Gen Z Will Change The World

“Gen Z will change the world”

we literally just don’t give a fuck

I’ve been thinking about “you can’t pin joy like a moth” all day.

how can ppl say cats are heartless tbh

Oh, this is a fun one! I collect two very specific things in very nonspecific ways. I collect stories, and I collect time.

I'll snatches up any kind of story in any form. I've got overflowing bookshelves of amazing stories, and my phone is full of pictures, little captured moments of people in little bits of time. I've got little scraps of paper with whispers of handwriting of everyone I know, documenting the progress of their hand writing from the day the were born to the day they died. Little drawings from little kids that most people would throw away. Little clay sculptures from that one day we got really fun and pulled out the art supplies when they were 4. I'm a bit of a hoarder but it brings a smile to my face, so what's a little clutter in the long run?

I also collect time. Dead watches, specifically. Though I only collect the ones who haven't been tampered with. The hands still have to be in the position they died at. I want to save the moment time froze, even if only to grasp at the concept of endless eternity. The death of time is not rare, but it is easily overlooked and forgotten in the rapid rush of life.

if you don’t have @ least one collection of specific items i literally have nothing more to say to you. we will never relate to each other. however, you cool ass motherfuckers who do collect @ least one type of thing, reblog this post and say what that thing is. i’ll go first: clown dolls and good luck charms

ive been reading and learning things about whats going on in minneapolis for a good 4 hours and heres all the cold hard facts ive collected so far in case yall dont have the time or the energy to double check everything youve been seeing

George Floyd was executed on camera after being arrested for suspected forgery (a suspicious $20 bill); he was compliant and told the 4 officers he couldn't breathe under the weight of officer Derek Chauvin's knee on his neck, which could be heard and understood by the bystanders filming the incident but did not move any of the 4 officers to stop/intervene.

The paramedics, after arriving on the scene, had to reach under Derek Chauvin's knee to check Floyd's pulse. By the time he had removed his knee, it had been a full 8 minutes, the final 3 of which he had already gone still.

The initial police reports of the incident were at best inaccurate and at worst outright lies. Floyd was described as "suffering medical distress" as they put him in handcuffs and that he "resisted arrest."

After the video surfaced highlighting how disgustingly false this was, they changed the narrative to "man dies after medical incident during police interaction."

All 4 officers were quickly fired, but not charged (however Chauvin just recently was taken into custody for 3rd degree murder)

Protests calling for justice were met with rubber bullets and tear gas fired into crowds (police were the first to turn the protests violent) beginning tuesday

An undercover protester, potentially identified as a St. Paul police officer, attempted to ignite riots by smashing the windows of an autozone as actual protesters told him to stop. He was dressed in all black with an umbrella (it wasn't raining) and tactical boots. People noted that broken glass provoking more vandalism is a known and understood phenomenon in the field of criminal justice.

Rioting, vandalism, and looting began as buildings were set on fire, including the precinct the 4 officers operated from. A local Target refused to sell milk to tear gas victims, and has now been all but destroyed.

A CNN reporter, Omar Jimenez, a poc, was arrested on live television, in an area secured by police and devoid of protesters, after identifying himself and voluntarily complying with their wishes. The reason given was that they were told to move and did not comply (a lie, as noted by the reporters commentating the live broadcast). A white CNN reporter nearby, however, was left alone.

A border protection predator drone circled the city today with no official explanation.

Trump tweeted that "looting leads to shooting," a quote from a 60s miami police chief notorious for civil rights abuses and even welcoming claims of police brutality. Twitter flagged it with a warning that it glorified violence.

Protests have spread to other cities throught the U.S. including Louisville, Memphis, L.A., and more, in response to similar and/or identical systemic issues of racial discrimination and brutality.

Police responses have varied in violence and intensity in each location; one police cruiser drove into the crowd in L.A., and seven people were shot in Louisville.

Minneapolis introduced a curfew to bring an end to the riots, calling in the national guard.

I hope I didn't miss any crucial details. If you are protesting today, make sure to leave anything capable of tracking you at home and that you are wearing a mask (for the virus, tear gas, and anonymity). Please be safe.

The Very Basics of Not Killing Your Computer

AVOID HEAT STRESS

If you have a laptop DO NOT use it on a soft surface like a pillow or on a blanket, it’ll block the vents on your computer and make it get really fucking hot inside.

If you have a desktop you gotta open it up and blow out the dust sometimes.

If you are moving your laptop in a bag turn the laptop off. Don’t put it to sleep, don’t just shut the screen, turn it off, because otherwise it’s in the bag generating heat and there’s nowhere for the heat to go in the bag. OFF. Not sleep. OFF.

DO NOT DROP

Okay I know that should be obvious but drop damage to your hard drive is bad bad news. Be as careful as you can to set your computer gently on flat surfaces; don’t leave it hanging out on a bed where it can get knocked off, don’t set it on the roof of your car. And yes, just dropping it a couple inches can kill your hard drive or totally shatter your screen.

DON’T PUT SHIT ON YOUR KEYBOARD

Look I’ve seen four people ruin their laptops because they had a pen on the keyboard and closed the laptop and it fucked up the screen and the keyboard and it sucks so much and you feel awful after it happens because it’s so avoidable just don’t put things on your keyboard and always check that your laptop is clear before you close it.

