#but some people will use it as a buzzword to scam

[tombraiderrocker]

If they claim they can cure your condition that you have been told is incurable, run. If they claim they cured themselves, run. If they claim they have cured everything from cancer to lupus holistically, run. If they claim you have to buy only supplements from them, run. If they claim they that only thing that will cure is x but x costs tons of money, run. If they refuse to run tests or address your diagnosed conditions before insisting you do an expensive treatment not covered by insurence, run. If they offer a one size fits all treatment/cure, run.

I have been scammed by "holistic" and "naturalistic" people before as a chronically ill person. In fact it was an actual doctor who went to medical school who scammed me for years. So watch out. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.

[gailynovelry]

SCREAM I love dystopias and I love worldbuilding and I am appalled at the thought of how desperate a person would have to be to get something called a Worker Bee Implant omg

Please tell me more fun things about this please

aaaaaaa hello! So this is from Mindhive and boy is Mindhive a ride. Still working out a lot of things about it, but also it's 80k long, so there's a lot of thoughts to choose from. Hmmmmm.

More context about the implants! But not all of the context, hehehe;

~ The trial volunteers do not go into the trial with any idea of what the implant actually does. It's only specified to be a "mental enhancement." Within the context of the world of MH, this means that most trial volunteers are going in assuming that it's going to be another failed attempt at a "general intelligence enhancement."

~ We say "another failed attempt" because the tech industry in MH has been in a hype cycle for "we're going to use science to enhance IQ!" for a while. But "intelligence" is complicated, and brains are complicated, and there's no magic bullet to "enhance" these things.

~ (Can you tell that the tech industry in MH is prone to eugenic lines of thinking and hype cycles for things that will never pan out for practical reasons? Real life is an unfortunately great source of inspiration for dystopia.)

~ But the implant is not an intelligence enhancement.

~ It could be considered a communication enhancement. If you've read the summary, you know one of the things it is capable of!

~ Hooray telepathy : D

~ It's intended to work in concert with a different type of technology, known as an EIS - an Emotive Intelligence System. Basically, a classic sci-fi AI, but under a new name because MH takes place in the future and in my present the tech industry has made the term "AI" into a marketing buzzword associated with art theft and scams.

~ The ideal EIS for this set-up has enough interpersonal skills to communicate with contractors, but only enough interest in workers to maintain Baseline Aliveness.

~ So, not V.E.R.T.I.G.O, who has a near-anthropologist curiosity about people, and a firm desire to provide them with a decent quality of life whenever possible. : (

~ What does this add up to? Not the horrors, of course, I am sure that the way these ideas click together have nothing to do with the way that corporations approach labor costs, working conditions, and bodily autonomy. : )

Also we're really into making webpages right now, so this WIP has some Neocities funstuff happening! Yay!

[ada-crunch]

Comparing a Scam Token to Cardano? The Ridiculous Story of Retik Finance

Read the original article HERE.

A lot of recent articles have been talking about a new cryptocurrency called “Retik Finance.” Make no mistake, Retik Finance is obviously a scam. Do not interact with their website and do not send them any of your crypto. Normally, I would just ignore these obvious scam, but what surprised me today was that my google news feed suggested an article with this ridiculous headline:

A quick look at their website (which I will not link here to prevent any potential reader from being scammed themselves) and it is obvious that Retik Finance is a scam.

The scam token is being featured in a lot of articles on small-time Indian news outlets. The articles are vague, misleading, and oftentimes just outright wrong. Take this little snippet from one of these articles:

The article claims that a 2.65% price dip invalidates Cardano as a leader in “evolving crypto landscape.” This is absolutely preposterous. A 2.65% price dip is completely insignificant and a token’s price is not indicative of a cryptocurrency’s underlying technology. A token’s price only represents the demand from buyers for a token in a marketplace.

Taking a look at their website is also hilariously ridiculous. The first thing you are greeted with is a presale that asks you to connect your wallet. Again, please do not connect your wallet to this:

They also display the address for their token. Which, oddly enough, is an ERC20 token. So their claims of low-fee transactions are blatantly false, anything transaction on the Ethereum blockchain carries a hefty fee (I took the liberty to check the etherscan page and found that a transfer of Retik tokens cost around $5–6 in Ethereum per transaction, which is obviously not cheap).

The token’s etherscan page is even more hilarious. There are only 8 holders of all Retik tokens and all 8 of those holders are likely the same person. Take a look at the screenshot below:

Those percentages show how much of the total supply of Retik tokens are owned by each wallet. See how those numbers are all nice, pretty numbers that end in zeros? Yeah, it’s definitely unnatural and are all likely the same person (not to mention the top wallet owns 40% of the total supply).

Scrolling down further on their website reveals some more nonsense.

They claim to be audited, have a KYC process, and a whitepaper. KYC for a cryptocurrency? That sounds really counter-intuitive.

The audit button leads to this audit report, which already claims Retik is a “high risk” and that the creator of Retik can blacklist any account and has the ability to enable/disable trades. This is another a red flag to add to the list.

The KYC button just goes to a page that says KYC is pending:

The whitepaper is extremely vague, uses a lot of buzzwords, and doesn’t discuss any type of technology at all. It's an embarrassing collage of buzzwords attempting to look authentic.

Going back to the original article, if you scroll to the bottom, you’ll find this little disclaimer:

Neither the author nor the website (ThePrint, an Indian news outlet) will take responsibility for the the content of this outrageous article. Typical.

Retik Finance is a laughably dumb scam. The fact that people still fall for these kinds of scams is something I still don’t understand. But google suggesting these kinds of articles in my feed? That’s even more outrageous. Google must have some kind of basic process to filter out these kinds of scummy articles. Because of Google’s complacency, so many more people will be exposed to these scams.

In short, Retik Finance is nothing compared to Cardano. Retik Finance will never replace Cardano. Retik Finance is a scam. Don’t fall for scams. Google needs to get better at not suggesting scam articles in news feeds to users.

If you enjoyed reading this, consider following/clapping. It helps a lot! Need help with crypto gas fees? Go here:��https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoGasFees/

ADA Crunch

[meow-moment]

everyone makes fun of sci-fi movies for just adding random science words like Quantum in front of other words like a prefix but already we've done this. When cryptocurrency was the new thing you could just say Oh yeah that guy's a Cryptobro and he's pushing a CryptoNFT Crypto Scam. and people would be able to tell it was some stupid bullshit. and now with AI you can be like This AI Generated Movie is AI Scripted and AI Voiced and you can tell it's some stupid bullshit. I guarantee that as soon as they crack quantum mechanics Quantum will be the new insufferable buzzword and we'll start seeing headlines about how Disney is using one Quantum Worker to do the work of 10 normal crew members or some shit. people will start using Quantum Products to scam people and call it The Future Of Marketing and within 2 months Quantum Anything will only be in use among terminally online joe rogan enthusiasts

[hareofhrair]

So while the ethical and legal issues with AI are real, this problem actually isn’t. The stats that claim AI is using a ton of power were using the power draw of the *entire data center,* of which AI is only a relatively small percentage. To quote the Ars Technica article I’m about to link:

“Long before generative AI became the current Silicon Valley buzzword, those data centers were already growing immensely in size and energy usage, powering everything from Amazon Web Services servers to online gaming services, Zoom video calls, and cloud storage and retrieval for billions of documents and photos, to name just a few of the more common uses.”

Even if generative AI went away tomorrow, all of that would remain.

The article then goes on to point out that people’s readiness to believe this is probably due to conflating AI with crypto. But while crypto’s exponential energy requirements were an unavoidable part of the business model, generative AI has an incentive to become more efficient and cheaper over time, like most technology.

Here’s the aforementioned article about it.

Imo, the problems with AI are not with the technology itself, anymore than internal combustion is to blame for vehicle pollution.

The problem is 1) grifters scamming tech illiterate executives and investors into believing AI is a magic cure all, so they try to force it into industries and areas where it’s useless or actively detrimental, or are foaming at the mouth to replace their human work force with it, when the tech is not capable of that and likely never will be.

And 2) lack of regulation allowing businesses to train their models on stolen data, either outright stealing art and writing without payment or attribution, or skimming it from users through incredibly shady practices that should not be legal.

But the actual problems in both of those cases are corporate structures putting people in decision making positions over issues they have zero experience with, and lack of legal regulation and the fucked up nature of IP law.

Don’t allow your legitimate concerns about the way capitalism abuses a novel technology to be warped into luddite hysterics over a technology that is neither as revolutionary or as apocalyptic as some would like you to believe.

I don't know, how about switching it off?

