@bundyb @evcricket i reckon its probably a flannie not a wife beater.

GOOGLE: you need more storage bbygirl.

ME: okay...why?

GOOGLE: you just do. I can sell you more storage if you want.

ME: no I don't want to pay for storage. literally the only selling point for you guys is you were free.

GOOGLE: well ok then just delete some of this stuff

ME: what stuff?

GOOGLE: can't tell you it's a secret ;)

ME: well then how the hell am I supposed to delete it??

GOOGLE: here's a hint - 182,047 photos.

ME: what the actual fu

GOOGLE: you're welcome.

ME: why are these here!?!

GOOGLE: I saved them for you bbygirl.

ME: why though!?!

GOOGLE: in case you wanted them later duh

ME: listen to me very very carefully. I will never, ever, need to use this very specific meme involving pasting my friend's face over the *slaps car* guy, a second time.

GOOGLE: but what if you doooo tho?? what will you do if you need it again?? Sure you don't want to buy more storage instead??

ME: I literally won't. [DELETES IT]

GOOGLE: well okay then but surely you won't do that with the other 182,04—

ME: [DELETES THE OTHER 182,046 PHOTOS]

GOOGLE: *gasp*

ME: okay how about now

GOOGLE: *sputtering* What. No. That didn't— that didn't help. It's still full.

ME: literally how.

GOOGLE: soooo full.

ME: there's literally nothing in this folder anymore.

GOOGLE: mmmm so much yummy data.

ME: you made a backup didn't you. TELL ME you don't make another backup.

GOOGLE: don't be silly bbygirl. I didn't make one single additional backup of all your delicious yummy personal data, documents, and photos.

ME: ...

GOOGLE: I made seventeen.

@trib we *did*. 2015-2019 we had excellent printer tech and it largely just *worked*. Then subscription models and crazy wifi features and print from cloud all arrived and it went to shit again

Fuck me, printers are absolute pieces of shit. You'd think we could have solved this by now.

Finding out Microsoft has bought an acre of nvidia cards they _can’t rack or power up_ is just… your hoarding has quadrupled the price of RAM and you can’t even rack what you already have?!? And won’t be able to for years?

(Edit: 19:20 in the above video)

@evcricket Imagining you in elastic side boots, stubby shorts and a leather acubra yelling "GIVE IT SOME FUCKEN CHOKE YA STINGY DOG CUNT, IT'S FUCKEN STARVING!"

We have "growth hackers" but no "stability hackers." "Disruptors" but no "preservers." Our entire vocabulary is oriented toward the new. We have no language for the equally difficult work of keeping existing things from falling apart.

https://www.joanwestenberg.com/the-rime-of-the-ancient-maintainer/

a Christmas carol makes more sense from a Buddhist perspective than a Christian one

the actual mechanism of Scrooge's transformation is way more Buddhist than Christian

there's no salvation through grace, no acceptance of a savior, no forgiveness of sins through faith

what happens is he's forced to see clearly.

he witnesses the causes and conditions of his own suffering and the suffering he creates. he sees dependent origination in action - how his choices ripple outward, how Tiny Tim's fate is entangled with his own actions

@Taweret thank you for this fantastic thread!

The Green Man is there very intentionally as well. When I read the book, I was struck by a very clear truth-- this is an excoriation of Puritanism, and more widely the Protestant work ethic. "Keep yourself to yourself, work hard, live modestly"-- Scrooge typifies that mentality, and thinks it will save him.

The Puritans, famously, hated Christmas, denounced it as pagan, and banned it. They had no time for a holiday revolving around shared enjoyment, much preferring that everyone stay indoors, turn inwards, and think about god a lot.

So Dickens met it head on. "Maybe Christmas is pagan. Maybe that's what's good about it. Maybe this Church of England shit isn't all it's cracked up to be, and we should turn to other forms of faith for guidance".

The personal context of this seems to be Dickens' Unitarian beliefs. And Unitarianism, as I understand it, had been heavily influenced by Hinduism by the time Dickens discovered it. Is this the root of the themes of A Christmas Carol?

I dunno. I'm not a theologian. But AIUI Dickens would have been part of a faith that believed that all human religion had value, that inequality was sin, and social justice an act of faith. And that is very much the heart of A Christmas Carol.

hard mode: getting texts in Dutch

very hard mode: getting texts not in textbook Dutch but Limburgs

iron man 1HP hard mode: as typed by a great grampa who never quite got the hang of these new phone thingies

I just woke up this morning to an email saying my BuyMeACoffee (aka Stripe) account was suspended for adult content.

Merry Christmas.

I'm going to appeal it. I've never taken payment for any adult content, nor have I posted any, or made reference to any on my BuyMeACoffee page.

Yay puritanical capitalism!

Update: started a GoFundMe at folx suggestion: https://gofund.me/bd5f770fd

Having a cup of tea and reading funny toots.

A brew-haha, if you will.

"AI isn't taking jobs! It's creating more work!"

You mean work cleaning up AI's messes?

@Unixbigot ohmpressive!

"Dear all,

I am writing this to inform you that the Institute for Geometry and its Applications (IGA) is coming to an end. As the IGA does not meet the requirements to be a University Research Centre it can no longer continue, even in name. Consequently the IGA webpage will disappear along with the University of Adelaide website early in the new year."

This is the website:

https://set.adelaide.edu.au/geometry-applications/

it contains a record of 30 years of research seminars and workshops, 17 years of members' publications and postgraduate students. If it's not saved, these will vanish into the ether as no one has said the university will try to save this information.

I've not been explicit about the university name in posts about the merger, but "it can no longer continue, even in name" is just ridiculous. Apparently there can be only research centers that are linked with external (i.e. industry) money.

@Unixbigot resistance is weird, with big teeth

My 92 year old aunt: You do the Leenux thing, right? You need to come over sometime and install it for me, because f#ck all I ain't gonna update to Windows 11.

Me: .... ?!#!?

I explain what the change-over entails and that I generally don't recommend it just because...

Aunt: No, f#ck that, f#ck capitalism, my laptop is still fine, so come over and set me up with that Leenux thing.

#Linux #christmas

The S in IOT stands for Security

When I was six, I asked for a pair of roller skates for Christmas. On Christmas morning, I opened my present to find a single roller skate.

I knew my parents didn’t have a lot of money, so I was still grateful and determined to make it work and I thanked my mom and dad and went outside to play with my roller skate.

I proceeded to “skate” along the curb with the roller skate on my right foot and my sneaker on my left foot and I was honestly having a blast when my mom came outside.

Mom: Uhhh…what are you doing?
Me: I’m roller skating, mom!
Mom: Yeah, but why are you only wearing one of your roller skates?
Me: There are TWO skates?!?

It turns out my mom wrapped the roller skates separately to give me more presents to open, but the other roller skate got buried in the Christmas morning shuffle and nobody noticed because I didn’t say anything about only receiving one roller skate.

Today marks ten years since I lost my mom and, every so often, I remember that day because it was so very her, doing whatever she could with what she had, even if it meant wrapping presents separately to make me feel like I had more.

If your mom is still around, hold her tightly. If she’s gone, remember the good times fondly.

Wow. The Tankie to nazi apologist pipeline is a short one.

Have a day off people.