Izzy

Data centres shouldn't be allowed in areas that experience drought or are Koppen classification B category (arid and semi-arid).

They should have federally regulated water usage and be required to have heat and exhaust treatment ON SITE

They should have daily penalties for failing to meet zero emissions targets scaled to their profit margin (i.e. a percentage rather than a set amount) THAT ARE ACTUALLY ENFORCED.

NO DEFERRED PROSECUTION AGREEMENTS. EVER.

They must show provenance for EVERY piece of art and writing in their data sets, and show that they have made contracts to use EVERY SINGLE ONE before they are allowed to use them. Hold them to the same standards as every other form of media.

They must inform the end-user about data privacy and that chatbots are not a substitute for therapy, research, programming, work, school, and are not to be used for anything but novelty.

one that’s completely portable & entirely brainless, my hands know what they’re doing & i don’t have to; ideal for conversations & TV-watching.

one that’s portable but needs a little attention; ideal for commutes, waiting rooms, podcast-listening, & sitting outside.

Felicity’s story was set in the beginnings of the American Revolution, and addressed the conflict that she faced when her loved ones were split between patriots and loyalists. It also covered the effects of animal abuse, and forgiving those who are unforgivable.

Samantha’s stories centered around the growth of industrial America, women’s suffrage, child abuse, and corruption in places of power. Also, it emphasises how dramatically adoption into a caring family can turn a life around.

Kit’s story is one of my favorites. Her family is hit hard by the Great Depression, and they begin taking in boarders and raise chickens to help make ends meet. Her books include themes of poverty, police brutality, homelessness, prejudice, and the importance of unity in difficult times.

Molly’s father, a doctor, is drafted during the Second World War. Throughout her story, friends of hers suffer the loss of their husbands, sons, and brothers overseas. Her mother leaves the traditional housewife position and works full-time to help with the war effort. They also take in an English refugee child, who learns to open up after a life of traumatic experience.

And then there are the later dolls, that kids younger than me would have grown up with (I was just outgrowing American Girl as these came out), like Rebecca, the Jewish girl who dreams of becoming an actress in the budding film industry, or  Julie, who fights against her school’s gender policy surrounding sports in the 70s, or  Nanea, the Hawaiian girl whose father worked at Pearl Harbor.

Nah.

OP (of the tweet thread) was either a actively trying to start shit or is just a huge fucking moron. Probably both.

I’d like to point out that the company that makes American Girl dolls actually doesn’t skimp when doing their research and they don’t make the dolls with the intent to be offensive in any way:

i think back on this & realize that as third graders we were talking about how awful slavery was & because we were simply innocent kids without any societal or institutional influence yet, all of us could kept saying “why would you treat a HUMAN like that ?!” this one girl for her birthday invited all of us for her party & she got the Addy doll - every single one of us (boys included) held her & was in awe of this doll - it was such a touching experience.

i went back home about a year ago & ran into my third grade teacher in the grocery store. she said that year opened up a whole new teaching structure for her. she now reads american girl stories to her students starting day one of class every day to calm them down after recess & she’ll get through maybe four or five sets of books a year. she has the dolls in the room with packets on information from the doll’s time period that her students can “check out” to take home for weekends to care for them.

we oftentimes overlook how powerful toys can be in influencing young children & american girl honestly knew that kids could read intense moments in history & synthesize the issues to learn how to be a better person. my grandma bought me my first doll, molly, when i was only six & the dolls became a huge part of my childhood. when i turned 21 a couple years ago - we were living in minneapolis - she took me to have lunch for my birthday at the american doll place in the mall of america & bought me the Addy doll for my birthday. it was such a powerful moment i hasn’t expected.

I learned a lot of my core beliefs from these girls.

These are from one of their latest books, A Smart Girl’s Guide to Body Image:

They got a lot of flak from conservative parents for this and they did. not. back. down.

Their newest historical doll, Claudie, is a black girl growing up in the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. Her story is about Black artists thriving, and making a safe, beautiful place for themselves in a society that tries to reject them. It teaches about the NAACP’s protests against lynchings, in ways kids can understand, but there’s also so much Black joy and creativity showcased in her story.

