Ellevator

I did a bunch of expressions (crowd-sourced from replies on bluesky) of my lopsided little goblin Stilton using a new brush I made and I am absolutely Feeling It

I submitted this free app to the Windows Store/Microsoft Store.

It's a GIF viewer. It lets you take a close look at them.

You can search for "gif enjoyer" on the Windows Store/Microsoft Store app. It's the one with the icon that looks like this:

I'm still updating it with a few more stuff but it takes a few days for the store to approve some updates. I'd like to keep the app simple and focused on what it does though.

If you find this app useful in your work, please consider a contribution to my Ko-fi! 🙏

Compiled some basic information I know about drawing fat characters for beginners since I've been seeing more talk about absence of really basic traits in a lot of art lately.

Okay last sneak-peek before I start doing some trial runs and so forth :P

i have been making so many of these, more under the cut

feel free to use as reaction pics! just don't repost without credit if you post them on other social medias as reactions <3

these were inspired by @sm-baby 's post

Posting anything positive about the president here will get you called a capitalist bootlicker.

What do we expect to happen?

Anger sells better. Anger feels better, it feels righteous.

I just wish it weren’t so damn frustrating, feeling like you’re screaming into the void constantly, fighting against apathy.

CMS just announced that the government will start taking high-cost drugs that were developed with taxpayer dollars and start pulling patents to force competition and low cost generics. That’s fucking momentous.

I saw 1 news article on it. I wouldn’t have known it happened if I didn’t read the news every day. This should have caused the kind of celebration that erupted when companies started announcing $35 insulin caps. Why didn’t it?

They didn't. It was hardly mentioned. Not a blip.

Same exact thing when it came to net neutrality!! It was DEVASTATING when it was killed. People died in wildfires because Internet providers throttled data of firefighters. Xfinity actually stole identities in order to make it happen.

changed the Medicare enrollment periods for elderly and disabled individuals, so that they don’t have to literally enroll in the designated period for enrollment and then STILL WAIT for 2, 3, 4, 5, or even SIX months for their healthcare to start

along the Medicare line, they have added special enrollments for: people who just got released from jail, who lost their low-income healthcare through Medicaid, had a medical emergency or natural disaster that made them miss enrollment, didn’t enroll because they were lied to by their employers, etc

they CAPPED THE COST OF INSULIN to $35/MONTH FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES!!!!! and they are working to get it capped to that for all Americans!!! (but of course, Republicans are fighting it)

Biden pardoned all prior federal offenses for simple possession of marijuana and started the review process to get weed rescheduled federally

provided hundreds of billions nationally in funding for the repair of roads/bridges/highways, expanding high-speed internet access, improving public transportation, adding electric vehicle charging, adding clean energy sources, removing pollution still leaking into communities from industrial manufacturing from DECADES ago, and REMOVAL OF LEAD PIPES not just on state land but on TRIBAL land and TERRITORIES!

cracked down on the (frankly, abusive) overdraft fees from banks - to the point that many banks have removed the fees outright rather than deal with an investigation from the federal government over them - and the last minute surprise fees from hotels/concert venues/etc.

They are working to change Social Security taxation so that those making above $400,000/yr actually have to fucking CONTRIBUTE - because, if you didn’t know, currently Social Security taxes cap out at $160,000. Yes, meaning that those who are MOST ABLE TO AFFORD paying more taxes, and who would contribute MORE in taxes, are paying pennies (if anything).

Also, to increase the minimum SSA benefit from just a cut-and-dry figure that has to be manually increased (and is therefore subject to NOT getting increased), to a scaling percentage of 125% above the poverty line

Also, also, to increase benefits for surviving spouses who abruptly lose 50%+ of their income when a spouse dies, then are shit out of luck for paying for homes/vehicles/etc

Not only that but:

as many people who were vocally against it, they also made covid vaccines widely available and FREE for everyone during the pandemic

provided massive student loan debt relief

ENACTED A MINIMUM 15% CORPORATE TAX on large companies, who otherwise tend to skirt taxes with legally-gray methods

Rejoined the Paris Agreement - literally can’t believe I even have to say that

are providing relief to veterans exposed to burn pits

reauthorized the Violence Against Women Act and added protections for LGBTQ+ individuals and non-women victims, changed it so it now allows tribes to now hold non-native aggressors liable under tribal justice systems, and improved long and short term housing for victims (as well as increased emergency housing access)

I’m not going to say I agree with every action taken under the Biden-Harris admin (lol, looking at you specifically, IRS), but.  These things change people’s lives. Not just a little - they are the difference between literally dying a slow death from lack of medication and living happily.  Between getting heart surgery and NOT getting heart surgery, because you don’t have health insurance, because you just got out of prison for having one (1) molecule of weed stuck to your sleeve during a traffic stop. Election season is already starting, so if you have to remember one thing, remember this:

Adding to this list, the Biden-Harris administration has also:

Changed the Extra Help with Medicare Prescription Drug program, so that EVERYONE on Medicare who is under 150% of the federal poverty level can qualify for zero monthly premiums, zero deductibles, and capped prescription costs at $4.50 generic/$11.40 name-brand.

Provided $3.5 million in grants to expand internet coverage on and to tribal lands.

And $728 million to provide clean, sustainable drinking water to rural and tribal communities and support water and river conservation in the Colorado river basin.

