#is this how buzzwords work?
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victor-the-vampire · 9 months ago
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Since it's demon slayer premier day I decided to draw my oc Akiko :3 pls enjoy the vague akiko content once again 🙏
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wallcreeper-and-oro · 15 days ago
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terminal.find(WASP-132d) terminal established connection.find(omni_net) connection established omni.id.vericode(Y/N) (Y) {vericode entered} connection verified - lancer 910372
⋆𖦹 Hello!
Uh hi there! I'm new to all this omni-net thing but Kanmi says i've gotta introduce myself so hello omni-net!
My name is Coryander (or Cory but Thebe's the only one who calls me that)! she/her only please and thank you! oh ya my callsign is Ouroboros (or Oro for short) and I currently pilot a swallowtail chassis named Wallcreeper (like Tichodroma muraria)!! uuh i'm pretty new to this whole piloting thing too, well like piloting a big mech i've "piloted" my old ship a bit.. but anyways Wallcreeper's been a nice experience so far!
Kanmi says to tell you all who we are (whoops) uh i'm a part of a little lancer squad unofficially called Dido's Divers (after our leader, the Dido), it'll mostly be me on this but i might talk about my other crew-members too!
um okay let’s seee we got
myself Coryander! (callsign: Ouroboros) - Swallowtail pilot!
Thebe! my best friend! (callsign: Neutron) -
Thebe’s a Tokugawa pilot, seems pretty scary to me but she likes the heat of the battle!
Kanmi (who’s here helping me do this, thanks kanmi) (callsign: Rosy)-
our resident Drake pilot
Liza, my mentor (callsign: Sour Patch) -
Tortuga pilot (it’s so big… and scary, Liza nice-ish though)
Dido, the leader of our little crew (that’s her callsign, i haven’t asked her name and she hasn’t given it soooo Dido it is) -
Dido pilots a very scary blackbeard
uuh Kanmi says i gotta say that both mine and Thebe’s mechs were salvaged legally, they were? i’m not sure why he put that in bold? oh also we’re not affiliated with any manufacturer or any other independent company and we follow the pillars and all that good stuff
uuum i’m not sure what i’m gonna do on here but hi i guess! this is Ouroboros signing out!
OOC: hiiii so um im trying out this whole thing, we’ll see how it goes but ya! meet Coryander (spelled the phoenician way)!! she’s pretty cool i think! a bit green but i think she’s neat! she’s got her nice little crew right now and her best friend and all will be well!!
this is the sideblog of @moons-among-distant-stars, so i’ll follow anyone from there!!
uh if you’ve somehow found me not from that account then hi i’m very new to lancer and even newer to lancer rp (or any online rp for that matter) but i think lancers very cool and i really like the story y’all’re telling on here!!
so please enjoy the story of my little transfem pilot and her silly crew!!
