Helen Back
@titian.bsky.social
St Louisan, chronically ill, lesbian she/her
Reposted by Helen Back
Japan's "Mundane Halloween" costume contest is back!
Each year website DailyPortalZ holds a contest where people dress up as something super duper ordinary.
Here's a thread of some of my favorites from the 2025 contest!
#MundaneHalloween
Each year website DailyPortalZ holds a contest where people dress up as something super duper ordinary.
Here's a thread of some of my favorites from the 2025 contest!
#MundaneHalloween
November 2, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Japan's "Mundane Halloween" costume contest is back!
Each year website DailyPortalZ holds a contest where people dress up as something super duper ordinary.
Here's a thread of some of my favorites from the 2025 contest!
#MundaneHalloween
Each year website DailyPortalZ holds a contest where people dress up as something super duper ordinary.
Here's a thread of some of my favorites from the 2025 contest!
#MundaneHalloween
Reposted by Helen Back
"Too much disappointment teaches the system that "wanting leads to pain," and so it stops responding to potential rewards."
How Chronic Disappointment Rewires the Brain
Chronic disappointment can train the brain to expect pain instead of reward. Restoring hope means reawakening dopamine through small actions, enriched environments, and new desire.
www.psychologytoday.com
October 30, 2025 at 5:56 PM
"Too much disappointment teaches the system that "wanting leads to pain," and so it stops responding to potential rewards."
Reposted by Helen Back
“clitoral hood”? you mean Pearl Harbor?
October 28, 2025 at 5:25 PM
“clitoral hood”? you mean Pearl Harbor?
Reposted by Helen Back
43 years ago today, readers the world over opened their newspapers and gazed upon cow tools for the first time. happy birthday cow tools. you look great.
October 28, 2025 at 12:23 PM
43 years ago today, readers the world over opened their newspapers and gazed upon cow tools for the first time. happy birthday cow tools. you look great.
Reposted by Helen Back
The Assumption of the Virgin, by Guido Reni, 1597, 📸 via @RoysEnergy
October 21, 2025 at 3:27 AM
The Assumption of the Virgin, by Guido Reni, 1597, 📸 via @RoysEnergy
Reposted by Helen Back
The “Oops, protein powder is full of lead” thing would explain so much.
October 14, 2025 at 8:01 PM
The “Oops, protein powder is full of lead” thing would explain so much.
Reposted by Helen Back
The Musicians' Brawl (flipped), by Georges de La Tour, 1625-30, 📸 by @MauleIan
October 7, 2025 at 6:12 PM
The Musicians' Brawl (flipped), by Georges de La Tour, 1625-30, 📸 by @MauleIan
Reposted by Helen Back
raging my way downtown
October 7, 2025 at 5:38 PM
raging my way downtown
Reposted by Helen Back
Incursione aerea, by Tullio Crali, 1932, 📸 by @sdgreatphotos
October 7, 2025 at 5:21 PM
Incursione aerea, by Tullio Crali, 1932, 📸 by @sdgreatphotos
Reposted by Helen Back
Same, little tree. Same.
October 6, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Same, little tree. Same.
Reposted by Helen Back
ok we are definitely dead and in hell
September 30, 2025 at 11:31 AM
ok we are definitely dead and in hell
Reposted by Helen Back
Immediately adding this into my lexicon.
September 7, 2025 at 12:07 AM
Immediately adding this into my lexicon.
Reposted by Helen Back
I'm submitting on behalf of my dad. Screw these people
Just a reminder to check for your name in this list of books that OpenAI trained from. If your name is there, they probably owe you several thousand dollars.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
OpenAI cried that if everyone eligible author files, the company will go bankrupt, so I'm alerting every author I have ever spoken to.
Search LibGen, the Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI
Millions of books and scientific papers are captured in the collection’s current iteration.
www.theatlantic.com
September 6, 2025 at 4:50 PM
I'm submitting on behalf of my dad. Screw these people
Reposted by Helen Back
WOW‼️ AMAZING‼️👏🤩🦉
📸 Credit: Ian Turner
📸 Credit: Ian Turner
August 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM
WOW‼️ AMAZING‼️👏🤩🦉
📸 Credit: Ian Turner
📸 Credit: Ian Turner
Reposted by Helen Back
X's head of product
July 9, 2025 at 2:39 PM
X's head of product
Reposted by Helen Back
The ICE camps are concentration camps. They should be called concentration camps.
It is, of course, important to distinguish between concentration camps and death camps, but also, I am not sure we will know when or if we undergo the transition from concentration camps into death camps.
It is, of course, important to distinguish between concentration camps and death camps, but also, I am not sure we will know when or if we undergo the transition from concentration camps into death camps.
July 9, 2025 at 5:16 PM
The ICE camps are concentration camps. They should be called concentration camps.
