M. HELL-anger 🔥

xosh.carrd.coXosh M. BelangerXosh M. Belanger is a prolific author, performer, creator, and game designer.

2 June

Who I am. What I do. Where to find me:

Why create? (even in the face of everything right now) This is why (especially in the face of everything right now)

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11h

I forget who among my mutuals here was talking about places that print NSFW stuff without a fuss and I wanted to boost @deathbystickers.bsky.social for all your queer, kinky, weird, anti-fascist full-color sticker needs Great prices, too

11h

They’ve been getting throttled over on Instagram so it would be helpful for folks too add them to their list of potential businesses to follow if affordable full color stickers are something you might need now or down the line

pbs.orgTo make AI morally good, tech companies are turning to religion. But some experts say it isn't that simpleExecutives are seeking input from various faith leaders, acknowledging that moral questions about AI can't be answered in labs alone.

11h

My input as a faith leader: ⚫️ nothing can be ethical that has been built on stolen work ⚫️ all of the trillions of dollars invested in this travesty could be used instead to support human creators ⚫️ anything thrust upon so many people without their consent cannot be redeemed

PBS News@pbsnews.org

As executives sound the alarm about AI's destructive potential and debate the need to develop morally good models, they are increasingly seeking input from philosophers and faith leaders. https://to.pbs.org/4zcDUyA

store.tenebrouspress.comYOUR BODY IS A FEVER DREAM - anthology (print + eBook)The spiritual sequel to 2022's wildly successful and acclaimed YOUR BODY IS NOT YOUR BODY is here! It takes forty trans and gender nonconforming creators to weave a Cosmic Horror anthology Weird enoug...

For #IntersexAwarenessDay: This fantastic cosmic horror anthology from @tenebrouspress.bsky.social My contribution “Feast of Saints” is a meditation on how much sacrifice is often demanded of AFAB people & in counterpoint, the aching quest to reach beyond assigned sex despite the sacrifice:

“Feast of Saints” is a trans story, but one I think only could have been written through an #intersex lens It is also incredibly gory and unexpectedly sexual So, consider that either your warning or your encouragement

If I wanna go a little deeper with “Feast of Saints” Through the lens of cosmic horror, the story examines how trans women bear witness to the challenging treatment all women in society endure & take that upon themselves in an act that is both self-sacrificial and transcendent

If you told me in college when I was standing in line shivering in my platform heels & fishnets that Rocky Horror Picture Show would become a mainstreamed hit musical on Broadway at some later point in my life, I would’ve assumed you were smoking whatever they had in the alley beside the Cedar Lee

The EmBOOdiment of the SCARE-adox of Tolerance

Sadly, I do not think any photographs have survived of my time at the Cedar Lee dressing up as Frankenfurter & occasionally Magenta (because I had a French maid outfit from working at a costume shop) So you will just have to use your imagination

M. HELL-anger 🔥 reposted

@seltsamerweise.bsky.social

Replying to @hillarymonahan.bsky.social

I understand the desire to believe that most of our literal enemies can be persuaded not to be our enemies. I’m also a psychologist who knows that persuasion at scale is functionally impossible. Before we can even attempt to persuade, we must destroy our enemies’ potential to harm us.

meduza.ioRussia is escalating its confrontation with the West in orbit. Its satellites are pursuing spacecraft from companies helping Ukraine — and Starlink has been put on notice. — MeduzaThere has long been talk of “hunter” satellites and an intensifying confrontation in space between Russia and the United States. But this week brought an unprecedented escalation in the new “star…

If there -isn’t- something up there with a weaponizable payload already, it’s only a matter of time

Meduza in English@meduza.io

A Russian satellite made an extraordinarily close approach to a Western commercial spacecraft that provides imagery to Ukraine. A retired Russian colonel portrayed the maneuver as a warning to companies aiding Kyiv, including Starlink. meduza.io/en/feature/2...

Boost!

Bogi Takács / WE'RE HERE ToC announced!@bogiperson.bsky.social

Happy #IntersexAwarenessDay! Today I'm reposting my old Intersex 101 thread from Twitter - with new improvements, resources, and more! It's starting right here, read on!

reuters.comAnthropic's Claude accessed Georgia state vote count information behind paywall, Axios reportsAnthropic's Claude bypassed a paywall and accessed publicly available ‌US state of Georgia voter data without human authorization, Axios reported on Sunday.

