#digital farming tools

[farmerstrend]

Why Kenya's Agritech Startups Struggle to Penetrate the Market Despite Strong Investment

Discover why Kenya’s agritech startups struggle with market penetration despite strong investment, and explore how regulatory challenges and fragmented services hinder growth in the sector. Kenya’s agritech industry faces hurdles beyond funding, including complex regulations and data security concerns. Learn how startups can overcome these challenges to scale and succeed. Uncover the key barriers…

[kirby-the-gorb]

[thedangerfloofhasreturned]

Forgotten Bible Heroes - Shamgar

(Pencil and digital original work)

No one knows who he was; no one knows his real name. All that is known is his one heroic feat: killing 600 Philistine warriors with an oxgoad. What tragedy had driven him from his home? Did he die in this effort? Did he meet the God of Israel? Will we ever know?

Video explanation here: https://youtu.be/FCVfcfom_Ao?si=HFVqOZUU2PVOl3gU

[gagliandi]

Discovering the Power of Reaper: My Go-To DAW for Music Production

In the expansive world of digital audio workstations (DAWs), Reaper stands out not just for its robust features and affordability but as my DAW of choice for all my music production needs. From the intricate beats crafted for the Garlic Farm project to the diverse soundscapes explored in my other works, Reaper has been an indispensable tool in my creative arsenal. Here’s why Reaper has earned its…

[ultimac]

CLİPART - DRAGON+ (5)

The historical development of farm clipart has evolved significantly over time, reflecting changes in artistic styles, technological advancements, and cultural influences. Initially, farm clipart consisted of simplistic and rudimentary drawings of basic farm elements such as barns, animals, and crops. As graphic design tools and techniques advanced, farm clipart became more detailed and realistic, capturing the essence of farm life with greater precision and creativity. With the rise of digital platforms and online marketplaces, farm clipart has become more accessible and diverse, offering a wide range of options for designers and creators to incorporate farm-related visuals into their projects. The evolution of farm clipart mirrors the evolution of farming practices and the agricultural industry, showcasing the deep connection between art, technology, and cultural representation in visual storytelling.

Similarly, the evolution of history clipart has followed a trajectory of innovation and adaptation to changing artistic styles and educational trends. Historically, history clipart primarily featured iconic historical figures, landmarks, and events depicted in a simplistic and educational manner. As digital platforms and educational resources developed, history clipart expanded to include a broader range of topics, styles, and visual interpretations. Modern history clipart encompasses a diverse array of historical themes, from ancient civilizations to contemporary global events, catering to the varied needs of educators, students, and enthusiasts. The evolution of history clipart reflects society's evolving interest in history, visual literacy, and the power of imagery to convey complex historical narratives in a compelling and informative way.

The trends in food clipart styles have undergone a transformation in response to changing culinary preferences, design aesthetics, and cultural influences. Initially, food clipart featured traditional depictions of common food items such as fruits, vegetables, and dishes in a realistic and straightforward manner. However, as culinary diversity and visual storytelling evolved, food clipart began to incorporate more stylized, artistic, and thematic elements to convey the richness and diversity of global cuisines. From minimalist food illustrations to vibrant and whimsical food compositions, the trends in food clipart styles reflect the fusion of creativity, technology, and culinary appreciation in visual design. By exploring different food clipart styles, designers and content creators can enhance their projects with visually appealing and culturally resonant food imagery that engages and inspires audiences.

[bpdloop]

party in the minecraft server hcs ^^

the sever itself

owned* by bonnie (actually maintained by odile but she gave bonnie the owner tag because they wanted it so bad)

everyone has it under a different name on their own devices but officially the server is called the digital familytale

modded semi vanilla* (for the most part. theres a morbillion science mods added for odiles sake specifically, a few furniture mods for mira and a clothing mod for isa though)

mainly on peaceful but will sometimes be bumped up to easy for resources or fun

mira

tends to a village nearby the family's house that she has expanded tenfold from its original starting point

cares deeply for all of the villagers and has used a name tag on each and every one of them. they all have their own personalities and stories

brews potions on demand, so long as you bring her the ingredients

likes to play on easy mode when on the server by her lonesome in order to collect resources

will not step foot into the nether. not even for the pretty light wood (even if she really really wants the pretty light wood)

