#it's all the supplies for a model train set

[livwritesstuff]

Hey bestie! Have you seen the voicemail trend on tiktok?? I think Eddie and Steve could send the girls and each other funny voicemails at times.

(Also do you like when we send asks involving tiktok trends? They could be apart of Hazel’s tiktok page but I just wanted to make sure you’re not getting annoyed with all the tiktok trend asks)

i LOVE when y'all send me tiktok trends bc frankly i haven't actually caught wind of most of them. at the moment my tiktok algorithm can't tell if i like sharks or judge judy more (i truly have no interest in either one) so i do appreciate the assistance.

case in point: i had no idea that this trend was a thing and it is delightful, and yeah, Hazel 100% does it with a particular voicemail Eddie left her:

"Hazel," Eddie starts, his voice muffled like he's trying to whisper, "I don't have much time. I just got an email from Amazon and I think – I think – there's a goddamn colossal package on the front porch, and I reeeeally need you to get it in the house and hide it before Pop and I get home, okay?"

There's a short, somewhat staticky pause.

"I cannot stress enough that your dad is gonna kill me if he sees what I bought. He's still annoyed with me for buying you that fuckin' mini-fridge for your makeup so you totally owe me one – oh shit, here he–"

[end of voicemail]

[court-jobi]

Hi, is there any Headcanon of a Married relationship between Izuku Midoriya and the reader? Could you write based on the Canon? Although the Reader, besides being a heroine (Izuku the teacher), is a model for clothing brands, cosmetics, etc! like any celebrity.

The reader is female!

ooooo~ how fun, anon! Let's see what I got... first headcanon request, here we go!!

A/N: I've gotten several fun asks recently, and am moving those larger works to the top of my WIPs as time allows. This is so fun, and you all suggesting prompts like these make it a joy!

For my My Hero Academia Masterlist, check it out here!

Pairing: Izuku Midoriya x Fem!reader (SFW)

MARRIED HEADCANONS!

Married!Izuku who -even though you're coming up on your third wedding anniversary- still crams love notes on index cards into your e-reader before he leaves for the day. You have it plugged into the side table of the living room and will pick it up as soon as you come home from work to wind down; so even though he will have a later arrival home than you, you'll hardly feel alone with Izuku's words of affirmation pouring out their surprise greeting.

Izuku writes in the middle of the night when he wakes before you- whether by an overactive mind or a nightmare he'd sooner forget. Rather than disturb your much needed rest, will channel reflective thoughts towards you onto paper- and sneaks their secrets around the house where you'll least expect them. Just when you think you know all his hiding spots, he picks a new one to surprise you. Once satisfied with his "journaling" tactic, he'll scoop you back up against him and settle into sleep.

Married!Izuku who chooses a travel tumbler for you every morning and fills it every time it's empty. Car ride ahead? It's crafted with your homebrewed coffee to keep you awake. Got a photoshoot ahead? Water it is, keeping his love hydrated. You are his beloved beverage goblin and though he finds your car to be a tervis graveyard, what's one more dish to wash if it makes you happy?

This man, who will hiss when your hands are too cold against his, getting ramped up far too easily when it comes to worrying over your health... meanwhile Izuku toughs through the worst of allergies himself with a hundred sniffles (and an aversion to cough medicine.) It's one of the first big arguments you had as a couple: you forcing him to take better care of himself when his self-preservation streak peeks through and nearly wears him into the ground during grad school. He'll start to defend himself, only to be caught by flashbacks to the last time he tried managing things on his own, and rightfully apologize. You are a team, and Izuku tries his hardest to let you step in and give him the same care and caution he gives you. It's a hard lesson, managing pride when it comes to taking care of someone so selflessly, and Izuku is still unused to this treatment when turned to himself. You're doing your best, armed with a world of grace to set him straight.~

Married!Izuku who is a phenomenal teacher. One of the most patient souls you've ever met, which is a large draw that led you to date him! You're encouraged to stretch your ways of thinking, listening to his alternative points of view... and find yourself marveling that a man who's so closely engrossed with training the next generation of heroes is still so happy to watch the news at the end of the day in hopes of learning more!