[criptox]

"Regulatory Clarity: Positive Momentum in the Tokenized Era"

```html

Understanding Regulatory Clarity in the Crypto Space

The world of cryptocurrencies is constantly evolving, with new innovations and challenges arising every day. One of the most pressing issues facing this vibrant landscape is the need for regulatory clarity. In this article, we'll explore what regulatory clarity means, why it's important, and how it can impact the future of cryptocurrency.

What is Regulatory Clarity?

Regulatory clarity refers to the clear and comprehensive laws and guidelines set by governments and financial authorities regarding the use, trade, and management of cryptocurrencies. It provides a framework within which individuals and businesses can operate without the fear of unexpected legal repercussions. Without regulatory clarity, potential investors and developers are often hesitant to engage in the crypto sphere.

Why is Regulatory Clarity Important?

Here are some key reasons why regulatory clarity is vital for the growth and sustainability of the crypto market:

Investor Protection: Clear regulations help protect investors from fraud and scams, encouraging more people to invest in cryptocurrencies.

Market Stability: Regulations can reduce market volatility caused by speculative trading, fostering a healthier trading environment.

Encouragement of Innovation: When entrepreneurs knows the legal landscape, they are more likely to innovate and invest in new technologies within the crypto ecosystem.

Global Standards: Regulatory clarity can pave the way for international cooperation on cryptocurrency regulations, leading to a more coordinated global approach.

The Current Landscape

Currently, the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies varies significantly from one country to another. Some nations, like El Salvador, have embraced Bitcoin as legal tender, while others have imposed strict bans on cryptocurrency transactions. This inconsistency creates confusion and uncertainty, leaving many potential crypto users in the dark about their rights and obligations.

The Path Forward

For the crypto industry to thrive, it's essential that regulatory bodies provide clearer guidance. Collaboration between industry leaders and regulators can help establish reasonable frameworks that prioritize both innovation and consumer protection. Here are some steps that can be taken:

Engaging in Dialogue: Regulators should actively engage with the crypto community to understand their concerns and needs.

Creating Clear Guidelines: Authorities need to develop undemanding regulatory frameworks that provide specific guidelines for businesses and individual users.

Continuous Evaluation: As the crypto space evolves, regulations must be regularly updated to reflect new challenges and opportunities.

Conclusion

Regulatory clarity is not just a buzzword—it’s essential for the future of the crypto industry. As we move further into the digital age, it’s vital that lawmakers and regulators recognize the importance of creating an environment where cryptocurrencies can flourish without compromising security. By fostering collaboration and open communication, we can pave the way for a more stable and innovative future in the crypto space.

It’s high time for clarity because the digital currency revolution is only just beginning!

``` "Regulatory Clarity: Positive Momentum in the Tokenized Era"

[cloudshapedpatch]

am i the only one who thinks the whole "manifesting" thing has gone a little too far?

im a spiritualist. i take time to understand the stars and the way the world works and i take my tarot, crystals, spirit, and the universe seriously. it's not a trend to me, it's my way of life. and it makes me so upset when i see people who are doing it cause it's trendy.

i saw a tiktok the other day of a pregnant woman working out. nothing special, but the caption said "i am manifesting this baby" ??? she already HAS the baby. it's growing inside her. she was over seven months along! that's not how manifesting works! it's become a super glorified buzzword and i hate it!

and i see a whole lot of "i attract but never chase" esp on twitter and tiktok. it's alright to want to attract something to you, but at this point it's all people ever do or say. they say they are manifesting (when in actuality, a lot of times they aren't actually putting in the effort or don't even know how to meditate or actively manifest beyond just wanting something). it's a really super easy way to say "im not going to put in any work to attain my goals but i should have this good thing because i deserve it"

don't get me wrong, everyone is deserving of good things, but the constant "attract not chase" mindset is harmful to yourself and others. you need a balance. you cannot aggressively want something and expect it to appear in your lap. if you are truly seeking to attract something, put in the work to properly manifest it. bring it to fruition. and then know when you need to chase. going after what you want is not a bad thing. it's not a poor thing or a pathetic thing to work towards and go after what you want.

if you really want to see results, make sure you have a balance. manifest the things you want. talk to spirit or the universe or any deity you may work with and see whether it's actually going to be a good thing for you, or whether you're ready for it yet. put yourself in a position to receive. even in attraction, it's not passive background work. you have to actively make sure you have the opportunity to receive it. open yourself up to the possibilities! you can't gain anything if you shut yourself out to world.

i know that crystals and tarot are super popular right now but using it just to play with or to fit in, and not taking it seriously, can have dangerous consequences. playing with the supernatural isn't a game, and while crystals are mostly harmless (unless handled wrong, i've heard of way too many people taking baths with their selenite! just cause some lady on tiktok said it's okay), it's still so easy to go too far if you don't know what you're doing or not taking it seriously.

if you really, actually, want to get into spirituality, please talk to someone who actually knows what they're doing. stop interacting with the tarot reads on twitter and tiktok, and get into it outside your home. go to an apothecary. go to crystal shops without the buzz antics. i know it's hard as a new spiritualist to know what's goid and what's a scam, so here's some guides i use to choosing a good shop:

don't shop anywhere that sells colored glass as crystals

don't shop from anyone or anywhere that swears by opalite. it's not real. if you want to know more about that please reach out!

hematite rings. just don't. hematite is great for soaking up negativity but it's fragile and prone to breaking when it's had enough. buying a new $30 ring when it breaks because it's soaked up too much negativity is just a way shops use to get lots of returning customers. just buy a big chunk of it and remember to cleanse it every so often.

make sure you research the way herbs interact if you're unsure. some combination don't work well together or neutralize each other and don't do anything. this is the same for crystals.

PLEASE don't attempt to open your third eye unless you are thoroughly experienced and ready for impact. closing your third eye is difficult and having it open when you're not ready is overwhelming at best. i learned that lesson the hard way. it's not fun. you don't ever have to open your third eye if you don't want to. it's not a requirement.

doing tarot reads for other people when you're still not completely sure about your deck isn't good. until you know the card meaning inside and out, reversals and uprights, and know your specific deck, it's too easy to give an incorrect reading and lead others astray. just stick to yourself.

[arecomicsevengood]

I Think We Can All Agree, NFTs Are The Ugliest Thing We’ve Ever Seen

It was recently announced that Kickstarter is moving to the blockchain. I’ll be honest with you, I have no idea what this means, or why it would be done. It’s pretty obvious to me how Kickstarter makes its money, they pretty transparently deal in the stuff and take fees for doing so. It seems like blockchain is just the latest buzzword that gets thrown around silicon valley tech circles and appeals to investors. I don’t really know what it is, or how it connects to crypto, bitcoin, NFTs, all these things that are widely opposed to by reasonable people on the grounds of being environmentally destructive and also a scam. I know the website Popula used Blockchain, but that’s not why I stopped going there, the site was poorly designed and uninterested in giving any indication as to what its articles were about. I am not being facetious when I say I have no idea what the blockchain is. Does it have anything to do with how people on Twitter block people they’ve never interacted with because of the people they have negative interactions with are associated with them in some capacity? Does that cause a lot of carbon emissions?

All I know is that I’ve had a “fuck kickstarter” stance for a moment now, for reasons I haven’t publicly articulated. It’s one of the basic premises I operate from, which are perhaps impossibly idealistic and generally prone to conspiratorial thinking. These are the thoughts that sneak into my TCJ reviews and instigate minor controversies. I started writing for TCJ when Dan Nadel was an editor, though I never worked with him, I think my thoughts align broadly with the issues he highlighted in his infamous “sell your boots” editorial, or at least the subsequent comments thread. I think Kickstarter is a poor excuse for publishing. It creates a world where artists that are either established or have a big social media following or easy pitch can maybe succeed but diverts their success into things that have nothing to do with the art, or reaching a broader audience.

Nadel’s company Picturebox is in many ways my ideal for what a publisher should be. They put out a bunch of great books, but they also took risks, and some books were more successful than others. Successes subsidize risks, a risk that fails is not pursued further. With Kickstarter, a book that “does well” is pre-sold in advance to a readymade audience, and the more successful they are, they get a book on a different paper stock or some stickers or other bullshit. Whereas in publishing, you put out a book, and if does well, the stores that carried it know to order more of your other books, and more risks are taken. We’re now living in a wildly conservative time for book publishing, and interesting things don’t make it to stores, and stores are boring. It’s bleak all around.

