#another random facebook image

[icewindandboringhorror]

examining a seemingly normal image only to slowly realize the clear signs of AI generated art.... i know what you are... you cannot hide your true nature from me... go back where you came from... out of my sight with haste, wretched and vile husk

[heywriters]

To aesthetic blogs & writing blogs...

please don't share random images from pinterest or instagram without credit. doesn't matter how pretty they are, you uploaded them without permission or credit

please do not share "advice" from another source without crediting the person who wrote the advice. a random link to pinterest is not a source! who was the author of the advice? do they have a website? respect other writers by not passing off their work as your own

DO NOT repost tumblr posts that you found on pinterest. the source is often in the image itself! just go to their blog and do a little research! reposts are NOT welcome on tumblr

research information for yourself before sharing. you are not your silly aunt on facebook who thinks moon melons are real. stop the spread of disinformation by simply checking the facts

gifs are not inherently free use! if the creator of a gif wants you to take it down off a post or wants credit for how often you use their gifs in your posts, you should respect that

[maoistyuri]

Serious albeit potentially stupid question. Obviously a lot of AI sentiment comes from people who don't understand that all internet usage causes major emission problems, and the argument that it has no "soul" is just stupid to the point of not being worth consideration, is it not a bit of a problem that a lot of the art just comes from random people who never consented? It seems like it's their labor being stolen to make these companies money, but I'm not sure if that's starting to lean too into being pro IP.

Generative models do not "steal art" in any reasonable sense, rather they analyse aspects that are present in a very broad collection of pieces and use that to inform what art "should look like" based on that information. Though this can look fairly similar, it is not the same. There is less so-called "stealing" involved than even cutting out pictures from a magazine to collage them is, or using google images.

If you've ever used Facebook's feature where it suggests a face in one photo is a specific person based on previously collected data, the principle is similar.

I will defer to @deepseasmetro or another informed party if they want to write more on the labour aspect since I'm kinda busy, but in essence this does very little to subvert the de facto IP of any original artist, counting at best as derivative, and does nothing that wasn't already being done in terms of derivation.

Even more traditional tracing has always been at worst a dick move anyways, unless you're creating a forgery, which would bring us back to IP again anyways.

[loving-jack-kelly]

javid fic told through the notes they leave each other before they know each other and while they get to know each other through notes when they both work at the same place where there's lockers or cubbies or something similar and they both choose the same one every time. night shift davey leaving notes for the person who keeps leaving napkin drawings from lunch break behind and davey thinks they're charming. day shift jack leaving notes for the person who's forgotten tupperware with the remains of clearly lovingly home-cooked meals and baked goods behind.

they've passed each other coming in and out a million times without knowing they're the ones leaving notes for each other. it becomes an almost daily thing, a silly but fun tradition to spend the last five minutes of a shift writing a silly joke or doodling something dumb on a receipt scrap. they both start building up the image of who they're talking to.

davey sees the hasty but obviously skilled sketches, the bodega receipts for coffee with too much cream and sugar, the wrappers of junk food and sometimes crumbs that get dropped and forgotten in the far back of the little locker they share and paints this picture of somebody who's always in a rush, somebody who has too much of a sweet tooth, somebody who must practice their art more than he pretends to in the little cartoons they leave behind. and jack sees the beat-up old reuseable water bottle that gets forgotten at least once a week, the college marching band sweatshirt that sometimes stays hung on the little hook, the rare receipt left behind showing what he got to eat minutes before clocking in for a long night, and gets this idea of a person who's always in a little bit of a rush, maybe they play trumpet or maybe it's something a little stranger like trombone or even glockenspiel, somebody who either tries way harder than jack at writing the notes or is just a naturally gifted writer and communicator.

