I'm passing on this email I just received from John Strand & Black Hills Information Security:

~

Hey folks!

We’re just a couple of months away from a major milestone: our first ever in-person Pay-What-You-Can Summer Camp at Capitol Technology University.

This event in the Baltimore/DC (and virtually) is part of our mission to make high quality cybersecurity training accessible to everyone, no matter their budget.

From July 21st to 23rd, we're bringing our community together for hands-on, in-person learning at a price that works for you, starting at just $25.

* Two days of live training including SOC Core Skills or Getting Started in Packet Decoding.

* One full day focused on career support with resume help, mock interviews, and networking.

If you believe training should be affordable, practical, and community-driven, this is your moment.

Learn more and register:
https://www.antisyphontraining.com/event/antisyphon-training-summer-camp/

~

These guys are really great people, trying to make information security more accessible a field to enter. Check them out!

#cybersecurity #security #jobseeker

I'm pretty desperate to cover a $150 gap in my rent. Can you please help? :491d1c3a06d1bb65:​

0/150

I'm still working as hard as I can at this gig job while staving off burnout and resulting mental health weirdness, and putting in applications to get another remote job. Anything helps, from cash to just kind replies. (It's a lonely feeling, trying to make this work. I'm sorry to depend so much on the help of others but I at least thought I'd ask. I'm looking in several places, not just here.)

My info:

paypal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tmvshek
venmo: @onychamaze
ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/erosdiscordia

Thank you. As always.

Edited to add a picture of #zele for the Cat Tax.

Boosts appreciated very much!
:boosts_appreciated_Verified:​
#MutualAid #mutualAidRequests #transMutualAid #transMutualAidRequest #transCrowdfund #lgbtqMutualAid

Please consider not boosting un-CW'd politics, war, and other heavy topics.

Just put a link to the toot into a toot and explain what it's about. People will click.

I'll try to do this more, too. Thank you.

Please excuse the squashedness of my face, I don't know why my avi is like that. Perhaps it will flatten if I let it air out.

Ayyy! Look who's out here getting impatient and just doing a fresh reinstall. It's your boy*.


(*boy-related enby creature; no warranties implied)

Your transition deserves to be CELEBRATED.

Like a marriage. Like a new baby. Like a graduation. Like a big move.

You rock, and I see you.

🎉✨💐🌄🍰🍾🎊🎇

Would anyone be willing to help me out with the cost of getting this little street urchin his first vet visit and set of vaccinations, plus his flea/worm/ear mite medicines?

Everything together should be about $130.

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tmvshek

I bought all the kitten food and house supplies for him, but the sooner I can cover the other things, the better. I want him to be comfy and have a good start. Anything helps, and boosts are much appreciated.

#mutualAid #kittens #mutualAidRequest #cats #MastoCats #catsOfMastodon #fosterKittens #fedicats

90% of the time I'm actively traveling, I'm like "Fuck these fucking suitcases, I hope a bus runs 'em over. Rolly assholes."

Until I'm at the baggage carousel, staring at the little flappy doors. "Oh my poor babies, where are you??"

Now would be a very good time to delete all oligarch-owned social media accounts.

Permanently delete Facebook account:
https://www.facebook.com/help/224562897555674/

Permanently delete Instagram account:
https://help.instagram.com/370452623149242

Delete FB Messenger:
https://www.avast.com/c-deactivate-facebook-messenger

How to delete WhatsApp account:
https://faq.whatsapp.com/2138577903196467/

(the Meta accounts do need to be deleted separately)

Delete your TikTok account:
https://support.tiktok.com/en/account-and-privacy/deleting-an-account/deleting-an-account

How to delete Twitter account:
https://www.cnet.com/tech/how-to-delete-your-x-twitter/

Also:

How to cancel Amazon Prime
https://www.wikihow.com/Cancel-Amazon-Prime

:boostRequest:

For those who can, I highly recommend this short video where Maddow interviews Walz last night.

"Exclusive: Rachel Maddow interviews MN Governor Tim Walz as Trump plots end of U.S. government"

https://youtu.be/9UdHdjuodPg

It connects a lot of the dots of some of these chaotic Executive Orders, and their purpose to create a power vacuum that might be filled with fascist loyalists.

If you can stand a bit of reading about this topic, here's an article that lays out the connections between Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, the current debate about the debt ceiling, the freezing of federal grants, and yesterday's attempted forced resignation of all U.S. federal workers:

"The Wide Angle: Peter Thiel and the American Apocalypse"

https://washingtonspectator.org/peter-thiel-and-the-american-apocalypse/

"James Scaminaci, a scholar of Christian Nationalism, has warned about the “North-Paul Strategy,” a scheme dreamed up by Christian firebrand Gary North and the Libertarian ideologue Ron Paul. Their plan envisions taking control of the United States through bankruptcy, asserting that “God’s judgment, which is pro-revolution, will produce a cataclysmic collapse of the American political-economic system.'”

