#instead of you know. actual legitimate information and reviews

[alchemiclee]

I hate when google something and get conflicting results and am too busy or tired to spend hours researching the truth.

i'll search for example "is *thing* good quality" and get one result that says "after many tests it's very good quality and is about the same compared to *other thing of actual proven quality* and is worth it"

then directly under it is a result "after many tests compared to *other thing* it's poor quality and not worth it"

google results are so bad and it's so hard to find anything unless you want to spend hours diving deep into results and doing different searches. just give me correct or helpful answers right away and not sponsored paid results that are full of lies!!!!

[carriesthewind]

Ok. I am maybe kind of losing my mind just a little bit.

A few days ago, I mentioned in a post that the IA only cares about information being digitized, not about actual digital access. And I mentioned that access includes patrons being able to actually find what they are looking for, and suggested IA did not prioritize that critical aspect of access. But I didn't really go into any more detail.

So someone over on bluesky linked to this write-up of a talk Brewster Kahle gave about using so-called AI. And one of his reported statements made my mouth drop open in shock.

...and then I read further in the article and realized it was incorrectly reporting basic facts around Hachette, so I had to go and listen to the whole speech myself.* (And I want to say, briefly - he raises some legitimate potential uses for LLMs! He's kind of a dick about some of it ("it's up to us to go and keep [Balinese] culture alive"), but some of the things he's talking about actually seem useful.)

*Incidentally, while Kahle doesn't lie about the ALA brief in the speech, he absolutely misleads about the nature and facts of the case and deliberately omit the part of the story where the IA decided to suspend the one-to-one owned-to-loan ratio thing, despite repeatedly emphasizing that one-to-one was what the IA was doing with their lending program.

And oh my god. He really said what the article reports. (This portion starts around 20:10.)

He says that the IA has scanned over 18,000 periodicals. And that they used to have professional librarians manually create descriptions of the periodicals in order to catalog them. (Sidenote: there are existing directories, but he describes their licensing terms as "ridiculous." This is not a field I know much about, but I spoke to one person who agreed, though for different reasons. His reason is that you can only license, not purchase, the directory descriptions. The person I spoke to was instead focused on the prices demanded for the licenses. Regardless, the idea of creating an open, free directory seems both like an incredible amount of work and an amazing resource...if it was accurate.)

But according to Kahle, it took 45 minutes to an hour to create a description and catalog each periodical.

And so now, instead, they're using AI to make the descriptions and so it only takes 7-10 minutes!

"And yes it hallucinates, and it has some problems, and whatever — but it’s a lot faster than having to write it yourself!"

Oh. My god.

Just.

YOU ARE KNOWINGLY INTRODUCING AI HALLUCINATIONS INTO YOUR CATALOG?!

(And yes, he says that they are "confirmed by a librarian" but it can't really be, not if it's only taking 7-10 minutes! Maybe the librarian can do a quick check for super obvious errors, but actually checking a AI's summary work requires actually going back to the source and reviewing it yourself!)

I just....

I need to emphasize for those of you for who aren't familiar - if a book or article is miscataloged, it is effectively lost. Because it doesn't mater if a library or an archive owes it - if someone can't find it when they are looking for it, it is not only inaccessible, the only way to find it again is through chance. Imagine if you went into a library, but instead of organized shelves (where if even if you can't find what you're looking for, the librarians know where to look), every single book was just piled in a heap.

If a book is miscateloged, it still exists, but it is lost, not truly accessible. And they know that this is happening, "but whatever." Because Brewster Kahle doesn't actually care about real, practical, digital access. (Much less non-digital access.)

(And then to top it off, he goes on to criticize the Library of Congress for not being "access oriented.")

I just. 18,000 periodicals. And they've knowing, recklessly lost who knows how many of them. I feel like crying.

18,000 periodicals.

[sophieinwonderland]

https://www.tumblr.com/systeminquiry/764873762516697088/debunking-plurality-in-transgender-mental-health

Prefacing this by reminding people that Transgender Mental Health was reviewed and published by the American Psychiatric Association.

The main reason that this is being cited here is because of the reputation of the publisher in their commitment to making sure that their publications are accurate to our current understanding.

Asking this at the top for anyone who supports this "debunk," is your position that the American Psychiatric Association is publishing medical misinformation?

Anyway, I find that this is a pretty weak "debunking."

The first section defines being plural as "Having two or more people existing in one body or space" (Yarbrough, 2018). The highlighted sections on plurality have no source - these are unsubstantiated claims that contradict the scientific general consensus and research on how systems form, leaving the reader unable to determine whether the information came from a legitimate/reputable source or not. As it is now, the fact that the sections about plurality have no source seems to imply that the author couldn't find a legitimate source with their definition of plurality, instead fabricating explanations.

I'm not actually sure what would constitute a "legitimate source" for the purpose of defining plurality, given that "plural" is itself a community term popularized by non-disordered systems, as opposed to be more medicalized term "multiple" which had previously been used. It would be like trying to find a source for "Otherkin" or "Alterhuman." Any source that you get is going to be from online communities because they are community terms.

Also, the link they use that discusses how systems form is a now-deleted Tumblr post. I doubt it was very credible to begin with, but it's gone now so there's no way to know. 🤷‍♀️

This entire section makes claims about plurality that directly contradicts the body of existing research (see Dorahy et al., 2014 and Dell & O'Neil, 2009, but there are more) with no sources to support what they're saying. I cannot call this reliable or legitimate information if large sections are fictitious.

So basically, the reason this isn't reliable in saying non-traumagenic plurality exists is because... it says non-traumagenic plurality exists?

Can I just say something about a difference I notice when I cite sources compared to when anti-endos cite sources?

Generally, when I cite a source, I'll include a screenshot or quote so people know I'm not just making stuff up. Because I know that most people aren't going to click a 20 page document to read through to find whatever random line I'm using to support my position.

While the author of this Tumblr post does technically cite sources for their claim that Transgender Mental Health contradicts existing research, they don't provide quotes. And when you actually scroll down to their sources and read them, they aren't actually relevant. For example, the Dorahy source...

Entirely about dissociative identity disorder and doesn't address non-DID plurality AT ALL.

It is 100% useless and irrelevant to the topic of plurality in Transgender Mental Health, which discusses non-disordered plurality.

I can't find the Dell study, but seeing as it also is focused on DID, I'm going to assume that it also makes no statements on the existence of non-disordered plurality, and that the person doing this debunk is relying on readers not checking their sources.

The actual scientific scientific consensus!

This "debunk" is unable to find sources saying you need DID or trauma to be plural. The reason for that is because those sources DO NOT EXIST.

And the fact that they use these other sources that only talk about dissociative identity disorder so deceptively, and pointedly refuse to post the exact quotes or screenshots that would relate to plurality in general, makes me think that they know that.

It makes me think that they are intentionally lying and deceiving people, knowingly posting irrelevant sources with the hopes that nobody will look into them.

Many academic sources won't use the word plural because plural is a community term. But what they are painfully clear on is that you don't need to have a disorder to experience multiplicity.

For example, the World Health Organization's ICD-11 phrases this as a saying that you can experience multiple distinct personality states, a term it uses synonymously with DID alters, without having a disorder.

Back in 2012, when defining dissociation in trauma, the creators of the theory of structural dissociation commented on the possibility that spiritual practices and hypnosis could also cause the formation of self-conscious dissociative parts of the personality, albeit in a different way from dissociative identity disorder.

The actual consensus seems to be pretty clear to me.

Despite different words being used, all of these sources are saying the same thing. You don't need to have DID or trauma to be plural, you don't need to have DID or trauma to have multiple "self-conscious dissociative parts." You don't need to have DID or trauma to have multiple "distinct personality states."

The American Psychiatric Association did not publish misinformation when they published Transgender Mental Health. They did not publish something that went against a scientific consensus. They published statements that affirmed the scientific consensus.

To this day, system medicalists have continuously failed again and again to provide even so much as a single Doctor who has said that you need trauma to be plural.

To the extent that they provide sources for these claims, the sources never actually will say what they claim they do. They are consistently misrepresented just as they were by the OP.

Finally, there's one thing that I really want to drive home for sysmeds. Which is that, whether you like this book or not, it is still going to exist. It still was published by the American Psychiatric Association. It still is going to be used to educate psychiatrists and psychologists on how best to treat transgender people. And many of them are going to learn about plurality from this book.

It's very possible that if you are going to a psychologist or a psychiatrist right now for gender related issues, they could have read this book already and have been informed by it.

I just want you to remember that it exists, that it has the American Psychiatric Association's credibility backing it, and every psychiatrist who reads it is going to be just a little bit more accepting towards plurals and a little bit less tolerant towards your hatred.

Enjoy that final thought.

