#And otherwise never used them at all

[thecurioustale]

I used to think that personal computers would become a permanent daily fixture of life for most people, just like owning a TV has remained sticky across generations.

It probably would have worked out this way, too, were it not for the fact that smartphones essentially coopted the utility that most people get out of computers.

That was my mistake. That's usually my mistake when interpreting humanity: I assume people are more like me than they really are.

I find smartphones abhorrent. Not the technology itself; I think that's great. But the format. The user interface of a smartphone with only two or three buttons, various touch functions, and a tiny screen, versus that of a personal computer with a screen several times bigger and a mouse and proper keyboard, is just comically inferior. It's like the difference between a tricycle and a sportscar. As someone who types a lot and expects a fairly high degree of functionality out of websites, using a mobile device is like having my hands tied behind my back because in a metaphorical sense they are: The amount of functionality on mobile interfaces is just vastly, vastly smaller. And that feels suffocating, as if someone were to talk to you at a speed one-fifth of usual. I will straight up not have conversations with people on mobile because it's too frustrating to type out a paragraph the size of this one on a touchpad; I'll record them a voice note instead or just not say whatever I wanted to say.

But this isn't how most people have used computers. It's how early adopters have used computers; it's how power users have used computers; but it's not how "ordinary" people have used computers: They have used computers the same way they have used mobile devices, which is to say in very simplistic ways: mainly for games, video, and talking to friends, with a smattering of hold-by-the-hand service apps thrown in for functional measure, like Doordash, where all you really have to do is type your address and payment info one time, and then just push your finger onto the picture of the food you want to eat.

As a result of that fundamental simplicity of user intent, taking personal computing mainstream ended up not entrenching it into our lives like televisions but making it a transitional technology like cassette tapes. They heyday of the personal computer as a centerpiece of home life came and went in a single generation.

The good news is that there will still be personal computers.

The bad news is that, without permanent universal adoption by society, they will become relatively more expensive over time than they otherwise would have—and I use the word relatively here in its strict sense; the absolute degree of this relatively greater expense I fear will eventually become rather high. The other bad news is that web design will become even worse. Some of the insufferable web design we have to put up with today, like where you can't see more than a couple of sentences per screen, or where scrolling doesn't work the way it should, is a result of design that is prioritized for mobile. Many website proprietors just won't bother with maintaining two different versions of their sites; they'll lump everything into the mobile design and force everyone to use that.

This generational forgetting of personal computing is such a shame, because personal computers are unbelievably powerful. I spoke of TVs but I don't actually use a television: all my video needs are on my computer, with a screen big enough that I can actually see the details. And when it comes to my work, I would be lost without personal computing! It'd be literally impossible for me on a phone; I would have file cabinets full of papers, just like writers used to.

Of course, we shouldn't oversimplify "generations." Plenty of young people do use desktop or laptop PCs. It's just that, like us before them, they have always been the exception. There has never been a time when society as a whole was fluently using these powerful machines, even to my relatively modest level of expertise and fulsomeness, let alone to that of the true power users.

this can't be true can it

[buttercupshands]

can you even call it a warm up if I'm going to bed without drawing anything big

and a sketch I made while sitting in the park today

[wyvernity]

sss day my favorite national holiday WOOOOHHHH

bonus

[dxxtruction]

Louis' "You're boring!" Could mean so many things, but I think what's most apparent about that line is that Armand takes no initiative just for himself. He's not really anybody, because he never goes out and finds himself or gets attached to anyone but Louis. Without Louis as his guide he's literally just sitting on a couch picking lint! That's the thing.

He orbits constantly around what would make Louis happy, and never really fully going what would make me happy? Ultimately that drive to please Louis is what drives him to torturing Daniel, not so much that he'd care to just do it. Ultimately, not giving proper care to Louis is just a way to make sure Louis knows he has to orbit around him as well, with shoving Lestat onto him just that other nail on the coffin. So, even if he fails to figure out how to make Louis happy with him, he still knows what Armand is good for, and better than.

That dependency is what drives Armand's abuse. It really just comes down to that. Armand doesn't even realize how suffocated he is by his own dependency. This is just how life is to him. (It shouldn't be lost either that dependency is a theme considering this episode also deals with addiction).

Daniel's fascinating because he's just so driven to be somebody. He's largely independent, he seeks things because he wants them. It's his drug to poke and prod at all the things that he shouldn't. Daniel's exciting because he lets Louis in to something different, lets him in to all this potential in another person that he can also do the same with for himself. It's a real connection. A two way street. It's easy to tell how Armand can be smothering then because he's never introducing him to anything really new, and most the ways both of them connect are all painful and traumatic. It's never just fun because there's always that layer of that pain. Fun died with Claudia.