Picturebox may be an esoteric example if I’m citing my ideal of what a good publisher does. Often I find myself thinking of Dark Horse in the nineties, which published creator-owned work from Frank Miller, Paul Chadwick, Paul Pope, Mikes Allred and Mignola, Bernie Mireault, Jay Stephens, and Dave Cooper. They also paid Jim Woodring to write Alien comics, they had a Grendel anthology that published work in the U.S. by artists from Croatia, and they did a bunch of manga licensing. I think of them as a much more conservative company now, whose work I don’t pay much attention to. Bob Schreck and Diana Schutz were the big editors in charge of the work I’m talking about, I believe, and it’s interesting to me that, when Schreck went on to DC Comics at the turn of the century to edit Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Strikes Again, he was working with an artist who was aware of (and inspired by) alt-cartoonists like James Kochalka to make weird and invigorating work. Comics these days is far more siloed off. There was a time when the success of Frank Miller got a higher page rate for Renee French. Now is a much rougher time for artists like Renee French economically, and while it may be wildly profitable for Frank Miller, I don’t think it’s benefitted him artistically to be in, essentially, the 1% of comics artists, afforded a deal with Legendary to be the only artist they publish. (Right? The movie studio got into comics, but only ever released Holy Terror?)

Another reason to romanticize the 1990s: Publishers handled publicity for their books in such a way that artists did not need to be constantly online, which is maybe the number one requirement of a person seeking to promote their Kickstarter. Part of the rationale behind Kickstarter is to treat traditional publishers like they’re parasites, which is true inasmuch as current publishers also require their artists to be online constantly, doing all the promotion of their work themselves, as part of the ongoing neoliberal shifting burdens onto those least adept at shouldering them. If I were a publisher, and I wanted the work of the artists I published to be as strong as possible, I would want their time online to be minimized. It does not benefit an artwork for its creator to suffer from terminally online brain. Particularly if a publisher is seeking to have a diverse publishing slate, the more an artist differs from the cis white male model, the more likely they are to be continually antagonized and harassed online. The work of being a proponent for oneself online works against the work of making work that’s larger than yourself off of it. (Traditional publishing theoretically supplies editors as well, which I’m sure many comics would benefit from, but how much publishers actually give useful editorial input to their artists is something I couldn’t say.)

This is not to suggest that Kickstarter doesn’t fulfill a role. Clearly, it is a response to the conservatism of traditional publishing. “Publishers should make bolder choices” might seem like a non-solution, as all the cultural factors I’m alluding to here plainly suggest why everyone is so conservative. But like: That’s it. That’s the solution. That’s the issue. Book publishing, done well, is the alternative to weird web platforms, which will probably always be prone to snake-oil salesmanship.

---

For whatever it’s worth, I should direct people to Domino Books, who is currently planning an anthology of weird experimental work which will be funded partly through advertising. Domino is also a zine distro, and I believe proprietor Austin English largely believes that distributing affordably-produced self-published work is a preferable alternative to publishing as I’m outlining it here. His tastes are far more outré than what would ever be successful on Kickstarter. But again: Selling ads to subsidize the costs of a publication is a pretty good example of what a publisher can do that shouldn’t be the artist’s responsibility to bear. Not all comics should have advertising, but it’s a pretty major part of the newspaper model that provided a profitable outlet for comics for the entire twentieth century. Anyway, credit is due to him and editor Floyd Tangeman for publishing artists who seemingly have no social media presence where one can preview their work.

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Oky I got no horses in this Artist-doll game, so I just wanna say it as a neutral person on the topic. I kinda agree that it's shitty for artists to make an exclusive line of sales between them. Not the act of exchanging dolls, or trading for personal pieces just as it. But the entire making copies of exclusive, or "one-off" resin tones, or limited dolls just to give another artist. If an artist says a resin tone is a one-off, and then makes another one just to trade with another artist, that just feels like a massive kick in the ass. So what the artist is saying "This piece is limited to only a certain number, 1-n, but only if I don't want another artists work and can trade this exclusive version."

But I think it's quite audacious, and just shows a lack of personal responsibility, when an artist is not delivering to their paying customers, has been in production limbo for months with no update, or has clearly scammed people, but then just turns their ass around and magically can produce a doll to trade with another artist, or just gift them a doll.

Calling out this behaviour honestly makes perfect sense to me. Even if you're not into buying these artist's dolls, and have been personally affected by their abysmal business tactics. Even as an outsider, this shit just doesn't look good on the hobby as a whole. Artists are pushed as the "symbol" of BJD's, or at least the status quo for the artist scene in our sphere of the hobby, and they're often the biggest people in the hobby. Looking into the hobby from the outside, and seeing this hypocrisy just being par for the course just seems insane, and I think it kinda does actually reflect badly on the hobby as a whole, but mostly artists, even those who're genuinely good and honest. Especially with how many followers of these double-faced artists are spineless tools who for some reason decide that they won't try to get their hundreds of dollars back after being scammed, and instead whine about nothing happening, when they don't even do anything to change the situation.

If you were to ask me, and several of my dolly friends, I think most of us would say the main negative words to describe the artist side of the BJD hobby are: Scamming. Bad quality. Bothersome. Obnoxious. Can't keep to their word. Lying. Petty. Infighting. Elitist (actually elitist, not just used as a buzzword.) And maybe even gaslighting. (Considering how some scammers will try and blame everyone else, or even try and change the actual events by lying about them)

~Anonymous

[catboy-dysphoria]

Rarely do I ever see posts for sex workers outside of the blogosphere of sex work blogs, that aren't thinly-veiled judgments, or vague affirmations written by someone who has never participated in sex work, so as a former FSSW/cam worker, I'm sending out some reminders to current sex workers, as well as anyone interested in starting <3 Below the cut bc it gets kinda long, and bc I can't properly tag without getting smacked by Tumblr.

Feel free to add if you have experience.

Learn to do your own taxes as a self-employed person (if applicable)

Learn to spot signs of a scam (connecting with other sex workers is harder than it used to be, but can be very helpful for this!)

Find a place to get tested regularly that you trust. LGBTQ centers often offer free testing, even if you are not LGBTQ yourself. Most also are sex-worker-friendly, in my experience. Be honest about what sex acts you're participating in.

Bring your own protection and lubricant, and make sure they're compatible.

Learn how to practice sex safely. This goes beyond Health Class 101. This includes learning how to clean your toys, how to use lubricant and signs you need to re-apply, how to acquire and use PrEP/PEP (which I recommend for everyone, if you're able to get it and have sex with multiple partners. There's a number of resources out there for aquiring low/no cost PrEP) contraceptive use (beyond just condoms!) and more.

Search yourself (both your alias(es) and real name) regularly. Try to send takedown notices for stolen content. You may even be able to pursue legal action. If you don't want your sex work alias connected to your real identity, this can also help you keep tabs on that. Reverse image search on some of your pictures every so often (but keep in mind RIS works...less well for pictures of naked ppl)

You don't need to be your full, authentic self for clients. This seems obvious (or should,) but also remember that you are not betraying your identity/community if you choose to closet yourself to clients, use buzzwords that may be offensive for better search results, etc.

Money 💰 first 💰 always 💰. Especially for FSSW. Negotiate any additional fees beforehand.

Re:money, be careful what apps you use, if any, and what information is tied to them. Learn about how much cash you can deposit at once into your bank account, and stay far enough below that number so as not to arouse suspicion from your bank. Sex workers are the best friend of a new money service and the worst enemy of an established one. Have backups. Established/long-time sex workers will remember what happened to Venmo, Cashapp, etc.

It can be easier to lower your prices than raise them (often, but not always.) I liked to have a range that I kept to myself, so I can offer cheaper rates to people I liked, and more expensive rates to people I didn't. Don't undersell yourself. This is SO much harder now with OF etc being in the mainstream and cheaper than before, but remember that you are the only one who can offer your specific body and services. Don't sell yourself short.

Remember that as a gig worker, your money will not be consistent. You may hit a strong cash flow at some point in your career, don't bank on it always being as strong. If possible, have enough saved for at least 1-2 months of crickets.

Be nice, be friendly, but don't be a doormat. If you're new to in-person sex work, practice ways to say no politely but firmly. There are people who know that you have fewer resources to report them for bad behavior.

^ Related, take safety measures. Learn what self-defense tools are legal for you to carry in your state/city/country, and how to use them. Pepper spray requires a firearm license in some states, and the last thing you want in a worst-case scenario is to be hit with a charge for defending yourself. Learn some form of weaponless self-defense, ideally more than one.