[badgraph1csghost]

How to Use a Computer, Part 6: Datahoarding and You

I know, I said that part 6 would be about how to mod your PC, but we're going to put that off for a bit. The future of the internet looks pretty sketchy right now, what with Hachette v. Internet Archive, RESTRICT, and KOSA. Right now, the US Government is desperately trying to censor as much free information as possible by any means, so I thought it would be good to discuss the basics of datahoarding.

First, what is datahoarding? Just what it sounds like-- you hoard data. To hoard data, you simply download it to your computer and save it locally. "Local" meaning "on your computer", as opposed to "off-site" which would mean a cloud storage server someplace. You might be tempted to store your datahoard in the cloud, but don't. We're trying to save data FROM the internet, not jockey it about between servers ON the internet.

There's a wide variety of data to hoard, and it may seem sometimes like there's too much; so, hoard based on your interests. If you're into Doom level CDs, hoard that. If you're into recipe books from the 1840s, hoard that. If you're into MIDI sequences, hoard that. I won't get too much into where to find that stuff, apart from the Internet Archive; but Reddit might know something about where to find specialised data.

Instead, let's discuss some helpful datahoarding tools, both physical and software. I briefly mentioned a pair of extensions in the Firefox section; SingleFile and DownThemAll; but I failed to mention that Firefox has some downloading abilities of its own; like Internet Explorer of old, it has the option to Save Image As, Save File As, and Save Video As. Unfortunately, "Save Video As" will not work on Youtube or any commercial streaming service. It will work on Tiktok, however. Both the desktop and mobile versions of Firefox have this ability, so if you see a nifty kind of video on your dash that you'd rather like to hang onto, either right-click with your 2-button mouse, long-click with your 1-button mouse, or long-press on your touchscreen, and select "Save Video As" or "Save File to Device". Hey! That was easy.

Incidentally, since we'll be encountering ZIP files a lot during our datahoarding endeavours, Firefox also has the innate ability to immediately distinguish between one of those malicious "website dot zip" links and a genuine ZIP file. If you find a link to something ending in "zip", hover your cursor over it and look at the bottom-left corner of the browser window. If it's a domain name, the information will look something like...

However, if it is a legitimate ZIP file that 7-Zip or Windows Explorer can open, it will look like this...

Now, of course, you'll still want to use a bit of common sense when you download anything. Just because it's a legit ZIP file doesn't necessarily mean that the files the author claims are in the folder are actually there. Firefox can't protect you from things you voluntarily install on your computer. Now then, here's a picture that you can practise datahoarding on. Right-click, long-click, or long-press on this image and select "Save Image As" or "Save File to Device".

Back to Firefox's datahoarding extensions. SingleFile will condense all the data on a webpage into a single HTML document and save it to your Downloads folder for offline review. It works better on some websites than others. Like Tumblr, for instance; it can't save your entire dashboard, but it can probably save pages of your blog, as long as it's mostly text and still images. SingleFile is better suited for webpages that are static, non-dynamic, such as Reddit threads and old-web pages.

If you want to save a Wikipedia article, you won't need SingleFile. A little-known function of Wikipedia is its ability to generate PDF versions of its articles. At the top of the article, directly below the Log In button, click on "Tools", and select "Download as PDF".

DownThemAll allows you to be more selective about the types of files that you want to download from a webpage. You can download audio files, pictures, videos, text, archive files (namely ZIP, 7Z, and RAR), binary executables (EXE and MSI, for instance), other kinds of files, or all files that it is able to download. You can also give it links to files that you want to download so you can create a queue. You don't have to actually be on the website whose server the file is stored on in order to actually download from there with DTA, which makes it helpful for FTP servers.

If you want to save a snapshot of your current screen; maybe you're on a website that you can't download from, maybe you're playing a game without a unified screenshotting system, whatever; press the Print Screen key on your keyboard. The key may say something like "Print", "PrintSc", "PrtSc", or "PtScr". This will allow you to take a screenshot of the current appearance of your screen and save it to the clipboard. Once you have it, open MS Paint and either click "Paste" or hold "Ctrl" and press "V" to insert the screenshot into the Paint workspace. At this point, you can either save it as it is, or do anything else to it that you would ordinarily do in Paint; add text, draw on it, crop it, stretch it, resize it, that sort of thing.

All of that having been said, datahoarding takes up a lot of disk space. Drive C is going to fill up mighty quick, depending on what data you're hoarding, and you're going to want an alternative storage device. That's why I cautioned against using a cloud storage service earlier; Google offers a seemingly unlimited amount of storage in their Drive service, but, like everything else they do, it's monitored. If you upload a folder full of Star Trek DVD rips, they're going to see that and they may lock you out of your account. Moreover, if you happen to be an American, they may volunteer that information to the FBI, as they've been known to do, and suddenly, you're the subject of an investigation. Fuck all that.

Remember when I talked about optical drives last week? This is where they really shine. Get yourself a spindle of 100 blank DVD-Rs and tell Windows to use them all like flashdrives. It'll take awhile for the computer to write everything to disc, but this is a better long-term storage solution than a cloud service and it's cheaper than a USB hard drive. Each DVD has about 4 GB of storage, which is adequate for about 20 episodes of a half-hour TV programme, every game ever released for every console made in the 1980s, and the entire World Book Encyclopedia, complete with pictures; and you've got 100 of them!

I know, I know-- every hobbyist datahoarder is calling me an idiot right now for recommending DVDs, saying "they don't last long enough". Mate, there's no such thing as a 100-year medium in the 21.2nd century. Not even your expensive 16 TB HDDs are going to last that long. The fact is, as long as you handle your disc media with care, they're on absolutely even footing with USB hard disk drives. The other fact is, the more storage you have on a single disk drive, the harder it's going to be to create a backup copy when the time comes. If your 16 TB HDD is going to fly apart tomorrow, you're never going to be able to back up everything stored on it, and you'll have a catastrophic data loss. At least with DVDs, 4 GB is easy to back up in a pinch, and they're easier to destroy in case your hoard takes you to the high seas and the local constabulary pops round for a visit. While you're buying things, also buy a box of CD jewel cases (the hard plastic ones with the hinge) because you'll need somewhere to store all these DVDs and the spindle is really not the best place for that.

Now that we're quite a bit down the page and certain people are not paying attention anymore, r/datahoarding is a gathering of hobbyist datahoarders who can turn you onto sources of data, Internet Archive collections, and websites that may have interesting stuff for you to grab. If your hoard is going to contain mostly game ROMs and ISOs, r/roms has you covered. Imagine being the guy who decided not to call the piracy subreddit “r/mateys”. Oh well.

Anyway, that's all we have for datahoarding. Join us next time as we discuss modding your PC (for real this time).

[godtier]

skull island: rise of kong – apparently no one remembers what games actually looked like back in the fifth gen

so if you do the Vidya Gaems, i'm sure you've already heard of the skull island: rise of kong game that came out last week.

needless to say, it's getting brutalized in reviews and by content creators/streamers, as it should be. it's a shit tier game and looks rushed and buggy as all fuck.

but one thing that i've noticed is people comparing the game to an N64, PS1, or other low-res polygonal game from the 90s/00s... observe:

so on and so-forth...

and it got me thinkin....

"do... do these people not remember what those games actually looked like?"

so out of total boredom and nothing better to, i decided to do a little bit of a "refresher course" on how games from the 90s actually looked compared to the dogwater that is skull island.

"but godtier!" you declare with marked concern, "i'm sure they were just being hyperbolic!"

and while yes, you'd be right to assume such things, i don't actually care because it gives me an excuse to look at old shit i played as a kid.

