-groups-and-average-citizens/62327F513959D0A304D4893B382B992B
This is the dimension that’s so often missing from the discussion of why Americans pay more for healthcare to get worse outcomes from health-care workers who labor under worse conditions than their cousins abroad. Yes, the government can abet this, as when it lets privatizers into the Medicare system to loot it and maim its patients:
https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-01-patient-zero-tom-scully/
But the answer to this isn’t more privatization. Remember Sarah Palin’s scare-stories about how government health care would have “death panels” where unaccountable officials decided whether your life was worth saving?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26195604/
The reason “death panels” resounded so thoroughly — and stuck around through the years — is that we all understand, at some deep level, that health care will always be rationed. When you show up at the Emergency Room, they have to triage you. Even if you’re in unbearable agony, you might have to wait, and wait, and wait, because other people (even people who arrive after you do) have it worse.
In America, health care is mostly rationed based on your ability to pay. Emergency room triage is one of the only truly meritocratic institutions in the American health system, where your treatment is based on urgency, not cash. Of course, you can buy your way out of that too, with concierge doctors. And the ER system itself has been infested with Private Equity parasites:
https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/17/the-doctor-will-fleece-you-now/#pe-in-full-effect
Wealth-based health-care rationing is bad enough, but when it’s combined with the public purse, a bad system becomes a nightmare. Take hospice care: private equity funds have rolled up huge numbers of hospices across the USA and turned them into rigged — and lethal — games:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/26/death-panels/#what-the-heck-is-going-on-with-CMS
Medicare will pay a hospice $203-$1,462 to care for a dying person, amounting to $22.4b/year in public funds transfered to the private sector. Incentives matter: the less a hospice does for their patients, the more profits they reap. And the private hospice system is administered with the lightest of touches: at the $203/day level, a private hospice has no mandatory duties to their patients.
You can set up a California hospice for the price of a $3,000 filing fee (which is mostly optional, since it’s never checked). You will have a facility inspection, but don’t worry, there’s no followup to make sure you remediate any failing elements. And no one at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services tracks complaints.
So PE-owned hospices pressure largely healthy people to go into “hospice care” — from home. Then they do nothing for them, including continuing whatever medical care they were depending on. After the patient generates $32,000 in billings for the PE company, they hit the cap and are “live discharged” and must go through a bureaucratic nightmare to re-establish their Medicare eligibility, because once you go into hospice, Medicare assumes you are dying and halts your care.
PE-owned hospices bribe doctors to refer patients to them. Sometimes, these sham hospices deliberately induce overdoses in their patients in a bid to make it look like they’re actually in the business of caring for the dying. Incentives matter:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/12/05/how-hospice-became-a-for-profit-hustle
Now, hospice care — and its relative, palliative care — is a crucial part of any humane medical system. In his essential book, Being Mortal, Atul Gawande describes how end-of-life care that centers a dying person’s priorities can make death a dignified and even satisfying process for the patient and their loved ones:
https://atulgawande.com/book/being-mortal/
But that dignity comes from a patient-centered approach, not a profit-centered one. Doctors are required to put their patients’ interests first, and while they sometimes fail at this (everyone is fallible), the professionalization of medicine, through which doctors were held to ethical standards ahead of monetary considerations, proved remarkable durable.
Partly that was because doctors generally worked for themselves — or for other doctors. In most states, it is illegal for medical practices to be owned by non-MDs, and historically, only a small fraction of doctors worked for hospitals, subject to administration by businesspeople rather than medical professionals.
But that was radically altered by the entry of private equity into the medical system, with the attending waves of consolidation that saw local hospitals merged into massive national chains, and private practices scooped up and turned into profit-maximizers, not health-maximizers:
https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-02-qa-corporate-medicine-destroys-doctors/
Today, doctors are being proletarianized, joining the ranks of nurses, physicians’ assistants and other health workers. In 2012, 60% of practices were doctor-owned and only 5.6% of docs worked for hospitals. Today, that’s up by 1,000%, with 52.1% of docs working for hospitals, mostly giant corporate chains:
https://prospect.org/health/2023-08-04-when-mds-go-union/
The paperclip-maximizing, grandparent-devouring transhuman colony organism that calls itself a Private Equity fund is endlessly inventive in finding ways to increase its profits by harming the rest of us. It’s not just hospices — it’s also palliative care.
Writing for NBC News, Gretchen Morgenson describes how HCA Healthcare — the nation’s largest hospital chain — outsourced its death panels to IBM Watson, whose algorithmic determinations override MDs’ judgment to send patients to palliative care, withdrawing their care and leaving them to die:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/doctors-say-hca-hospitals-push-patients-hospice-care-rcna81599
Incentives matter. When HCA hospitals send patients to die somewhere else to die, it jukes their stats, reducing the average length of stay for patients, a key metric used by HCA that has the twin benefits of making the hospital seem like a place where people get well quickly, while freeing up beds for more profitable patients.
Goodhart’s Law holds that “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Give an MBA within HCA a metric (“get patients out of bed quicker”) and they will find a way to hit that metric (“send patients off to die somewhere else, even if their doctors think they could recover”):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law
Incentives matter! Any corporate measure immediately becomes a target. Tell Warners to decrease costs, and they will turn around and declare the writers’ strike to be a $100m “cost savings,” despite the fact that this “savings” comes from ceasing production on the shows that will bring in all of next year’s revenue:
https://deadline.com/2023/08/warner-bros-discovery-david-zaslav-gunnar-wiedenfels-strikes-1235453950/
Incentivize a company to eat its seed-corn and it will chow down.
Only one of HCA’s doctors was willing to go on record about its death panels: Ghasan Tabel of Riverside Community Hospital (motto: “Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life”). Tabel sued Riverside after the hospital retaliated against him when he refused to follow the algorithm’s orders to send his patients for palliative care.
Tabel is the only doc on record willing to discuss this, but 26 other doctors talked to Morgenson on background about the practice, asking for anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the nation’s largest hospital chain, a “Wall Street darling” with $5.6b in earnings in 2022.
HCA already has a reputation as a slaughterhouse that puts profits before patients, with “severe understaffing”:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/workers-us-hospital-giant-hca-say-puts-profits-patient-care-rcna64122
and rotting, undermaintained facililties:
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/roaches-operating-room-hca-hospital-florida-rcna69563
But while cutting staff and leaving hospitals to crumble are inarguable malpractice, the palliative care scam is harder to pin down. By using “AI” to decide when patients are beyond help, HCA can employ empiricism-washing, declaring the matter to be the factual — and unquestionable — conclusion of a mathematical process, not mere profit-seeking:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/26/dictators-dilemma/ggarbage-in-garbage-out-garbage-back-in
But this empirical facewash evaporates when confronted with whistleblower accounts of hospital administrators who have no medical credentials berating doctors for a “missed hospice opportunity” when a physician opts to keep a patient under their care despite the algorithm’s determination.
This is the true “AI Safety” risk. It’s not that a chatbot will become sentient and take over the world — it’s that the original artificial lifeform, the limited liability company, will use “AI” to accelerate its murderous shell-game until we can’t spot the trick:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/10/in-the-dumps-2/
The risk is real. A 2020 study in the Journal of Healthcare Management concluded that the cash incentives for shipping patients to palliatve care “may induce deceiving changes in mortality reporting in several high-volume hospital diagnoses”:
https://journals.lww.com/jhmonline/Fulltext/2020/04000/The_Association_of_Increasing_Hospice_Use_With.7.aspx
Incentives matter. In a private market, it’s always more profitable to deny care than to provide it, and any metric we bolt onto that system to prevent cheating will immediately become a target. For-profit healthcare is an oxymoron, a prelude to death panels that will kill you for a nickel.
Morgenson is an incisive commentator on for-profit looting. Her recent book These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs — and Wrecks — America (co-written with Joshua Rosner) is a must-read:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben
Tumblr media
I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:
http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org
Tumblr media
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/05/any-metric-becomes-a-target/#hca
Tumblr media
[Image ID: An industrial meat-grinder. A sick man, propped up with pillows, is being carried up its conveyor towards its hopper. Ground meat comes out of the other end. It bears the logo of HCA healthcare. A pool of blood spreads out below it.]
Tumblr media
Image: Seydelmann (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GW300_1.jpg
CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en
539 notes · View notes
ticklinglady · 10 months
Text
The Guild's actions during the story are so insane, when you think about them properly, you know? When I first read the arc with them, this moment hasn't really occurred to me, as I was too busy going nuts over finally seeing the names of the familiar writers, but now when I think of that... I am not sure, I comprehend how they managed to achieve such a ferocious reputation. I have already made a little post about how extremely dysfunctional the DOA members are, but at least those guys have a plan, which actually makes sense more or less, even despite the gang using cheatcodes/the Book. The same cannot be said of the Guild however archghhjkn. Like, what the hell were these guys even doing??? XD
So here are just some moments, which weirded me out the most
Tumblr media
At first I'd like to address the entire story with everyone's favorite tsundere, Lucy Maud Montgomery. Her introduction leaves quuuuite an impression in the best way and nothing makes me happier than the fact, that she gets a chance to find happiness in the following chapters and actually becomes a reoccurring character! HOWEVER, her entire involvement with the Guild is super odd... I still can't wrap my head around her getting fired. She is a girl with a hella powerful ability, who got taken to the Guild from a terrible, terrible orphanage in order to fight for them in the war for the Book, so not only is she very strong, but she's also immensely dependant on the organisation and wouldn't do anything outside of its interests. Yet Lucy is also put under extreme pressure. As she herself puts it, the Guild doesn't tolerate failures and will kick her out the moment she screws something up.
Tumblr media
Later we see that this is exactly what happens, when she messes up her first mission. Fitzgerald himself confirms that, since she failed and revealed her ability to the enemies, she's no longer useful, so now a powerful esper, like Lucy works for free as a... laundress?
Tumblr media
EXCUSE ME??? WHEN HAVE THE GUILD MEMBERS EVER DONE ANYTHING, BUT FAIL AND REVEAL THEIR ABILITIES?
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Let's be real, these dudes were successful like only once or twice...
