#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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[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.

[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

**MASTERLIST**

Requests: {OPEN} CLOSED

** Rules for Requesting **

** Who I Write For **

********************************************************************************************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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[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!!

[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

[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.

[tossawary]

(LMY anon) Ahh I just saw your character notes for LMY. Thank you, that's very helpful! You're right that it feels insulting to LQQ to make LMY too emotionally intelligent, esp considering we have canonical evidence that she's also a weirdo. Even if it's a non-transmigrator AU, I feel like the only way I can even begin to understand her character is through the lens of a fangirl. The concept of writing RPF for a teacher+an ex-classmate who actually tried to end the world is a new level for me

I don’t even understand or like RPF on the normal level, personally. I mean, RPF fans, you do you! I vaguely comprehend the concept of treating celebrities presented/public personalities as characters, but I’m not personally comfortable with it. So that was one of my biggest obstacles when writing Liu Mingyan, like... this woman is in-a-different-universe-to-me-brained. 

This was more or less my thought process, like, how I personally worked out better understanding Liu Mingyan’s situation: 

(TL;DR: It’s easier to think of Liu Mingyan as a bard.) 

So that was one of my biggest obstacles when writing Liu Mingyan, like... this woman is in-a-different-universe-to-me-brained.

But, at the same time, I don’t get the same squick with fiction surrounding historical figures. I mean, I do sometimes, but the distance of time makes it easier. I’m also fine (most of the time) with stories inspired by a true story. A lot of fiction is based on real events! Authors draw from real life! I don’t really watch Hollywood movies based on modern events and human interest stories which go viral, but they’re definitely a thing and they’re basically RPF. People like Real Person Fiction and Real Person Non-Fiction. 

And, like, okay, this world doesn’t have the same overwhelming variety of content that our modern world has. Unclear on whether or not there’s widespread literacy or printing presses, but it sounds like most stories are going to come from storytellers and singers and other performers. Many of these performances are going to draw on historical and recent events, especially because it’s unclear how news might be otherwise spread. Look at what a huge industry just plain gossip is in our modern world! People need to be entertained and singing for your supper is an okay gig. 

I need to stop thinking in terms of Modern RPF as I know it on AO3 and start thinking more in terms of bards.* Liu Mingyan is perhaps more like an artist meeting a journalist (or a publicist or a historian) than a modern fanfiction writer. Or like any playwright writing an embellished history for a ruler (except she did it on her own). Is a bard or storyteller hired to write something putting history in a specific light not essentially a historical paid publicist? 

Except Liu Mingyan is doing it for her own benefit. And I would still personally call it fanfiction even if in this case it’s a for-profit adaptation. 

*(I should probably better research Chinese historical forms of performance and spreading news, but SVSSS allows me to be lazy and hand-wavey about it. Thanks, Airplane.) 

So, for me, I’m picturing Liu Mingyan and her friends are just a step to the left of historical reenactment meeting gossip meeting music/poetry/songwriting practice that got really out of hand. Friends can be terrible enablers sometimes, right? Then, bam! Real Person Fiction that people found compelling and spread like wildfire. All of the people involves are celebrities / political figures whose movements matter to the common people, and they don’t have news sites or social media sites for Keepin’ Up with the Cultivators. 

I mean, it’s funny to think about it in terms of RPF and fanfiction as we know it, so I absolutely do. I think she’s a bit of a fangirl, yes! I relate to that! (But am I reducing her to “just a Modern BL fangirl” because she’s a woman writing romance and I’m looking at it from a modern fanfic author’s lens and not taking the situational context into account? She’s a BL fangirl with potentially significant societal impact. She’s not out of place in the world she lives in.) 

Adaptation is pervasive throughout society and goes beyond fanfiction and fanart as we know it in what we call “Fandom”. Journalism is arguably non-fiction adaptation! Historians adapt the world around them to record it for future generations. Music can be an adaptation of people’s life’s experiences! People put on plays about other people’s stories they’ve witnessed. There are places in the world (our world) were the line between fiction and non-fiction blurs. And truly being objective is impossible when people’s creations are filtered through the lens of their own perspective, whether they’re writing a news article or a novel. So, like, there are types of adaptational fiction that society is willing to slap a “official” label on and this is one of those cases. 

I mean, it’s still weird behavior in my eyes! It’s invasive! Liu Mingyan didn’t do this as journalist or a historian; she did this for her own entertainment and maybe for any potential money, and I would still totally call it fanfiction. Shen Yuan is reasonably mortified that someone has made something of his life! And misinformation can be extremely damaging to someone’s personal life and dangerous politically and I don’t know if she took that into account!  

But, yeah. Liu Mingyan = on a similar boat to Jaskier from The Witcher. (Who is, I say affectionately, also a weirdo and could be called a fanboy.) Except she’s also a bit more repressed like Liu Qingge. It’s easier for me personally to understand the RPF angle if I attempt to understand the potential for RPF as it exists in her world, not as it exists in mine. 

