And much before that it was rule-based machine learning, which was basically databases and fancy inference algorithms. So I guess “AI” has always meant “the most advanced computer science thing which looks kind of intelligent”. It’s only now that it looks intelligent enough to fool laypeople into thinking there actually is intelligence there.
I haven’t been able to find a job in my field (IT) for about a year, any opportunities which I think I have secured are ripped out from under me at the last moment. Two weeks ago I was waiting on hearing back about a 4th and final interview with CrowdStrike…then they screwed up 8 million Windows PCs and cost businesses about 5.5 billion dollars.
My brother has come to terms with his alcoholism and it’s been a rough few months for my parents. He’s 42 and has a 4 year old daughter, and her mother is an absolute nightmare to deal with (they aren’t together). My brother lives nextdoor to my parents …but I live 1300 miles away. We thought he was doing pretty well for the past month…but it turns out he was eating like the equivalent of one piece of beef jerky a day (in total) and not drinking any liquids other than (a reduced amount of) alcohol. He has been on blood pressure medication and apparently mistakenly doubled up on that, passed out at the top of his outside steps one night last week, fell down the steps and broke two of his front teeth badly. He’s been in the hospital for the past few days so they can get him stable. My parents are going to recommend in-patient recovery to him, because he wants to get sober, but can’t really manage to do it himself. My parents are 67 and 74, so it’s a ton of stress on them as well.
And the least of my problems: my short term memory is terrible (I’m 38 with ADHD). I’ve been attempting to learn how to dance Casino (Cuban Salsa), but I can’t remember a damn thing, I have practically zero rhythm, and my body is fucked up from minor scoliosis in two places which throws off my weight/center of balance and makes me shoulders tight (I’m “round shouldered”). I’ve gone to about 30 classes, but I’m still stuck on the very basics 😑
Also just feeling like shit today, physically, but that’s because I was up until 5 AM playing a board game with a few friends and took too much Ambien (I’ve been taking it on and off for about 20 years and steadily for the past 9 months or so while talking to a psychiatrist about my insomnia) because even though I had been awake for about 20 hours I was still pretty alert.
I just keep telling myself it could be a hell of a lot worse though.
I’d say lay off the gaba dealies withdrawals for em can be insomnia, otherwise you know what you’re doing it seems.
I feel you on the job thing, when I was 23 it took me many months to find a job in IT, it was awful, I remember the stress of it, I needed it desperately to stay in the country, otherwise I’d be deported to hell.
College the art dept ran Macintosh OS X while computer science ran Solaris & Windows (outside of C# this didn’t matter). I had a OS X/Windows dual boot laptop at the time as well as a Windows/Linux (Crunchbang) desktop which let me accomplish everything. Adobe products were pretty easy to pirate at the time, & I was intially annoyed WINE didn’t really work with them, but I worked slowly towards getting skills in the FOSS tools & when Adobe moved to a cloud subscription model I said “fuck ’em”. The tools are certanily good enough if not better if you learn them. The CS stuff was much easier with Linux to get compilers & whatnot. OpenOffice was fine for everything else. Professors were never asshats & cared that you completed the assignment rather than what specific tool for file format you were using so long as there was something they could easily view (such as PDF). If I really needed some dumb app, I could just use the computer lab. I carried around a stateful distro on a USB as well so I could get around the opposite issue of not having my Linux tools at say the library that was all Microsoft.
Outside of classwork, Pidgin+libpurple & a browser covered my use cases.
Most teens don’t want to put anything up there because it hurts, even tampons hurt as a virgin especially with 0 lube. I never liked regular dildos, most women do not orgasm through penetration. So I would say they are messing with you. I’ve had guys ask me if I ever experimented with pencils or rulers because if they were a girl they would do it. No, wtf only guys think women are like this.
Yo, this is a real actual human person right here.
Men would be asking me the most heinous of shit and I literally had nothing to do with them. Like, what? I think things are better now, cause I'm older. But hot damn, the shit I was being asked if I reversed it I'd be like asking if when they are fucking a girl do they make sure to jizz on their face or some shit. Like wtf who the fuck asks this just sitting around talking to someone they just met or are (platonically, in a group) having some chow with!?
Uhh. Hi, woman here…RIP my inbox but I think it’s important parents talk to teenagers of all genders about this and consider having them look for toys they can experiment with if they express interest. Just because we don’t orgasm from penetration doesn’t mean it feels bad lol. Better they have toys available so they’re less likely to use something inappropriate.
I agree parents should talk with their kids, I never meant to allude to that. But I disagree that penetration doesn’t feel bad, for me it feels painful without lube and with lube it feels not painful but never enjoyable. Vibrators are the only thing that feels good, that much is universal among the women I’ve talked to.
Well, not that I think it has to be your experience by any means, that’s part of the beauty of life - we’re all a bit different and into different things. I do quite enjoy penetration without need for lube (I mean, I do need to have natural lube, obviously). I usually get myself there with just hands and might use a dildo when I’m worked up enough. Vibrators are great, no doubt. I don’t typically use toys, though, honestly. I did more in my teens when I was ignorant to how my body worked lol. Which is why I wrote the OG comment…I didn’t have appropriate toys, and it caused some shame on occasion. I knew it felt good but didn’t feel safe talking to my parents about it.
Understandable. I was never into penetration and thought I was weird but after talking to more women and then reading Come As You Are, it clicked that I was actually normal and in the majority (80% are like me). Not that being in the minority is weird, if you read the book you’ll find that is actually normal too. I hate masturbation or sex without a vibrator lol. I never felt safe talking to my parents either, they were super religious and invaded my privacy regularly. I was an adult before getting toys, and everything sex related sucked before them.
My understanding is 80% of people with a uterus don’t climax from penetration, not that we find it necessarily unenjoyable (which is true for me, too; I do need clitoral stimulation to climax). I’ve taken courses on women’s studies, feminist philosophy, etc. to overcome the problematic religious attitudes my parents had, too - and lots of therapy! I’ll see if my library has that book available, though. I’m always interested in learning more.
I’m really sorry you had that experience growing up, though, that’s awful. As normal as our experiences felt to us having privacy invaded and all the shame, that much shouldn’t be normalized! I’m glad you’ve found what works for you, and I wish you all the most pleasurable experiences around it throughout the rest of your life 💝
The AI genie is out of the bottle and — as much as we complain — it isn’t going away; we need thoughtful legislation. AI is going to take my job? Fine, I guess? That sounds good, really. Can I have a guaranteed income to live on, because I still need to live? Can we tax the rich?
I’ve loved Linux for college. Studying CS and Math, graduating soon. Just know your requirements software wise and be prepared to find workarounds or dual boot if necessary. I never had to dual boot but I was able to use Google docs or the browser version of office for anything requiring office formatting or collaborative work. I also couldn’t download some testing software on Linux (respondus lockdown browser 🤢) and used a school desktop in the library to run that when necessary. I love my workflow though outside of those niggles and couldn’t ask for a better research and development OS
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