(also it's reddit and i would not be surprised if most of these weren't jokes.)

but from the informative angle, i have also noticed many, many young people who've never played a 90s/00s game thinking this is a legitimate comparison to make in general. so just think of it as a tour in a museum of graphical advancements.

what's the plan?

my goal here is to illustrate and educate about the generation of consoles that truly changed the way i viewed video games: the fifth gen. for the first time, i realized games could look real. it blew my little mind.

but in hindsight, a lot of these games can look laughable. by contrast, some people seem to misremember just how low res or outright bad the fifth gen of games look compared to now. some people seem to think games like the gollum game and the king kong game (today's specimen) are comparable to PS1 titles with how poor they look graphically.

i'm hoping to shed some light on that for those who didn't experience it themselves or never bothered to look.

how it works

i'll be using side-by-side comparisons with skull island next to whatever game in particular we decide to examine to highlight just how low res the fifth gen of gaming and CGI were compared even the wettest of farts from current gen.

note that since skull island is brand new, getting insanely high-res screens of it is not something i can do easily without buying the game myself. and i sure as shit am not buying a dog garbage game about king-goddamn-kong for 40-fuckin-dollery-dos just to illustrate graphical changes since the 90s and 00s.

instead, i've taken screenshots from YT playthroughs at 1080p. they should suffice.

in addition, i will be using cleaned up/clearer versions of the screenshots from the fifth gen games as opposed to direct rips that i'd come across back in the day. this is for the purpose of showing detail without upscaling too much and blurring everything more.

screens ripped from games in the fifth gen were primarily in 240i. therefore, the image dimensions were largely around 320x240 px on a computer screen. back then, that wasn't an issue since the maximum resolution i ever had in the 90s/00s was 800x600 px. but nowadays, that would look like a blur of mush on most people's screens. of note, i will not be using upscaled or remastered versions of these older games if they have them.

and finally, since this post intro is already really fucking huge and a lot to read through, i will be scooting the actual analysis under a "read more" for the moment. expand the link if you dare.

anyway

let's start with the N64!

part one: THE NINTENDO ULTRA 64

released in 1996, the N64 was a cartridge-based system, for those who don't know. this meant that the loading times were super-fast compared to disc-based systems, but the actual storage on the cart was abysmal.

back then, carts were still using ROM, as opposed to SD flash that you'd see used with a nintendo switch game card. this means there was hardly any room for things like FMV (full-motion video) or even voice tracks.

to compensate, developers had to choose between graphic fidelity or audio fidelity; they could not have both in most cases. textures were downscaled or removed, the resolution was as low as feasible, FMV, in-engine cutscenes, or audio (such things that might have been present in another version of the same game) was removed outright in order to make space on the cart for the game functionality itself.

one game i saw thrown around a lot in comparison to skull island was turok 3. a good lot were saying it looked about the same or worse than turok 3.

but does it really? let's take a look.

round 1: skull island (PC) vs turok 3 (N64)

welp. as we can see, there's really no comparison. skull island's environments, while drab and uninspired for a current-gen title, are wholly and objectively better-looking than turok 3's environments. even the character models are night and day. at least you can see kong's individual fingers, rather than the lumps of flesh they called hands in turok.

it is quite misleading to claim with seriousness that a game like skull island could pass for an N64 title. it could not, not even remotely close.

there's really little else to say about this. the images speak for themselves.

round 1 results: really guys. really.

next, the PS1!

part two: the sony playstation singular ballin

coming out in 1995, we got one of the best-selling consoles of all fuckin time, the playstation. compared to the N64, the PS1 blew it out of the water in every technical field aside from loading times.

graphical fidelity was higher, audio fidelity was higher (actual, literal CD audio on many games compared to the bit-crushed fare on the N64) and storage space was massive for the time. you'd think out of the two contenders so far, the PS1 would have the better shot of looking superior to skull island, right?

well, yes and no. it depends on the era. while most N64 games that were going for realism looked like varying degrees of mush, the PS1's graphical quality varies wildly depending on when during its lifespan the game came out.

since turok 3 came out in 2000 for the N64, i'll pick another game that also came out in 2000 to make sure we're on as even a playing field as possible.

round 2: skull island (PC) vs vagrant story (PS1)

here we can see just from this singular screenshot that vagrant story is absolutely gorgeous for a PS1 game. and i would say that's because it was a game released towards the end of the PS1's original lifespan. devs by 2000 were fairly familiar with working on the hardware, and vagrant story was a squaresoft (now square enix) title, who released a crapload of games on the system. they were one of the developers that really knew how to push the PS1 to the limits of its capabilities.

however, they were still pixelated and blobby when it came to actual character models.

"but godtier!" i hear you howling in despair, "the backgrounds for vagrant story look so much better than kong's crazy island!" and you'd be correct! those backgrounds are banger af.

but the argument to be made in this post isn't "which one actually looks better." the argument is "compared to another game contemporary to the fifth gen of gaming, could skull island feasibly pass for the same gen?"

the answer is no.

round 2 results: skull island could not pass for even the best-looking of PS1 games, sry2say.

part three: 90s CGI horrors

for the next segment, let's also consider the typical CGI of the era. someone mentioned beast wars in my above screenshot, so fuck it, let's use that next!

beast wars was a transformers-universe off-shoot TV show that was entirely CGI. i have very fond memories of the show, but even i know that the way it looks is ... rough. so we're gonna put that to the test: does optimus primal really look better (or at least comparable to) our good pal king kong skull island?

round 3: skull island (PC) vs beast wars (probably silicon graphics computers, idfk it was a TV show)

oof. once again, for as ugly and bad as it is, we can actually see detail on the kong model, as well as light and shadow that the technology used in beast wars couldn't produce in a convincing manner at the time. optimus looks kinda weird, really.

...come to think of it, everyone in beast wars kinda looked... weirdly... wet or otherwise gross in that show.

...anyway!

as badly rendered as kongus dongus is in skull island, i'd say he looks a fair amount better than ... pretty much anyone from beast wars. there really isn't more to it than that; even when the show was new, i knew that beast wars just looked weird.

round 3 result: kong could not blend into a beast wars episode very well or convincingly, even in beast mode.

part four: into the beyond times

so, i think i've fairly made my point about the game not looking like it's from the fifth gen... but what about other gens?

personally, if i had to place bone island: dongus kongus in a particular "vibe" of a game generation, i'd probably slot it somewhere between a wii title and a wii u title. it is definitely higher fidelity than a PS1 or N64, but it has a certain "wii shovelware" aura around it, especially when seen in motion.

let's see if that susses out!

tag-team round: skull island (PC) vs monster hunter tri (wii) & monster hunter 3 ultimate (wii u)

now THIS is interesting!

the original MH3 on the wii definitely looks washed out and faded, certainly low-res compared to skull island. not terribly shocking there, considering the wii's maximum resolution output (on the models that supported it) was 480p (aka: standard definition/DVD quality).

but MH3 ultimate?

i dare say we have a contender here. the models look so much better, the environments are actually comparable in quality to skull island, it's quite uncanny, really. hmm.

...okay, okay. i know i technically said i wouldn't be using upscaled or remastered versions of the games in my comparisons, so in the spirit of fairness, i will also add a surprise third tag-team member into the fray:

surprise match!: kong-dong island (PC) vs xenoblade chronicles x (wii u)

hoo nelly

alright so i am a Certified Wii U Enjoyer ™️ and i know full-well that the system is more than a bit underpowered compared to the other consoles from its gen. its maximum resolution output was 1080p, which was more than sufficient on its own, but it severely lacked the oomph in its components to make good, consistent use out of that. a lot of wii u titles look fine compared to other consoles, and some are even downright gorgeous, but performance was always a bottleneck.

but forgetting about all of that, xenoblade chronicles x just wrecks skull island.

however, we're not done yet. XBCX (or... however y'all abbreviate it) is definitely a better-looking game than skull island, but so was vagrant story. again, the true argument here is "could you feasibly mistake 'skele rock: kong's wild ride' as from the same gen as the game it's being compared to?"

and i think here we have our answer.

take a look at all the other keng kang screenshots from the previous rounds and place them next to the screenshots from the wii u titles. if you had no idea that skull island was released just last week, you cannot tell me in all honesty that you wouldn't think "oh a wii u shovelware game i've never heard of."

if you try to tell me that, you're a liar and should be ashamed.

the environments, the lighting effects, the graphical fidelity, the vibe... it all just looks weirdly familiar. it looks like a mid-to-low tier shovelware crap game that would have come out on the wii u and immediately sold for 20 bux in the budget releases section.

so that being said...

the final verdict: skull island: rise of kong does, in fact, look specifically like a wii u title. we have found its true home at last.

part five: is it over now? (mostly)

whew! what a ride, amirite? now that we've gone through this heinous, completely unnecessary journey, what did we learn? well...

we learned that the fifth gen of consoles was nowhere near as powerful to create the effects and fidelity as seen in skull island.

...and we also learned that just because a game is older and at a lower res than a current-gen game, that doesn't mean the older game is uglier or looks worse.

we learned that people clearly don't remember how the fifth gen varied wildly and was capped at 240i at best, meaning all the games were at low res and blurry af.

...and we also learned that having that nuance is meaningless when it comes to discussing things objectively.

we learned that games that are bad and ugly for current gen can also look better against games that you may have loved as a child.

...and we also learned that pointing out that a shitty game that's buggy af and shouldn't have existed in the first place looks better than your favorite game from your childhood doesn't mean your favorite game from your childhood is bad.

we learned that if you have enough time on your hands and are stubborn enough, you can make an entirely useless post that no one will read because it's too damn long and uninteresting.

