I get the impression that many Gen Zers like to know where everyone is all the time. It's totally normal for them to have each other's GPS locations. Snapchat has a built-in map feature where you can watch your friends move around in real time, and there are other apps that offer this, too. I was blown away when I learned this was so commonly used and people just leave it on, so their social group just knows precisely where they are all the time.
I am not disputing the fact that there is a ton of misinformation about Autism on TikTok (and the internet as a whole), because there absolutely is and it's dangerous. But it gives me pause that the researcher behind this study developed and promotes a treatment method that is essentially a cousin of ABA. That makes me incredibly skeptical of what his rubric might be for filtering the claims as factual or not.
ABA, for those that don't know, is based on Skinner's operant conditioning and was created by the man who developed "gay conversion therapy." He once said this:
“You see, you start pretty much from scratch when you work with an autistic child. You have a person in the physical sense – they have hair, a nose and a mouth – but they are not people in the psychological sense. One way to look at the job of helping autistic kids is to see it as a matter of constructing a person. You have the raw materials, but you have to build the person.”
If "operant conditioning" makes you think of dog training, you're right. ABA is dog training for Autistic people. It is conversion therapy. It does not "intervene" in their Autism so much as it forces them to appear more neurotypical, and a study from 2018 suggests that it actually creates PTSD symptoms in the patients--that it is traumatic--which is in-line with many firsthand accounts of people that have been through ABA.
So the guy behind this analysis developed his own practice which is rooted in ABA and centers around operant conditioning. I'm sure a lot of what he finds to be false is probably false and not scientifically-supported, but I would def be skeptical of what he considers to be misinformation in some instances since ABA is technically scientifically-supported for autism intervention, due to it's effectiveness in making Autistic people appear more neurotypical (without regard for their psychological wellbeing in many cases).
But with that said, I'm just some schmuck on the internet. I highly recommend reading Autistic people's perspectives on it and seeing what verified smart people have to say.
I adore Calckey/Firefish. It's amazing software, but these are both pretty bad names. lol
I guess Firefish is better, because it sounds like software you'd want to use and not something you have to put up with to file a tax return, but also... why?
Man, I am so burned out on the AAA gaming scene. From exclusive content, to microtransactions, to premium currencies, to lootboxes, to pre-order bonuses, to endless DLC, to battle passes, to live service nonsense, to kernel-level anticheat, to it becoming normal for games to launch in a broken state, to NFTs, to absurd pricing/unwarranted price increases, and all the while these companies are treating their employees like shit, crunching, covering up sexual harassment cases internally, and union-busting.
It's nuts to think that when I was growing up, I knew that if a game was made by EA, or Square Enix, or Blizzard, or Activision, that I was in for a good time. Now I avoid all of them, or at least wait for reviews, patches, and sales. I miss the days of going to a shop, buying a cartridge or disc, coming home, and playing the game--end of transaction.
I guess what I'm saying is, thank god for indie devs.
Yep. I haven't played since then, partly for the reason you said and partly cause they took away Linux support at the same time, even if you already owned the game on Steam where Linux was fully supported.
Rogue One was the first time I feel like we got to see Vader as properly terrifying. That was my favorite appearance of his until Jedi: Fall Order came out, and omfg he is even scarier in that one. I love scary Vader.
Kenobi was hit and miss. There were moments like when he had Kenobi backed into a corner, then Kenobi lit a fire between them and escaped, like Vader couldn't deal with that? I feel like he would have like parted the flames or tried to pull Kenobi into them or something. He just let him go, but then we see him indiscriminantly killing people in the streets and it's like, "okay, there he is."
You really don't have to worry about tuning your guitar too much. It won't break the strings--they're stretchier than they look. Plus, they need to be changed every so often, anyway. You gotta play a guitar pretty hard to bust a string unless they're super old or you tune them way too high or something. I tune every time I play and I don't change my strings as often as I should, and yet I think I've broken maybe one or two strings in the last 15 years or so. lol
But is it bad practice? That depends. If you're playing with a band, yes. You gotta have your instrument in tune. If you're playing by yourself for fun? No, just do whatever sounds good to you; but, if you're just learning guitar, I would very much recommend keeping it in tune when you play so that you can train your ears effectively.
How old are we talking? Final Fantasy VI, Super Metroid, Resident Evil 2, and the OG Tomb Raider series are all pretty old but great.
Portal, Portal 2, Mirror's Edge, Alien Isolation, Child of Light, Celeste, Tales of Berseria, Final Fantasy XIII, Slime Rancher, the newer Tomb Raifer games, and A Plague Tale are a few games from previous gens that hold up really well.
A more recent game that flew under a lot of people's radars is Kena: Bridge of Spirits, and it was a lot of fun. Also, Atelier Ryza and Alba: A Wildlife Adventure are very worth mentioning, too. :)
You saw an injustice and felt called to speak up, so you took responsibility and stood up for what you believed in. You did so even knowing that it would be uncomfortable and might cost you a friendship. That was really courageous.
It's normal to feel like shit when you find yourself in a scenario when all the options seem terrible, but your actions show that you have real integrity, and it's okay to pat yourself on the back for that.
It's also okay to mourn the friendship, it's okay to recognize the effect this may have on this person and feel for them, and it's okay to take time to process your feelings about the whole thing; however, I will caution you to avoid delving into self-deprecating territory. Any consequences that they face for what they did will ultimately be because of their own choices--not yours.
Just to drive it home: you aren't getting them in trouble. They're getting in trouble for what they did. What you did was trust your gut and call out something harmful.
Know that everything you're feeling is totally valid, and please be kind to yourself and try to remember that you did the best thing you could in a difficult situation.
EDIT: I wrote this without knowing the details of what happened, then I read your comment about what happened and I am doubling-down hard on what I said. You def made the right call, you are brave as hell for pursuing that, and the person you reported needed to be stopped. It's understandable why your friend didn't press charges (though I personally believe that to be a mistake), but you did right by her and this dude's future victims. It's okay if she doesn't see that, and it's okay if she's upset with you--she's clearly in a very complicated situation right now and her feelings are valid, too--but please know that you absolutely did the right thing.