maybe it goes on like this for a long time, until one of them comes in to a special two week's notice when the other is moving on to something new. maybe jack confesses he's been in night classes to be a social worker for the last two years and was only working this slightly-above-shitty job to pay for it. or maybe it's only a few months and it's davey letting his locker buddy know that he finally got a job in the field his degree is in and he starts in a few weeks. and it's been a joke, this whole time, that they never sign their names. it's locker buddy or night shift or a jokingly passive aggressive name derived from whatever got left behind that day, so when the notes stop, they both suddenly realize that this friendship they've built is just kind of..over. they don't know enough about each other to track each other down (and neither of them even thinks to ask around other coworkers about somebody on a different shift who just left the job because they're just a little bit stupid). so they just continue on, the one left behind missing the notes every time they come into work and the one who moved on finds it a little lonely, having their own space and not seeing the tiny pieces of life somebody else leaves behind.

maybe they find each other again after a while. and it's another random thing. they match on tinder or jack buys something off of davey on facebook marketplace or davey bumps into jack and spills coffee on him and they get to talking because that's the way jack is and davey is immediately charmed by him and when it clicks why they feel like they know each other it's delightful and funny and that's when things start for real.

[fagbearentertainment]

I FOUND ANOTHER ONE?!?! IVE BEEN HARDCORE SEARCHING FOR THIS ONE EVER SINCE I STARTED ARCHIVING THEIR VIDEOS AND SOME RANDOM PERSON HAD IT REPOSTED IT ON THEIR FACEBOOK IN HD QUALITY AND I STUMBLED UPON IT WITH A REVERSE IMAGE SEARCH I ALMOST DIDNT DO 😭😭😭

[tajlibracreations]

Family Reunion TShirts V2 by TajLibra Creations

More T-Shirts for the family.  These shirts are perfect for reunions and family gatherings or when the family is going to an event together. These shirts are brand new designs including:

Ain't No Family Like the One I Got (2 versions)

Ain't No Family Like the One We Got

All We Have is One Another

What Happens at the Family Reunion Stays at the Family Reunion

With The Family

Look for the rest of the collection! Let us know what designs you want for your Family Reunion.

CAS DOWNLOAD -  Top

Family Collection:

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Collection_V2

Includes

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_AM_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_AF_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Child_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Toddler_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Infant_V2

Outfit Type: Clothing - Top

Sub part Type: TShirt

Fashion Choice: Feminine, Masculine

Age: Infant to Elder

All Occults (excluding Werewolf)

Custom Thumbnails

Occasions: Athletic, Everyday, Sleep, Hot Weather, Party

Swatches: 6 per Age Group

Designs:  6 

Disallowed for Random

Designed by TajLibra Creations

Mesh: Base Game Compatible

Models Credits - Photography by @tajlibra

DOWNLOAD INFORMATION:

DOWNLOAD Family Reunion TShirts on SFS or 🖱️Patreon

File Name(s): Pick Either Merged or Separated, not both!

Merged:

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Collection_V2

Separated

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_AM_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_AF_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Child_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Toddler_V2

TajLibra_FamilyReunion_TShirt_Infant_V2

Uploaded on 10/05/2023 by @tajlibracreations @tajlibra

Want a creation for your Family Reunion? Let me know!

DISCLAIMER: These creations are for The Sims 4 as custom content. This is content is purely for fun. Many simmers love having a piece of reality in their games. Some images were obtained from various online sources and their credit remains on the image.

TajLibra Creations Terms of Use (TOU):

Do not sell or place MY custom content behind paywalls or on paysites. My content is not for sale. Link directly to my Patreon, tumblr, or simfileshare link.

Do not re-upload, re-edit, and/or then claim as your own! Please credit designs to me.

Do not include my content in pay to download lots, rooms, and/or households. Separate my content and provide it as a free download or link to my page.

I credit mesh creators and link to required meshes whenever possible, you should as well. My goal is to never use a mesh that requires payment to download.

Feel free to tag me when you use my creations. @tajlibracreations @tajlibra

Please let me know if links do not work or if you have problems with my content working in your game.