...and we also learned that bulleted lists are only useful for text that doesn't overlap into the next line. oops.

anyway, i hope you learned something, even if you didn't ask for it! being that i'm old enough to remember all of the games above when they were announced, i tend to notice when people make dumb-ass claims that don't make sense a lot quicker. some games really did not age well (turok 3) and others still look fantastic to this day (vagrant story). but claiming that a game like skull island is comparable to or worse than something i actually grew up playing is just silly.

probably just as silly as this post, really.

it was just a very bizarre and arguably quick blip in time that i don't think many other people of younger gens really understand when looking at it from the perspective of internet being available 24/7. that simply was not a thing when i was a kid. and going from pixelated games with chiptunes to crash-goddamn-bandicoot was such an abrupt jump in quality that i could honestly write another post about how it felt to experience that all on its own.

but i won't. not yet, anyway...

so that's it! i answered a question nobody asked. do i feel satisfied? no, not really. i mean, if i'm being honest, i feel like i wasted several hours of my life just to prove a point.

so yknow, a normal weekend for me

byebye!

[stop-using-prev-tags]

Did you know that tumblr will generate "year in review" stats for single-purpose sideblogs? I didn't!

I posted 9 times in 2022

That's 9 more posts than 2021!

6 posts created (67%)

3 posts reblogged (33%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@thebibliosphere

@terezis

@bythebyandbithebi

I tagged 8 of my posts in 2022

Only 11% of my posts had no tags

#prev tags - 1 post

#but i am legitimately glad sponsoring the post is amusing to people - 1 post

#if you only intend to communicate with one person - 1 post

#i mentioned this another post but when you use tags you are communicating with everyone who follows or browses your blog - 1 post

#i also have adhd and hard same - too often it's a boring slog without a worthwhile reward especially for sequential prev tags - 1 post

#they passed peer review - 1 post

#like you are achieving communication with *your* intended target but at the expense of being irritating to all other people - 1 post

#or maybe it's a little more like having a full-voice phone convo in rhe middle of a group of people? - 1 post

#not as long as the og but still - 1 post

#long post - 1 post

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#like actually putting the tags in question on your own reblog (whether in the tags or in the text or in a screenshot) is objectively better

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

https://theladydrgn.tumblr.com/post/681999207675150336 are you aware someone screenshotted a portion of your post and it's up to 10k notes

I saw that come across my dash separately a bit ago, I think it's hilarious. I'm not familiar with the OP of the screenshot post but if I had to guess, I'd guess that 10k notes is prolly bc thebibliosphere reblogged it and her following is gargantuan.

(I actually follow thebibliosphere, too, and i saw her reblog of it before you pointed it out, although I didn't notice the note count until you pointed it out so thank you so much 😅)

16 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

#4

Screenshots are inaccessible to visually impaired people. If you feel that strongly about it please just promote copy/pasting instead

fun fact! the original post, if you read it all the way through, describes copy-pasting, either within the tags of your reblog or within the text, as alternatives if you don’t want to screenshot

22 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

#3

apparently i’m getting kungpowpenis’d but bc I turned off notes for this sideblog I’m immune from the negative effects~~~

34 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

#2

Because the prev tags is not for you or any of my followers but for the person who wrote the tags ofc but I appreciate the amount of effort you put into this cause you must feel very strongly about it

someone rb'd with a picture of martin luther getting his thesis-nailing on, which probably wasn't meant in a complimentary way but I thought was funny.

also, direct message.

36 notes - Posted April 19, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

JUST TAKE A SCREENSHOT

If you see tags that someone else left on a post and want to share them with your followers (or anyone else who chances across your blog), please, please, PLEASE: don't use "prev tags," or "previous tags" or "prev prev tags" or any variation that may occur to you at the moment you're making that decision.

The very best way on Tumblr to:

share that information in the tags with people who follow you, or

continue a conversation that the person who said that thing in the tags, or

let everyone know how hard you're cackling at a joke someone made, or

whatever other reason you're drawing attention to someone else's tags

is to actually add the tag in question to the version of the post as it will appear when you reblog it. A screenshot is the most durable way to do this, since it gets included in all the downstream reblogs from your own, but if you don't want that for some reason, just replicate the actual tag in question in the tags of your reblog. If you're absolutely, vehemently against the screenshot, including the tags in question could look like this:

or like this:

OP has some really great tags:

#cool additional commentary tangential to the original topic #user who added the tags didn't include them in the body of the post but you thought they were important

and I think everyone should see them

The biggest reason to do this is that nobody wants a scavenger hunt. This is especially true when the tags in question are from more than one reblog down the line, or ones that you found in the notes on a different reblog chain.

The other big reason is the durability thing mentioned earlier. Maybe the tags you're enamored with came from OP, and they decided they didn't want notifications from the post anymore and deleted it. If you used "omg OP's tags 😹" with no further clarification, that information is lost forever when OP deletes the post. Same case if OP (or the person you reblogged from) deactivates, or gets deactivated. Actually including the tags in question makes sure that as long as someone is viewing it on your blog (or on any downstream reblog from you, if you used a screenshot) they can see the same thing you did.

Using "prev tags" instead of actually including the tags you're talking about results in a significant decrease in the usability of the website. Please, just screenshot the tags, or reproduce them in your post.

4,284 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[autumnalal]

when i suddenly lost my ability to walk, had uncontrollable movements of my neck and spine, and started to lose some of my vision, i went to the hospital (like one would expect). i got an MRI of my head and wheeled back to the hospital bed. twenty minutes after my "speed MRI" (12 minutes without, 3 minutes with contrast) the nurse-practitioner who saw me waltzed in the room with a bounce in her hair, flipped on the fluorescent lights (I have photophobia, so bright lights are painful, which i explained to them), and clapped her hands together, cheerily informing me: "great news! your MRI is normal. i think your symptoms are likely anxiety related." instinctively, i responded, "there is no way in hell––no offense––but there is NO WAY in HELL that me losing my ability to walk and my vision going dark is from anxiety. no." then she said, "that's not what i'm saying––" (even though it *was* what she was saying LOL)

my mother and coworker (who were with me) chimed in, confirming to the NP that i'm not an anxious person; that i was perfectly happy, healthy, active, and involved before this happened; and that something is wrong. to that, the NP said "okay, i can put in a referral to your neurologist." as if i wasn't already scheduled to see him again.. before being discharged, i needed to pee (i have been graced with urinary urgency), so the nurse came to get me––this time without the wheelchair. i just stared at her. did she expect me to hop out of the bed and run now that my MRI was deemed "normal?" she got the wheelchair and took it away after getting me to the restroom. i went pee, and immediately began sobbing. i wasn't expecting to be so devastated by a "normal" MRI result. i was also pissed because of ms. nurse-practitioner's baseless assumption. my nurse knocked on the door and asked if i was okay. sniffling, i said, "yeah." after washing, i dried my hands and she helped me out while tears streamed down my face. right before i got in the room, she lowered her voice and said to me, "it doesn't hurt to get a second opinion. i really hope you get answers."

i really hope so too. that was two months ago.

that nurse-practitioner's notes have followed me around to consequent doctor appointments, so i have to preface all of my new consults with something along the lines of, "just to let you know, i did go to the ED when my legs stopped working and i started losing my vision, which the NP attributed to 'anxiety,' which i was not screened for nor suffer from, other than situationally as that was my first time in an ER and first time getting an IV." sometimes this helps to get them to look past that, sometimes it doesn't. two months later, i am still unwell, my vision is still dark, and now i actually DO have anxiety––not chronically but because i'm not getting better, because doctors aren't listening, and legitimate abnormalities in my lab results, as well as imaging, have been brushed off and deemed "normal." doctors literally tell me (days or weeks after receiving my results online) that everything is normal when the results notify you if they're not, and they have, and they still say it. not once have any of my appointments ended with, "i don't know what's going on with you, but we're going to keep digging, and until we know, here are some things you can do in the meantime to have a slightly better quality of life." so instead, i have to be my own caregiver, doctor, researcher, and advocate. i have to make all the calls (that use up every spoon in me), schedule the appointments, review my test results. i haven't been able to work, drive, cook, or go out of the house. some of my favorite hobbies included dancing and going on long walks. now i can't do those things. i didn't go from doing those things and magically, randomly, out of nowhere, have a 6-month-long anxiety attack that affected my nervous, lymphatic, and hematologic systems. i got sick. i don't know why, i don't know how, i don't know what, but i want more than anything to get back to living. and i'm not anxious. i'm concerned. and the concern is growing because despite all attempts, i'm not getting better. it's not me. it's you. @all the doctors who have ignored, dismissed, and gaslit me when i have very obvious red flags in and on my body. something. is. wrong.

symptoms are signals. even if someone DOES have a mental condition, like depression or anxiety, doesn't mean their physical symptoms can't possibly be from physical causes. and sometimes... crazy thought... sometimes depression and anxiety are, themselves, SYMPTOMS... of PHYSICAL CAUSES.

i am all about mental health awareness and breaking the stigma, i am, and i do believe the mind can have a great effect on the body. but i also think that far too many people, especially women and minorities, have been written off for being "anxious," "dramatic," or "stressed" when they have medical conditions that go beyond the mind. that's not holistic medicine. that's just called being lazy (or too egotistical to admit when you don't know something.) and it's costing us our lives.