This fact not only makes Fitzgerald look like an idiot for wasting such a talented and useful worker, because of one mistake, but also as one hell of a hypocrite, cause he is more than fine with everyone else fucking up. And in case of Lovecraft and Steinbeck: fucking up twice. To add to the oddity, we later learn, that Louisa genuinely cares for Lucy and despite her social anxiety actually stood up for her during the entire story, but even that wasn't enough to change Fitzgerald's mind on the issue, though Louisa is one of the few people, whose opinion he respects. Honestly, this is such a waste of a truly useful subordinate. And speaking of which....
The Guild has never even tried to implement Edgar Allan Poe during the war...
Tumblr media
This man is actually rather op when you think of it. He can capture and neutralise literally any ability user in Yokohama (besides Dazai, Mori and Ranpo ofc) just by throwing a book at them. Seriously, as we see with Chuuya, they don't even have to read it, they just need to see the pages. Plus the book can be actually sent via email!!! So why has there been an absolute zero amount of strategies with the use of this ability??? They could actually try to catch Atsushi by sending him such email containing any of Poe's mystery stories and then safely carry him back to their base. And it doesn't have to be just Atsushi, it could be literally any of their enemies. Non-combatant, like Ranpo could use this pretty damn well to his advantage and it doesn't take a genius to understand the potential of the "Black Cat in Rue Morgue". But nooooo, it seems like everyone has just forgotten of Poe!!! (Tho to be honest, I can actually see this situation in a funny extra awfgbfggfjj. Not the main story however) The agency would never even learn of his existence, if he didn't personally decide to try to fuck Ranpo's life up. Like, what does Poe even do in the Guild? He's the master architect and, according to him, the third ranking man in the organization, but we never see him be of any use, so Idk. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Lucy at least got to do something, unlike this poor man.
Then there's the entire drama with the Guild's decision to destroy Yokohama. Where do I even begin...
First of all, Fitzgerald has no way of knowing that Atsushi is going to come to Moby-Dick to fight him. Poor guy is the Guild's primary goal and has already gotten himself captured once, so it would have been safe to assume that the ADA decided to hide him somewhere and not send him on any dangerous missions for the time being. That basically means Fitzgerald could have burned down not just Yokohama, but also the only person, who could actually help him find his precious Book.
But if we're to ignore this, let's also go with Wikipedia then~
"Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of Tokyo, in the Kantō region of the main island of Honshu. Yokohama is also the major economic, cultural, and commercial hub of the Greater Tokyo Area along the Keihin Industrial Zone."
..........................
Tumblr media
Good luck making up for the destruction of THIS, Fitzgerald 🖕
Tumblr media
And if this in itself wasn't bad enough, most people, including me, tend to forget that all Guild members are actually big shots in the American government, which I think is very sad. Because first of all, can you imagine any of the Guild members actually working as politicians?!! The sheer idea makes me hysterical avshbgj. Like, just consider Lovecraft working as a senator or something. This eldritch horror of a man leaves the ocean once in three years at best LMAO. Second of all, I have a feeling, that the destruction of Yokohama at the hands of influential politicians from a foreign country would have resulted in an international conflict or two~ Like as if random deranged rich Americans arriving in Japan, wreaking havoc over there and destroying the second largest city in the country wasn't bad enough, these Americans just HAD to be super influential businessmen and politicians. Louisa, my dear, I understand that it wasn't your intention, but it's as close to a declaration of war as it can get, you know? Fitzgerald may be ready to do anything to resurrect his dead daughter, but I'm not sure, that the execution of himself and the rest of the Guild at the hands of the Hunting Dogs is something he'd like.
(And here's another funny thing that stems from them being politicians 🤭 As @originalartblog wittily pointed out, Fitzgerald wasting all his money fighting sskk has probably resulted in a market crash and recession over in the USA)
I also have some other questions in regards to this entire plan, such as why did they have to waste Moby-Dick just to destroy Yokohama? Yes, it works in the short term, but in the long term they loose a super powerful fortress with the stealth mode and as the practice shows, you better have a safe base, unless you want another lemon freak to blow it all up. I mean, you could just ask Lovecraft to destroy everything for free. Or, if the device is the only way to stop the giant whale from crashing, why didn't Fitzgerald just take it to a far away bunker or something and waited things out there without the need to spend millions of dollars just to survive the explosion? (And it would have been extremely funny, if during the fight with sskk he just threw the device overboard) But I think I have already rambled for long enough already atxhghbgv XD
The Guild is an even bigger mess than the DOA and I think that's glorious 🙌
441 notes · View notes
julienology · 2 months
Text
Not they tryna reenact KOSA… anyway yall, here’s why KOSA is bad!!
If you don’t already know, KOSA, or Kids Online Safety Act is a bill that was proposed to keep children safe on the internet. You might ask ‘why is this bill bad if it’s in favor of supporting the safety of children online’? Well, according to stopkosa.com, it puts pressure on platforms to add even MORE filters on anything they think is inappropriate for children. This is especially harmful for LBGTQIA+ youth because the knowledge about this topic would be censored, as well as knowledge on suicide prevention and LGBTQIA+ support groups. Do you see how this an issue? For those children who are wanting to learn more about these topics they’d be turned away because of this bill. It would also be likely that it’ll allow the shutdown of websites that allow them to learn about race, sexuality and gender.
This bill would also add more internet surveillance for all users across all social media platforms. It would expand the use of age verification and parental monitoring controls. These things in itself are already very invasive, but doesn’t take into consideration the children who live in unsafe environments where they are domestically abused and/or are trying to escape these situations. To add my two cents onto this, I strongly believe that the KOSA bill is an unnecessary violation of our first amendment rights (if you’re American), and doesn’t really make the internet any more safer. It actually makes it more unusable for youth. Hypothetically, if this bill were to be passed, then this would make social media unusable for literally anybody. To censor content from the youth about wanting to learn about their identity is extremely harmful. Blocking them from accessing resources that may prove as helpful in their scenarios is outlandish and unneeded. We try to shelter our youth so much to the point where we try to boil them down to only being with their parents want them to be and also not being able to let them learn and explore about other things that they may want to identify themselves with. This is very harmful.
This is a list of companies who are saying no to KOSA ..
• Access Now
• ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union)
• Black and Pink National
• Center for Democracy & Technology
• COLAGE
• Defending Rights & Dissent
• Don’t Delete Art
• EducateUS: SIECUS In Action
• Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Equality Arizona
• Equality California
• Equality Michigan
• Equality New Mexico
• Equality Texas
• Fair Wisconsin
• Fairness Campaign
• Fight for the Future
• Free Speech Coalition
• Freedom Network USA
• Indivisible Eastside
• Indivisible Plus Washington
• Internet Society
• Kairos
• Lexington Pride Center
• LGBT Technology Partnership
• Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition
• Media Justice
• National Coalition Against Censorship
• Open Technology Institute
• OutNebraska
• PDX Privacy
• Presente.org
• Reframe Health and Justice
• Restore The Fourth
• SIECUS: Sex Ed for Social Change
• SWOP Behind Bars 
• TAKE
• TechFreedom
• The 6:52 Project Foundation, Inc.
• The Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center
• Transgender Education Network of Texas
• TransOhio
• University of Michigan Dearborn – Muslim Student Association 
• URGE
• WA People’s Privacy
• Woodhull Freedom Foundation
There is something you can do to stop the KOSA bill from being passed! On the website I linked, there is a petition. All you have to do is fill out the information and it’ll send off an email for you. The email reads as follows:
I’m writing to urge you to reject the Kids Online Safety Act, a misguided bill that would put vulnerable young people at risk. KOSA would fail to address the root issues related to kid’s safety online. Instead, it would endanger some of the most vulnerable people in our society while undermining human rights and children’s privacy. The bill would result in widespread internet censorship by pressuring platforms to use incredibly broad “content filters” and giving state Attorneys General the power to decide what content kids should and shouldn’t have access to online. This power could be abused in a number of ways and be politicized to censor information and resources. KOSA would also likely lead to the greater surveillance of children online by requiring platforms to gather data to verify user identity. There is a way to protect kids and all people online from egregious data abuse and harmful content targeting: passing a strong Federal data privacy law that prevents tech companies from collecting so much sensitive data about all of us in the first place, and gives individuals the ability to sue companies that misuse their data. KOSA, although well-meaning, must not move forward. Please protect privacy and stop the spread of censorship online by opposing KOSA.
The website also gives you like a format of what you can say if you chose to call your representatives. If after reading this post, you feel inclined to do something then I would say just go ahead and do it. My first time learning about KOSA was today immediately after seeing the post I felt inclined to send my lawmakers an email. Please try to help when you can and this will only take a few minutes so I think this is something that you can consider. This post is getting a little long now, so I’ll stop here. There are more resources online if you would like to learn more about the cons of this KOSA bill, thank you for reading.
98 notes · View notes
qqueenofhades · 8 months
Note
coming from one of those "born in mid 2000s and is now suddenly an adult, making everyone feel old," people, do you have any resources to learn how to bullshit your way through getting a job with zero experience. cause i cant even put like "babysitting" or anything since covid prevented literally any teenage-typical jobs and i kinda dont know what to put on a resume beyond the university im currently attending and the high school i graduated from. and they still dont teach you this in school even though we've complained for years 😭
Okay my chilluns, listen up. This is how to bullshit your way into a basic 1-page resume even if you think you have absolutely dum-dum-diddlysquat to put on it. I completely feel you, as it's hard as hell to get a job even in the ordinary course of things, and especially when everything seems to want 10 years of experience and a bachelor's degree (and still pays like shit). But you gotta be persistent anyway. So here follows the step-by-step guide of How To Resume:
Open a new Word (or other word-processing software of your choice) document.
Pick a nice, professional-looking font (for the love of God, no Comic Sans). Times New Roman is fine; you don't have to overthink it. My own CV is currently in Perpetua, because it's a nice serif that looks crisp and a little different, but it is still clean and readable. Garamond or Cambria or other starter typefaces are fine too. Make sure it is the right size, usually around 12pt.
Put your full name at the top, centered, in BOLD CAPITALS. Increase the typeface size a few more points on this, to make it stand out and to make it take up space.
