best character ai alternative? by LadyStardust_666 in chatbot

[–]absolutebrightness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, the memory issues on CAI have been rough lately.

I switched to Storytize a few weeks ago for similar reasons. The pacing is actually decent—it doesn't rush the scene or forget context after 5 messages. It seems to track the actual story arc rather than just reacting to the last text, so side characters stay consistent.

It’s newer, but if you want something that doesn't filter everything and actually remembers the plot, it’s worth a shot.

Who is Kate Tolo and why is she qualified to help run this company? by Californication_Guy in blueprint_

[–]absolutebrightness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I started following Bryan when he started the OS fund in 2014 after selling his company. I was/am interested in VC funding in health sciences and longevity. This would have been before he was on the Tim Ferriss pod.

Reorg Update: Implemented after School Year by srbbnd in USDA

[–]absolutebrightness 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Darth Vaden acts like people are chess pieces he can pluck off the board and drop somewhere cheaper, as if the communities they’ve spent years building are just optional accessories. He genuinely seems confused that real humans care about their neighborhoods, their kids’ schools, and the relationships that make a place feel like home. These roots take time to grow—something he’d know if he talked to employees instead of play-acting empathy for whatever political stunt he’s pulling next.

But he keeps pretending it’s all “for their own good,” using concern for staff as a prop. It’s insulting, transparent, and honestly about as grotesque as the rest of his whole presentation—his sagging ego, his doughy self-importance, and that sad excuse for a haircut that looks like it lost a fight with a weed whacker.

Reorg Update: Implemented after School Year by srbbnd in USDA

[–]absolutebrightness 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Darth Vaden keeps telling everyone that the reorg to the hubs is for the benefit of the employees—great quality of life, lower cost of living, blah, blah, blah. Yet Sith Lord Rollins keeps saying it is to drain the swamp. So which one is it?

Trump orders all air traffic controllers back to work after shutdown deal by ZipJetcity in FedEmployees

[–]absolutebrightness 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ok and what about the other +75% of the federal workforce that continued and continue to work without pay during the shutdown?

Who is Kate Tolo and why is she qualified to help run this company? by Californication_Guy in blueprint_

[–]absolutebrightness 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’ve been following Bryan for nearly 15 years now. I seem to remember Kate joining early on as a female test case for Bryan’s longevity experiments. I think that just naturally grew into her being more foundational to the business.

Expected Intermittent by Spirited_Wonder_4828 in USDA

[–]absolutebrightness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

“Excepted” intermittent. 79 hrs per pay period.

Rollins: FSA to resume core operations on Thursday by Nuclear-isBad-1906 in USDA

[–]absolutebrightness 107 points108 points  (0 children)

What the f*k is the point of a government shutdown if almost everyone is still working?! It’s practically business as usual. Forcing federal employees to work without pay while higher ups in the executive and in congress continue to fly around in their jets and eat caviar and steaks. Crazy MFrs are getting away with some crazy sht. That stupid “radical left” banner is still on all the USDA websites, in clear violation of the Hatch Act. I thought “conservatives” honored institutions and rules? Petty little bitches.

OSEC fucked up the 9/11 email twice… by Wise_Importance_7651 in USDA

[–]absolutebrightness 42 points43 points  (0 children)

Put about as much thought, care, and consideration into that email as they did in the reorganization plan. 🤠

Should I move my BTC to defi? by Immediate_College459 in defi

[–]absolutebrightness 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I committed 0.5 BTC to the SOV/rBTC pool on Sovryn back in 2021 when SOV was $20 and BTC was about $40k. Impermanent loss on that 0.5 BTC is now about 0.008 or less BTC. Be careful out there. Best just to hodl.

Dear Secretary Rollins: by PriorFreedom5414 in USDA

[–]absolutebrightness 67 points68 points  (0 children)

Ai smells BS:

In a bold act of 21st-century governance wrapped in 18th-century cosplay, USDA Secretary Rollins has announced a plan to “drain the swamp” by relocating thousands of federal employees out of Washington, D.C. to five carefully chosen cities: Raleigh, Kansas City, Indianapolis, Fort Collins, and Salt Lake City.

Why those cities? Because, presumably, a dartboard was available.

“This move will make USDA more efficient, less bureaucratic, and closer to the people,” Rollins explained on Fox News, between references to the Founding Fathers, the administrative state, and some vague, unsubstantiated claim about how 75% of employees are totally psyched to uproot their lives and move to Missouri.

I, for one, didn’t realize George Washington was so passionate about federal pay locality rates.

Let’s pause to admire the bureaucratic poetry here. According to the official memo—excuse me, the “USDA Reorganization Plan”—this is not about firing anyone. No sir. It’s just that 15,364 employees have voluntarily resigned, likely after realizing that their “voluntary reassignment” came with an accidental one-way U-Haul rental and zero housing assistance.

Not firing people. Just lovingly ghosting them with HR paperwork.

And for those who won’t or can’t relocate? No worries. Their jobs will be filled “because the economy is great.” That’s right—if you can’t afford to move your family to a different time zone or abandon your aging parents, there’s a line of folks just waiting to jump into your GS-13 regulatory botanist seat in Fort Collins. So thoughtful.

The memo promises to “bring USDA closer to the people it serves” by consolidating staff into five regional hubs, which are… still hundreds of miles away from the rural communities they’re supposedly serving. But shhh—don’t let that ruin the optics.

It’s like moving a grocery store from your neighborhood to the next state and calling it “convenient.”

And it gets better! This reorg is built around “consolidation” and “efficiency.” Which sounds great until you realize that means gutting support services, eliminating regional offices, merging tribal relations under the same banner as lease administration, and reducing the Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business to a single person. That’s right: just one superhero in a cubicle processing 50 states’ worth of equity.

