#but it wasn't the response i needed

[aturinfortheworse]

i really would not describe myself as "pro-generative AI" (and I hate that we even call it AI) and I have specifically been cutting down on my AI use as much as I can (because they murdered a guy and also the environmental impact and also the plagiarism and so on and so on), and it turns out "as much as I can" is a lot.

but I struggle to understand how people could believe this to be true.

There is not another thing that is going to make me a 12-lesson unit overview of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire based on the junior secondary student needs I identified in my essay. (Yes it will need a lot of work. All rough drafts do.)

There is not another thing that is going to help me make a 7574-cell spreadsheet calculating value of every skeleton I can build in a browser game according to many byzantine rules, and instantly fix the mistakes I made that are beyond the capabilities of find & replace to repair. and write a Google Apps script to do the stuff Google Sheets can't. (This is how I learned to do weird complex shit on Google Sheets. I have no desire to learn programming.)

And I don't think there's another thing that's going to estimate a mark for my assignments based on the marking criteria I upload, or tell me if there's "something like a lag screw but not a screw?" or help me come up with Transformers-friendly similies for the scene I'm writing.

I mean there is. It's another human being who knows about the subject. But I have to find that human being every single time and I don't usually get a usable response in three minutes at 11pm on a Tuesday.

I just don't really think that we can have a productive discussion about how and why to not use generative AI if we pretend that it has nothing unique to offer. It's counterproductive. I even think it's kind of defeatist, as if we were admitting that if AI did have unique and useful things to offer, then that would be a worthwhile trade-off for all of the other problems.

I think a lot of what pro-AI people are really wanting is stuff that already exists but they don't know it's out there like

can't format a work email? templates

don't know how to write a resume? templates

writing a thank you card or a condolences card or a wedding invitation? templates templates templates

not sure how to format your citations in MLA or whatever format? citationmachine.net

summary of something you're reading for school/work? cliffnotes.com

recipe based on ingredients in your fridge? whatsintherefrigerator.com

there's a million more like, guys, we don't need AI, we never needed generative AI

[quiescentdestiny]

I cannot explain how much I need Warren Wilshire to offer Jean a car to stay away from Jeremy.

[dirtytransmasc]

I find it deeply depressing that every adult in Spider's life had children, yet he was never anyone's priority. every adult he could and most likely attempted to match in to. the adults he remembered as the closest things he had to parents since birth (Jake and Norm, even if they weren't acting as his parents, because Spider, genuinely, would not know better). down to his actual foster family (the McCoskers). essentially went out of their way to de-prioritize him.

like I'm not faulting them for having kids, for having a family. but Spider was their first priority. he didn't need to be adopted by any of them, per say, but he was their responsibility. he was their orphan, Jake especially, considering he was the chief of his people, but Norm as well, seeing as he's a prominent figure head of the clan/Hellsgate.

the McCoskers took him in, but over the years, as they had their own children, he was more and more neglected. he was now no longer his actually appointed guardians priority. and that only gets worse and worse as he ages until they become outright abusive (Nash does anyway, cause thats what I'm gonna call violently kidnapping his, throwing him in a room and locking him there, and trying to kill all of them, him included, when they run away. as abuse. and I'll get back to the whole "you have to turn yourself in to the RDA" x2 speech from Jake in a second). they also didn't really accept his culture. with their resentment towards the Na'vi brewing, Spider most definitely faced some heat for being more of the forest than of humans, in terms of culture.

3 times over, Spider came first and was put last. put last by parents who know damn well how much love, time, care, and attention a child needs. who should be able to see when a kid is being neglected. who dialed to advocate and protect him from neglect (instead of calling him a stray).

he was a child and they were his advocates. all three parties failed in their duty as advocates, to protect Spider. to ensure he always had a loving home that made him their priority. that fulfilled all his needs, not just the physical ones. but all put their own families first, and abandoned Spider to the scraps of their love, time, and affection.

imagine being Spider, an orphan who can't even mention his birth parents and is always treated like he is the physical rebirth of his father's sins by half the people around him. every adult in your life has kids and seems like they're such a good parent. you watch their kids being loved and tended to and having a steady home. they receive love and affection constantly. but your fosters pay less and less attention to you as they have babies. and now your a stray to the man you look up to so much. and the man who probably taught you how to put an exopack on has less and less time for you. no one has time for you. you're no one's child. no one's priority. just a stray. a nuisance. and you don't truly belong anywhere.

no one was putting him first. children need to be someone's priority. psychology. they need it.

and then the RDA returns. the McCoskers leave, Spider is expected to leave everything he has ever known, to join the very people he hates and has been trying so hard since he could understand what it meant, to prove that he wasn't like them. Jake, the man he once looked up to, was telling him to leave. sending him away. stripping him of the little amount of family he could somewhatly claim, that being his siblings.

once again, Jake is his chief, should be looking out for him. not even as a father, per say, but as his duty to Spider as his chief. a chief should never be sending away his most vulnerable ward, a child he should consider his own (as all of his clans children should be one with his own children), to the opposing enemy force.