When a chronically ill or disabled person gets their lab tests back as “normal” or all clear, we aren’t sad because we WANT to be sick.

We’re sad because we *know* there’s something wrong with us, yet the scans still stay clear.

Before you kill the monster you gotta know its name.

[transparencyreviews]

Travel Transparency: Ensuring Legitimate Travel Experiences

In an era where travel has become a global pastime, ensuring the legitimacy of travel experiences is more important than ever. The concept of travel transparency is rooted in providing honest, accurate, and reliable information, helping travelers make informed decisions. Understanding what travel transparency means and how it ensures legitimacy can transform the way we approach our journeys.

Travel transparency is all about openness and honesty. It involves sharing truthful accounts of travel experiences, from the quality of accommodations to the accuracy of advertised amenities. This transparency is crucial because it helps travelers set realistic expectations and avoid potential scams or disappointments. When travelers know they can trust the information they are getting, they can plan their trips with greater confidence and peace of mind.

One of the key aspects of travel transparency is the authenticity of reviews. Legitimate travel transparency platforms prioritize genuine feedback from real travelers. This means that reviews are based on actual experiences rather than paid endorsements or fabricated accounts. This authenticity is vital for maintaining trust within the travel community, as it ensures that the information being shared is both credible and useful.

Travel transparency also involves detailed and comprehensive reviews. Instead of just highlighting the positives, transparent reviews cover all aspects of the travel experience, including any negatives. This balanced approach provides a more complete picture, allowing travelers to make more informed choices. For instance, a transparent review of a hotel might mention the cleanliness of the rooms, the friendliness of the staff, and the accuracy of the amenities described online. By covering both the good and the bad, these reviews help set realistic expectations and prevent unpleasant surprises.

Moreover, travel transparency encourages accountability among service providers. When businesses know that their performance will be scrutinized by discerning travelers, they are more likely to maintain high standards and strive for excellence. This accountability not only benefits travelers but also helps improve the overall quality of travel services.

Legitimate travel transparency platforms often have measures in place to ensure the reliability of the reviews. These measures can include verification processes to confirm that reviewers have actually stayed at the properties they are reviewing or experienced the services they are commenting on. This further enhances the credibility of the information provided.

In conclusion, travel transparency is essential for ensuring legitimate and satisfying travel experiences. By promoting honesty, authenticity, and accountability, travel transparency helps travelers make informed decisions and enjoy their journeys with greater confidence. Embracing travel transparency not only benefits individual travelers but also contributes to a more trustworthy and reliable travel industry as a whole.

Websites:- https://traveltransparencyreviews.com/

[cashappreviewus]

Understanding Why Cash App Cash Out Failed: What You Need to Know

Have you ever experienced the frustration of trying to cash out on Cash App, only to be met with an error message saying "Cash Out Failed"? It's a common issue that many users encounter, and it can leave you feeling puzzled and unsure of what went wrong. But fear not! In this article, we will dive into the reasons behind Cash App cash out failures and provide you with all the essential information you need to know. Whether it's understanding why your payment is stuck in limbo or finding alternative ways to withdraw money without a bank account, we've got you covered! So let's unravel the mysteries of Cash App cash outs together and get back on track to financial freedom!

why does cash app say waiting to complete?

You're eager to cash out on Cash App, but instead of the money landing in your account immediately, you see the frustrating message: "Waiting to Complete." So, why does Cash App say waiting to complete? There could be a few reasons behind this delay.

It's possible that there is a temporary issue with the Cash App server or network. In such cases, the transaction might get stuck in limbo until the problem is resolved. Patience is key here - give it some time and try again later.

Another reason for the waiting period could be due to security checks. Cash App takes measures to ensure that all transactions are legitimate and secure. If they detect any suspicious activity or potential fraud, they may put a hold on your payment until further verification can take place. This is a good thing as it helps protect users from unauthorized transactions.

Additionally, if you've recently linked a new bank account or debit card to your Cash App account, there may be a brief waiting period while they verify and authenticate those details. It's all part of their efforts to prevent fraudulent activities.

Don't forget about external factors like weekends or holidays when banks might have limited operating hours or slower processing times. This can also contribute to longer wait times for completing cash outs on Cash App.

In conclusion

How does cash out work on Cash App?

Cash Out is a feature offered by Cash App that allows users to transfer their funds from their Cash App account to an external bank account. This feature provides users with the convenience of accessing and using their money in various ways.

To initiate a cash-out, simply follow these steps:-

1. Open the Cash App on your mobile device.

2. Tap on the balance tab located at the bottom center of the screen.

3. Press "Cash Out."

4. Enter the desired amount you wish to transfer.

5. Select your preferred deposit speed - either Standard or Instant (Note: Instant transfers may incur a small fee).

6. Choose your bank or enter your debit card information if it's not already linked to your Cash App account.

7. Review and confirm all details before proceeding with the transaction.

Once you have completed these steps, your funds will be transferred from your Cash App account to your chosen bank account within the designated timeframe selected during checkout.

Remember, it's important to ensure that you have sufficient funds available in your Cash App balance before initiating a cash out request to avoid any potential issues or delays in processing!

How long does Cash App give you to cash out?

When it comes to cashing out on Cash App, you might be wondering how much time you have to complete the transaction. Well, the good news is that Cash App gives you a generous amount of time to cash out your funds. 

Once you initiate a cash-out request, Cash App usually takes about 1-3 business days to process and transfer the money to your linked bank account or debit card. However, keep in mind that weekends and holidays may cause some delays in processing times.

It's important to note that the actual length of time can vary depending on various factors such as network congestion or technical issues. So it's always a good idea to check for any notifications from Cash App regarding potential delays or issues with your cash-out request.

If for some reason your cash out is not completed within this timeframe, don't panic just yet! It's possible that there could be an issue with your account or additional verification may be required. In such cases, reaching out to Cash App support would be advisable for further assistance.

While most cash outs are typically processed within a few business days, it's essential to stay patient and keep an eye on any updates from Cash App during the process.

How do I cash out my Cash App without a bank account?

When it comes to cashing out your funds on Cash App, having a bank account is typically the easiest and most convenient method. However, if you don't have a bank account or prefer not to use one for cashing out, there are alternative options available.

One option is to link your Cash App card directly to the app. This allows you to withdraw cash from ATMs that accept Visa cards. Simply locate a compatible ATM and follow the prompts to initiate a withdrawal using your Cash App card.

Another option is utilizing peer-to-peer transfers. If you have friends or family members who also use Cash App, you can send them money through the app and ask them to give you cash in return. This method may require some coordination but can be an effective way of accessing your funds without needing a bank account.

Additionally, some retail stores offer services where they can load funds onto prepaid debit cards. You can check with local retailers in your area to see if this option is available.

While these alternatives allow you to cash out without a bank account, it's important to note that they may come with additional fees or limitations compared to traditional banking methods. It's always best to consider all options and choose the one that suits your needs and preferences best.

Can I withdraw money from Cash App at ATM?

With the convenience of Cash App, it's no wonder that many people turn to this popular mobile payment service for their financial needs. However, encountering a cash out failed message can be frustrating and confusing. In this article, we've explored some common reasons why your Cash App cash out may have failed.

It's important to understand that there are various factors that can contribute to a cash out failure on Cash App. It could be due to technical issues, insufficient funds in your account, or even security measures implemented by the app itself. By understanding these possibilities, you can take necessary steps to avoid future cash out failures.

If you find yourself waiting for a long time with the status "waiting to complete" displayed on your screen, it could mean that there is an issue with processing your transaction. This might happen if there is high traffic on the app or if you're experiencing network connectivity problems. In such cases, patience is key as the issue will likely resolve itself once things stabilize.

To successfully cash out on Cash App, make sure you have linked a valid bank account or debit card to your account. This allows for seamless transfers between your Cash App balance and external accounts. Additionally, keep in mind that there are limits imposed by Cash App when it comes to withdrawing funds. These limits vary depending on several factors including verification level and usage history.

But what if you don't have a bank account? Can you still withdraw money from Cash App? The answer is yes! While having a linked bank account makes things easier and more convenient, you can also use alternative methods like transferring funds to another user who does have a bank account or using third-party services like PayPal or Venmo.

