What is on your mind

[JDeere]

yes pretty much everyone hates everyone these days, sad world we live in.

Originally Posted by C0LLETTE

DOES EVERYONE HATE EVERYONE ELSE?

Four family members who were out for a walk are dead, and a fifth in hospital, after a man drove into them deliberately – an act London, Ontario police say was motivated by racist hatred.

Husband and wife Salman Afzaal, 46, and Madiha Salman, 44
Their daughter Yumna Salman, 15
Mr. Afzaal’s mother, 74
The survivor was the couple’s nine-year-old son, Fayez Salman, the statement said, adding that he was “on the road to recovery from serious injuries.”

Police say a 20-year-old London, Ont., man deliberately struck down five members of a Muslim family with his truck in a hate-motivated act of mass murder, an attack that prompted an outpouring of grief and calls for the accused to face terrorism charges.

The family of five had been out for an evening walk, and were waiting to cross the street when police say the truck mounted the curb and struck them.

Four of the family members – a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15- year-old girl – died on Sunday evening. The lone survivor, a nine-year-old boy, remains in hospital.
Nathaniel Veltman, 20, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder.
Police say a 20-year-old London, Ont., man deliberately struck down five members of a Muslim family with his truck in a hate-motivated act of mass murder, an attack that prompted an outpouring of grief and calls for the accused to face terrorism charges.

The family of five had been out for an evening walk, and were waiting to cross the street when police say the truck mounted the curb and struck them.

Four of the family members – a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15- year-old girl – died on Sunday evening. The lone survivor, a nine-year-old boy, remains in hospital.

[Reach *BANNED*]

I was just sitting here thinking it is nice to see people not just say or write the words - but actually do the actions connected to them, or if the person says they are trying to improve their life by doing x, y, or z - they actually do it - and you can see the improvement in them. That is why once in awhile we need to take a pause and say something to that person - so that we let them know - that we are taking notice of how they contribute to the world in a positive way.


(wow - why did I just reread all of that and think it sounds weird somehow and I am going to hit submit reply anyway?) (laughing)

[FireSignFemme]

Originally Posted by C0LLETTE

DOES EVERYONE HATE EVERYONE ELSE?

Four family members who were out for a walk are dead, and a fifth in hospital, after a man drove into them deliberately – an act London, Ontario police say was motivated by racist hatred.

Husband and wife Salman Afzaal, 46, and Madiha Salman, 44
Their daughter Yumna Salman, 15
Mr. Afzaal’s mother, 74
The survivor was the couple’s nine-year-old son, Fayez Salman, the statement said, adding that he was “on the road to recovery from serious injuries.”

More on the suspect/reaction to crime
https://london.ctvnews.ca/what-we-kn...tack-1.5461538


Police say a 20-year-old London, Ont., man deliberately struck down five members of a Muslim family with his truck in a hate-motivated act of mass murder, an attack that prompted an outpouring of grief and calls for the accused to face terrorism charges.

The family of five had been out for an evening walk, and were waiting to cross the street when police say the truck mounted the curb and struck them.

Four of the family members – a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15- year-old girl – died on Sunday evening. The lone survivor, a nine-year-old boy, remains in hospital.
Nathaniel Veltman, 20, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one of attempted murder.
Police say a 20-year-old London, Ont., man deliberately struck down five members of a Muslim family with his truck in a hate-motivated act of mass murder, an attack that prompted an outpouring of grief and calls for the accused to face terrorism charges.

The family of five had been out for an evening walk, and were waiting to cross the street when police say the truck mounted the curb and struck them.

Four of the family members – a 74-year-old woman, a 46-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman and a 15- year-old girl – died on Sunday evening. The lone survivor, a nine-year-old boy, remains in hospital.

More on the suspect/reaction to the crime-
https://london.ctvnews.ca/what-we-kn...tack-1.5461538

[C0LLETTE]

America is blowing its brains out to protect the "2nd Amendment"

Maybe it's time that those of you that own one, two, three guns for "self protection" figured out that YOU are the problem.

[Orema]

Have finally settled on curtains throughout the femme cave.

• Living room curtains are burnt orange (love these)
• Project den curtains are pink (the soft pink is perfect for the black, gray, and white colors in the room, and I love how the light comes through the curtains, so calming)
• Bathroom curtains are sheer and rust color on top of Venetian blinds (it took forever but finally found some curtains I like)
• Bedroom curtains are taupe.

The bedroom colors are the most drastic change for me—blue and brown. The walls are light blue, trim is mostly dark brown wood, and I went with a browny taupe that is perfect. Will paint the doors a light brown color. And will use chalk paint to paint the dresser in a dark teal color. Artwork/wall hangings with soften it just right. Am already diggin it.

