#On the other hand there's a lot of misinformation about how the industry works so I get how it can be annoying to see ppl outraging over i

[theultracharmingladynoire]

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[cwgl418]

Abuse (?) , suicidal thoughts //

I'm honestly have no idea if I suffered from abuse or being mistreated and that led me to have several mental disorders. I've recently got “diagnosed” with PTSD. But when I say “diagnosed” it means I'm not entirely sure since my doctor is always vague with his diagnosis.��

If u happen to know any good resources abt abuse, c-PTSD, PTSD, or depression, plz let me know in the comments🥲

What led me to have c-PTSD/PTSD:

Firstly, you need to know they have OCD and Bipolar disorder and experienced bullying so I think you need to have the context that they’re not exactly mentally well too.

Well, I met the one of my former moot online one day, because I was desperate of entering the animation industry as a color designer and they were one of the Japanese artists who works from home. I thought it might be a good opportunity to ask them about stuff. After that, we became moots.

One day, I decided to ask them if I could use their line art to color design and put in my portfolio. They had their restrictions like “Don’t make my OC in to a Black character” I was a little bummed about that request, feeling that feels a little bit anti-black, but they said yes, so I decided to work. And I told them, “It’s really hard, because the colors you’ve chosen is already good” and they replied, “Well, if you just use my colors, it will just fan art. Go find someone else”.

I accepted that request and the project was cancelled.

Before that, we’ve had a conversation, that I don’t really like the term “Yuri” to express wlw, so I suggested them to call it Sapphic instead. They declined so I decided to respect their wishes. But told them that “Well, please know that at least I tried”. And we also had a conversation about Disney styles. People always think I have a Disney style, and they on the other hand, have a completely different art style. More like a anime style for kids. So I told them, if you need any help with Disney style in your portfolio, I could help. Because I thought I could show my gratitude for being kind to me.

After that, I’ve saw their tweet saying, “When Marnie Was There is so yuri”. I was stunned because it was a ship between a grandmother and granddaughter. It was an incest ship.

After that, they also tweeted that “Lumity is yuri” and to be honest, I was at my limit so I tweeted, “I don’t think the term yuri is suitable for Lumity. You could call it wlw, GL, or Sapphic instead”. And oh, they went mad.

They told me, how yuri is not a bad or dirty term, and was so angry at me. I told them, we should end this conversation because we won’t agree on each other. The next day, I decided to soft block them. Only to find out they’ve blocked me on multiple accounts and they’ve spread a misinformation about me that “She said she hate yuri”.

Not only it felt like misgendering (because they kept using she/her and not they/them or ros/rose my other pronouns at that time), it was completely false information. So I tweeted on my account that “I didn’t said I hated yuri. I literally love wlw. I just don’t like the term” and they saw the tweet, deleted it, and tweeted again. And they also accused me that I said they don’t have a Disney style and they are hurt by it. I literally didn’t said that. I have proof and screenshots of what I’ve said.

What bummed me the most is that they were talking about our conversations we talked through DM. Meaning private.

They also said, that “Am I anti-black for saying that I don’t allow my OCs of not being colored darker?” Leaving the context completely that they specifically said that they don’t want their characters Black.

So a lot of people started to get angry at me, saying I’m childish or an asshole. A lot of people speculated by their tweets that I was a foreigner trying to gain control of a Japanese person with their terms when I’m Japanese myself. The person who accused me all of this, kept misgendering me so their followers did too.

I decided to just leave them. But I couldn’t get them off my head. One day, I’ve decided to visit their account on my alt account because I wanted to take a screenshot of their tweets bad mouthing me. And I saw their tweets accusing me that I’ve been kept falsely accusing them and harassing them for months so they’ve took the screenshots of my tweets and went to the police and the lawyer. I got very scared.

Ever since, I’m so scared of them, avoiding anything that reminds me of them (words, my attendance record for work, names, characters, movies etc), and keep having flashbacks of that incident.

My memories of what I exactly tweeted abt them is so blurry, so I might be wrong, but I think I tried to warn ppl that they ship incest ships and that they are a proshipper. And the way that they said that they don't allow their characters to be colored dark skinned only slightly tanned and not Black feels a bit anti-Black. And I think they took as me trying to harrass them or defame them or spreading false info bc they thought I’ve worded differently

And that’s the entire story I guess.

What’s my “abuse”?

So my abuse… starts w my mom… she doesn’t speak English but she always wanted to and pushed my dreams on me. I grew up learning English w my mom. The shouting got worse when I was in Elementary school. I would get scolded for the smallest things.

Like not remembering the meaning of the word. She would lock herself up in her room and I just cried while I’ll just write her an apology letter. She wouldn’t hit me, but sometimes kicked me. She still does when she gets too hot headed.

The second one is my homestay at Australia. I had two host families. I'll get to why later. But my first host family was a grandma. And before my stay, I asked her if she had a wi-fi and she said yes, we weren't allowed to bring out own wi-fi so I was relieved. Until I’ve learned she doesn't.

So I asked her if she could get wi-fi during my stay and she said yes so we went to get a wi-fi unit I've learned she thought I wanted to buy myself my own wi-fi. I was surprised and refused and I left the store.

During my stay, there was a Chinese boy with me. He had his own wi-fi. I could hear him talking to his phone in his room and that made me more lonely. I was crying in my room without no comfort, no internet, no way to contact my mom.

Until I breaked down in front of my host mother and the Chinese boy kindly offered me to share his wi-fi. I happily took the offer. The next day, I was accused by my teachers that I bought a wi-fi and I never left my room.

I was confused, bc I never bought a wi-fi and was in my room just playing w my phone. I was crying in my room. I told them it was all an misunderstanding. I've never bought a wi-fi, I got shared a wi-fi from another boy who's home staying. The teachers were horrified.

Bc it was against the rules. It was supposed to be only one student per home. I was apologized by the misunderstanding but I had to change my host family.

After that, I moved to a different host family. This host family seemed wealthy. They had two kids (both boys) and I had my own place to stay w a wi-fi (finally!) But I had to go and be around w the boy's sports lessons and I was bored.

Although, I had severe social anxiety at that time (without knowing) I tried my best to be present and interact w them. I was pretty happy w my second host family. Until, I was called to a room during my lecture by my teacher.

There was my host mother and his son waiting. I was wondering why I was called out during class. Until I was told by my teachers that my host family told them that I wasn't interacting much as they wish too.

I was humiliated in front of them about my personality and how I should be more extroverted for my own sake. I remember crying and said “But this is just who I am…”

After that incident, I asked my host family if I'm able to visit the medival inspired castle. They told me if I want to go there, I need to pay everything including their fees. I was shocked and took down my offer.

During my stay of my second host family, I had to come to the school an hour early due to their work schedule. So I had an hour to myself nothing to do. My friends won’t come soon so I just decided to use my phone which was against the rules.

Eventually, I've got caught and my phone was taken away. My only comfort, my only way to contact my family and online friends. Even though there were students using their phones during the class.

Of course, I was scolded by it and cried. I haven't got my phone back until my last day of my stay. Eventually, I got a cold and I my throat hurt I couldn't speak. It was my worst stay ever. And that's the end of the story I guess.

What’s my suspicion with depression?

My mom asked if I’m happen to be depressed bc my shopping addiction got worse and I honestly don’t know. I’m being suspecting if I have one for months. But it’s not the same as the early symptoms(crying and having diarrhea every day) I’ve experienced during college so I’m not sure.

I just feel less joy w my hobbies like drawing or reading. I haven’t finished an actual book for months…

Sometimes when I look at the knife I just think and wonder if I wanna cut myself or stab myself… but I wonder it’s bc of my OCD or depression. I honestly have no idea.

I asked my doctor months ago and he was like “Well you might be”. He doesn't diagnose me specifically. So I'm still confused whether if my lack of joy on drawing and reading is due to depression and I just happen to get my shit together bc I already take antidepressants bc of my OCD.

[sapphicteaparty]

i've NEVER seen a single good faith discussions about pleather on this website and i want ppl to think critically for one second about the way businesses talk about their products. "vegan leather" is purely a marketing term and nothing else. it was invented by the fashion industry and it has nothing to do with vegans or veganism.