Underneath this, in regular-sized text, put your contact information: mailing address if you're comfortable sharing it, or if not, at least your phone number and email address. Use a school email if you have it, and not some weird/in-jokey personal email.
Start a new paragraph. In a slightly smaller font (italic if you want to make it look classy) write a few words about yourself. This should be something like I am a [Major] student at [University] looking for a part-time, entry-level position in [sales, retail, office, etc]. A [year] graduate of [High School] in [City, State], I am [prompt, reliable, detail-oriented, mature, friendly, etc] and a hard worker who is eager to gain experience and positively contribute to your business.
Start a new paragraph. Change the alignment from Center to Left. Create a new heading in bold underline labeled Education.
Under this, fill in your education (college first, followed by high school). Include the institution name, city, and state, the year you graduated or expect to graduate, any honors or awards, any extracurriculars, any grade-point averages if they're good (i.e. 3.0 and above), and your expected major in college.
Start a new paragraph. Create another heading: Experience.
This is where you put absolutely anything you can think of (in chronological order, most recent first and counting backward). Did you volunteer for something ever in your life? Put it down! (Title of work, dates, location, brief description of work). Did you do yard work for someone for a weekend? Put it down! Were you (or are you) part of a student club or organization in high school or university? Have you organized or taken part in any local initiatives in your community or neighborhood? Put it down! Basically, absolutely any kind of work, paid or unpaid, that might be relevant, regardless of how long it was or when it took place.
Under that, put the new heading/paragraph Skills and Interests.
Have you worked with Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Adobe, Photoshop? Put it down! People love that shit! Do you use social media and/or know how to work it better than the average grandma? Put 'er down! You get the idea. Think of anything in your daily life that can be put in Job Language and then see if you can do that. You are in university; do you have any projects, papers, or other things that you're proud of? Have you successfully managed a (gasp) group project? Do you make any kind of art? Are you a registered voter who has taken part in civic/political organizations, drives, or events? (If not, REGISTER TO VOTE! This is your angry grandmother speaking). All of that can go down. Even if it's not job experience per se, it's life experience and shows that you are someone who is engaged with the world and working to gain more.
Last paragraph and heading: References. Ask a few trusted adults who know you well and aren't related to you, such as a favorite high school teacher or a university faculty member/degree advisor, if they'd be willing to serve as referees. Put down their full names, titles/place of work, email addresses, and phone numbers.
Voila! You have a full page resume, probably even a little more if you're lucky. Proofread, make sure the spacing is even and the alignment is right, it doesn't look weird, the text is a consistent size, it's all the same color, there are no glaring typos or grammatical errors, etc. etc. Save it as a PDF.
Boom. Done. You are now a Job Hunting Maestro.
If you get an interview, you don't need to pretend that you have tons of experience or that you're something you're not, but you can present what you ARE in a positive light anyway. Don't apologize for yourself or play yourself down pre-emptively; be confident about yourself and what you can offer. You're a college kid looking for your first part-time job, COVID prevented you from a lot of normal teenage work experience, you're willing to work hard and learn new things. Here's your resume. What would be a good time to talk again.
Good luck! I believe in you.
190 notes · View notes
jayflrt · 5 months
Note
bc of a stoners guide to starbucks im so obsessed w getting an email to rate my uni starbucks 😭😭i just realized i finally got a survey but missed the deadline bc it’s been 11 days
omg im so glad you’re enjoying a stoner’s guide to starbucks !! :’) although that is a sweet sentiment i DO have something i would like to address on that note
i’ve been meaning to say something about this for a while actually due to the very obvious setting of my smau, but i’d greatly appreciate if we can separate the fictional starbucks in my social media au from starbucks as a real life corporation ! anon btw i hope you don’t see this as a jab at you at all, i just want to put this out there in general for everyone who’s reading !!
if you don’t know already, more than 8000 palestinians in gaza have been killed by israel just this month. israel is a settler colony, which is a form of colonization that aims to replace the native population of the land they’re colonizing with their settlers. so palestine has been oppressed by israel for decades with the support of nations like the united states and the united kingdom
why im bringing this up is because three targeted boycotts are happening: starbucks (suing its union for posts about supporting palestine), mcdonald’s (donated free meals to israeli army), and disney+ (pledged $2m support for israel). so i please ask that you don’t support starbucks by buying food/drink from them or giving them high ratings ! the starbucks worker union itself is asking us to boycott starbucks and their stocks have been plummeting rn btw
also PLEASE do not harass people who work at starbucks or mcdonald’s. most people don’t support genocide but don’t have the financial capabilities to quit their current jobs, especially with the state the job market is at right now in america. plus the main reason why people are being asked to boycott starbucks is because starbucks union workers themselves were fired for standing with palestine
if you have any questions or would like further resources then lmk or look for informational threads online !! be careful about certain news outlets because there’s a LOT of pro israel propaganda going around
there is a lot going on in our world right now—several active genocides. it’s important we educate ourselves as the ones who have the privilege to not experience the fear and trauma that millions of palestinians are going through and have to live with. if you think that sharing posts and speaking up about it on social media is fruitless then do remember that israel has cut off palestine’s internet for a REASON so please use your privilege and your voice to speak up about palestine!
note that this post is specific to palestine, but there are genocides happening in several countries as we speak and NO big news outlets are covering the horrors. free palestine, free sudan, free congo, free armenia, free tigray
110 notes · View notes
mariacallous · 21 days
Text
Jalon Hall thought she was being scammed when a recruiter reached out on LinkedIn about a job moderating YouTube videos in 2020. Months after earning a master’s degree in criminal justice, her only job had been at a law firm investigating discrimination cases. But the offer was real, and Hall, who is Black and Deaf, sailed through the interviews.
She would be part of a new in-house moderation team of about 100 people called Wolverine, trudging daily through freezing weather to offices in suburban Detroit during the early pandemic. When she accepted the job, the recruiter said via email that a sign language interpreter would be provided “and can be fully accommodated :)” That assurance unraveled within days of joining Google—and her experience at the company has proven difficult in the years since.
Hall now works on responsible use of AI at Google and by all available accounts is the company’s first and only Black, Deaf employee. The company has feted her at events and online as representative of a workplace welcoming to all. Google’s LinkedIn account praised her last year for “helping expand opportunities for Black Deaf professionals!” while on Instagram the company thanked her “for making #LifeAtGoogle more inclusive!” Yet behind the rosy marketing, Hall accuses Google of subjecting her to both racism and audism, prejudice against the deaf or hard of hearing. She says the company denied her access to a sign language interpreter and slow-walked upgrades to essential tools.
After filing three HR complaints that she says yielded little change, Hall sued Google in December, alleging discrimination based on her race and disability. The company responded this week, arguing that the case should be thrown out on procedural grounds, including bringing the claims too late, but didn’t deny Hall’s accusations. “Google is using me to make them look inclusive for the Deaf community and the overall Disability community,” she says. “In reality, they need to do better.”
Hall, who is in her thirties, has stayed at Google in hopes of spurring improvements for others. She chose to talk with WIRED despite fearing for her safety and job prospects because she feels the company has ignored her. “I was born to push through hard times,” she says. “It would be selfish to quit Google. I’m standing in the gap for those often pushed aside.” Hall’s experiences, which have not been previously reported, are corroborated by over two dozen internal documents seen by WIRED as well as interviews with four colleagues she confided in and worked alongside.
Employees who are Black or disabled are in tiny minorities at Google, a company of nearly 183,000 people that has long been criticized for an internal culture that heavily favors people who fit tech industry norms. Google’s Deaf and hard-of-hearing employee group has 40 members. And Black women, who make up only about 2.4 percent of Google’s US workforce, leave the company at a disproportionately higher rate than women of other races, company data showed last year.
Several former Black women employees, including AI researcher Timnit Gebru and recruiter April Christina Curley, have publicly alleged they were sidelined by an internal culture that disrespected them. Curley is leading a proposed class action lawsuit accusing Google of systemic bias but has lost initial court battles.
Google spokesperson Emily Hawkins didn’t directly address Hall’s allegations when asked about them by WIRED. “We are committed to building an inclusive workplace and offer a range of accommodations to support the success of our employees, including sign language interpreters and captioning,” Hawkins says.
Figuring out how to accommodate people like Hall could be good business for Google. One in every 10 people by 2050 will have disabling hearing loss, according to the World Health Organization.
Mark Takano, who represents a slice of Southern California in the US House and cochairs the Congressional Deaf Caucus, says that Google has an obligation to lead the way in demonstrating that its technology and employment practices are accommodating. “When Deaf and hard-of-hearing employees are excluded because of the inability to provide an accessible workplace, there is a great pool of talent that is left untapped—and we all lose out,” he says.
Unaccommodated
Hall was born with profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, meaning that even with hearing aids her brain cannot process sounds well. Two separate audiologists in memos to Google said Hall needs an American Sign Language interpreter full-time. She also signs pre- and post-segregation Black ASL, which uses more two-handed signs and incorporates some African American vernacular.
During her childhood in Louisiana, Hall's parents pushed her into speech therapy and conventional schools, where she found that some people doubted she was Deaf because she can speak. She later attended a high school for Deaf students where she became homecoming and prom queen, and realized how much more she could achieve when provided appropriate support.
Hall expected to find a similar environment at Google when she moved to Farmington Hills, Michigan, to become a content moderator. The company contracts ASL interpreters from a vendor called Deaf Services of Palo Alto, or DSPA. But though Hall had been assigned to enforce YouTube’s child safety rules, managers wouldn’t let her interpreters help her review that content. Google worried about exposing contractors to graphic imagery and cited confidentiality concerns, despite the fact interpreters in the US follow a code of conduct that includes confidentiality standards.
Managers transferred Hall into training to screen for videos spreading misinformation about Covid and elections. She developed a workflow that saw her default to using lipreading and automated transcriptions to review videos and turn to her interpreter if she needed further help. The transcriptions on videos used in training were high quality, so she had little trouble.
Her system fell apart late in January 2021, about 20 minutes into one of her first days screening new content. The latest video in her queue was difficult to make sense of using lipreading, and the AI transcriptions in the software YouTube built for moderators were poor quality or even absent for recently uploaded content. She turned to her interpreter’s desk a few feet away—but to her surprise it was empty. “I was going to say, ‘Do you mind coming listening to this?’” she recalls.