It is, of course, important to distinguish between concentration camps and death camps, but also, I am not sure we will know when or if we undergo the transition from concentration camps into death camps.
It is, of course, important to distinguish between concentration camps and death camps, but also, I am not sure we will know when or if we undergo the transition from concentration camps into death camps.
Reposted by Helen Back
this is what many homes here look like right now
May 28, 2025 at 2:00 AM
this is what many homes here look like right now
Reposted by Helen Back
Luddites weren't anti-tech.
They were against technology being used by the capitalist class to capture wealth at the expense of the worker.
I am a Luddite, and a tech enthusiast. They're not in opposition. I want technology that makes MY life better, not that sells my life piecemeal to corps.
They were against technology being used by the capitalist class to capture wealth at the expense of the worker.
I am a Luddite, and a tech enthusiast. They're not in opposition. I want technology that makes MY life better, not that sells my life piecemeal to corps.
I hate crypto, I hate online gambling, I hate AI, I hate pay-later, I hate subscription models, I hate the gig economy, I hate ring cameras, I hate drones, I hate self checkout.
I don't want to come off as a luddite but capitalism's hold on tech sucks.
I don't want to come off as a luddite but capitalism's hold on tech sucks.
May 24, 2025 at 12:53 PM
Luddites weren't anti-tech.
They were against technology being used by the capitalist class to capture wealth at the expense of the worker.
I am a Luddite, and a tech enthusiast. They're not in opposition. I want technology that makes MY life better, not that sells my life piecemeal to corps.
They were against technology being used by the capitalist class to capture wealth at the expense of the worker.
I am a Luddite, and a tech enthusiast. They're not in opposition. I want technology that makes MY life better, not that sells my life piecemeal to corps.
Reposted by Helen Back
More people need to constructively engage with the fact that many "red" states remain red because of deliberate, systematic, and violent suppression of Black people's voting rights.
I really feel like more people need to constructively engage with this! You can think the moderation/centrism discourse is often braindead (as I do!) but the center left really needs a pretty robust convo about what winning, say, an Iowa or Kansas or Texas or Ohio senate seat would look like.
It’s because of the senate map
May 14, 2025 at 12:02 AM
More people need to constructively engage with the fact that many "red" states remain red because of deliberate, systematic, and violent suppression of Black people's voting rights.
Reposted by Helen Back
I had no idea samurai in feudal Japan were that dedicated to troubleshooting Flash
May 14, 2025 at 12:54 AM
I had no idea samurai in feudal Japan were that dedicated to troubleshooting Flash
Reposted by Helen Back
Using AI is basically crossing a digital picket line, and treating authors who use it like scabs feels appropriate.
If you care about your rights and the rights of other creatives, you don't use generative AI under any circumstances (marketing, editing, drafting, outlining, artwork, narration, etc.)
If you care about your rights and the rights of other creatives, you don't use generative AI under any circumstances (marketing, editing, drafting, outlining, artwork, narration, etc.)
Very weird to see writers cheering for A.I. audiobooks. This is the same horrible machine that they want to replace YOU. Audiobook narrators are your peers.
May 14, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Using AI is basically crossing a digital picket line, and treating authors who use it like scabs feels appropriate.
If you care about your rights and the rights of other creatives, you don't use generative AI under any circumstances (marketing, editing, drafting, outlining, artwork, narration, etc.)
If you care about your rights and the rights of other creatives, you don't use generative AI under any circumstances (marketing, editing, drafting, outlining, artwork, narration, etc.)
Reposted by Helen Back
Each time you ask an AI chatbot a question, it sends a request to a data center and strains an increasingly scarce resource: water.
A 🧵on our investigation into how the data centers that power AI are increasingly being built in highly water-stressed places:
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
A 🧵on our investigation into how the data centers that power AI are increasingly being built in highly water-stressed places:
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
The AI Boom Is Draining Water From the Areas That Need It Most
A Bloomberg News analysis finds that roughly two thirds of new data centers built or in development in the US since 2022 are in places with high levels of water stress.
www.bloomberg.com
May 8, 2025 at 3:59 PM
Each time you ask an AI chatbot a question, it sends a request to a data center and strains an increasingly scarce resource: water.
A 🧵on our investigation into how the data centers that power AI are increasingly being built in highly water-stressed places:
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
A 🧵on our investigation into how the data centers that power AI are increasingly being built in highly water-stressed places:
www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
Reposted by Helen Back
I … I almost didn’t watch this.
What a catastrophic mistake that would have been.
What a catastrophic mistake that would have been.
April 30, 2025 at 3:32 PM
I … I almost didn’t watch this.
What a catastrophic mistake that would have been.
What a catastrophic mistake that would have been.