Don’t like people pointing out that it no longer makes sense in modern society to pretend a banana is a telephone

my bioengineering team is working on a rectangular-slab-shaped banana variant to address this very issue

is it a hot take to say that i think you need to understand why something is bad, not just that it simply is?

this is a part of the problem

you need to be able to explain why you shouldnt use ai rather than “oh well its obviously bad and you shouldnt use it or else youre a bad person” because that isn’t logic. “ai generates child porn based off of real children and whether or not it does is entirely up to how it is built and if pedophiles are able to find ways around those safeguards, because ai cannot in itself discern right from wrong” is a genuine criticism. “amazon tried to build a data center the size of tuson outside of tuson just to power their ai that would’ve increased the inability to stay alive outside in parts of arizona” is a genuine criticism. even “using generative ai teaches you not to learn how to do things yourself even when they’re difficult, devaluing necessary skills out of practice” is a genuine criticism when you look at the amount of people who think they are able of doing a difficult major when they couldnt write their own papers in high school.

but “ai is just bad because it’s bad” will convince no one and is a morally lazy position to take. about anything!

you need to know why reading someone’s diary is wrong if you want to learn about privacy and respect. you need to know why child sexual assault is wrong if you want to be able to help children form healthy age appropriate relationships. you need to know why capitalism is bad if you want to replace it with something else. you need actual concrete ideas and ideologies rather than “you should agree with me because i have the right vibe”

Friendly reminder that the intro to Lion King….the non english bits leading up to the “circle of life” is not random yelling in *Africa voice* it is an actual language, Zulu, spoken by 10 million people, it is the most widely spoken language (out of 11) in the country of South Africa (1 out of the 54 countries in the continent of Africa, the continent home  to somewhere between 1500-2000 languages and around 3000 distinct ethnic groups)

this isn’t to say that you have to friggin learn the language to sing along with a disney film, it just means that you should be mindful, respectful, appreciative and respectful. don’t be yelling out whatever noise comes in to your head when you hear it

Ok but someone knows what does this say?

The lyrics before the english comes in…in “circle of life”

Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [Here comes a lion, Father] Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it’s a lion] Nants ingonyama bagithi baba [Here comes a lion, Father] Sithi uhm ingonyama [Oh yes, it’s a lion] Ingonyama [It’s a lion] Siyo Nqoba [We’re going to conquer] Ingonyama Ingonyama nengw’ enamabala [A lion and a leopard come to this open place] (repeats) [queue English lyrics]

I would like to further add that language has there own cultural nuances so something that can sound extremely meaningful in one languages may not sound as majestic when translated to another (I know this as someone who has an understanding of 5 languages and speaks 3 of them fluently) so if you are thinking “oh it ain’t that deep they are just yelling: the lion is coming!” dial it back

Worth noting that “lion” and especially the word Ingonyama is a very respectful word to talk about a Zulu king, especially in praise. It’s so heavily associated with royalty in isiZulu that a different word is used for an animal lion - Ibhubesi. This isn’t just announcing the arrival of an animal, it’s celebrating the arrival (or coronation?) of the king

/\ Whoop, I didn’t know this

This is so informative thank you so much

Lemme tell you, I was not dividing those syllables into words in the right places AT ALL

I would also like to state that the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” is an extremely washed out version of the original song “Mbube” by Solomon Linda, a South African musician. It was appropriated by the west and he never received credit or money for what became an extremely famous song. His family eventually received a small sum from Disney for the song but again, not much considering the history of the song. There is a documentary about it right now on netflix. 

full article here

This is one of my most favourite posts I’ve made but I hate all of the typos on my part….but I’m grateful it landed with people

Imagine being named Bobby McDonald or some shit and then living so long that both “Bobby” and “McDonald” enter the public lexicon as naughty words until you are essentially named “Penis Homosexual” and kids are afraid to write it down

And it could happen to any of us next

The thing you will have to learn if you're involved in on-the-ground activist spaces is that you have to take breaks. The voice in the back of your head saying "no, you have a moral obligation put this cause ahead of yourself" is evil.

You have a moral obligation to not burn yourself out, because whatever contribution to the cause you make by overdoing it now is orders of magnitude smaller than the contribution that'll be lost when you're burnt the fuck out and cannot contribute anymore.

The incredibly skilled leader who goes above and beyond every single day could be supported by the organization to go slightly less above and beyond, and be an amazing leader for multiple years longer instead of flaming out so badly they can never look at a report again.

Activism is not about winning one huge battle, it's about long-term, sustainable work to make things better.

Breezy is not larger than a cranberry grape juice

BIG NEWS: Breezy IS NOW bigger than a cranberry juice!!!

didn’t jesus do something similar to that

Invasive species versus a second, stronger invasive species

Australia did this at one point, intentionally releasing cats into the bush in an attempt to control the invasive rabbit population. Now we have invasive feral cats as well as invasive rabbits👌

A third, even stronger invasive species will surely do the trick

SANS IS NONBINARY?!

HUH?!

if your partner doesn't want you to take hormones or get surgery, you should break up with them or divorce them. your body is yours alone.

absolutely that too. as a mobility aid using trans person myself; do not let a partner hold you back from doing what you require to be able to be stable and healthy within your body and how you interact with the outside world. i promise you they are not worth it.

I've acquired a creature that stares at you no matter which direction you look at it from

I’m hypnotized 

Two years on, their wood grain has darkened because they live on my laptop keyboard and I'm constantly patting them <3 To be loved is to be changed

Oh! Oh! Oh! I was gifted a similar handsome little fellow today!!! The delight I felt upon seeing him!!! Unmatched!!!