Am so enjoying this—especially because I’m not rushed.

[Reach *BANNED*]

Originally Posted by Orema

Have finally settled on curtains throughout the femme cave.

• Living room curtains are burnt orange (love these)
• Project den curtains are pink (the soft pink is perfect for the black, gray, and white colors in the room, and I love how the light comes through the curtains, so calming)
• Bathroom curtains are sheer and rust color on top of Venetian blinds (it took forever but finally found some curtains I like)
• Bedroom curtains are taupe.

The bedroom colors are the most drastic change for me—blue and brown. The walls are light blue, trim is mostly dark brown wood, and I went with a browny taupe that is perfect. Will paint the doors a light brown color. And will use chalk paint to paint the dresser in a dark teal color. Artwork/wall hangings with soften it just right. Am already diggin it.

Am so enjoying this—especially because I’m not rushed.

Miss O. - I am so glad that the link I sent you helped in this process. However, you are right about the color thing. I went on there today - because as I had mentioned I wanted to get rid of the white - and go with something else - well it appears they offer other colors - they just happen to be out of the color I want in the size I need. So, I will have to start another search.


What is on My mind - is that Life is too unpredictable to get bogged down in things that are not important - or where the walkway is only one way. I have said this to Myself so many times over My life - and never truly lived it. Well I am here to say - that with the losses I have dealt with in the last couple of years - there is no more of the talking to just to hear Myself talk - when I let go of something - when I stick a fork in it to say it is done - I will live every single consonant and vowel.

[Orema]

Originally Posted by Reach

Miss O. - I am so glad that the link I sent you helped in this process. However, you are right about the color thing. I went on there today - because as I had mentioned I wanted to get rid of the white - and go with something else - well it appears they offer other colors - they just happen to be out of the color I want in the size I need. So, I will have to start another search.

It was a big help, Reach, and your link led me to the curtains I ended up getting that I like a lot. They have a belly-dancer feel to them with the little bling added the to the hem of the top curtains. Anyway, thanks again.

What is on My mind - is that Life is too unpredictable to get bogged down in things that are not important - or where the walkway is only one way. I have said this to Myself so many times over My life - and never truly lived it. Well I am here to say - that with the losses I have dealt with in the last couple of years - there is no more of the talking to just to hear Myself talk - when I let go of something - when I stick a fork in it to say it is done - I will live every single consonant and vowel.

I heard that.

[Bèsame*]

Originally Posted by Reach

What is on My mind - is that Life is too unpredictable to get bogged down in things that are not important - or where the walkway is only one way. I have said this to Myself so many times over My life - and never truly lived it. Well I am here to say - that with the losses I have dealt with in the last couple of years - there is no more of the talking to just to hear Myself talk - when I let go of something - when I stick a fork in it to say it is done - I will live every single consonant and vowel.

Agreed!!

Life is for living and enjoying memories. It's time to concentrate on that and let the little things just meander by the wayside.

[Orema]

Getting my blood pressure down. Have been eating too much salt (with vinegar). Will reduce the salt, increase my water and veggies.

[Bèsame*]

It was a great unplanned experience! I was able to have two lengthy phone conversations with both of my brothers...in the SAME day.😯

And of course daily conversing with Mom.

It was a total family affair day and this song suck, going on two days now..lol

[Reach *BANNED*]

I woke up this morning thinking - it is great to be in a happy state of mind, body, and soul. It is great to say it and actually feel it. To know that I surround Myself with good people and have learned that it is ok to cut ties whether it is My choice or the choice of another. There is no more dwelling - there is only living.

[Orema]

9 Horrifying Facts From the Facebook Whistleblower's New 60 Minutes Interview

By Matt Novak, October 3, 2021 11:40PM

You knew Facebook was making the world shittier, but it's so much worse than you realized.


Ms. Frances Haugen, Facebook Whistleblower

Last week, the Wall Street Journal published internal research from Facebook showing that the social media company knows precisely how toxic its own product is for the people who use it. But tonight, we learned how the Journal obtained those documents: A whistleblower named Frances Haugen, who spoke with CBS News’ 60 Minutes about the ways Facebook is poisoning society.

The 37-year-old whistleblower liberated “tens of thousands” of pages of documents from Facebook and even plans to testify to Congress at some point this week. Haugen has filed at least eight complaints with the SEC alleging that Facebook has lied to shareholders about its own product.

Fundamentally, Haugen alleges there’s a key conflict between what’s good for Facebook and what’s good for society at large. At the end of the day, things that are good for Facebook tend to be bad for the world we live in, according to Haugen. We’ve pulled out some of the most interesting tidbits from Sunday’s interview that highlight this central point.