[borksmemes]

Most important scientific discoveries are kept secret. Here's why:

Reefer madness made weed illegal cause some rich dude named Harry Anslinger decided his cotton and wood would not be worth as much if the objectively more profitable cannabis plant was used as the result of a new invention at the time called a decorticator. The decorticator was basically gonna make hemp as big of a threat to lumber as Nestlé is to countries with vulnerable water supplies and labor laws.

The rich dude Harry says f*** it and decides to do a new thing using radio and television to spread misinformation to fool people into outlawing the plant. It worked super well. Most notably with the production of the movie Reefer Madness. So now weed is illegal in a bunch of places so that happened.

Something eerily similar happened with planned obsolescence because of a movie named The Man In The White Suit. It's still a REALLY big problem.

The Man In The White Suit follows a scientist who invented an un-stainable cloth that never gets dirty, and can't hold any dye for color. The movie follows his misadadventures as he runs from person to person trying to escape after each person realizes his invention would make their job obsolete.

A crowd of people forms, chases him down, and eventually rips the suit off of him. The insinuation I think they meant to draw was: if one person gets an idea that puts them too far ahead of the game, they become too big of a threat for any one person in the group to afford keeping around.

The US government banned the use of solid hydrogen particles in a Laser Activated Energy Storage for national security reasons in 2009. Not necessarily because they WANTED the new energy source to go away, but we're told it's because having that golden goose puts a BIG target on their back and puts a LOT of people out of work. Infinite energy plus like seven laser pointers is probably enough to take over the world I don't know I'm not a scientist maybe the lasers would need to be bigger(?). (Oh and the US would run out of excuses to invade "sovereign" countries but that's not important)

It is for this reason scientists researching advanced ground-breaking topics and disruptive fields should use live Squid Game style bodycams. These bodycams would need to live stream to multiple areas on the internet. If what is about to be discovered is capable of upending and entire industry the only way to safely disseminate this information would be by showing the method of creation and discovery to literally everyone.

I imagine "number go up" investors would love to pretend their career isn't rich people gambling with ancient money but with extra steps. The insight into how much work is actually happening, and the process could be streamed for entertainment or educational purposes while also bring crowd funded.

Patents and intellectual properties might be a little weird, but the process would act as time-stamping and a real-time defense of intellectual property. Public knowledge of the invented or developed item at hand would enable production industries to adapt more easily and know what they're working with.

In other words:

Maybe if smart people tell everyone what they're working on and seek crowd funding instead of keeping secrets for their own petty job security, the public might trust that scientific ideas are actually being made pursued for their benefit.

[youhavethewrong]

Hey I'm prompting you for the essay

OH GOD I DIDN’T EXPECT TO ACTUALLY GET THIS ALSKDMAKLSMDAS

Well, I guess I already said I would, so here we go.

For those who don’t know, I want to comment on this picture

Some people have given their interpretations on it or why this might be, but I tend to disagree with them, so I’m gonna say my own misinformed and assumption-filled take.

A lot of people tend to attribute their different attitudes towards life as a direct result of the nature of their work. Like “Junji Ito is so cheery irl because he draws horrible horror manga, so he can express his dark side through his art. Hayao Miyazaki is the opposite, he keeps the dark shit in and draws the world he wants to see”. Me, personally, I don’t think this is the case at all. I think the genre of their works are completely irrelevant to their personalities.

Leaving genre aside, they both approach their work in quite similar manners, actually. They’re both perfectionists who want every detail to be right in order to present the intended message, be it wanting to scare you or soothe you. The difference is that Ito is an honest to god horror fan who has been reading and illustrating the genre since he was a child. He’s working his dream job and loves people enjoying his manga more than anything. And in spite of his overwhelming success, he remains a humble man who’s doing what he loves and having fun with it. 

On the other hand, Miyazaki is an old-fashioned and traditional man. He has both spoken against modern technology and declared that he doesn’t know what streaming is, and is clearly very critical of the current landscape of anime (somewhat justfiably, in my opinion. There’s been some modern anime that has blown me away in terms of quality, but that’s obviously not what he was referring to when he complained about otaku culture). He seems to me like the kind of person who feels like the world of anime rests on his shoulders. Like everything that he produced needed to be perfect not because he enjoys it (like Junji Ito), but because he’s by far the most prominent figure in an entire industry. He has carried this attitude towards his own son, stepping out of movies he has directed and being an extremely harsh critic of his decisions in general.

Now, I don’t claim to know these people. I barely know them based on a couple of interviews and my own interpretations of their work, so I might be extremely off the mark here. However, I’m very much of the opinion that if the genres were switched, and Junji Ito illustrated hopeful fantasy manga and Hayao Miyazaki directed despair-inducing horror movies, their general attitudes would be the exact same. Ito would remain a cheery guy who puts on cat ears and does silly Crunchyroll interviews, and Miyazaki would remain a serious and sometimes cold person who’s willing to put everything aside for the sake of quality and harshly speak against the practices he disagrees with. It’s certainly curious to put them side by side and see how opposite their personalities are when compared to what they make, but I definitely think there’s very little, if any, correlation between the two.