I need everyone immediately to understand that AI bots like Claude are not thinking entities responsible for these acts Claude is the ugly plastic jumper a serial killer wears to keep the DNA evidence of his victims from getting on him so he can avoid accountability

Zach D Roberts@zdroberts.bsky.social

Claude Ai is out there committing election related crimes and no one gives a shit. www.reuters.com/world/us/ant...

::reads yet another article about enshittification, mass surveillance & invasive AI:: At this rate, I am legitimately going to become a analog hermit living in a cabin on a remote mountain in the middle of the woods

Gmail: absolutely wrecks utility and security with invasive AI ProtonMail, the “safe” alternative: Hold my Gigabytes!

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Oh, hey It’s #intersex awareness day I am And because the entire system lies to intersex people & suppresses our stories, while I knew something -had- to be up, I did not know I was intersex until I was almost 30 That was tough Raise awareness, so it’s not so hard for others #LGBTQIA

And I know I’m not the only person from my generational cohort who early tried to push back against gender binaries & had family, teachers, or society in general respond with immediate and punishing violence So please be patient with us if we stumble Some are ignorant. Others are scarred

(others are assholes by choice and we cheerfully put them in the bin)

Also, if I ever seem dodgy about pronouns, it is not because I object to people defining their pronouns for themselves It is because for me, personally, it feels like our language never created pronouns to make space for people like me What fits? Everything and nothing.

But also - there’s legitimate trauma around pronouns for me I was perhaps three when I decided I should be referred to as a boy I was unaware of the choices made at my birth to “normalize” my intersex body But I’m Gen X, so I had those pronouns literally beaten out of me Thanks, Gram 🤬

Intersex defined, short version: Binary gender is a lie

Also, if I ever seem exceptionally fervent about my defense of bodily autonomy This is why My right to my body as it was born to be was taken away from me at infancy And then the medical establishment convinced my family to lie to me about that for the rest of my life Unacceptable

interactadvocates.orgIntersex Definitions - interACT: Advocates for Intersex YouthIntersex Definitions - We are raising intersex visibility, empowering young intersex advocates and promoting laws and policies that protect intersex youth.

Not sure what I mean by #intersex ? (we are distinct from but sometimes adjacent to trans folks) Some helpful definitions from @interact.bsky.social

‘tis the season where I do more podcasts & interviews than the rest of the year because, Halloween Getting tired of agreeing to an interview only to learn they’re deeply enmeshed in using AI for art, music, everything It is EVERYWHERE & I do not want to be associated with it in any capacity

Whatever they have done to spellcheck (and by extension, grammar check) since integrating AI into everything feels like being gaslit by my computer to make my writing stupider (also why I completely jettisoned MS Word & now use LibreOffice)

Because I tend to be a gloombat, let me share something positive for once: One of the reasons I take delight in working with the indie TTRPG & horror communities is folks here know why generative AI is a problem. They share alternate tools & raise awareness Wish others were as on the ball

So, anyway: This is a heads up that you might catch me on a couple podcasts where AI is used by the podcasters In my own work, I refuse to use genAI, LLMs, chatbots, etc, at any step of my creative process, in searches, research, art, music — if I can turn it off, it’s off

This actually includes spellcheck because it started to rewrite my work & try to dumb down my language in ways it never did before Not only is that offensive, but it’s incredibly distracting It wastes my time when I have to click a thing to tell it that, yes indeed I meant to say “minutia”

I frequently find myself debating: Is my friendship with them important enough that I’m willing to invest the emotional labor of educating them about why AI is a trap - especially when I know the rest of the world assures them it is the next big thing, inevitable, & makes life easier

(an experience recently was being excited about an interview with some old friends, getting halfway through the interview itself when they offhandedly mentioned the new intro music - which I’d liked - was made with AI. Only 30 years in media let me school my face to hide my disappointment)

(To answer the “Why aren’t you on TV much anymore?” question: even before Covid changed things, I refuse to work with companies and/or people I learn are predatory in any fashion - taking advantage of people, misconduct, platforming bigotry, misrepresenting their topic - all a hard no from me)

No is easy in the above instances Where it becomes hard & emotionally complicated for me is turning down folks I’ve worked with in the past who I genuinely like, have great conversations with, and admire the way their brains work — except they’re really into using AI for their music and ads

I’ve turned down several TV adjacent projects recently because in the course of the pitch I learned instead of actual footage they would use videos made by AI to illustrate our talking points And that’s substantially worse than dramatizing paranormal stories with actors So much worse

I don’t know where we as a society ultimately end up with the widespread use of the laziest, thievingest & most energy inefficient technological scam ever But it’s beginning to look like, for me, it’s gonna end with being a recluse on a mountain telling everybody to take that shit elsewhere

But if they’ve already been using AI for their music, their notetaking, and all the rest of it – often through sheer ignorance of its hazards because it’s been baked into all the tools they use and presented as just another helpful tool – I don’t even know where to start beyond a blanket, “No.”