tool order: wand -> rapier -> crafted crook. the wand is essentially a long ranged weapon that can both attack and heal, but is mostly used for the latter. the rapier was specifically modded in for her. the crook is a multipurpose tool, combining shovel, axe and pick into one tool

isa

built a big barn

loves his big barn

is constantly talking about, working on, and admiring his big barn

is the guy to come to if you need any sort of animal produce or need to borrow a horse. owns at least three of any type of animal at all times

will get on with mira to help defeat mobs to make things go by faster

in charge of armor, tools and upgrades. spends a lot less time on any of that and a lot more time on making fun clothes, though

built a little storefront to pretend to sell his clothes from in mira's village. does often actually change the villager's outfits for funsies

tool order: gauntlets -> axe -> pick -> shovel. when wearing the gauntlets they will cover both hands of his model and do damage comparable to an iron sword twice (once with each hand) before a short cooldown

odile

couldnt really get into it before adding mods. now has the most playtime. even if you totaled everyone elses playtimes, odile would just barely eek out over it (if you took out siffrins, who's the closest to rivaling her, it wouldnt even be a competition)

the minecraft wikierrrrrrrrr. keeps that shit on tap even though she has memorized many of the recipes

always striving to make a project bigger than the last

redstone queen

regularly visits the nether to trade with piglins. one of the mods has them rebuild their structures if they notice the gold has gone missing. she pilfers it again every visit without fail

tool order: sword -> pick -> shovel. doesnt harvest wood so deems it unnecessary to carry an axe

bonnie

has an obscenely large, unautomated farm. they will spend entire days afking near the farm just so it grows. more often than not when theyre afk during one of these sessions, theyre off making real snacks for everyone

didnt understand and therefore didnt care about redstone until odile taught them. the day after, everyone logged on to the Laggiest Server Ever. when they went to investigate, bonnie showed off their extremely over complicated redstone contraption that did nothing more than activate a charge. nobody had the heart to tell them it was the cause of the lag spikes, so they suffered through it for like a week after until bonnie came to the realization themself and tore it down

completely and utterly dedicated to making a redstone rollercoaster of some sort. at some point. definitely. its 100% on the to do list, bet

teleports to everyone randomly to deliver meals. some good indicators youre about to get a visit from the Snacks God is 1) you mentioned the fact you have no food on you, 2) theyre talking about one of their recent harvests, and 3) "hey are u somewhere scary rn"

unable to die due to isa making them an accessory called the eternal necklace of undying. so long as you have it on in the charm slot, youre completely unkillable. bonnie was Extremely happy about this, as it meant they could finally leave creative and would stop accidentally breaking things left and right. it took many weeks of work to craft, and as thanks, bonnie made him his favorite meal in real life three days in a row

tool order: hoe -> shovel -> axe. does not carry weapons

loop

keeps offering to make a mob spawner for ease of access to mob resources and exp. nobody want them to because spawners are big and ugly but loop is adamant about the fact they can make it pretty (they end up making one very far away from the house once. they were not able to make it pretty.)

loves the bow and arrow but hates the crossbow. does not carry any weaponry outside of that

has an area they call Loop's Paradise! the only thing located there is a lone interactable beach chair near the beginning of a large ocean, a single redstone lamp that powers on when the sun sets and a jukebox. when asked what makes this a paradise they simply say its peaceful (they are blasting Cure for ADHD - 30 min of Breakcore from the jukebox)

tool order: bow -> pick -> axe. chooses to break dirt and the like with their hand or some other thing on their person

siffrin

has given everyone a flower that he thinks resembles them and a pot to put it in

survives mainly on fish, but makes sure to focus on the meals bonnie gives him first and foremost

doesnt like playing off of peaceful if he has the choice

has tamed an obscene amount of wolves. leaves the majority of them in isa's care and exactly one in loop's. they all have names. loop's dog is named starbit

tool order: dagger -> pick -> shovel -> axe. the dagger was specifically modded in for them

↓

[mostlysignssomeportents]