Hall rose to ask a manager about the interpreter’s whereabouts. He told her that he and fellow managers had decided that she could no longer have an interpreter in the room because it threatened the confidentiality of the team’s work. She could now talk with her interpreter only during breaks or briefly bring them in to clarify policies with managers. She was told to skip any videos she couldn’t judge through sight alone.
Feeling wronged and confused by the new restrictions, Hall slumped back into her chair. US law requires companies to provide reasonable accommodations to a disabled worker unless it would cause the employer significant difficulty or expense. “This was not a reasonable accommodation,” she says. “I was thinking, What did I get myself into? Do they not believe I’m Deaf? I need my interpreter all day. Why are you robbing me of the chance of doing my job?”
‘Pushed Aside’
Without her interpreter, Hall struggled. She rarely met the quota of 75 videos each moderator was expected to review over an eight-hour day. She often had to watch through a video in its entirety, sometimes more than an hour, before concluding she could not assess it. “I felt humiliated, realizing that I would not grow in my career,” she says.
Throughout that February, Hall spoke to managers across YouTube about the need for better transcriptions in the moderation software. They told her it would take weeks or more to improve them, possibly even years. She asked for a transfer to child safety, since she had heard from a colleague that visuals alone could be used to decide many of those videos. An HR complaint filed that spring led nowhere.
Black and disabled colleagues eventually helped secure Hall a transfer into Google’s Responsible AI and Human-Centered Technology division in July 2021. It is run by vice president Marian Croak, Google’s most distinguished Black female technical leader. Hall says Croak supported her and described what she’d been through as unacceptable. But even in the new role, Hall’s interpreter was restricted to non-confidential conversations.
Hall says the discrimination against her has continued under her new manager, who is also Black, leading to her exclusion from projects and meetings. Even when she’s present some coworkers don’t make much effort to include her. “My point of view is often not heard,” Hall says. In 2021, she joined two gatherings of Google’s Equitable AI Research Roundtable, an advisory body, but then wasn’t invited again. “I feel hidden and pushed aside,” she says.
Hall filed an internal complaint against her manager in March 2022, and an HR staffer has joined their one-on-one meetings since October of that year. One of the interpreters who has assisted Hall says the friction Deaf workers encounter is sadly unsurprising. “People truly don’t take the time to learn about their peers,” the interpreter says.
The allegations are notable in part because a civil rights audit Google commissioned found last March that it needs to do more to train managers. “One of the largest areas of opportunity is improving managers’ ability to lead a diverse workforce,” attorneys for WilmerHale wrote. Hawkins, the Google spokesperson, says all employees have access to inclusion training.
Hall says when she has access to an interpreter, they are rotated throughout the week, forcing her to repeatedly explain some technical concepts. “Google is going the cheap route,” Hall claims, saying her interpreters in university were more literate in tech jargon.
Kathy Kaufman, director of coordinating services at DSPA, says it pays above market rates, dedicates a small pool to each company so the vocabulary becomes familiar, hires tech specialists, and trains those who are not. Kaufman also declined to confirm that Google is a client or comment on its policies.
Google’s Hawkins says that the company is trying to make improvements. Google’s accommodations team is currently seeking employees to join a new working group to smooth over policies and procedures related to disabilities.
Beside Hall’s concerns, Deaf workers over the past two years have complained about Google’s plans—shelved, for now—to switch away from DSPA without providing assurances that a new interpreter provider would be better, according to a former Google employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect their job prospects. Blind employees have had the human guides they rely on excluded from internal systems due to confidentiality concerns in recent years, and they have long complained that key internal tools, like a widely used assignment tracker, are incompatible with screen readers, according to a second former employee.
Advocates for disabled workers try to hold out hope but are discouraged. “The premise that everyone deserves a shot at every role rests on the company doing whatever it takes to provide accommodations,” says Stephanie Parker, a former senior strategist at YouTube who helped Hall navigate the Google bureaucracy. “From my experience with Google, there is a pretty glaring lack of commitment to accessibility.”
Not Recorded
Hall has been left to watch as colleagues hired alongside her as content moderators got promoted. More than three years after joining Google, she remains a level 2 employee on its internal ranking, defined as someone who receives significant oversight from a manager, making her ineligible for Google peer support and retention programs. Internal data shows that most L2 employees reach L3 within three years.
Last August, Hall started her own community, the Black Googler Network Deaf Alliance, teaching its members sign language and sharing videos and articles about the Black Deaf community. “This is still a hearing world, and the Deaf and hearing have to come together,” she says.
On the responsible AI team, Hall has been compiling research that would help people at Google working on AI services such as virtual assistants understand how to make them accessible to the Black Deaf community. She personally recruited 20 Black Deaf users to discuss their views on the future of technology for about 90 minutes in exchange for up to $100 each; Google, which reported nearly $74 billion in profit last year, would only pay for 13. The project was further derailed by an unexpected flaw in Google Meet, the company’s video chat service.
Hall’s first interview was with someone who is Deaf and Blind. The 90-minute call, which included two interpreters to help her and the subject converse, went well. But when Hall pulled up the recording to begin putting together her report, it was almost entirely blank. Only when Hall’s interpreter spoke did the video include any visuals. The signing between everyone on the call was missing, preventing her from fully transcribing the interview. It turned out that Google Meet doesn’t record video of people who aren’t vocalizing, even when their microphones are unmuted.
“My heart dropped,” Hall told WIRED using the video chat app Sivo, which allows all participants to see each other while a hearing person and sign language interpreter speak by phone. Hall spent the evening trying to soothe her devastation, meditating, praying, and playing with her dog, which she has trained in ASL commands.
Hall filed a support ticket and spoke to a top engineer for Google Meet who said fixing the issue wasn’t a priority. WIRED later found evidence that users had publicly reported similar issues for years. Microsoft Teams generally will record signing, but Hall wasn’t permitted to use it. She ended up hacking together a workflow for documenting her interviews by laboriously editing together Meet recordings and screen-captured video using tools that she paid $46 a month for out of her own pocket.
Company spokesperson Hawkins did not dispute Meet’s limitations but claims support for the Deaf community is a priority at Google, where work underway includes developing computer vision software to translate sign language.
Google leaders have often paid lip service to the importance of including people with diverse experiences in research and development, but Hall has found the reality lacking. Despite her understanding of the Black Deaf community and research into its needs, she says she is yet to be invited to support the sign translation work. In her experience, Google’s conception of diversity can be narrow. “In the AI department, a lot of conversations are around race and gender,” Hall says. “No one emphasizes disability.”
Her research showed Black, Deaf users are concerned about the potential for AI systems to misinterpret signs, generate poor captions, take jobs from interpreters, and disadvantage individuals who opt for manual interpretation. It underscored that companies need to consider whether new tools would make someone who is unable to hear feel closer or further from the people with whom they are communicating.
Hall presented her findings internally last December over a Google Meet call. Twenty-four colleagues joined, including a research director. Hall had been encouraged, including by Croak, to invite a much larger audience from across the company but ultimately stuck with the short list insisted upon by her manager. She didn’t even bother trying to record it.
15 notes · View notes
buggywiththefolkmagic · 4 months
Note
Saw your book post and I think you've confused a few things...
You seem to mix up Hoodoo and Vodou a lot. They are not the same. Hoodoo is not a closed practice nor religion. It's just fking weird and poser-ish if someone claims it without ever growing up in the culture for it. But many Hoodoo practioners will tell you their practice is not closed. Vodou/Santeria is closed.
Also saying to be careful not to fall into Hoodoo while doing Conjure... you know rootwork is similar across all cultures right? This just feels like a gatekeeping statement and prevents people from really digging into their folkwork by making them constantly worried they're appropriating.
The thing with smudging: you make no mention of which kind of smudging is closed. You just said it generally, which is a bit ridiculous. Burning herbs for the sake of energy and cleansing is not inherently a Native Indigenous practice. Bayabas, or guava leaves, have been used in the Philippines pre-colonialism. Frankenincense in Europe and Old Christianity. Ti Leaves in Hawaii. Rose in Ancient Rome, and Blue Lotus in Ancient Egypt. As a latina, and as half of one myself🇨🇺, we both know our people love to use incense at altars. SAGE, particularly white sage, is where the line is drawn. Same with palo santo. I agree with your points, but I think you need to be specific if you're being critical.
Much love from 🇵🇭✨️
Hello there anon! I see you sent another ask apologizing for assuming I was Latina, and you're quite forgiven! I am as they say white as white can be.
As a white person I went to an American BIPOC friend of mine in order to answer all of this as honestly as I possibly could. Hoodoo by means of origin IS a closed practice. It's roots come from Ghana and was created in America as a very specific response to slavery. Both Hoodoo and Vodu are tribal/family based, and both require a initiation of sorts through community in order to practice them. Vodu's roots are in Haiti, and through community, enslavement, and initiation needed through the "family" as some groups of Vodu practioners call themselves, are required therefore it is also closed. I shall include some links below to help with the distinction of Hoodoo and Vodu and why they are both closed practices/religions. Hoodoo could be considered a religion in Louisiana specifically due to it's usage there and sometimes it's blending with Vodu. https://medium.com/@empressnaima/my-hoodoo-initiation-5086e375e378 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_(spirituality) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haitian_Vodou https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/magic-matters/2021/11/10 https://brizomagazine.com/2020/06/15/the-appropriation-of-magic-how-white-people-demonised-voodoo/ Now that I've cleared up through BIPOC voices/history/links on why Hoodoo is in fact closed...let me address the specific comment of
"You know rootwork is similar across all cultures right? This just feels like a gatekeeping statement and prevents people from really digging into their folkwork by making them constantly worried they're appropriating." Rootwork in of itself is a Hoodoo term iirc, but I may be wrong on that front. As for worrying about appropriation...white people SHOULD BE worried about appropriating. Hell currently in America we still through simply social climate and judicial systems are failing our BIPOC/Indigenous communities.
