she gives you ‘the willies’

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

noanoname asked:

Hi! Are you still working on this project? Your first episode was pretty awesome so I'm hoping you haven't completely abandoned the podcast

ourthoughtscompressed answered:

Hi! Sorry for the late reply. We haven’t completely abandoned the podcast, but we apologize for the radio silence! Mads and I have unfortunately not had as much of a chance to work on the podcast over the past while due to both of us being in school as well as having conflicting schedules.

As of now, we have put recording on hiatus for an indefinite amount of time. We are keeping the submission survey open, because we are still eager to hear interpretations of tracks from Placebo fans - we’d love to hear your thoughts if you haven’t yet submitted, and if you have, it would be great if you can spread the word!

On the other hand, we do have a backlog of recorded episodes (10 episodes + 3 b-side episodes that will hopefully be released on patreon when we finally get that up and running), which I will hopefully have time to edit now that I’m on winter break.

Thanks for your concern! Hopefully we’ll get more info out soon!

- Baz

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[accelerationist-king-piccolo]

[blonde0chaos]

Hey kids! When this happens, which it does a LOT, you call your states insurance commissioner's office and file a formal complaint! Make sure you get a reference number for EVERY. SINGLE. CALL. you make, save every form of correspondence (email and mail) AND retain a copy of all your responses. If they stonewall you (That's not a covered service, we're not allowed to disclose that, etc) request a copy of your benefits, insurance is a CONTRACT and is legally binding.

Download a call recording app if you can, even if you can't share the recordings at first they can be useful for your reference and can be presented if you need to go to court.

I work with insurance companies all day everyday and have so for almost a decade. I trust them as much as I trust my dog to watch the Thanksgiving turkey. Approach each interaction with them *like* it's going to go to court.

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[followthebluebell]

Poland investigating bird flu outbreak among cats - BNO News

Poland is investigating the deaths of dozens of cats and some of them have been linked to H5N1 bird flu, veterinarians reported on Friday. I

BNO News

This is happening fast. Cats generally only survive 24 hours from symptom-onset.

Symptoms are hyperglycemia, stupor, limb stiffness, difficulty breathing, pupils with different widths, unresponsive pupils, seizures, and hypoalkemia.

It's unknown how many of the deaths ARE bird-flu but please be vigilant. So far it seems restricted to Poland.

Here's is another article; it was originally in Polish but google translate has provided a rough translation into English.

[3liza]

just to be extremely clear for anyone confused: it appears bird flu has jumped species to cats. cats are eating birds, getting bird flu, and dying. viruses do not go back in the box once this has happened. all outdoor cats eat birds, even if you do not see them do it. keep your cats inside or provide outdoor time with direct supervision/secure enclosure only.

your cat can also contract bird flu outdoors and then bring it into your house and give it to you. this is not only possible but likely to start happening if it hasn't already

[uniquephilosopherwombat]

https://bnonews.com/index.php/2023/06/at-least-9-cats-in-poland-die-of-h5n1-bird-flu/

Updated on 26th June 2023

[followthebluebell]

Another recent update:

https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/avian-influenza-bird-flu/polish-officials-probe-h5n1-avian-flu-link-cat-deaths

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[hungryfictions]

use, and i cannot stress this enough, thriftbooks

[colorisbyshe]

if thriftbooks doesn’t have what you’re looking for, especially if you’re looking for it used/cheap, alternatives include betterworldbooks and discoverbooks.

Other tips for cheaper books is checking amazon and scrolling down to the “buy used” or “other sellers” section and then checking to see if those sellers have storerfonts off of amazon.

There is also a good chance that you might have a local, indie book store that likely also has a used book section! Indiebound might help you find those book stores!

Also, check out your local library, sometimes, they have a for sale section or might have certain times of the year where they do massive used book (dvd, cd, etc) sales to fundraise!

(It’s also worth checking directly from an author’s or publisher’s page and seeing if they have other places they sell their books. I know this is about cheaper/used books, since some of y’all aren’t built for piracy or the library, but also if you want to dodge supporting amazon AND want to more directly support artists you support, there’s a good chance they might have alternate ways to buy the books!)

[headspace-hotel]

I use thriftbooks a lot, it's so good!