Social Media:

The Sims 4 Gallery: TajLibra (cc free builds & sims),TajLibraCreation & TajLibraCreates

Twitter: @TajLibraCreates

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Patreon: patreon.com/TajLibra

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Tumblr: tajlibracreations.tumblr.com & tajlibra.tumblr.com

Discord - TajLibra Creations: Click to Join

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Itch.io: Click Here to view Unreleased Commission Items

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Website - TajLibra Creations

Etsy Store for Digital Art - TajLibra Designs

Kofi - TajLibra: Click to Visit (accepting donations)

Buy Me A Coffee (Smoothie) - TajLibra: Click to Visit (accepting donations)

[kyra45]

Guide to spotting donation scam accounts

I am aware there is multiple guides posted by other accounts but this one is my own based around my posts I’ve made over the months of running this blog. If you already know how to spot scams, then good! Someone else might not.

If you appreciate all the work I did to make this post accurate and easy to understand, feel free to share it and link it to anyone who might need info. If you want to show thanks in another way, I take pocket change by tips. My pinned post also has links to quick access posts that are about scams.

Not all blogs who ask for aid are scammers! Legitimate people do exist it’s just that scammers will take their information and use it as their own in order to get the money for themself. This post is most meant to be a through guide into finding these scam posts more easily at a glance.

So here is a guide to spotting donation scam accounts under a readmore as it is a long post.

Check how old the blog is by seeing if their archive is enabled. You can also guess this by scrolling the blog and seeing if the posts made are entirely random or seem to come from a certain trending tag. Also check the date of the reblogged post by turning on timestamps. Backdated posts are when a user reblogs a post then goes into post editor and tries to make their reblog look older then it actually is. A common mistake is the new date is even older then the post itself was made meaning the user has went and backdated the post to make their account look older than it is. If the archive is disabled, you may only find ~20 posts shared within seconds of the others.

If they sent you an ask to share their post, did it request you to answer privately? People who are requesting aid are generally wanting a public audience to share their post and would not generally tell someone to answer their ask privately unless their up to something suspicious. If your ask says to answer privately, try using tumblr search to see if it was sent to multiple users. An example of an ask is below.

(Image has alt text! But I will still copy/paste the ask below as well.)

“hi!! I hope you dont find this ask strange, weird or whatever you call it :( Just wanted to ask a favor if you could possibly check the post I pinned for my cats? It’s on this blog, please do check if you have a spare time and reblog/boost it. Im so sorry if I did bother you, just need some help. Please do send me a msg to reply or answer the ask privately, please 😭 🙏 🙏 🐈 “

These asks are known as scam asks, though most commonly sent by blogs that are using content stolen from a legitimate fundraiser for a pet that is needing veterinary care. They are sent to multiple users who have shared a popular or trending post and is sent regardless of it the user would share the post or not. As it stands so far, most accounts who send these asks are scams.

Another type of donation scam is when a user will save the medical photographs of someone’s fundraiser and repost them to say it’s theirs. These can be graphic hospital images stolen off Instagram/Facebook and used in a fabricated story claiming it’s the users grandparent or child of who needs help. Most often, though, there is multiple images used that may not match up with the story itself. Scammers may even fake a funeral fundraiser using a similar method of stolen content.

Above all, donation accounts also will steal Instagram photographs to impersonate people and give them made up names. There are cases where scammers have made fraudulent GoFundMe’s with stolen images and made up stories about sensitive topics in order to get money. It’s important to pay attention and see if the suspected scam account is answering questions about their situation or if their asks and messages are turned off. This is usually a sign they may not be legitimate and are avoiding any questions about their legitimacy.

You may also want to pay attention to the support links given that lead to methods of sending cast. If the local currency isn’t matching up with the given information, it may be sign of a scammer. The most common example is someone asking for $USD but the local currency would be something else and they don’t supply a currency conversion anywhere in their post or explain why it doesn’t match. However, this is just a common scam tactic.