As a folk worker who has some herbalism that stems from Cherokee and Creek peoples I am so beyond careful to make sure my practice is not appropriating from them. White people demolished them, slaughtered them, and took away their homes and sacred spaces, hell, we stole and demolished their LANGUAGE. And you're telling me I don't need to worry about taking anything else from them? The best option is to contact the people you believe is being appropriated from and just...asking them. Wild concept I know. Make friends that are not from your station! Send emails and letters to community leaders in these appropriated cultures in an honest and respectful way to see if what you're studying is appropriated. A good example of this was I found recently an ancestor of mine worked closely with what she called "Grandmama Spider". Grandmother Spider is a Cherokee creation deity. Referencing the above horrors and terrors us white folk did and are still doing to the Cherokee people...I will not be following in her footsteps. Individuals like Cat/Catherin Yronwode has perpetrated that Hoodoo is open, and has caused catastrophic issues with her large standing in the American Folk Magic world. A link to an open letter about Cat Yronwode and her severe appropriation/dismissal of the real history of New Orleans Voodoo being "fake" and "not a slave based religion" is here: https://conjureart.blogspot.com/2013/10/open-letter-to-cat-yronwode-and-lucky.html I don't want to pick on any specific religions/groups of people but all you have to do is read through ONE "witchcraft for beginners" book written in America or England and find at least two stolen items from Indigenous Americans AND the BIPOC/Black community. It's THAT common. Totems and Spirit Animals? Not entirely Indigenous but the ones these authors are teaching about ARE. The same goes for the word smudging, when I mention a book has smudging in it I am talking about white sage. White Americans love to use their white sage with an illegal owl feather and a shell to hold their bundle of sage in. The word smudging in of itself comes from the 15th to 16th century Germanic language and was actually talking about using smoke to rid a home or building of insect infestations. The word we SHOULD be using for cleansing with smoke should simply be...smoke cleansing. It avoids the person reading from having to guess if it's appropriated or not.
Having said all of that I guess all of this boils down to one thing: Listen to the voices of the cultures first. If they say something's appropriated? Stop. If they say it's closed? Stop. I have no authority on anything at all, but if I can speak up just once and give others a platform to say, "Hey this is kinda fucked up" I will. It's the least I as a white person can do.
19 notes · View notes
Tumblr media
1.0, Big Brother (0% technophobic)
These are tech bros and billionaire executives, the kind of people who push for AI facial recognition, data tracking, and mind reading technology (metaphorically, until actual mind reading technology becomes viable, in which case, literally). If you give them an email address you haven't touched since 2006, in less than a day they'd have a file full of your personal information thicker than the FBI's and NSA's combined. Down here, you have guys like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and most politicians (especially after 9/11. Can you say USA PATRIOT Act?)
1.1 - 3.2
Here, you'll find the fanboys of the above. Guys who are really into NFTs and crypto. Influencers and blue checks who crave attention and show off all their 4 figure phones, 5 figure workout equipment, and 6 or 7 figure cars. The kind of rich assholes who think they're tech savvy because every appliance in their home connects to the internet and requires a subscription service in order to not vent deadly neurotoxin through their air ducts. These are all small fish who aspire to be big fish; the 1.Xs will throw themselves under the bus to protect the 1.0s, while the 2.Xs will get thrown under the bus involuntarily.
3.2, True Neutral (50%)
Because this is a log scale, the actual center is 3.16227766 (the square root of 10). 3.2 represents Average Joe American, the type of guy who doesn't care about the state of technology one way or the other. He probably doesn't own an Alexa or Ring camera, only because he's never thought of buying one (3.1) or thinks it would be too much of a hassle to set up (3.3). If facebook asked him for a 3d scan of his head to try out a new memoji, he'd upload it without hesitation. He thinks cops shouldn't need a warrant to spy on the Bad Guys™, and recently voted for politicians who wrote the Let Cops Decide Who is Good and Who is Bad With Impunity Bill (though he will never connect dots between his actions and their consequences). "Why should you care if you have nothing to hide?" This guy buys his friends and family $100 send-in-your-spit DNA tests for Christmas.
3.2 - 5.0
I'd say most of the people reading this fall somewhere around here, though they think they're much higher. Hell, I'm probably a mid-4, but until I actually started plotting out this scale I would have guessed I was a 6 or a 7. High 5 at least! 3.Xs don't know how to pirate things and begrudgingly subscribe to some or all the major streaming services. 4.Xs don't use facebook anymore, but are still on twitter because that's where all the people they follow post from. These people are vaguely aware of how bad things could potentially be, but have no clue how bad they really are; if you suspect you're in this range, please know that every single service you've ever given your email address to is connected to your name in a database somewhere, even if you faked all the rest of the info you gave out. If you signed up to a grocery store value card, advertisers immediately know every single item you've ever purchased, and can even make assumptions based on the purchases of people you are in close proximity to every day (your phone is close to this other person's phone from 9 to 5, so you're probably co-workers, or they're close from 6pm to 6am, so you live together, etc.)
5.0 - 6.0
A little healthy skepticism to help shield your brain from the fact that you live in an Orwellian surveillance state. You use adblocker and VPNs, you don't carry your phone with you 24/7, you use burner emails for every different website (though it won't make much difference because they're all being accessed from the same device, so it wouldn't take any government entity more than a couple seconds to figure out they all belong to the same person). If 3.2 is blissfully ignorant, 5.2 is in living hell because they KNOW what's up and are powerless to do anything about it.
6.0 - 8.0
These are the REAL tech savvy people who don't use social media, have zero smart appliances in their homes, and rely heavily on physical media. We should all strive to be here. In the upper 7s you get privacy activists who know deep down that the system will never be able to fix itself but still hope against hope that it will.
8.0 - 9.9
These people scare me, not because they actually get shit done but because they have delusions of grandeur and TALK about how much shit they'll get done. Most libertarians think they're up here, but really they're down in the 4s and 5s with the rest of us. Real 8s and 9s are batshit Tyler Durden wannabes who think they can change the world by planning terror attacks "in minecraft." They never do anything because they either get caught or chicken out because it's more fun to plan for the singularity or the collapse of the grid than to actually carry out said plans. These are doomsday preppers and dude-bros who are little different than qanon nutjobs (except that qanon supports Big Brother)
10.0, Full Kaczynski (100%)
You are Theodore John Kaczynski, you live in a shack in the woods and you mail bombs to universities. NEVER GO FULL KACZYNSKI. You'll never succeed in hurting any substantial 1s or 2s, just innocent 3s and 4s. In reality, Ted cared more about industrialization and the environment than computers and the police state, but the internet didn't exist in the 70s. The modern world is built upon man made horrors beyond his imagination.
I guess I subscribe to a lopsided horseshoe theory; instead of both sides being equally bad at the extremes, the lower end is worse because it is much more powerful and influential. There are more 1.Xs than 9.Xs, but you'll hear about the 9s in the news a lot more often. You're more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark, or by a cop than an undocumented immigrant, but we all know that quantity isn't what gets reported on, now is it?
I dunno, take this scale with a grain of salt. It's all subjective.
126 notes · View notes
thebookbin · 1 year
Text
Bookish News You Need To Know
HarperCollins Publishing Union is on Strike NOW
Since July, HarperCollins workers have been bargaining with their corporation to receive fair wages, diversity commitments in the industry (which has remained 90% white), and for their right to collectively bargain. To stave off the strike HarperCollins agreed to come to the table, but refused to engage in good faith.
HarperCollins UAW 2110 has been on strike since 10 November.
Tumblr media
How you can help:
All this information comes straight from the union. Visit their website for the most up-to-date information. Follow their lead when it comes to direct action!
Donate to the strike fund! You can use this link here or make our cheques to: ATTN Lynne Weir Region 9A UAW 111 Founders Plaza, 17th floor East Hartford, CT 06108 "HarperCollins" on the memo line
Bring supplies to the picket line Email dm @hcpunion on instagram to see what they need right now. But in general things that would be helpful are: lunch, gluten-free and vegan options, hand-warmers, and scarves.
Don't boycott HarperCollins titles The union is asking you not to boycott, because they still support their authors and want them to succeed. Improved conditions for HarperCollins workers means improved conditions for HarperCollins authors.
Contact HarperCollins and share the news Your support for the union should be addressed to [email protected] and [email protected]
If you're near NYC, join the picket line 195 Broadway, New York, NY 10007
DO NOT REVIEW HARPERCOLLINS BOOKS UNTIL THEY PROVIDE FAIR CONTRACTS TO THEIR EMPLOYEES. And if they are nominated for any awards like the GoodReads Choice Awards withhold your vote on HarperCollins titles.
Reblog this post This isn't part of the official union instructions, but it would really help spread the word around the tumblr book community.
Sources: HCP Union social medias: Twitter Instagram The Citizen's Guide to Following the Money and Holding the Powerful Accountable free ebook PDF MorePerfectUnion @harpercollins
65 notes · View notes
Text
gizmodo picked up the story an hour ago so this local news story is about to become nuclear and i apologize for what's about to happen
i'm a former space camp employee, worked there from December 2021 - August 2023. I lived on site that whole time. I still reside, at least temporarily, in Alabama.
Yesterday it broke on the local news that a trans employee was cyber stalked by a parent who posted a transphobic tirade calling for the employee to be fired. The employee did nothing except exist as trans and the post didn't invent any charges, it was just a case where existing as trans is enough evidence to convict. Of course libsoftiktok twitter account has already picked up on this and we all know that means a matter of time before death threats start rolling in. Three state representatives have already called for this employee to be terminated.
I'm not mentioning the name of the employee here even though it's public information. I don't know her personally, she likely started after I stopped working there or was in a different department. This is a young person who is being dogpiled and overwhelmed right now and I have no desire to add to that. If you wish to know more, as I said, Gizmodo has picked up the story already and others will be following suit. Things are about to get bad.
Yes there is a supreme court ruling that trans people can't be discriminated against in the workplace. But this environment is actively hostile, especially looking at how bad things have gotten just in the last month for trans people.
I worked for space camp. I don't trust them to do the right thing.
