evolutionary dead end

it installs a user-login-time "startup" executable that ignores any windows directives to disable it on startup. doing so only removes the even-more-malicious taskbar-icon-creating advertisement-notification-creating process. no matter what you do, the sleeper "updater" process starts when you log in, and runs perpetually

it sends & receives encrypted network traffic both periodically and non-periodically. both are bad, both are suspicious, and a program doing both is more suspicious than the sum of their parts. and to boot: acrobat will polymorphically edit its code after such network activity

this isn't new: it has always done this. now, it does not even do the thing it is meant to: provide a way to interact with documents, which is amongst the very first features computers were built to provide. you can merely open PDFs and read some of their content in the narrow space between the requests for adobe to give them your money, and interface for features you cannot use (because you don't) or do not, have not, and will not ever need

adobe and microsoft would very much like the user's cultural norms around computers to allow for advertisement built into the local software and even operating system itself. the web being 100% advertisements was not enough! sure enough, acrobat will hijack the windows notifications system thing to give you the 2026 equivalent of pop-ups

i don't really know enough about windows software equivalents, so i'll paypal $20 to the first person that reblogs this with a list of 3-5 PDF reader/editor/etc acrobat equivalents that meet the following criteria:

open source, locally-built executables must match checksum of prebuilt distributed executable

no paid features/premium version/subscription/whatever

not a toy hobby project thing, must be windows-users-proof

KDE Okular: is a decent viewer and can also do basic annotations, and is so not-a-toy that you can even download it on the Windows app store.

#my old phone looks like this on my shelf lmao #im too scared to touch it to throw it away #idk what trash this even goes into when its at this point

The pillow-shaped object here used to be the phone’s battery. It’s not a battery anymore. Now it’s a balloon full of corrosive, pyrophoric chemicals and hydrogen gas and it’s one puncture away from burning your house down. I am 100% serious. You should be scared to touch it.

But you gotta touch it, because you gotta get it out of your house before the pressure builds up to the point where the balloon pops. This isn’t going to happen soon – there is no need to panic – but it will happen eventually.

And, indeed, it doesn’t go in the ordinary trash. You put this in the ordinary trash and you’re gonna set the garbage truck on fire. Don’t do that to the garbage collectors, their job is hard enough already.

The first thing you need to do is get a fireproof container. The most common household item that qualifies as a fireproof container is a cast-iron cookpot with a cast-iron lid – often sold as a “Dutch oven.” Any other cooking container that’s unreactive, has a very high melting point, and has a lid made of the same materials will also work: enameled or stainless steel, Pyrex with glass lid, etc.

However: Do not use a pot with a PTFE-based non-stick coating. If the battery does explode, the fire will probably be hot enough to degrade a PTFE coating, producing toxic smoke. (Not that you should breathe the smoke from the battery fire either, but PTFE breakdown products are worse.) Do not use a pot made of aluminium or copper. The fire might even get hot enough to melt those.

Whatever container you use, you might have to throw away along with the phone, so don’t use your good Dutch oven for this. Go to a thrift store and buy a cheap one.

Once you have the fireproof container:

Gently pick up the phone and put it in the fireproof container. If possible, gently tape the phone to the bottom of the container to prevent it from bouncing around. Don’t put any padding in there, that’ll just make a fire worse if it does happen. Put the lid on and tape it shut.

Put a label on the container, something like “DEFECTIVE LI-ION BATTERY – FIRE HAZARD”.

It is now reasonably safe to move the container around. However, if the battery does explode, the container is very likely to leak smoke and get hot, so keep it in a well-ventilated area and away from things that will be damaged by heat. Don’t leave it exposed to the weather, either.

You need to find either a hazardous waste disposal site, or an e-waste recycler that will accept defective Li-ion batteries. I can’t help with that because I have no idea where you live.

However, your local fire department, if you have one, will probably be happy to help. Call their non-emergency number. Nothing is on fire yet, so this isn’t an emergency, but things that can easily start a fire are still within the fire department’s responsibilities. Tell them you have a phone with a bulging lithium-ion battery, you put it in a fireproof container, and you want to know how to dispose of it safely.

If the fire department tries to tell you this isn’t dangerous or it’s okay to throw it out in the regular trash (with or without fireproof container), hang up on them and write a cranky letter to your local government representatives, then keep looking for a proper disposal site.

