I sent three faxes today 😎

I wish you could find a way to pursue this somewhere more aligned with your values. There’s a brain drain happening right now for a reason, I would heartily recommend joining it.

Inspired by this thread, today I set up my kid’s neglected bedroom Linux computer to read comic books off my media server and he’s already obsessed. Woo!

I should have assumed you had, I know you’ve been through a lot. You’re not wrong, but… Thanks for trying. It really burns me to know kids are going through this.

Have you considered talking to the news? This is all profoundly abnormal. I know journalism is mainly dead, but it’s the kind of story John Oliver might pick up anyway.

Raise a reader like your life depends on it, has been my approach so far

I always knew my high school was slightly fancy. Nothing extreme just, had decent facilities and decent groundskeeping, etc.

I never realised it was fancy for having under 40 kids in a class. This, at the same time as yours.

I promise myself to never to fall for that “kids these days aren’t we good as we were” bullshit. Kids these days are going to need a lot of help. Maybe more than we can even give.

I…

Did you say “standing room only” classrooms?

How? Moreover, how?

Gasp, burn the witch

I do wish I was better at it, or at least that I had fancier editing software. Openshot is okay I guess, but the transitions and effects are a little rudimentary. Might just be a skill issue, I’ll admit.

I just do bless you or whatever people seem to prefer because people already hate atheists enough. Treat em how they wanna be treated, yanno

It’s been good. It’s making for much more focussed, curated, and varied media consumption since its the bulk of all TV we catch during the week. He sees a lot more art and a lot more quality cartoons (not to mention in order) than other kids who just watch whatever the streaming platforms put in front of kids.

Ever since he was very little we’ve wanted to be thoughtful about what we show him. I really like to mix in old crash course serie as well, and I’m really wanting to hit the media literacy one soon. He already is beginning to understand the problem with ads and in-app purchases in mobile gaming. It’s important work to inoculate against all these media vectors so they don’t grow up assuming the way things are with modern media is normal or acceptable.

tbh it already is, they’re just not into it enough to put in the effort. And that’s fine, it’s easier to enjoy it as a hobby with an audience of two. But if it was possible to throw it up for everyone without getting sent to a DMCA gulag, I would be happy to do so.

I don’t believe it is at all polarised. I’ve had friends who found me attractive and came onto me when I had long hair, but aren’t into me now that I’m more masculine looking.

Attraction is certainly primal on some level, but I don’t think we’re simple enough to have our preferences work in only one of two ways. The key is to know what you want, and have access to the side of yourself that embraces those desires. It is a simpler matter for some.

Echoing what I’m seeing others say, always know that you’re someone’s type. It’s hard to imagine there’s not a Steven Universe fan out there who would see you as way out of their league.

I didn’t even notice it. Thanks, knowing this makes the story much better for me

Each Sunday for the last year I’ve prepared a two hour block of programming accompanied with a fancy breakfast. Basically I’m recreating the Saturday morning cartoons experience for my kid. I have a spreadsheet with over 50 different shows to track where we’re at in each one, along with when they were last played so nothing falls out of rotation by accident. I edit them all together next to indie animations (e.g. Bluehilda and Big Top Burger), music videos, those super short animations like RudeJackArt does, random old stuff like school house rock etc.

Sometimes if there’s a commercial break built into the cartoon, I’ll put something fun in there. I once hid “a Gaudi muaß sein” that video with the tongue flicking choir right in the middle of an episode of the Ruby Spears Mega Man cartoon. Have also used this format to show off certain things like a video game he’s getting for his birthday.

All of it rendered locally with openshot from the stuff on my media server. It’s one of the best hobbies I’ve ever had because not only have I been purposely discovering and preserving a lot of great indie art, I’m spending time with my kid, sharing laughs and bits of culture, making the most of the one day of the week we’re all off work, and avoiding the time waster streaming outlets where you just watch whatever CGI talking animal shit for all of eternity.

I’ve never heard of anyone else doing this, and I sometimes wish there was a legally viable and inexpensive way to share it with the world. I’ve tried sending it to family via sync thing, but they all have trouble with it. Boo.

I didn’t clock it at first but yes exactly

A quick word to anyone seeing this and thinking “oh that’s fine”, look into the Snowtown Massacres". That’s what it looks like when this kind of thing actually happens. Life isn’t a Tarantino film, those who accomplish their aims violently are generally very dumb.

Did you have to säy this shit