Other former employees have been working with me for months to come up with evidence of wrongdoing on the part of space camp. We plan to release these details as soon as possible, hopefully to take some of the heat off this person who never asked to be publicly doxxed in this way. There are real problems at space camp that need to be addressed (a real culture of fear and punishment behind the scenes, especially for disabled employees) but the trans counselors have done nothing wrong. Knowing how the culture was when I left, I have to wonder if space camp will terminate this employee. Their recent statement is clarifying their rules about social media, but not saying anything whatsoever about backing up their young employees should they become a target of harassment. Reading between the lines of a company email that was shared with me, I think they're about to ban pride pins on campus as they're cracking down on decorations with "political messaging". That doesn't speak to a work culture that will publicly defend their trans workers and we know the kind of culture that exists in education right now. I wouldn't be surprised if she is ousted even though she's the victim.
(That being from personal experience since I was the victim of ableist bullying when I worked there and the HR system was weaponized against me. I don't think HR has the workers best interests at heart. I can clarify more of this as needed.)
We need to keep an eye on this situation as it unfolds. Alabama once again is stepping into the wrong side of history and this is a real human being, not some martyr or villain for either side of a political cause.
(Clarification: I am not trans and cannot speak specifically about trans issues, I issued this statement as an autistic disabled lesbian after speaking with former trans employees of the center.)
4 notes · View notes
thewalkingplumbob · 5 months
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Previously / Legacy Tag
A couple of weeks had passed after their visit from the social worker. Both Reila and Emely thought the home inspection went well and were anxious to hear something, anything, back from Brielle Rosa.
Reila was playing a video game and Emely sat next to her, watching her wife's 5th attempt at completing a difficult level in D.E.N.S.I.T.Y Effect.
*sounds of a cellphone ringing*
Emely: Hello? Yes, this is Emely Townsend. Reila is right next to me if you want me to put the phone on speaker? O-oh, okay.
The voice on the other line was someone from Newcrest Family Services. And they had good news: Reila and Emely Townsend had been approved as foster parents for Luca Francisco!
Emely, hanging up: Thank you so much for your call! We really appreciate it. And yes, I would appreciate an email with the address.
Reila, distracted: Who was that?
Emely: Reila, babe, put the controller down. That was Newcrest Family Services. We've been approved for fostering Luca!
Reila's eyes widened and she stood up, her hand covering her mouth as she tried to stop herself from crying and screaming for joy.
Reila: So when can we go pick up Luca?
Emely, smiling: The lady I talked to is going to email us the address of the care center and as soon as we get that, we can go get him.
Reila pulled Emely close, nuzzling her head up against Emely's hair. She felt a swirl of emotions she never thought possible; she was excited, happy, scared, nervous, uncertain--and a thousand other things--all at once.
Reila, soft: I love you so much. Thank you for doing this, for agreeing to this crazy idea that's going to make us parents. I just...it means so much to me. And I love you more than words can say.
8 notes · View notes
aspenwritesstuff · 1 year
Text
Part Two: Novelty Mugs
Tumblr media
🌹 prev 🌹 masterlist 🌹 next
🌹taglist: open! @drhsthl​ @propertyoftoru​
Tumblr media
He offered his arm, elbow bent for you to link with. You briefly considered denying the gesture, but the way his smile bloomed across freckled cheeks made it impossible to say no.
Tumblr media
🌹warnings: swearing, potential mention of cheating ex, alcohol
🌹w/c: 4472
🌹a/n: it’s been a long time, but i’m FINALLY finished with this part. I’m so, so sorry for the delays. I’ve been having to work overtime, hardly any days off due to short staff. I hope that this part lives up to your expectations and was worth the wait. Thank you for those who stuck around for this. ❣️ The end of this chapter is a little rushed, but my excitement to write it was dwindled by the long workdays. I hope it’s still alright. 
Tumblr media
Lee Felix, twenty-three year old bartender, was a lot of things.
Cheerful? Of course! This man was sunshine in corporeal form, with a smile infectious enough to soften even the steeliest of exteriors. Awkward? Certainly! On a near-weekly basis he would confidently say, “You, too!” in reply to a drive-thru worker telling him to enjoy his meal. Selfless? Without a doubt! He once had literally given the shirt off his back to a stray cat he’d seen scuttle down an alley, claiming it was far too cold for it to sleep without a blanket. 
Prideful, however, was the farthest thing from anyone’s mind when the bubbly blonde’s name came up in conversation. 
But yet, as he bookmarked the address of your “date” into his phone’s GPS, he couldn’t help but allow himself to stroke his ego - just a little bit. 
He would be the first to admit that, in his efforts to be sure to leave you with a good impression, he may or may not have stayed up until birdsong overtook the nighttime trill of crickets and cicadas. It wasn’t that he thought you would be angry with him that he poured so much effort into planning, though. Felix simply wanted to give you a properly inspiring date, a thank-you in advance for helping him catch the eye of Ryujin - or as he would confidently proclaim, the future love of his life.
His late night resulted in him waking up later than usual, meandering lazily to his kitchen at half-past noon in search of caffeine. He groaned as he pulled the last pod of medium-roast Colombian from its box, dreading another bound-to-be-awkward encounter with the grocery clerk. 
After Felix placed the cup into the machine - having to try twice to actually hit the start button through his sleep-addled vision - the inviting scent of coffee filled the air. Once he’d added an unnecessary amount of cream and sugar, settling in on the couch comfortably,  he’d finally unlocked his phone to go through the notifications he’d missed during his well-earned slumber.
Social media updates took up most of the screen, but there was only one thing that had Felix grinning into his coffee; the confirmation email from the art center he’d reserved in the evening, from six to eight, for your first official outing. 
It was a hole-in-the-wall art studio, occupying the top floor of a three-story brick building downtown. Although it had fantastic reviews, Felix had been pretty surprised to never have heard of the place. The images Google had provided showed a warm-looking interior; deep burgundy walls and paint-splattered hardwood floors encapsulating several two-seated tables with a barrier inbetween them.
The idea was for couples to show up together, pick out a piece of pottery, and paint it for their partner all while sipping on the wine provided by the studio. Hiding the end result until they’d put them in the kiln together resulted in a surprise within what could already be considered an out-of-the-ordinary date. 24 to 48 hours later, they could pick their pieces up and bring them home - a permanent souvenir of the day spent together between lovebirds.
Or, in you and Felix’s case, friends with the most unconventional of benefits.
The mirth of his expression remained as he opened Tinder, shooting a quick message to inform you to be ready by 5:30, including what he considered to be a polite offer to pick you up if you were comfortable sharing your address. Eight separate texts formed a charmingly cumbersome infodump:
Hi! Our date is a go, six to eight! 
I’ll pick you up around 5:30?
 if you want! Only if you’re comfortable, I mean.
I am some dude from the internet and all.
Sorry.
But the offer stands!
Let me know.
Finishing off the last of his sugary drink, he set the mug aside to prepare himself for the endeavor, giddy excitement bubbling deep within his chest as he saw your reply flash on the screen, Google Maps location included:
You’re so weird. I’ll be ready! Apartment 4.
Tumblr media
It was 5:15 and Jisung was doing everything he could to make getting ready into the most mind-boggling experience imaginable.
“You do realize you have no idea where you’re going?” he asked from his perch on the edge of your bed, popping one of the grapes from the bag he stole from your fridge into his mouth.
“Yeah, so?” You looked over your outfit in the mirror - a deep blue sweater and nice black jeans - before turning to him with your hands on your hips.
“What if he’s taking you somewhere super ritzy?” his words came out jumbled from the several pieces of fruit he held in his cheeks, making it hard to consider the possibility that he had a point seriously.
“Do you think he would?” You wondered this yourself; what kind of dates would Felix be taking you on? Would he go traditional, dinner and a movie? The inclusion of a timeframe for the date led you to believe it might be on the nicer side, but he certainly wouldn’t be taking you to a black-tie restaurant – right?
“I dunno, despite my best attempts I haven’t met the guy!” Han laughed while you rolled your eyes. He’d been annoyingly persistent about wanting to meet the guy you were seeing - even if it wasn’t romantic. ‘I’m your best friend, it’s the law,’ he’d said when he’d come over for drinks after your first meeting with your fount of inspiration, only leading you to flick him on the forehead.
“I don’t know why you’re so insistent,” you complained, flopping down next to him on the bed face down, turning your face to the side as to not muffle your response with your pillow, “It’s not like we’re seriously together.”
“I know, stupid,” he pouted, “But that doesn’t mean I don’t wanna know who’s taking my best friend’s time away from me!” As your eyelids drooped into an expression of annoyance, his frown only grew deeper, “What if he kidnaps you? And I can’t even tell the police what he looks like.”
“You’ve literally seen his photos, Ji,” you deadpanned, propping up on your elbow to steal a grape.
“That’s beside the point,” he dismissed you with a wave of his hands, pulling the grapes out of your reach, “Thief.”
“I literally bought those. They were in my fridge until you took them,” you reminded him with an exasperated sigh.
“No, I was saving them from a terrible life of rotting away while you live on takeout.”
“Shut up,” you groaned, rising once more to your feet to peruse your shoes.
“So you’re really wearing that?” Jisung asked slowly, disapproval shooting from his dark eyes as he watched you grab a pair of boots.
“And you’re not really shutting up, so I guess we’re even.”
“Yeah, yeah,” he stood up, making his way to the kitchen to put the grapes back. 
“Bring me my coffee!” You called as you zipped the sides of the worn leather against your ankle.
He hadn’t responded, simply opting to grab the novelty mug from the counter and carry it back with him, setting it on your vanity. He guffawed as he read the side, remembering the day he’d gotten it for you.
“I can’t believe I caused the start of the strangest collection I’ve ever seen,” he mused, grin only growing wider as you gave him a narrowed side-eye. 
“Don’t look at me like that! I got you one cheesy mug once and now that’s all you drink out of.” 
You looked down at the item in question, remembering the proud smirk on Jisung’s face when he’d gifted it to you as a gag four Christmases ago. He was very, very proud of his cringeworthy kitchenware choice, pretending that he knew you would love it when you’d started gathering more and more of a similar nature.
‘I TURN COFFEE INTO BOOKS’ in bold, black print stared at you tauntingly. If only it were that easy, you wouldn’t be getting ready for a mystery date with barely more than a stranger. 
