I have been trapped for ages. I grab a door handle; it breaks off. It's chocolate.
"Ahaha!" The mad chocolatier's laugh rasps from hidden speakers. "Everything here is made of chocolate!"
I stop. Everything? I focus on my fears... They manifest as chocolate monsters.
I eat them.
"You're free."
"Oh," the emperor of the galaxy said, "what happened to that monkey world?"
"Our agents infiltrated them some eight thousand years ago."
"Have they taken over the world?"
"Not yet."
The emperor licked a paw and started washing his ears.
"I'll still count it as one of mine," he purred.
I'm not old, exactly.
I've just been doing Old Computer Shit since back when it was New Computer Shit
Something I just heard that is 100% true today.
"The road to hell is paved with convenience"
Meaning Smartphones, digital everything, it's all 100% trackable, logable, and easily manipulated. Things like Digital ID will force people to use a smartphone, and force them to identify with their real names in digital spaces. But beyond that will 100% be used to track every interaction we have in the digital world.
Beyond a doubt, this tech will be used against us. And the only way to stop it is to not accept it.
But that's not what's going to happen. People will choose convenience. People will choose the easier path, even if it's dangerous to them and everyone around them. They'll actively try not to see the downside. Pretend that everyone that worries about it is just "worrying too much" or justify their apathy with the tried and true "I don't do anything wrong, so I don't care if they know what I do".
Smartphones will be the undoing of our society. Not because they themselves are bad, but because we're completely unwilling in any way at all to defend our digital sovereignty. Because we're unwilling in any way to say "No, you don't need access to my private life".
It's already over. The game is lost. And even for those of us that are willing to fight the good fight, because the overwhelming majority of people are not, eventually the systems we rely on to avoid that digital dystopia will fade away.
I won't live long enough to see that final dystopian future. I still live in a world where I can use a simple flip phone, but that world is shrinking by the day.
And before long, no one will remember what it was like before you had to ID with your phone's camera before doing anything online, or to get into your house, or to drive your car, or to get into your work building, or to use social media, or to view adult content on the internet, or to use public transit, or to......
The alien ambassador sidled through the museum in awe.
"You Humans have so much art! Do you have machines to make all paintings, poems, stories and songs?"
"We experimented with that, briefly," the guide said. "But humans are both cheaper and more creative. And, well, we will make art regardless."
so i saw a news headline that said "windows 11 start menu gets update", thought to myself "i wonder how they made it worse" and didn't bother to read the article
this probably says something about the current state of windows
I think they've messed up this world enough, Cryptodawg... Let's take this thing over! #FursuitFriday
Photo by Mikepaws (https://www.furtrack.com/user/Mikepaws)
Fursuit photo/video sharing & searching for the furry fandomwww.furtrack.com
A gravelly voice spoke from under the mayor's bed.
"I hear you need a monster hunter."
The mayor sat up.
"What? Who?"
"I'm a monster. I hunt. What do you need hunted?"
"Beklo the Ogre, but..."
"I'll bring you its head."
"How..."
"I am a monster under the bed. If it sleeps, I can find it."
"I was told you're a monster," the hero said.
"So they say," said the monster.
"But you're beautiful!"
"Thank you."
"Have you always been a monster?"
"Heh. I was a young maiden. But I did something forbidden."
"And became a monster?"
"Got named a monster."
"What did you do?"
"I hit back."
@simon_brooke Deleted my first reply for being unnecessarily snotty. Sorry about that.
I have the Witcher books on my to-be-read list. Looking forward to reading that story.
Since I have many tech friends who may use Notepad++, best update to 8.9.1, and if you updated in June-Dec of last year, may be worth checking you don't have backdoor installed....
Since it was selective targeting, your odds of infection are probably low, but you may just be lucky :P
https://notepad-plus-plus.org/news/hijacked-incident-info-update/
https://www.rapid7.com/blog/post/tr-chrysalis-backdoor-dive-into-lotus-blossoms-toolkit/
Rapid7 Labs, together with the Rapid7 MDR team, has uncovered a sophisticated campaign attributed to the Chinese APT group Lotus Blossom.Rapid7
Winter, the red panda, pauses in the cold waiting for a single snowflake to land, held between falling snow and cold ground beneath her paws.
Traditional piece for Winter. Made with color markers and colored pencils.
A short time-lapse of the process can be found in the first comment on my Telegram art channel: https://t.me/panda_paco
There is a longer time-lapse video process exclusive for Patreon and Ko-Fi supporters, you can check it out at supporting me monthly with a small amount, having access to hours of content of video and so many full resolution versions of my drawings, and right now I'm doing a big group illustration with all my Patreon and Ko-Fi supporters, you can still be part of that scene at joining to any of the paid tiers, check it out at:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pandapaco
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/panda_paco
Thank you!
Official Art Channel 🇲🇽 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: @pacostickersTelegram
I saw my shadow....
I may not be a groundhog in a tiny western PA mountain town but I still say seeing the shadows means 6 more weeks of fluffy snugs!
📸 - https://bsky.app/profile/gildrynttheeagle.bsky.social
#fursuit #furry #groundhogday

The message from the stars was very long and complex, but contained instructions how to decode and parse it incrementally.
There was an image, of a very cute furry creature. And a text, which loosely translated said:
"Send cat pics please!'
In case the horror stories about ICE have felt too abstract to really understand and believe.
Holy damn, go Alec! The last 20min of this I wish we would see from every content creator and celebrity.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM
Let's learn and grow. New things are cool!Links 'n' stuff down below. Lots of links.First, the "clean version." Please pass that around.https://youtu.be/Zgxb...YouTube