Let's address whether you can withdraw money from Cash App at an ATM. Unfortunately, as of now, direct ATM withdrawals are not supported by Cash App. However,you can still use other methods mentioned above like linking an external bank account or using third-party services to access your funds.

[childofdemon]

As a person with more than a passing interest in cybersecurity, I very much approve of this!

This is exactly what you're supposed to do. If you don't recognize the batch or exe file you're being asked to download, you should never download it, or if you do, you shouldn't run it. You should instead try to verify from a trusted source what the file is and what it does.

Please note that just the file name is not proof that the file is safe, or that it is actually what it claims to be: it's very very easy to change the name of a malicious EXE file (malicious as in malware/virus/things-you-do-not-want-on-your-device) to something that people recognize and that seems safe, such as winrar, or chrome.exe, a name of some game, etc.

It's rather difficult to know what the file actually is just from an attachment in Discord, because you can't really extract much information from the attachment without actually downloading it. That's why it's generally a good rule of thumb not to download any EXE or batch files from places like that unless you really cannot avoid it or unless you trust the source. Instead, try to find the software from legitimate or trusted sites (Google and peer review is your friend here).

(Please, for the love of whatever god or vaguely benign entity you do or do not believe in, be careful what websites you download software from as well. There are so many places pretending to offer legitimate versions of safe programs when they're not.)

If you've already downloaded the exe/batch file, or have to do it for one reason or another, you can instead submit it to an online sandbox for analysis. These are services that run the file in a secure, separate virtual environment to test what it does, and then give you a report on whether or not the file is malicious and what it does. (NOTE: These sandboxes and the results are public, so these aren't suited for sensitive files or information. Do not put, say, software specific to your workplace or anything containing your personal information in these!) There are lots of options for these, but a popular one is called Virustotal.

I'm sorry, but I adamantly disagree.

This is very good behavior.

They didn't recognize the file extension.

They didn't recognize the EXE program.

And so they refused to open them.

That is excellent internet security hygiene.

They went to a trusted person (their brother) and verified WinRAR was legit and then proceeded to unpack the files.

How is this not *encouraging* for gen alpha? Is it just because they didn't know what WinRAR was? Who cares? I'm just proud they were being careful.

Unlike my boomer uncle who once installed so many spam search toolbars that there was no screen real estate left to show webpages.

[elephantcatdog]

When Getting A Lol Account, 6 Tips How To Stay Clear Of Rip-Offs

League of Legends has been just one of the most preferred key activities in the online games world for quite some time now. Several gamers have actually taken the activity seriously and have actually invested numerous hours of gameplay to attain awesome conditions and ranks. While doing so, lots of gamers have also decided to attempt a various strategy: buy LOL smurf account coming from other players.

While it may look like a simple technique to be successful, purchasing a profile could be high-risk, especially if you do not know just how to stay away from rip-offs. In this blog post, our team'll give you with 6 tips on exactly how to stay away from cons when buying a LOL account.

Perform Your Study

Like any online deal, it is necessary to carry out preparatory investigation prior to you create any sort of purchase, especially when it pertains to buying LOL accounts. Do not just click the first offer you view online. Instead, browse through multiple games online forums, social networks webpages, and player blog sites to read reviews of various dealers. You can easily additionally discover practical suggestions coming from individuals that've effectively created the very same acquisition. When performing your research study, make note of red flags like awards that seem to be also good to become true, suspiciously low prices, or dealers with little to no reviews. You can obtain more information about league of legends by browsing league of legends skin account website.

Look for Account Service Warranty

One way to make sure that you acquire your amount of money's truly worth is actually to search for vendors along with warranties. These are actually not just an indication of a valid seller but also provide you some comfort that your real investment is actually secured from losses that might develop before you can fully take control of the account. Try to find warranties that cover an agreed-on maximum as well as a sensible period account use opportunity. Through this, you are actually assured that the purchasing league of legends skin account resides in good condition and also can be utilized without fretting about bans or various other credible problems like reimbursement plans.

Inspect Payment Approaches

Check if the payment methods provided are actually protected. Legitimate homeowners will definitely often possess conveniently accessible payment options that demand your authorization. It is actually greatest to avoid the wire-transfer or buy-now-pay-later substitutes and also follow a respectable payment approach like PayPal. In this manner, you're shielded in case something makes a mistake along with the transaction. Be wary as they may be trying to scam or even technique you in to paying out for something they don't mean to provide if the homeowner firmly insists on utilizing alternate payment strategies.

Ask for Screenshots as well as Information

If something records your interest along with a specific LOL account, like their elo or even skins, talk to the dealer for additional information as well as some screenshots that exhibit the account's success and also advancement. This will certainly provide you a much better understanding of what you'll get inside profit for your expenditure. Make sure to validate them and also the vendor's connect with relevant information as an included safety measure.

Do Not Rush the Purchase

Stay clear of negotiable stress by taking the time to think through your decision very carefully. It's ideal to conduct owed persistance prior to completing any type of acquisition considering that some cheaters may press you in to paying up just before vanishing with your money. If the dealer is attempting to rush the deal, this should set off warnings, and also you should immediately release coming from the purchase.

Make Use Of Trusted Sellers or Middlemen

While certainly not always essential, utilizing relied on vendors or middlemen is a safer wager when buy LOL skin account. These vendors are actually relied on, have been actually around for a while, and also have an excellent online reputation. Intermediaries, on the other hand, serve as an intermediary in between you as well as the homeowner, delivering a type of escrow service that makes sure safety for both gatherings. They can confirm the legitimacy of the seller and ensure that the profile remains in the best situation prior to discharging the deal to you.

Verdict:

The net could be a risky area, as well as scammers are actually consistently trying to find innocent folks to exploit. When buying a LoL profile, player safety need to constantly be actually a best concern. Adhere to these six pointers to lessen the threats of being scammed and take pleasure in the League of Legends planet. While getting accounts can be actually a quick and easy solution, the absolute best means to accomplish excellence in LOL is actually via stretched gameplay, ability advancement, and dedication.

[superkilometerfilter]

Mileage Blocker Review – Everything You Need To Know

Have you ever checked a mileage blocker review on the internet? Do you have a clear understanding of what exactly the mileage blocker is? Why do people choose them instead of rollback tools? Those tools have gained popularity recently. People are searching for the best versions of them which meet their needs. The primary function of blockers is to stop the mileage recording process. However, it is not the end of the story. the device should satisfy the needs of consumers in terms of convenience and reliability. The customer’s satisfaction depends on the quality of the product.  The quality is determined by several factors starting from components to manufacturing. 

Before we name what is the top product on the market, let’s take a closer look at the differences between rollback and blocker tools, and learn what people do for paying less for insurance, or sell their automobiles at higher prices. Additionally, you will see an Odometer Blocker review that is the leader on the market. Let’s get started!

MILEAGE BLOCKERS VS ROLLBACK TOOLS 

As we already mentioned, mileage correction is a very popular practice among motorists. Sometimes it happens for legitimate reasons, however, sometimes it is prohibited, especially when people do it for malicious purposes. We will discuss that unethical usage later. Now let’s focus on the tools people choose for correct mileage. There are two main types: mileage blockers and rollback tools. 

Let’s start with the rollback devices. In older days mileage rollback meant manually reversing numbers on mechanical odometers. Nowadays, when cars are equipped with digital odometers, the whole process is altering the car’s circuit board and editing the displayed mileage by putting whatever number you want. One of the biggest problems with those rewind tools is that they can’t access other control units. Hence, information is easily discoverable with the help of diagnostic devices. Apart from that, installing them requires cutting wires. That makes them inconvenient for customers. 

Mileage blockers serve differently. They do not alter existing data, they just halt recording miles. In addition to that, they are simple, plug-and-play modules. No soldering or cutting cables are necessary. That is an additional benefit for customers who are seeking simplicity and convenience in a hectic world. If you read the Mileage blocker review, you may know that it is superior to counterfeits. It is an outstanding device in terms of reliability, to put it simply, altered information remains untraceable completely.

As you can see odometer blocker is a favorite module for altering data, at the same time it can be a dangerous tool for those who use modules to their advantage. Altering mileage data and deceiving potential buyers is a criminal offense. Keep reading and learn what is called – odometer fraud.  

PEOPLE USE ILLEGAL METHODS FOR PAYING LESS 

Odometer fraud is a significant consumer fraud issue. It is also referred to as “busting miles” or “clocking” is the illegitimate practice of rolling back odometers to make it appear that vehicles have lower mileage than they actually do. The motivation for fraud is mainly to increase the price of pre-owned automobiles. generally, It is banned in 25 European countries. The penalties differ from country to country. However, this doesn’t stop wrongdoers to manipulate odometers and sell automobiles with misleading mileage.