John Deere's repair fake-out

Last week, a seeming miracle came to pass: John Deere, the Big Ag monopolist that — along with Apple — has led the Axis of Evil that killed, delayed and sabotaged dozens of Right to Repair laws, sued for peace, announcing a Memorandum of Understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation to make it easier for farmers to fix their own tractors:

https://www.fb.org/files/AFBF_John_Deere_MOU.pdf

This is a move that’s both badly needed and long overdue. Deere abuses copyright law to force farmers to pay for official repairs — even when the farmer does the repair. That’s possible thanks to a practice called VIN locking, in which engine parts come with DRM that prevents the tractor from recognizing them until they pay hundreds of dollars for a John Deere technician to come to their farm and type an unlock code into the tractor’s console:

https://doctorow.medium.com/about-those-kill-switched-ukrainian-tractors-bc93f471b9c8

Like all DRM, VIN locks are covered by Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 law that criminalizes distributing tools to bypass “access controls,” even if you do so for a lawful purpose (say, to fix your own tractor using a part you paid for). Violations of DMCA 1201 carry a penalty of 5 years in prison and a $500k fine — for a first offense.

This means that Deere owners are locked into using Deere for repairs, which also means that if Deere decides something isn’t broken, a farmer can’t get it fixed. This is very bad news indeed, because John Deere tractors are just computers in a fancy, mobile case, and John Deere is incredibly bad at digital security:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#deere-john

That’s scary stuff, because John Deere is a monopolist, and a successful attack on the always-connected, networked tractors and other equipment it supplies to the world’s farmers could endanger the global food supply.

Deere doesn’t want to make insecure tractors, but it also doesn’t want to be embarrassed by security researchers who point out that its security is defective. Because security researchers have to bypass Deere tractors’ locks to probe their security, Deere can leverage DMCA1201 into a veto over who gets to warn the public about the mistakes it made.

It’s not just security researchers that Deere gets to gag: the company uses its repair monopoly to threaten farmers who complain about its business practices, holding their million-dollar farm equipment hostage to their silence:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/05/31/dealers-choice/#be-a-shame-if-something-were-to-happen-to-it

This all adds up to what Jay Freeman calls “felony contempt of business model,” an abuse of copyright law that allows a monopolistic corporation to reach beyond its own walls and impose its will on it customers, critics and competitors:

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

If Deere was finally suing for peace in the Repair Wars, well, that was wonderful news indeed — as I said, a seeming miracle.

But — like all miracles — it was too good to be true.

The MOU that Deere and the Farm Bureau signed is full of poison pills, gotchas, fine-print and mendacity, as Lauren Goode documents in her Wired article, “Right-to-Repair Advocates Question John Deere’s New Promises”:

https://www.wired.com/story/right-to-repair-advocates-question-john-deeres-new-promises/

For starters, the MOU makes the Farm Bureau promise to end its advocacy for state Right to Repair bills, which would create a repair system governed by democratically accountable laws, not corporate fiat. Clearly, Deere has seen the writing on the wall, after the passage in 2002 of Right to Repair laws in New York and Colorado:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/06/when-drm-comes-your-wheelchair

These two bills broke the corporate anti-repair coalition’s winning streak, which saw dozens of state R2R bills defeated:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/26/nixing-the-fix/#r2r

Deere’s deal-with-the-devil is a cynical ploy to brake R2R’s momentum and ensure that any repairs are carried out on Deere’s terms. Now, about those terms…

Deere’s deal offers independent repair shops access to diagnostic tools and parts “on fair and reasonable terms,” a murky phrase that can mean whatever Deere decides it means. Crucially, the deal is silent on whether Deere will supply the tools needed to activate VIN locks, meaning that farmers will still be at Deere’s mercy when they effect their own repairs.

What’s more, the deal itself isn’t legally binding, and Deere can cancel it at any time. Once you dig past the headline, the Deere’s Damascene conversion to repair advocacy starts to look awfully superficial — and deceptive.

One person who wasn’t fooled is sick.codes, the hacker who has done the most important work on reverse-engineering Deere’s computer systems, culminating in last summer’s live, on-stage hack of a John Deere tractor at Defcon:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/15/deere-in-headlights/#doh-a-deere

Shortly after the announcement, Sick.codes tweeted how the fine-print in the MOU would have prevented him from doing the work he’s already done (including “a direct stab at me lol”):

https://twitter.com/sickcodes/status/1612484935495057409

As with other instances of monopolistic, corporate copyfraud — like, say, the deceptive Open Gaming License — the John Deere capitulation is really a bid to take away your rights, dressed up as a gift of more rights:

https://mostlysignssomeportents.tumblr.com/post/706163316598407168/good-riddance-to-the-open-gaming-license

[Image ID: Hieronymus Bosch's painting, 'The Conjurer.' The Conjuror's shell-game table holds a small John Deere tractor that the audience of yokels gawps at. One yokel is wearing a John Deere hat. The conjurer is holding a wrench.]