this happens again when they're running away, Jake tells him ever more directly to hide in the forest alone until the RDA stops shooting at everything that moves and then turn himself in so he can his own children could run. once again, putting him last, instead of protecting all of them.

then for a year, Spider has no family. no one. the McCoskers are gone and no one has stepped up to bat for him. he's 15/16 and alone. his the big sibling to the Sully's. those kids are all he has, but they aren't really looking out for him. he's looking out for them. cause he's the oldest. that's just how it is. he is one with the clan. lives with them. does chores. watches out for his siblings, the whole nine. but Jake isn't doing his duty of watching out for his ward. he is once again giving and giving and giving, and not receiving.

and then he is taken, he is taken, and while Jake may not have had the means to go back for Spider, or been able to take the risk of going back for him, he abandons him without a thought for his safety, and puts his children first. it's the language and attitude be poses towards the situation that is wild to me. he has every right to be worried about his children, but he could not spare Spider an ounce of concern, even knowing the danger he was in, and is more concerned about him spilling details then anything else. Spider is, once again, not his first, second, or even third priority. he is a means to an end. a necessary loss.

people only care about Spider when there's nothing else they can put before him.

[burningcheese-merchant]

I think

Didn't Jack's reasoning develop Daddy Issus in him ??

You mean his extreme perfectionism? It contributes to it, yeah. Kind of a chicken and egg scenario tbh, hard to say which came first. Did Jack's fear of disappointing his father predate his perfectionism, and ultimately lay the foundation of its existence? Or was he born believing he always needs to be more than he is, and that impostor syndrome ended up creeping into his thoughts and feelings regarding his father? Who can say? He's not doing himself any favors regardless. In this situation, Jack is his own worst enemy. His feelings of inadequacy are like a perpetual motion machine. Always devising and "fulfilling" its own prophecies

If they would just sit down and talk to each other man-to-man, it would make a big difference. But Burning Spice hasn't been any good at talking to people in a long time (no matter how much better he's gotten as a person, there are just some things you lose that you'll never get back. Not after living a life like that), and Jack, well-intentioned little martyr that he is, never likes to talk about his problems. He buries them deep and focuses on doing right by others instead, all the time and forever. It's not healthy. It would hit a lot closer to home if his father sat him down, looked him in the face and told him he doesn't always need to put himself last, and he doesn't need to be afraid of not being good enough, because he is. He always has been.

[laser-tripwires]

alright leverage fandom i wanna check something

please reblog because i legit wanna know what the consensus is

[windydrawallday]

THOK, REIDAK & AVAK

More (early) reinterpretations! ... And a rare case of Avak standing with the back straight, because I noticed many HC him smaller than the rest of the Piraka, but actually he is as tall as Reidak LOL (or at least what I took from the lineup gag publicity of them together). I like both ideas because it's funny to think of someone so stupidly tall trying to look small/sneak from unnecessary trouble (or just hunching from constantly pacing while guarding prison corridors).

And yes: I MADE THOK FLUFFY! Those are actually thick, long feathers, like those of penguins. For me makes sense for a critter that is adapted to stand cold weather. Plus, it makes him look sooo fancy.

TBH Reidak is the least I like of my attempts here... I need to pull harder on visual motifs for him. I was thinking of studying rhinos and ankylosaurs? Make his armor-skin densier/bulkier mmm

And well, Avak! If you noticed, he has some bug-insect motifs (I'm thinking next time, trying to give him something similar to compound eyes-lenses mmm) emphasized with how his tail looks like a bug abdomen, and the way his back spines "pinch" together. Same reason why I added mechanical arms, and because he is a multitasker for sure: he doesn't have ENOUGH ARMS to do all he wants to do!

[highseas-swede]

...I seriously cannot stress how much I hate tags like "Give us BAMF Aziraphale" because it seems to imply that he's not badass.

He IS. Tell me how well most people could endure 6000 years of consistent, persistent demoralization, harassment and shitty treatment without snapping?

Do you know how HARD it is to be kind when you've been put through a system that actively discourages kindness and softness, a system that tries to beat it out of you - not physically, but still. The fact that Aziraphale got through all of that and is not just still kind, but still has the capacity to be kind to the very people who hurt him, is fucking remarkable.

Aziraphale is badass. Period. Full Stop.

It's well past time that we stopped equating physical and fighting prowess as a measure of badassery. Just about anyone can exercise and get strong enough to fight someone. Just about anyone could possibly get weapons training. Neither of these things is half as brave as putting yourself in front of a crowd of people and holding off 70 demons with just conviction and a candleholder because it's the RIGHT THING TO DO.

EDIT: I had to add this while I was thinking of it.

I feel like people are buying into Heaven's version of badassery. Angels were made to FIGHT. To fight the last big battle against demons and Hell.

Aziraphale is a deviation because he DOES NOT WANT THAT. He doesn't want to fight a war that will hurt billions and destroy the world. His defining moment in Season 1 is when he stands in the face of the quartermaster and refuses to fight the way they want him to. Instead of a weapon, he chooses to find another way.

