Me: oh yeah, if you think school photography is hard now, try imagining doing this with film.
The new girl: what’s film?
Me: … film. Like… film that goes in a film camera.
New girl: what’s that mean?
Me: … before cameras were digital.
New girl: how did you do it before digital?
Me:… with film? I haven’t had enough coffee for this conversation
New girl: I need you to show me how to format the usb.
Me: format?
New girl: yeah what do I do?
Me: you… put the usb in. Then you make a new folder on it and rename it with (name, date, location)
New girl: but how do I do that?
Me: … they dont… teach you this anymore, do they?
The lack of computer skills is becoming a problem. Like there was a period of time where the older workers in office jobs had to be brought up to speed on computers, but now a lot of the newer workers have the issue too.
There’s a lot of assumed technical literacy because we had a whole generation brought up on desktop computers, but now it’s one that was brought up on phones, tablets, and chromebooks. Phones are easier to use, but that means the users have never had to work around the daily problems presented by most desktop environments.
But our systems are still set up assuming the kids are “digital natives” who just already know this stuff. So no one teaches them. So a new employee walks into the office… and they just don’t.
30-something here. And this is frightening for a few reasons.
Much of the back-end architecture will soon be more difficult to maintain, as those with the expertise retire or when the one guy volunteering to update a niche corner of some minute software function that holds up ¼ of the computer world dies.
While products are made to be “easier to use” now, which has made them more accessible, they aren’t made to last, contributing to tech pollution / e-waste. Many consumers don’t know how to upgrade or repair their own tech…if they are upgradeable.
Which brings me to my next point.
I bought a new low end laptop recently. Not chrome book, but actual Windows PC laptop. I haven’t had a personal computer for a while and with a lot of expectation to “return to the office” because COVID’s over, right? *heavy eye roll*, I wanted something cheap and portable. I found a deal because a lot of low end laptops are being discounted because school children aren’t remote now. I was actually looking for refurbished but found what I wanted cheaper new, sadly.
Finding one that I knew would run the software I needed or that wouldn’t be bogged down just with Windows? A challenge. You’ve got to know what RAM, HDD vs eMMC vs SSD, cores, age of processors, and all those specs mean.
Finding one that wasn’t Windows in “S mode,” a bullshit mode that locks you into the Windows app / store for ALL software (where they take a cut of each purchase)? Even more challenging.
When I booted it up…I imagine most people just click yes through things because why not, just want to get right to it, right?
The amount of privileges I had to decline because of targeted data collection, for ad preferences and other nefarious reasons; the number of easy-to-miss “no thanks” options to decline enrollment in bloatware; the number of things that wanted me to launch the free trial, where they could automatically enroll me into a monthly PAID subscription and could report failure to add a credit card to pay for it to credit agencies (!); many of these presented as the “recommended” or default option… ASTOUNDING.
And then I still had to go into system settings and turn off additional data tracking that they didn’t even present during set-up, along with bloatware bullshit programs they wanted to always run at start-up. Because I knew where to go and find that stuff. Don’t even get me starting on fucking Cortana.
Technology has gotten bad. Even 10 years ago, it was a couple simple agreements not to pirate, using software at your own risk, etc. and that was it.
Now? Waiving rights, arbitration, hidden terms that could leave you owing money if you don’t uninstall it, data collection to link accounts and literally track every move / your exact location / your usage, attempts to personalize ads through your specific searches, inability to block cookies unless you download a Google app!?, four pop ups for every website, as the default?
It is scary how much tech that was designed to increase productivity and make life easier has become yet another way for corporations to track us, sell to us, and sell their data on us, even potentially incriminating us.
Oh, and heaven forbid you know what you’re doing and try to upgrade or repair your equipment yourself. Warranty voiding? Should be illegal, may be illegal in some areas, but they still tell you it’ll void your warranty. Good luck finding the parts. Using non-OEM parts will void the warranty too…by design.
I did not survive Windows Vista era to deal with this bullshit.
I did not survive
Windows Vista era to
deal with this bullshit.
Beep boop! I look for accidental haiku posts. Sometimes I mess up.
Anyone have any resources for technology literacy for beginners?
Yes! @aquadraco20
How to avoid ransomware, malware, hacks, and how to maintain good data privacy.
https://www.getsafeonline.org/
^ this has intermediate information (as well as beginner info) that I think people who grew up on the internet benefit most from (so it won’t tell you what a phone is, or how to press the power button to turn on a computer). I recommend all sections the personal section under the top drop down (except the one aimed at children).
https://edu.gcfglobal.org/en/internetsafety/
Same deal as above, with quizzes and additional topics.
https://www.digitalliteracyassessment.org/
^ this one is mostly video and audio which some people might helpful
https://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
W3schools is a well known free resource for coding. I recommend HTML because it gives basic website building capabilities, so you can create a neocities website for example or even edit your Tumblr theme. You can also learn CSS (used with HTML to make prettier websites) and Python (used to make programs).
Touch typing is using the home row on keyboards. It allows people to type faster than pressing individual keys one at a time, like on a smart phone.