1) Facebook’s algorithm intentionally shows users things to make them angry

Haugen explained to 60 Minutes how Facebook’s algorithm chooses content that’s likely to make users angry because that causes the most engagement. And user engagement is what Facebook turns into ad dollars.

“Its own research is showing that content that is hateful, that is divisive, that is polarizing, it’s easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions,” Haugen told 60 Minutes.

“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they’ll click on less ads, they’ll make less money,” Haugen continued.

2) Facebook is worse than most other social media companies

Whenever we talk about social media and the ways it’s harmed society, a lot of Big Tech companies get lumped in together, whether it’s Twitter or YouTube or Pinterest. But, according to Haugen, Facebook is uniquely awful.

“I’ve seen a bunch of social networks and it was substantially worse at Facebook than anything I’d seen before,” Haugen told 60 Minutes.

Haugen previously worked at Pinterest and Google, and insists that Facebook really is worse than the rest of Big Tech in substantial ways.

3) Facebook dissolved its Civic Integrity unit after the 2020 election and before the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection

Haugen worked at the so-called Civic Integrity unit of Facebook, in charge of combating political misinformation on the platform. But the social media company seemed to think they were in the clear after the U.S. presidential election in November 2020 and that Civic Integrity could be shut down.

“They told us, ‘We’re dissolving Civic Integrity.’ Like, they basically said, ‘Oh good, we made it through the election. There wasn’t riots. We can get rid of Civic Integrity now.’ Fast forward a couple months, we got the insurrection,” Haugen said.

It’s important to remember that Facebook isn’t just destroying American democracy, it’s chipping away at democratic institutions all around the world.

4) Political parties in Europe ran negative ads because it was the only way to reach people on Facebook

One of the documents Haugen smuggled out of the company shows that political parties in Europe had to start running negative ads to get any engagement on Facebook.

Summarizing the position of political parties in Europe, Haugen explained, “You are forcing us to take positions that we don’t like, that we know are bad for society. We know if we don’t take those positions, we won’t win in the marketplace of social media.”

5) Facebook only identifies a tiny fraction of hate and misinformation on the platform

Facebook’s internal research shows that it identifies roughly; 3-5% of hate on the platform and less than 1% of violence and incitement, according to one of the studies leaked by Haugen. And yet Facebook still considers itself to be the best in the world at identifying hate and incitement on social media.

Facebook takes issue with this characterization, naturally. In fact, the company seems to think the real problem is the internet itself, at least, according to a statement the company sent Gizmodo on Sunday night.

“If any research had identified an exact solution to these complex challenges, the tech industry, governments, and society would have solved them a long time ago,” a spokesperson for Facebook told Gizmodo. “We have a strong track record of using our research — as well as external research and close collaboration with experts and organizations — to inform changes to our apps.”

6) Instagram is making kids miserable

Facebook owns Intagram, and as 60 Minutes points out, the documents leaked by Haugen show that 13.5% of teen girls say Instagram makes thoughts of sucide worse, and 17% say it makes their eating disorders worse.

“What’s super tragic is Facebook’s own research says, as these young women begin to consume this— this eating disorder content, they get more and more depressed. And it actually makes them use the app more. And so, they end up in this feedback cycle where they hate their bodies more and more,” Haugen told 60 Minutes.

And that’s all part of the business model. Facebook is making lots and lots of money from this misery. But Facebook obviously has a different take.

“We do internal research to ask hard questions and find out how we can best improve the experience for teens and we will continue doing this work to improve Instagram and all of our apps. It is not accurate that leaked internal research demonstrates Instagram is ‘toxic’ for teen girls,” Lena Pietsch, Director of Policy Communications, told Gizmodo via email.

“The research actually demonstrated that many teens we heard from feel that using Instagram helps them when they are struggling with the kinds of hard moments and issues teenagers have always faced. This research, like external research on these issues, found teens report having both positive and negative experiences with social media,” Pietsch continued.

7) Employees at Facebook aren’t necessarily evil, they just have perverse incentives

Haugen says that the people who work at Facebook aren’t bad people, which seems like the kind of thing someone who previously worked at Facebook might say.

“No one at Facebook is malevolent, but the incentives are misaligned, right?” Haugen insists. “Like, Facebook makes more money when you consume more content. People enjoy engaging with things that elicit an emotional reaction. And the more anger that they get exposed to, the more they interact and the more they consume.”

And while it’s easy to see why Haugen might believe “no one” at Facebook is malevolent, that’s quite a bold claim at this point. Facebook’s negative impact on society isn’t exactly a secret here in the 2020s.

Again, Facebook doesn’t see it that way.