Here's what I need you to do:

If you see a post with a "mature content" label, and it's 2026, DM me a link to the post.

Yes, that's really it.

I am hoping to collect several thousand such posts, so that I have a decent sized dataset. I do not care what the post is about; if it's labeled as "mature content", I want to add it to my dataset.

character who is not allowed to kill themself

related: suicidal character who physically can't kill themself

alive character who has successfully committed suicide

character who hasn't died but has committed thematic suicide of the Self

Gen-Z got a chunk of the Carboniferous, and now all their memes are about how pathetic and small today's dragonflies are.

Nostalgia Content [Explained]

Transcript Under the Cut

I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.

Concerns about prop disposal as filming on new Nolan film comes to a close

INSIDER NEWSDESK | 3 September 2025

Lipari was chosen for the scene where Odysseus encounters the Sirens

SICILY - First it made headlines for its grandeur, and now the film The Odyssey by Christopher Nolan, shot on the island of Lipari, is sparking controversy due to the production’s inappropriate decisions regarding the disposal of certain props.

The issue concerns plastic skeletons and other props that were found by some divers on the seabed of the stunning waters surrounding the island, part of the Aeolian archipelago. At depths of at least 18 meters, installations and props were discovered that risk damaging a natural marine habitat that is under protection, writes Il Fatto Quotidiano.

The incident was reported by Giusi Savarino, the regional environmental councillor, who received the report from the Lipari Harbor Master’s Office and has requested the intervention of ARPA (the Regional Environmental Protection Agency) to investigate possible harm to marine species in the Pietra del Bagno area.

“Along with the permit (environmental impact assessment),” said Councillor Savarino, “we also issued precise rules and guidelines to protect the area from an environmental standpoint. The discoveries made in recent days are a cause for serious concern, and for this reason, we will be intervening with ARPA to determine the possible impact of these materials on the habitat and marine species in this area of significant natural value.

“We are happy to host international film projects and are always willing to support these productions,” he continued, “but no one should think they can take advantage of our hospitality by disrespecting our natural treasures.”

In the letter sent to ARPA, the Environmental Councillor requested an urgent inspection and monitoring of the seabed at Pietra del Bagno, along with a technical assessment to determine any damage to the marine ecosystem.

Filming took place in April and concluded at the end of the month, involving major Hollywood stars: Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, and Charlize Theron in a film that tells the story of Odysseus, set to be released in July 2026. Lipari was chosen for its beauty, to depict the scene where Odysseus (played by Matt Damon) encounters the Sirens.

But the same beauty that led to its selection was not preserved by the production, which may now face criminal consequences for what happened. The damage comes three years after the devastating fire that destroyed much of Stromboli’s Mediterranean scrubland, caused by another film crew shooting a movie about firefighters starring Ambra Angiolini. That crew had lit a “controlled” fire which then got out of hand.

Nonetheless, the show went on, and the series aired despite protests from the residents of Stromboli. Now this new incident reignites the debate around film and TV productions that choose Mediterranean gems as filming locations but fail to respect the rules that protect these beautiful places.

More Italian sources here (you can use your browser translator to translate them for you):

Facebook video posted by the Regional Councillor of Sicily mentioned in all the articles (I can translate it for people if they want although what she says is summed up in the caption)

Rai News (Rai is the national broadcasting service in Italy, like BBC for the UK so pretty trustworthy)

La Repubblica (possibly the most important Italian newspaper, the article is behind a paywall)

Quotidiano Nazionale (National Newspaper)

Lascimmiapensa (this is an independent news website for entertainment)

I might translate this article later today. This one was the most complete one, even in Italian news it's not talked about that much.

when I was in undergrad I had this professor who spontaneously decided in the middle of a class on, as far as I could tell, a completely unrelated topic to go on a bizarre tirade about how human pregnancies are actually 10 months long and saying it's 9 months is a patriarchal attempt to minimise women's suffering. she very confidently justified this by explaining that there are four weeks in a month, so 40 weeks is 10 months.

when someone pointed out that a month (except February) is actually four weeks and two to three days, and that 40 weeks (280 days) is a lot closer to 9 months (275 days) than it is to 10 months (305 days), she told him to stop mansplaining.