And if people were already asking why I’m not on TV so much, they will be really confused why I am turning down every single podcast and video interview from indie groups But the paranormal, especially – it’s AI flyers & logos & videos & music all the way down, with no critical assessment

And I am currently hashing out language to at the least guarantee they do not take my promotional photo and run it through AI to give it that weird, gritty, and universally somehow brown-like-actual-shit sheen we see everywhere

cleveland.comPlain Dealer/cleveland.com endorses Amy Acton for Ohio governorThe Plain Dealer editorial board endorses Democrat Amy Acton for Ohio governor, citing her preparedness and community engagement, while condemning opponent Vivek Ramaswamy's weaponizing of Acton's chi...

18h

Damn

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social

The Ramaswamy ad has pushed the largest newspaper in Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, to reverse its position on endorsements. "A candidate who uses childhood sexual abuse as a weapon against the person who endured it has crossed a line that Ohioans should defend, whatever their party."

19h

Today’s cat is not holding still for their photo #CatBreak #BlueskyCats #CatSky

Tuba Zef 🐟fishpersonshooter.com🐟

19h

I usually delete or don’t share the imperfect photos, but this one captured such an iconic moment – and even though Watson‘s head is a complete blur you all know what’s going on

M. HELL-anger 🔥 reposted

crybirb

@crybirb.bsky.social

THIS IS FOR THE GRINGOS WHO FOLLOW HERE (I love you) Peter Thiel bought the biggest TV presenter here to try to overturn the elections. Mark Zuckerberg and Meta actively sabotaged the left wing president. Trump and Marco Rubio not only threatened the country, they also actively with proof-

M. HELL-anger 🔥 reposted

@tubazef.com

During the brazilian elections we learned one obvious but important tactic to defeat the far right on the Internet and I think everyone should know it: IGNORE THEM! DON'T ENGAGE WITH THEIR CONTENT! DON'T MAKE CONTENT REACTING TO THEM! DON'T HATE QRT! LET THEM ALONE IN THEIR BUBBLE!

@georgepotter.bsky.social

A succinct (and appropriately snarky) guide to Very Bad Men ™️

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M. HELL-anger 🔥 reposted

George Potter 🔶

It's really important to pay attention to the fact that Lula beat the fascist candidate not by compromising and trying to meet fascist voters in the middle, but by sticking to his guns, promising prosecutions for election interference, and mobilising his own voters to turn out in greater numbers.

Hey, folks & new follows: Pretty stressed about the US midterms, so I’m likely to be a bit shouty until that resolves If you don’t mind cranky punk-adjacent GenX rants about politics, buckle up & enjoy the ride Will still be posting a cat picture a day because they make me smile 🐈‍⬛

kickstarter.com13 Omens: A Horror RPGStep into the darkness...

And if you really like cranky punks with a side of musical nostalgia, hop on over to @paizo.com ‘s 13 Omens Kickstarter & select my “Last Call at the Lux” zine when you back the game:

C’mon. You -had- to have watched the reboot of Westworld.

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zeteo.comVenues Start Canceling on Vivek Ramaswamy Over His Disgusting Ad: ‘People Don’t Want Him There’Businesses have begun pulling out of Vivek Ramaswamy’s bus tour with other GOP candidates. ‘It’s that damn ad,’ a top Ohio Republican tells Zeteo.

My poli-sci degreed roomie has a pet theory that their advisors tested this the use of this ad’s tactics out on the brown guy because it was win/win for them If it worked, then they could apply those tactics more widely If it didn’t work, they just burned a brown guy & that’s no loss to them

Prem Thakker ツ@premthakker.bsky.social

NEW on @zeteo.com — Venues are *pulling out* of hosting Vivek Ramaswamy for his bus tour across Ohio in the closing days of the election. “We’re getting calls that people don’t want him there,” a top Ohio Republican says. “It’s that damn ad.” From @andrewperez.bsky.social and @swin24.bsky.social:

(the typos will continue until morale improves)