50 years on they've gotten to a lot better place, both of them, but it's still that same shit. No seriously, "How is this any different from last time, Louis?"

Well... Because Armand's going to be, at the very least, making one [1] decision only for himself - and that's to hold power over Daniel's life. Fucking sick foreshadowing.

They aren't driving each other to the brink anymore but "The vampire is bored" STILL. Maybe it's even worse, despite being in better places, because Louis' sort of just been defeated by it. (I mean, can he even really leave this either?). He's accepting the dependancy cause he kind of has to. He'd literally ended up letting all the enjoyment be up where he can't reach [The book shelves]. Armand so desperately wants Louis happiness but what really ends up happening is that Louis ends up having to give Armand all his own. He's got no one or anything else to get it from. But like an iPad and an over the top eating ritual. Two extremes of what's just more lint picking.

This whole relationship is one I find just tragic inside and out. You have to just pity it, really. There's ways in which you can find yourself feeling bad for both of them. But you can only really be mad at Armand for any of it. Armand, who isn't even 'free' in any sense, having so little concept of his own independence, but is at the same time so controlling over other's. It's a tragic cycle. It's an infuriating one.

Louis at least has the mind to know when enough is enough. If just needing that extra push to get there. Armand's too scared of it being over to even try.

[myrkulitescourge]

imo karlach’s soul coin usage seems like it should have been a little more significant than it was.

she only ever really stops to consider the magnitude of burning through a person’s soul for power during an origin playthrough—otherwise she rationalizes to the player that they’re doomed anyway, and if using them gives her an edge in combat, why not use them for good instead of leaving them to be used by evil? the dialogue with lann tarv in act 2, where he tells the story of each soul he's handing over to her, tries to humanize each soul coin, and still she doesn’t really budge and disapproves pretty heavily if she's told no in regards to using them.

it just seems like something that could have caused some kind of conflict between her and wyll, given he sold his soul to a devil in dire circumstances and takes issue with the player for sleeping with mizora, because she 1) is mizora, and 2) similarly expends tormented souls during her romance scene, even if for a different purpose. but it just... never really comes up?

i love karlach. but that seems like it should have gone Somewhere, from a writing standpoint? karlach values wyll as a person but is willing to use currency forged from souls like his for the sake of a temporary power up. she knows the soul is consumed when she uses them. that whole exchange with lann tarv is there to emphasize that every soul coin she destroys was a person once. but it all kind of loses narrative purpose if this combination of factors doesn't mean anything? karlach doesn't change at all in her willingness to use soul coins, no matter what the player says or how much she cares for wyll.

idk. missed opportunity that wyll doesn't have any dialogue about this, of all things.

[lameow-l]

GAMING IS MY SON AND IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO HIM IM GONNA KILL EVERYONE IN THIS ROOM AND THEN MYSELF!!

LOOK AT HIM HES SO CUTE

i still have hope in getting the other boys too

its ok they can be a band or smth.. at least then gaming wouldn’t have to be so disappointed in people not hiring him bc he’s just having fun with his boys…

[killjoy-prince]

A kiss from Death

[sukibenders]

The way people are becoming anti-children nowadays is really sad. And I'm not talking about people not wanting to have kids of their own, that's fine and something that shouldn't be shamed nor up to someone else to debate. No, I'm talking about the people who adamantly hate these little humans for simply existing, wanting to ban them from spaces due to them having emotional reactions that they are still learning to understand (you know, the kind of lessons that everyone had to learn and figure out at one point). It's gotten to the point where I've even seen these types of people genuinely support children being harmed and deny their hurt under the consensus of "Well then maybe they shouldn't be there," in your average public space. Like, imagine thinking hating on children, people who need assistance and guidance, is something to be proud of.

[wundrousarts]

Going to do a Nevermoor series reread in June + July + August ? if anyone else also wants to do a reread around that time, could be fun to have more of the fandom prepping for Silverborn

Did initially make a roadmap plan to split the books up into weeks on top of already being months, so that people could focus on specific parts and discuss each week….. but between the fact that I messed it up the first time, Silverborn kept getting delayed as I planned it, and I’m actually really bad at keeping to stuff like that (looking at you, Silverborn Countdown Challenge…) I’m deciding to just go for it at whatever pace happens.