Provided funding for the expansion of Medicaid, meaning that now 40 states offer a year’s worth of health coverage after birth, so postpartum complications can be, y'know… treated without putting you into massive medical debt.

Demanded an additional year of coverage for children’s healthcare under CHIP, via the CAA of 2023, with a hopeful continuation even further under section 1115.

Invested $265 million across 16 states for natural disaster preparation and recovery, including streambank stabilization, flood prevention and watershed restoration projects.

And honestly, this administration has done so much more that I don’t have time to list - with wide-ranging effects that won’t be fully felt for another few years, but are MONUMENTAL for our country, our healthcare, our environment, our jobs, and our futures.

Please don’t allow shills and bots to convince you that voting doesn’t matter or that your vote is inconsequential.

i'm posting this so we can all deconstruct what a far right psyop ask looks like.

on first read, this looks like someone who wishes they could be confident in voting blue but they're bummed by the democrats in office. targets title ix for their ire but doesn't really explain, perhaps assuming i'm out of touch and will just react instead of doing my due diligence (bad bet: i'm an attorney). uses over the top dramatic language like "vicious." they equate the left and right as being identical and indicates they won't be voting for either, with the implication that i shouldn't either, but goes on to blame the dems specifically for...something.

look at the very specific way they've couched this sentence:

Really embarrassing that Dems have mainly left it to the right to try to defend it,

i'm not meant to fight them on this. i'm meant to be embarrassed to be voting blue in november, i'm meant to blame democrats for abandoning some law, and i'm meant to recognize the right as upholding it.

title ix, if you didn't know, bans sex-based discrimination in schools and education. when someone tells you about democrats destroying title ix, that someone is a TERF.

and TERFs largely have aligned with the conservative hard right. I'll link a few articles at the bottom with detailed explainers, but for right here it's enough to say that TERFs want the far right to win because the far right is voting with them on their single issue, which is the destruction of trans rights and the ouster of trans and gnc women from public spaces. TERFs have marched with the Proud Boys. TERFs have partnered with anti-lgbtq groups to advance their anti-trans agenda. they will throw every other issue under the bus repeatedly if their anti-trans agenda wins.

and, importantly, the far right recognizes that TERFs are a tool they can use to destablize the left. the far right knows that as long as they will align with TERFs on this single issue, which they will because they too want to enforce the gender binary and traditional gender roles, TERFs will vote for and with them regardless of every single other issue. not only that, but the far right knows TERFs are a modern movement that's gained traction in social media spaces over the last several years, and they are relying on TERFs to send asks like this one to infiltrate spaces like tumblr and twitter and tiktok to encourage would-be blue voters not to vote because they want the far right to win.

this is a psyop. this is, whether formalized or not, a psychological operation intended to discourage voting in and among the left.

don't fall prey. vote blue in november.

I like this one because they have this great graph that specifically points out the link between TERFism, the far right, and disinformation attempts like the ask above.

hi!! i'm now approaching month 3 of waiting on an answer from my disability hearing and i have a lot of bills and loans and absolutely no income for the foreseeable future, i'm still not well enough to take commissions, and my mother who i live with is also disabled with no income. my birthday is coming up (05/21) and i'd really love to not have to stress about money this month. i'm going to ask for $1000 for the month because i honestly needed more help the last time i asked but i already felt really bad for doing this at all. if anyone out there has the means, PLEASE help me out by d0nating if you can! and anyone who can't PLEASE share this post wherever you can! p4y links below:

transmasc mob w the transmasc swag for a kofi request :-)

AI companies are acquiring content across the internet for a variety of purposes in all sorts of ways. There are currently very few regulations giving individuals control over how their content is used by AI platforms. Proposed regulations around the world, like the European Union’s AI Act, would give individuals more control over whether and how their content is utilized by this emerging technology. We support this right regardless of geographic location, so we’re releasing a toggle to opt out of sharing content from your public blogs with third parties, including AI platforms that use this content for model training. We’re also working with partners to ensure you have as much control as possible regarding what content is used.

Here are the important details:

We already discourage AI crawlers from gathering content from Tumblr and will continue to do so, save for those with which we partner. 

We want to represent all of you on Tumblr and ensure that protections are in place for how your content is used. We are committed to making sure our partners respect those decisions.

To opt out of sharing your public blogs’ content with third parties, visit each of your public blogs’ blog settings via the web interface and toggle on the “Prevent third-party sharing” option. 

For instructions on how to opt out using the latest version of the app, please visit this Help Center doc. 

Please note: If you’ve already chosen to discourage search crawling of your blog in your settings, we’ve automatically enabled the “Prevent third-party sharing” option.

unfortunately, a lot of the userbase won't opt out. those who don't see this post, those who have posted to tumblr but don't anymore, users on older versions of the app who forget to opt out next time they're on desktop, etc. the point of making it opt-out is to take advantage of people who wouldn't have opted in but don't/can't opt out in time. automatically opting out people who have discouraged search crawling is a gesture that helps Tumblr look more kind, but from the fact that everyone else has to manually opt out, Tumblr is definitely not looking benevolent.

I wonder, will Tumblr/Automattic be selling images from deactivated blogs? I assume deactivated blogs can't opt out.

when will they start selling this data? Is it already too late to keep them from selling every image you've posted before you opted out?

and if they're especially malicious, I wonder if they could get away with saying "this image is from a blog that's opted out, but it was reblogged by a blog that hasn't opted out, so we're selling the image that's on that non-opted-out blog."