stammsternenstaub:

Life doesn’t end at 23. 30 isn’t old. Fetishising youth as the ultimate desirable characteristic in a person is actively harmful to both young and old people. Some of us lost our teenage years to abuse and recovery, and can only begin living when we’re at a different life stage.  Literally knock it off, the lot of you.

(via marybeth-walrus)

friday-tea:

canagadoodles:

An infographic image with Starro from The Suicide Squad (2021) in the background. Starro is a giant alien starfish with a large central eye, destroying a city.  Text: "Project Starfish: aka amazon is stealing small business data because it wants to be amazon.com - Earth's only bookstore."  Amazon's 1998 logo is referenced, with its tagline "Earth's biggest bookstore".ALT
An infographic image showing two sets of brand listings from Amazon - Friday Afternoon Tea and Sketch Sauce. Products featured from Sketch Sauce (a production partner of 3D artists) features sculptures from Found Family Adventurecrafts, Grumpii and Leylina Figurines.  Text: "Small business owners in the US suddenly noticed that their products were listed on Amazon. They were not told that this was happening. They did not opt in. They did not give Amazon permission."ALT
An infographic. Text:  "How'd they get our data for this?  PROJECT STARFISH. According to internal documents leaked to Business Insider in late 2024:  "(Starfish)... uses AI models to scrape and then generate "complete, correct and consistent product information globally." The eventual goal of the multiyear project is to make Amazon the best source of product information for "all products worldwide," the document added."  The only online store you'll need."  A cartoon face looking stressed is drawn in the corner.ALT
Text: "Starfish has been BUSY:  Scraping 200,000 brand websites for product data (in 2025 alone)  Auto-rewriting titles, bullets and descriptions using generative AI  AI-generating product images, video ads and written information to fill listings  A/B testing AI-enhanced vs. standard listings  In service of an 'experimental' program that we never consented to and were never told about."  An image from Amazon's information page is shown below, detailing the process for the AI shopping agent. It reads,  "1. Search brands. Explore a range of brands and discover new selection available directly from merchant websites.  2. Shop on or off Amazon. Stay with Amazon & shop with AI assistance, or navigate directly to the merchant website.  3. Effortless purchase with AI. When you find a product you like, click 'Buy for me' and Amazon's AI handles payment to order management.  4. Manage your merchant orders. Track these orders through Amazon's 'Your orders' page under the "buy for me orders" tab.ALT
Text: "isn't it good that small businesses are getting sales from Amazon? Good question. No."  A word cloud has tons of text with the consequences of this program. The various text phrases are:  Increased Returns Data and listings entirely out of our hands Inaccurate/false listings Chargebacks Unprofessional display of product No customer relationship Customer confusion Refunds Policy mismatch Poor reviews Loss of brand recognition Removing personalization Rerouting customers back to Amazon Undercutting prices Privacy breaches Intellectual property violations Reduced income from external shopping Loss of insights for analytics Loss of trust Reduced credibility Data surveillance LLM & gen AI ethical issues Stolen labor Ecological impact Creating duplicate products to compete Legitimizes lack of consent in technology and more.ALT
An infographic, showing stick figures interacting.  Text: "Here is a simplified visual example. Let's follow Ruth. Ruth is a small business owner who sells hand-printed tees with her original art."  A picture of a stick figure (Ruth) gesturing happily to an orange shirt with a cartoon flower on it.  The infographic splits into two possibilities, when customers find Ruth through Amazon vs. her online store.  In the Amazon scenario, a stick figure wearing Ruth's shirt is talking to another stick figure.  Text: "Where did you get your shirt?" "It's from Amazon".  A picture of Ruth looks concerned.  In the Ruth's Store scenario, the stick figures say: Text: "Where did you get your shirt?" "Ruth's Custom Tees!"  A picture of Ruth looks pleased.ALT
An infographic showing stick figures and two scenarios: Amazon's redirect or Buy for Me, or purchasing directly from Ruth's store.  Text: "Customers return to where the product was bought..."  In the Amazon scenario, the stick figure looks at four shirt options. One is Ruth's, and three others are AI designed shirts (actual listings from Amazon).  Text: "So many options! I'll get these." "Ruth gets one more sale. Amazon gets more."  Below, a computer representing Amazon AI says: "The data collected says that Ruth's product is selling well!"  There is a picture of a similar orange shirt to Ruth's, with a cartoon flower on it. Ruth is looking at the knock-off shirt design tearfully.  Text: "Amazon is now offering this design. It's cheaper. Shipping is faster. Refunds are easier. Ruth's brand is pushed out."  On the Ruth's Store scenario, the same stick figure is looking at four of Ruth's shirt designs on her site.   Text: "So many options! I'll get these." "Ruth gets four sales."  On the bottom, two happy stick figures are wearing Ruth's shirts. Ruth looks happy. Text: "Ruth has brand recognition, returning customers, and is supported by sales due to her hard work."ALT
Text: "Amazon has done this before. Multiple times."  An article from Reuters by Aditya Kalra and Steve Stecklow reads: "Amazon copied products and rigged search results to promote its own brands, documents show"  Text: "Amazon is not supporting small businesses with this program, because Amazon considers small businesses to be competition. Whether it be knock-offs in India or undercutting similar products in the case of Diapers.com versus Amazon Mom."  An article from Timothy B. Lee on Ars Technica reads: "Amazon knew it was bleeding Quidsy dry. An internal email later in September discussed the price cuts Quidsi was forced to make to compete with the new Amazon Mom discounts. "They expect to lose lots of money in the next few yrs," wrote executive Peter Krawiec. "This will make it worse."ALT
Text: "If you own a small business and have been affected by this AI-driven program:  1) Document your listings and how they are being displayed on Amazon  2) Email branddirect@amazon.com to get your products removed from the site  3) Consider adding policy to your web shop prohibiting third-party listings  4) Consider providing your information to @bobodesignstudio, who is collecting info on shops affected to bring forward to an IP attorney  5) Consider bringing forth a consumer complaint to your State Attorney General's OfficeALT
Text: "If you are a friend of small businesses and want to help:  Get loud. As we put in complaints, join them and raise the volume.  Reconsider your relationship with Amazon, and pivot to small business whenever you can.  We're easy to support: a kind word, a tip in the jar, a share online, and certainly being angry on our behalf at massive tech behemoths who don't care if we can afford the cost of living as long as it makes their numbers go up.  To be continued."ALT