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[dzerzhinskaya]

Help transgender people in Russia

Center-T is looking for benefactors to provide psychological support to transgender people in difficult life situations

centre-t.com

to those who want to help transgender people in Russia, please consider donating to centre-t; a bill has recently been passed that forbids medical transition and will have extreme consequences on quality of life that is already steadily declining

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[viridianriver]

KOKOBOT - The Airbnb-Owned Tech Startup - Data Mining Tumblr Users' Mental Health Crises for "Content"

I got this message from a bot, and honestly? If I was a bit younger and not such a jaded bitch with a career in tech, I might have given it an honest try. I spent plenty of time in a tough situation without access to any mental health resources as a teen, and would have been sucked right in.

Chatting right from your phone, and being connected with people who can help you? Sounds nice. Especially if you believe the testimonials they spam you with (tw suicide / self harm mention in below images)

But I was getting a weird feeling, so I went to read the legalese.

I couldn't even get through the fine-print it asked me to read and agree to, without it spamming the hell out of me. Almost like they expect people to just hit Yes? But I'm glad I stopped to read, because:

• What you say on there won't be confidential. (And for context, I tried it out and the things people were looking for help with? I didn't even feel comfortable sharing here as examples, it was all so deeply personal and painful)

• Also, what you say on there? Is now...
• Koko's intellectual property - giving them the right to use it in any way they see fit, including
• Publicly performing or displaying your "content" (also known as your mental health crisis) in any media format and in any media channel without limitation
• Do this indefinitely after you end your account with them
• Sell / share this "content" with other businesses

• Any harm you come to using Koko? That's on you.
• And Koko won't take responsibility for anything someone says to you on there (which is bleak when people are using it to spread Christianity to people in crisis)

I was curious about their business model. They're a venture-capitol based tech startup, owned by Airbnb, the famous mental health professionals with a focus on ethical business practices./s They're also begging for donations despite having already been given 2.5 million dollars in research funding. (If you want a deep dive on why people throw crazy money at tech startups, see my other post here)

They also use the data they gather from users to conduct research and publish papers. I didn't find them too interesting - other than as a good case study of "People tend to find what they are financially incentivized to find". Predictably, Koko found that Kokobot was beneficial to its users.

So yeah, being a dumbass with too much curiosity, I decided to use the Airbnb-owned Data-Mining Mental Health Chatline anyway. And if you thought it was dangerous sounding from the disclaimers? Somehow it got worse.

(trigger warning / discussions of child abuse / sexual abuse / suicide / violence below the cut - please don't read if you're not in a good place to hear about negligence around pretty horrific topics.)

Keep reading

[auressea]

A Mental Health App Tested ChatGPT on Its Users

Koko used GPT-3 to counsel 4,000 people but shut the test down because "it felt kind of sterile." Users rated the AI responses highly. Cue t

Gizmodo

Discord's KokoBot Triggers an Ethics Controversy

An experiment in using chatbots to dispense mental-health counseling raised questions about ethics. Rob Morris, cofounder and CEO of Koko...

Discord's KokoBot Triggers an Ethics Controversy

[thatsmimi]

Kokobot is incredibly predatory and exploitative. I wrote a post about how it exploits minors' empathy and gamifies "giving mental health advice", resulting in an unregulated mess that can only do harm to teens' mental health in the long run.

There are young people on tumblr that actively seek support from KokoBot right now, if you check the tag for recent posts. Those people did not get paid to promote it, so do not harrass them. If you can, direct them towards resources about Kokobot (like this post) that are more transparent about what this company is up to.

[dduane]

This... is DEEPLY DISTURBING.

[wilwheaton]

SIGNAL.
BOOST.

[yamelcakes]

Friendly reminder that HIPAA (the health data protection law in the United States) DOES NOT APPLY to health apps and tech companies are absolutely using this loophole to gather your sensitive information and sell it to advertisers. Unless the app is specifically a HIPAA-compliant app associated with your medical provider’s clinic, do not touch it with a ten foot pole.

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[lycanthology]

ANYONE IN THE WEST MICHIGAN AREA IN NEED OF A SWEET LITTLE BOY?

i have to rehome my cat of 10 years, Panda, and really want him to go to a home where i will be able to keep in contact. ive run out of people to ask, though, so ill be calling a shelter on monday.

if you or anyone you know within a few hours of west michigan would be interested in taking in a special needs cat, please message me asap. he is a sweet boy that wants to lay on your lap and purr more than anything else.

please rb!