"vegan leather" is basically made of polyester (a type of plastic), but crucially a lot of clothes nowadays are made of polyester either fully or partially because it's cheaper to produce. so of course clothing companies are going to be producing and marketing things that make them more money.

these products are not even targeting vegans, they're making an average customer feel better about their purchases, same way they are now putting "eco" labels on some of their organic cotton clothing. it's just greenwashing. NOTHING in fast fashion is eco friendly in any way - this whole industry is extremely wasteful an exploitative on every level. when are ppl going to realize that these companies just say anything they can to make it seem like they care about anything other than their profit margins. because they don't.

my wish is that ppl that talk about how bad pleather is and how vegans are apparently responsible for all of the microplastic pollution in the world also talked or cared even a little bit about the absolutely horrific abuse and exploitation that happens in the clothing and fast fashion industry. talk about how this industry consistently fails (or outright refuses) to pay its workers a living wage or how they don't provide them humane working conditions - and how that led to thousands of garment workers dying and getting injured when a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh (and that's not the only tragedy this industry is directly responsible for).

also microplastics are only the tip of the iceberg if you want to talk about the pollution that the clothing industry is responsible for (toxic chemicals and pesticides used in cotton production, garment dyes, the disposal of textile waste etc) - all of which has direct human costs tied to it.

but if your only concern ever was microplastics that clothes can shed then great! avoid all polyester and plastic clothing. but did you know textiles aren't even the primary microplastic contaminants? it's plastic bags, bottles and fishing nets by far. most ppl can't always avoid these plastic items in daily life. but do you eat fish? vegans don't.

i'm just so tired of the pleather discussion focusing on the wrong thing (vegans) when there are so many more aspects about the clothing industry and plastic pollution that never get addressed when they should. and the amount of misinformation on these topics is just laughable at this point. ppl sure enjoy reblogging posts that confirm their biases and free them from having to critically engage with complicated issues because it's so easy to just blame a group of ppl for it.

anyway if you're concerned about ethical clothing (i hope you are) then basically these are your best options:

wear what you already have and don't buy new clothes unless necessary

get second hand clothes

get upcycled clothes

this may seem a bit extreme but these are the only options that don't result in new clothes and textiles being produced because there is an overproduction issue in the clothing industry which is why over 80% of clothes end up in landfills. obviously these options aren't viable for everyone all the time but if the goal is sustainability then that's just the reality of things for now.

you can also do things like mend your clothes so they last longer, learn to sew to make your own clothes etc all of that is better than buying new clothes. donating clothes to a thrift store is also not ideal since they get so many donations that a lot of it ends up in a landfill anyway and recycling clothes is also not straightforward or even possible in a lot of cases. so not buying new/more clothes is the most environmentally friendly option. and before you go no ethical consumption under capitalism blah blah yeah we know. doesn't mean you are powerless and have no choices in anything ever.

please learn more about microplastics, the clothing/textile industry and veganism before you uncritically reblog another misinformed post about "vegan leather" or microplastics. also please don't uncritically believe what i wrote here either. if you're seriously interested in these topics then your source for this information shouldn't be some tumblr post in the first place. there are lot of studies, documentaries and articles about all the things i mentioned. i'm not a researcher or a scientist, so don't ask me. i'm just tired.

[goatsludge]

Longtime lurker, hoping you can help me out.

I'd like to purchase a gas mask that is available for say...under $200-300...and compatible with aiming a rifle?

Can you suggest a couple of models that are affordable and easily obtainable?

I'm also (seperately) looking for a low cost self-contained (battery driven supllied air) full-face respirator for painting or spaying pesticides but the cost of the 3M system has kept me from taking the plunge. I find half masks or disposables really uncomfortable to breath through. Any suggestions?

That depends on a lot of things - let's start with the most important one, are you wanting to buy new or are you experienced enough to know what to look out for with surplus items?

Assuming you live in the U.S., imo the best option for most tactically-inclined individuals are ex-police Avon C50's; They sit smack dab in the middle of the pricepoint you described (going for $250+ on average) and they meet 80% of the criteria for what I personally believe a modern "tactical" mask (not just military) should encompass:

Panoramic eyelens with a wide ecosystem of lens outserts

Optical insert capability

Comms and/or Voice Amplifier-Capable

Mesh skullcap-type head harness with low-profile buckles for helmet integration

Butyl rubber and glass-filled nylon construction

Common, standardized drinking adapter

Threaded for Rd40x1/7" NATO Canisters for greater flexibility of protection (i.e.; using canisters intended for specific threats instead of just general purpose CBRN)

Left and right-hand capable side ports

Interchangeable inner nosecups for custom sizing based on individual facial ergonomics The only thing it really lags behind in is having poor passive voice communication (no voice diaphragm, just the outlet valve), as well as poor moisture drainage (you will have to lean forward to drain any sweat, spit, etc out the outlet valve rather than it draining naturally)

All gas masks are generally going to put you at a disadvantage as far as aiming a rifle, and even masks designed for improved rifle ergonomics like the Avon FM53/54 still give a massive amount of stand-off when attempting to look down your sights, so I'd definitely hop on the bandwagon of tall optic risers if gas mask usage is a legitimate consideration.

Other excellent surplus options include the older Avon FM12, Scott/Kemira M/95 (or more realistically, the Scott M110 if you can find them; the M/95's drinking system is hard to get adapters for), or even MSA Millennium or surplus M40A1 Protective Masks are all viable options with a fair amount of aftermarket support. As far as buying newly-manufactured masks, you're going to be cutting above the $300 mark - Avon sells their C50 (and FM50, which is the same but with proprietary cartridges) at an MSRP of $500

Mira Safety is a brand you've likely heard of, who are mostly known as a redistributor of gas masks manufactured for them by Czech firm Gumarny Zubri. Mira as a company is incredibly underhanded and shady - they make a lot of false claims about who they sell to and the capability of their products, and not to mention their ad campaigns are the most blatantly mudslinging/misinformed.

Objectively the only thing that Mira/GuZu masks really shine at is having slightly higher quality rubber and superior passive voice comms and downward moisture drainage over Avon designs. They fail at basically every other aspect. However, they do work and they are cheaper if buying brand-new masks is a requirement for you.

I sadly don't have many suggestions as far as commercial/industrial PAPR units - I know a lot of those are surplussed by the pharmaceutical/medical industry, so I'd browse options, get to know them and spend time obsessively browsing ebay for various models and knowing how to tell when they're complete and serviceable.

Oh and one last thing -

P3-rated Particulate Filters are your best friend if all you realistically expect to face off against is tear gas and nuisance dusts. Particulate filters don't really expire since there's basically no chemicals that break down and can be stored almost indefinitely provided there's no moisture to foul the filter element.

40mm threaded P3 cartridges made by 3M, Racal, MSA etc are super common on the industrial surplus market and can be had in bulk for reasonably cheap, especially as "expired" lots.

[inverse-problem]

hiii you posted something about having read most of the like, recommended books with robots in them and i was just curious if you would be cool with listing some that youd rec? trying to read more books with robots in them and curious for ideas :]

sure! was gonna do a whole organized post but I may as well just get some down for now. not gonna be an exhaustive list (there's a bunch on my to-read list I don't want to rec before I read it myself), my summaries may be dubious, my taste may also be dubious, but here's a few I liked. I definitely recommend seeking stuff out outside of my list bc honestly it's quite limited now that I'm looking at it lol. be warned also that a lot of these deal with heavy themes of stuff including identity, bodily autonomy, etc. (idk which specific topics may be an issue so be sure to consult a trigger list if necessary). also I have yet to find anything with a robot romance that I find particularly compelling but ah well

the murderbot diaries series by martha wells: pretty much everyone's gonna recommend these to you, and for good reason imo, they're quite solid. main character is basically a security guard cyborg (humanoid but not human) who hacked its programming and is trying to figure out what it actually wants to do with itself now that it has free will. all it wants to do is watch tv shows in its head and avoid interacting with people, but life-or-death situations and its penchant for wanting to rescue people keep getting in its way

the imperial radch series by ann leckie: sentient spaceship ai that once had hundreds of human bodies all networked to a central ai, on a revenge quest. lots of themes of identity, lots of space geopolitics, a big horrendous empire that people are grappling with being complicit in, and an interesting take on a single-gendered society inspired by ursula leguin's the left hand of darkness (also a solid book, no robots there though). gets quite intense at times because of the sorts of horrors that evil empires get up to

17776 by jon bois: (note the link is to a website that turns into the story when you scroll through, watch out if flickering/eyestrain/etc is an issue) technically not a book but a multimedia webnovel of sorts (with short animations and videos, but mostly written as dialogue between characters). it's the year 17776, a lot of places are underwater, humanity has found itself immortal, and several space probes have gained sentience. now, the space probes busy themselves with watching and discussing what the humans are doing to entertain themselves, which mostly involves really absurd games of football. a bit absurdist and existential but very fun, even if you don't know much about football

the monk and robot series, by becky chambers: this one is very chill; a monk in a cozy post-industrial future setting doesn't know what they want from life so they go on adventure on impulse and meet a robot. robots have been out of contact with humanity for a long time, so both of them learn a lot from each other

the wayfarers series, also by becky chambers: haven't read all of them yet but the first book is a chill character-driven space road trip story with a friendly ship ai. lots of found family themes, and great if you like seeing a story where people are working together and are really in their element. the sequels tell other stories set in the same universe, most of which also feature robot characters, and there's interesting alien characters there too

activation degradation, by marina j lostetter: a robot gets activated on a space mining platform during an alien attack, and has to deal with a bunch of ensuing chaos and misinformation. I mostly found the plot twists interesting here, the characters themselves were so-so to me

obligatory asimov recommendations, caveat that his work is old and has historical biases etc, but also that's where you get the three laws of robotics so welp. I, robot is an interesting collection of short stories, mostly focusing on how the three laws of robotics actually can break down in various situations. there's also the robot trilogy which is basically a buddy cop detective story with a human from earth and a robot from space and they solve murders. lots of caveats with this rec (for one, I'm not big on cop shit to put it mildly) but asimov does do some interesting worldbuilding and society building with how the earth and space societies differ. there's the foundation series that follows from these books but I haven't read that haha

the hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy series by douglas adams: only one prominent robot here who sporadically shows up, but also this series is just a fun time. the premise is that earth gets destroyed by aliens to make way for an unnecessary space highway, and one very tired human survives and bounces around the galaxy encountering all sorts of weird situations. lots of humourous satire, some a bit dated at this point but much still holds up. also douglas adams just has a way with words

individual short stories:

fandom for robots by vina jie-min prasad: a robot learns what fandom is! a very fun read imo

a guide for working breeds, also by vina jie-min prasad, whose writing I really like in general tbh: robots dealing with a contract job economy

68:hazard:cold by janelle c. shane: robot stranded on an ice planet. I really like the description of how a robot's view of the world and communication protocols might look

cat pictures please by naomi kritzer: an ai wants to be helpful to humanity but doesn't quite know how; a nice benevolent ai story

there were other short stories I also liked but I can't find where I put them now, welp. let me know if you read and enjoy any of these, though!

