The explorer

OPEN LETTER

To: Tumblr Jeff D’Onofrio, Tumblr CEO New York City, New York, United States

Dear Jeff D’Onofrio,

On December 17, Tumblr will be banning porn from its site.

By banning “adult content” from your website in truth you categorically ban sex workers regardless of how they are using your platform. You cut them off from the ability to build an audience for their work, and what’s even worse, you declare their very existence as obscene.

Tumblr allows every content creator, artist, or small entrepreneur to build an audience and communicate with this audience at any moment in time - if you do not work in the adult industry of course.

Many brands use social media to sell products. Social media and eCommerce are interlocked. You take this now away from every adult content creator around the globe. And that is wrong.

You mentioned in a blog post titled “A better, more positive Tumblr”:

“There is no shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content. We will leave it to them and focus our efforts on creating the most welcoming environment possible for our community.”

You are wrong: There is a shortage of sites on the internet that feature adult content, in particular when it comes to shadowbanning and the ability to also advertise on these sites.

Look, here is what we do:

Sharesome is a site that welcomes all the people that you just kicked off your platform. You gave them time until December 17th to export a backup of their blog to save their years of work. Meanwhile we will develop an import tool, so they can move to us, and we leave you with all the white supremacist Nazi blogs – because we ban that kind of shit.

Regards,

Plastic Reflectic

Interactive installation by Thijs Biersteker and produced by front404 presents a participants silhouette in a pool with floating plastic waste:

The plastic soup is growing. Plastic in our ocean degrades in nano plastics. These microplastics intrude all parts of the food chain. And (as recent studies reveal) they can pass through cell walls into fat and muscle tissue, turning us slowly into plastic.

The interactive installation ”Plastic Reflectic“ shows you that everyone can influence the plastic soup with their behaviour. It turns you in the plastic version of yourself and lets you control the hundreds of pieces of ocean plastic.

When you step in front of it plastic parts of plastic soup plastic rises from the black water reflecting you. It takes the plastic soup that normally is floating miles out of the sea and puts it in front of our feet. Reflecting our behaviour and provoking food for thought. Showing that your actions in plastic use have direct impact on the growing plastic soup.

nerdydemonfandoms submitted:

I mean.

‘Notget’ VR Teaser

Brief preview of collaboration between artist Björk and Analog Studio for virtual reality experience:

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J15x2QCo7X8)

In this second video for my project, Four Corners: Thieves of Sovereignty, I get into some more details about the setting.

This story resurfaced after finding this sub, happened back in 2012.

I used to work at a CVS/Pharmacy in downtown Long Beach. For those who don’t know, that’s in the midst of LA, but thankfully on the shoreline so I wasn’t surrounded by city. However, the clientele were just low-life LA city trash. Overall I had amazing coworkers and the occasional nice person to come through and make things tolerable.

So one day it’s later in the afternoon and of course we have a line of people forming as they get off work to do shopping before headed home. I’m the only cashier, I see a few people get in line, I’m going as fast as I can, but sometimes people come too fast in the late afternoon. So I page my backup cashier to come up. Within a minute or so they’re here, and we have 2 people, but still the line grows, so I page the third cashier [My manager, Monica, real names, whatever]. She comes up, and now there’s a line of probably 10 people that formed in a good 5 minute period, with people constantly coming in and lining up still.

Everybody in line gets it, it’s 4-5 in the afternoon, it’s a rush time for a quick trip. I get this one lovely older woman in a wheelchair, very nice, but obviously confined to a wheelchair and can only move so fast. She buys her stuff, and has to slowly put her 5 items into her bag on the wheel chair, carefully placing each item into the bag to make sure it’s secure. She can’t move out of my station since she’s bound, so I just wait patiently while she does her stuff. Unfortunately, the next guy in line (We’ll call Drunk Ass), isn’t as patient. He begins yelling from the line that I need to call the next person. I tell him she’s in a wheelchair and I’m not forcing her to move. She looks up at me and just smiles, and continues putting her stuff away. Keep in mind it’s been about 30 seconds since we finished, nothing crazy.

DA: “You’re taking too long. You’re too slow, you had to call 2 extra cashiers up just to get people out, what’s the hold up? What’s wrong?”

Me: “Sir, she’s in a wheelchair and putting her stuff away, I’m not going to rush her out, just please wait patiently for her to finish.”

So Drunk Ass comes up to my line anyway. The poor lady is still working on putting her bag back around her wheelchair, and this guy stands right up against her wheelchair, and plops his items down on the counter. I don’t initially grab any of his items until the woman finishes, but he pushes them closer anyway. So I start scanning, and then an idea hits me.

Anybody who’s been to a store like this (CVS, Safeway/Vons, Rite Aid, Walgreens) knows you pretty much need one of the club cards to receive the sale price. You can probably see where this is going.

Me: “Do you have a CVS card?”

DA: “No.”

Me: “Okay, well just so you know you can’t get the sale price without a CVS card.”

DA: “They always scan one of those cards for me, just do that.”

No please here? Oh boy, I’m DEFINITELY going to oblige now!

Me: “Sorry, sir, they’re very strict that I can’t just scan new cards, they actually track if we scan too many new cards in a day.”

DA: “I have a card, I just don’t want to get it out, just scan that one.”

Me: “Again, sir, I can’t do that. I can look up your phone number though.”

DA: “I don’t have it tied to my number, just scan that card.”

Me: “I have to have your card to give you the sales, I’m sorry. They’re very strict about our numbers.” (This is actually true for the most part)

So at this point Drunk Ass is getting visibly upset. He’s definitely a little drunk, his face is getting red, and he just wants to buy his stuff and go home. Then the unexpected happens, my manager Monica speaks up to the side, I had no idea she was paying attention.

Monica: “Sir, you’re holding up my line, I’m going to need you to give him your card or just pay.”

Oh to hear your manager catching on to your game and rallying against the awful customers. Drunk Ass ended up paying for his stuff without the sale price, cost him an extra $1 IF that, and I never saw him again. As he walked out the door I looked over to my manager and she’s just grinning ear to ear at what we just did.

Some cats have jobs, some are travelers, some live a life of leisure, but others prefer academic pursuits and we’ve just found another one. This feline pupil attends the International Islamic University of Malaysia. A student named Nur Elynna Binti Mohammad Shaharul Hashri recently photographed her napping on a desk during a lecture. The studious kitty actually started class by paying attention, but sleepiness won out in the end:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/foxfeather/dancing-emu-enamel-art-pin

Mad Duck Posters has released 24x36 screen-printed posters for Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator designed by Stan & Vince.