[qsmprambling]

Imagine Egg A1 still has one life left, and it somehow manages to escape the facility... It is being followed by mobs, by Federation employees, being hurt by the poison ivy and other environmental threats, but it keeps running, because what other choice is there? That parkour course was a trick after all, the last block was a fake, it was never meant to pass that test in the first place.

So it keeps running, but the Federation workers are getting closer. It won't be able to avoid them forever...

But then it bursts through some bushes and comes face to face with someone new - and it's Bad, out building or exploring or just wandering alone. A1 is immediately afraid, of course. It is a stranger, a very visually striking stranger, the complete opposite of the pure white and featureless employees of the Federation. But there are people close behind, and it knows what will happen to it if it is caught, so... It has no choice but to try. It has no way to communicate, no signs or books, so it simply rushes to hide behind him and hopes he understands, and that he is willing to help...

And Bad, for his part, well.. he's an extremely cautious and paranoid person, and this is just an incredibly confusing and unexpected situation to be in. An unknown egg appeared out of nowhere and is hiding behind him, he can see Federation employees in the distance that are clearly looking for something... He knows that the code has been disguising itself as eggs, and that the strange egg in front of him with no marks, no distinguishing features, an egg that he has never seen before, could easily be the code monster preparing to attack at any moment...

But there is absolutely no way Bad could ever look at an egg in distress and not try to help it, even knowing it could be a trap.

So he quickly digs a shallow hole and pushes the mysterious egg into it, covering it up just in time, and when the employees throw him a book asking if he had seen anything, he lies effortlessly, he complains about nonsense, he asks them where the Ekea is and is as annoying as he can be, until they leave.

And now they're alone... just Bad an this mystery egg in the middle of the woods, A1 too afraid to leave the hole even when Bad tries to coax it out. He gives it food and tries his best to comfort it, to tell it everything is okay and that the pursuers are gone. He gives it some signs and a book, trying to see if it will write anything to him or answer any of his questions, but he gets no reply. A1 is just too afraid to even attempt to answer, and Bad doesn't even know if it understands him. He tries what few words he does know of the other languages, and still no response.

What should he do? As much as the image of a tiny, terrified egg makes him want to do all he can for it he also needs to be safe. He can't bring it home, because if it is a code there is no way he is bringing it anywhere near Dapper. Should he call someone else for help, or would that draw too much attention? Would it even be safe for him or the egg to let anyone know right now? And was this egg dangerous, or harmless and in need of protection? He wouldn't abandon it regardless but...

What now?

[dyketennant]

oh i can already tell i’m about to have some really unpopular opinions about the edge of sleep tv show

[spinnysocks]

heyo spinny!! whats some of your favourite tlg ships? or just any you like in general

EHEHEHE rubbing my hands together. evilly. hehehe

well, kiburi is my pathetic wet cat blorbo and i happen to love all the crackships for him. kiburi x makuu? funny as fuck. kiburi x ushari? love them in nikki's pirate au they keep me up at night. kiburi x janja? the outlands brotp ever. my favourite character's stupid ships my beloved yknow?

in terms of other ships: reirei x goigoi obviously. baobabfruit ofc (thanks to you :] /pos). jasiri x kion because yeah. and as you could never tell (/sarc) i love poly ships so banzai x shenzi x ed, tano x nne x madoa, & kiara x tiifu x zuri are ones i really enjoy too. oh and i'll say timon x pumbaa too since they were my first tlk ship i suppose :]

[sagaduwyrm]

I just rewatched The Winter Soldier for the nth time and it's just such an amazing movie. The perfection of the weapons designed to 'stop threats before they can happen' shooting themselves down because they, and the philosophy they symbolize, are the real threat, and that Captain America, who uses a shield instead of a weapon, leads the charge against them. It messes me up every time.

[icewindandboringhorror]

just a few little bits from the past few days

[minkufu]

Anyway if youre like me and have trouble visualizing poses you have in mind, 3D models are a godsend.

The structure and proportions of the models arnt perfect even if you resize them, so I end up adjusting a LOT. I just need the general shape of the poses.

one of the best examples I have of 3D models in clip studio making it possible for me to actually complete a draw I otherwise would have scrapped lol

[innocentartery]

”halcarol is toxic!!!” “halcarol should just be friends!!!” well first of all l + ratio and you don’t even understand that the circumstances keeping them apart have nothing to do with their influence on nor feelings for each other… they dance in a constant choreography of interchanging power dynamics because deep down they’re the same. and they’re soulmates who fuck nasty <3