Our favorite Tech Analyst is urging everyone to call the Chairman of the FCC to oppose the repeal of Net Neutrality. If you watch Criminal Minds online, enjoy gifs, or use Tumblr, the repeal of Net Neutrality will affect you. Call 1-202-418-100 nowif you haven’t already!
~Our Representatives *do* have a say. They *can* stop this
~ Resistbot is GOOD. IT IS OK. It faxs your Reps. Not the FCC. AND YOU WRITE YOUR OWN MESSAGE (only thing is you won’t get a response so you don’t know if they are on our side. Still works.)
~The Vote is happening December 11th. We will know by December 12th.
~The FCC isn’t accepting bots or votes from minors. But our Reps might accept votes from minors. Idk for sure but it’s worth a shot.
~EMAILING WORKS. BUT ONLY YOUR REPS. I’ve seen screenshots of people’s response emails from their reps. Emailing still works.
~At this point. Nothing is going to change the FCC’s mind. So focus on your Reps.
~FCC isn’t accepting emails, bots, or votes from minors. Get on those Reps.
Guaranteed basic income to every citizen, whether or not they are employed to ensure their survival and that they live in a dignified, humane way, preventing poverty, illness, homelessness, reducing crime, encouraging higher education and learning vocations as well as helping society become more prosperous as a whole.
Wow. Forget raising the minimum wage. This is much much better idea.
The minimum wage could actually drop if we had basic income.
But Americans would never go for it. Miserably slogging through 12 hour days and having businesses open 24/7 is too engrained in our culture.
“BUT WHERE WILL THE GOVERNMENT GET THE MONEY?” screamed Joe Schmoe, slamming a meaty fist onto the table and getting mouth-froth all over the front of his greying tank top. “You libt*rds all think money grows on TREES!! HAHA!”
“But where will people get the incentive to work?!” Mindy Bindy cried, flapping her hands in front of her face. She’d had a fear of the unemployed lollygagging about ever since she was a child and her mother told her to be afraid of the unemployed lollygagging about. “You think people should get paid for nothing? I work hard for my money!”
“But who will serve me?” grumbled Marty McMoneybags. “Who will make me feel important? Who will do my laundry and cook my food and stand in front of me wearing a plastic smile while I take out all my stress—because I do have a lot of stress, you know, being this rich is stressful—on them?” He paused and straightened out the piles of hundred dollar bills on the desk in front of him, then raised his two watery, outraged eyes up to the Heavens. “Lord, if there are no poor people, how will I know that I’m rich??”
I laughed. This is perfect! Well said!
The thing is, while I’m sure you could scrape up a few people who’d be willing to just float by on a guaranteed minimum income? For most people the choice to work would be a no-brainer. “Hmmm. I can get by on 33k a year, or I can take that part time job and make 48k… enough to move to a better apartment, maybe take the family on vacation. Sold.” Hell, most people would want to work simply because it gives one a sense of dignity and something to do with one’s time. (Speaking as someone who’s been unemployed, on extended sick leave, etc. in her time, the boredom and sense of isolation that comes with not having a job is almost as bad as the humiliation of having to depend on other people for one’s survival.)
And with this system, part-time jobs and “non-skilled” jobs would be much more readily available because nobody would need to work two or three jobs just to stay afloat!
Which would ALSO mean that employers and customers couldn’t shamelessly exploit employees the way they can today, because if losing a job weren’t necessarily a financial disaster, more people would be willing to walk out on jobs where they weren’t being treated with dignity.
And if this also applies to students (and it should) then student loans would become much less of a problem, and fewer people would flunk out of school because of having to juggle studies and work.
Far fewer people would be forced to stay with abusive partners, parents or roommates because they couldn’t afford to move out.
And the thing is, all those people who suddenly had money? They’d be spending it. They’d be getting all the stuff they can’t afford now – new clothes, books, toys, locally-produced food, car repairs – and with each purchase money would flow BACK to the government, because VAT, also income tax.
The unemployed and/or disabled wouldn’t need special support any more – which would also mean the government could fire however many admins who are currently engaged in humiliating – *cough* making sure those people aren’t getting money they don’t deserve. Same for medical benefits and pensions. And I’m no legal scholar, but I somehow imagine less financial desperation would lead to less petty crime, and hence less need for police and security everywhere?
TL;DR Doomie thinks this is a good idea, laughs at those who protest.
reblogging for more top commentary
They tried something like this out in Canada as a sort of social experiment, called Mincome. What they found was that, on the whole, people continued to work about as much as they did before. Only new mothers and teenagers worked substantially less hours.