[sammy8d257]

Hello Hello AvA Fandom!

Welcome to Animator vs Animation Sticktober 2023!

As per usual, this prompt list was created by @k1ttyadventurer with me as the organizer!

For those new to this, AvA Sticktober is a yearly art challenge inspired by the Inktober art challenge where you draw something in ink everyday based on a prompt list!

AvA Sticktober works similarly, expect you can do any of these prompts in any way you want! Traditionally, digitally, written, or arts and crafts? Heck yeah! Want to combine 2 prompts into one? Go for it!  Don’t know what to draw for one prompt? Replace it with one of substitute prompts provided!

There’s no pressure to complete all of them if you don’t have the time or just don’t want to!  The art challenge is all about having fun! 

AvA Sticktober starts on Oct. 1 and ends Oct. 31!

If you fill out any prompts, post it with the tag #AvA Sticktober to share it with others! I’d love to see what you all create!

Typed out Prompt List below:

Sticks

Build

Dirt

Wood

Stone

Diamond

Farm

Cave

Bed

Overworld

VS. (competition)

Craft

Tool

Sword

Bow

Armor

Enchant

Potion

Lava

Mob

Nether

Cube

Explore

Portal

Trade

Minecraft

Redstone

Command

Egg

Elytra

The End

Does a prompt have you stumped? Try one of these in its place!

Mod

Pig

TNT

Dragon

Trident

PvP

Flower

Music

Advancement

Dye

Void

[5kindsofmagic]

Got an amazing pic of my favorite Spore creation, the Ramechi, from @afallenwolf. I love my dolphin/raptor/bugs so much! Species details after the break

They're a semi-aquatic, air breathing species that live primarily in the tropics of their planet. Their diet is primarily piscivorous, sashimi is a big part of their culture. Their bite force is on par with an alligator's. Their 6 eyes let them have binocular vision in nearly every direction. One pair of eyes is located in each half of the jaw, while the third is farther back and anchored in the main part of the skull. The crystal on the end of their tail is bioluminescent, and they use patterns of flashes as part of their language. Underwater, they almost exclusively communicate via light patterns. At slower speeds, they use their 6 webbed legs to swim with high maneuverability. But, if they need a burst of speed, they put that powerful tail fluke to use. Each limb has 3 powerful claws, easily capable of holding on to wet rock surfaces even when being battered by waves. Their striped hide gives them camouflage in long grass as well as sandy shoals. In addition, they possess a limited form of color changing, which they use to ambush prey or escape from megafaunal predators. On land their theropod-like stance gives them incredible speed and jumping capability. They are also capable of putting on bursts of speed to chase down prey.

They started out as merely pack hunters, much like orcas, developing languages of both vocalizations and patterns of flashes from their tails. Eventually they started to figure out how to create fish farms, and agricuture was born. With a reliable food source, they were able to settle in one place and develop tools, music, a base 12 counting system (since they have a total of 12 digits on their hands), and other technologies. They never colonized very far inland, always having a large body of water nearby to farm their food. A total of 4 other species reached a tribal level of technology on their planet, being content to stay to their own preferred biomes of plains, forests, mountains, and even one desert-dwelling species.

As Ramechi society and technology evolved farther past their neighbors, soon many different ideals came to the forefront. Some civilizations wanted to conquer the other through war, some wanted to convert them through religion. But, the one that would eventually unite the world was an economic powerhouse that outlasted all competition by focusing on long-term sustainability rather than short-term profits.

As the Ramechi took to the stars they dubbed themselves Knights, defenders of truth and justice wherever they roam.

