In building the new, good, post-American internet we're going to need a multitude of people with the skills and will to build, maintain, and above all, defend it.

Don't Be Evil @pluralistic
https://pluralistic.net/2026/04/11/obvious-terrible-ideas/

Using an AI chatbot to help me write would be like using the kitchen garbage disposal to help me eat dinner. The garbage disposal absolutely can do something like chewing and swallowing the food, faster and more efficiently than my jaws, tongue, teeth, and throat can do it. But if I have the garbage disposal do the chewing and swallowing for me, then I get none of the flavor or nutrition or satisfaction of eating food. I'm just making a big noisy show of wasting something I need.

“Why Would You Ask AI To Tell The Story Of Your Own Life?”
Albert Burneko

https://defector.com/why-would-you-ask-ai-to-tell-the-story-of-your-own-life?giftLink=288802ee6bc3ef53e27bd86f052eaf3b

25 years ago today, Bad_CRC posted the primordial meme video "All Your Base Are Belong To Us" on Newgrounds.

In honor of this important anniversary, I downloaded the original Flash SWF file from Internet Archive, played it using Ruffle in a full-screen window, and replaced the audio with the original MP3 of "Invasion of the Gabber Robots" by The Laziest Men on Mars. So this is probably the highest fidelity encoding possible, without going back to the original forum GIFs.
https://jwz.org/b/yk3i

A straight white guy friend was complaining about not being able to find any gaming groups for WoW that weren't full of MAGA assholes. He said he keeps joining guilds with older (60+) casual gamers like himself because he can't keep up with the kids, and he'll start to make friends, but then they will reveal themselves to be Trump-lovers. He asked, "What am I doing wrong?"

I said, "First of all, your screen name is Russian. Leftys are gonna be wary of that, and the Alt-right loves it.
Second, you should put some social signals in your bio, like pronouns."

"Okay, but how do I tell people I'm cool, but I'm not gay or trans?"
I explained to him what "cis" and "ally" mean. He had never heard of this before, which showed me what kind of online spaces he was landing in.

Next, I said, "Look for the furries."
"But, I'm not a furry?"
"Yes, but the presence of furries are like lichen. They are a sign of a healthy ecosystem."

This was about 3 months ago. Now, he tells me he joined a guild labeled as LGBTQ-friendly and has made several new cool friends. He says, "I thought they would be talking about sex all the time but it's just a regular group." He mentioned that there are many women and PoC in the group too, and "Everyone's so nice on dungeon runs, telling people they did a good job and being supportive, sharing loot."

I didn't tell him that this is what the whole world would be like without patriarchal toxic masculinity, because I think he figured it out himself.

from @usagiboots

#AI #AIart

If you're not already in the habit, do your brain a favor and make something this week. Do something creative; something constructive. In whatever medium holds an interest for you. Even if it's small. In fact, especially if it's small.

Sketch out a couple panels of the comic you've always wanted to make. Write a scene of your novel or play. Crochet one granny square. Make pasta. Bake bread. Put some html files on a webserver.

And while you're at it: drink water, have a shower, take a walk, and get some sleep. Do the things that nourish you. Because, whatever else we are, humans are animals. Your brain and your body are amping each other up and just drenching each other in stress hormones. It's dark and cold, and there are monsters out there, somewhere. Animals don't handle that well. So show your body that it's warm and safe. And that there are still things you can control. You'll feel better. And then you can think clearly. And THEN, you can look ahead.