[themculibrary]

Dating Masterlist

4 times the avengers were oblivous to thorbruce +1 time they weren’t (ao3) - Fridaes bruce/thor G, 6k

Summary: Thor and Bruce have been happily dating for a while now. They don’t outwardly tell the Avengers they are, but they’re so obvious it would be impossible for their friends to miss it.

Unfortunately they always seem to forget they’re surrounded by the biggest and most oblivious idiots in the galaxy.

OR

4 times the Avengers were oblivious to Thorbruce and +1 time they finally weren’t

a case of misinformed identity (ao3) - artificial_ink darcy/pietro E, 21k

Summary: Tony doesn’t like the idea of Pietro dating his daughter but Darcy just hopes the speedster passes her Seven Date Trials.

adventures of a sniper and her boyfriends (ao3) - DarthAbby bucky/kate/steve M/G, 9k

Summary: What, you really thought that Kate Bishop dating Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes would be uneventful?

a stand up date (ao3) - TheCyborgThatCould clint/phil N/R, 1k

Summary: “It was nine fifteen, and his date was supposed to meet him at eight thirty.”

Or, dating as an Avenger was hard work, but he never thought that Phil would stand him up when they finally got their chance.

baby, i love your way (ao3) - bevioletskies gamora/peter T, 2k

Summary: “So this was your idea of a ‘romantic date night’?”

“I think comin’ back to Knowhere is very romantic,” Peter said defensively. “You don’t think so?”

“Believe me, I much prefer this over an expensive dinner by candlelight,” Gamora replied. “Or an evening boat ride…or a tour through an abandoned palace…or that strange club on Xandar with the dancers and the funny drinks…”

“I thought you had fun when we did that stuff.” Peter frowned. “Gamora - ”

“I did, honestly. Just…I like this more.” She reached over to take his hand, guiding it to rest on her stomach, rising and falling with every steady breath she took.

birds do it (ao3) - HazelDomain, Mumble_Bee bucky/steve/sam M, 3k

Summary: The one where Sam gets dating advice from the birds

call me spider man (ao3) - AlexTheShipper peter/wade, steve/tony T, 7k

Summary: Peter didn’t mean to come out as trans to Deadpool, or to start dating him, and he certainly didn’t expect coming out to be like this. It’s nice though.

date night (ao3) - natashasbanner carol/maria T, 9k

Summary: Carol and Maria have been friends for years and are practically inseparable. It only made sense for Carol to move in with Maria and Monica. And it worked out for awhile.

But when Maria starts dating again, it digs up feelings Carol thought were long buried. She refused to ruin their friendship because of her stupid crush, but will she end up doing it anyway?

fake (date) it til you make it (ao3) - Blizzard_Fire bruce/clint M, 6k

Summary: ‘Hey Doc,’ Clint said one morning, strolling into the lab, ‘Can you date me?’ Bruce frowned up at him. ‘Why?’ ‘To fuck with Tony, mainly.’

Bruce and Clint start fake-dating to mess with the others. But then it becomes a question of how long they can keep this up, and maybe their “dates” aren’t quite so platonic anymore…

fate will play us out (ao3) - steveandbucky steve/bucky E, 30k

Summary: Bucky has landed himself a job with Stark Industries. He doesn’t know yet that the job is actually being the PR manager for the Avengers.

Bucky has also started dating Steve Rogers. He also doesn’t know yet that Steve is Captain America.

Bucky’s life is about to get a whole lot more exciting.

go time! (ao3) - Agent C (arh581958) steve/tony E, 3k

Summary: Tony is the average teenage omega Avenger. He’s smart. He’s handsome. He’s talented. He also happens to be dating the hottest alpha in the whole school. He just received his latest mission: Steve was in rut!

(Or: How to Take Care of an Alpha in Rut - ‘cause too many ABO stories have helpless omegas and Tony isn’t one of them.)

how does it feel to be alive again? (ao3) - freedvmrouge steve/bucky G, 6k

Summary: It’s the dawn of a new century and they’re finally at peace. No wars to fight in and no other place to be. Steve finds Bucky sluggishly wafting through their apartment and decides that they’re due for a date. One where they’re finally free to be themselves, be like every other couple walking the streets of New York.

love run (ao3) - Marvel corner (PinkGold) bucky/steve/tony T, 32k

Summary: In which Steve and Bucky are secretly dating and Tony is the new kid in school.

Pizza Party (ao3) - deathtouchwlw (deathtouch) kate/america G, 735

Summary: anonymous asked: can you write america and kate eating pizza?

the perfect girlfriend (ao3) - TheTruthAboutLove maria/natasha M, 63k

Summary: Maria’s sister is getting married and her parents are trying to set her up with a date for the wedding. Natasha offers to go with her, instead, because what could possibly go wrong while pretending you’re dating the best friend you’re actually in love with? They’re super spies, so they’re exceptionally good at lying. Especially to themselves.

Third Wheel (ao3) - copperbadge bucky/natasha, bucky/steve/natasha T, 1k

Summary: Steve is obsessed with Bucky and Natasha's relationship. Bucky's gonna find Steve his own date if it kills him. Natasha thinks Bucky is perhaps overlooking the obvious.

[ilhoonftw]

okay I’m no expert when it comes to sales and industry dynamics but I truly fully believe that K-pop reached its height and all these inflated sales and records purely cuz of covid. this isn’t to discredit anybody’s work and of course there was already a spotlight on it but the level it reached was purely cuz of covid cuz with everybody locked up inside a lot of people just needed lighthearted content to binge and that’s what kpop provided. I might be fully wrong about the prediction but I do believe that with lockdowns not happening kpop will minimise a lot more than what stans expect at the moment. I just find it so fascinating and sometimes I do wonder if Covid didn’t happen then what would the kpop landscape look like? im sorry for any mistakes cuz English isn’t my first language

sorry for late reply anon!

i think covid was def a factor but sale numbers started rising before that. like i remember when digital downloads took over and very popular idols weren't cracking 500k sales because market saturation. albums also had less gimmicks, like photocard poster and that's it. exo is the group that brought back massive sales, for whiiiiile they weren't considered a legit million sellers because sm produced multiple versions of albums. now it doesn't seem like an issue anymore... g.o.d were the last idol million sellers (fun fact first million sellers in korea was a band hyunsik's father was in)

i do think covid cranked things to the max. whatever was going on already became accelerated(?). no doubt sale numbers would continue to go up as kpop became more known abroad and buying albums became more accessible, but covid did cause things to skyrocket. and you can tell kpop's growth goes hand in hand with korea's economy, because things are slowing up there. there's gotta be some shady stuff going on, like buying back albums to hike up sale numbers artificially (cube did that to 4m in 2012 were caught immediately...) as digital chart manipulation in 2010s was a thing companies like starshit got away with. like at this point i wonder if authorities tasked with catching fraud are just looking the other way, ignoring how album sales numbers look unreal

i think you can gauge kpop's rise abroad by how many youtube videos about "dark side of kpop" popped up. a lot of them at best silly at worst misinformed. active entertaiment industry in every country is Bad. kpop was based on japanese and american teen idol systems if you ask Me, and both of these are... yea. lee sooman especially basically copied everyone's homework, sm rookies are exactly what johnny juniors are minus i guess backdancing for senior idols

covid caused things go online and tbh stuff you wouldn't be able to access in 2019 was uploaded officially in 2020. being able to stream kpop concerts online??? unthinkable before that

shipping things from korea became harder to do because korea post became super restrictive, i ordered some kbeauty items in feb 2020 from ebay, sellers couldn't ship them and just refunded me. things shipped in jan/feb came like 3 months later 🫣 i stopped buying albums by that point so idk how that affected individual buyers, but group order accounts are all over twitter/fb so idk

personally covid caused a lot of hurt and pain in my life i wish it didn't happen at all. and that govt's response wasn't basically 'if you die, you die' but that's besides the point

and your english is fine! don't worry! im not a native speaker either

[d-r-a-w-k-w-a-r-d]

"My Secret Trick"

Originally written elsewhere, elsewhen.

I wrote this to a new guy who was asking me questions, and thought it might be worth repeating here. He's an aspiring audio engineer, and I've worked as one for the last mumblemumble years, but maybe some of y'all might be interested.

Philosophy of "my secret techniques" vs. sharing openly.