This site has lessons, and honestly looks much nicer than the program I learned to use touch typing with.
https://www.how-to-type.com/touch-typing-lessons/how-to-type-home-keys/
This site has lessons and practice tests and speed tests to measure progress. In middle school I was taking a practice test about three times a week and a speed test once a week for about fifteen minutes each time, if that helps.
—
These three areas are the main things people were taught in computer literacy courses.
I also recommend checking your local library or other educational resources (like local colleges, your current college/highschool/middle school etc, the college you graduated from). These can have in person instructors which can be super helpful. Feel free to send me any questions and stuff, if I don’t already know I’ll try to find out and share where I found it!
Helpful things I’ve done with my windows computer to make it safer/more efficient:
I hope this helps :D
ok, i've gotta branch off the current ai disc horse a little bit because i saw this trash-fire of a comment in the reblogs of that one post that's going around
[reblog by user makiruz (i don't feel bad for putting this asshole on blast) that reads "So here's the thing: every Diane Duane book that I have is stolen, I downloaded it illegally from the Internet; and I am not sorry, I am a thief of books and I don't think I'm doing anything wrong, ideas are not property, they should be free to be used by anyone as they were before the invention of capitalism; for that reason I don't believe it's wrong to use books to train AI models"]
this is asshole behavior. if you do this and if you believe this, you are a Bad Person full stop.
"Capitalism" as an idea is more recent than commerce, and i am So Goddamn Tired of chuds using the language of leftism to justify their shitty behavior. and that's what this is.
like, we live in a society tm
if you like books but you don't have the means to pay for them, the library exists! libraries support authors! you know what doesn't support authors? stealing their books! because if those books don't sell, then you won't get more books from that author and/or the existing books will go out of print! because we live under capitalism.
and like, even leaving aside the capitalism thing, how much of a fucking piece of literal shit do you have to be to believe that you deserve art, that you deserve someone else's labor, but that they don't deserve to be able to live? to feed and clothe themselves? sure, ok, ideas aren't property, and you can't copyright an idea, but you absolutely can copyright the Specific Execution of an idea.
so makiruz, if you're reading this, or if you think like this user does, i hope you shit yourself during a job interview. like explosively. i hope you step on a lego when you get up to pee in the middle of the night. i hope you never get to read another book in your whole miserable goddamn life until you disabuse yourself of the idea that artists are "idea landlords" or whatever the fuck other cancerous ideas you've convinced yourself are true to justify your abhorrent behavior.
shit fuck I'm not done I'm still furious about this
that screenshot? was in reply to Diane Duane's post about the recent Twitter main character who scraped 27K books for his app. in reply to the author, saying I steal your books and I think it's right because nobody can own ideas
Atom wrote a song about this kind of jackass decades ago:
like that bro is literally the line
And if you want fair compensation for the work that you do
Well then you're greedy
like ok bro maybe ideas are free, but turning that into a story is labor. what does your borrowed leftism have to say about workers, huh?
or do artists not count as workers? should they be doing it for the love of the craft? can they go buy food with the love of the craft? or do they live in this same capitalist society as everyone else and need money to get goods and services? do you think Homer had a side hustle, or perhaps was his work valued by society? because I fucking guarantee that you still had to have money to live in ancient Greece.
but no, art doesn't count as having value because you want it and you want to feel smart about how shitty you are. making art isn't labor, obviously, and all authors are millionaires because they're hoarding the ideas to themselves.
if writing a book isn't work, if publishing it for others to read isn't labor, then let's see you do it. right here, right now, in front of everybody.
motherfucker
do artists not count as workers? should they be doing it for the love of the craft? can they go buy food with the love of the craft? or do they live in this same capitalist society as everyone else and need money to get goods and services?
Guess what? If you make it impossible to make a living as a creative, pretty soon the only people able to spend significant time writing/making art/etc. will be the wealthy. Is that what you want?
(yes, you can have a day job, and a lot of writers do, but that’s not really an ideal we should aspire to. I’m sure most writers would prefer to be able to focus on their writing full time.)
people will put writing and art up on a pedestal like it’s this super special Calling and then at the same time be aghast that those creators want to actually be able to be paid well enough to survive
"Ares and the flyers" couldn't be a punk band. It would have to be a ska band so that Gregor could play the sax.
Absolutely incredible
Vikus meeting sad impressionable Gregor who’s lost his dad.
NOTE TO SELF-SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!
Slow the fuck down is also the way to avoid scams, social engineering, phishing, etc.
"Oh, no the CEO of my employer is having an emergency and I need to click this link right now!!!"
Slow down...
"Why would the CEO be emailing ME of all people? Maybe this email is a phishing attack that would get my employer hacked and me fired for allowing it." (It probably is a phishing email.)
In general, "Slow the fuck down" is an extremely powerful information literacy skill.
Anyway, fuck Adobe, and enjoy!
Give credit to the 30-year-old who worked on this for free and offers this service for free!
WHAT?!
I study graphic design and my tutor recommended and used this in his classes at art college last year, it’s so good it has SO many features for free, I really recommend it, even if you’re just trying to learn the basics of PS, such a wonderful thing <3
Food as love an outreach of compassion to an enemy's baby.