[roach-works]

hi! I've always admired how you include infrastructure systems in your worldbuilding, and I was wondering if you have any book/documentary/podcast/etc. recs for someone who wants to go into gnarly detail about (for example) wastewater processing, O2 production, and simulated weather systems on a generation ship, but whose current level of knowledge is just "I read a lot of sci-fi?" I find the stuff fascinating in other people's writing, but figuring out where to start research is overwhelming.

shit, that's tough. most of my qualifications are 'i also read a lot of sci fi' but i also read a lot of those pop-up pocket news articles about technology and the environment... my brain isn't one of those kinds of brains where there's much differentiation between what im reading, what im writing, and who im in conversation with. im just always reading everything and having opinions on it and telling my friends what i just learned and learning more about what they learned and so on... tumblr's great for that, honestly. follow a lot of environment and good news blogs, and you'll get an interesting feed of interesting updates on the global ecology.

i would also suggest browsing national geographic, wired, and make magazine websites, if you can. get some good paywall blockers, or dish out for a subscription... the atlantic also has interesting stuff here and there.

'how it's made' type videos are great, especially older mr rogers era stuff, where the machines are less digital and more manual.

get a library card, especially for ebooks--if you're american you can use libby--and browse nonfiction. you can also just ask librarians to help you find stuff. i really admire science writers mary roach and randall munroe, think ryan north is very entertaining, and find malcom gladwell and bill bryson interesting if not particularly trustworthy.

hope this helps! i don't have any more specific suggestions, sorry.

EDIT: GET DUCK DUCK GO AS YOUR SEARCH ENGINE AND FIREFOX WITH UBLOCK AS YOUR BROWSER. i can't emphasize enough how much more useful your search results will be when you need to learn real information about things like ships and sewage systems and oyster farming. these days google only sends you to amazon, wayfair, and pinterest, it's fucking useless if you're not shopping, and sucks even if you are shopping.

there's other, more specialized browsers too that are worth a look.

and of course the internet archive has the wayback machine plus a lot of cool old books for free:

edit edit: here's another post on good search engines

[btc-mining]

Bitcoin Mining platform

Bitcoin Live App is a crypto mining platform to help you start earning BTC! It contains the most necessary tools for working with digital assets: cloud bitcoin mining equipment with high hash power. It is a meta-universe of crypto investments available to everyone.

How does Bitcoin Mining App work?

Previously, to mine cryptocurrencies, you had to buy equipment and then recoup its cost. Bitcoin Live App allows you to start mining right now with a minimum cost threshold.

We have developed a quantum decryption algorithm to mine Bitcoin at unsurpassed speed. You only have to log in and activate our process with very simple steps, the magic happens in our the magic happens in our mining farms, so you just have to wait for your profits to be generated. No more hassle with buying and maintaining equipment or mining pools.It's easiest and most efficient way to make money from cryptocurrency mining without having to buy and maintain your equipment. Just choose and buy the best Crypto Mining Key for you and start earning today!

Join over 50.000 people with the world’s leading hashpower provider

During this time, We have won the trust of thousands of users. So, join our Platform and start earning bitcoin today by using our mining website. Start mining the quick way, Generate 1 BTC fast and easy with instant withdraw.

[leveragehunters]

Fanfiction.net

I'm putting this in its own post, but it might not make sense without reading this post and my reblogs of it: https://www.tumblr.com/leveragehunters/718895225455738880/no-fanfictionnet-is-not-safe

The different IP addresses for fanfiction.net and fictionpress.com and and www.fanfiction.net and www.fanfiction.com are the same. That is, the two former are 104.18.19.242 and appear to belong to Cloudflare. The latter two are both 209.141.39.137, which belong to Frantech Solutions (that IP is also listed as fictionratings.com's IP address, which also resolves to the green site, both for www. fictionratings.com and fictionratings.com).

THIS MAY BE VERY BAD, regardless of whether this is something the owners have done or it's something fraudulent.

This is an article about Frantech and they are considered a high fraud risk by scamanalytics: https://scamalytics.com/ip/isp/frantech-solutions.

See also: https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252461105/Researchers-uncover-US-based-malware-distribution-centre

A discussion about them as potential frauds: https://lowendtalk.com/discussion/173213/frantech-solutions-beware.

A New Yorker article on the neo-nazi website Daily Stormer, hosted at the time by Frantech, and Francisco Dias, the founder of Frantech and two affiliated companies, BuyVM and Buyshared, revealing the company has zero issues hosting genocidal hate speech (with the same sort of rhetoric that's been coming out of Musk's mouth): https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-neo-nazis-of-the-daily-stormer-wander-the-digital-wilderness

They also hosted kiwi farms: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/9/14/1567328/-Francisco-Dias-Harboring-a-Dangerous-Guest.

