bongotime - Tumblr blog

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Yakushiji Temple, Nishinokyo-cho, "Nara City The "

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i think i should make more stupid brushes for my mental health

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falls to my knees..... shouldve been fortnite..

AAAAHHHHHHHH

guys theyre fucking putting miles edgeworth in among us

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another guide i made for fun! this time on classic ace attorney art! again, mostly an infodump based on my own observations. hope this helps!!

(find this useful? considering c0mming me in this style or leaving a tip.. wink)

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Girls when they're in love

based on @leecherish's post

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she's so fucking pumped about drinking poison i love her

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paws

It’s incredibly important to me that the anime decided to include this scene that wasn’t in the manga. In the manga, Maomao does pass out in Jinshi’s lap after saving him from what was obviously an assassination attempt.

HOWEVER, the manga cuts off at this point, keeping strictly in Maomao’s perspective, and cuts straight to when she regains consciousness in bed after being treated for her injuries. The manga doesn’t show how she got back. They SAY how, and she briefly mentions, “wow that must have been embarrassing; he carried me back,” but we don’t SEE it. We don’t get to feel the true impact of what that means. But the anime DID show us, and holy shit.

They SHOW us how taboo this is. They show Jinshi carrying her out of the temple, after a public attempt on his life.

They show us the shock and horror on Lakan’s face as Jinshi silently walks past him. Horror at the state his daughter is in, horror at another man—a man with a status he could never dare to question—staking such a public claim over his child, horror at the fact that he could never have this level of closeness with her (as Maomao would never allow it).

Everyone hides their gazes, as is their custom when someone of his rank passes by, but the air is different this time. Jinshi is furious, he’s terrified, and he could not give a single shit about how inappropriate it looks to these palace officials.

The shot that slowly follows her trail of blood—even though it’s a small detail—that in particular leaves such a intense impression of how poignant this is for him.

Maomao talked about this scene in the manga like it was nothing to her. She did what she set out to do: she saved the person who was targeted by the attack. She didn’t even know the target would be someone she knew. But she has no idea that this happened afterwards as a result of her bravery. To her, it likely wasn’t even an act of bravery at all. She acted on impulse; she did what she knew was the right thing to do.

The anime didn’t need to include this, because the manga didn’t show it. But damn, I’m so glad they did.

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paws at the screen

the funny

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can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shooting stars 🌟🌠

we can recreate shinzo abe

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You should never forget literally the best line in all of video games

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ETA: I wrote up a guide on clues that a foraging book was written by AI here!

[Original Tweet source here.]

[RANT AHEAD]

Okay, yeah. This is a very, very, very bad idea. I understand that there is a certain flavor of techbro who has ABSOLUTELY zero problem with this because "AI is the future, bro", and we're supposed to be reading their articles on how to use AI for side hustles and all that.

I get that ID apps have played into people's tendency to want quick and easy answers to everything (I'm not totally opposed to apps, but please read about how an app does not a Master Naturalist make.) But nature identification is serious stuff, ESPECIALLY when you are trying to identify whether something is safe to eat, handle, etc. You have to be absolutely, completely, 100000% sure of your ID, and then you ALSO have to absolutely verify that it is safely handled and consumed by humans.

As a foraging instructor, I cannot emphasize this enough. My classes, which are intended for a general audience, are very heavy on identification skills for this very reason. I have had (a small subsection of) students complain that I wasn't just spending 2-3 hours listing off bunches of edible plants and fungi, and honestly? They can complain all they want. I am doing MY due diligence to make very sure that the people who take my classes are prepared to go out and start identifying species and then figure out their edibility or lack thereof.

Because it isn't enough to be able to say "Oh, that's a dandelion, and I think this might be an oyster mushroom." It's also not enough to say "Well, such-and-such app says this is Queen Anne's lace and not poison hemlock." You HAVE to have incredibly keen observational skills. You HAVE to be patient enough to take thorough observations and run them through multiple forms of verification (field guides, websites, apps, other foragers/naturalists) to make sure you have a rock-solid identification. And then you ALSO have to be willing to read through multiple sources (NOT just Wikipedia) to determine whether that species is safely consumed by humans, and if so if it needs to be prepared in a particular way or if there are inedible/toxic parts that need to be removed.

AND--this phenomenon of AI-generated crapola emphasizes the fact that in addition to all of the above, you HAVE to have critical thinking skills when it comes to assessing your sources. Just because something is printed on a page doesn't mean it's true. You need to look at the quality of the information being presented. You need to look at the author's sources. You need to compare what this person is saying to other books and resources out there, and make sure there's a consensus.

You also need to look at the author themselves and make absolutely sure they are a real person. Find their website. Find their bio. Find their social media. Find any other manners in which they interact with the world, ESPECIALLY outside of the internet. Contact them. Ask questions. Don't be a jerk about it, because we're just people, but do at least make sure that a book you're interested in buying is by a real person. I guarantee you those of us who are serious about teaching this stuff and who are internet-savvy are going to make it very easy to find who we are (within reason), what we're doing, and why.

Because the OP in that Tweet is absolutely right--people are going to get seriously ill or dead if they try using AI-generated field guides. We have such a wealth of information, both on paper/pixels and in the brains of active, experienced foragers, that we can easily learn from the mistakes of people in the past who got poisoned, and avoid their fate. But it does mean that you MUST have the will and ability to be impeccably thorough in your research--and when in doubt, throw it out.

My inbox is always open. I'm easier caught via email than here, but I will answer. You can always ask me stuff about foraging, about nature identification, etc. And if there's a foraging instructor/author/etc. with a website, chances are they're also going to be more than willing to answer questions. I am happy to direct you to online groups on Facebook and elsewhere where you have a whole slew of people to compare notes with. I want people's foraging to be SAFE and FUN. And AI-generated books aren't the way to make that happen.

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woah...

Science Writing Resources

There are TONS of resources for science journalists and science communicators out there. In fact, I only have room to make a list of lists of resources for science journalists. Here they are: 

The Open Notebook's Science Writing Resources (elsewhere) That We Like (includes my group, Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress)

Council for the Advancement of Science Writing's Connector, "a library of resources for science journalism & communication." 

SciCommers Community Resources

Science Writers News Roundup (newsletter)

The National Association of Science Writers' Write that Book!. A list of guides and resources viewable by NASW members.

The ultimate science writing resource guide by Shel Evergreen 

If you're not already aware, The Open Notebook and NASW themselves are great.

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IT FUCKIN YURI DAAAAAAAAAAAY

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Metal Gear Solid on the dash

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Me: im trans

Snake: Hrm... trans huh? give me a moment

Snake goes into a box and calls up his husband

Snake: Otacon, this lady dropped a piece of intel in regards to herself, do you know what "trans" means

Otacon: Snake, that's short for the term "transgender" a phrase used for those who's identity doesn't align with their asigned sex, some use hormones or surgery to better fit their lifestyle

Snake: Chemical and Surgical modification huh? they're like supersoldiers but they choose to change to fight for their own spirits rather than a nation...

Otacon: Remember snake, being "trans" is an umbrella label, many in the community identify beyond our common gender binary, including traditional cultural gender roles or wholly new ones

Snake: A wide variety of genders, such diversity not only make them unpredictable but increases practical versatility, impressive stuff

Otacon: oh this is just like Lily Hoshikawa from my Japanese animes

Snake leaves the box

Snake: You're pretty good huh? this trans stuff sounds intense, you have my support as a fellow soldier