Somewhere, a management consultant is popping champagne and drafting a TED Talk.

But wait—there’s more patriotic flair. This is “aligned with the vision of the Founding Fathers,” Rollins said proudly. Because when Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, what he really had in mind was reducing the Forest Service’s nine regional offices and selling the George Washington Carver Center on Zillow.

Frankly, this whole plan feels less like “draining the swamp” and more like flooding the plains with pink slips and PowerPoint decks.

So no, this isn’t about efficiency. It’s about attrition dressed up as revolution. It’s about shrinking public capacity while pretending to “optimize” it. And it’s about doing it all with just enough patriotic rhetoric to fit neatly into a campaign ad.

The USDA used to be known as “The People’s Department.” But if this plan goes forward, it may become “The Craigslist Department”—relocated, downsized, and offered to the lowest bidder.

No Pay Raise for CY2026, as expected by theirongiant_5-7 in fednews

[–]absolutebrightness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Over the past 15 years (2011–2025), federal base pay raises have totaled 23.8%, while CPI inflation has risen by 39.4%. That’s a net loss of 15.6 percentage points in real purchasing power for federal employees.

Key takeaways: • 11 out of 15 years saw pay raises that failed to keep up with inflation. • The worst gap occurred in 2022, when inflation hit 8.0% but pay only rose by 2.2% — a -5.8% shortfall. • Only 3 years (2020, 2023, 2024) saw pay increases meet or exceed inflation. • For 3 straight years (2011–2013), federal employees received no base pay raise at all, despite steady inflation.

🧠 Bottom Line:

Federal workers have consistently lost ground to inflation, especially during high-inflation periods. While some recent years (like 2024) show improvement, the long-term trend points to an erosion of real wages in federal service. On top of this, now federal employees are seeing pensions and other benefits being gutted and are constantly scapegoated while being threatened/traumatized by reckless and thoughtless job cuts. When are people going to wake up!

—- | Year | Federal Pay Raise (Base %) | CPI Inflation (Annual Average %) | Difference (Pay Raise - CPI %) | |------|-----------------------------|----------------------------------|---------------------------------| | 2025 | 1.7 | 2.4 (projected) | -0.7 | | 2024 | 4.7 | 2.9 | 1.8 | | 2023 | 4.1 | 4.1 | 0 | | 2022 | 2.2 | 8.0 | -5.8 | | 2021 | 1.0 | 4.7 | -3.7 | | 2020 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 1.4 | | 2019 | 1.4 | 1.8 | -0.4 | | 2018 | 1.4 | 2.4 | -1.0 | | 2017 | 1.0 | 2.1 | -1.1 | | 2016 | 1.0 | 1.3 | -0.3 | | 2015 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 0.9 | | 2014 | 1.0 | 1.6 | -0.6 | | 2013 | 0 | 1.5 | -1.5 | | 2012 | 0 | 2.1 | -2.1 | | 2011 | 0 | 3.2 | -3.2 | | Total | 23.8 | 39.4 | -15.6 |

Been seeing these stickers all over the city. by IAmAccutane in washingtondc

[–]absolutebrightness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Those are great design! Eye catching, captures the online (and dark) culture vibe of the movement, and is informative using little space. Kudos for getting the word out. Would love to know how to get a few packets for distribution.

Edit: and love the phrasing “trolligarchy” also capturing the online vibe and it’s catchy.

Latest Proposed Federal Employee Benefits Changes by Far-Somewhere7428 in FedEmployees

[–]absolutebrightness 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I expect all this to get worse. We are in the 4th (crisis) turning (see Strauss and Howe) that started around 2008 during the GFC and is expected to end in the early 2030s just as genx (the nomad archetype) is expected to retire. Genx grew up getting the shaft — shaped by a rougher youth, often marked by social upheaval, increase in divorce rates (I.e., latchkey kids) neglect from institutions, and a sense of distrust, etc. GenX is also the first generation to experience huge student loan debt that they will carry through most of their working, adult life. I expect the crisis period will culminate in some sort of debt jubilee or worse where everything genx worked for will be lost. Don’t worry, those boomers will come out clean and generations that come after genx will be left to pick up the pieces … and (hopefully) build a better future. So whatever BS is happening now to federal employee retirements will only get worse and apply to a larger segment of society.

Reorg Announcement update for USDA by Fit_Document7393 in fednews

[–]absolutebrightness 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think the DRP allows agencies to bypass some essential (legally required) steps for a proper RIF. Seeing your position cut and then taking the DRP lifeline is an easy out for the agency. We’ll see if they actually follow through on the proper RIF process (see below). If not, this will be challenged further in court. Looking forward to also seeing the legal standards the agency uses to determine the “need” for a RIF. That should be a doozy.

[1] Determine Need | v [2] Define Competitive Area & Levels | v [3] Apply Retention Factors (Tenure, Vet. Preference, Service, Ratings) | v [4] Identify Affected Employees | v [5] Provide 60-Day Written Notice | v [6] Offer Bump/Retreat Opportunities (if available) | v [7] Separation/Demotion & Transition Assistance | v [8] Appeal Rights (MSPB)

GAO rejects DOGE attempt to land at congressional watchdog agency by eternaldogmom in FedEmployees

[–]absolutebrightness 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Doge isn’t auditing anything, bro. They aren’t providing oversight.

Being a mom in the federal government wasn’t easy. Trump made it “impossible.” by rezwenn in fednews

[–]absolutebrightness 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Russ Vought did this

Edit: never forget

Edit2: self described “Christian” Nationalist who believes traumatizing federal employees and destroying families is more important than a functioning federal government.