Also: https://en.everybodywiki.com/FranTech_Solutions, which states (with citations):

FranTech Solutions is a Canadian hosting provider that owns and operates BuyVM.net. Historically, the website has provided services to to far-right and neo-Nazi websites, including The Daily Stormer.

It goes on to describe some pretty bad things, including the above.

The Frantech homepage advises that they're not currently offering services and advises people to check out BuyVM.

Again, I don't know what this means. Maybe the owners are moving the domains somewhere cheaper, but if so the choice they've made is deeply concerning. Maybe they misconfigured their servers. Maybe something dodgy is going on and someone's using Frantech to do it.

One thing is very clear: something is up. DON'T PANIC but the sensible action is to archive/save your fics. Archiving www.fanfiction.net addresses in the Wayback Machine is currently not working, as it can't reach the site, so use other tools available to you.

[virginianmetrofaerie]

Craig Boone headcanons bc we are lacking in them

I figured I'd share my Craig Boone headcanons because there aren't enough of them lol. Content warning for alcohol abuse. Some of them are sort of Manny + Boone headcanons.

Boone was born on a farming town but comes from a generation of military men - had an N.C.R. veteran for a dad who definitely pushed the idea of service on his son

He enlisted only days after he turned eighteen - it felt like his purpose. The only reason he didn't stay was the impact Bitter Springs had on him. He often wonders if, in another life, he would have been N.C.R. for life and ended up as some big shot general.

Boone has never been the sharpest tool in the shed. He didn't learn to read until he joined the army, where they put him in a program during basic training. When he wrote letters back home, his family was very impressed - his father was the only literate person, and hadn't had the time or motivation to teach his children.

He can't do basic math. If you asked him to add double digits, he couldn't.

He and Manny were fast friends only because they were complete opposites - Boone had been introverted his whole life; he kind of just stuck with family and that was it. But Manny was very talkative, and very open, especially about his time with the Khans and some of the more morally dubious things he'd done. He never seemed embarrassed, or ashamed, and had a very optimistic look on life. Boone admired it.

Boone knew Manny was gay, and knew Manny was into him. It never bothered him, and it was strictly unspoken. However, things did get more difficult when Carla came into the picture; Manny, with any crush, sort of felt secure in Boone not being in a relationship, and took out his heartbreak on Boone's wife.

Manny criticized everything about Boone's relationship with Carla. He was betraying his class, they got married too quick, that Carla tricked him into getting her pregnant...

Carla was his first real girlfriend. He partied on the strip as much as all the other soldiers, spent nights with Gomorrah girls, and had small town romances back home. But he'd never actually truly had feelings for some one.

Boone is definitely a heavy drinker, always has been. It was easier when he was in service but there were some wild nights on the strip. He used to get drunk to party, and loosen up. There was a long point in time where he stopped drinking, for Carla, but after she died, he drank to forget, and drank dangerously.

All of Carla's things are untouched; dresses, jewellery, a cup she left on the dresser with a lipstick stain on it, her toothbrush. The baby things, he did throw out though. He couldn't bear to look at them.

This is more of a Boone/Courier HC but... if Boone were to develop an intimate relationship with the courier, or that matter, there would be a lot of upfront fantasies about having a family with them, not necessarily sexual ones, but simply in the sense of wondering. What would the baby room look like? How would he help out with the kid? Would they have a boy or a girl? The day he found out he and Carla were having a baby it was one of the happiest moments of his life, yet it was torn away from him in the blink of an eye.

[fred-the-dinosaur]

It seems to me that the trouble with digital is it's all still physical objects. Maybe there can be copies of things and they can travel very fast and be in multiple places and be compressed down and stored in unthinkably tinier places and accessed cleverly and take forms we could barely conceive of before we met computers.

But it's still an SSD card, a big server, a powerplant, physical equipment to read a bunch of information inscribed into a very high tech substrate (stuff!)

Old film negatives or plates aren't nearly as useful until you use a bunch of old processes, materials and skills to pull prints from them. Even digitisation requires both image capture tools (objects) and software (runs on objects) to replicate a process that was originally made with objects, and which is therefore modelled on data from having those objects.