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batemanofficial · 2 months ago
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"jeff goldblum's vocals in wicked have audible AI tuning artifacts!! that's reprehensible!!" um. first of all that's autotune. pretty standard. and second of all that's not....that's just word salad. yes there is a lot of technology in cinematic post production that operates via machine learning but like. thats just how the tech works. it's not evil because you slapped an "AI" label on it. hiring some poor sap to tune jeff goldblum's raw vocal tracks like he's hatsune miku would not only be incredibly cost-ineffective but it would also be way worse in terms of energy consumption by the machines doing the tuning. not to mention that it would drive the audio editor insane. i think you guys just want to participate in a moral panic if you want my honest opinion
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m0thlegs · 2 months ago
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y’all learned the term “media literacy” and have not shut the fuck up since
#rant below#but omg#It’s such an important term and topic of discussion and also a genuine concern within our society YES.#but some people are using it in such a pseudo intellectual pretentious way that they’re not even using it correctly anymore#they just wanna act like they’re intellectually superior to others when they’re really just putting down different interpretations and#mindlessly defending their fav media without actually being willing to hear the other out#Like just because I have a different interpretation to you or like or dislike something that doesn’t mean I’m illiterate. What#“Hey I actually think th” “ERMMM WELL MAYBE YOUR MEDIA LITCHRUSSY-🤓🤓🤓🤓” THIS IS HOW YOU SOUND😭#Media literacy is not about what to interpret in a work#And if you’re using the “bad media literacy” argument to slam down well thought out interpretations that just happen to be different#then I think that only goes how ironically enough YOU lack media literacy for not understanding and/or missing the point of the discussion#don’t get me wrong bad media literacy definitely does exist and is a problem#like I’ve genuinely heard some ASS takes that are clearly due to bad media literacy#but they’re not the source of every bad take. God#hell it’s not even just bad takes that get slammed with this label like I said it’s just a difference in opinions#like just because I don’t like your fav it doesn’t mean I don’t understand them or am mischaracterising them??#that also leads into the issue of people defending their favs no matter what and having a weird sense of loyalty to them even if there is#valid crit against them#but that’s a whole can of worms I don’t wanna get into rn#anyways#my post#yapping#yapping in tags#TLDR a genuinely important discussion and term is being turned into a pseudo intellectual buzzword. Nothing new on the internet tho
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sorypsoid · 1 year ago
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Might be an unpopular opinion but was thinking today about how I'm not sure "neurotypical" is a thing in the way that it's talked about on the social media I've been seeing. Not talking in the medical sense here, moreso reflecting on the use of "neurotypical" as a buzzword these days.
It's not that every person has a diagnosable illness/disease/chemical imbalance/etc but I do think every single person has something going on with them that impacts their judgement, emotions, or actions in a way that causes them to fall out of line with the cookie cutter "neurotypical" expectations at times.
Do y'all really know anybody that doesn't have any behavioral idiosyncracies? Anybody you've spent real time with that doesn't have any instances where they failed to manage something in a "normal" and "typical" way?
Everyone undergoes challenging events that alter their interactions with the world around them, even the people that didnt get the added bonus of medically diagnosable factors. I feel that creating such a loosely applied neurotypical vs neurodivergent divide is an excuse to have a lack of empathy for each other by deciding from the get go that a person from one side will never be able to relate to and understand the other. It's easier to disregard a person entirely if you're able to quickly "other" them.
I think it's a dangerous mindset to get into because you simply can't diagnose whether someone is medically neurotypical or divergent at a glance and people shouldn't have to divulge their personal medical history to everyone they meet to get increased understanding and allowance in social settings. For example, if you have to know whether someone's autistic/depressed/OCD/etc first to determine whether you'll be giving them any leeway for being difficult to deal with in a social setting then you're making an active decision that hinges on that person being open about their medical history, not necessarily being accepting and gracious to people as a rule. The fact is that you just won't have that info and history for every person you meet.
I feel like if we all worried less about who goes in what box and more about extending politeness and patience to everyone in general then we could all have an easier time out there. We don't need to jump to the conclusion that every negative interaction we have with someone is due to a lack of care or malicious intent. Sometimes people just make mistakes and act without realizing the negative impact of what they're doing.
#been treading water trying to get my mental health under control recently#and a lot of the neurodivergent vs typical rhetoric going around is weighing on my mind#because i cant name one single person ive met and spent real time with that doesnt have some hangup or block in their life#if you spend enough time with someone you will eventually see the mask slip and they will react in a way that is not graceful or appropriate#were all just human#another unpopular opinion#its okay to not vibe with someone and not want to hang out with them/be around them#you should be cordial and polite and kind to everyone of course#but you arent obligated to hang out with someone outside of whats required by work/school/piblic space/etc#just because people dont get you and you dont click doesnt mean theyre neurotypical in the buzzword sense#and just because someone is openly neurodivergent doesnt mean you have to go out of your way to be friends with them#sometimes people just dont click and have a hard time dealing with eachother and thats okay#long rant but these thoughts have been rolling around in my head#been having a tough time at work in no small part due to my own challenges in navigating certain situations#i dont want to have to wear a pin saying “hi I have depression anxiety and adhd” for people to extend a little understanding when i fuck up#so im trying to be mindful of how ive been interacting with others when theyre the ones grating on me#since i want them to be able to meet me in the middle when its my turn to make the mistakes
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lorelune · 1 year ago
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sometimes i am tempted to get into queer discourse on main but i abstain. shut my mouth and keep my goddamn peace <3
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songofwizardry · 4 months ago
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so I had the summer (in reality, like… almost three months) off from one of my volunteering roles and I’m 20 minutes into my first meeting back and I am already so irritated and angry. maybe this is Not A Good Sign.