In closing, there are other minor ways to spot donation scam accounts. Such as searching their username up in tumblr search or just asking them to send you more information that relates to their situation. Above all, one of the best things you can do is examine the askers blog closely and see if there’s anything suspicious and do your own research before asking around.

And remember, always report confirmed scam accounts for phishing like so:

Report -> Something else -> Illegal uses or Content -> Phishing

[not-alien-girl-v]

Internet Hcs About the Evans

i don’t know. read it

warning: like everything language mentions of porn idk dont read it if ur gonna be like ew stop being lewd

Tate: Knows the fnaf lore. Specifically watched Markiplier play it and also a Sally Face fan like hardcore and kins both Sal and Larry equally. Has a Tumblr acc but it’s only to interact w fanart of fnaf and sally face and like idk follow other fan accs he’s one of those empty accs with some random ass username no posts no bio no prof pic just his name in lowercase. has a deviantart?? again doesn’t post just to look at fanart he’s really into fanart and almost gets into reading fanfiction about his various interests but ultimately decides against it cuz i feel like violet would clown on him for it if she ever found out

Kit: Has an insta but it’s private with like 27 followers and it’s all like just his family and friends and sometimes when his friends post he’ll comment something like ‘Looking good bud 👍’ and then disappears from the internet for another month or two until he gets a notif that his wife posted or something. too scared to go on twitter and i don’t blame him. for the most part he just doesn’t understand how the internet works and has no intentions of finding out so he leaves it alone. he also has a facebook but same rules apply with the instagram only ever goes on to hype up his wife and kids and sometimes friends

Kyle: frat boy sorry cuz i don’t imagine frankenkyle can fathom the internet anyway i feel like kyle gets into debates online like way too much and he sees nothing wrong w the fact that he’s like actively searching out bigots to give a piece of his mind to. he’s got a tiktok and only follows like racist sexist ppl so his feed is full or opportunities to curse someone out digitally. he’s also got a twitter thats almost been banned a lot. he’s completely anonymous w it tho and his insta is completely regular he’s got like maybe 900-1000 followers just of like his friends and frat guys from his own or other frats and a bunch of girls who asked for his insta cuz they thought he was cute even though he never replies to flirty dms. he WOULD have several white boy went fishing posts and you guys can’t argue w me on this ok i wrote too much for him. he definitely has a lot of girls commenting every time he posts and i think his brothers would give him a lot of shit for not ‘jumping on that shit’ but he’s all like ‘oh i’m old fashioned u know i’m not like that’ has an active snapchat that he adds stories to all the time but once again never responds to messages

Jimmy: he has an account on instagram, twitter, probably facebook but they’re all mostly like linked to the freak show ykwim like he’d have like a verified checkmark but he only ever posts like freak show related announcements or like every now and then a little video that he records of him and some other ppl in the show behind the scenes and it’s captioned like ‘come see us (enter date here)’ and that’s pretty much it he’s not super big on being active in social media because he claims he has plenty of friends irl he doesn’t need fake robot friends. also may not know how the internet works

James: i mean sally runs the hotels official instagram page and all other socials and he probably has no idea that she’s doing that until he finds out she posted some image of video of him on one of the accounts and then some guests recognize him at the hotel and say like ‘omg ur that guy!!’ and he has no idea what it all means n shit. I think he would get a great kick out of instagram reels like non tiktok but you know how like a month after a trend happens on tiktok then it goes to reels? right like he eats that shit up he thinks its the funniest goddamn thing like funny cat videos or someshit

Kai: right so like we all know he trolls reddit and 4chan and posts rude reviews on thatcow. the kinda guy that kyle finds himself internet battling like this is the enemy he's been preparing for. he has a tiktok to stay relevant and he's just a comment section lurker 'user17896379' type shit he just likes various biggoted comments and occasionally replies just to start fights and shit. he's got a facebook and insta where he's totally normal tho like 'hey guys vote me for senate!!' again similar to kyle but like opposite ends of the same spectrum. i would love to view his search history. searches the most despicable things on p0rn websites every time he yanks it and i just am desperate to know what shit he's looking at