If you have the will to go even further in, watch/listen to the "Behind The Bastards" podcast about Curtis Yarvin, one of the main philosophical figures behind the techbro-fascist "Dark Enlightenment", and a mentor figure to J.D. Vance, Peter Thiel, and every right-leaning libertarian twit who's been happy for the past 3 months.

Yarvin's a nihilist monarchist "intellectual", who wants America as dead as his soul.

"Part One: Curtis Yarvin: The Philosopher Behind J.D. Vance | BEHIND THE BASTARDS"

https://youtu.be/mYrPNvVhKLU

:boostRequest:

If you're a U.S. citizen and you don't have a current passport, please stop messing around, and get one.

Expedited processing time: 2 to 3 weeks
Regular processing time: 4-6 weeks

Apply for your first passport:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/need-passport/apply-in-person.html

Renew or replace a passport:
online:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew-online.html
by mail:
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/have-passport/renew.html

international travel within 14 days: make an appointment (1-877-487-2778)
https://passportappointment.travel.state.gov
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast/passport-agencies.html

:boostRequest:
1/x

#mutualAidRequest to put together a buffer of 1 extra week at the next place I'm staying!

Hey, fedi friends. My first few days at the next guesthouse are paid for, but it would do wonders for my head and stress levels (not to mention my focus on working and writing and visa applications, etc) if I had one solid week of shelter paid ahead. I'm getting to the point where actually paying a month in advance might be possible soon!

If you can donate to a trans person trying to flee the U.S., please do that first. I've managed to escape, and am looking to put together some stability.

Hopeful goal: $350

Direct donations to help:
https://www.paypal.me/tmvshek
https://ko-fi.com/erosdiscordia
https://venmo.com/onychamaze
https://liberapay.com/Erosdiscordia

:boostRequest: Boosts welcome! :boostRequest:

#mutualAid #trans #transgender #transMutualAid
@mutualaid

Stay alive, please. We need you. :trans_Pirate:

Actually, I'm going to take this bit out from behind a CW:

God, if it exists, gives a whole hell of a lot more than two genders to choose from.

Also --

You get to choose.

The only error made was made by doctors, many years ago. Not your fault.

Trans people are real, necessary, and critical to human evolution.

You're seen, and believed.

I have a piece of advice for you.

If you produce any art, video, or writing that might be considered by the average right-winger to be "pornographic", make sure you have backups of your work. And then make backups of the backups. It can just be a flash drive in your drawer.

If you host it on a platform or server in the U.S., why not see if you could move it elsewhere, or at least mirror it on a server where it's less likely to be subject to the whims of Project 2025?

Net Neutrality is officially bust.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gl417l757o

BBC: "Court strikes down US net neutrality rules"

And honestly? I might get flamed for this. But do some right-clicking or save-as-PDF-ing of the erotic art and writing by, and featuring, #transgender people. Especially if you can't get in touch with the creators.

1/2

cccccccccccccccccccccccccccccmkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

-- A very special message from my cat.

Over the holidays, maybe take a good hard look at whether you own more physical items than your ideal contingency plans would allow for.

Storage units companies are even less forgiving than banks, and will sell your shit fast if you fall behind. Try making sure the things you couldn't stand to lose are in your actual living space, even if you don't use them as often.

It's even more reassuring when you don't have to have one. I'm not going to get preachy about minimalism, because I'll never live out of one bag on purpose.

But seriously it is so soothing to look over at a pile of things and realize it's everything you own, and that it's a manageable amount. It opens up SO MANY options.

And right now, options are riches. Not stuff.

It would also probably be a good idea, if you haven't already, to plot out how you might weather another Great Recession like the one in 2008-2010.

How's your house? Are you renting in an area with volatile and rising rent prices already? Is there a chiller area nearby that you could move to?

How's your resume? Got any interesting skills you could be taking a few online classes for, in the meantime?

Do you own your car?

Are you as close as you'd like to be to your extended family, in case air travel or gas decides to become expensive?

Got any cavities you need filled, or eyeglasses that need replacing? That sort of thing starts feeling like a luxury and getting put off.

Here is Trans Equality's state-by-state list of lawyers that may be able to help #transgender people with questions regarding legal ID.

"Trans Legal Services Network Directory"

https://transequality.org/resources/trans-legal-services-network-directory

Boosts appreciated.

Continuing today's trend of being on my most doomer bullshit:

It has been two weeks to the day since the election. I don't know if anyone else has heard of any concrete plans from leadership to put the brakes on what's likely coming?

So I have an assignment for those of you who do NOT fall into the main groups of people who tend to catch oppression.

I know nobody can help who they are or what position they're in, and we all have extenuating circumstances.

But this is going to come up sooner or later, for you.

What are you going to do when fascists demand your cooperation, with targeted physical or material threats? Do you have a plan to keep yourself and your family safe?

Do you have a plan to deal with any shock or trauma, either concrete or moral/psychological?

Do you have a healthy and proactive Plan B, for if/when this gets to be too much?

Better to have one and not to need it...

Thing I don't recommend:

~Denial, long-term confusion or cultivated bewilderment

~Centering escapism (including addictions and overwork)

~Joining the baddies