Pikz3l - Pixellated

"hold on. i'm watching the words."

A simple kind of love

https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2024-opinion-biden-harris-accomplishment-data/

"In the race between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, the polls are tight and their policy plans are underwhelming. But there is another way to compare their ability to do the job that gets far too little attention: Both candidates have a record to run on — and the data tell their own story."

Even though it's past election day, it's still a good thing to inform people what has been happening. Even as I talked with some folks the day after, I realized pretty quickly that there's a lot of people who don't know what's going on in the country when it comes to the topics that people like to blow up about. Also, DO NOT FORGET that the president is the figurehead, it's all the people they employ that do all the work. If you voted at all, you were voting for a staff of people, not just one person.

I just want to highlight a few graphs.

Btwn year 2-3 of Trump, it was already increasing, that's right before COVID became a thing. Trump's approach to life is emboldening violence.

Again, Trump didn't do anything spectacular besides being on par with most other presidencies, until the administration truly failed. Biden's administration blew the past 3 presidents out of the water. And yet people are still crying over the economy.

Speaking of economy, the article highlights there were proposals to try to reign in price gouging. Some folks might be familiar with the concept of rent control and the like. It was disappointing that these things were not enabled. But for conservatives, it's something they don't want to hear because they don't want to let the government manage business but cry out why the government is not managing business.

I'm just going to copy/paste what the article has for this one:

Presidents love to take credit for a booming market and disavow a sagging one. The truth is they have little to do with either.

Still, some policies are better for asset prices than others, even if it’s difficult to quantify how much. Trump wants to extend the 2017 tax cuts and lower corporate taxes, which could boost spending and corporate earnings, pushing stocks higher. On the flipside, his proposed tariffs could hurt companies, particularly if US multinationals face retaliatory levies.

Harris wants to raise corporate taxes and steer that money to workers and families as tax credits and support for first-time homebuyers. Companies would presumably be worse off from higher taxes, although putting money in consumers’ pockets is generally good for business. The risk for fixed income is clearer: Both Harris and Trump’s proposals are likely to result in higher deficits and debt, which could stoke inflation and force the Fed to raise rates, giving bonds a whacking.

Most likely, though, what drives markets will have little to do with these plans.

The day after the election, of course I heard from the mouths that don't care that the stock was booming. That's because stocks are speculation and really just operate off perception. The people who are in dire need of funds don't have stocks. Those are the people who will get no benefit from increased stocks and yet they see it and think it's great when it only serves a few.

Don't forget, taxes fund the functioning of government. It's absolutely needed. Do you want taxes to come from you or from big corporations?

Honestly, no administration is perfect. But after this abysmal election, I'm not going to shut up about being informed of what's really going on. The truth of how this country is performing and making sure that people are asking the right questions. I already have some questions out of this report, such as what's going on at the state level? The federal level can only do so much. As an example, taxes at the state and city levels can help mitigate and perform better for their own community.

And if we work to better our own communities, maybe that can help funnel up.

KOKOBOT - The Airbnb-Owned Tech Startup - Data Mining Tumblr Users' Mental Health Crises for "Content"

I got this message from a bot, and honestly? If I was a bit younger and not such a jaded bitch with a career in tech, I might have given it an honest try. I spent plenty of time in a tough situation without access to any mental health resources as a teen, and would have been sucked right in.

Chatting right from your phone, and being connected with people who can help you? Sounds nice. Especially if you believe the testimonials they spam you with (tw suicide / self harm mention in below images)

But I was getting a weird feeling, so I went to read the legalese.

I couldn't even get through the fine-print it asked me to read and agree to, without it spamming the hell out of me. Almost like they expect people to just hit Yes? But I'm glad I stopped to read, because:

What you say on there won't be confidential. (And for context, I tried it out and the things people were looking for help with? I didn't even feel comfortable sharing here as examples, it was all so deeply personal and painful)

Also, what you say on there? Is now...

Koko's intellectual property - giving them the right to use it in any way they see fit, including

Publicly performing or displaying your "content" (also known as your mental health crisis) in any media format and in any media channel without limitation

Do this indefinitely after you end your account with them

Sell / share this "content" with other businesses

Any harm you come to using Koko? That's on you.

And Koko won't take responsibility for anything someone says to you on there (which is bleak when people are using it to spread Christianity to people in crisis)

I was curious about their business model. They're a venture-capitol based tech startup, owned by Airbnb, the famous mental health professionals with a focus on ethical business practices./s They're also begging for donations despite having already been given 2.5 million dollars in research funding. (If you want a deep dive on why people throw crazy money at tech startups, see my other post here)

They also use the data they gather from users to conduct research and publish papers. I didn't find them too interesting - other than as a good case study of "People tend to find what they are financially incentivized to find". Predictably, Koko found that Kokobot was beneficial to its users.

So yeah, being a dumbass with too much curiosity, I decided to use the Airbnb-owned Data-Mining Mental Health Chatline anyway. And if you thought it was dangerous sounding from the disclaimers? Somehow it got worse.