My account is still blocked from searching/tags/etc on my business blog @foundfamilyadventurecrafts so I’m posting this here. There’s something very bad happening with Small Business, Tech, and Amazon. What else is new?

Links:
Bobo Design Studio for Updates & Submitting Information

Arrows Aim Greenhouse + Chroma Rex are putting together a complaint with WA State Attorney General’s Office + Templates for complaints / opt out

Articles:

Amazon’s Buy For Me Information Page

Reuters Article

Ars Technica Article

Business Insider Article

Hey, that’s us and a bunch of our friends! This whole thing SUCKS so bad and we’re pissed. We’ve intentionally not listed our products on Amazon for the 15 years we’ve been in business. We’re ready to join a class action lawsuit and kick some ass.

(via carryonmysociallyawkwardson)

dancinbutterfly:

hyperrbolic-orange:

nealashitposts:

nealashitposts:

So I’ve got this friend whose nervous because she’s trans and dating this guy who she hasn’t told yet because they’ve only been on a two dates. For this story let’s call the friend Jane and the guy she was dating Jason. Happy ending don’t worry.


So I tell Jane to bring her boy over to a bbq I’m having and she can tell him she’s trans at my place surrounded by queer and trans people who love her and will support her if he ends up being awful.


She waits till the end of the bbq to tell him the news, by which point the rest of us have learned that Jason is a kind, friendly, empathetic, hard working, dummy. So we sit down, all of us a little worried about this gym bro’s reaction when she tells him she’s trans, and that she understands if he doesn’t want to keep dating her it’s no big deal.


He’s baffled, so we explain what trans is, and after the disclosure that she hasn’t had bottom surgery yet…

“Oh you have a dick?”