You'll run into a lot of people that have developed a secret trick, something they stumbled across, or discovered after hours of experimenting in the lab, or learned from a pro, or analyzing somebody else's session.

Eventually, you'll ask one of these people how they did the secret trick. Eventually, people will come to YOU and ask how you did the trick.

I find that you generally have two kinds of people in how they respond to this question: you have the people who are very secretive about their special trick, and don't want to share it. "You gotta pay your dues, kid! I worked hard for this knowledge" or "man, it's just what I do. It's MY thing." Some will even give you deliberate misinformation, leading you in the wrong path, so as to keep their secret… Their Thing.

I don't happen to be one of those people. I believe that if you have your "one magical trick," and you don't share it, you may be "the man" for a month or a year or an album. But eventually, the industry moves on. New sounds get discovered and made popular, new styles emerge, and music continues to evolve. If you're selfish and mean with your knowledge, it makes you a bitter, suspicious person, and you're generally not a nice individual to be around. Nobody wants to share with you, because you never share. It's about giving back to the community.

On the other hand, if you share what you know, you're helping somebody to get better. You're helping people you've never met to better realize the music in their hearts. Sure, you'll no longer have that One Special Trick that's yours and yours alone. So what? You've got to learn, you've got to grow. Art is going to grow anyway. But you've got to challenge yourself. Hang around people better than you rather than taking satisfaction in being the best among your small group. And how do you ensure that you're always around better people? You make them better, of course. You share your knowledge, and you make the community better. Everybody wins.

If you're always trying to take credit for every little thing, eventually people realize that you're just blowing smoke. You're in the music business; I'm sure you've met those guys who constantly talk about how they're geniuses, how they've got the whole world on lock. They're a CEO, and a producer, and an engineer, and a street team leader, and and and... Eventually, you get sick of listening to people like that. Yes, you need to be confident in your skills, but if you try to claim credit for every little thing, people notice.

If you point to the guy next to you, point to the talent, point to your assistant, eventually people will realize that that's just what you do. You bring everybody up. You're not a magical genius, you're about the music. When somebody says, "oh, man, you're great! You're the best, blah blah blah..." Nope. I just remove obstacles between artists and their vision. It's not about me, it's about the music.

And eventually, people will realize that when you do admit something cool that you did, or that you figured out a new way for something to be done, that you're someone whose opinion counts. You don't need to yell about how great you are if you're truly great.

The session is never about you. It's always about the music. And that's what gets you repeat clients. If you're a human of honor and integrity, always, people know. If you always treat people professionally, they notice. If you hit the artists you find attractive with pickup lines, or are always trying to run game on people, they notice that, too. And you better believe that if you're trying to do backdoor deals ("Yeah, man, give me a call on my cell. We don't have to work out of THIS studio") the studio owner will notice that. And so will clients. It may be inconvenient for them, that you won't save them fifty bucks an hour by recording them at your place, but they'll also know that you're not going to rip off their sounds, or play their music and claim it as your own, or leak it to get yourself a little glory. There's no substitute for integrity.

If you want your home to be safe, you could put triple locks on the doors, bars on the windows, threaten your neighbors, be a suspicious jerk, hope that you intimidate everyone into staying away. Or you could treat your neighbors with respect and humor, watch out for them and help them when you can, and make it so that people don't want to give you trouble. Not because you're a mean mofo, but because you make their lives better by being in it.

(Yes, I realize that this isn't strictly true for every situation, particularly not in a city like Atlanta. I lived on MLK, and came home to my front door crowbarred open and some dude carrying out my guitar under one arm . The smart guy has good locks and is a good person.)

So -hey- share this info if you want. Make everybody better. I'd appreciate it if you kept my name on it, but ultimately, it's in your hands.

[emergingindiaanalyticsnoida]

Demystifying The Role Of An AI Designer: What You Need To Know

Welcome to the world where machines are no longer just robots performing repetitive tasks, but intelligent beings capable of making decisions and learning from their experiences. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has revolutionized various industries, promising unprecedented advancements and transforming the way we interact with technology. But have you ever wondered who is behind the scenes, crafting these remarkable AI systems? Enter the role of an AI Designer – a fascinating profession that combines creativity, problem-solving skills, and a deep understanding of human behavior. In this blog post, we will demystify what it means to be an AI Designer and unveil the secrets behind creating intelligent technologies that seamlessly integrate into our lives. So grab your virtual goggles as we embark on a journey to unravel what it takes to design cutting-edge AI solutions!

Introduction

When it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), there is a lot of misinformation out there. Some people believe that AI is only used for creating and programming robots, while others think that it will eventually take over all human jobs. The truth is, AI is much more than that.

At its core, AI is about creating algorithms that can learn and make predictions from data. This can be used for a wide range of tasks, from identifying patterns in financial data to translating languages to driving cars.

There is a lot of potential for AI to help businesses automate tasks and make better decisions. However, designing effective AI systems is not easy. It requires a deep understanding of both machine learning and the domain you’re working in (for example, finance or healthcare).

This is where AI designers come in. AI designers are responsible for building algorithms that solve real-world problems. They need to have a strong technical background in machine learning, as well as an understanding of the business domain they’re working in.

If you’re interested in becoming an AI designer, there are a few things you need to know. First, you need to have strong math skills. You also need to be able to code and have experience with different programming languages (such as Python or R). It’s important to be able to think creatively and come up with innovative solutions to problems.

What Is An AI Designer?

An AI designer is a professional who creates and implements artificial intelligence solutions. AI designers work in a variety of industries, including healthcare, finance, manufacturing, and retail. They use their skills to develop algorithms that can solve complex problems or process large amounts of data.

AI designers are responsible for the entire lifecycle of an AI project, from concept to deployment. They work closely with clients to understand their needs and objectives, and then they design and test AI solutions that meet those needs. Once a solution is deployed, AI designers monitor its performance and make changes as needed.

The role of an AI designer is constantly evolving as new technologies emerge. AI designers must keep up with the latest trends and developments in the field in order to create effective solutions.

AI Designer vs. AI Architect

The role of an AI designer is to conceptualize, create, and oversee the production of artificial intelligence (AI) applications. An AI architect, on the other hand, is responsible for designing and developing the underlying architecture or framework that will enable those applications to function.

In order to be successful in either role, it is important to have a strong understanding of both the business goals that the AI application is meant to achieve as well as the technical aspects of how AI works. However, each role requires different skillsets and mind-sets.

An AI designer needs to be able to think creatively about how best to design an AI application that will meet the specific needs of their users. They also need to be able to effectively communicate their vision for the application to both non-technical and technical team members. In addition, they need to have a strong understanding of user experience (UX) design principles in order to create an AI application that is not only effective but also easy for users to interact with.

An AI architect, on the other hand, needs to be more focused on the technical aspects of how best to build the underlying architecture or framework that will enable an AI application to function effectively. They also need to have a strong understanding of scalability issues and performance constraints in order ensure that the architecture they design can support an increasing number of users or transactions without breaking down.

AI Designer Job Role

An AI designer is responsible for the planning, creation, and implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. They work with clients or businesses to understand their needs and develop AI systems that will meet those needs. AI designers must have a strong understanding of AI technology and its potential applications. They must be able to identify problems that can be solved with AI and design solutions that are both efficient and effective.

AI designers typically have a background in computer science or a related field. They may also have experience in software engineering or data science. Strong communication and collaboration skills are essential in this role, as AI designers must be able to work with other team members to ensure that the final product meets the client’s expectations.

AI Designer Responsibilities

As an AI designer, your responsibilities will vary depending on the organisation you work for and the specific project you are working on. However, there are some key responsibilities that are common to most AI design roles.

First and foremost, you will be responsible for designing the overall user experience for your organisation’s AI applications. This includes defining how users will interact with the application, what data they will see, and what actions they can take.

You will also be responsible for ensuring that the AI application is able to meet the needs of users. This includes conducting user research, defining user requirements, and designing user-centric solutions.

You will also need to be able to effectively communicate your designs to developers and other stakeholders. This means being able to clearly articulate your ideas, create high-quality visualisations of your designs, and write detailed specifications.

AI Designer Skills

An AI Designer is responsible for creating and overseeing the design of AI-enabled products. As such, they must have a strong understanding of both artificial intelligence and user experience design.

An AI Designer must be able to identify opportunities for using AI to improve the user experience of a product. They must also be able to understand the limitations of AI technology and how those limitations impact the design of the product. In addition, an AI Designer must be able to create prototypes and conduct user testing to ensure that the final product meets the needs of users.

Salary Expectations for an AI Designer

Diverse AI Designer Salaries: Insights from Across the Globe

AI designer incomes are shaped by geographical factors and the individual’s professional journey. Here’s an overview of the typical earnings in the United States and India:

United States:

Average Yearly Income: $173,000

Top-tier Earnings: Reaching up to $193,500

Entry-level Compensation: Commencing at $23,000

India:

Annual Salary Spectrum: Ranges from Rs 3.0 Lakhs to Rs 22.5 Lakhs

Median Salary: Approximately Rs 8.5 Lakhs

Clearly, AI designer remuneration varies not only between nations but also spans a broad spectrum contingent on the individual’s skill set and career trajectory.