PROTECT YOUR PORTS ON YOUR LAPTOP

You’ve only got one power jack and a limited number of other inputs on your computer and if they detach from the motherboard you’re fucked. USB ports get damaged because people use them a lot and eventually it weakens the connection and then they just stop working and it sucks. You can get around this with USB ports by using a USB hub to connect things like your keyboard and mouse.

For your power plug you just gotta be careful. Avoid tripping over the cord at all costs, don’t yank the plug out of the computer. It will SUCK VERY MUCH A LOT if you have to buy a new computer because the power port lost contact with the motherboard.

Don’t move your computer with things plugged into it. Take the power cord off before you put your laptop in the bag, take out the USB mouse dongle, do not travel with little nubby bits sticking out of your computer that can easily get caught or get tweaked or snap off inside of the thing.

(I really can’t emphasize enough that most of the “it will cost more than it’s worth to fix this” laptops I see are because of USB ports and power jacks. People don’t seem to know that this isn’t something that can be fixed easily; a broken power jack is a “remove the motherboard and resoldier components” job, not a “plug a new one in in fifteen minutes” job and most computer repair shops aren’t going to solder things for you and if they DO it’s going to be very expensive)

RESTART YOUR SHIT AT LEAST ONCE A MONTH AND JUST LET THE FUCKING UPDATES RUN

You should probably restart more than once a month but whatever. This is actually something that I consider part of reducing heat stress because when your processor is straining to keep up with all the background bullshit that’s running from a program you opened three weeks ago it’s going to use up resources and get hot and look just restart it once in a while.

Also the updates are almost always okay and safe and generally running updates is a good and secure thing to do (though maybe follow a blog dedicated to the OS you run because if there IS a problem with the updates that blog will probably talk about it before the update gets forced on your computer)

ANTIVIRUS BULLSHIT

Yes you should probably be running an antivirus.

Sophos is free and it’s fine. But don’t pay for it - if you’re using Sophos use the free version.

If you’re looking for something paid and a little more comprehensive I recommend ESET - get the cheap version, renewals cost less than the initial purchase, and feel free to get a multi-year version, the credentials follow your email not the computer so if your computer dies before your license expires you can install the license on a new computer.

DO NOT INSTALL NORTON OR MCAFEE THEY ARE EXPENSIVE BULLSHIT. Kaspersky is whatever. It’s less bullshit than Norton or McAfee but not as good as ESET for about the same cost.

If you think you’ve got a virus run the free version of Malwarebytes and get your shit cleaned.

KEEP LIQUIDS THE FUCK AWAY FROM YOUR COMPUTER

Again this should be obvious and yet. But seriously, just make a rule for yourself that drinks aren’t allowed on the same table as your computer and you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches.

PLUG YOUR COMPUTER INTO A UPS

Okay I fucking hate amazon but here’s a thing you should be using, just search the rest of the internet for “surge protector/UPS” and you’ll find something that isn’t from amazon - APC is a solid brand for this.

Basically you want a fat surge protector that has a little bit of a battery backup and you want to plug your computer (desktop OR laptop) into that instead of into the wall. The benefit of this is twofold:

1) if there’s a power surge the UPS will prevent your computer’s power supply from getting fried and possibly frying parts of your motherboard

2) if there’s a power outage and you’re *at* your computer you’ll have enough time to save what you’re working on before your computer loses power (like, you’ll maybe only have a minute or two on a small UPS but that’s still time to hit CTRL+S and keep from losing work)

At a bare, bare minimum your computer should be plugged into a surge protector but NOT directly into the wall.

BACK YOUR SHIT UP

[we interrupt this yelling for me to tell you that Western Digital has apparently released their new My Passport line and I’m obligated to inform you that you can get a 2.5″ USB 3.0 backup drive with FIVE FUCKING TERABYTES OF STORAGE for $130. Or you can get 4TB for $93. Or you can get 1TB for $53. basically what I’m saying is that it is not only cheap computer season it is also cheap hard drive season.]

[also if you’re getting a backup drive get western digital not seagate seagate fucking sucks and has a much higher failure rate]

Uh, okay, anyway - Do an image backup of your computer every once in a while so that if you get infected or your hard drive dies or whatever you can just restore from backup and move on like nothing happened.

HERE’S HOW TO DO AN IMAGE BACKUP.

SAVE YOURSELF THE WEAR AND TEAR

You know what is cheap? USB Keyboards and USB mice. You know what is not cheap? Fixing the touchpad on a laptop or replacing a laptop keyboard.

Get yourself a USB hub, a USB Keyboard and a USB Mouse (wired or wireless, doesn’t matter) and if you’re using your laptop at home plug *that* into your computer.

Also if your keyboard on your laptop breaks it’s fine just to use a USB keyboard instead I promise; if the screen breaks it’s also usually cheaper and easier to get a used or inexpensive monitor than it is to replace the screen. Your laptop is basically just a very small version of whatever bullshit is going on inside a desktop, if the peripherals break but the core components are fine you can just use it like a desktop.

Unless it’s a piece of shit that doesn’t have any USB ports or video out in which case you got ripped off, friend, demand functionality in your devices I’m sorry.

/rant