Additionally, have a way to check in with a safety person/trusted friend. I used to use Kitestring, but it looks like that's being shut down. Asking a friend to send you a text 5-10 minutes past when you think you should be done, and telling them what you want them to do if you don't respond would be a good alternative, as well as telling them where you're going and who you'll be with.

Learn the laws in your area, as specifically as possible. Take advantage of loopholes. Have a cover story. This applies extra the more marginalized identities you hold.

Have a cover story for friends/family you don't want to know about your work. This can be as specific or vague as you feel comfortable, but make sure it's consistent.

At least one person you know will find out, almost guaranteed, especially in the age of the internet/for internet-based work. Be prepared.

Remember to sometimes have sex for your own fun, if you want to. It can be nice to not have to focus as strongly on a partner as a client, or associate sex purely with a transaction.

Know your limits/boundaries. I advise not having any "first times" with a client unless you have an established relationship. If a client suggests something that you've never done before, I advise practicing with a trusted friend/partner before doing it professionally. If you don't want to be contacted on short notice or during certain times, be upfront.

Risk reduction! It's a huge topic. Many of the things we do are not free of risk. Learn how to practice things safely, whether that includes substances, kinks (especially kinks including impact play and bondage,) etc.

Have a plan for the future. Have more than one. Maybe that includes shifting genres (if that's the case, know at some point you'll need to shift from focusing on the loyalty of clients to getting new ones,) making more niche content, or getting a "vanilla" job. A lot of sex work (but not all!) depends on staying pretty, and people don't stay pretty forever. If your line of work is illegal or grey-legal, it may involve switching to a more protected line of sex work, like working in a dungeon, or a line of work that is adjacent, like some non-profit work. To reiterate from a few points ago, a good safety net is making sure you have enough savings to keep yourself afloat for at least a few months.

SW is in a weird position of being something many people want, but also something many people (including the former!) don't want to respect. Something endless participate in to different degrees, but something still not protected by the law in most places. Highly desired and largely shunned. Sending all SWers of all varieties lots of love and support.

[hareofhrair]

Hey, so, assuming good intentions here, but first of all you've got some misinformation.

Procedural image generation is not harmful to the environment.

Reports that claimed it was were reporting the energy output of the ENTIRE data center, which handles a LOT more than just any LLM, including "everything from Amazon Web Services servers to online gaming services, Zoom video calls, and cloud storage and retrieval for billions of documents and photos."

These data centers are the infrastructure of the internet, so conflating their complete power usage with the tiny fraction used by "AI" is absurd. This only caught on as an argument because it came so close on the heels of the crypto scam, which WAS disastrous for the environment, and would only continue to get worse as its design necessitated exponential energy needs.

"AI" on the other hand (I hate calling it that, it's such a meaningless buzzword but anything else is too confusing) is incentivized to become cheaper and more efficient over time, like any other tech.

Additionally, procedural generation of this kind (generating random small details for greater variety without designers having to individually make all those unique assets) has been a tool in video game dev since before Minecraft. Minecraft uses procedural generation to create its maps. No developer sat down and built those environments. This is one of the vanishingly few actual legit use cases for AI.

As for the other issue... That's rather less defensible. Overwolf doesn't just support the IDF, they're an Israeli company to start with, and three days after the Oct 7th attack they partnered with an Israeli charity to raise donations for protective gear for the IDF. Fuck Overwolf, and Curseforge. Go use ModDB. Or Nexus. Or Modrinth. There is no reason to use that shit anymore.

Inzoi is created and published by Krafton, Inc, a South Korean holding company for Bluehole Studios, the creators of PUBG, with a baker's dozen subsidiaries including Unknown Worlds, the creators of Subnautica. Basically, they had options when it came to figuring out a modding platform and chose an Israeli company.

That said, they're not Overwolf, and I haven't seen anything to suggest they themselves support Israel, and their choice of who to run mods through is pretty minor.

If tangential association with Israel makes you uncomfortable, that's a valid reason not to play. But I don't think this is a situation in which boycotting is useful. The game is still in development, and they have no investment in Israel beyond Overwolf being a convenient modding platform. It's probably more useful at this time to show that there are a lot of people interested in the game who want them to find a different modding platform, rather than playing it really negative and petty in a way that kind of suggests you were never really interested in playing the game to begin with.

Friendly reminder to my moots that Inzoi’s build mode uses generative AI for the creation of things like art and wallpaper and it’s not worth melting our planet for a vidya game thank you

[mostlysignssomeportents]

#1yrago Babysitter vetting and voice-analysis: Have we reached peak AI snakeoil?

The ever-useful Gartner Hype Cycle identified an inflection point in the life of any new technology: the "Peak of Inflated Expectations," attained just before the sharp dropoff into the "Trough of Disillusionment"; I've lived through the hype-cycles of several kinds of technology and one iron-clad correlate of the "Peak of Inflated Expectations" is the "Peak of Huckster Snakeoil Salesmen": the moment at which con-artists just add a tech buzzword to some crooked scam and head out into the market to net a fortune before everyone gets wise to the idea that the shiny new hypefodder isn't a magic bullet.

Machine Learning has enjoyed an extraordinarily long and destructive peak, with hucksters invoking AI to sell racist predictive policing systems, racist sentencing and parole systems, and other Weapons of Math Destruction.

But those were Long Cons run by sophisticated hucksters with huge gangs of confederates; lately, we've been seeing a lot of short cons run by petty grifters who prey on fears to target individuals and small businesses, rather than cities, nations and Fortune 100 multinationals.

Here's an example: Predictim uses a secret "black-box algorithm" to mine your babysitters' social media accounts and generate a "risk rating" that you're entrusting your kid to someone who is a drug abuser, a bully, a harasser, or someone who has a "bad attitude" or is "disrespectful."

This system does not weed out risky people. It is a modern-day ducking stool, used to brand people as witches. What's more, it's a near-certainty that its ranking system is racially biased and also discriminates on the basis of class (because poor and racialized people are overpoliced and more likely to be arrested or otherwise disciplined for offenses that wealthier, whiter people get away with, so if you train a machine-learning system to find the correlates of anti-social behavior, it will just tell you to steer clear of brown people and poor people).

But the company -- backed by the University of California at Berkeley’s Skydeck tech incubator (this is a stain on the UC system and Skydeck) -- is finding customers, because it has found a way to play on suckers' fears. As Sal Parsa, Predictim co-founder says, "There’s people out there who either have mental illness or are just born evil. Our goal is to do anything we can to stop them."

Once babysitters click the "I consent" link on a parent's request to give Predictim access to their social media, they are at risk of having an unaccountable algorithm assign an arbitrary, unappealable score to their name that could permanently bar them from working in their industry.

In addition to pushing junk tech, Predictim's management is font of junk psychology: for example, CTO Joel Simonoff wants to feed data from social media streams to the unscientific Meyers-Briggs test (a latter-day astrological tool) to produce an even more unscientific personality category that parents can use to discriminate against potential sitters.

Predictim doesn't promise to keep predators away from your kids, just to "help." But when you read the feedback of Predictim's customers, like San Francisco's Diana Werner, you see that the customers have somehow gotten the impression that using Predictim will keep your kids safe ("Predictim goes into depth, really dissecting a person — their social and mental status. 100 percent of the parents are going to want to use this We all want the perfect babysitter.").

Ruby on Rails creator David Heinemeier Hansson shredded Predictim in an epic Twitter thread that shamed UC Berkeley, the company's founders and employees and its customers.

But he has his work cut out for him, because Predictim is just for starters.

Companies like AC Global Risk have announced that they can use voice-stress analysis to identify criminals, even before they've committed crimes, using (again) proprietary machine-learning systems that can "forever change for the better how human risk is measured."

AC Global Risk's products are, if anything, even more dangerous than Predictim: they're being marketed as a potential answer to Donald Trump's "extreme vetting" obsession, and AC Global Risk is proposing to subject refugees fleeing for their lives to this unaccountable black-box's judgment, potentially sending people to be murdered in their home countries on the strength of its random-number generator's judgment.

AC Global Risk raises every red flag: they claim that they can predict whether someone is a criminal with 97 percent accuracy, by analyzing their voices. As with Predictim, the people their algorithm condemns have no right of appeal; and as with Predictim, the company can dismiss its false positives as sour grapes from "bad guys" the system caught, and claim that its false negatives were among that tiny 3% who slipped through its net ("Imagine how much worse it would have been if you hadn't been paying us to sit in judgment!").

https://boingboing.net/2018/11/26/ducking-stool-2-0.html

[nehatiwari454545-blog]

Top 5-Trends Transforming E-Commerce and Online Retail in 2020

 Businesses are looking for new ways to solve the eternal mystery called a customer. They are trying to devise new ways to forge connections with them and to make their brands click.  What’s the secret of standing out in the crowd of ‘me-too’ strategies? What are the trends that the brands ar6e missing out on? As we usher in 2020, it is time to find out what they can do to strike a connection with untapped markets and be more customer-centric!  