According to the “Preliminary Report: The Incidence Rate of Odometer Fraud” by NHTSA, The rate of odometer fraud over the life of the vehicle is 3.47 percent, which means that it’s a 3.47 percent chance that we came across misleading mileage on cars during the first 11 years of its life. That’s not all. The other issue is cases that remain hidden. There are rollbacks that are not identified by Carfax. It means that the genuine incidence rate can be higher than we think and the situation is even worse. It means that wrongdoers work hard, they defraud titles, so it makes it harder to eradicate the crime.

Carfax indicates “Potential Odometer Rollback” when two consecutive readings less than a year apart show at least 3, 000 miles lower than earlier. 

MILEAGE BLOCKER REVIEW – NUMBER ONE MODULE 

An extraordinary device – A mileage blocker from a Super Kilometer filter has gained immense popularity. It is not surprising why it gets the best Odometer Blocker review. A premium quality product from Germany is superior to counterfeits. The stopper is designed for halting the mileage recording process from all control units. It has many advantages which make it a unique module. Those advantages are the following:

It is easy to manage 

When you hear about additional gadgets for your automobile, what comes to your mind first? I guess you are thinking of a tiresome visit to the technician. Sometimes it is a reason why you are not in favor of innovative tools. It’s just tiring. If you read through our Mileage blocker review, you will find that it is unique in terms of convenience. As you may know it has different modes, you have options to count only 10%, 20%, or don’t count mileage at all.  Changing from mode to mode is possible with several key combinations. In addition to that we develop mobile applications for some models, and it will be available for more models in a short time. so, you can enjoy convenience and reliability at the same time. so, you can control everything from the distance. 

Do-it-yourself installation

Do not worry if you don’t have good automotive skills. Just following the instruction can be enough to install a blocker behind the speedometer. When it comes to a new automobile, you may want to avoid cutting cables for as long as it is possible. the innovative tool allows you to install it without cutting cables or soldering. Hence, removing the blocker will be as easy as installing it. As for compatibility you don’t have to worry because we create individual modules for almost 50 brands and 250 models. The short list of them are BMW, Audi, Dodge, RAM, Range Rover, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Porsche. Moreover, on our website, you can see different modules for the same car. If you need additional instructions for installing, you can find video tutorials for almost all models. 

It has an untraceable effect

If you check the Odometer Blocker review on the forum or read a detailed description on our website, you will find its particular characteristics. Mostly, correction tools aim to change the displayed data on the odometer and genuine data can be found in other units. It is freely possible with diagnostic tools. Different from them, a mileage blocker can erase data completely from the memory of the vehicle.   

A kilometer filter is legal for testing purposes

The primary function of the stopper is testing the used auto when you are going to buy it. or you want to know the performance of a brand-new model and see if it has the same impressive abilities that were advertised. Testing the performance of the car is more enjoyable when you know that unnecessary kilometers do not add up. 

Do not cause flaws in the system 

We work hard on the research and development of the program, which means that we endure that you don’t you do not get error messages on the speedometer. As you may know some devices cause a flaw in a Can-Bus system or FlexRay systems. As long as we have a good knowledge of that system, we offer you an advanced odometer blocker that performs flawlessly and eliminates malfunctioning of the existing system of the automobiles. We devote a lot of time to the development of the products. That gives our customers a guarantee that they do not come across additional issues. 

CHOOSE THE PREMIUM MILEAGE BLOCKER

If you are one of those who are searching for a quality product, I have good news for you. You can shop for it on SuperKilometerFilter. You may have come across other alternatives, but those modules just mimic some functions and they can not provide you with the same functionalities. Visit our shop to purchase the stopper at a reasonable cost. You will get flawless costumer service and support. You can check the Mileage blocker review in order to make a final decision.  

AVOID UNETHICAL USAGE OF THE DEVICE 

Odometer fraud is on the rise. It has a devastating effect on the economic situation. As NHTSA reports, it is more than a $1 billion crime annually only in America. It takes great Federal and state effort to deter odometer fraud. However, it remains a challenge for today’s world. 

We do not recommend unethical usage of the blocker. It is banned to use on public roads. It should be used only in a controlled environment. As you learned from the Odometer Blocker review, the primary purpose of the stopper is to test the performance of your beloved auto. 

TAKEAWAY 

Thus, you know what is Mileage blocker and where to find the advanced version of the product. There are various manufacturers of such modules who claim to meet your needs, but in most case, these tools disappoint you. They do not perform flawlessly and cause unforeseen issues that are harder to solve. If the above-mentioned Mileage blocker review is not satisfying for you, you can contact us for further details. 

[tastydregs]

Personalized AI-Written Spam May Soon Be Flooding Your Inbox

Photo: TACstock1 (Shutterstock)

If An AI Reworks Copyrighted Images, Is It Art? | Future Tech

Each day, messages from Nigerian princes, peddlers of wonder drugs and promoters of can’t-miss investments choke email inboxes. Improvements to spam filters only seem to inspire new techniques to break through the protections.

Now, the arms race between spam blockers and spam senders is about to escalate with the emergence of a new weapon: generative artificial intelligence. With recent advances in AI made famous by ChatGPT, spammers could have new tools to evade filters, grab people’s attention and convince them to click, buy or give up personal information.

As director of the Advancing Human and Machine Reasoning lab at the University of South Florida, I research the intersection of artificial intelligence, natural language processing and human reasoning. I have studied how AI can learn the individual preferences, beliefs and personality quirks of people.

This can be used to better understand how to interact with people, help them learn or provide them with helpful suggestions. But this also means you should brace for smarter spam that knows your weak spots – and can use them against you.

Spam, AI, spam, AI, spam, AI

So, what is spam?

Spam is defined as unsolicited commercial emails sent by an unknown entity. The term is sometimes extended to text messages, direct messages on social media and fake reviews on products. Spammers want to nudge you toward action: buying something, clicking on phishing links, installing malware or changing views.

Spam is profitable. One email blast can make US$1,000 in only a few hours, costing spammers only a few dollars – excluding initial setup. An online pharmaceutical spam campaign might generate around $7,000 per day.

Legitimate advertisers also want to nudge you to action – buying their products, taking their surveys, signing up for newsletters – but whereas a marketer email may link to an established company website and contain an unsubscribe option in accordance with federal regulations, a spam email may not.

Spammers also lack access to mailing lists that users signed up for. Instead, spammers utilize counter-intuitive strategies such as the “Nigerian prince” scam, in which a Nigerian prince claims to need your help to unlock an absurd amount of money, promising to reward you nicely. Savvy digital natives immediately dismiss such pleas, but the absurdity of the request may actually select for naïveté or advanced age, filtering for those most likely to fall for the scams.

Advances in AI, however, mean spammers might not have to rely on such hit-or-miss approaches. AI could allow them to target individuals and make their messages more persuasive based on easily accessible information, such as social media posts.

The AI-enabled future of spam

Chances are you’ve heard about the advances in generative large language models like ChatGPT. The task these generative LLMs perform is deceptively simple: given a text sequence, predict which token – think of this as a part of a word – comes next. Then, predict which token comes after that. And so on, over and over.

Somehow, training on that task alone, when done with enough text on a large enough LLM, seems to be enough to imbue these models with the ability to perform surprisingly well on a lot of other tasks.

Multiple ways to use the technology have already emerged, showcasing the technology’s ability to quickly adapt to, and learn about, individuals. For example, LLMs can write full emails in your writing style, given only a few examples of how you write. And there’s the classic example – now over a decade old – of Target figuring out a customer was pregnant before her father knew.

Spammers and marketers alike would benefit from being able to predict more about individuals with less data. Given your LinkedIn page, a few posts and a profile image or two, LLM-armed spammers might make reasonably accurate guesses about your political leanings, marital status or life priorities.

Our research showed that LLMs could be used to predict which word an individual will say next with a degree of accuracy far surpassing other AI approaches, in a word-generation task called the semantic fluency task. We also showed that LLMs can take certain types of questions from tests of reasoning abilities and predict how people will respond to that question. This suggests that LLMs already have some knowledge of what typical human reasoning ability looks like.

If spammers make it past initial filters and get you to read an email, click a link or even engage in conversation, their ability to apply customized persuasion increases dramatically. Here again, LLMs can change the game. Early results suggest that LLMs can be used to argue persuasively on topics ranging from politics to public health policy.

Good for the gander

AI, however, doesn’t favor one side or the other. Spam filters also should benefit from advances in AI, allowing them to erect new barriers to unwanted emails.

Spammers often try to trick filters with special characters, misspelled words or hidden text, relying on the human propensity to forgive small text anomalies – for example, “c1îck h.ere n0w.” But as AI gets better at understanding spam messages, filters could get better at identifying and blocking unwanted spam – and maybe even letting through wanted spam, such as marketing email you’ve explicitly signed up for. Imagine a filter that predicts whether you’d want to read an email before you even read it.