You supposed Jisung was right, perhaps twenty novelty coffee cups was a bit on the excessive side, but they brought you joy. That was a good enough reason, right? The stupid little sayings were just dumb enough to bring the ghost of a smile onto your face, even in dark times.
“Don’t hate on my trashy ceramics, Han Jisung,” you warned, sipping the barely-sweetened drink.
“Not hating, just criticizing,” he corrected, cackling when you held your middle finger up from the handle whilst taking another drink of the room-temperature coffee. 
“It’s not hurting anyone,” you muttered after swallowing, walking to the living room with Han on your heels.
“I know, I know,” he agreed, following your lead and sitting across from you on the couch. You’d thought he was going to head out, seeing as you were now ready. At the inquisitive raise of a brow that met his actions, he returned to the prior conversation, “So, I’m meeting him today right?”
“Oh my God, Ji,” you groaned, pinching the bridge of your nose as you fought the urge to shout, “Why won’t you let this go?” 
“Because!” he whined, kicking his feet like a spoiled child, “Our Friday night tradition of horrible movies and beer is being infringed upon!” he continued to cry out dramatically, “I gotta meet the culprit!”
“That…” you sighed, “That makes absolutely no sense.”
“But it does!” he insisted, grand gestures of his hands accentuating just how serious he was. “You see, if he’s a cool dude? I won’t be so peeved by it. If he sucks? I’ll feel vindicated in my righteous fury! You just gotta let m–”
“If I let you meet him will you shut up?” You cut him off, unable to take even one more begging word from his lips.
“I will take a vow of silence at a monastery, at this point.” He solemnly agreed.
“That’s a little extreme,” you chuckled softly, “Besides, they’d kick you out in like…a week. Tops.”
“True, true,” he agreed. Following a very, very short lived silence, he reiterated, “So this means I am meeting him…right?”
“Ugh!” you complained, throwing a decorative pillow at his face.
“Bitch!” he shouted, widened surprise overtook by an all-too-familiar mischievous glint as he stood to take a step towards you.
“Don’t you fucking dare…” you warned, rising to your feet and backing away.
“You started this, kid,” he said with a calm smile, approaching you carefully as you set the mug down on the table - a smart move when Jisung was on one of his many ‘rampages.’
“Please, Ji. You’re gonna ruin my makeup!” you pleaded, pointlessly in his eyes, as you felt the cool of your countertops come into contact with your back - effectively trapping you.
“You should’ve thought of that before throwing things at me,” he laughed, launching himself forward to attack the sides of your ribs with rough tickles.
“Get off me!” You squealed, writhing sporadically in an attempt to get away from the onslaught. Jisung merely cackled as he continued attacking your sides, eyes glittering with joy at the sight of you helplessly flailing.
“I mean it! Get off!” you shouted between bursts of screaming laughter, doing your utmost to remove him from your proximity. 
“No, you asked for this!” he chuckled darkly, his fingertips digging harder into your sides making you yelp.
“C-can’t b-breathe!” you urged, face reddening as he ceaselessly tickled your sides.
“Too bad!” He laughed, showing no signs of stopping until your front door flung open. His eyes mirrored your own, round as saucers with shock at the sound of the knob against the entryway’s wall.
The blonde only one of you knew stormed into your apartment, uninvited, with a more serious expression than you ever could’ve pictured him wearing. His hair was slicked back out of his face, giving him a much more mature presence alongside the seriousness in his glaring eyes and thinned lips. 
“Get off of her!” Felix shouted, storming in with his fists balled up at his sides. His shoulders were tensed as he strode towards Jisung, a certain sureness in his step - the kind that made you think your best friend might get punched - quickly bringing you to action.
Placing yourself between the two men, you quickly tried to explain, “No, Felix! It’s okay!” your attempt seemed pointless, his worry-creased brow shadowing the icy stare that darted between you and Jisung.
“It didn’t sound okay,” he near-whispered, the gravely depth of his voice rumbling in his chest as he stared Jisung down from over your shoulder, jaw tensing and relaxing rhythmically as he tried to keep his emotions in check.
“It’s fine, he’s my friend,” you continued slowly, heart racing from the previous tickle-fest and a momentary fear for Jisung’s safety.
“You were screaming,” Felix continued, face as concerned as it could possibly be, “I heard you say you couldn’t breathe!” he continued to insist.
“I was tickling her, you goon,” Jisung burst into a fit of laughter, suddenly doubling over as he clutched his stomach.
“Tickling…you..?” Felix asked, any trace of malice being replaced with shock and confusion before he flushed a deep red, suddenly aware of the fact he’d just busted into your apartment without knocking. 
“Yeah,” you agreed, a small snort from your nose betraying your honest attempt not to laugh at the well-meaning man.
“I–” he started, only to swallow thickly as the shades of his face went from scarlet to white, paling with shame, “I am so, so sorry!” He clasped his hands in front of his face, eyes clenched shut tightly as though he were praying.
“Felix, it’s fine,” you encouraged, still trying to hold down the laughter that threatened to bubble from your tightened lips. 
“I genuinely thought someone was hurting you, I didn’t think, I just barged in here!” he ran a hand through his hair, eyes bugging out as he took a shaky breath, “I just waltzed right in and almost punched your friend in the face…” He looked like he’d seen a ghost as he whispered the last sentence, hiding his second round of blushing behind his hands.
“Best friend,” Jisung corrected, finding the whole situation remarkably funnier than Felix had as he wiped a tear from his eye.
From behind the curtain of his fingers, you could see his face shift even darker as he grumbled, “Oh, God, I am so stupid. So, so stupid.”
“Are you kidding?” Jisung asked at the same time you’d tried to reassure Felix that you know he had good intentions, “That was the funniest thing that’s happened to me in months!”
“You–” Felix peered at Jisung from behind parted digits, shoulders slowly sinking as he relaxed, “You’re not mad?”
“Mad?!” Jisung began another round of cackling before stepping around you to place a hand on Felix’s shoulder, “I’m honestly relieved that you’d be sure to keep my favorite idiot safe –” he ignored the pointed glare you sent his way, not missing a single beat, “I’m Han Jisung.” 
Felix stared at his outstretched palm for a solid five seconds before tentatively shaking it, face breaking out into a meeker version of his typical beam, “Lee Felix,” he returned, visibly relaxing as the interaction continued. 
“Now that no one is going to get beat up…” you interrupted, picking up your mug and sipping to calm the dryness fear had left in your throat as you finished the last of your drink, “It’s about time for us to head out, yeah?”
The way Felix stared at your mug didn’t go unnoticed by you. Or Jisung.
“I know, I was just telling her how stupid they are,” Jisung explained, earning your balled up fist shaking in his face. He pushed it away with a chuckle, “But she keeps buying more and more.”
You flushed, both mortified and irritated with Jisung openly teasing you in front of Felix. 
Felix shook his head, “I think it’s kind of fun, actually! Like a nice little message with your coffee,” he explained his theory in earnest, not a single hint of a joke present in his rich voice, “Something to smile about in the mornings.”
You shot him a grateful look, both for understanding and not joining in with Jisung’s jabs, holding back a smirk as Jisung frowned.
“Don’t encourage her,” Jisung said with mock annoyance, throwing his head forward into his hands as though it were the worst possible thing that could happen. 
“But, you were right,” Felix smiled down at you, eyes twinkling, “I don’t want us to be late! I’m really proud of this date.”
He offered his arm, elbow bent for you to link with. You briefly considered denying the gesture, but the way his smile bloomed across freckled cheeks made it impossible to say no. Joining arms, he walked you towards the still-open door, Jisung hollering an empty threat of, “Have her home by ten! No shenanigans!” bringing laughter to both of your lips the second the door closed behind you.
Tumblr media
You weren’t sure what you expected Lee Felix, twenty three year old bartender, to drive - but an old pickup truck certainly wasn’t high on the list. 
He opened the creaky door for you, letting you use his surprisingly sturdy shoulder to climb into the cab before getting in the driver’s seat. 
“I’m still sorry about barging in,” he admitted before starting the vehicle, turning the radio down into a faint hum appropriate for conversing over.
“Don’t be,” you said with a genuine smile, “I think that may have been the highlight of Jisung’s year.”
“Almost getting punched counts as a highlight?” he asked, brow raising as he watched the road ahead, shifting into drive to start your journey.
“You’ll understand if you spend time with him,” you said with a shrug. You’d be the first to admit the enigma that was Han Jisung took longer than a few moments to crack.
Felix simply hummed a response, eyes focused on the road ahead as the two of you fell into a calm silence, thrumming of the truck’s engine providing just enough white noise to keep it from being awkward. 
It wasn’t until Felix informed you that you’d arrived that the stillness was broken, earning a confused look from you as you stared up at the unassuming masonry concealing your destination.
“What is this..?” You asked quietly, getting nothing from Felix but an excited giggle before he clambered out of his seat, rushing to open yours. 
“You’ll see,” he finally replied, feeling the need to reassure you without giving away his entire plan, “It’s on the third floor.”
“That tells me literally nothing,” you joked, accepting his arm immediately this time as he led you inside. 
“That’s the point.” 
As the two of you grew nearer to the top floor, the smell of clay overtook the mustiness that otherwise occupied the stairwell. Soon after, nearly ruining Felix’s well-kept secret, the familiar fumes of paint wafted to your curious nose. 
“We’re painting?” You asked, untangling your elbows as Felix stepped in front of you to hold the door.
“Kind of,” he admitted, gesturing for you to walk in.
As you did, everything clicked. The walls were filled with shelf upon shelf of unpainted pottery, everything from sculptures to kitchenware ripe for the taking.
Before you could vocalize your understanding, a middle aged woman with salt-and-pepper hair approached the two of you with a warm smile.
“Hello! You must be Mr. Lee!” She mirrored the nod Felix gave her before taking a few steps towards a table, “Right this way, kids.”
Felix followed her diligently, tugging on your sleeve to pull you back from the trance the shelves seemed to have put you in. The woman stopped, nodding towards a table with a divider and explaining how everything worked - though it was rather self explanatory - before leaving you and Felix to it. 
