French Gangle makes Zooble's english VA (me lol) absolutely crash out with cuteness aggression. And honestly? Who can blame me. The dub actors for all the di...
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
Trump as President enriching himself.
Musk as the richest man in the world.
Bezos talking about "work/life harmony" and talking about "maniacal obsession" about customers as a good thing while most of his employees barely make a living wage. And those making good money know they're in a pact to be treated like shit and have no work/life balance in exchange.
At my last company, when I met the CEO, I tried to open up a bit to him when I started, since he seemed to want to know about me. I explained how I always felt like an outsider, coming from two different ethnic backgrounds, growing up in the deep south, very, very Catholic area of New Orleans. And then discovering I was gay combined with Catholic guilt, it was difficult to really be who I could be if I was hiding part of who I was.
So I explained that I build teams where everyone is welcome, and different perspectives and skills of people all being who they are, fully, is what builds a well-rounded, and happy team.
He replied that, "Being a redhead in Alabama wasn't exactly easy, so I know how you feel." A cis-gender, white male....but being a redhead was his biggest friction in life. Wow, all of the feels for you.
He was given every opportunity, went the "desk job" military route. Started a company, got in with big money like the Koch Brothers, big oil as investors, etc.
After 3 years of building a team from scratch, shoring up morale, putting in processes where none had existed...I made a fatal mistake.
I realized that my team was the most diverse in the company. That I had more women, more queer folks, more non-white folks in my team than any of the others. But some of my peers noticed as well.
One of my peers asked me for mentorship as a director. He wanted to know how to be more open and supportive of women in tech, especially those who may not have been born American.
I agreed...we struck out a very friendly relationship at work, where eventually the idea of a DEI committee came up. I told him the CEO would never approve of that. He told me to write the email, and he'd send it to the CEO. The CEO had his ear.
So I did. The letter that started the DEI commitee at my old company was formed. We had LGBTQIA/BiPOC folks, men, women, sponsors. It was wonderful. We were creating a cross-company team of some lower- and high level folks who were getting representation along with executive sponsors.
I was thrilled to be there and seeing this happen and the way I built and led my team spreading to other parts of the company.
Then the CEO found out, somehow, that the idea for the DEI committee came from me. I heard through channels and folks he was close to that he was getting "jealous" that my team held me in high regard, and that one of his confidants was coming to me instead of him for leadership mentorship.
And it infuriated him. A month after I was promoted, my manager told me that the CEO has identified "leaders in engineering" who are not good leaders and shouldn't be here. I told him, "Well, I'm gone then." He replied that if I got pushed out, he'd leave too. There's no way they could get rid of me with my contributions.
Two months later, I was terminated for "non performance related reasons." I got about 10 phone calls at around 10AM, all asking me what the fuck.
The DEI committee was disbanded shortly after my termination.
I mailed back all of my stuff. But kept in touch with my folks. Many of whom left the company as they were increasingly treated like crap. The entire eng team placed on a PIP. A peer of mine who backstabbed me and ended up as SVP of the organization. He would take glee in terminating people who wouldn't acquiesce to his insane demands. He once told a UI/UX director to completely rearchitect and reimplement a user flow in under a week. When she said it wasn't possible to, he pushed her. She replied, "If you think it's possible, then you do it." 30 minutes later, an announcement went out that she had been terminated. And he posted a blog about what insubordination gets you and how not to be like her and suffer her fate. That's the level we're dealing with.
The CEO once said that he was offered $5B for the company and he and the CFO laughed and turned it down.
When I was term'd, the fair market value was about 1/3 of what it was at its peak. But my stock price was even lower, and I was out of work...so I used a third party to help execute on getting funds to buy my stock, which I liquidated immediately, as everyone still at the company told me things were getting increasingly worse.
It was recently announced that the company was acquired, and FMV jumped x8 in a single day. All concurrent with an announcement of AI grift with new (crap) products.