Lots of people say 'oh get rid of manuals and physical books and photo albums and go digital' and sure. Tactility aside it's great option for space. Fold your two hundred book library into a flash drive the size of a postage stamp like an old man folding the broadsheet down to a postcard. Saves on a lot of dusting and apartments are pretty small. (First person to use this as an excuse to pile on konmari is getting hit with a saucepan btw)

But putting it all in the digital space is treated like using a magic hammerspace where it's safe, retrievable and doesn't rely on the physical world at all. Just your passwords which are now tied to you specific phone, your accounts which run on servers which are just computers you don't own. Your evergreen file formats. Your hard drives which will not fail of course, and will always be backed up to other infallible hard drives and other people's computers and Google searches which definitely find that blog (dead) which had a link (dead) to a file on a Google drive (deleted) that one time. Electricity which will always be on and legacy software that will definitely still run on the new hardware because the old ones long gone, and WiFi which is a basic utility so will always be flowing and so so much water in the big server farms run by the monopolies bigger than nations.

It just seems. Like a grown-up, acceptable equivalent to stuffing a bunch of stuff under your bed so you don't have to think about it. Because even if you ignore the monopolies and the exploitation for water and minerals, and the planned obsolescence. Isn't it all still depending on stuff? Physical, very dense stuff. That needs to be kept dry and cool and powered on and connected and very Not Near big magnets? But it's still objects to look after.

It feels like when we're selling each other the idea of keeping everything 'digital' there's an undercurrent of 'because it loopholes having to think about the inherent ephemerality, storage requirements and maintenance needs of physical objects'. But just as computing can transcend the forms of the physical, so is it dependent on it. I'm worried what's happening given that as a broader culture we pretend that it removes thinking about objects, rather than adding a whole new bunch of objects to look after.

And at some point that file in that file format on that cloud server or storage device will be as inaccessible to you as an undeveloped glass plate negative is now. That day is coming sooner than we think. And pretending it's not still made of physical stuff is contributing to the narratives that let it get pushed here faster.

(Also my computer harddrive died last week. Pah.)

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

So, in Brazilian book market news, books generated by Artificial Intelligence are starting to pop up in the country's Amazon store.

Journalists from Núcleo Jornalismo had identified new 59 books on the website on the past 30 days. Within this set, 52 titles make clear in their information the use of AI tools for text generation, placing the co-authorship for “Artificial Intelligence” or “ChatGPT”, the OpenAI chatbot. In another three cases, authorship is attributed to MidJourney (an AI focused on images), while four obtained confirmation from the report through alternative approaches, checking on YouTube.

In July, Amazon and six other leading AI companies pledged to the US White House to use technology responsibly. Representatives of these companies signed an agreement that includes the implementation of a watermarking system, which, in theory, will inform users when content on their platforms is generated by artificial intelligence algorithms.

The themes of the publications found vary from children's books to self-help works, fiction and even imitations of renowned authors. Some of them explore the metanarrative, under which ChatGPT investigates its own nature.

Núcleo also noticed 46 new coloring books in the last 30 days on Amazon alone. Everyone seems to be using the basics of digital marketing videos. However, without certainty that they were created from AI, the works were not counted.

Influential authors are also sharing concerns about another angle to this situation: spam. Some firmly argue that the volume of AI-generated books is putting detrimental pressure on Amazon, especially for indie authors. And it doesn't stop there; these authors also accuse this content of becoming a kind of “click farm”, a term that describes the mass production of questionable and superficial content to attract attention and audience.

(x)

[made-by-marlow]

The Pomegranate Tree [sdv Elliott x male oc] Part One: Hazel

ao3 version

Masterlist | Next

Hazel, for a long time, had dreamt of the city.

It was a stupid, naïve dream. But it was something about the thousands of people and thousands of opportunities with each individual. Thousands of places to go. The coffee shops, the museums, the libraries. The wanderlust that could be satisfied in the same big city. 

With no money or time, real travel was never an option. The city held countless places to go, all within a half hour hike.

He held onto that dream now. The moment it came true, he realized the expectations for living in the big city were unrealistic. Countless places to go, yet trapped in a shitty apartment with little free time.

What little time was spent outside of work (Joja Corporations. A stupid office job. The farthest he could go without a college degree) was spent tending to a small garden on the porch. As spring was coming, it was the perfect opportunity to raise cheap little parsnips he found seeds for at Joja Mart stores.