Despite growing concerns about AI – as evidenced by Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter CEO Elon Musk, Apple founder Steve Wozniak and other tech leaders calling for a pause in AI development – a lot of good could come from advances in the technology. AI can help us understand how weaknesses in human reasoning might be exploited by bad actors and come up with ways to counter malevolent activities.

All new technologies can result in both wonder and danger. The difference lies in who creates and controls the tools, and how they are used.

Want to know more about AI, chatbots, and the future of machine learning? Check out our full coverage of artificial intelligence, or browse our guides to The Best Free AI Art Generators and Everything We Know About OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

John Licato, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Director of AMHR Lab, University of South Florida

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

[trans-axolotl]

okay fabulous i love being trans and love harm reduction so this is great. usual disclaimer that this is not medical or legal advice. this is drawn from my own + community experiences plus internal resources from the org I work with.

DIY HRT and Harm reduction

Most important things to know: DIY HRT is one possible way to access hormones, and there are safer and riskier ways to DIY HRT. In the context of increasing transphobic legislation in the US, I think it's important that people know their options and can discuss this without having to deal with our community putting moral judgments onto DIY HRT. I'm not going to spend a bunch of time getting into super specific information about dosage, methods of HRT, or where to find HRT, because a ton of that information is on this website which I highly recommend! Instead I'm going to be focusing on how to make informed decisions about DIY HRT and how to understand the risks.

Source Safety

When getting HRT without a prescription, it's important to consider the reliability and safety of your source. When at all possible, finding a healthcare provider who will provide HRT under the table is a good way to ensure that what you're getting is actually legitimate HRT. The next safest option is buying from a legitimate online pharmacy that provides pharmaceutical-grade hormones. This is where research + community knowledge comes in. Reading reviews, talking to other trans people, or buying from known sources in your community is a way to help reduce the risk of getting a product that is not legitimate HRT. When buying without a prescription, there is always some risk that what you are getting includes other chemicals, is for veterinary use, or has other contaminants. Checking your hormones before usage for anything odd, like bits floating in the liquid instead of pure liquid, for example, can be a good way to reduce risk. Overall, it's important to know that there are some risks involved with how you source your hormones, which is why talking to community members, reading reviews, and learning about trusted sites + people can be an important step for safer sourcing.

Injection Safety

If injecting your hormones, it's super important to know safe injection practices, especially if you have challenges accessing a consistent needle supply.

Do your shots in a clean, sanitized environment. Wash your hands and use alcohol swabs on your hormone vial, your injection site

Avoid sharing needles with anyone else. Sharing needles puts you at a higher risk of acquiring HIV, HEP C, and other bloodborne illnesses.

Avoid reusing your own needles if possible, as it increases infection risk.

If you must reuse or share needles and have no other options, clean needles with bleach first! Check out this handout for more info. To access free needles and syringes, check out this directory of harm reduction organizations that provide needle exchange services.

Legal Safety

Estrogen, spironolactone, and other anti-androgens are not controlled substances. They are legal to buy online in the United States.

Due to the absolute bullshit that is the Controlled Substances Act and the War on Drugs, Testosterone is considered a Schedule III substance. This means that it is illegal to buy and sell testosterone without a prescription in the United States. Realistically though, the risk of conviction for possession in a DIY HRT situation is currently incredibly low. A study following Anabolic Steroid Cases in US district courts from 2013-2017 found that there were only 63 cases in those 5 years, and that most cases were for selling steroids online or in the context of other criminalized substance convictions. (Decrim now for all drugs, including testosterone-check out this resource to learn more about decrim)

So, what that means is that the legal risk for buying DIY testosterone is relatively quite low, but it is still good practice to be intentional and considerate about what information you share publically, especially if you live in a state with gender-affirming care bans. To reduce risk, it can help to share information privately among trans circles, not admit DIY HRT use to any law enforcement, and not bring unprescribed testosterone through security checkpoints on planes, for example. We don't really know how new transphobic laws are going to affect prosecution right now, so it's good to be cautious without fearmongering or overexaggerating risk.

Miscellaneous

Regular blood testing is a good way to keep an eye out for any medical complications and also adjust dosage when needed. For intersex people, much of the available information online about DIY HRT is likely relevant to us, although we might have some additional needs or concerns. There isn't any widely available data that really explores what gender-affirming HRT looks like for us, but anecdotal community evidence suggests that we usually get all the same effects, but will often experience a different timeline than dyadic trans people. Depending on our variation, we might need a lower dose than dyadic trans people because of our existing hormone levels. Blood tests can help track our levels and signify to us if our dosage is too high and our testosterone is converting to estrogen, for example. When doing DIY HRT as an intersex person, it can be important to research the other medications we might be on and understand the role they play. If we are already on an anti-androgen medication, that's really important info to know before adding more HRT.

Overall I want to link this harm reduction guide specifically for HRT, and just affirm that DIY HRT has a long history in trans communities, and that this is something we have always done. HRT is absolutely not a necessity to be valid as a trans person and there are so many ways to exist as trans. However, it's important for us to acknowledge that DIY HRT is a method of HRT that can sometimes be more accessible for us, and that it's important for us to have access to accurate information that helps us make decisions about what's right for us. hormones are fun and fabulous and i support trans people getting them in whatever way works for us!

would people be interested in a post about DIY hrt from a harm reduction perspective

[cpqsoftware]

Design Error-Free Proposals With Configurator Software

Presentation is essential, no matter what you are presenting to customers. A proposal, product, or quote. Better-looking quotes and proposals aid in closing sales. Salespeople know the influence a well-written quotation or proposal may have on a deal. Many sellers dislike the time it takes to gather and prepare the document. They would instead concentrate on fostering relationships and selling. Before Configure Price Quote CPQ came into play, businesses would create a template to address the problem. The issue is that only a few salespeople make skilled designers.

Even if they possess these abilities, it takes time to put up a paper that is well-designed and effectively branded. Salespeople may take shortcuts when they have clients to visit and goals to achieve.

Out-of-date or low-resolution logos and photos, misspellings, uneven application of brand rules, and amateurish layouts are some of the top errors in customer-facing papers.

How can a salesperson create a tailor-made quote or proposal?

A detailed document composition tool that is part of the ideal configurator software allows users to build templates while receiving the necessary brand compliance guidelines. Salespeople may quickly create a proposal tailored to the offer and the client using this template. The content of a deal can toggle conditional template components on and off. The sales associate may also activate sections. The details of quotes or pricing summaries can be immediately entered.

Configure Price Quote CPQ manages parallel and serial approval chains, giving all parties involved visibility into the deal’s development. To save time, it also updates when a trade is accepted or denied at any stage.

How does configurator software help provide error-free quotes?

Configurator software frequently claims that the solution can provide error-free quotes. What does that actually imply, and why should a business be concerned?

It is a vital responsibility of a Configure Price Quote CPQ to transmit data to a system downstream that will carry out the instruction. The ordering system needs inputs such as product specifications, customer details, billing information, and more to fulfill the order.

Configure: The configuration engine, which directs users to create proper, legitimate product configurations, is a crucial component of CPQ processes. Users can choose from a list of permitted features to develop reliable parts or service combinations. The configured product can only add to the order at that point.

Price: The commercial and legal terms of an agreement are often discussed concerning the pricing component of CPQ. At this point, rules are upheld to ensure that all crucial data is recorded and shared with other systems. Every customer data may be required or even connected with a CRM system. Prices can be determined, and billing terms can be specified.

Every workflow component can be pre-populated with the necessary information using configured software. Accepting pricing levels and other non-standard parts of the transaction is one of the most crucial facets of commercial terms. Discounts can be monitored and authorized by corporate policies. Before the quote is completed with the customer, variables like expedited delivery or terms specific to the customer can be reviewed and approved.

Quote: In most Configure Price Quote CPQ, a quotation gathers all necessary data and displays it via customer-facing documents like proposals, quotes, and contracts in the most appropriate way. CPQ solutions organize the transaction data to seamlessly connect with or flow into your downstream systems, minimizing the need for manual order re-entry.

Summing up:

Accurate data may be obtained, added, and updated quickly and easily with configured software. The potential format conflict between word processors and spreadsheets is no longer a concern. The ability of the salesman to completely alter some elements of the proposal is the final and, arguably, most effective option. This gives them the ability to contribute rich language to proposals, including cover letters, executive summaries, and any other content where their unique style, connection, and intimate understanding of a customer’s circumstance cannot be duplicated by a computer.

Using KBMax’s Configure Price Quote CPQ, you can create a high-quality, accurate, personalized proposal by fusing precise transaction data with corporate branding and salesperson feedback.