The CPO who told me they loved walking down the hallway and people getting out of their way out of fear of her is now worth well north of $10M.
The peer who stabbed me in the back, he's got at least $5M or so.
The "difficult life" CEO is now a billionaire.
I'm not upset that I sold my stock early. They weren't that generous with me with stock. It would've been a nice chunk of change, but not a life changing amount or enough for me to leave the country. That's not what upsets me.
What upsets me is the scum of the earth, people who feed on the fear of others, who need people to listen to them out of fear, not respect. The grifters who fuck over people in their personal relationships, get rich beyond their wildest dreams, but still conflate respect for their role with the love they so desperately need...these are the folks who get ahead.
Empathy, leading with compassion, caring about people you interact with, work with...that doesn't seem to get rewarded.
Being ruthless, selfish, emotionless, worshipping the dollar, and selling your soul are what get people ahead in life.
Because, not in spite of this behavior, many of these people never have to worry about money again. They have options. Some decent folks got a good payout, and I hope it's the catalyst for them to leave.
But what's evident is that you can get too entrenched to fail.
And no one at the top has a sliver of empathy, humanity, or worth as a role model.
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
God damn. Itโs true.
Iโm just thankful despite all of the encroaching, deepening darkness, there are so many โpoints of lightโ out there still burning as much as they can.
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
I've never worked anywhere where a PIP wasn't used to "manage people out of the business" (actual words I overheard my pos manager say) because they stood up for the teams core values in the face of the company pushing something awful.
It (life/the world we live in) all seems like a cruel joke most of the time.
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
Pretty much. It's why so many people in positions of power seem to be narcissistic. Our system rewards ruthlessness, greed, and often the most horrible aspects of humanity.
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
So, for personal research, would you say all of those people came from wealthy families or had a habit of reverting immediately to hyperbolic anger when challenged in the slightest way?
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
@Furball Wealthy or privileged families, or managed to worm their way into those groups by cozying up and making themselves appear useful while concurrently riding on the backs of others.
Content warning: LONG: Rant about Shit People in the world getting ahead
@Furball To be fair, I think he was a grifter who was an expert in surrounding himself with grifters. Loyalty is more valuable than someone holding up a mirror, so thatโs whatโs rewarded. Similar to Trumpโs playbook.
I have a very similar experience at my previous company. Terrible people who were rewarded handsomely for being atrocious. Open misogyny, homophobia, dishonesty, and outright abuse. (Yes, Stephen Bohanon, fake "founder" of Alkami, this is you.)
Extreme wealth is a red flag of genetic abnormalities that indicate psychopathy. I've seen so many data points to indicate the same, no one can change my mind.
On the eve of the summer solstice, I pick seven different flowers, in seven different fields, all in complete silence. I tie them into a bouquet and put it under my pillow.
Doing so means that tonight, I will dream of my true love.
I already live with her, but I like dreaming of her too.
MilaMusika7 DaffodilsBrothers FourI may not have mansion, I haven't any landNot even a paper dollar to crinkle in my hands.But I can show you morning on a th...
Fun to do! While I was learning a rare language, I made and laser-printed a little pocket-dictionary. Had the print-shop make 50 copies for others in the same boat.
You know for every interest, trend and hobby you always see posts and videos like โWhy is x popularโ or โwhy would someone want to do x?โ.
Fuck โem. Enjoy things. Like things. Be involved with your things. Itโs nobodyโs business whether you want to get a flaky film camera or that specific pin badge, go to that club or hang out at that unusual place, try that new food.
Your life, your interests and your hobbies. Is OK to have fun sometimes. ๐
I'm sitting here in a skin tight spandex base layer, with loose fitting spandex shorts and shirt over them. Not only does it feel good to wear, but it also keeps me cool and dry in the humid, hot, Florida weather. And it makes me think how amazing clothing has gotten over the last 50 years. I wish this stuff was around when I was a kid. I suffered for years with clothes that absolutely didn't work with me or my body. I honestly wish I could go back in time and just hand little me some of this stuff, it would have literally been life changing.