#people! are! just! so! useless!#and I am being uncharitable to some people but god#this meeting is also going to go on fucking forever bc nobody can stay on track#and like everyone is very nice! but sometimes I do not care about people being nice I care about getting shit done and not being in#a meeting til 8pm#like maybe I need to#just. dip.#I am full of frustration#I managed to get my point said about us needing more people there to Get Shit Done in between everyone being very optimistic#and like they agree with me#but god#I thought I would have more patience after a few months off and. nope. less patience#it’s just herding cats on intense steroids#and not doing it for a couple months has uh. brought into sharp relief how dysfunctional and infuriating a system it is#one of the people I work with just talks all fluff#like a consultant who charges by the word is what my partner said#and it’s all like things we should do or things we should focus on and empty buzzwords#‘we need to ensure these people have a seat at the table’ ‘we need to expand our offering’ ‘we need a concrete x policy in place’#‘we need to provide a space for the most marginalised in our community’ ‘#like great ok but what are we doing and crucially who is doing it and how#bc you’re not doing it you’ve just said you’re at low capacity#and we are at best a team of five and currently a team of three if we’re optimistic#the buzzword bingo REALLY pisses me off idk if it’s the lesbian in me or the scientist in me or just the tired grumpy old man in me#I think I’ve complained enough#I may…….. have to reconsider what I’m doing here I don’t think getting this angry within a few minutes of a meeting is healthy#it’s a good org I think we do important work#buuut at what point is that not a good enough reason to stick around yknow#ok if you’ve read this far thank you for reading all my anger
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baffledapple · 5 months ago
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once again i am being subjected to "educational courses on generative AI" (lengthy advertisements that the higher ups want us to watch so they can say that we are trained in AI)
#it's a contact year we need to show that we spend a lot of tiem not only maintaining this stuff but also learning and improving the produc#we provide#they never define what they mean by AI or how the AI actually works its driving me insane#whoah this adobe ai can generate an image for you and insert it into the image you have have without learning photoshop#yeah but HOW. where are these images being pulled from? what methods are used to produce this shit#HOLY SHIT: most programmers dont actually spend that much time programming. they actually spend a lot of time in meetings. helping coworker#reading emails. reading documentation. HELLO???? YES??? THOSE ARE NORMAL THINGS TO DO???#yes attending meetings is annoying but the solution is to fucking reduce the amount of meetings and ensuring that meetings are efficient#NOT TO ADD AI????#the stupid fucking AI building half ur code isnt gonna reduce the time spent looking at documentation!!!! u can't trust the AI to be accura#to be accurate so ur gonna have to go to the documentation anyway!!!#“u can just code not worrying about syntax blah blah” so writing psuedocode??? doing a top down approach to get the big idea#and then write the little stuff later???#im so fucking livid this is SO DUMB#literally all the shit they mentioned in passing sounds actually useful instead of the generative AI bs#no i dont need a little guy to write my code for me#but a guy who checks my syntax? that suggests i look at a particular function from the library? that sounds useful!!!#“if i ask this thing how to do X it will tell me how with steps!”#Okay so will the documentation???? hello????#omfg this guy conviently skipped over the part where the AI gave a WRONG ANSWER#bro i can read the screen it did NOT accurately describe the game#“have it generate the game for you” the point of the little shit is to learn how to do stuff so you can apply it to the big shit#god im just so enraged#mr supervisor is this a good use of company resources?#you are billing t he client for ME learning ai bullshit#sir you having me sit through hours of learning the newest buzzword concepts. is this a good use of 8 hrs the client pays for me to be here#chit chat
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squidprinceofwinterfell · 6 months ago
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One of my least favorite tropes is when a character says “I’ve never liked/always hated you” to a villainous character but they used to bully that character before they turned bad. And for some reason neither character brings this up during the scene.