“What’re you gonna pick?” you asked as you browsed the same shelf on opposite sides, running your fingers over the hardened clay of a statuette.
“I can’t tell you, that ruins the surprise,” he deadpanned, focused eyes visible through empty space on the shelf.
“Then I’m not telling you either,” you warned, moving on to a set of teacups as you watched carefully for any reaction on his face.
“Of course,” he agreed, gaze still holding immovable concentration as he scoured his side.
“You really don’t wanna know?” you reiterated.
“No, I’ll see after you paint it.”
His eyes remained focused on the task at hand, brows knitting together with the sheer concentration he was putting into his choice. The moment you brought your attention back to the decision you had yet to make, your gaze fell on a set of three shot glasses.
Now, you weren’t an expert on the man by any means, but it seemed safe to assume that Lee Felix, twenty-three year old bartender, could make use out of the trio of cups. 
You lifted the tray they were sitting on carefully, checking once to be sure Felix’s attention was still on his selection before carrying them back to your half of the divided table. Grabbing a few selections of pastel-colored glazes before taking a seat, you began your task. Half of one glass was a pretty, baby pink when the man of the hour took his place across from you.
“Welcome back,” you hummed, face scrunching in concentration as you meticulously stained the rim of a glass.
Felix simply chuckled in response, bass tones resonating within his chest bringing an immediate comfort along with them. You painted your choices in a comfortable silence for a while, long enough for you to finish painting the outside of the three shot glasses with their own respective pastel; pink, green, and blue. 
“How’s it comin’ along over there?” Felix asked softly, rich voice filling the once stagnant air.
“I think it’s going well,” you smiled, though he wouldn’t be able to see it through the divider, “Hard to tell, the glazes all look so light before they’re fired.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” the low-level panic in his voice brought the imagery of a deer in headlights to your mind’s eye as he continued, “I wanna make you something nice but I’m pretty sure I just used blue instead of orange.”
You snorted softly, pulling the brush away from the piece you were working on so as not to ruin it with the movement laughter would bring.
“You’re the one who has to take any mistake I make on this home,” he reminded you, warning tone betrayed by the tangible mirth behind his words, “I wouldn’t be laughing if I were you.”
“Yeah, yeah,” a smirk played at the corners of your lips as you brushed off his complaint, grabbing a smaller brush to paint a daisy at the bottom of the glass you were working on.
You recreated the delicate blossom inside of the three remaining pieces, content with how the delicate nature of the flower seemed to mirror that of the man across from you. 
“I think I’m done after I add the shine coat,” Felix spoke again, clattering of brushes filling the brief quiet before he resumed, “How far are you?”
“Same,” you reached for the coat of finish to your left only to pause at the unexpected sensation of warm fingers beneath your touch. Felix had been reaching for the same tub, the two of you unable to see which the other had opted to take through the separating screen. 
The second and a half it took for the two of you to recoil your hands and apologize felt like at least two minutes, heat rushing to your - and surely Felix’s - cheeks. 
“I’ll take the other one,” Felix spoke quickly, pitch of his voice uncharacteristically high as the bottle to the right disappeared from view. You swallowed the embarrassed lump in your throat, managing only to hum an affirmation before taking the bottle you’d originally gone for.
The silence wasn’t quite as comfortable this time around, brushstrokes being the only awkward attempt at noise before a slightly-less ruffled Felix piped up once more.
“Your hands are really soft.”
His voice was gentle, as though you were a wild animal he was anxious of startling away. Though careful, there was no hiding the genuine warmth in his voice - that very warmth melting away any of the discomfort you’d been feeling moments prior. 
“Yours, too,” you agreed, cringing briefly at the lameness of your response until Felix’s bright laugh chased any dark cloud away.
“Really?” he asked with a happiness reminiscent of a child in a candy shop, “I started using this new lotion, it smells really nice so I hoped it would work! The cleaning supplies I use at work were really drying out my hands, and–”
“Yes, Felix,” you cut him off as you giggled, picturing his fluffy hair bouncing as he went on his excited tangent. Though your time of knowing him wasn’t long, the way he would launch himself into topics had a distinct way of bringing forth your care.
The laughter in your voice was replaced with simple affection as you reiterated, “Your hands are really soft.”
The woman from earlier came by then, tired eyes scanning both of your pieces before asking if you were finished. After the two of you confirmed you were done, she nodded, “I’ll take care of the rest and call you when you can pick them up, kids.”
After thanking her for her help and gathering your things, Felix led you back to his truck and drove you home in a once-again comfortable silence. 
As you reentered your apartment, having dismissed Felix’s near insistence to walk you the entire way to your door, you were met instantly with a very chirpy inquisition from Jisung - sprawled in typical fashion across the couch.
“So,” he grinned, wagging his eyebrows, “How was it?”
For a moment, you weren’t quite sure how to answer. You hadn’t been out in so long, it wasn’t too strange for you to shy away from any specifics. 
You’d debated telling him about the details; how your limited knowledge of Felix led you to paint him some shot glasses with happy flowers inside, how you could still feel the heat from where his hand had grazed your own, how you felt almost too comfortable in his presence for how close to a stranger he still was.
“It was nice,” you said instead as you smiled, removing your shoes before grabbing a beer, joining your best friend on the couch for a delayed movie night.
And it was.
Your first not-a-date date with Lee Felix, twenty-three year old bartender - with very soft hands was nice.
44 notes · View notes
v0idheir · 11 months
Text
PROJECT ANNOUNCEMENT: VOICE ACTORS WANTED
Hey all! I’m starting some work on a podcast project, and am lacking a few key voice actors. So you get a special sneak peak at what I’m working on, because I’m hoping some of you may be willing to help out! 
PLEASE NOTE that this is very much a passion project. If you are a professional VA, you’re welcome to audition, but I do not want to waste your time with a vague promise of money in the future. *Currently*, this is not a paid gig. 
**Show Description:** 
Ari Beck was living an unfortunate life, until the day he was hit head on by a pizza delivery truck. Now, he’s living an unfortunate afterlife as a white-collar worker in Purgatory, deciding the eternal fates of souls surrounded by angels and demons. What better way to judge someone’s character, than to have them judge others? 
**Characters needed:**
EZEKIEL - A soft-spoken angel, and the angel representative and overseer of Purgatory. A mysterious character, he’s always watching. He also probably takes himself too seriously, speaking in the royal “we”. As far as voices go (this is incredibly cringe, I know), I’m looking for a Kyle McCarley sorta voice (Ryo in the english dub of Devilman Crybaby). But in general, a soft-spoken “male” voice. 
DAMIEN - The sarcastic, somewhat jaded office-gossip, and demon co-worker. He does not take his job seriously, and probably spends more time by the water cooler than he does his actual desk. That, or leaning over the cubicle partition to talk to his office-neighbors Ari and Sarah. Pretty generic voice, one voice inspo might be Lyle Rath (VA and youtuber). 
**Auditioning:**
If you’re interested in either of these roles, please submit this information through DM (any social) to me:
Full name
Part you’re auditioning for
Email address
Audio files of your audition
You do not need any audio editing skills for this, but you do need to be able to record at least semi-clean audio in some way. Here are the lines I would like to hear in auditions:
EZEKIEL: 
1 - “You were hit by a Papa John’s delivery truck and… expired… on impact.”
2 - “You will work among the angels and demons we have employed here in purgatory for as long as we need to… figure you out.”
3 - “As a human, I’m sure you’re familiar with the bureaucratic process? It takes at least 10 business days for paperwork to be properly processed, and yours is going to have to circulate the office at least once more.” DAMIEN: 1 - “Ooh yes, I should! But alas! I'm committed to procrastinating for all of eternity, so I don't think I could possibly fit that in my schedule!”
2 - “Don't doubt my skills Sarah, you know I pride myself in being the #1 office gossip.”
3 - “Yep. The day is randomly chosen. Usually it’s pretty boring, but sometimes you get a good one! Last week I had one from some woman who scratched her mother-in-law’s eye out!”
Thank you to anyone who decides to audition! Also, I may decide to offer you a minor role if I end up finding the VAs, but enjoying your audition. And feel free to inform other people you know about this! I will be posting this on other socials as well. 
10 notes · View notes
getwhizz · 3 months
Text
 Best e-bike rental service in NYC
Whizz Inc. is a trailblazing company revolutionizing the e-bike rental landscape for delivery riders in New York City. Founded by Ksenia Proka, Alex Mironov, Mike Peregudov, and Artem Serbovka, Whizz targets a specific niche: delivery riders from services like Uber Eats, Doordash, and Grubhub. These riders often face financial constraints and lack access to cost-effective, reliable long-range e-bikes. Whizz addresses this by offering affordable, purpose-built e-bikes equipped with a 60-mile range battery, GPS trackers, and anti-theft systems, coupled with on-demand maintenance and repairs.
Tumblr media
The company's mission is to empower delivery riders, ensuring their work is efficient, accessible, and affordable. Their core values include accessibility, ease of use, hassle-free ownership, efficiency, outstanding customer service, sustainability, trust and honesty, and safety. Whizz's approach is not just about providing e-bikes; it's about transforming the delivery experience in a rapidly evolving gig economy.
Competing with services like Zoomo, Joco, Rybit, Wheels, gas mopeds, and the option of owning an e-bike, Whizz stands out with its unique selling points. These include unbeatable prices starting at $149 per month with flexible plans and no hidden fees, the ability to ride up to 60 miles on a single charge, options to swap or rent an additional battery, same-day and hassle-free pick-up, rapid acceleration up to 25mph, a sturdy frame for smooth rides, free accessories like U-lock and alarm system, UL certified batteries and bikes, assistance in bike theft scenarios, and comprehensive support for maintenance issues.
Whizz's brand voice is informal yet professional, conversational, straightforward, and positive, catering to the needs of gig workers with clear and accessible language. Their communication across different platforms — website, SMS, emails, blog posts, and social media — reflects this voice, focusing on engaging, informing, and empowering their customers.
Overall, Whizz Inc. is more than just an e-bike rental service; it's a solution provider for delivery riders, ensuring they navigate the challenges of their job with efficiency, safety, and sustainability.
2 notes · View notes