Urgelmer - Ymir

80 years ago, today, Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated by the Allies. The camp, one of six death camps created specifically to end all Jewish and Romani life in Europe, was the site of unspeakable horrors and over one million deaths.

It is probably the most infamous and recognizable portion of the tragic and evil story of the Shoah, the Holocaust. The date of its liberation was designated International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

But by now, I think, it is quite clear that too few gentiles actually remember.

Like many Jews, the Shoah is not some history lesson I read in a textbook with black and white pictures in middle or high school. It’s personal. It profoundly impacted my family in every conceivable way.

None of my relatives were at Auschwitz-Birkenau, that we know of. No, they died in Ravensbrück, at SS Polizei stations, and in pits in Lithuania. Five survived. Two are with us still. And we’ve all watched as the world has forgotten.

We’ve watched as, regardless of politics, a murderous regime that destroyed two-thirds of European Jewry - over six million people, one and half million of them five years old or younger - has been used as nothing more than a rhetorical weapon. We’ve watched as phrases used to justify our deaths 80 years ago, in living memory, are casually used again today.

We’ve watched as, once again, we are blamed for the harms others inflict on us. We weren’t loud enough, we were too loud, we didn’t say the right things, we didn’t say anything at all, we didn’t look how we should, we looked too much like ourselves. And so violence against us is not only understandable, but acceptable.

I remember the Holocaust. I have no choice. It is deep in my bones. It’s in my DNA. I can never forget what happened. No Jew can.

And it disturbs me, profoundly, that so much of the rest of the world has.

May the memories of the victims of the Holocaust be for a blessing. And please, remember them.

ed zitron, a tech beat reporter, wrote an article about a recent paper that came out from goldman-sachs calling AI, in nicer terms, a grift. it is a really interesting article; hearing criticism from people who are not ignorant of the tech and have no reason to mince words is refreshing. it also brings up points and asks the right questions:

if AI is going to be a trillion dollar investment, what trillion dollar problem is it solving?

what does it mean when people say that AI will "get better"? what does that look like and how would it even be achieved? the article makes a point to debunk talking points about how all tech is misunderstood at first by pointing out that the tech it gets compared to the most, the internet and smartphones, were both created over the course of decades with roadmaps and clear goals. AI does not have this.

the american power grid straight up cannot handle the load required to run AI because it has not been meaningfully developed in decades. how are they going to overcome this hurdle (they aren't)?

people who are losing their jobs to this tech aren't being "replaced". they're just getting a taste of how little their managers care about their craft and how little they think of their consumer base. ai is not capable of replacing humans and there's no indication they ever will because...

all of these models use the same training data so now they're all giving the same wrong answers in the same voice. without massive and i mean EXPONENTIALLY MASSIVE troves of data to work with, they are pretty much as a standstill for any innovation they're imagining in their heads

everyone is becoming way too comfortable about being horrible people

so can we start hunting down white liberals now or what

I don’t care if you make fun of Catholicism as long as it’s accurate! The best humour has its roots in the truth.

is it antisemitic, an incomplete guide

Image ID:

A flowchart.

Is it antisemitic? [proceed to next step]

Does it mention Jews? If yes: go to step 5 If no: go to step 3

Does it mention dogwhistles for Jews? (Zionist, elite, triple parentheses). If yes: go to step 4 If no: Probably not antisemitic

Do they seem aware they're using antisemitic dogwhistles? If yes: go to step 6 If no: probably not antisemitic

When it mentions Jews, is it in a good way? If yes: Probably not antisemitic If no: Go to step 6

Does it hold Jews/dogwhistles to a higher standard than others? If yes: Probably antisemitic If no: Go to step 7

Repeat antisemitic stereotypes? If yes: Go to step 8 If no: Maybe antisemitic

Is it a joke about antisemitism by and for Jews? If yes: probably not antisemitic If no: Go to step 9

Are you Jewish? If yes: Probably antisemitic If no: Go to step 10

Are Jews saying it's antisemitic? If yes: Probably antisemitic If not: probably not antisemitic

Except for the disclaimer, this is licensed under CC BY 4.0. This means that as long as you attribute me (preferably by including a link to this post or an archived version thereof), you are free to do whatever with this. You can change its look or content, you can sell it, you can change it to be disgustingly antisemitic (please don't), assuming you don't have rules in your country that prohibit any of that. For reference, this work is by tumblr user indecisiveavocado, indecisiveavocado.tumblr.com.

Disclaimer, abbreviated and with one addition: Not recommended for children under 12. Flowchart current at time of creation. Read at your own risk. Parental guidance advised. Sanitized for your protection. Actual mileage may vary. No animals were harmed in the making of this flowchart. Batteries not included. Not a toy. At participating locations only. Do not ingest. No purchase necessary. Slippery when wet. Flammable. This flowchart may contain chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm. Warranty does not cover meteorite strike, nearby supernova and other Acts of God, typographical errors, or electromagnetic radiation from nuclear blasts.

An infinite number of mathematicians walk into a bar.

The 1st orders a beer.

The 2nd orders a half of a beer.

The 3rd orders a quarter of a beer.

The 4th begins to order, but the bartender cuts him off, saying "You guys need to know your limits." He puts 2 beers on the bar.

my thing with calling strangers eggs is like. if it's a dude saying "of course i'd rather be a girl, everyone wants to be a girl" okay yeah that's an egg. but if it's a dude wearing skirts and mascara and having hobbies like cross stitching and you're calling him an egg? you've wrapped back around to sexism. you've done a full pivot into "pink is for girls and blue is for boys" and you're actually the problem. cut it out. stop telling (gnc) people they're secretly trans because "a real woman would never like football!" come on.