graylynn

graylynn, 4 months ago to languagelearning

I ended my time on Duolingo in the #NewYear, after finding out they sacked a bunch of translators and are now relying on AI to generate sentences for learning. Essentially, they are just generating the content via AI and having a limited number of translators "check the work" before putting it up into their programs.

I also noticed that, the longer I went on in my Duolingo program, the quality of the learning seemed to decrease dramatically, and after learning about the AI thing, it started to dawn on me that this could be part of the reason for that. But even if it isn't related, the fact that they are making this move toward AI only means in the future, the learning WILL decrease in quality whether we like it or not, and that's no fun at all.

So No Thanks, #Duolingo. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

#language #learning #linguistics #NewYear2024 #ArtificialIntelligence #Sacked #Fired #Jobs #Creators #Translators

It's probably a good thing to stop now anyway, after I got this lovely message in my inbox before the New Year:

graylynn, 4 months ago to news

A canvasser knocked on the door today (I live in an apartment inside a secure building, you need a key to get in), scaring my dogs and me as you don't expect anyone to actually come to your door here.

I answer the door, I open the door only barely a fraction of a crack really. I see a middle-aged white male and I hear him say he's collecting signatures.

He said "We want to recall the education minister for allowing pornographic images in schools" and as someone who perpetually watches the #news like a hawk, and a member of the #LGBTQ community, I knew exactly what he was talking about. Essentially people like this are concerned about books that reference #SOGI -- Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity -- in the school.

I was in shock, just disbelief. You see this shit on the internet but you never expect these assholes to show up at your door.

While he was talking, I was reading through the crack in the door (both of my dogs stuck their noses out to investigate, neither were impressed), the pamphlet he was holding, which read: "Will we let SOGI ruin our kids lives?"

I read it out loud slowly, I guess he couldn't hear me (too busy spouting his own propaganda to listen), so I repeated it again, "Will we let SOGI ruin our kids lives?" to which I responded I was fucking non-binary, I was LGBTQ, and to get away from my home.

I slammed the door in his face, and he told me to fuck off through the door.

Honestly, I'm just vibrating, and if I wasn't in my pajamas I would have gone out there with my phone, taken his picture, and said this is a secure building and you have no right to be here I'm calling the cops (I wouldn't, but I would have threatened him to make him feel uncomfortable, like he made me feel in my own home)

A few minutes later I got brave, put on coat over pajamas and went out looking for this dude to try to escort him out of the building because fuck, I don't want anyone else to have to deal with this. I checked 1st and 2nd floor, nowhere to be seen, like he disappeared into the mist, which is extra creepy because I would have rather known where he was than think he could be anywhere. Maybe he went up to the third floor but I wasn't gonna push my luck. I hoped he just fled out the door and left.

I have no idea what this person's real intentions were, or what he might be capable of particularly if he is confronted with beliefs that are not his own from a member of the group he's campaigning against. Because these people who have absorbed so much anti-LGBTQ propaganda can be unpredictable and dangerous.

This is a massive invasion of privacy and a huge security issue for LGBTQ individuals. I'm also a bit worried that this dude knows I am LGBTQ and knows where I live.

Fun Friday.

#LGBTQIA #Sexuality #Gender #Orientation

graylynn, 5 months ago to politics

Finally. The #UnitedNations General Assembly has voted to demand an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in #Gaza.

"A majority of 153 nations voted for the #ceasefire resolution in the General Assembly’s emergency special session Tuesday, while 10 voted against and 23 abstained."

In an unshocking move, Israel and the #UnitedStates voted against, along with Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Austria, Czechia, Guatemala, Liberia, Micronesia and Nauru.

#politics

https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/12/middleeast/ceasefire-vote-gaza-israel-un-intl

graylynn, 5 months ago to Palestine

Truly beautiful.

#Palestine #Art

#Artist: Christina Damianos
https://fetchart.ca/pages/about

graylynn, 5 months ago to Palestine

#NeverAgain means Never Again. "How could we have become what we opposed? That's the big question."

---

"When my grandmother arrived here, after the Holocaust, the Jewish Agency promised her a house. She had nothing, her entire family was exterminated. She waited for a long time in a tent, in an extremely precarious situation. They then took her to Ajami, in Jaffa, in a beautiful beach house. She saw that on the table there were still dishes of Arabs who lived there and who had been kicked away. So she went back to the agency and said, take me back to the tent, I will never do to anyone else what was done to me. This is my legacy, but not everyone made that choice. How could we have become what we opposed? That's the big question."

Hadar Morag, Israeli Filmmaker

(the original quote was shared with Hadar’s consent via difficult.conversations.lab on Instagram)

#Palestine

graylynn, 5 months ago to nonbinary

So this week, my official name change certificate and new birth certificate arrived in the mail. Everything is now complete: my name (Graylynn) is correct, my #gender (X) is complete.

And I thought that was the hard part, because it took a couple months for the gender change, nearly a year for the name change, and I thought that might be the worst of it. Once I have the documents, I am well on my way to name-and-gender freedom, right?

Well, first sit down and think about everything in your life that has your name on it currently, and then picture having to navigate a different procedure on a spectrum of formality for every single entity.

And the picture no one at any of these entities fully understanding the process as well as they thought they did, leading to complete chaos.

rubs temples It's going to be a long "next 6 months".

#nonbinary #transgender #transrights

graylynn, 5 months ago to Funny

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight... walking under women's* underwear.

(*though this underwear is not inherently "women's", anyone can wear this shape of underwear regardless of #gender, and I'll take this moment to remind everyone that gender is entirely made up and the points don't matter)

#holiday #christmas #decorations #funny #lol #meme

graylynn, 5 months ago to InitialD

Tigers meowing is my new favorite thing on the internet, because they sound like a dying giraffe.

You're welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/664FAPX33hY

#video #tiger #meow #bigcat #caturday

graylynn, 5 months ago to random

Decided to move off my own server and back onto a server run by someone else...

... but with more characters. :)