bitstitchbitch

“Oh yeah I know Firefox lets use it because it’s not owned by Apple or Google”

“Oooh great I can install an adblocker on here that makes things easier”

“What other extensions have we got? Omg one that forces all websites into dark mode? I love protecting my migrainey eyes”

“Wait I can have duck duck go automatically part of my search bar? Don’t mind if I do!”

The Firefox "AI kill switch" is here.

Go to Settings > AI controls. There, you can toggle the "master kill switch" on to fully block all the features, which means two things:

you won't see them,

you can't even be asked about them.

The default state is, like before, "available". This means the features are NOT on by default (they never were), but Firefox will let you know about them where they exist (e.g. when you create your first tab group) so that you can choose to opt in.

Please note that Firefox for Android or iOS have never included AI features, so you won't see these settings on your smartphones or tablets.

Because it was trained on pirated work—including freely accessible online writing (like fanfic, academic texts)—ChatGPT picked up patterns and quirks native to human writing.

Including (sigh) the em dash.

There are other victims here (RIP tapestry and delve 🫠), but the appropriation of the em dash—a punctuation mark beloved by writers everywhere—feels especially personal.

A kind of low-grade panic is ensuing. Writers who once memed their own em dash overuse—the greatest punctuation mark ever to grace the control-freak’s lexicon, frankly—are suddenly backing away to avoid accusations.

No. More. We have centuries of dash-abusing writers behind us. We will not sit quietly while AI repurposes our beloved stilted aside—or the just-one-more clarification the sentence demands—or the dramatic pause your comma could never—etc.

You don’t write like AI—AI writes like you.

Defend the em dash.

(Feel free to download/share/stick it where it matters!)

instead ask:

is it SINCERE

was it CATHARTIC

was it FUN TO MAKE

is it MADE BY ME

You wanna write create some fantasy creatures but don’t know where to start? Go check out some videos The Weird Creatures Earth has Had.

Want some inspiration for your Super Evil Villain’s Villanous Deeds?

Or maybe you want some weird locations to kick start your Fantasy World Terraforming?

Or maybe you need knowledge of bunches of historical places and cities and cultures?

But maybe you’re basing fantasy on the modern world?

Okay but lets say you want to start from the same inspiration as GRRM? (and part two!)

That’s just the stuff I could quickly grab. Things I’m subscribed to, that I know offhand. There is So. Much. Stuff. Online.

It doesn't feel like we're on the brink of invasion. It feels like we're being newly occupied by an invading force. Except that the invading force doesn't just want our total submission; they also want to rip half our neighbors out of our arms. They came for Hmong Minnesotans next, and they are also more than 90% citizens. We have a lot of minority populations who settled here because Minnesota prides itself on welcoming refugees; both populations have been here for more than thirty years.

And for all the rest of us US occupants not in Minnesota, it's coming to us, too. Ohio is getting door-to-door ICE today, for instance, and I've seen multiple friends in other states posting photos of big ol' trucks, beds packed with ICE vehicles, rolling in to town.