[zot3-flopped]

I don't understand why anyone would be shocked about Harry's success post-1D. He was always singled out as the Michael Jackson/Bobby Brown/Robbie Williams/Justin Timberlake from the get-go. It's not always about who has the technically best voice. You have to have the right mix of talent and charisma. Harry is so charismatic and puts effort into the image and presentation of his albums, music videos and live shows. That seems to be a lost art when it comes to make pop stars. Harry has gained many, many fans that were never into One Direction. Look on Facebook and you can see older people really like him and give him his flowers.

As far as the other 1D guys... Zayn got that early start and had a lot of potential to carve a JT/Weeknd type career. But his laziness and poor choices of singles for Icarus Falls (which he was obviously trying to ape Chris Brown by making it twice as long as it needed to be) derailed his momentum. How you fumble an opportunity to work with Timbaland so badly is quite impressive.

Niall actually did well for himself on the first album, and I'm glad he found a sound that works well for him. Idk if you've ever seen his full audition for The X Factor, but he was clearly just imitating Justin Bieber. He does not have a voice for R&B at all. Heartbreak Weather was derailed by COVID, and Niall was acting very passive-aggressively and salty by this. This new record was delayed a bit too long IMO, but it seems to have performed OK. I think Niall will continue to have a solid fanbase, but he'll never approach Harry's highs.

Liam is Mr. Trendhopper. Let's try a bazillion different genres and see what sticks. The end result was an album that had no congruency or artistic vision. Instead, we had an album with a random ass Christmas song, a bunch of random collaborations and a song that fetishes bisexual women (which reminds me of another former boy bander's song: JC Chasez's "Some Girls (Dance With Women). This was at least a bit more excusable since it came out in 2004. Liam really should've known better than putting such an offensive tune on an album in the year of Our Lord 2019. The fact that it got to #111 in the United States really shows how much he screwed the pooch.

Louis frankly has had way more success than he deserves. He can't sing at all, and with the way he's going I'd be shocked if his voice lasts another 5 years. Anyway, his albums are basically Oasis rip-offs drenched in dated imagery of hyper masculinity. Then there are his stage shows, where he puts in less than 0% effort and treats his own fans very poorly.

👏👏👏👏

[ghostlytales]

The Sixth Swimmer by Kim Davidson (2014)

The family in this photograph had a rest in Murphy’s Hole, which is in southeast Brisbane, Australia. There were only 3 kids there that day, but looking at the photo we can also clearly see another child.

This photo of ghost was posted on Facebook and a random viewer commented on it, explaining that a 13-year-old girl drowned there in 1915 and that’s probably her image was captured by a camera

[girlwaitingforvienna]

Social Media is a Stalker

Social Media is like a dedicated stalker.

Like Joe Goldberg from Netflix's hit TV show You. Facebook, Instagram, Google, they all like to listen from afar; when you think you're having a private conversation they are simply there- lurking in the back corner of the room, waiting for you to say something that they could possibly sell to you.

Yes, it's creepy as hell.

And yet; we all still use it. Well, most of us.

Why is that?

We obviously know that all of these apps secretly spy on us when we're not paying attention, but we still can't help but want to see how so-and-so is doing from Texas by looking through our Facebook or Instagram feed.

We still search for some kind of extra validation whether we need it or not through these online platforms. But is it really that important?

It shouldn't be. That's the problem. And it is all addicting in a way; the amount of likes, shares, random funny-but-stupid short videos that distract us from our own thoughts. It makes us feel good, and yet it is still the weirdest thing in my opinion.

I grew up with the new-found birth of all social media platforms. Facebook was the newest and coolest thing at the time and I remember feeling invincible almost. Being able to connect with people and friends that happened to be miles away- right at your fingertips. When I was younger I would constantly pester my friends online because I was bored, and like I said- it was still relatively "new" so why not use the hell out of it and be cool like all of the other kids right?

