12 past midnight 🔮 @Atomicbutterfly@witches.live

The counter girl hopped right up when I walked in and was clocking in to help me.

Me: were you on break? I can wait until it's over I'm not in a hurry.

Her: no, we're supposed to clock out when there aren't customers

Me: oh no, honey, no. That's illegal.

Her: 😳

Me: not for you, for your manager or whoever told you to do that.

Her: it is?

Me: it's called wage theft when your boss doesn't pay you what you earned. when your boss requires you to stay here, he needs you pay you for your time.

Her: oh.

Me: here, this is the office number to an employment lawyer, call her and tell her you need to come in to talk about this

Her: I don't have any money

Me: we're gonna get your money, you already earned it sweetie.

Five out of Five Stars.

I just finished Paris Marx' four part series on Elon Musk on the "Tech Won't Save Us" site and it's truly great. The finale goes into Musk's embrace of white nationalist conspiracies, his union busting anti-labor stances at Tesla and Space X, and his embrace of "Long Termism." The latter is a half baked philosophy which has swept through the rich and influential in political and Silicon Valley circles that states it's better to take actions to further the goals of future humans (including those who will be digital humans) than to worry about the poor or vulnerable here and now. Musk and others who embrace this world view tend to be extremely concerned with eugenics, perfecting humans, and increased birthrates, but especially in encouraging the rich, smart, and ultimately white people to breed more.

Despite Musk's self-image as a superior being, the show brings him back to earth, uncovering his blunders, total lack of knowledge in the businesses he's hyped successfully. Unfortunately, that image as a "real life Tony Stark/Iron Man" have seen the US military and government cede control over satellite tech, electric vehicle charging station dominance, and other huge sectors that place him and his companies into key positions to reap both more wealth and power, and more social control and say in government policy. This is why the host believes puncturing the myth of Musk's story, almost a complete fabrication, is part of bringing him down and opening up important technological social questions back to the democratic realm.

https://www.techwontsave.us/episodes

Currently H&M, Zara, and other fast fashion brand workers in Bangladesh are protesting to raise their wage from $2/day to $6/day.

They are facing guns being pointed at them, smoke bombs, and other major threats during this protest.

Bosses are only agreeing to $2.7/day.

Break up with fast fashion, break up with supporting trash human working conditions (that also produces 10% of global carbon emissions!!)

AI isn't sci-fi but the precaritisation of jobs, the continued privatisation of everything and the erasure of actual social relations. AI is Thatcherism in computational form. And, like Thatcher herself, real world AI boosts bureaucratic cruelty towards the most vulnerable.
#AI #Thatcher

Automated image generators are often accused of spreading harmful stereotypes. We wanted to find out how biased different tools are and compared the results when using the same prompt across MidJourney, Kandinsky and Adobe Firefly.

Take a look at the results: https://algorithmwatch.org/en/image-generators-stereotypes-diversity/

The heads of all major UN agencies have issued a rare joint statement calling for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" in Gaza saying "enough is enough". https://ochaopt.org/content/statement-principals-inter-agency-standing-committee-situation-israel-and-occupied-palestinian-territory

Masks Work. Distorting Science to Dispute the Evidence Doesn't #covid #CovidIsNotOver

(P.S. I accidentally unbookmarked the original toot by whoever posted this, so I've just hunted this article again. All credit goes to the original "tooter" ✌️)

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/masks-work-distorting-science-to-dispute-the-evidence-doesnt/

Remember, remember!
The fifth of November,
The Gunpowder treason and plot;
I know of no reason
Why the Gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot!

It's 5th November, known locally as "bonfire night" but officially it's "Guy Fawkes Day", a night time celebration in the UK.

It's not what a lot of international people think! It's not to celebrate Guy Fawkes, it's actually something that started off as a monarchist celebration.
What was done to #GuyFawkes was awful. I wonder what would have happened had he gotten away with it. Such a mad lad!

The full poem includes the lines god save the king but I'm not a monarchist so...eh.. 1/

The GOP has introduced a bill to EXPEL Palestinians from the United States. I cannot read such things without remembering what happened to my own family after Pearl Harbor. After we and 120,000 other Japanese Americans were incarcerated in prison camps for years, without charge or trial, my own mother was very nearly expelled to Japan because of racial prejudice and hatred. Only the brave actions of a civil rights attorney saved her from being sent away. #NeverAgain

Red door. Cumbria.

Canon AE-1 Program
Kodak Portra 400
Helios 44M 58mm/2

#BelieveInFilm #FilmPhotography #AnalogPhotography #35mm

What the fuck is undermining. Is my saying I want to leave the country before I finish my MSc because I hate it here undermining? Is saying "fuck the Tories" undermining?? What the fuck. I need to work on my portfolio.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/nov/04/plans-to-redefine-extremism-would-include-undermining-uk-values