But wait, there’s more. Because parents were spending just a little more time at home and involved with their families, test scores increased. Because teens didn’t have to work to support their families, drop-out rates decreased. Crime rates, hospital visits, psychiatric hospitalizations and domestic abuse rates all dropped, as well. More adults pursued higher education. Those who continued to work reported more job flexibility and more opportunity to choose employment they preferred.
Basically, now you can go prove to your asshole family members that society won’t collapse without poor people for you to feel better than.
*muffled sound of conservatives imploding in the distance*
As someone who resides nearly full-time in fandom, it’s always so funny to me when I see people being like “Without monetary reward they’ll be no incentive to work!” People in fandom write full length novel SERIES for free. They create and maintain elaborate archives for free. They write criticism and sometimes very in-depth analysis for free. They video edit, and produce gorgeous art for free, all the fucking time. Spend 10 minutes in fandom, and you’ll realize, people don’t require monetary rewards to do work they love.
Also, a lot of the crappy jobs that no one wants to do are going to be automated soon anyway. Universal basic income is the only remotely ethical way to transition into the (very imminent) future where most low-skill labor (and even certain kinds of moderate and high-skilled labor) will no longer require a human being. A lot of jobs are about to essentially disappear. Assuming we want to maintain anything resembling a capitalist, consumer economy, UBI is the only sustainable way of doing that in the face of mass labor automation.
And just to reiterate one of the points above – there IS a conservative argument to be made around universal basic income. If we instituted it, a large segment of government infrastructure would DISAPPEAR. Government would shrink dramatically. I really think liberals need to lean harder into this aspect of it. A lot of conservatives – not all, but a lot – are more ‘scared’ of Big Government™ than they are of people getting stuff for free.
Reblogging again for that excellent last point. I know that tumblr likes to think that all conservatives are motivated by pure greed and hatred of the poor, and that may be true of a lot of politicians, but quite a few of the rank-and-file just legitimately think Big Government is evil. Care for the poor, just not through all these Government Social Programs. There definitely could be an argument there for replacing a wide swath of those with this single one.
“A medical professor who has tracked the cost of insulin over the
years says that a one-month supply of a popular version that cost $45
wholesale in 2001 cost $1,447 14 years later, an increase of almost
3,000%. That’s the wholesale price, not the retail price that an
uninsured patient would pay.“
Yeah, that’s messed up.
Wow, it’s really rare I see something cross my dash that’s actually directly tied to my life on a personal level, but yea, I’m Diabetic Type 1 and this is a problem.
I’ve been off insurance for the last three or so years and have been working around through channel I can to continue to obtain insulin and supplies for my insulin pump (of which is currently a problem, fun) for free or at reduced costs.
The Lilly Cares program is one I heavily endorse if your insulin is a Lilly product. They’ve been incredibly helpful to me.
Please spread the word on this. There are a lot of young Diabetics like myself that do not have a support system, do not have insurance, and do not have jobs. Insulin is literally a life-sustaining medication for T1 Diabetics. Please do not just ignore this.
T1 diagnosed over 20 years ago here. Back when I was out of work in 2009 I contacted Lilly Cares and I swear I would not be alive if not for that program. T1s need insulin to live. Daily. Our bodies do not produce the hormone because our immune systems backfired and killed our pancreas’ islet cells.
These days one bottle of insulin costs me approx $600 (before insurance) and lasts 2-3 weeks, tops. Less than ten years ago the cost was closer to $200/bottle. The insulin manufacturers keep “tweaking” insulins like Humalog so the patents can be extended(*), so we don’t even have access to a generic option.
The price gouging on insulin in this country is cruel and damn disgusting.
Please, please boost this info. It WILL save lives.
(*) a fact that even my endocrinologist has confirmed!
Lilly Cares saved my husband’s life when he had no prescription drug coverage. Please, please utilize this program if you can. It’s wonderful.
That’s what is going to happen if we let Ajit Pai, the FCC chairman, go through with repealing Title II (AKA Net Neutrality).
Simply put, without Net Neutrality, Internet Service Providers like Comcast, Verizon, and AT&T will be able to “bundle” websites much like cable ON TOP OF paying for internet connection. “Want access to Netflix AND Tumblr? Get the Entertainment Package! $40 a month. What about Amazon and Ebay? Add an extra $20 a month to get the Shopping Package.”
Not only will they be able to bundle websites and charge more, they will also be able to censor and block websites that they don’t agree with entirely.
THIS WILL BE THE END OF INTERNET AS WE KNOW IT.
For business owners, it will be even worse. Ex: Comcast will ask Amazon to pay high fees to be available in a low-cost package, fees that websites like Poshmark or Etsy will not be able to pay. Therefore, only Fortune 500’s will be available to web users at a low cost. Say goodbye to Etsy (unless you’re willing to shell out $70 a month for the “All-Inclusive” package).