Anyways, what I didn't realize at the time was how much it affected my self-esteem as a still-awkward-and-growing adolescent. Instagram was the next big thing when I was around 14 or 15 years old- along with the legendary Snapchat. This was a time period where I happened to be going through a lot of self-confidence issues. I had a decent amount of acne that no amount of makeup could hide, but the one thing that could make it disappear was by using Snapchat and Instagram filters. I would have to say that this did more harm than good because I would notice the little things Snapchat would change about my face. Whenever I would apply a "pretty" filter on, my eyes would expand a couple of inches, my chin would shrink significantly- along with my nose, and my acne was almost non-existent; sounds great right?

It really was great, until you happened to turn the filter off. I would watch in horror as all of the physical qualities that I hated about myself suddenly return. My acne looked worse than I originally had thought, and my nose looked bigger than I had imagined. Snapchat basically ruined my self-image when I was growing up, and now- in my 20's I'm still struggling to get my self-confidence back.

How is it normal to live in a world where you can look "perfect" in a matter of seconds through only using a camera lens on a screen? It's anything but normal.

And yet- I can't help but wonder if I'm a total dumbass for continuing to use the very exact social media platforms that has damaged my self-confidence for years, or if I'm simply keeping up with the "norm" of today's society's expectations?

Maybe I'm both.

Maybe we're all victims to this, in some way or another.

But also, what else is there to do?

[lesbianchemicalplant]

Alessandro Tofanelli. (no obvious source—see below. please let me know if you can find a real source or any other details)

this was previously posted to tumblr in much lower resolution (640x634 pixels). the above is the best-quality (least-downsized) copy of the image I could find through reverse image search and other likely searches

the artist does not seem to have a dedicated portfolio site. there's a facebook page, but I don't see this piece on there. there are different subsets of his work on the following sites (the selection possibly varying with auctions coming and going or galleries disappearing)—

Facebook

Galleria Gagliardi

MutualArt

artnet

floren

some random post on blogspot

the specific image posted here isn't from any of the above. it's from another art auction site, “1stdibs”

the site doesn't have any listings for Alessandro Tofanelli anymore, but the direct link to the 1500x1485 image file still worked (and it doesn't seem to be a janky blurry up-resizing of a smaller image)

so anyhow, unfortunately, I didn't find a title or a year it was made or anything else like that. if anyone can find this out (or find a proper source) please let me know!

(btw, google's reverse image search's biggest result was still only 960x950

still better than the original tumblr upload, but it's always worth checking multiple reverse image searches if you want to find the highest-quality version of some image. though you still have to sift through the “big” results to look for shitty upscaling, or to check if it's actually a photo of a reproduction or w/e)

[wild-grinders]

Hello! I came here to ask since I don't know anyone else active to ask, do you have any information on/know where to get information about a Wild Grinders character (toy line exclusive, not in the show, according to the broken down shack that is the fandom wiki) called Beefy? I can't find anything other than like 2 images proving they exist. They are a bulldog like meaty, but have some brown spotting. One of the images is them as an action figure and the other is of them on a box, so must be real.

in short, do you know anything about beefy (not meaty) Wild Grinders?

Foreword: This was written at 11pm

Anon the answer to this entire question is that there's no fully compiled archive of the toys (both past and planned that would be discontinued). But my assumption would be that Beefy has not been confirmed to be part of the next toyline (post-discontinued) because FANDOM Wikia runs on 'opinionated info' aka misinformation and tends to be unregulated. As long as you have an account, you can make any sort of page or manipulate others into believing text.

One of my closest friends drew mecha fanart for an obscure fandom and the Wikia people stole it and claimed it as production art from the official artists (who never planned on making a mecha for their female characters).

Another instance of Wikia being Wikia has to be when one of my headcanons, for another small fandom, led to everyone believing 2 characters were canon brothers. (They weren't, it was just my headcanon).