Conclusion

AI Designers have an exciting and ever-evolving role in the world of technology. With the right skillset, they can create powerful tools that automate processes and enhance user experiences. As Artificial Intelligence becomes more embedded into our everyday lives, we will only see demand for these professionals increase. For those looking to pursue a career as an AI Designer, it is important to understand what this role entails so you can decide if it is the right path for you.

[awgeezitsthetoiletnator]

this is a fair question! i took some time to jot down my thoughts below the cut.

i think deciding whether a show is good or bad is up to every individual, but the reasons that this new show isn't resonating with many people can be summed up as:

deviation from the source material

the characters seem detached from from their original personalities and don't seem to like each other very much. granted, this show is supposed to serve as an origin story for these characters, so things might change as the show progresses. but right now it's hard to see how those four meddling kids (and a dog) will eventually jump into a van and solve mysteries together. there's an earnestness associated with all scooby doo adaptations thats missing amongst all the snarky jabs.

ongoing IP issues in animation

this is not the developer's fault, but there is currently a huge issue in the animation industry with execs greenlighting remakes of existing IPs while cancelling original programming. they want to push shows that require less marketing and promise  guaranteed viewers, who will tune in due to curiosity, nostalgia, and/or outrage. it's the reason why phineas and ferb was just given a two season order despite ending in 2015 and why the only shows craig mccracken has been able to successfully pitch in the last couple of years are reboots of the powerpuff girls and foster's home for imaginary friends. daria, king of the hill, and darkwing duck are all slated to make returns too.

these shows, while entertaining and fulfilling in the hands of the original creator or those who have a deep connection to the source material, inevitably take chances away from original shows. in the hands of those who don't have that connection to the source material, a reboot can end up feeling like a completely different show superimposed onto existing characters, which i feel is the case with velma (2023). i think i might have liked an original show with this premise that drew inspiration from scooby-doo, but didn't twist the characters to fit its plot. either way, it’s a lose-lose situation for original programming.

mindy kaling is a menace

this reason is the most personal to me, but i've heard that many south asian people express a similar opinion over the last few months.

first, i just want to clarify that there is some misinformation going around that she is the creator / developer of the series, which is not true. charlie grandy, a stand-up and comedy writer who worked closely with kaling on the office, the mindy project, and other shows, is the main developer of velma (2023). however, kaling is one of the executive producers, which means that she exercises a certain amount of creative control.

now that that's out of the way... i love that 3/4 of the main characters are people of color, but i want to see the ways that this change informs and enhances their personalities and backgrounds, instead of being a vehicle for kaling's self-deprecation and narcissism. as an indian-american woman, i struggle a lot with the way that kaling portrays south asian characters as she only really knows how to write one character - a self-insert. her self-insert often describes themselves as a "gross indian loser" and is selfish, uncomfortable with / distant from their culture, obsessed with validation from white men, and deeply insecure about features that are common amongst indian people such as large amounts of body hair. in order to support indian-american representation on her shows, indians have to relive kaling's childhood traumas and insecurities, whether they are ones they grew up with or ones they newly been introduced to (especially in the case of younger viewers).

unfortunately, in hollywood's eyes she has become the poster child of south asian representation, so she's going to keep putting out shows and it's up to us to decide if and when to support her. south asians want to support shows with south asian characters who are voiced by people of our culture and we don't want our lack of support to make execs think that south asian led shows are unsuccessful. but this is the fourth or fifth kaling self-insert we've had to deal with and it's getting harder to justify supporting them.

sometimes her shows get better over time - never have i ever benefits from having multiple indian characters who have different storylines that play off of one another in rewarding ways, especially in the later two seasons. on the other hand, bela (kaling's self insert in the sex lives of college girls) has displayed all of the attributes i listed above over and over again, possibly to the point of no return. it always feels like two steps forward, one step back with kaling. it's getting exhausting and i want to direct my attention to newer south asian creators who are telling other stories.

at the end of the day, people like what they like

if you like what you've velma (2023) - more power to you. but hopefully this explains why there has been such a strong backlash to the show.

however, i would like to point out we are only two episodes in and things could always change! i hope this show proves me wrong, but i'm not a fan of what i've seen so far 🤷🏽‍♀️

if you're an hbo max subscriber and you're trying your best not to hatewatch velma, please just watch scooby doo: mystery incorporated instead. it's on the same platform and it's a much better use of your time.

[sambinnie]

Yesterday snow, so fears that my fading head torch wouldn’t get us all the way to the river were moot; the glow from the snow-bound fields turned the pre-dawn sky peach, and even on the bank it was bright enough without torches to have read a book. But my goodness, the water is colder than my body can remember.

And nearly Yule, and the days will lengthen again. Joys!

Quelle année, hein? Between my current obsessions of existentialism v nihilism, the bread recipe I’ve recently started using, the programmes on cults and scammers my algorithms keep feeding me, and the historical cycles that suggest we’re in for a rough ride shortly (but boy oh boy will some things be a lot better afterwards), I have some 2022 delights to share.

BOOKS

January brought two gorgeous graphic novels into my life: Alison Bechdel’s The Secret to Superhuman Strength, which was just what was needed in a Run Every Day January that ended up with me having a post-Covid relapse (fool); and Tom Humberstone’s Suzanne (full disclosure: Tom is a pal and I was sent the book to write the blurb). It made me cheer with delight at its skill and wit, celebrating the sheer guts of a woman carving her way through a man’s sport.

Children’s books were all re-reads: Rumer Godden’s The Doll’s House (terrible suspense clothed in sweet white lace), Louis Sachar’s Holes (racism and the prison-industrial complex dressed as a kid’s adventure romp); and the original Hunger Games trilogy, reread to discuss with a housemate (which mostly descends to me sobbing as we attempt to talk about certain characters). I’m almost sorry the series was so popular, because popularity always begets countless knockoffs that end up damaging the reputation of the original, but Collins’ books really are very good. Katniss is a brilliantly unreliable narrator, and the world built around oppression, division, figureheads, purges, the 1% and the violence they’ll use to keep inequality in place, is something we may all become re-familiar with soon enough.

I’ve covered most of the non-fiction here before, but a quick recap. Blurb Your Enthusiasm, funny and niche and brilliant, buy it for everyone you know who loves books; Four Seasons in Rome, particularly if you go to Rome; and Raising Demons, whether you are, in fact, raising your own demons, or just want a peek behind the curtain at the home life of the Shirley Jackson, Horror genius. Two I’ve recommended repeatedly in person, if not pressed copies into hands: Recovery: The Lost Art of Convalescence, a comfortingly slim work by a GP, telling us everything we know but never pay attention to: that illness should be followed by recovery, recuperation, and convalescence, that medication isn’t everything, that we are healed not just by pills or operations, but by fresh air, natural light, trees, small, good meals, and time. An almost impossible prescription, but a truth we’ve forgotten about over the last 100 years. Finally, Foolproof, out in February, which I read for work a few months ago and have not stopped talking about. How do we combat the hysterical tone of conspiracies and cults online? How do we save ourselves and our loved ones from internet misinformation? What hope is there? Loads, if Sander van der Linden has his way, which is how I like it.

Fiction, I shall try to be quick because there are so many, but all of these had impeccable writing, tight, sharp and bright, and reminded me why I love reading (and especially why I love reading for my job, which leads me across genres). Young Mungo, beautiful and devastating; Piranesi, dreamy, like an adult Diana Wynne Jones novel; They, dystopian and wonderfully creepy; The Housekeepers, which I would have given my eyeteeth to write the screenplay for, a visually luscious Victorian Ocean’s 11; Lord of the Flies, a reminder to reread those masterpieces we think we remember; The Marriage Portrait, razor-sharp writing and a rarely seen autistic girl in literature; The Birds & Other Stories, because you can’t ever go wrong with Daphne du Maurier and her subtle undermining of the patriarchy; The Weather in the Streets, funny, brutal and dry as a bone on not knowing what you want from life and messing up attempts to get it; The Vet’s Daughter — why are we not reading Barbara Comyns every day?; Foster, tiny and jewel-like; Really Good, Actually, and I beg you not to look at the author quotes and just read it, because it deserves to be loved — a High Fidelity for 2023, if that appeals, and a bleak but hilarious look at the myth of self-care if that appeals more; My Turn to Make the Tea, funny and insightful, and I love a book without a real plot; finally The Colony, which may have recency bias as the last full book I read, but the writing is flawless, even if it made me think again about the responsibility creators have to the lives they give their characters.

FILMS

Family films, if you want something lighter over the sofa season: Bill & Ted Face the Music was watched when I was extremely hormonal and I wept with joy throughout — who knows what the quality is on another day, but I loved it right then. The Man in the White Suit is a remarkable (and funny) commentary on invention and capitalism; Charade has both Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, so really what more do you need; My Cousin Vinny has a comical Joe Pesci and Marisa Tomei, and is great for a Sunday afternoon. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes is gorgeous and, as they say, iconic (’Hey! They said you were stupid’); Good Morning is gentle, stunningly shot, and makes me wish I had someone making me delicious rice every day. We had a weekend of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which started with mostly heckling but ended in my usual copious weeping. January will see me reread the marvellous books, and I’m sorry that I always used to (wrongly) agree with Paul Merton’s comments on the first book here. Animated with fresh artistry away from the bland Pixar mould, The Mitchells vs. the Machines deserved its rewatch (DEREGULATE TAPIOCA); wonderful Raiders of the Lost Ark suddenly awoke me to the fact that watching it weekly as a child meant my wedding dress was a straight mash-up of Marian’s two frocks; Little Women is perfect and I don’t regret my three cinema trips to watch it (or the many subsequent small screen viewings this year).