Another historical doll, Melody, is growing up in the 1960s during the Civil Rights movement. She faces the struggles and triumphs of attending a newly integrated school, and learns about the bombing of a Black church in Alabama that killed four little girls her age. Her stories show how black people found support and community within the church, as well as music— she loves to sing! If you have a free hour, I highly recommend watching her special on Amazon (free with prime). It stars Caila Marsai Martin from Blackish and it will make you weep.

The girl of the year for 2022, Corinne, is Asian, and her story touches on the issues of anti-Asian hate in the wake of covid. When conservative parents threw a fit about this, American Girl went ahead and made the girl of the year for 2023 Asian, too.

Any of their dolls can be customized with assistive devices like hearing aids, service dogs, and wheelchairs. They also have bald dolls, to include stories about girls battling cancer or alopecia. And it’s not just girl dolls— they have boy dolls now, too! And dolls with no gender assigned to them! People complained that they couldn’t find any dolls in the Just Like Me line that looked like them, so they now give people the ability to create their own custom doll, with tons of different options.

This isn't confirmation of anything but John Rogers' phrasing makes me hopeful for a Redemption Season 4 renewal...

(via Bluesky)

ALSO GIVE US THE REAL-BEARD LUMBERDUKE

And I love that Hardison’s rebuttal was, “Hear me out. Two words: Eliot Signal.”

And I love that Parker knew that when Eliot dies he wants his body to be eaten by wolves. I love that Hardison made their new base a brew pub because he knew Eliot couldn’t resist. I love that Parker measured his head for his inevitable robot body, and that when it comes to relationships she immediately includes him with her and Hardison. I love that Hardison made him Mr Punchy, and the hyper-energetic Japanese energy drink commercial, and that he made up the song Two Good Ol’ Boys Behind the Wheel for them. I love that Parker heard him out when she wanted to kill the mark and trusted that he really would have her back, like he always does. I love that she asked him to teach her how to love food because he loves food. I love that Hardison loves him so much that even though he trusts Eliot to protect him, he doesn’t want to see him get hurt because of him, but he also doesn’t ask him to consider stopping.

nate: ok :)

leverage villain of the week: wh

leverage villain of the week: what do you mean “ok :)”

nate: 👍👍👍

leverage villain of the week:

You have Nate "I'm a functional alcoholic/not a thief" Ford

Sophie "EX-art thief, why does everyone keep forgetting that?" Deveraux

Eliot "Knives are like people, everything's in context" Spencer

Alec "I made a bomb out of a methanol light" Hardison

Parker "I'm so glad I dont live in the real world"

Also, theyre all thieves who come from fucked up lives and they become a found family while making the world a better place (Robin Hood style)

and van who's been so so scared and so uncertain of who she can be and how to exist in he world that she feels cursed by and who's relied SO heavily on this arm from comfrey that there's been this persistent feeling of gratitude and debt getting to look comfrey in the eye and very steadily and calmly go nope my life and my willpower are my own now and i don't need your bandaids because i know myself and my body

and marya whose guilt and grief have been so strong that all she's wanted was explanations and to make up for her regrets and her perceived shortcomings and the slowly-tarnishing hero worship still clutching to the hopes that comfrey will somehow have answers getting to go actually no i don't need to hear what she has to say she doesn't get to rule my grief anymore it's my own and in fact i'm doing her a kindness by not seeing her as one last thank you even with how angry and betrayed i am

and daisuke who still couldn't quite leave his love for comfrey behind and who's made such a habit of trying to stay just one step removed emotionally from everyone to the point where he orbited olethra for years to keep her safe without ever interacting with her getting to get some closure and still feel empathy like yeah we're going to make sure she's okay and for the first time in so long i want to hear what she has to say but she's not the woman i once fell in love with

and maxwell getting to go you know what??? i am like cadswitch i do have whimsy and this is about doing the right thing and i'm just as mad as monty and i'm so invested in what torse asked about getitng to help zern and i am an adventurer fuck my father

and olethra who had such hero worship for her and who all her life wanted to be just like her grandmother getting to go hey all these people you fucked over they jumped at the opportunity to help you and you've been so wrong about so much

i'm just!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!