But looking at the page for 'Beefy', there's no real proof of Beefy to have a toy. Especially when most of the images are of Beefy are just only of Meaty toys. There's no leaked prototypes or any references to Tracy's sketches of Beefy either. Because in order for the toy to be planned for production, Tracy needs to at least draw a reference for it. (He probably has drawn Beefy one time, but very unlikely usable for model reference).

If anything, the page could have originated from Rob Dyrdek making a comment about a Beefy toy from one of his series (he has a lot of reality TV episodes and it's just a random snippet). And it seems that it could have been a color malfunction (very common for toys to have this sort of thing).

Some of the 'leaked' toy plans on Wikia were reuploaded from this Facebook (unactive), where someone who was part of the production team just dropped it off there: https://www.facebook.com/FansOfWildGrindersInBrazil

[mewlabu]

Massive Content Warning! War images below.

Just a reminder that Russia is still bombing Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

There have been too many to record here, I could make posts all day about each attack.

Tumblr image per post limit won't even let me post enough photos to demonstrate just the past two months.

In one attack, a hospital was hit. Mostly the maternity wing. A 3 day newborn was killed.

Civilians are dying in areas no where near fighting or military targets.

Ukrainians still live under daily terror courtesy of Russian long range misilies.

A man takes shelter in the metro during an air raid with his daughter.

I can't think of any recent attacks in the last two months which targetted anything other than civilian areas and infrastrucutrure.

Here is a photo of just some of the shells Russia has launched at Ukraine cities and villages.

At least 60 rockets today.

Civilians died. Again. 2 adults and a baby were killed. Another child is now an orphan.

In liberated Kherson, torture chambers where children were tortured have been found.

Areas continue to experience outages of power and water while the temperatures plummet.

The other day all of Odesa was without power. Some areas only get power a few hours a day, or at random times. It's winter in Ukraine.

In occupied areas, civilians are executed by Russian forces in the most brutal way.

While on the front lines they throw wave after wave of their own men poorly equipped and just there to make Ukraine use up its bullets while they fight them off.

Bakhmut stands. Ukraine holds the line but at a tremendous cost to both civilians and UA forces.

This is all still happening. The west, while increasing supportive in many ways, still refused to provide defense systems better equipped to shoot down Russian rockets and Iranian drones or systems that would allow Ukraine to target the origin of these missiles, which would prevent innumerable deaths and suffering if they ould be eliminated.

Instead Ukrainians scramble to repair what they can, try to find ways to live by candle light and rely on generators or stations set up where people who don't have generators can charge their equipment.

More mass graves found in Kherson.

So please don't forget about our people.

This is all still happening.

As tired as the world seems to be of this war, it has not ended. It hasn't gotten easier, in fact it is now in every region.

Areas as far from the front lines as some countries are from Ukraine, are once again being targeted. Far from active fighting front lines. Civilians are the only victims of these attacks. Air raids are now in every region.

Meanwhile instagram, twitter and Facebook keep banning accounts from UA talking about whats happening, making it harder to reach the world whose support is so badly needed.

[heir-less]

Why do you think a random article will change the minds of all the people? Like I see a lot of shit articles about Harry and meg all the time and not because of that I believe everything I read. Camilla tominey (yes, that bitch) wrote an article about harry sometimes sleep in a hotel room and if it’s as you say people will believe this? Because Tom Quin is just another “royal expert” who probably doesn’t know a shit. I think the only people who pay attention to this stories are the fans (in this case, the haters).

Why do you think a random article will change the minds of all the people?

It's right after this sentence that I stopped reading and tuned out because when did I say that?

Also, the reporting on Meghan has undoubtedly impacted her public image and reputation. It's called manufacturing a narrative and it's the rota's job to do that over time. I mean, take Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, the reason why a lot of people sided with Johnny at first was that they were being fed stories on TikTok and Facebook that presented a one-sided, untrue narrative. It doesn't matter how rational you think you are, if you're listening to these biased sources, it's going to have an impact on you, even subconsciously.