To learn about Net Neutrality, why it’s important, and/or want tools to help you fight for Net Neutrality, visit BattleForTheNet (https://www.battleforthenet.com)
There are five people deciding the future of the internet, three men (Rep) and two women (Dem). The two women have come out as No votes. We need only to convince ONE of the other members to flip to a NO vote to save Net Neutrality.
There are many ways you can help:
WHAT TO DO IF YOU’RE A LAZY TUMBLR USER WITH ANXIETY WHO TRIES TO HELP WITH JUST REBLOGS / LIKES:
Here are 2 petitions to sign, one international and one exclusively US.
(After you sign make sure to verify via email, it may take up to 30 mins to receive the email).
Text “resist” to 504-09. It’s a bot that will send a formal email, fax, and letter to your representatives. It also finds your representatives for you. All you have to do is text it and it holds your hand the whole way.
HERE ARE MORE STRAIGHTFORWARD ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE:
These are the emails of the 5 people on the FCC roster.
Blow up their inboxes!
Ajit Pai – Ajit.Pai@fcc.gov
Mignon Clyburn – Mignon.Clyburn@fcc.gov
Michael O’Rielly – Mike.O’Rielly@fcc.gov
Brendan Carr – Brendan.Carr@fcc.gov
Jessica Rosenworcel – Jessica.Rosenworcel@fcc.gov
You can support groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the ACLU and Free Press who are fighting to keep Net Neutrality:
Most importantly, VOTE. This should not be something that is so clearly split between the political parties as it affects all Americans, but unfortunately it is.
hello! I don’t know if anyone has already made a post about this before, but I just stumbled upon this app made specifically for when you’ve gone into a nonverbal anxiety attack!!!
it was made by Jeroen De Busser who is an autistic computer science student.
the app is really easy to use! all you do is open it and hand your phone to someone you need to communicate with during an attack but physically cannot, and it shows this cool little alert for the person to read, and then it takes them to an easy to use chat (that looks a lot like texting! except both of you are communicating using the same device).
the alert message is completely customizable and you can have it say whatever you need!
the app is called Emergency Chat and it’s available in the Apple Store and google play store.
I highly recommend it to anyone who might need it 🙂
OH MY GOD?!?!?? BOOST
That’s so bootiful!
thank you so much for this because i never know what to do when i cant talk to people and they just start trying to ask me questions and its really hard to force myself to say i cant talk and stuff. im definately getting this right now
You can’t just tell people to ‘get a VPN (Virtual Private Network)’. Buying a VPN is like buying a house. It’s very very important. Having no VPN or having a ‘wrong’ one can seriously damage your life. Especially for Americans because their privacy laws are garbage. I am going to try explain why you should get a VPN but bare with me, I am from Germany and my English is far from perfect.
Let’s start with a simple test. Click this link here: https://whatismyipaddress.com/ It will tell your IP adres, your ISP (internet service provider), and your location. The location might not be very accurate, but then again, it’s just a simple website. Imagine what the government can do!
So basically, everyone can find out where you live. But there is more danger. Your ISP. Your ISP logs your every move online and they are required to keep it in case the government wants access to it (or if a 3rd party wants to buy your data (yikes). They have everything. What websites you visit. How long you stay on a website. What you download. Your search terms. European laws are more subtle on this but if you are from the US you are #@*#&, especially because Trump doesn’t support the open internet. It’s scary but maybe in the future you can’t get a job because the recruiter knows your searched on ‘how to deal with depression’ or anythings else that’s supposed to be private because it’s your f*cking right. Or you get a $100k fine because you pirated a movie 15 years ago. You need a VPN. You’re dumb for not using one. but what does a VPN do?
A VPN encrypts all your data so if it were be intercepted no one can ‘crack the code’ and damage your privacy.
Usually being online goes like this (simplified): Your computer —-> ISP (—–> keeps data —–> sells it)
But with a VPN it goes like: Your computer —–> VPN (encrypts data)—–> ISP (ISP can’t see shit)
Furthermore, a VPN hides your IP address and location by giving you another IP address located in Spain for example (you can often choose from a list and change as many times as you want).
Now that you know why you should get a VPN and what is does it is important to educate yourself because people often choose the wrong VPN. VPN providers are also businesses and have to obey the law. If you choose a VPN provider located in the US then you are throwing your money away because the laws in the US shits on your privacy. If the US gov wants the provider to give all their logs they have to obey. The ISP still can’t see what you are doing online and sell your data but the US gov can interfere with your VPN provider so NEVER CHOOSE A PROVIDER LOCATED IN THE US.
I just wanted to make that very clear so my followers don’t buy false security.