Four documentaries to watch: Some Kind of Heaven, which, like Mad Men, is both a celebration and a searing condemnation of the American Way. Speaking of which, Boys State: watch it, take some time to cool off, then google what they’re all up to now. The Princess is an excellent look at the building and destruction of a public icon, made up only of contemporary clips; Crip Camp is a loudhailer calling us to recognise the work and joys of disability campaigners, and to remember those human rights battles still truly needing to be fought.

I got into horror this year! Fresh and Men and Nope and The Black Phone! They’re good! They actually made me feel better about the world! 

Two cinema highlights: Jackass Forever, dumb and joyful, and Don’t Worry Darling, smarter, hotter, and more interesting than the coverage would have you believe. Pugh is a marvel and Styles does exactly what he’s meant to.

TV

Looking at them now, I understand why these five were my top picks and I gave up watching more gloomy TV after an episode or two. Slow Horses and Severance and Mythic Quest on Apple, The Witchfinder on iPlayer, and The Bear on Disney+, all wildly different genres but all containing, essentially, an existential view on humanity and the value of connection. Plus spies etc! Don't read anything about them, but if you have access, just watch a couple of episodes and see what you think. They have inspired and hooked me through the year.

FOOD

Speaking of The Bear, there is a recipe which has become an almost weekly treat here and is a direct lift from the programme, but I’ll only share it with you once you’ve watched all episodes. My god it’s good. This is the bread I’ve started making (the third one in the video), and reliably (to crib the great Jeffrey Steingarten) ‘the bread is more than good enough to eat, and some days it is so good that we eat nothing else’. Pre-Rome, I also discovered this focaccia recipe which is embarrassingly simple and tasty.

I don’t want to abandon my sourdough starter, though, so I use the dough for pizza bases, rolled out into long ovals (approx 100g per person) and topped with olive oil, fresh corn (sliced from the cob, briefly fried), mozzarella and jalapeños and cooked, then topped again with sour cream, crumbled feta, coriander and lime juice. White pizza heaven. 

This French Onion Pasta is a great filling evening meal in the cold months, as is this amazing chicken and pumpkin tray bake from Diana Henry. We occasionally leave out the chicken for vegetarian or budgetary purposes, and it’s still delicious; if you don’t make the sage butter (or forget it in the fridge), this is really good with a side bowl of 50/50 mayo and sriracha.

Gwyneth P’s Polenta & Roasted Tomatoes is unbelievably quick, and feels like a hearty but not heavy meal whenever it’s dark outside — in summer I actually managed to grow the tomatoes myself, for the first time ever (banana skin juice appears to be the secret).

Scones have seen us year-round: wild garlic scones in late spring, bramble scones in late summer, cheese scones after autumn walks — what is the winter equivalent? Fig and mature cheddar? I may experiment. Otherwise, Benjamina Ebuehi’s Pecan & Burnt Honey Cake has become an enormous favourite for dessert. Perfect on the day, and even better after a night in the fridge, it’s worth buying her (excellent) book for alone. Nigel Slater’s rice pudding gets a fair few outings too, although I still think his numbers are way off (I times everything by 1.5, except the rice which I take from 80g to 200g).

I wish you and your loved ones a great Christmas and a safe, healthy and happy 2023. x

[bemamar]

I am sorry if this ignorant but in my country there’s a common belief that autistic adult people cannot develop adult brain, many times on TV they showed us these type of autistic people who their brain stop developing but after seeing so many autistic on social media I found out that I may had misinformation ever since I was a kid.. I could not found helpful articles because of the lack of awareness here so if it’s ok to ask you why do people share this kind of info and how true it is ?? Going through social media I came with the idea that there was some misunderstanding about this.

               Hey anon, glad you seem to be seeking information. That is... yeah. Definitely a no. There are of course, many other disorders that can happen  alongside autism, just as they can happen with non-autistic people, and those can be of course a challenge, but that doesn’t mean that is the reality of every autistic person, or that those people should be infantilized either. On the contrary, really.

Just to give you my personal experience, I grew up autistic and I didn’t even know it until one year ago, so that might tell you something. I’ve graduated highschool and I have a degree in Architecture and Urbanism. Nowadays I am an English teacher, and I also work with translation, design, publication and selling of books. A lot of autistic people work in very complex industries that take care of things such as infrastructure, health (like vaccines!), technological development, and so on. Others don’t. Others teach, others are amazing artists, others live an academic life, others like working with their hands. That doesn’t mean one is more developed than the other, we’re just different people with different interests, same as anyone. 

This is a very complex subject and I can give you two wonderful channels to get you started if you really want to learn more: Chloé Hayden and Paige Layle who have tons of research on those things.

From my own dedicated research, the central (summarized!!!) points I can give you are these: there are two main reasons (and a consequence), as of my understanding, for why people believe that autistics are only children, that we “disappear” when we grow up, or as you said, that we stay stuck in a childish mental age. 

The first one is that most referenced, known, and used studies for autism are still ones that were done decades ago. Back then, professionals thought only young male (white) boys could be autistic, so all of the stablished research for autism is based on how a very specific demographic could behave, or react, or present the disorder. So if we’re talking about a whole rainbow spectrum, we’ve only ever studied one shade of one color and one length of that color, and nothing else. That’s also the only image that’s ever been projected for people on media, so whenever anyone thinks autism, they think of the caricature of the young white boy who’s nerdy and quiet and lonely and prone to outbursts if upset. 

The second problem is that a LOT of the organizations who claim to study autism to help autistic people, are run by non autistics that have no interests in helping adult autistics, or listening to us, and actually just keep looking for ways to either get rid of it (which would be like trying to get rid of my bisexuality, or the color of my skin) OR they’re trying to identify all of the genetics so they can stop us from being born at all by identifying autism in the womb (eugenics).

The consequence of those things, and of the fact that many autistics have different ways of communicating (like non-verbal autistics, who would communicate via text or other means), means that the people who are actually represented when talking about autism are the non-autistic parents of autistic children. They are the ones the studies, the organizations, the aid etc are meant to help. The parents. And parents have to parent children, not adults. So any articles, any programs to help, any government aid, it’s all aimed at the parents, as though like I said, children grew out of their autism eventually (impossible), or as though, like you said, we didn’t grow up at all. There is a major focus on autism as a burden for the poor neurotypical parents who can’t understand their child, while ignoring the autistic person themselves.

Yes, there are many of us who have more special needs than others, and those should be respected, there are as I’ve said, co-conditions that can occur, there are a lot of us, as I’ve mentioned, that have difficulty speaking up or speaking verbally at all, but not being able to communicate what is on your mind in a way that is comfortable for non-autistic people doesn’t make your mind underdeveloped. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be listened to when decisions are made about your own life, it doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish whatever you want to do with accommodations, and it doesn’t mean you can’t understand the world around you or have amazing talents, or just want to sit on your couch and watch tv and have a regular job. 

We’re people of all kinds because we’re people. We have different needs, and only the people who have them can tell you about that, I could never speak for them, I can only speak of my own needs. But you can research more and learn the nuances I could never put into a singular answer. That’s the gist of it. I hope you do continue to learn! And I wish luck to autistics in your country, I’m sure there are many more of them than you imagine, and there must be communities over there too, because we exist all over the world, and we definitely don’t stop existing or become neurotypicals at 18 years old.

[tweedlydumbtweedlydoo]

Traumatized | Bucky Barnes x reader

Requested by anon / Summary: You get kidnapped and when Bucky finds you, you’re traumatized from being abused the entire time. 

A/N: Hope you like it! xx I started this a while back and finally finished it today. 

Usually I’m all for the bad ass reader, but I’m gonna change it up to a completely terrified/innocent reader. She’s technically not an avenger but is a part of the team working with Bruce and Tony on some high tech inventions.

!! Warning: mention of blood, cuts, torture, ptsd 

Also, I am not into technology at all. So, if there’s some misinformation in there, please just move along and continue reading :)

! Warning: talk of abuse/torture, blood, traumatized reader 

Tag list is at the end. Let me know if you want to be added xx

Go follow my fic rec blog! ---> @imaginationgonewild0912

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********************************************************************************************NOT MY GIF, CREDIT TO OWNERS

!! Warning: mention of blood, cuts, torture, ptsd

“Hey has anyone spoke to y/n today?” Bucky enters the shared common space of the Avenger’s tower where Nat, Steve, Wanda, & Vision were, “She said she was going out to grab a coffee and a quick walk around the park, but she’s not back yet and I haven’t heard from her.” 

“She’s probably still at the park.” Wanda answers, moving a chess piece. Her and Vision were currently enticed in a game of chess. 

“You know how she is. She probably found some ducks to feed.” Steve chuckles. 

“yeah, maybe.” Bucky mutters, not completely convinced. You’d left earlier this morning and it was now entering the early afternoon hours. So, you should have been back by now. 