So, don’t wait and scroll down for the lowdown of 5-top trends of online retail and e-commerce for the year 2020!

 Amazon Prime spoilt its customers with same-day delivery. As if it weren’t enough, the launch of Amazon Prime Air has started to deliver the packages in thirty minutes or even less! No wonder, the 30-minutes-or-free generation isn’t willing to wait anymore or even for a week to get their products delivered. This recent shift in logistics has prompted customers to expect faster delivery and enhance the convenience of online stores with the immediacy of offline stores. And it shouldn’t come as a surprise that eighty-eight per cent of customers are willing to compensate for faster delivery and shipping. Because it is the only hurdle that stops the online users from buying online especially when time is of the essence.

Same Day Delivery ruled the chart as the e-commerce trend in 2018 and is going to come out in full swing in 2020 with small retail stores leveraging this opportunity to boost their business and strengthen their relationship with customers. According to an Internet Retailer Report for more than nineteen per cent of users, Same Day Delivery and immediate product access is an important criterion.

Often customers abandon their shopping carts when there is an unexpected delay in delivery timings and also cancel their product midst shipping for delayed delivery. However, small startups, mom-and-pop shops and retail customers are going to face a tough competition while keeping up with the unrealistic expectations of immediate delivery and resultant expenses.

 Sustainable Fashion

 While consumers these days prefer fast delivery, they are no longer identifying with fast fashion. Green consumerism is the buzzword and the biggest catchphrase. The millennial wants to stay on top of fashion without impacting the environment with their purchase decisions. The new-age brands support recycling and practice pre and post-eco-friendly habits. Be it free-range meat, skincare range or organic cotton basics, people prefer responsible brands. On social media as well, customers have been calling out e-commerce giants like Amazon for using too much plastic for packaging and outing brands for their non-greener practices.

Fashion alone contributes to more than eight per cent of greenhouse gases, and if continues to have its way, it will be responsible for more than twenty-five per cent of the global carbon budget across the world by 2050. While fashion waste can go up to 148 million tons by 2030, the ethical fashion and clothing market is gradually expanding its steps and is expected to increase by twenty per cent.

It takes more than 7,000 litres of water to process a pair of jeans. One kilogram cotton takes up to 20,000 litres of water to produce.

…And if the environmental impact of fast fashion wasn’t detrimental enough, seventy-seven per cent of clothing retailers in the UK believed that there could be a likelihood of modern slavery at some stage of supply chains.

If e-commerce businesses, small or big and retail companies want to strike a chord with customers, they have to take the environment seriously and be a responsible brand. While we have a long way to switch to regenerative and renewable closed-loop model, but waking up to the fact that the plastic, footwear or the cosmetics we once used aren’t ending up in an ocean or a landfill, is incredibly satisfying.

See it? Search it!

 Often customers shop with set goals in mind. They want a particular handbag, the dress their colleague has or the wardrobe they saw somewhere on an Instagram feed - the visual search enables the spot-on and shop its mindset. Visual search is used by Amazon and several fashion stores to search for similar recommendations and to offer more personal and intimate shopping experience to their users. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the next trend to watch out for retail and e-commerce industry in 2020 is the Product Recognition AI, which makes visual search possible. Fashion retailers and startups want to improve their customers’ journey and make it incredibly simple. The visual search makes it possible. With it, customers don’t have to scroll through the endless stream of products, care for the brand or style –upload the image and let the magic unroll!

Thanks to visual search AI, the circuitous purchase cycle becomes a lot simpler. As only one in three Google searches lead to a click, the product recognition AI makes life easier for the startups that can at focus their attention to the customers with a target in mind and are not mindlessly browsing. It is more personalised and more powerful.

Just so that you know that visual search isn’t new, countless applications are using it to facilitate customers. We all are aware of Google Lens on Google Shopping that pulls similar products. Macy’s utilises visual search to blur the line between seeing and buying. Customers can upload an image and find similar products on the store. Designers are using it to search for stock images. Synthetic Style Intelligence Agent-SIA also uses AI to find the right accessories to complete their look, doubling up as a virtual shopping assistant.

 The Power of Influence

 Hype beast found out that influencers are losing their charm on commoners. Some of them are being ousted and called out for scamming (Fyre Festival, remember?) whereas some of them could sell only thirty-six t-shirts despite having over two million followers! Let’s accept it. Our Instagram feeds and lives are oversaturated with inspirational quotes, ad videos of brands with some bit of story in them and them always leading on colourful lives, which we clearly can’t afford. They are selling everything, from vitamins to lifestyle and they are everywhere, be it Instagram, YouTube or TikTok.  Researcher and Strategist Alexandra Samuel discovered three groups of social media

·         Enthusiasts (Users posting more than five times a week)

·         Lurkers (A whopping fifty-two per cent of users posting once a week or even less)

·         Dabblers (Users who post two to four times a week)

Lurkers are the hibernating cell of the social media that don’t care much about influencers or their friends.  The same goes for dabblers that don’t get “influenced” or draw a conclusion from their friends and family’s purchases. The influencers don’t seem to turn this category on as they make their decision independently.

Does it mean the influencer culture peaked? Do companies need to quit influencer marketing?

Certainly not!

Influencer marketing needs to be adopted brilliantly and smartly.  In 2020, businesses would need to understand their customers and broaden their mind towards social media so that the ‘lurkers’ somehow could be included and influenced. The influencers need to work on their CTA to not to look like a complete sell-out and instead work towards ‘nudging’ the customers to make a well thought out decision.

In this year, businesses would like to pay attention to not only the big reach but also their content that can unlock the opportunities for you.  Apart from it, social shopping is going to rule the roost. According to a North American e-Commerce agency Absolute,

§  More than eighty per cent of e-commerce shoppers accept that they rely on social media for a shopping decision.

§  Thirty per cent of customers purchase directly through social media channels such as Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

§  More than 40 per cent of businesses are utilising social media to gain traction, generate leads and sales.

§  One-in-four businesses are selling through Facebook alone.

One of the interrelated trends in 2020 will be the dominance of mobile sites. Social media sites and e-commerce sites are mainly mobile now. Brands are cashing in on ‘Instagram ability’ and creating visually-driven customer-driven content.

If used intelligently, influencer marketing can be used to harness trusted voices and help customers make an informed decision. Aimed to become a more than $10 billion industry by the end of 2020, the influencer marketing, mobile website and social shopping are going to prove its dominance.  

The brands, however, are putting their relationships with influencers under scrutiny. The rise of fake influencers and ‘likes’ no longer being considered as the potential engagement metric, the brands want to leverage nano-influencers, people who have a tightly-knit community as followers.

The other thing to watch out in social space as a booming trend in 2020 is Instagram and Facebook stories that have an engagement of 500 million daily users. Similarly, Instagram trends, polls, interactive stories are also a brilliant way to catch attention and continue to be so.  Meanwhile, this New Year also rolls in Instagram business feature, Growth Insights and “Stories about You” to help a business to strengthen their foothold in their domain.

This the feature will be incomplete without the mention of TikTok –the most installed app of year 2019! Once rejected and ridiculed as childish and ‘royal waste of time’, this app now has more than 800 million active users now. The users are spending more than 46 minutes every day on the app, which is important because the videos on this app are only 15-seconds long! And businesses are using this app to reach out to the user base of this platform, which typically consists of 16-24 years old. However, the app’s sixty per cent of users are based in China and this is where it loses its steam. In order to maintain the dominance of its digital footprint, the app needs to wade through Chinese territory.

Voice-based search SEO

 You have optimised your website content for SERPs.  But it is time to embrace and adopt this new trend in the New Year! The voice search is on the tremendous rise and there were more than one billion voice searches monthly by January 2018 alone. It is estimated that by 2020 more than thirty per cent of website browsing will be conducted with voice, without needing a screen! Similarly, an astonishing sixty-two per cent of individuals have admitted buying products using the voice search capabilities of their smart speakers.

A study discovered that the voice search e-commerce brought in over $1.8 billion in Amazon revenue, which is expected to go up to $40 billion by the year 2022.

The voice-only search allows the users to search through the internet with the voice. One doesn’t need a physical keyboard or have to scroll through several websites on their desktops, mobile devices and tablets.  The programs with voice searching capabilities like Microsoft Cortana, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri are driving the brands and businesses to make their interfaces voice-search compatible.