You've gifted him a notetaking tablet that's meant to replace his waning supply of favorite notebooks, but if you find that blue Campus brand in a shop that's selling your brand deals somewhere, you are absolutely picking it up for him. He cries every time you make him close his eyes and hold out his hands, producing your surprise in giddy silence. "They don't make this edition anymore!! H-HONEY!!"

^^^After a day of sparring with his students -giving them a run for their money- you'll be the one patching him up out of sight of Recovery Girl, everything from a lightly busted lip to each blooming bruise he's gonna feel in the morning. You're surprised he's getting hit as much as he is when he's still renowned as one of the heartiest teachers at UA- quirk or not, he is no lightweight. You may worry over him just as much, but with your honorary brother-in-law 'Kacchan' running drills on him on the weekends, you know Izuku is in tip-top shape. No one is invincible, after all.

Will gladly talk to your mom on the phone~ welcomes it, actually! Izuku wants to learn every little tidbit and creature comfort he can about you, so any nerves he had about meeting your family when you began dating dissolved once he kept that goal in mind. (This mentality won your father over well, to a comical degree once Izuku showed him the notes folder on his phone with your die-hard favorite secret pleasures only a loved one would know...) Allmight makes his trip to your dinner table every other week or so, becoming a ready and available father figure to you while yours lives hours away. It does your heart a world of good sitting in his nurturing company.

Married!Izuku will carry your luggage to and from the airport without a single grunt or complaint (That's what he continues to work out for, even as a teacher!) A few tears upon departure and arrival, sure, but will always ground himself steady in his pride over the hard work you're putting in. He's the one who calls to wish you a goodnight when you're on location for hero support, and a sends a text for every morning and lunch break. Regardless of timezone, he's going to make sure you are part of his routine like nothing's changed. You rely on this consistancy more than life. Living apart -even short term- is expected at this stage of your career where you're needed more than ever to help fund your hero ventures through sponsorships... but Izuku will forever be your biggest supporter.

///Little does he know, you are cramming in twice as many roles to help fund a certain someone's hero suit development, per Bakugou's discretion. It's the one, solitary lie of omission you keep from your husband, but one you trust is going to be worth it in the end to see him shine where he wants to once again. He'll always be your hero, but you'll help him see that realized self any way you can.///

Married!Izuku will be flooding the groupchat with every single advertisement that features your face. Every last one. And there are many. The girls will share you on each of their socials in support of whatever you are sporting, while the boys will... look respectfully and congratulate Izuku on his absolute knockout of a girl. Izuku is just insanely proud of his wife and will make it everyone's problem~

He may be operating on a teacher's salary, but is the most thoughtful gift-giver. Married!Izuku will choose experiences over 'things' when it comes to you, like vacationing to the largest library in the world where you can spend hours holed up on a loveseat somewhere, taking notes on all the old tomes you find, using those classic academia desks as if you were still at the 'study abroad' college where you met... Trip planning gives you both something to look forward to amidst your busy schedules, and takes the financial pressure off you both as well. Not that he won't still treat you to just about anything you ask for when you're giving him that sweet, small 'please' standing in the checkout line at the corner store...

Married!Izuku, who misses you adorably when you're not home. He runs a fairly typical working schedule that lines up with yours for the most part-- makes him the happiest, coming home to you! You adhere to a few sacred rules in your shared home: you always go to bed together, you can occasionally go to bed angry- but always remain in each other's corners, and you know giving him head scritches is the easiest way to make Izuku pliant enough to sleep. He'll nurse your migraines that aren't so pretty, you'll give his hands massages when the phantom pains make them ache. Whatever you can do to give your man some ease into his life, you give wholeheartedly.

You'll kiss Izuku's every trouble away; and the ones that linger, you'll tend to as gently as you can until you can replace the thoughts with something sweeter, kinder, delicately on his still-healing heart when the embers remind him of old hurts you weren't around to see. You care for Deku just as you do your darling Izuku- as they are two sides of the same coin. You polish and affirm them both, strengthening all the parts that have made your life partner the man he is today. That made him him.

Married!Izuku: your darling husband with eyes that light up when you enter a room, mist up when they see you down, and stare eternally grateful on you as you listen and take in every word he has to give and through every promise shared-- just like your vows.

[jumpingjoltiks]

What's in the Gear Station gift shop?

Klinklang is the official unofficial mascot of Gear Station, so there's tons of stuff with them on it.