#i’m mostly thinking of harvey bullock and ed nygma from gotham and the deep and a-train from the boys#harvey had the nerve to say ‘i never liked you even before you went crazy’ so you were just picking on him for no reason then???#and oh boy the deep/a-train scene don’t even get me STARTED (too late)#‘deep i’ve always hated your ass’ is not the serve you think it is a-train i’m sorry#but as lazy as that line is it’s still better than the godawful monologue the deep gives annie before their fight#like i don’t doubt the deep feels some resentment towards her for trying to ‘ruin him’ or whatever but they didn’t give him good dialogue#instead they just had chace crawford recite a bunch of buzzwords from twitter (‘you tried to CANCEL me but it didn’t work sweetheart’)#like…is that really what the deep would say in that moment? is that really HOW he would say it?#the deep/a-train confrontation was a missed opportunity too!!!#i wish when a-train said that the deep was like ‘yeah i know…? i figured when you were fucking mean to me for years for no reason’#it would’ve felt REAL and PERSONAL#and to see the deep’s mask slip?? he’s always sooo broey and friendly with ppl who clearly hate him#which i guess is a joke about how un-self aware he is but it’d be cool to see him say ‘i know we’re not really friends dude. i just act this#way bc i don’t know how else to be’ it would’ve made the deep more sinister AND more interesting in a few short lines#it would’ve added so much character to the deep gawdddd#get me in that writer’s room so i can save the deep from kripke
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mars-ipan · 2 years ago
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honestly being mentally ill and trying very hard to advocate for the mentally ill feels like a constant fucking battle sometimes
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party-gilmore · 2 years ago
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Modern art critics stop confusing "art" with "technical skill" challenge 2k23
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takashi0 · 1 year ago
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Hey guys I'm gonna let you in on a little secret. The reason people are becoming more """Reactionary""" and Conservative even when their lives are shit is because they're sick to goddamn death of Europeans and Leftists and other smug self-righteous shitheads buying in and spreading the stereotype that all Americans are stupid and hateful incestuous loudmouths unless they're a good little Democrat from the Inner city. When you hear "AMERICANS BAD" for 20 fucking plus years every damn day on the internet eventually you're gonna get fucking sick of it, especially when you're poor and the people saying it are the biggest fucking snobs around who either have it just as bad as you or are busy bootlicking from people who are just as awful as the people who run our country (OR WORSE in the case of places like China).
I literally don't care when people are like "haha americans are so annoying/dumb/whatever" cuz I can take a joke, but I've been seeing tags on posts of mine from people who like. Deeply, Viscerally, Venomously Hate USAmericans.
They see us as the privileged oppressor class of the world who willfully and gleefully fuck everyone else over so "we" can enjoy luxuries. Our big cars, our extravagant restaurants, our Disney World and McMansions, right?
And it makes something inside me die a little bit, because the USA distributes TV shows, movies, magazines, newspapers and advertisements that tell you what America is like and what luxuries Americans enjoy...
...and it's propaganda. It's propaganda, not reality. These images and mythology of a luxurious, affluent America are so inescapable, constant and penetrating, like radiation, that even Americans believe it even in spite of reality around them.
It hurts that the propaganda is all anyone sees outside the USA as well, is what I mean to say, because inside the USA it's the same. I feel average, not poor, but I have always been demeaned by these depictions that tell me, "This is a normal American" showing financial privileges I would never hope to have and that my mother or her mother would never have been able to even imagine.