[lycanthology]

UPDATE: I AM HAVING TROUBLE FINDING A NO-KILL SHELTER IN MY AREA THAT TAKES OWNER SURRENDERS. PLEASE KEEP REBLOGGING! 🙏♥️

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[foone]

Me: I'm trans

Tumblr:

[catgirl-kaiju]

We reviewed your post and determined it needed a Community Label.

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[thenonbinaryindustrialcomplex]

I want to preface this by saying this is not victim blaming. This not calling people online lazy or grifting or whatever.

But an underlooked proponent on why some people are nearing homeless and crowdfunding heavily rn is bc society has failed you by making it as inconvenient as possible to learn about social systems and programs that already exist to help your situation as well as not having enough programs and aid.

Lemme give some examples. I have been unemployed for 10 months. My mom told me about a paying job training program a month ago after I already decided to mive in with her to find work, because nothing was coming up in my own city. My best friend didn’t know about affordable housing assistance in my state until she talked to my dad about it on a chance encounter. Some people on here have to see posts about much cheaper alternatives to their current prescriptions or medical plans because its not in the interest of their doctors paychecks to tell them about it. I would have waited to get vaccinated and not have crowdfunded for Uber money if I had known they were going to give free vaccine rides the next month. But I wouldn’t have really known this until I opened the app once that program started, because it is in their interest to keep taking my money until its their desired time for me to reap their “generous” services.

What I’m trying to say is that this is an under discussed aspect of how capitalism fails people. When you are forced to make your life and work and finances so singular and self interested, you are cut off from community and equivalent social services to proper government assistance. You literally don’t know that there is help somewhere out there for you unless you’re told.

[memesnotwelcome]

I believe a professor I had called this “cultural wisdom” but I haven’t been able to find the social science articles that expanded on this. It’s a practical knowledge of local systems that allows someone to function and thrive in that system. The example she used was having an understanding that banks can hold your money, but the practical aspect of accessing your money (in a convenient and easy manor) was knowing about ATMs and how to use them. But unless you have an account or someone ready to inform you, there’s no dedicated time or milestone where someone learns this.

And that’s just with a machine designed to give you YOUR money, let alone complex social service programs.

[addamatic]

I want everyone who crowdfunds for hospital bills to know they probably don’t have to oay them at all. Just find the financial aid office of the hospital. It’s on the website BY LAW. Find the form. Fill it out. Get the bills canceled or lowered! You don’t need crowd money, you need the government’s money that’s already set aside for your medical care.

[euphoniousraconteur]

GO TO, MESSAGE, OR CALL YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY. Libraries are focusing more and more on community resources, support, and outreach. If you genuinely don’t know something or feel uncertain or are in a new situation, a reference librarian will not only help you sort your thoughts through their reference interview but then help you arm yourself with knowledge from reliable and often local sources. It doesn’t even have to be a question to Ask A Librarian. You can simply say “I’m in this situation now. I don’t know what to do next./I’m not confident I know everything I should or want to know.”

[dancinbutterfly]

If you are in America - 211 is your friend. It’s the United Way’s database of social assistance resources. When I was doing resource development for my masters in social work 211 was my holy grail. And there’s things that only workers know about that just calling and asking can reach cuz it sets off the social service phone tree. I will say YOU have to be persistent of you want to access these resources. Most of the ngo agencies are most interested in helping the pro-active clients in my experience. But do use the resources. They’re golden.

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[fishtomale]

between tumblr being found guilty of moderating lgbtq content unequally during the 2018 ban in court and @ sorryforpartyrocking being nuked for suggesting one of tumblr staff may have investment in defending terfs to now many different trans women having their text posts and selfies being flagged as mature without the opportunity to appeal in any meaningful way (one of which was nuked herself)… it’s very. hmmmm. it’s a bad look. as if staff wasn’t already on thin ice for refusing to engage in any effective way with hate speech. “queerest space on the internet” my ass

EDIT: If you derail this for the purposes of intracommunity discourse, (yes that includes “q slur discourse”) you deserve whatever consequences you receive. This post isn’t about you. It’s about trans women.

[she gives you ‘the willies’]

[mioxenoblade]

If your metric on what trans people get respect and rights is how well they pass, then you're transphobic. If you have a metric for what trans people get respect and rights in general, you're transphobic. All trans people should have their transhood respected.