Voice SEO is different from traditional SEO. While the latter is about ‘fixing’ the content with keywords, the former is based on ‘what people say while talking to Siri or Google.’  For instance, a user might type “affordable data mining services” on Google whereas her voice search would vary to “affordable data mining services in my city near me” or “where can I find affordable data mining services?”

It is imperative to think about customers, and your sales funnel while optimising your business and its platforms with voice-search capabilities. Voice search often entails long-tail keywords and smart searches conducted by customers, which may vary from a business to another. The website should load quickly to ensure a comprehensive voice search across the internet.  The files should be compressed and images should be optimised for search.

More than twenty-two per cent of voice search queries are location-based. This is why the keywords ‘near me’ hold preference and have a higher chance of appearing in the search result.

The Conclusion:

These social media trends will help retailers and e-commerce enthusiasts to level up and establish contact with their customers like never before. From personalisation to interactive visualisation and chatbots, businesses are making every effort to get ahead from their competitors and win this race of ROI, customer engagement and create a strategy that makes them the most-talked-about brand online. Early adopters of commerce strategies have experienced rapid growth and with more than 1.66 billion online players, it seems they were right about hopping on this wagon. Besides these, eCommerce and retail sectors are harnessing data solutions such as data mining, data scrubbing, data appending, data verification, data appending, email appending, data scraping, skip tracing, phone appending, CRM cleaning , Data verification email verification and data analysis for business intelligence and sales forecasting!

The race is on! Where are you? Are you prepared for the exciting future of online retail and e-commerce? Is your business joining the e-commerce revolution or is it going to lag and miss out on the estimated $4.8 trillion e-commerce sales projected worldwide in 2021?

[theearloftophats]

this is not a good take. I respect the dedication but this post reeks of using buzzwords to sound intelligent and i think you have horribly mischaracterized Swatch, and I would like to talk about it.

I am so sick of this fandom and how it treats Swatch. And though i usually hate sticking my nose into things i just. i need to talk about them. Forgive me if this is ramble-ish its 4am and I haven't been in this fandom for a while so im working off a lot of memory.

To start with. They are a butler working for Queen. they may be the head butler, but they are literally a servant of hers. they would not have the power to speak up or disobey her to help Spamton even if they wanted to if they want to keep their job. The notion that they have a "higher place" in the social strata is an absurd one. the only dialogue we see from them is from the perspective of a costumer. they aren't going to be open and honest with you. they have to maintain a level of professionalism with Kris. Most of it reads as a scripted sales pitch if anything. because they're doing their job. and even then, there are multiple instances where their exasperation with Queen seeps through quite clearly.

I also want to point out the hypocrisy in saying Swatch, a butler, a SERVANT, is a class traitor, but saying that Spamton, who was a CAPITALIST who got rich and famous enough to live WITH THE MONARCH, who PARTOOK IN THE SYSTEM, is not? He WAS a crooked salesman as far as we know. his first boss fight is him trying to scam Kris out of their money and/or their soul. Swatch may work for Queen, but to say that they have abandoned the working class to favor the elites is ridiculous and to turn around and defend Spamton for doing exactly that is dishonest.

Continuing with the Spamton stuff, you cannot take a character who's entire theme is how lonely and angry at the world and the people in it at their word like that. Of course he is going to feel like Swatch "pretended to be his friend" because he probably feels BETRAYED. Granted, they probably participated in his downfall because of their position. but Spamton is an unreliable narrator, and a morally grey person at best. what makes Spamtons lines about being betrayed by queen and swatch the direct and whole truth, but Swatch lamenting about him being a "valued customer" them "playing coy". why does one character get to be objective in their perspective but the other is an evil bootlicking petite bourgeois.

They are lamenting that he fucked himself over by trying to use an old robot body to achieve the delusional dream of reaching "Heaven". if anything they're bitter ex posting on main lol.

I want to make a point of talking about this line specifically.

this line is so fucked to me. where. WHERE are you getting this level of CRUELTY from them? because they have personal issues with spam?? they very clearly have history together in some capacity and maybe they're a little more harsh about him but there is NOTHING about them in ANY of the rest of their dialogue that would suggest something like this. This is a very strange leap to take from them being offended that Spamton would steal their look to sneak into the basement.

Here are some bits of Swatch's dialogue that I feel give a little insight into them outside of just being a shopkeeper for Queen's cafe.

Especially that first one. They very clearly put on a persona when working to appear as professional and collected as possible. I think it is entirely unfair to base your opinions of a character on how they behave when you only see them through the POV of a customer. Especially without taking into account why they might behave that way. This idea that swatch is some sort of uncaring asshole is ridiculous to me, but its one i see all too often.

Swatch comes across as quiet, and reserved. their dialogue is almost entirely neutral and practiced, and when they do slip a little and they reveal irritation or displeasure, they apologize and/or correct themself. Maybe they're a little cold. but that doesn't make them a bad person.

Alright. So. Clearly this is a subject I have alot to say on lol. Im not mad tho just very passionate abt Swatch =] I would like to stress that this is not an attack against you, op, I just think that this is an extreme mischaracterization of a character I am quite attached to, who I feel gets given the short end of the stick a lot and is used as a scapegoat for spamton angst far too much by the fandom at large. You have cherrypicked dialogue to make a point, and then additionally chose to read it in the least charitable way possible. You are projecting a harsh political alignment on a character who doesnt have NEARLY enough screentime to warrant such a deep dive, and using dialogue from a character who is explicitly shown to be unreliable and possibly entirely insane (/affectionate), who also has a rocky personal history with, and thus and obvious bias against them as evidence to your claim. it is simply bad media analysis.

other than that, i hope you have a good day, and i wish you nothing but the best. /g

Why is Swatch a class traitor???

Thank you very much for asking :)

In this post I'll be using he/they pronouns interchangeably to refer to Swatch. I enjoy the idea of they-pronouns Swatch but at the same time I refuse to believe that the only instance of canon pronoun usage to refer to him is misgendering, as some people posted about before, because that's not how Toby flies.

That being said, before talking about Swatch specifically, I need to explain the logic behind this reading of them. Swatch being seen as a "class traitor" is derived from the marxist idea of class consciousness, or in different terms, the fact that people who are in the same economic position understand each other and therefore owe each other solidarity, the idea that people need to be conscious of their position in their society and side with people who will help their situation and improve their lives.

In this sense, a class traitor is a person who, despite understanding their position in the social strata, refuses to side with their peers and instead either shuns them to appeal to a higher social class, to "appear as one of them", so to speak, or completely refuses the idea that they are part of that class to begin with. A good, palpable example, are snobbish, classist doctors. Doctors are employed by someone – be it a hospital, a clinic, an insurance company, the government in some countries, even in private practice, etc, but they are not, by Marx's definitions, owners of capital, aka someone with the exorbitant amount of money that allows them to control production in a large scale (in other words, conglomerates and billionaires). However, having a higher material condition on average, and having attained this social position through study that was allowed by a higher material condition in the first place, some doctors don't realize that they are just as much of a proletariat as the poor man they are treating, and thus exhibit behavior like discrediting, ignoring or even being hostile to people they identify as lesser, despite the fact that they're supposed to be together, sociologically speaking.

What the fuck does that have to do with Swatch, you ask? Well, Swatch is, to put it bluntly, literally a servant to aristocracy. They are, by definition, part of the working class, and therefore they owe solidarity to their fellow workers. Spamton, in direct counterbalance, is a member of the working class who has been elevated, by one way or another, into a position that makes him just as, if not more powerful than aristocracy. Spamton had become burgoise, though he still retains his origin as a working class salesman, that much hasn't changed in him, as far as we can tell. This seems to be going on just fine, if we are to believe Spamton's response in the Q&A, until Spamton needs a support system, when his business goes belly up to the point that he ends up homeless.

I really need to emphasize this point. Spamton isn't a "funny little guy who lives in a non-house cuz it's funny", not even in-universe. He is, put it simply, destitute. He does not live in the trash because he wants to. And, I think that every clear-headed person understands this, you cannot go from being one of, if not the, richest person in your entire world, to a homeless man living in a garbage can who people pretend doesn't exist, unless your peers and your society have wronged you tremendously. Spamton didn't become a homeless man just because he fucked around and found out, he became a homeless man because he fucked around and found out, AND none of his peers from this time wanted to help him. And, most importantly, this includes Swatch.

As a servant, he must know what poverty looks like. He must know what having a material condition worse than the ones you surround yourself with is like. And they did nothing to help, or maybe even contributed to Spamton's isolation, which is a separate can of worms I don't have the energy to look at gameplay videos for at this time of night.