[theremina]

I fully expect to get shouted at for saying this. I still think it’s worth saying. ❤️‍🩹

The amount of reasonably well-off white people I’ve observed losing their entire shit over crappy AI theft these past couple months is… well, it’s completely understandable, of course.

But let’s unpack the fervor pragmatically.

As a classically trained full-time professional musician who has been honing their own craft since early childhood, and as someone who is used to being taken for granted, undervalued, even exploited, by folks who literally have no idea how much work and expense goes into doing what I do, I keenly relate to frustrations concerning algorithmic AI theft.

That being said, never have I ever observed a single one of the most reactive, aggressively angry white professional artmaking chums lashing out blindly over this problem come anywhere close to the same level of agitation regarding far more brutal atrocities: systemic racism/sexism/transphobia/homophobia, the climate crisis, Roe being overturned, anti-science / antivax rhetoric, etc. Yanno, shit that’s literally, directly killing people and the planet.

Some of the same dudes screaming “unfriend me if you’re going to post that garbage, and btw FUCK YOU” at the world right now are the same men who’ve opined in the past that I shouldn’t “get so worked up” over various systemically violent, directly life-threatening issues faced by millions, even billions of us.

Listen, I’m not saying artists don’t deserve to be concerned or upset. I don’t use any art generating AI myself, in large part bc I’ve seen how much needless pain and stress it’s causing a lot of my loved ones. For me, personally, it’s not remotely worth it.

That said, a lot of the same white, predominantly male artists we’re all watching yell at Cloud right now use Spotify, right? No judgement. I do, too! And a lot of you enjoy music with synths or samples that reproduce piano or string or drum or horn or choral vocal sounds? And you’ve probably watched a bootlegged television show or two in your day, yeah? Or resorted to 12 foot dot io?

Meanwhile, you’re out here literally damning random non-artists to hell for making corny-ass AI selfies? That’s the hill you’ve decided you wanna die on? Okay…

OR! Or, hear me out, what if you allowed your personal frustration over this issue to radicalize you less selectively? Mebbe? Could ya try showing up with a fraction of this passion to support reparations for Black Americans, or the safe and legal reproductive rights for half the population, or combating climate crisis, or disability rights, or universal income, orororrr, etc?

Look, I dunno. We live in an abattoir. Times are only getting tougher. Maybe before you decide to have another Totally Normal One that involves howling directly in the faces of disabled and low-income folks who aren’t in the fine arts or commercial arts industry and probably can’t afford a boardwalk caricature right now, let alone a $1K commission for you, you could try hitting the pause button, take several deep breaths and ask yourself: “am I picking healthy battles?”

(This is the exact same advice I try to give myself every single time I get worked up about something that isn’t literally life-threatening. I do not always succeed, of course. My shit stinks, too!)

Butt. Maybe next time you observe a friend getting excited prompting images for their own personal pleasure by using AI, consider restraining yourself from calling them a “lazy thieving scumbag”? Remember, not everyone can afford decades of training and school. How is your Facebook buddy who’s happily making endless Beksinski/Moebius/Ryden-derivative computer doodles for their own personal satisfaction managing to trigger your biggest, scariest threat response?

There gotta be some middleground between “woo this AI fad is fun and harmless” and “my barista friend sharing Meitu-lookin cybercosmonaut selfies on IG is stealing food directly out of my family’s mouth” worth exploring.

Sincerely, I get why folks are upset. But maybe don’t bring a nuke to a knife fight.

I promise you, this is a lesson I have personally learned the hard way. Maybe it doesn’t have to be so hard for you? Or —and this is my main concern, tbh— so hard on people who don’t deserve to be your punching bag.

I dunno. I’m just a bit shocked at how emotional some of you are able to get about this specific issue when your chosen line of work is largely run by rapists and racists and robber barrons. (Oh my!)