“Where’s Tony and Bruce?” Nat asks, shifting the subject. 

“Working on some new high tech.” Steve shrugs, “I didn’t understand a word after that.” 

“Wasn’t y/n supposed to be working on that with them?” Bucky takes the seat next to Steve at the table. 

Nat furrows her eyebrows, “Yeah.. Maybe she’s down there with them? She probably went straight to work with them after she got back from her walk.” 

Bucky nods, Nat’s probably right, “Yeah she probably did. She was all excited last night talking about the new tech her, Tony and Bruce had been working on. She said it’s almost done.” He finally lets the worry of not talking to you go. You were most likely in the zone with Tony and Bruce and usually the outside world disappeared. 

~ 

incoming video chat, Mr. Stark do you accept? F.R.I.D.A.Y asks. 

“I accept.” Tony continues his work with Bruce, not thinking much of it. Probably something to do with Stark Industries, “Yeah try that-” 

“Ah Mr. Stark, it’s been a while.” 

When he turns his attention to large computer screen, he’s met with a man who looks vaguely familiar but can’t picture where he’s seen him. “And who are you?” 

“It doesn’t surprise me that you don’t remember me.” The man sighs and steps back from the camera, showing the full view of the room. You were practically hanging from the ceiling, your hands pulled tightly together above your head and your feet barely touching the concrete floor below you. There were 5 other men standing near you, large guns in their hands and what looked to be masks over their face. 

Tony drops the tool in his hand, “What the hell is this?” 

“Oh now you want to pay attention!” The man comes to your side and a whimper escapes your lips as he holds the gun to your cheek, dragging it along your face and using it to push your hair out of the way, “I knew she would catch your attention.” 

Tony and Bruce exchange a look, “You realize you’ve just kidnapped someone very close to the Avenger’s and that means it isn’t going to end well for you,” He rounds the table to get a closer look at the screen, “So why would you be so stupid to kidnap her?” 

“Because she got what I didn’t.” He yanks your neck back by your hair, causing you to yelp.

“Who? Bucky? I don’t think he is into men.” He sarcastically replies. Deep down he’s actually very worried for your safety but choosing to be sarcastic in a time of danger is a way he copes. 

“Not Bucky.” The man seethes, “She got that position with you at the Avenger’s Tower. You three are working on something very high tech and I want it. I deserve it! And I’m going to get it.” 

“Then you probably should have tried to walk into the Avenger’s tower to take it. Not kidnapped one of our assistants!” 

“Oh I plan to get it out of her.” He taps your head with the gun, “She knows everything, everything about the tech you’re working on and she’s going to tell me. Even if I have to torture it out of her.” He smirks. 

You try to speak to beg tony, to beg someone to save you from this, “Tony please-” You were terrified. You weren’t trained to take torture and you knew this wasn’t going to end well for anyone, especially you. You were only an assistant to Bruce and Tony and Bucky’s girl, but you knew things about the avenger’s and about all the tech Bruce and Tony were working on. You could be the person to bring down the Avenger’s and the man knew that. He knew exactly which person would get him what he wanted. 

He ended the video chat. F.R.I.D.A.Y informs.

"Where’s the location of the video coming from?” Tony asks F.R.I.D.A.Y and Bruce who had been trying to pinpoint the location as well. 

There’s no clear location. 

“It’s bouncing off different wifi connections, there is no one location.” Bruce looks to Tony, “We’re blind. We have no idea where they have her.” 

~ 

Tony calls the team in for a meeting, calmly. He doesn’t want to panic them, especially Bucky because his judgment will be clouded by his love and attachment to you. He probably would destroy the city trying to find you. 

“What’s this about Tony?” Steve asks as the avengers fall into the room and settle in their seats. 

Tony clears his throat, “We have a problem.” 

As Bucky looked around the room there was one person missing, you. “Where’s y/n? I thought she was working with you two.” 

“That’s what I’ve called this meeting about.” Tony turns on the screen and there is a screenshot from the video chat of you and the men. 

“Oh my god.” Wanda gasps. 

“Is that-” Nat asks. 

Bucky swallows the lump forming in his throat, “Y/n.” 

“We received a video chat from this man here earlier. It’s unclear what the hell he even wants,” Bruce begins, “First it was anger for y/n getting the position he didn’t, then it was wanting the high tech we were working on. Y/n is close to the Avenger’s and she knows a lot of things; important information that could be used to bring all of us down. She also knows all information on that new high tech device we were working on. He’s planning to use her to get what he wants.” 

“She’s not.. She’s only a civilian.” Wanda says, “She’s not trained to hide information. To endure that kind of torture.” 

“Which is why we have to find her asap.” Tony says, glancing at Bucky. 

Bucky clinched his hands in anger. He knew how torture worked and to think of you in that position... “You mean you two don’t know where he has her?” 

“We have no idea.” Tony nods, “The man was good. He’s using different wifi signals which means there’s no pinpointing one location.” 

“We’re looking for her blind.” Bruce says.

Another video request, Mr. Stark. 

“Accept it, F.R.I.D.A.Y.” Tony turns to the screen to see the same man, but this time you’re in worse shape. Your clothes are dirty and torn; your shirt wasn’t covering anything; There was blood dripping down your cheek. 

“Ah all the avenger’s are here this time! What a treat.” The man smiles, “Including Bucky. Aww.. if you should know your little girlfriend here has been begging for you.” 

Bucky stands quickly, the chair screeching along the floor, “I’ll kill you. Don’t you fucking touch her!” He gets closer to the screen. 

“Oh we already have.” he chuckles, glancing at you, “You want to see your little boyfriend? He seems very worried.” Pulling the video closer, you can see the avenger’s staring back. 

“Bucky.” You whimper, “Please..” 

“Shh.. doll it’s okay. We’re going to get you out of there, okay? Just stay strong for me.” His heart breaks to see you like this and there’s absolutely nothing he can do, “I love you, y/n.” 

The video pans back to the man, “how adorable. Not!” He chuckles, “I just wanted to show you what she looks like one more time. Once we’re done with her, she won’t look the same.” He smooths out your hair, “This girl here is very tough but she’s given us some valuable information.” He sighs, “But it’s just not enough yet,” His hand grips your hair and yanks your head back earning a yelp of pain from you. And with that he ended the call once more. 

~ 

It took Steve, Nat, Sam, and Tony to hold Bucky back from leaving the room. He didn’t know where he would be heading, but that didn’t matter. He was going to tear the city apart to find them, to find you. 

“Let me go!” Bucky thrashes against Steve’s tight grip. 

“Buck, we have to be smart about this!” Steve reasons, “We don’t know where she is!” 

A screenshot from the video is put on the screen, “This is the only thing I could capture.” It’s blurry and you can only see half of the symbol but all the Avenger’s recognize it, especially Bucky. 

Bucky calms as he stares at half of the symbol, “That’s.. That’s an old HYDRA base.” It was one step closer to finding you. 

“Do we know which one?” Wanda asks. She was on standby near Bucky in case they couldn’t contain him. 

“Shield took care of all the bases.” Tony says, “Or at least they thought they did. However, it was hard to determine if the ones destroyed were the only ones.”

Bucky’s gears are shifting as he tries to remember his time at Hydra. He tries to think of anything that could have been said to give off some kind of clue. “It had never been used but there was talk about a base on an island north of Russia. It was a backup in case HYRDA was compromised.” 

“That has to be where they are keeping her.” Nat speaks up from beside Steve, “Where else would there be a HYDRA symbol on a wall? Unless someone painted it but..” 

“It’s worth checking out.” Sam says, “There are only a handful of islands north of russia that a HYRDA base could be built.” 

~ 

The last island the avengers check turns out to be the correct one. Using Stark tech, they find out there is 10 guys inside and then another body in a room that they assume is you. They find a place to land the quinjet without the men noticing. 

“We can’t go in there guns blazing.” Sam grabs Bucky’s arm as he’s about to storm out of the quinjet. 

“Sam’s right.” Nat says, “We have the element of surprise and we need to use that to our advantage so that y/n doesn’t end up getting killed in the crossfire.” 

Bucky knows they’re right, but you’re right there in that building. He sighs and nods, “What’s the plan?” 

The plan goes right and within minutes the men are taken out. Bucky was the one to kill the leader for what he’d done to you. Bucky takes off toward the room and when he enters, you’re curled in a ball on the bed.

“Y/n?” 

You look up at your eyes go wide, pushing yourself back against the wall to put as much distance between you and Bucky. You couldn’t even recognize your Bucky. “Please.. please no more.” You whimper, “I’ve told you everything!” 

“It’s me... it’s bucky.” He takes another step closer to you, but it results in a scream from you.

“Please! I can’t take anymore.. I can’t!” You sob with a shake of your head. Your whole body starts to shake with fright. You couldn’t take anymore torture, anymore pain. You were passed your breaking point and you’d already came clean about everything, but that didn’t stop the torture. 

It’s like you don’t even recognize him and his shoulders slump with defeat, “Y/n.. please..” He starts toward you once more and that’s when Nat grabs his shoulder, “she doesn’t recognize you.” She motions to Wanda who uses her power to practically put you to sleep in a calming state. 