The same with Gregor giving the candy bar to the Bane
And Gregor being the one to offer Ripred food on the first quest.
He also automatically gives Ripred the only food he has in Curse of the Warmbloods. It’s a fortune cookie and Ripred is like ‘oh, thanks, this will definitely fix my all consuming hunger’ But the poor boy did try, and directly after Ripred ambushed him
Gregor is a perfect child and I adore him.
Food as love an outreach of compassion to an enemy's baby.
The same with Gregor giving the candy bar to the Bane
And Gregor being the one to offer Ripred food on the first quest.
He's an overlander, so he probably knows a bit of science stuff the underlanders have no clue about, but he's also literally just a high school student
Bloodball cannons are broken? Get Gregor.
Currents are acting up? Ask Gregor.
Ate a weird looking mushroom and now you're foaming at the mouth and seeing pink, flying leviathans? Just ask Gregor for some medicine. He's an overlander, they've got all kinds of weird medical shit up there.
Gregor canonically knows jack shit, they want Gregor's dad.
So they ask Gregor to ask his dad and relay the information, which leads to Gregor making it worse/coming back with more questions and our edge lord nerd Ripred has to come fix it.
The underlanders obviously know how to fix their canons, and map currents/ decipher what's going on. but if their trying to figure out electricity or some kind of explosives, long distance communications, steam engines, making the elevator on the palace autimated, etc etc. They're going to the overlander. who knows jack shit. So the kid who knows jack shit goes to the rat bastard that knows french. and subsequently knows all the shit.
And if Gregor did ask his dad, we know that his dad incapable of giving the short answer to anything. Gregor could ask how to make that compass with a needle and water again, and he’d get a two hour presentation on magnetism and ancient navigators. The poor boy would come back with all this useless, but interesting, information about the Han dynasty in China, but have forgotten what the question was.
Vikus would have to send Gregor with a written message, and then wade through the twenty page essay - with diagrams - that his dad sends back.
Ripred and Gregor’s dad become pen pals. Nerdy pen pals.
Oh my GOSH YES.
They talk about really nerdy stuff, and about how well Gregor is doing, and current political affairs. But they write in code (they’re those kind of nerds, also they’re paranoid) and Ripred tells Gregor it’s because they’re talking about him. And how annoying his is.
This. See you get it.
If we wanna delve a little deeper Gregor’s dad eventually opens up and writes about his experiences in the gnawers lands, and starts to move past it as he’s able to open up. because Ripred understands and is everyone’s default service animal. They’re nerds but they’re also bros.
They change their code randomly (it’s not random it has something to do with the position of stars) and even mix them up and create new ones. Gregor is sick of going back and forth five times a day and writing for Ripred in symbols he doesn’t even understand.
Ripred asks about Mrs. Cormaci.
All this code talk made me think of Lizzie and, well, wouldn’t it be so cute if she and Ripred also had their own code? They exchange letters and Ripred likes to add complicated bits to see if she can work them out (of course she always does.) He asks about her school and she asks about the Underland. Lizzie stores all of his letters in a box under her bed with a ribbon around them, and Ripred allows himself a rare, genuine smile as he reads hers.
AWWWWWWWWWWWWW💕 YES.
And on the note of Gregor feeling left out… Ripred obviously notices. After awhile he starts talking to Gregor more without mentioning the letters or training.
And tries to teach him to speak gnawer for their own code. It goes terribly but it’s the thought that counts. Eventually Grace sends him a letter, because she’s uncomfortable with her whole family being so closely involved with this rat she doesn’t know.
And now everyone is sending letters. Boots sends drawings to Temp.
Boots sending Temp drawings is ADORABLE. SO CUTE!!
Her letters could become the basis of the first cockroach art gallery - royal art gallery because she’s a princess - and most sacred among cockroaches.
Also, I think Grace would keep debating in her head if she should invite Ripred for dinner. Because. He’s a big part of her family, apparently, but also. He’s a giant rat. So like, how would he fit? But it seems impolite not to.
2. FAMILY DINNER WITH THE RAT DAD
Grace can’t deny that he’s a father figure to Gregor and now Lizzie, and like a brother to her husband, and consequently, her brother in law she shares custody with.
So they opt to have dinner in central park after dark beside the entrance. Mrs. Cormaci cooks most of the food so they have enough to feed everyone, including the very important rat.
And then she has to do this once a week because the first time went to well that he’s actually undeniably family now and you don’t ghost or exclude family just because he’s a rat. Gregor and Lizzie need him so badly. even her husband. Ripred is their rock. Also he’s starving. Grace just can’t pretend they can’t include him. Cormaci sends Gregor with a meal every time he delivers the letters.
3. Gregor is so bad at gnawer but can say a couple things alright.
tzeenneth
The Lord of Change Malach’raccatax was cruelly punished by Tzeentch for having the temerity to utter an undiluted truth in his infernal master’s presence. Now bound within a sleek blade, Malach’raccatax scythes through its victim’s mind even as its keen edge cuts their flesh.
Seer’s Bane (Daemon Weapons of Legend)