Like I looked up "average american neighborhood" on google images
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And there are articles from American papers and publications that use these stock photos as images of an "American neighborhood" or "American homes" and it feels like being chipped away bit by bit, because when I was in middle school I went to the house of my friend and my friend's mom asked me condescending questions about whether my family ate instant noodles and "frozen food" (which they were too good for) and that year I was too humiliated to invite any of my wealthier friends over to my house, and yet they did not live in houses as big as the houses in these photos. THIS IS NOT AVERAGE. AVERAGE AMERICANS DO NOT LIVE HERE. WHAT THE HELL. There is a neighborhood in my town that looks like this and in my head I call it the "rich people neighborhood."
I come from the Americans that live here
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and mobile homes/trailers are around 12% of houses in my state, so it's not rare, and when my mom was growing up everybody she knew lived in one of these. But this isn't what the world is shown. And even in America when this is shown it's something to be gawked at and pitied.
"Americans buy fast fashion every month and on average only wear it a couple times" I wear my clothes until they're falling apart and many of the clothes i have now are hand-me-downs from my mom or from Goodwill. "Americans eat out at restaurants all the time" Growing up I would eat out at Red Lobster as a treat with my dad about once a year, and sometimes we couldn't afford that. "Americans work so much because they're so obsessed with money" when I was a kid I remember when my dad would sometimes be working until 11pm or later at his construction and remodeling job, coming home exhausted and covered in drywall dust, and we barely got to see him because he was trying to dig us out of our house imminently going into foreclosure.
And I know that I have it so much better than so many people that came before me. Compared with the world my mom grew up in, I grew up in a world of fabulous luxury. My Mamaw's family was sharecroppers and by the time she was highschool age she started working in the cotton mills making gold-toe socks. And being white they've got a position of relative privilege even then. At least they didn't face violence and hatred over the color of their skin.
Why do the articles and writings say "Americans" live in big houses and eat in extravagant restaurants, but they don't say "Americans" live in flimsy, non-permanent structures propped up on cinder blocks and eat whatever cheap processed food is sold at the Dollar General, which is the only store for miles around and doesn't even sell fresh fruits or vegetables?
We're all trained to identify ourselves with the folks in the big houses, not the folks who have to camp out under tarps underneath the bridge, but I would say more of us are closer to the second one than the first. The images of America don't look like people I would talk to and hang out with, they look like the people that used to look down on me and my family like we were less than.
Fact is, "americans have it sooooo much better than all those people in third world countries, everybody there would kill to have the privileges you have" is a fundamental key part of the propaganda, and the purpose is to make Americans, especially poor Americans, think they're fundamentally different than working class people in other countries.
The mythology that the USA is the best place on Earth is a threat. Truth be told, a lot of poor folks are panicky conservative reactionaries in part because they can't afford to travel and see what the cities are like, let alone another country, and they have been told their whole lives that this is the best possible society, and they are scared to death of things getting worse.