Totally didn't get it without the comments. I really don't care about what gender you are or what you do to manifest it, but often I am a little obtuse. I will try my best to treat everyone with respect.
French authorities are investigating the disappearance of the Raccoona Lisa. They said there was a masked fellow last seen carrying a painting-shaped frame. But he was so cute that take him away from the suspicious list.
Painting for Meisarrg Digital. Procreate
You can watch the time-lapse process video of this piece on the first comment on this submission on my Telegram art channel: https://t.me/panda_paco
Or you can watch the complete video of the process and the full resolution of this piece, along many other pieces I havenโt shared on my galleries yet, at supporting me on Patreon or Ko-Fi, that helps me a lot to keep working on what I enjoy to do the most. Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/pandapaco Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco Thank you!
Official Art Channel ๐ฒ๐ฝ Clean cute artist. Full-Time Panda. Here to paint some smiles. https://linktr.ee/panda_paco Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pandapaco Ko-Fi Shop: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco/shop Stickers channel: @pacostickers
The organizers of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony solved an ancient problem: How to keep speeches from droning on and on... The solution, called "Miss Sweetie Po...
as a statistical model it will find interesting relationships between data that is fed to it.
any other application of the technology is going to result in it generating garbage.
Given how many elections in the last few years have been influenced by interference on social media, via (1) direct, individually targeted paid ads by political parties, (2) deliberate influence by the companies that run the platforms, and (3) propaganda bots by third parties who aren't supposed to be participants in the election at all; wouldn't it make more sense to ban over 18s and say the only people allowed on social media are the ones who can't fuck up a country with their credulity?
This guy is Buckle the beaver, I really enjoyed drawing this guy, as soon as I saw his reference I couldnโt help but saying โawwwโ The last drawing I worked on the artists alley during Furlandia 2026 Traditional. Pencil.
So, this leaflet came through the door recently. Folded in half like this. Guess how my mind filled in the first half of the headline? I blame you lot for making my brain work like this!
Since France โ98, Iโve followed every World Cup, and of course one of my biggest obsessions has always been the mascots.
These are the mascots of this yearโs tournament, hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the USA. Itโs probably the only World Cup Iโll ever see hosted by my own country. Mexico is actually setting a record by becoming the first nation to host the tournament three times, which makes it even more special.
Ironically, while the World Cup is taking place in Mexico (and across North America), Iโm currently traveling abroad. Still, Iโll be following the matches from afar, just as excited as ever.
Meet Maple (Canada), Zayu (Mexico), and Clutch (USA)
This traditional color pencil piece was created during my trip, so please excuse the photo quality, itโs not quite up to my usual standards.
The original artwork will be on display at the Anthrocon Art Show!
Comic Sans is the Never Gonna Give You Up of fonts.
There's nothing wrong with it, it's a perfectly enjoyable thing, it's just got so many associations with negative things that people are rarely happy to encounter it
"I'm 30 years old, and I have no children. None of my friends have any children. Do you know how badly you have to abuse a mammal to make it not want to reproduce?"
That actually makes a LOT of sense. Given some people, (myself included) were never destined to have children, but I know a number of folks who otherwise would have had kids but between a number of stress factors have chosen not to, and may eventually never have them.
And no, I'm not one of those people that is pushing for everyone to have 10 kids. I think the push to make people have kids is ridiculous and enormously wrong headed. But the fact that people who would otherwise want them aren't having them in surprisingly large numbers speaks volumes about the state of the world as we know it.
I want a kid but I do not want to subject them to this timeline either. And as I get older, this feeling becomes more frantic (because I don't want to die or be too old for them).
Two organists, one huge pipe organ, and Highland Cathedral in the magnificent Papal Basilica of St. Mary in Kevelaer, Germany!In this video, we perform the f...
