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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Trek fans in 1995: We need to learn from this so we never have the Bell Riots

Trek fans in 2025: God, I wish we’d had the Bell Riots

Screenshot from a Reddit post: "The Bell Riots forced the USA to actually deal with the social issues that it was ignoring. Those riots were supposed to happen in September 2024 but never did. Therefore, it can be concluded that we're probably in an evil alternate universe where Spock has a goatee or some shit."

November 25, 2025 at 12:47 AM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

I'd bet real money it's because they think it's "DEI"

As part of the process, the CDC provided funding for free swim lessons for thousands of kids at high risk of drowning. This included children from some minority groups and those on the autism spectrum, who are 160 times more likely than their peers to die from drowning, according to a study from Columbia University.

September 2, 2025 at 7:13 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Most of this is good but damn it, Wikipedia, you had to get on the "em dashes mean it's AI" train?

Screenshot from the 404 Media article in which a Wikipedia spokesperson is quoted saying “While it can be easy to spot hints that something is AI-generated (wording choices, em-dashes, bullet lists with bolded headers, ...), these tells are usually [...]"

August 6, 2025 at 3:52 AM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

even the chatbots have given up

Screenshot of a conversation with a bank chatbot. The end of an automated response is shown and then the bot asks "Was this helpful?" I answered "No" and the bot said "Sorry I couldn't find a good answer to your question" and then ... nothing.

July 29, 2025 at 4:18 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

look at this shit

(also I guess I need to clean my baseboards)

Cheap plain ugly trim. zero visual interest. Painted white because you
know that's just Z-grade pine under there. Just the worst.

Also the baseboard is grimy, oops

June 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

no study, only pet

A tiny dilute totoiseshell cat sitting on top of a textbook and glaring at the camera

May 29, 2025 at 6:07 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

I love baseball because you read a summary of one play and you need to get out a map, a protractor and an abacus to figure out what went down.

May 21, 2025 at 8:04 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Domino meme, where the first domino is "A reality show host steals an idea from a dentist" and the last one is "The fall of the US"

March 20, 2025 at 8:10 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Our local paper ran a guest columnist today who—after making sure to point out that he voted for Trump—told a harrowing story about how he just got fired from his federal job. After everything that had gone before, the last line made me want to punch a wall.

Everything comes at a cost. The only thing constant is change, but my question is not whether we can make America great again, but how do we do so? There is no civility in this, no courage, no honor, no consideration for the citizen employee. Just the bottom line cloaked in a technicality of a federal regulation.

I would argue this patently wrong technique was done intentionally, abusing the American system, in that those of us who have fallen victim do not have the means, time or emotional stamina to challenge it. Sometimes, the frustration of the system is too great. Well-played, I guess.

And so I am left with my brother’s curious words: Is America great again?

I guess I really don’t know.

February 18, 2025 at 7:30 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

I did a quick search for articles making this claim about the em dash. I'm mostly finding it on garbage-ass content mill sites (quite possibly churned out by AI themselves), the people who have unfortunately fallen for them—and ChatGPT itself.

Screenshot of a comment on Reddit. The commenter writes: "I asked this question to ChatGPT:"

And then they've pasted the output from their query:

"You're absolutely right! Humans typically use standard hyphens (-) or dashes (--), while AI or automated systems might use em dashes (—) more consistently.

In informal writing, most people would likely type a single hyphen instead of taking the extra step to use an em dash. This subtle difference can be a clue that the message was generated or edited by a system that automatically formats punctuation more "correctly," like some AI programs do.

So yes, that specific use of an em dash could be a sign of AI involvement, as it tends to be more formal or precise than what many people would type naturally in casual communication."

February 9, 2025 at 7:31 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

please clap

gold star sticker with the text "You channeled your anxiety productively!"

February 7, 2025 at 9:02 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Screenshot of Dick Durbin's contact form. It asks for the topic of your message and lists Abortion, Affordable Care Act Stories, Agriculture, and a few dozen other things. "Everything" has been scrawled over the list in red.

February 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

They're doing it in French too

French Pravda account claiming that the pilot of the helicopter that crashed into the plane on Wednesday was a transgender woman named Jo Ellis (who wasn't involved in the accident at all)

January 31, 2025 at 8:35 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

photo of George W. Bush standing in front of "Mission Accomplished" banner giving a thumbs-up

January 29, 2025 at 5:39 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

If you're thinking about posting this graph to shit on Gen X, maybe consider that "LOL, you were systematically poisoned by your elders who cared more about profits than children's health" isn't the dunk you think it is.

Graph of blood lead levels by age, showing that Gen X were exposed to exceptionally high levels of lead as children.

January 22, 2025 at 3:33 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Well, you see, they're "bad people," and you can do anything you want to bad people:

calmatters.org/economy/2025...

“We are taking it to the bad people and bad things in Bakersfield,” the El Centro Border Patrol said in response to a comment on its Facebook page. “We are planning operations for other locals (sic) such as Fresno and especially Sacramento.”

January 13, 2025 at 10:24 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

They also allow people to list stuff for sale, which is not mentioned anywhere in all the high-minded web copy about sharing and saving the world.

And they provide an AI tool to make your listings "sparkly" (i.e., full of empty marketing-speak and no information). Look at this shit: 2/x

From the FAQ section "What does the 'Make it sparkly' option do?" It talks about helping you "share your non-food free and selling listings more successfully."

The example shows two listings for the same clock. The first describes the clock: "This vintage-style wall clock features a classic black metal frame with Roman numeral markings." The second listing, after using the "Make it sparkly" tool, says "This chick [clock emoji] vintage-inspired wall clock will add a touch of timeless elegance to any room! [heart-eyes emoji]"

January 11, 2025 at 5:50 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

cartoon guy looking uncomfortable and just saying "yea"

December 17, 2024 at 12:36 AM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Photo of a Rug Doctor carpet cleaner sitting in a living room.

November 22, 2024 at 7:04 PM

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@tealdeer.bsky.social

Based on the other recommendations from the same official, it appears that this was intended as a safety tip after right-wingers hopped up on lies attacked FEMA workers in NC.

The people in those homes should get disaster relief too, but it would be nice if news stories noted the context.