Idk where i'm going with this, I just think seeing nation states as discrete categories of people that have more in common with each other than they do with anybody outside their country is a nefarious piece of propaganda
and also I have seen people claiming specifically that Black people in America have it better than the rest of the world by virtue of being American, which is so fucking stupid but i didn't wanna start shit but now i'm sick and in bed and kinda do
we are more alike than we are unalike and the people that say otherwise are mostly trying to get us to identify with a nation state that sees us as lower than garbage
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child-of-asbestos · 16 days ago
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anyone else notice how academic culture and institutions are so obsessed with looking like they have dignity that they forget to actually have any dignity? shit's kinda fucked
#i've had to read so many essays that were trying so hard to sound like their point was valid#that they forgot to actually make a point in the process#so many that use important sounding words to say things of little importance#where it's just regurgitation of someone else's work with the occasional “[current popular buzzword] is so important guys”#like ninety percent of the “viewing [thing already written about] form a [currently popular buzzword] perspective” essays are pointless#they don't actually examine how the viewpoint could change things. they just kinda say#“this is my viewpoint. anyways - uh - whatever the last guy said was cool. oh and this isn't actually my viewpoint but what if it was?”#and they get published because if the journal has That Certain Word a bunch of times then people will buy their articles to look up to date#i'm afraid to say things like this around my peers because they seem to find all this nonsense profoundly meaningful#for reasons that I can't begin to understand#i remember reading one about language and culture from a queer perspective#i was originally excited as i had a number of thoughts on what that would look like#only to read it and find out it was just the same thing about language and culture I had read multiple times for that course#with a quick “oh and by the way queer perspectives are important i guess. i have no idea what they look like though” at the very end#the very-much-not-queer majority of my class thought it was incredibly deep and meaningful#higher education#academics#academia
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ghostmourner · 1 month ago
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Every now and then I remember that one ML who said they wanted to start a programme to get people out of the imperial core so that they won't uphold it through taxes & advertised it by saying land in the global south is so cheap so it'll be easy to do if you save up for a few years or have a WFH US job. Gentrification but woke !
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godtier · 2 months ago
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it amuses me how ppl will make PSA posts about how such-and-such platform uses "AI" and tells you to be Very Angry about it via context clues, but then the same ppl will happily reblog AI "art", even when it's very easy to tell and/or it takes two seconds to look at the damn comments on a post to find that it's AI generated, or that the very OP of the post tagged it as AI art, or answered an ask like "yeah I use a generator for the pics," or puts "I use midjourney to make the pics" in their profile on mobile, etc etc etc
I guess it's easier to screech about how an option in a program that you can turn off/disable within seconds and that won't actually do anything more than what your autocorrect or grammarly or siri or alexa or google assistant or photoshop filters have already been doing with/harvesting from your data for years now (spoilers: you've been using and training "AI" algorithms for longer than chatGPT has been mainstream! yes, it's basically the same concept!) than it is to do a few seconds of reading or double-checking to ensure you're not reblogging art theft and tagging it as "photography" 🙃
#as an artist and writer *and* someone who actually knows what these algorithms do and how they function#I am very fatigued by the alarmism when it ultimately rings hollow#it is easy to get upset and up in arms about something because “the group” you are a part of tells you to be#and that's one thing#but if you're going to do that can't you at least be consistent and commit to the bit?#because as someone who does not enjoy seeing the “photography” tag just chock-full of fake photos#I would appreciate it if the same people who freak out about seeing a “NOW WITH AI!” button#would just actually pay attention to the shit that *isn't* spoonfeeding you the buzzwords directly#fighting against AI in this way isn't just parroting things like “look! this program tells you it's using AI!! here's how to turn it off!”#it's actually doing research and double-checking that you're not spreading around the very thing you claim to hate and want to stop#like where are the posts collecting a block list of confirmed AI image peddlers? couldn't be anywhere on tumblr#even when they're lurking in plain sight and tagging their OPs with “AI art”#or admitting to it in their blog description#or tagging their insta posts with “AI”#“but it's a Pretty Picture and makes me feel the Good Things so I'm gonna be willfully ignorant about it”#“I don't want to consider that The Thing that made me feel feelings was AI generated because that would destroy me mentally”#“I would rather give this random user who does not list what kind of camera they use or where they took the photo the benefit of the doubt”#“surely they would not lie about the image they posted being photography!”#like I'm very tired of this posturing and grandstanding about how AI STEALS!!#but then no one does the actual hard work required to learn what that means#or what that actually looks like#just lmao#inb4 someone says “oh so you don't want ppl to inform others about what programs are doing?! sounds pretty AI bro to me!”#like I will make fun of you if you come into my post with that shit#learn how to read#text post#technology
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inkskinned · 1 year ago
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i got rickrolled today but it didn't work because i have adblocker installed, so youtube just told me i violated the terms of service. yesterday i was trying to edit a picture as a joke for my girlfriend, and google made me check a box to prove i'm human because i wasn't "searching normally".