If anything, I would think it's leading to the idea that Aziraphale feels he must fight, that he has no choice, and then, when it comes right down to it, finding another way. A kinder way. A BETTER way.

By the standards of Heaven, Aziraphale picking up his sword and fighting would be Normal. Him refusing and finding another way is what makes him Unique. THAT'S what makes him badass.

[waitineedaname]

god I cannot stop thinking about the snapcube + rtvs team up for kingdom hearts. this is so perfect in so many ways I'm going to be so mentally ill about it

[bookwyrminspiration]

i cannot emphasize enough how much my entire academic situation is currently hinging on receiving an email from one (1) person

[lonestardust]

carlos' eyes in the meeting room........ carlos' eyes at the hospital..... at the IC room..... his guts are boiling with hot rage!!! this very stubborn hope. it's in the clench of his jaw since the funeral. the lump in his throat that he swallows back every time because that's how the gut-wrenching vestige of murder that hasn't received its justice yet feels like."i see it now. the eyes.." because that's the glimpse of the resolute unswerving gabriel in him that echos 'if there are tears to weep we do it when the time comes, not before'. you grief but you don't get defeated when there is still work to do in order to rest in that grief. and GODDD carlos is so righteously resolved about getting there. i want him so so bad to solve the case. finally bring that retribution and avenge his family and himself. he's been in the waxing and waning throes for too long he only deserves the purgation and finality of it more than anything!!!!!

because no way all of this relentless endeavour and sharp stubborn wit would culminate to anything but cracking it. even storytelling wise that would be disheartening not to bring it to its desired ends. because imagine. all this time carlos was so right about the rangers from the start. then he looped in. was kept so close under their wing. and then he now realises that he wasn't really truly '''stuck''' but he was trapped and misled instead and it's all tumbling down now over their heads and he's seeing through the cracks. finally the darkness makes sense and he can move in action through the pinnacle and into the resolution!!!

[littlebigmouse]

Something about AU Vander telling AU Powder she's "too smart to spend her life in a bar" vs telling AU Ekko (as far as he knows, anyway) that he thinks he'd be "running this place soon" makes the latter almost seem like an insult.

[leportraitducadavre]

this sure needs more study but i think a big part of the problem with the "stans" of some female characters is that they hide behind the term "feminist" when their real interest is to prove their self-insert is "desirable". i mostly notice this particular behavior in the "shipper" portion of these fandoms, as the "wives" status of certain characters is measured based on how beautiful/powerful their husbands are. many of these shippers think that having a husband (specifically a handsome one) is proof that the female character of their choice is attractive and therefore "beautiful" because, let's face it, desirability is all this boils down to; even their need to show how "powerful" or "strong" they are (often by providing examples of how "superior" their fav is to other female characters) is more about them being recognized, admired, and desired by the male characters.

[uncanny-tranny]

When we talk about recovery, I think we have to remember that recovery must be an option for everybody, but it is an option, which means that not everybody will choose it, or be ready to.

Forcing people to recover when they aren't willing or ready to is just often just as cruel as whatever you deem they must recover from. You cannot recover for another person.

I say this because forcing recovery onto people is most likely pushing them further from recovery. You might think you're doing what's good for them, and that is admirable, but we have to have a sense of realism about recovery. Anybody can recover, but that doesn't mean everybody will.

[letmetellyouaboutmyfeels]

As someone who watched last night’s episode, you had the right idea to stop.

Why’s it so bad

Because Tim Minear is a power-drunk hack.

[rintinningvt]

Started watching the Bayverse movies with my besties and... Are we just too gay for these movies??? Admittedly we only finished the first two and got through a quarter of the third, but the second one was such a drag to sit through at times and it probably doesn't help that we do NOT care about Sam that much. I hope that there is a character arc for him in the rest of the third movie. Because so far he has not been fun to watch in that one. He just comes off as a slight manchild to me, like... I can see why he would be frustrated with where he is in life but the way he acts with others and lashes out does not help him in the slightest. I do have to admit though that seeing him go to Cybertronian Heaven in the second movie was the funniest part for me and my besties lol.

I'll just hope that the other guy in the next movies will be at least a bit more interesting. Doesn't even have to be a good guy, just an interesting guy for me lol

[hidey-writes]

six sentences sunday

The slack, peaceful expression of Zhao Yunlan asleep, his body curled toward the main room. That instinctive way he reached for Shen Wei, patting along his shoulder for his forearm, for his wrist. Even just earlier that night, sitting in companionable quiet on the couch, Zhao Yunlan’s hand tapping along the leather until it found Shen Wei’s ankle and settled there, skin against skin. As if Zhao Yunlan had gotten used to it too, touching. Their bodies as close as their lives were tangled now. Shen Wei would miss every piece of it.

haha. hurting my own feelings in the down draft of the answer fic! i was initially worried i wouldn't have enough thoughts about that gap between the knife scene and the next scene to write a whole fic about it, but it's starting to seem that the solution is simply: cramming in as much domestic weilan flashback as narratively possible :3