For real, does the guy who sells Spamton's bowties with the label removed, and refers to him as a "crooked salesman", and plays it coy and laments when Spamton goes off the deep end sound like they have class consciousness?

Do they sound like they wouldn't shoo off a poor, hungry plugboy from the palace's kitchen back door?

Swatch has apparently rejected his origin not only as a metaphorically working-class artist, but the fact that he could empathize with other working-class people as well, including the less fortunate and the desperate. This makes him a class traitor, by Marx's own theory.

Of course, there's a lot more nuance to Swatch and Spamton's relationship, especially the fact that Spamton isn't the perfect portrait of a poor victim and is very combative and aggressive, which doesn't make people very willing to empathize with him in the first place. There's also the power inbalance and dynamic involved in the fact that, when Spamton lived in the Pandora Palace, Swatch was his butler as well, and that might complicate things from Swatch's end.

At the end of the day, this is just my own takeaway from Swatch's words about Spamton, and Spamton's words about Swatch. This doesn't mean much for anything besides my own understanding of Deltarune and what sort of fun dynamics I can explore in fanworks, nor does it mean I am claiming it as truth, but I do think it's an interesting exercise in media analysis.

Edited to include a few more words on Spamton becoming burgoise cuz I meant to do that but forgor lmao

[whenwhenfan-blog]

Review: Is the When token from Whenhub a scam or not?

Some tokens promoted by public figures have been revealed to be scams in the past. For instance, the 2 founders of Centra faced criminal charges, and the boxer Floyd Mayweather and the music producer DJ Khaled had to settle with the SEC after getting paid to promote Centra.

Scott Adams, the famous cartoonist creator of Dilbert, has developed in recent years an audience on social media by sharing his thoughtful views on US politics and world affairs in general. When he started to forcibly promote the When token, we decided to have a deeper look at the product.

Please find below the result of our research:

1/ It seems that the When ICO was not successful, but it’s hard to tell because there is limited information online

After a private sale, the WhenHub token public scale was supposed to take place from November 10 to December 31, 2017 but it was apparently postponed to a later date.

We could not find any information on whenhub.com regarding the success or failure of the ICO, such as the completion rate of the public subscription.

The ICO price was $0.1 and the token is now trading at $0.04 as of June 12th at a -60% decrease.

2/ The white-paper is a good marketing material, very short on technical details

We know nothing about the Whenhub architecture. The executive summary is a collection of buzzwords and empty concepts:

 3/ The flows of When tokens look weird, they are hard to explain

* A focus on the “millionaire” addresses *

There are 2 mints that have created ~316.1 millions of tokens so far.

Mint2 transfers tokens to the top1 address (balance of ~101.6M of tokens) exclusively

Mint1 transfers tokens to the top2 address (balance of ~27.4M of tokens) as well as many other millionaire addresses (incl. top1).

It is not clear to us how, when and for the profit of whom the future ~565M tokens will be minted (to make up for the 875M total supply)

Top1 and Top2 addresses re-transfer tokens to many other millionaire addresses, probably to give the impression that wealth is not concentrated into the hands of a few but distributed among many users. In reality, we can guess that only a few people control those millionaire addresses. We don’t know for sure but it’s possible.

4 millionaire addresses have no link with any other millionaire address. At least 2 of them belong to exchanges (Top3 is a Hotbit address).

* Stats on addresses *

Half of the ~22,000 addresses were created in May 2018. Only ~10% of the addresses were created in 2019 meaning that the application is barely used:

Around 18,000 addresses have a balance of 500 and 600 and were created in 2018. It’s weird:

Out of the 47 “millionaire” addresses, 12 were created in April 2019. Indeed, ~121.7M tokens were minted in April 2019 which indicates that beyond the Hotbit & IDEX addresses, some wealthy investors (EF?) bought at that time or that the core team is making some big moves to sell some of their tokens to the public (?). This is the timeline of emission of the 2 mints:

That address created in June 2019 seems particularly interesting. We will follow it very closely: https://etherscan.io/address/0x66Fd9341e4Ac713d72a1cF0aFF76760Ae403B337#tokentxns

  4/ The token is only available on third-rate exchanges (far from being in the top 10 exchanges)

We had never heard of those exchanges before doing this research: Hotbit, Idex, Latoken, Finexbox

 5/ The token is unnecessary to the core business of the Whenhub application

Paying freelancers for services or experts to answer questions online is nothing new. There are dozens of applications available, some launched decades ago. None of the big ones use a token, which proves that a token is not necessary. Indeed, Whenhub users could pay experts directly in USD, EUR or their local fiat currency. Whenhub could even have offered the option to pay with bitcoin. It does not require a private token. If the purpose is to pre-buy services (same as when you buy tokens at the fair, to use with several attractions), then you don’t need a market tradable token. It could be implemented as “points” within the application, using regular technology.

In general, utility tokens don’t need to be traded, unless price discovery is needed. To hire experts, no price discovery is necessary because the price is known upfront! Why people would need to trade the When token? It can only be used within the Whenhub application anyway. If you buy some, it’s to use it within the application or to speculate. We can’t think of a third option.

Having exhausted all the options, we are left with the final question: is the only purpose of the When token to make their creators rich through speculation? The probability is very high, but we don’t know for sure.

 6/ As a co-founder of Whenhub, Scott is biased and has a direct interest in pushing the price of the token up

It’s possible that Scott remains driven by rational motives. We can’t read his mind. He may be deeply convinced about the advantages of the When token. It’s unlikely, but it’s possible.

If Scott’s motivation for shilling the When token was solely to make money, it would show a lack of character (greed) but that wouldn’t necessarily be a problem from a legal perspective. We are not lawyers and we are not accredited investors, so we don’t know the exact limit between “promoting a token forcibly” and “giving financial advice”.

 Conclusion

To summarize the findings, it looks like the sole purpose of the When token is to enrich its creators through speculation. But that may be due to a lack of communication from the Whenhub team. Also, we can’t read Scott’s mind. It’s possible that Scott is sincere, that he is promoting his startup in good faith, and not trying to dump its token to get rich at the expense of his social media audience. If that’s the case, we can assume that he will be sincerely sorry if the startup ends up failing and the individual buyers of the When token lose their money.

[drunkexmormonsexplain-blog]

So my dad posted an infuriating article on facebook...

Here's the link: https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-01-22/what-to-do-with-your-questions-according-to-1-general-authority-whos-an-expert-on-anti-church-materials-48843

After reading this absolute garbage, I was so infuriated that in the height of pettiness I decided to write a 3 page rebuttal essay. Then I realized that as much as I want to stir shit with the Mormons, I don't actually want my dad to disown me. So I'm gonna post it here instead of on my dad's facebook. It's extremely rough and overwritten, but since I have no plans to revise it I'm just gonna let it into the wild. There are a few paragraphs where the wording is too poor to convince real diehards, but it should be convincing enough for my fellow exmos at least! LONG POST AHEAD

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Valerie Johnson’s piece, “What to do with your questions”, covers LDS leader Elder Corbridge’s visit to a BYU campus and outlines his response to concerns many members of the church have about unsavory parts of its history and current practices. It’s an effective piece of LDS propaganda: a piece of media that obscures or inflates the truth in order to advance the beliefs of an organization. As we’ll see below, not only does the piece fail to address the valid concerns of many latter-day saints, but it also uses familiar techniques to undermine the importance of those concerns in the first place. The following outlines both the inaccuracies in Corbridge’s arguments and the subtle ways in which the article discourages LDS readers from thinking critically about the issues at hand.

Let’s start with the first question in the article. “The kingdom of God is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as described in the book of Daniel as standing forever. The question is, will you and I stand?” Corbridge/Johnson asks. While claims about the longevity of “God’s kingdom” are unprovable, it’s evident to any non-church-funded source that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, at least, is dwindling. Church sources commonly claim that membership numbers are increasing, because they count all individuals who have been baptized but not ex-communicated. On the other hand, counting only active, financially-contributing members reveals that membership is declining sharply. Teens and adults who were raised in the church are leaving at a higher rate than ever. A large portion of the membership inflation reported by the church consists of individuals converted by missionaries as adults, who are counted as members until death although they often stop attending within a year.

