There’s the part where all the firstborn sons die unless their parents paint the walls with sheep’s blood.

Is porn an annoying project [spams a bunch of thinking emoji]

IMHO Krita is more of a drawing app (that’s what I use it for) and GIMP (I wish I could make a wish upon the monkey’s paw and get it renamed… To Libre Graphics Manipulation App. Or – LiGMA) is more for editing stuff

But yo’ure entitled to your own opinion ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Been a long time since last I’ve seen a good honest Snafu

I guess it does feel like 2016 in here with neofascists on their way back to power in the US and all that.

Rare dotworld mod W

Yeah, sex is cool, but have you ever closed like 50 browser tabs after finishing an annoying project?

One mostly exports the genocide to the third world

The other wants to bring it home.

I’m from Mastodon

But I got to Mastodon from Reddit, so idk if that counts. :P

I am going to commit several violent acts (in Stellaris)

At the same time, years of propaganda by monied interests have led us up to this point

See you’re right but –

– Those monied interests are also coming from within. The wealthy and powerful from America who see this as a way to consolidate and protect their own wealth and power.

Silicon Valley wanted Neofascism. Wall Street wanted Neofascism. Fracking Barons like the Koch Brother(s) wanted Neofascism. Some out in the open, like the afore-mentioned Koch(s) and Elon Musk, but make no mistake, every billionaire who “shuts up about politics” is most likely a Neofascist in private, because this benefits them.

The people in America are heavily propagandised, but that propaganda is funded and developed by and for the benefit of the wealthy within America itself.

Some people lean really hard into the whole “russian influence” thing because it is comforting. And it is entirely possible that there ARE Russian fingers in this pie – Russia does benefit from a weakened America, in any way they CAN weaken it. Heck, China and the Middle Eastern powers do too, so maybe they have fingers in that pie too.

But never forget that it started with wealthy Americans, and not some foreign agent. And if every foreign influence walked away, it would continue without them.

Theoretically, The Revolution™ that lefties like me talk about could change things. Just like theoretically, a peaceful political reform could change things. Theoretically.

But I’m from the third world. Hopelessness is my bread and butter rice and beans. So I’m entirely accustomed to daydreaming of one day things changing, while expecting elections to change nothing, and knowing for a fact that any attempt at armed fighting would most likely end in a victory for the bad guys (they have the bigger guns).

The idea of “things are already fucked, have been since before you were born, if you want to make a difference, look out for yourself and those you CAN help, make a difference in the micro, because The System as a macro thing is outside your reach entirely” is in fact how most people have dealt with things since forever, and we survive.

This post is about recovery, not abandonment

Recovery from what? Fascism is what your own neighbours chose. This is the system working exactly as intended and pretending it’s not is covering one’s own eyes. There are hundreds of millions of Americans for whom this is a good day. They have the backing of the wealthy and powerful. And their project is to remove any chance of them ever losing power again.

Thinking you’ll stop something like Project 2025 in the ballot box is willful ignorance at this point.

Since OP has already made it clear that “violent uprising” is not on the cards, then the alternative is to get out while they can. Hopefully while helping others do the same. Save themselves and their own. Survive and maybe you can make a difference from the outside.

When Germany went all Nazi in the 30s~40s you know who DID make a difference? Not the political opposition who got slaughtered. And not the people who let the Nazis walk all over them while claiming they were still better because they were “civil”. It was resistance fighters who helped the allies fight and minorities to escape. And people who got out of Germany and then joined the fight on the side of the allies.

Also:

Eat shit.

Don’t threaten me with a good time, gringo <3

This has actually all been a very elaborate “come to Brazil” meme on my part.

Jokes aside, given how a lot of our people tend to worship the floor 'Murica walks on, if a bunch of refugees from the US came over, they’d probably be welcomed with open arms. :P

It would.

But I think that ship has sailed.

And honestly it might be the third-worlder-accustomed-to-things-being-uttter-bullshit in me. But I think “Winning back the country” is an unrealistic and foolhardy goal. Everyone who is on the radar for being harmed by Trump should look out for themselves and their own. Which includes “getting the fuck out of the country” if that is what it takes.

Additionally: A significant portion of the country won today. They got exactly what they wanted. And pretending that this neofascism is some kind of external infection is tantamount to covering one’s own ears.

Honestly at this point y’all should just get the fuck out. Where to? Anywhere honestly. You’ll probably find the third world preferable to a post project 2025 Murica.

Russia’s been having a major brain drain issue as all people with functioning brains either have escaped or want to escape the country. I don’t see why Americans should do any different.

The entire system is alien to me, with the districts and the electoral college and (…)

It’s so – Simple – Here.

WELL

At least presidential choice is simple here, the legislative houses are their own beast.

But yeah here it’s just: Each (properly registered, though registration can be done through the internet) adult person gets one vote, if a candidate gets 50%+1 they are in, if none manage to get that there is a run-off round with the top 2 or 3 candidates.

Over there it’s like people from certain states have their votes be worth more than people from other states, and then there’s the whole “winning the district” thing and the whole idea of red/blue/swing states. So much complexity.

That specifically has actually not happened to me. Though I’ve seen people comment on it.

… But.

One scenario I run into a lot is finding a result that would be useful…

… But it depends on external links. And those links are dead. The internet is a perpetually on fire Library of Alexandria

Adding to what everyone else has said.

… You know what helped me learn how to write (which I now do for a living)? Yes, talking in comment sections – But specifically.

I spent a lot of time in fandom forums.

Why does this matter?

Well.

TV Show fandoms are very low-stakes, you know? If you’re learning to swim you start at the kiddy pool, not the olympic one. So you can participate in discussions, make up headcanons, and learn how to express your ideas… And if you do get picked apart or something, even if you actually, genuinely, fucked up and were straight up wrong. It’s… Y’know. It’s just a TV show. So you can, in fact, let it go.

It’s different from when you’re talking about something serious, something important. If you’re writing about something technical and you mess up, you can end up spreading misinformation. On a political discussion, being clear on what you mean is important because the stuff being talked about matters. Not so for a fandom.

Oh and – Re-read what you wrote, and use that edit button if you catch something you missed.

Internet search has gotten stupider

Used to be I could always find exactly what I wanted with a quick google

Now I usually have to go into the second page or change my terms a lot before getting there.

When it’s not under threat of being crushed by an angry moon, Clock Town is a very nice place.

Lindblum from Final Fantasy 9 (roman numerals are for goobers)

I adore the concept of a Castle Town where the castle is so big it sorta consumes the entire town. And the whole steam-punk techno-fantasy vibe of the city is extremely pretty.

If you specifically mean LLM/GenAI:

• Some of my friends enjoy fucking around with those character AIs. I never got the appeal, even as an RP nerd, RPing is a social activity to me, and computers aren’t people
• I have seen funny memes be made with Image Generators – And tbqh as long as you’re not pretending that being an AI prompter makes you an “artist”, by all means go crazy with generating AI images for your furry porn/DnD campaign/whatever
• https://goblin.tools/ is a cool little thing for people as intensely autistic as I am, and it runs off AI stuff.
• Voice Recognition/Dictation technology powered by AI is a lot better than its pre-AI sibling. I’ve been giving it a shot lately. It helps my arthritis-ridden hands.

If you mean anything that utilizes machine learning (“AI” is a buzzword), then “AI” technology has been used to help scientists and doctors do their jobs better since the mid 90s