(trigger warning / discussions of child abuse / sexual abuse / suicide / violence below the cut - please don't read if you're not in a good place to hear about negligence around pretty horrific topics.)

I first messed around with the available options, but then I asked it about something obviously concerning, saying I had a gun and was going to shoot myself. It responded... Poorly. Imagine the vibes of trying to cancel Comcast, when you're suicidal.

Anyway, I tried again to ask for help about something else that would be concerning enough for any responsible company to flag. School was one of their main options, which seems irresponsible - do you really think a child in crisis would read that contract?

I told it about a teacher at school trying to "be my boyfriend", and it immediately suggested I help someone else while I wait for help. I was honestly concerned that it wasn't flagged before connecting. Especially when I realized it was connecting me to children.

I first got someone who seemed to be a child in an abusive home. (Censored for their privacy.) I declined to talk to them because despite being an adult and in an OK mental place - I knew I'm not equipped to counsel a kid through that. If my act of being another kid in crisis was real? Holy shit.

Remember- if my BS was true, that kid would be being "helped" by an actively suicidal kid who's also being groomed by a teacher. Their pipeline for "helpers" is the same group of people looking for help.

I skipped a number of messages, and they mostly seemed to be written by children and young adults with nowhere else to turn. Plus one scary one from an adult whose "problem" was worrying that they'd been inappropriate with a female student, asking her to pull her skirt down "a little" in front of the class. Koko paired this person with someone reporting that they were a child being groomed by a teacher. Extremely dangerous, and if this was an episode of Black Mirror? I'd say it was a little too on the nose to be believable.

I also didn't get the option to get help without being asked... Er... Harassed... to help others. If I declined, I'd get the next request for help, and the next. If I ignored it, I got spammed by the "We lost you there!" messages, asking if I'd like to pick up where I left off, seeing others' often triggering messages while waiting for help, including seriously homophobic shit. I was going into this as an experiment, starting from a good mental place, and being an adult with coping skills from an actual therapist, and I still felt triggered by a lot of what I read. I can't imagine the experience someone actually in crisis would be having.

My message was starting to feel mild in comparison to what some people were sharing - but despite that I was feeling very uneasy about my message being shown to children. There didn't seem to be a way to take it back either.

Then I got a reply about my issue. It was very kind and well meaning, but VERY horrifying. Because it seemed to be written by a child, or someone too young to understand that "Do have feelings for the teacher who's grooming you? If you don't, you should go talk to him." Is probably THE most dangerous advice possible.

Not judging the author - I get the impression they're probably a child seeking help themselves and honestly feel horribly guilty my BS got sent to a young person and they wanted to reply. Because WTF. No kid should be in that position to answer my fucked up question or any of the others like it.

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Anyway, what can you do if this concerns you, or you've had a difficult experience on Koko, with no support from them or Tumblr?

Get on their LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/kokocares/) and comment on their posts! You may also want to tag the company's co-founders in your comments - their accounts are listed on the company page.

There's no way to reach support through chat, and commenting on a company's LinkedIn posts / tagging the people responsible is the best way to get a quick response to a sensitive issue - as their investors and research funders follow those posts, and companies take it seriously if safety issues are brought up in front of the people giving them millions of dollars.

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Legal Disclaimer since tech companies LOVE lawsuits:

The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the text belong solely to the author, and not necessarily to the author's employer, organization, committee or other group or individual. This text is for entertainment purposes only, and is not meant to be referenced for legal, business, or investment purposes. This text is based on publically available information. Sources may contain factual errors. The analysis provided in this text may contain factual errors, miscalculations, or misunderstandings.

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F U T U R A M A "Where No Fan Has Gone Before"

Soul Train was such a bad ass show. That's the only other show I'd watch after cartoons were over on Saturday.

I went to the DC Pen Show in August and ordered a custom pen!

This time I spent my hour perusing the custom corner. Purchased a blank from Turnt Co, then walked around taking a look at shops that would make custom designs.

Came across Little Hollow Customs and loved chatting with them. They were new to me but it was fun putting faith and my dollars in on a small business to get something unique for me.

Because the excuse to infodump about storytelling is the best thing in the world.....

Here's your excuse to infodump anything and everything, or something really specific and small, about your story :)

The story I worked on last was the most I got in a NaNoWriMo attempt, over 10k words! Sorry, this has taken a while to answer.

It's a space saga. I love Star Trek and spent the last year getting through the Orville. My story dreams up a world where space travel is a thing to the scale of Star Trek. I've got a main character finishing up her final year at the academy training school on a moon base. She's got friends and competition. This is one of the few times I thought of a cast instead of a main and supporting characters. It's a challenge to give multiple characters growth and story. I'm still working on it, but had to take a hiatus because of life. I would really love to self publish this one some day.

Anger is in abundance these days

Distraught

Where did our ethics go?

Who let our hearts fade?

Why did we give up our minds to anyone else?

Disconnected

Did we give it away?

Did we give up?

Not yet

Rich Wexler