“… yeah.”

He look’s around at the room full of people with baited breath, his clearly a little afraid girl friend says

“Oooohhhh! I get it! You think- don’t worry Babe! Watch this!”

And ya’ll this man jumps up, runs into the kitchen and returns with one of the bratwurst we had for grilling and proceeds to tilt his head back, put it down his throat, hold it in his mouth for a moment, and spit it up without even a whisper of a gag and then looks around at the group absolutely beaming with pride.


My mans saw his worried girlfriend and her support network and thought to him self “Oh they don’t think I can’t please my girl, but I’ll show them!”

I do feel the need to add that later he excitedly tell the group that as a straight guy, he never thought that skill would be useful outside hotdog eating contests.

“Man its too bad that im straight since I’ve got like no gag reflex and all.”

“Honey, I must tell you, i am in fact trans and I have not had bottom surgery.”

“My god… everything’s coming up Jason.”

Pure of heart dumb of ass hetero of sexual

writingwithcolor:

mugiwara-lucy:

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Yeah I said something similar yesterday but we can NOT let what happened to Renee Good cloud what happened to everyone else at the hands of these SS Demons!!!

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Because we can’t disregard one person if we’re for human rights!

The above screenshot reads:

A Black man was killed by ICE (off duty) in Los Angeles on New Year’s Eve. And like Renee Good, he was an American citizen. But most people have not heard about Keith Porter.

I need y'all to realize this. Black people experience this lack of visibility all the time when it comes to being victims.
(Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com)

The second screenshot above reads:

Renee Nicole Good wasn’t the first killed by ICE...

In 2025, ICE murdered:
Silverio Villegas Gonzalez
Carlos Roberto Montoya Valdez
Genry Ruiz Guillén
Serawit Gezahagn Dejane
Maksym Chernyak
Juan Alexis Tineo-Martinez
Brayan Garzón-Rayo
Nhon Ngoc Nguyen
Marie Ange Blaise
Abelardo Avellaneda Delgado
Jesus Molina-Veya
Johnny Noviello
Isidro Pérez
Tien Xuan Phan
Chaofeng Ge
Lorenzo Antonio Batrez Vargas
Oscar Rascon Duarte
Norlan Guzman-Fuentes
Miguel Ángel García Medina
Johnny Noviello
Santos Banegas Reyes
Ismael Ayala-Uribe
Norlan Guzman-Fuentes
Miguel Ángel García Medina
Huabing Xie
Leo Cruz-Silva
Hasan Ali Moh’D Saleh
Josué Castro Rivera
Gabriel Garcia Aviles
Kai Yin Wong
Francisco Gaspar-Andrés
Pete Sumalo Montejo
Shiraz Fatehali Sachwani
Jean Wilson Brutus
Fouad Saeed Abdulkadir
Delvin Francisco Rodriguez
Nenko Stanev Gantchev

In 2026, ICE has murdered 2 people:

Keith Porter [New years eve 2025]
Renee Nicole Good

-From the ICE_Raids Community on Reddit

And to all of our lovely WWC Followers, particularly those in the United States:

Take care. Take care of each other, your community, yourselves.

Travel in groups and make sure your loved ones know where you are. And absolutely know your rights.

And even in troubled times, try to find a spark of hope, creativity and comfort and hold onto it. For even joy is resistance.

Resources

For those who can support:

I’ve included the verified GoFundMe for Keith Porter’s daughters.

~Mod Colette & WWC Team

heymeowmao:

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玉茗茶骨 | Glory E11 ° As long as both of us are willing, what’s wrong with overstepping?

rapidashpatronus:

kitfistovevo:

“Bisexuals don’t belong in the LGBT community” ohhh ok I guess the B stands for ‘bitch’ and that’s where you fit in, gotcha

I was explaining bi and trans erasure/phobia in the gay community to my mum and she was outraged and burst out “WHAT DO THEY THINK IT STANDS FOR? LESBIANS, GAYS, BICYCLES AND TRICYCLES?!” and I don’t think I’ll forget that until my dying day.

(via anatombombatallhours)