it isn't just that capitalism is killing fun and whimsy, it is that any element of entertainment or joy is being fed upon by this mosquito body, one that will suck you dry at any vulnerability.
do you want to meet new friends in your city? download this app, visit our website, sign up for our email list. pay for this class on making a terrarium, on candlemaking, on cooking. it will be 90 dollars a session. you can go to group fitness, but only under our specific gym membership. solve the puzzle, sign up for our puzzle-of-the-month-club. what is a club if not just a paid opportunity - you are all paying for the same thing, which makes you a community.
but you're like me, i know it - you're careful, you try the library meetings and the stuff at the local school and all of that. the problem is that you kind of want really specific opportunities that used to exist. you are so grateful for libraries and the publicly-funded things: they are, however, an exception - and everything they have, they've fought tooth-and-nail to protect. you read a headline about how in many other states, libraries have virtually nothing left.
do you want to meet up with your friends afterwards? gift your friends the discord app. you can choose to go to a cafe (buy a coffee, at least), a bar (money, alcohol) or you can all stay in and catch a movie (streaming) or you can all stay in bed (rent. don't get me started) and scream (noise complaint. ticket at least).
you want to read a new book, but the book has to have 124 buzzwords from tiktok readers that are, like, weirdly horny. you can purchase this audiobook on audible! your podcast isn't on spotify, it's on its own server, pay for a different site. fuck, at least you're supporting artists you like. the art museum just raised their ticket price. once, they had a temporary exhibit that acknowledged that ~85% of their permanent art galleries were from cis white men, and that they had thousands of works by women (even famous women, like frida! georgia o'keefe!) just rotting in their basement. that exhibit lasted for 3 months and then they put everything away again.
walmart proudly supports this strip of land by the street! here are some flowers with wilting leaves. its employees have to pay out-of-pocket for their uniforms. my friend once got fined by the city because she organized a community pick-up of the riverfront, which was technically private property.
no, you cannot afford to take that dance class, neither can i. by the way - i'm a teacher. i'm absolutely not saying "educators shouldn't be paid fairly." i'm saying that when i taught classes, renting a studio went from 20 bucks an hour to 180 in the span of 6 months. no significant changes to the studio were made, except they now list the place as updated and friendly. the heat still doesn't work in the building. i have literally never seen the landlord who ignores my emails. recently they've been renting it out at night as an "unusual nightclub; a once-in-a-lifetime close-knit party." they spent some of those 180 dollars on LEDs and called it renovating. the high heels they invite in have been ruining the marley.
do you want to experience the old internet? do you want to play flash games or get back the temporary joy of club penguin? you can, you just need to pay for it. i have a weird, neurodivergent obsession with occasionally checking in to watch the downfall and NFT-ification of neopets. if i'm honest with you all - i never got into webkins, my family didn't have the money to buy me a pointless elephant. people forget that "being poor" can mean literally "if i buy you that toy, i can't afford rent."
you and i don't have time to make good food, and we don't have the budget for it. we are not gonna be able to host dinner parties, we're not made of money, kid. do you want some kind of 3rd space? a space that isn't home or work or school? you could try being online, but - what places actually exist for you? tiktok counts as social media because you see other people on it, not because they actually talk to you.
there was a local winter tradition of sledding down the hill at my school. kids would use pizza boxes and jackets and whatever worked, howling and laughing. back in september, they made a big announcement that this time, rules were changing, and everyone must pay 10 dollars to participate. when im not scared shitless, i kind of appreciate the environmental irony - it hasn't gone below 40. so much for snow & joyriding.
i saw a bulletin for a local dogwalking group and, nervous about making a good first impression, showed up early. the first guy there grimaced at me. "sorry," he said. "there's a 30-dollar buy-in fee." i thought he was joking. wait. for what? the group doesn't offer anything except friendship and people with whom to walk around the city.
he didn't know the answer. just shrugged at me. "you know," he said. "these days, everything costs money."
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