It’s then that Bucky can see the damage they did to you. Blood, cuts and bruises all over your body. You’re filthy with dirt and your hair is a mess. You’re only in a ripped t shirt and undergarments. He’s gentle as he picks up your body. 

“She’s asleep.. she can’t feel anything.” Wanda tells Bucky after seeing his careful hands.

“She’s.. covered in these marks..” He holds you against his chest and Nat takes another look at you, “Electric shock. They electrocuted her.” 

He follows behind the rest of the avengers toward the quinjet. He kisses your head, “You’re safe now, doll... I’m here.” 

~ 

It had been almost a month and you hadn’t spoken a word. You wouldn’t speak to anyone, not even Bucky. The doctor’s informed the avengers you’d been traumatized and that it might take you a while to get comfortable again and that it was best to give you time. You’d gone through a lot and you needed time. 

But it was hurting Bucky not to be able to hold you, to comfort or kiss you during this horrible time. He wanted to be there for you, but the closest he could get is watching you through the window on the door. You would start start screaming when anyone from the Avenger’s team came in. Recently you let Nat inside without screaming, but you didn’t say a word to her. 

He could hear your screams from the nightmares and it pained him not be able to hold you in his arms. It was something you did with him when the nightmares would return in the night and you were the only thing that could calm him. He just wanted to be that for you. 

However, one night he couldn’t help himself. You just continued to scream and cry out like you were in pain and he decided that was it. He needed to see if you were okay. He needed to be there for you.

He ran into your room to find you thrashing around in your bed having a nightmare. He rounded the bed to your side, “hey hey, it’s okay.” He shook you awake and your wide eyes met his. “It’s okay...” He waited for the screams to start once you saw him, but they didn’t come. Maybe this was a good sign. He started to back up toward the door in case this turned bad with you. He didn’t want to push it with you. 

Your eyes filled with tears and you didn’t move. The two of you stared at each other for the longest before you spoke the first words in a month, “Don’t go.” 

Relief flooded Bucky’s body and he had to hold back tears, “I’m not going anywhere, doll.” 

You made yourself comfortable in bed once more, turning on your side. Bucky didn’t want to push his luck and decided the chair by your bed would be a good place for him. 

You made sure he wasn’t going anywhere and then let your eyes close. He stayed there in that uncomfortable chair the rest of the night while you slept. You didn’t have another nightmare that night. It was like your mind knew you were safe and you could finally let yourself go. You were safe and he wasn’t going to let anything happen to you again and when you finally realized that, you let Bucky back in. 

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[etherealtechne]

As a greek engineer specialised in mining and georesources I have lots of things to add to that statement because lots of misinformation circulate on the Internet about renewable energy. Wind energy is probably the most destructive renewable energy to the environment so far, the cost of making a windmill and emissions from the mining industry in order to produce rare metals and lithium for the batteries along with the environmental damage during construction outweigh the benefits of it. No matter how "windy" a country is, wind energy shouldn't be taken into consideration as discarding windmill batteries is a threat that most people aren't aware of yet (radioactivity and all). Solar panels are a far more sustainable solution for sunny countries but could never work as the sole source of energy as the main problem of renewable energy is its inability to get stored somewhere, in comparison to fossil fuel. Solar panels could be used but even Greece isn't sunny all year long and we have a problem with restricted space. Hydro energy and geothermal sources are the best solutions for a seismogenic country like Greece, using first hand the geology and power earth can provide. They both cost lots of money but are the most suitable and sustainable for Greece's case. We do use lots of geothermal energy in Northern Greece for greenhouses and other rural activities.

Also i should add that the main source of electricity in Greece isn't gas, but lignite (resembles coal) that is excavated and processed in the country.

While many countries have made progress in their energy transition, nearly half of Europe is still dependent on fossil fuels.

This graphic maps out Europe’s top source of electricity generation by country.

by @VCElements

[doctorguilty]

a lot of new mediums are often dismissed as easy even digital art is dismissed as not real art because the computer did it. the debate on what counts as real art is never ending and shouldnt even be a thing because all art is subjective, it doesnt matter what medium is used to create it

Putting these together because they go hand in hand and you're both very right imo!! There's this strange hangup people have about the generation process about it not being "drawn" by a human the way someone puts a pen to a wacom tablet or pencil to paper or brush to canvas but.. there is already types of art accepted that don't involve that? Ie photography

Take this photo I took last year for example. I'd consider it pretty artistic and beautiful:

My hands touched nothing in this but my phone camera (not even a high grade digital camera). I didn't build the ride. I didn't stage those people on the ride. I just walked around to a location I wanted to take my shot and I took several photos and chose the best one. And by "best" I mean the one that spoke most to me as the moment I was capturing. And those choices come through, like, I took the picture in motion when I could have just taken a picture of the still ride. I took it at night instead of daytime. I cropped the photo in a certain way. So is this not art because the only things I chose were nothing I put my hands on? Is it meaningless because of that? Soulless? I reckon it's not a professional quality piece, but I'm not interested in selling it professionally. This is art for me. Just like many of my drawings. Just like the work people do in the ai software.

And the philosophical questions about What is Art aside, the fact of the matter is I can tell the vast majority of people who shit on this do not know a THING about the process. If ANY of them do. I have yet to see a single anti ai art argument cross my path that actually goes in depth to the way the software works, how the tools work, how images are generated, what they are generated from, nothing. It's just completely opinionated statements about what art is, and a lot of misleading info or outright misinformation.

I don't think everyone needs to love it or utilize it or anything. There's plenty of art mediums I personally have no interest in. But the way this is just like, socially accepted online to stay ignorant, and harass people doing PERSONAL!! WORK! HOBBY ART!!! Is insane

And "but what about corporations exploiting it!" Is not an excuse to target independent artists like, hello. Do you go on random artists cgi animations and bitch about how marvel movies ruined everything? Literally industry exploitation of art tools (especially digital) has been happening forever, and I'm not saying that's okay but like? I don't see anyone smacking Maya out of people's hands because that's what south park is animated with -_- idk just like. You can be anti capitalist without trashing other people just to feel superior because you think you can Decide what forms of art are valid or not like. Mega eyeroll I dunno man!!

[gaming]

Gaming Spotlight: Gamers vs COVID-19

Gamers vs COVID-19 is a community of virus-killing, society-supporting, game-loving heroes, founded to raise awareness about the importance of social distancing, good hygiene, and positivity in combating the spread of COVID-19. They were founded by a group of anonymous gamers and medical professionals, most of whom work in or adjacent to the esports industry. You can join them by signing the pledge at www.gamersvscovid19.com!

Lots of parts of the internet thrive on misinformation—how does this initiative strive to combat that?

Our resources are heavily researched, and we rely on citations from institutions such as the US FDA, US CDC, and the WHO. Each of these is referenced on our page, so you don’t need to take our word for it. We also have contributing medical professionals who help to fact check our distributions, but that doesn’t mean we’re giving medical advice. 

Of course, when it comes to questions about viruses and disease, we always encourage anybody to go directly to a vetted source of information like those we’ve already mentioned.

Besides gaming, what are other ways to practice social distancing?

Social distancing is just the act of removing yourself from public spaces as often as possible. For many of us, that means replacing public activities with online gaming, but for you, it might mean reading, playing music, baking, painting, coding, or whatever you love to do from the comfort of your home. We started this movement in part to remind everybody that social distancing doesn’t mean social isolation: we’re all in this together, even when we’re apart.

What are other ways we can contribute if we still have to go to work?

You can still live by our pledge and help save the world if you go to work! Not everybody has the luxury of being able to totally isolate themselves. Some people have to go to jobs, while others may need to care for relatives or go out for other necessities. Social distancing is the active decision to restrict your time in public spaces to the minimum required amount, which is going to vary from person to person. 

What’s important is that you spend every minute you can at home and that you stay home if you’ve felt sick or been in close contact with somebody who has a confirmed case of coronavirus. Even if you feel healthy, give others a gap of at least six feet whenever possible and don’t touch other people physically. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water frequently (especially when exiting or entering a public space), and never touch your face, eyes or mouth with unwashed hands. You can also help amplify the message by not meeting friends in public, sharing the pledge, and shifting in-person meetups to online activities instead.

How do you build a community through gaming? 

Contrary to old stereotypes, gamers are inherently social. Building a community around an important issue like COVID-19 is just a matter of reaching out and getting help from big amplifiers. Once this message is in front of people, we’ve found gamers eager to join and help. It’s been truly uplifting in a challenging time.

The gaming space is supremely lucky to have so many amazing influencers who care deeply about their fans and broader communities. This is an international epidemic, and it’s going to take international cooperation and acts of courage to overcome it. We will do whatever it takes for as long as it takes, and every gamer from the biggest pro to the average joe is making an impact by consciously deciding to sign the pledge and change their lifestyles until COVID-19 is controlled.

Take the pledge over on the website! In the first few hours, over 10,000 gamers signed up, including the likes of Castro1021, FallenNCS, Sjokz, Nickeh30, Voyboy, JKap415, HungryBox, Goldenboy, Ocelot, G2Pengu, Slasher, SirActionSlacks, Sheever, and too many other gamers to name. We’re excited about every person who comes on and decides this is a movement worth supporting. Social distancing only works if everyone chooses to make a sacrifice for the greater good.