“Protecting our community is more important than maximizing our profits,” Lena Pietsch told Gizmodo via email Sunday night. “To say we turn a blind eye to feedback ignores these investments, including the 40,000 people working on safety and security at Facebook and our investment of $13 billion since 2016.”

8) Haugen even has empathy for Zuck for some stupid reason

“I have a lot of empathy for Mark. And Mark has never set out to make a hateful platform. But he has allowed choices to be made where the side effects of those choices are that hateful, polarizing content gets more distribution and more reach,” Haugen told 60 Minutes.

But as Haugen herself said, it doesn’t really matter whether Zuckerberg set out to make a hateful platform. In reality, he set out to make a website for rating the hotness of women, but that’s really neither here nor there. What matters is how the platform is being used and abused today.

9) Haugen believes she’s covered by whistleblower laws, but we’ll see

When 60 Minutes talked with Haugen’s lawyer, John Tye, who works with whistleblowers, we heard about how the law protects people who talk with the SEC.

“The Dodd-Frank Act, passed over ten years ago at this point, created an Office of the Whistleblower inside the SEC. And one of the provisions of that law says that no company can prohibit its employees from communicating with the SEC and sharing internal corporate documents with the SEC,” Tye told 60 Minutes.

And while Dodd-Frank hypothetically protects employees talking with the SEC, it doesn’t necessarily protect people talking with journalists and taking thousands of pages of documents. But we’re going to find out pretty quickly just how much protection whistleblowers actually get in the U.S. Historically, let’s just say the answer has been “not much.”

https://gizmodo.com/9-horrifying-fac...new-1847791184

[Reach *BANNED*]

The steps I am taking to become a first time homebuyer. I never thought in a million years I would buy a house. I have always rented - like My whole life. But, after My Mom passed something in Me changed when it came to home ownership. Before I liked the freedom that renting gives you and of course there is the cost benefit as well - no home repairs, etc. The change I believe is that I have finally decided to put roots in the ground - to have something that is Mine - where I have the freedom to decorate the way I want (I cannot even paint an accent wall in My current townhouse) - put a big garden in, and a host of other things.

I hope My Mom is looking down from the Universe and has a smile on her face.

[Orema]

There’s a woodpecker or two doing its thing in the neighborhood. The noise isn’t too bad, but it’s causing damage to the wood siding on the condos. I took photos of a hole it left on my condo and will send it to the HOA board. It has beautiful zebra-like markings. I think it’s a Downy or Hairy Woodpecker.


Pictured: Downy (left) and Hairy (right) Woodpecker. Photo from BirdFeederHub.com

[Stone-Butch]

On my mind? She has been for quite a while now and unfortunately still is.

[FireSignFemme]

Coming up with game plan for the day. I want to take it slow, call J and cancel in advance for Monday, but we've spoken about that. She cancels, reschedules a lot but it's different when I do it. Well since the good outweighs the bad I'm biting my tongue and forcing myself to follow through. I think I'll be able to get the last little bit of everything done before then if I execute it right.

[Gemme]

On my mind is the day I've had. It's been excellent and I'm so thankful for my friend. We had a great time, found some unique and interesting treasures for each of us and we shared a really good meal as well. We also got in quite a few steps today, which is always a plus, and didn't even mind that it started to rain a couple hours before we left.

I really needed this time with her to just laugh and chill and forget about work, life in general and the bunch of chores I have yet to do at home. I'm going to miss her when she moves but we're already talking about visits back and forth so that makes my heart happy.

[Stone-Butch]

Thinking back on all the wonderful Thanksgiving meals we spent around the family table together and looking out the window from my desk and wondering where it all went so soon. Its a lonely day.

[Orema]

My sweet tooth is acting up. Think it’s time to make a keto lemon pound cake with cream cheese icing. Wish I had some berries but I don’t.

My family is a little annoyed because I won’t see them during the holidays, but I’m sticking to my guns.

I bought more soap yesterday. Just couldn’t resist. Caswell Massey triple-milled collection.

Everyone is getting the 1619 Project book as a gift from me. Even the little ones. I imagine most will not be excited. Oh well.

[FireSignFemme]

Originally Posted by Orema

My sweet tooth is acting up. Think it’s time to make a keto lemon pound cake with cream cheese icing. Wish I had some berries but I don’t.

My family is a little annoyed because I won’t see them during the holidays, but I’m sticking to my guns.

I bought more soap yesterday. Just couldn’t resist. Caswell Massey triple-milled collection.

Everyone is getting the 1619 Project book as a gift from me. Even the little ones. I imagine most will not be excited. Oh well.

Orema's soap collection. More soap! You need a 12 Step program around that or a museum or something... just kidding. I LOVE Caswell Massey soap and if I had enough money I'd be addicted too.