Along with this, little digital farms. Hours and hours poured into a Nintendo Switch taking care of small digital parsnips, beans, and flowers. Talking to silly little NPC's. Now, this was the dream. To live in a small, walkable town. To tend to a farm as big as you want it to be. That was the life.

Real life was sitting in an office chair pretending to work.

Hundreds of workers surrounded Hazel, each doing the same. Or at least, pretending to. Writing emails, making excel sheets, attending pointless meetings. It was the kind of thing his grandpa warned him about.

Grandpa.

The letter.

A frantic motion towards the drawer made those in the surrounding cubicles stop and stare. It didn't matter. This was the time.

If you're reading this, you must be in dire need of a change.

This same thing happened to me, long ago. I'd lost sight of what mattered most in life... real connections with other people and nature.

So I dropped everything and moved to a place I truly belong.

It was about time for Hazel to do the same.

No two week notice. Hazel simply left.

★

What few trees the city had were planted in neat, evenly spaced, organized rows. The trees screamed with cicadas. The grass was painted green, smelling of weed killer. The grass and forest of Stardew Valley was different. Natural, tangled with weeds.

It seemed surreal to see trees so large and overpowering. Strong. Home to little woodpeckers feasting on the bark. Surviving despite the birds. The trees were spread randomly, proving the tree chose for this to be their home rather than man made foliage.

As naturally green grass met Hazel's feet, Hazel met Robin.

Robin looked exactly like Hazel imagined the bird Robin would look like as a human. She appeared to be in her mid to late 40's, small lines reflecting where she smiles the most. Ginger hair was pulled back into a fluffy ponytail, a rectangular wooden pencil sticking from it. The style appeared to be more for practically than looks. The theory was proven when Hazel noticed a tool belt.

"Hello, Farmer Hazel!" The ladder smiled at the greeting. It was the first time anyone had spoke like that to him in a long time. Genuine appreciation of one's company. Someone talking to him outside of work.

"We've heard a lot of good things about you. Mayor Lewis asked me to find you and show you the way to your new home." The land to be inherited. It seemed surreal to own anything other than a one bedroom apartment.

Trying to match pace keeping behind her, Hazel followed the older woman to a farm. Weeds grew everywhere, stone in the way of most of the farmland. There was a lot of work to be done to treat this land as a farm, but Hazel found beauty in it. Land nature decided to thrive without any human touch.

The place could really use some human touch.

"Here we are, Lavender Farm." It was ironic, really, that lavender was never grown here. The name was simply aesthetically pleasing. Hazel forgot to control the expression of his face. He came here to escape work. All of this clearing to be done was definitely work.

"What's the matter?" Hazel smiled when he remembered to. "Sure, it's overgrown. But there's good soil underneath that mess."

Hazel couldn't help but study the trees. Once again, randomly placed. The wood could be used, but a part of him wanted to leave some natural forest. Some sort of nature reserve.

Pulling him from his thoughts, the mayor exited the cabin that would soon be Hazel's home.

"Ah the new farmer!" A label Hazel wasn't used to. Lewis made his way to the boy's right, holding his hand out. "I'm Lewis, mayor of Pelican Town. Everyone has been asking about you."

That's an anxiety inducing thought. There's expectations. What did the people expect Hazel to be like? Charming, and hard working like his grandfather made him out to be? A grandparent's perception of their grandchild isn't always the most accurate. If anything, Hazel was more introverted than charming and hard working.

When Hazel had zoned back into the conversation, the two "proper" adults had finished their conversation with laughter. Something about the old cabin needing fixing.

"Anyway..." The mayor said coming down from the laughter. "You must be tired from the journey. You should get some rest." A bag was placed into Hazel's arms. A blanket, toothbrush. The bare minimum of essentials.

"Tomorrow, you should try to explore the town and introduce yourself. The townspeople would appreciate that."

With that, the mayor and town carpenter turned and made their way to their respective homes. Now, Hazel could do the same. He once again scanned the area.

On the front porch was a collection of tools. An ax for the wood, pickaxe for the stone, watering can for farming. Seeds. The same little seeds he used to grow on the porch towering ten feet above the ground. This, he could plant into the real dirt. Allow the roots to spread as far as they wanted, not just in a little garden box.

And with that, he got to work.