From there, Johnson moves on to claim that attacks on the church are broad, including church doctrine that conflicts with “shifting attitudes of today”. This is a common phrase in LDS writing, used to encourage but not specifically state the idea that church doctrine, unlike the rest of the world’s social values, is permanent and unchanging. This is untrue, as many church teachings have changed with time, often shifting to become more in line with North American social norms. A famous and relatively recent example, alluded to in Johnson’s article, is the fact that black men were not allowed to receive the priesthood until 1978. Though there have been many apologetic explanations for this overdue change in doctrine, it’s hard to ignore the fact that its introduction coincided with a government warning that the church would only be able to keep its tax-free status if it got rid of its racist policies. With this and other examples, it’s clear that the church does have a historical precedent to alter teachings in order to keep up with society’s “shifting attitudes.” However, the way it’s phrased in the article contributes to the subconscious idea among many church members that society is at fault for becoming more progressive, not the church for its inability to keep up.

Changing church policy, a history of immoral doctrine, and dwindling membership statistics are only a few of the concerns plaguing modern Mormons. Corbridge and Johnson attempt to address this huge umbrella of issues with a simple response: “Answer the primary questions.” According to Corbridge, these fundamental questions about the church include: “Is there a God who is our Father? Is Jesus Christ the Son of God and the Savior of the World? Is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints the kingdom of God on the earth? Was Joseph Smith a prophet?”

The first three questions refer to the existence God, which is unprovable, and the role of Jesus Christ, a distant historical figure whose true actions in life are hard to discern. In contrast, the last question refers to Joseph Smith, a man who lived in America in the 1800s, whose life is well documented and researched. Was he, as Corbridge asks, a prophet? Researching his life, the answer is clear: hopefully not.

There’s a well of damning evidence on Joseph Smith available with some quick research. He scammed people with his treasure-hunting business, was often jailed for his crimes, and even killed others during his escape attempts. Although the church tried to cover it up for years, he is most well known for his polygamy: by the time he died in 1844, he was married to at least 27 women. The youngest of these, Helen Mar Kimball, was 14 years old. Joseph Smith was 37, which makes him a pedophile on all counts – even in 1843, when they were married, the average marriage age for women was between 20 and 22. If such a man was chosen as a prophet of God, we should question what type of God would choose him, and what type of church would follow his teachings. The church itself has not addressed these concerns, sweeping them under the rug as “lies and deception”, despite multiple sources proving their accuracy. Predictably, Johnson and Corbridge do not mention anything else about Joseph Smith in the article.

Corbridge then moves on to what he calls the “secondary questions,” which Johnson broadly generalizes as “questions about Church history, polygamy, black people and women and the priesthood, how the Book of Mormon was translated, DNA and the Book of Mormon, gay marriage, different accounts of the First Vision and so on,” not going into specifics on any of these topics. Corbridge follows this up with the most bizarre claim in the entire article: “If you answer the primary questions, the secondary questions get answered too or they pale in significance and you can deal with things you understand and things you don’t understand, things you agree with and things you don’t agree with without jumping ship.”

There’s a lot to get into with this statement. Firstly, the article attempts to trivialize many valid concerns about the church. For example, “Gay marriage” is used as a buzzword to cover an array of questions about the church and the LGBT+ community such as why same-sex couples aren’t allowed to be married in the church, if it’s possible for LGB members to be happy even though they’re forced to be celibate, if trans and gender non-conforming individuals are allowed to present their true identity and be fully accepted into the congregation, why children of LGB parents aren’t allowed to be baptized into the church without cutting contact with their family, and so on. These topics are trivialized by presenting them so broadly and following them up with the statement that they “pale in importance” to the primary questions. This is not the case for the LGBT+ individuals in question, or other individuals whose happiness is directly affected by any of the issues mentioned.

Secondly, the idea that some of these secondary questions are also answered by the primary questions is a bold and frankly false statement. Knowing the “correct” answers to the primary questions does nothing to answer the far more nuanced subjects of the secondary questions. A devout Mormon who firmly believes in God and knows that Joseph Smith is a prophet can still easily have questions about why God wouldn’t allow women to hold the priesthood, or how the Book of Mormon can be a historically accurate account of pre-colonial America when DNA evidence proves otherwise. It’s clear that most of these questions fall into Corbridge’s “pale in importance” category, which minimizes the real struggles that even faithful members can experience in the church.

The last part of this statement is the most telling to Corbridge’s, and more broadly the church’s response to criticism and questioning members. He says that it’s important members deal with these controversial subjects, with “things you understand and things you don’t understand, things you agree with and things you don’t agree with, without jumping ship.” According to Corbridge, Mormons should stay active in the church if they believe in the “primary questions”, even if they have doubts about the “secondary questions.” Historically, many religious groups have been formed by those who share the same primary beliefs as another sect – belief in God and Jesus Christ, for example – but differ on how the church should be run or the details about God’s doctrine. There is even history within the Mormon faith of separate factions who have split off from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based on their different answers to the “secondary questions”, even though they share belief in God, Jesus Christ, and Joseph Smith with the mainstream branch of LDS faith. It doesn’t make sense for LDS members who disagree with or don’t understand controversial church doctrine to remain members, even if they believe in God, Jesus Christ, or Joseph Smith, as they can seek out other denominations that are more in line with their personal beliefs. Remaining in the church is not beneficial to their spiritual well-being or happiness. Non-believing or disillusioned members can create disharmony within the church, so it isn’t good for the health and harmony of a congregation for leaders like Corbridge to encourage those members to stay. What it is good for, though, is the church’s finances, since LDS members who want to access all the benefits of Mormonism must pay 10% of their income to the church. Therefore, it’s unsurprising that the purpose of this article is to suggest doubting members ignore their concerns and stay active, tithe-paying members.

Johnson’s section on the methods of learning is familiar to anyone experienced with religious anti-science rhetoric. Though it references the scientific method and “analytical learning” (research), those mentions are meaningless as Corbridge states “the divine method of learning ultimately trumps everything else by tapping into the powers of heaven.” This is echoed often in fundamentalist religious writing, and means that whenever scientific evidence, academic research, or social values clash with religious beliefs, believers are to ignore the facts and trust “God”, or the teachings of their church. It’s a way to shut down logical arguments from doubters or non-believers without having to think critically about church doctrine and has been discussed at length in other writing.

A somewhat amusing and unique addition to this article is the concept of “academic learning” as separate from scientific or analytical. The idea that simply reading a text can provide the reader with truth without the “analytical” step of fact-checking and resource gathering is false. After all, anyone can write a piece (such as Johnson’s) and fill it with lies. Without multiple opinions and validations, a text on its own has no truth value.

The final two sections of “What to do with your questions” move away from laughable pseudo-academic claims and give us insight into the far more insidious psychological methods the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and other religious groups use to keep their members in order. The first section is entitled “The Presence or Absence of the Holy Ghost.” Generally, most LDS members and leaders assume the “presence of the Holy Ghost” to mean a happy, warm, and comfortable feeling. This type of feeling commonly occurs in familiar, safe settings such as churches and homes. Corbridge goes on to state that “the gloom I experienced as I listened to the dark choir of voices raised against the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ… is the absence of the Spirit of God.” In other words, if members who read about controversial church history and practices feel bad or uncomfortable while doing so, it must mean these claims are false.

The truth is that anyone who learns about information that radically disrupts their current worldview will be uncomfortable. In the case of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, leaders have so effectively hidden parts of its history from its members and lied about doing so that the discovery of things like Joseph Smith’s history of polygamy and multiple accounts of the First Vision can be shocking and upsetting. Issues dealing with the happiness of LGBT+, women, and black members of the church make many members feel guilty and sad, as they feel empathy for those who have been wronged by the church’s present or past teachings. By equating the natural and understandable feelings of sadness, guilt, and discomfort with the absence of the spirit and therefore falsehood, Corbridge convinces questioning members that they should bury those feelings and ignore their questions. This is not an acceptable way to address controversial church topics, nor is it healthy to encourage members to suppress their emotions.

The final section of the article, “Elimination”, is the final nail in the coffin telling LDS members to keep their doubts private and unanswered. Corbridge reiterates that he and God can’t answer all the member’s doubts – obvious, since he and Johnson have done nothing to address any concerns in this article – and that those who truly answer the “primary questions” will not even need answers to their further questions. This effectively combines the church’s policy of repression and communal guilt: if you are bothered by unsavory aspects of the church’s doctrine, you probably don’t believe in God or Joseph Smith. LDS doctrine already encourages a heavy amount of personal guilt for members who don’t feel they are perfectly living up to the church’s expectations, but if they voice their concerns, they now face the shame of their peers. Nobody in a faith setting wants to be known as the unfaithful member, and Corbridge’s statement is clear: if you want to be respected by your religious peers, keep those questions in.

-North