There is still more danger! Who says your VPN provider isn’t selling your data? You need to check their logging policy. Do they keep logs? If yes, what for? For how long do they keep them? Tip: Choose a provider who doesn’t keep logs
More about law The US is part of the Five Eyes program (the worst):
The Five Eyes, often abbreviated as FVEY, is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. These countries are bound by the multilateral UKUSA Agreement, a treaty for joint cooperation in signals intelligence (source)
There is also a Nine Eyes (bit better) and Fourteen Eyes Program (better). You don’t want a VPN provider who is located in one the Five Eyes countries. If you had to choose go for a provider located in a country that’s part of the Fourteen Eyes Program or even better, go for a country that isn’t part of any program!
I know this is a shitty explanation and please pardon my english but now it’s time to do your own research. Take your privacy seriously. Maybe WWIII breaks out and you get killed for liking the ‘wrong’ FB-page.
Make sure that your future VPN provider both has green boxes for Privacy Jurisdiction and Privacy Logging.
I recommend ovpn.se and trust.zone. ovpn is located in Sweden so they are part of the 14 Eyes Program and they keep minimal logs. Their business ethics, however, are alright.
Trustzone is located in the Seychelles. No country can interfere and their privacy jurisdiction is the best you can get. The US want your data but needs to get it from Trustzone? The Seychelles will simply give them the finger and wave them goodbye. However, this makes this provider very appealing for people who torrent and criminals because they keep no logs (and that is how it shoud be) Also, there are almost no marketing efforts so this provider is one the cheapest)
Also, often providers such as ExpressVPN are being called ‘The Best’ on websites about VPNs but know that this is just marketing which also makes those provider more expensive (and they too shit on your privacy)
This must be the worst article you have ever read but please, please take your privacy very seriously.
I am also with Trustzone but I think you forgot to explain one of it’s most important features. It protects you when you are using someone else’s Wi-Fi. If you are at Starbucks and you use their Wi-Fi your privacy is at risk. Anyone with ill intentions could steal your information. Especially if you are using an unsecured Wi-Fi hotspot. With a VPN your data gets encrypted so no one can steal it.
Wait, what’s going, on? Did trump destroy internet privacy with a bill or something? Where’s the news? Oh wait, why am I getting visions of Alex Jones and selling water purifiers?
He hasn’t yet but he says he wants to. And if he is serious about it it would be really easy to do. Since all our data is already recorded, as the person above explained.
Trump wants more surveillance of Muslim Americans. This in a country where internet privacy is already close to non-existent.
To all my friends in the US, please read this entire post. Making everyone aware of VPNs is going to be my mission. Your privacy matters. Please reblog this post.
Don’t tell me you just wanted to scroll past this. Stop looking at pictures of cats for a moment, okay? Don’t you realize how important this is? This is dangerous! ‘America, the best FREE country in the world’ my ass.
With this new law your ISP can sell your Internet history which could include passwords, usernames, religion, credit card numbers, race and much more to the highest bidder. So here is what I want you to do.
You are going to read the whole thing and before you think ’this is so important. Let me reblog this real quick and go back to admiring cats again-’ NO! Don’t reblog this. Take action first. Then reblog. Sign up for a free trial! Trust.Zone offers one (here). Yes. It might be difficult to set up a VPN for some people. But is that going to stop you from protecting yourself and your family? 30 minutes. 30 minutes is all that it takes. 5 if you know how to install software. The problem with some of you is that you see ‘difficult’ as something negative. I want you to see difficult differently. I need you to push through this stuff. You are going to protect yourself. There is nothing negative about that.
VPNs are fun and costsaving too! A VPN bypasses geographical restrictions so you can access websites you normally can’t or you could start Netflix’s one month free trial over and over again- forever. And it’s legal! (unless you use it to buy weapons etc.,)
Don’t tell yourself that you are too tired and that you will do this tomorrow. Because that isn’t going to happen and you know it. You have to do this right now. You only have to click on it.
Don’t let this/shit/life just happen to you. Take yourself seriously. Get a VPN.
Privacy is not a privilege, it’s a fundamental human right
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics out there who never felt relief when they discovered their orientations were valid
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who are fine with themselves one day and then hate themselves for what they don’t feel the next
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who put off using the titles because they didn’t want to be this way and still don’t
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who feel sick when they think about their orientations for too long because they’ll never feel normal or not-broken, no matter how many times someone says their feelings are valid
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who constantly feel like they’re missing out, and would give anything to be allosexual or alloromantic
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who don’t feel okay, who don’t have ace or aro pride
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who struggle with accepting themselves even more than society does
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who feel out of place in ace and aro society because they wish they didn’t belong there
Shout out to all the asexuals and aromantics who want to change, but just can’t
Time's Vengeance 