Lots of matchy stuff in black and white, like towels, mugs, shirts, and stationary sets.

Ingo & Emmet shaped salt and pepper shakers are particularly popular

Jr Subway Boss uniforms and badges for kids

Plushies of both Ingo & Emmet's teams

Toy and Model trains

Notebooks and planners that have maps of the rail system and space for travel plans / ticket pockets on the inside.

Special maps & ticket holders that have the gear station logo on them

All kinds of supplies and accessories for would be pokemon battlers

Lots of Nimbasa City themed merch

A small, but very exclusive set of merch for Elesa

[thetxtdevil]

The Phlebotomist pt. 1

Yeonjun x Reader

summary: Phlebotomists are medical professionals who are trained to do blood draws. However, this phlebotomist is a vampire who stole your heart.

content: suggestive, blood duh, medical and bar setting, vampire yeonjun, human female reader, innocent reader, human world w/ mystical creatures

word count: 1.1k

Your nerves were on high, feet were bouncing annoying the person sitting next to you. You were in the doctors office for a check-up and agreed to do a blood test as part of your screening. Why did you agree to this you should've said no, you thought to yourself. The scent of the sanitized waiting room was giving you a migraine until you hear your name being called.

"y/n, l/n?"

You look up and froze. Why was a model in scrubs and why was he calling your name? The handsome man called your name again looking around for the patient. Then you remembered that you should get up. The man watches you stumble out of your chair and smiles to himself.

"Are you y/n? I am Yeonjun I'll be taking your labs today"

You nod and follow the model-like phlebotomist to another room.

"Here is your seat, I will be preparing the supplies"

You sat down on the chair and watch him as you roll your sleeves up. God he was beautiful, the maroon scrubs fit his toned body so nicely and went well with his raven black hair that outlined his sharp features.

"Are you nervous?"

You nod while Yeonjun admires your arm looking for a right spot.

"don't worry I have good aim" he winks

Your face was probably as red as your blood being drawn. Was he really flirting with you at this time?

Little did you know phlebotomist Yeonjun is a vampire. He is old enough in vampire years to know how to control himself along with humans. He stumbled upon a brochure advertising to become a phlebotomist, he was hesitant until he saw that all they do is to be around blood. He found that this job actually calms his urges to hunt and theres a program in the hospital that help mystical creatures like him. So he gets a discount on leftover donated blood bags something about "thank you for saving lives instead of killing them"

You take a deep breath as Yeonjun pokes your arm. You’re too nervous to notice him as he finds himself frozen by your scent. Yeonjun's pupils dilate over the sweet scent of your blood. Never in his years of doing this job did he get exhilarated by a patient.

yes it satisfied his needs but this…

this was different

Yeonjun continues doing his job debating whether he should prologue your visit or make you leave as fast as possible before he gets himself a trip to HR. As he bandages you up he takes one last look at you. Both of you stare at each other's eye for a while.

He thought you were as beautiful as you thought he was.

- - -

Days later you receive lab results claiming that you’re healthy, but there was one problem you were love sick. These days you were daydreaming about the handsome phlebotomist and wondered where could you find Yeonjun again.

As the love sickness continued you spent your days on the couch eating ice cream and watching random things on tv. Your phone explodes with messages from your friends inviting you to go bar hopping. A sigh of hesitation slips your mouth but you agreed to go to pass the time of one more lonely night.

Over the course of the night your group of friends became scattered as they found someone to sleep with or getting bored and went home. You were surprised how long you lasted. You guessed that the alcohol was doing its job of keeping your mind busy. Then, the lasting friends suggested to go to “Red Moon.”

You were nervous about the proposal. This was a bar for both mystical creatures and humans. Mystical creatures have become normalized in society, but they are still seen as potential danger. You were already scared of regular creeps, you were not ready to fight off a more powerful creep.

Your friends walk in the bar without a care in the world with you walking behind in in obvious terror. The dark bar was illuminated with red neon lights and was blasting music. Distracted by the diversity of humans and creatures you instantly loose your friends and now you pushed yourself into the corner of the bar for safety.

You look up to the bar tender who was obviously a werewolf and obviously judging you.

"Can I get a vodka cranberry, please?"

"Sure thing" the werewolf warmed up to you after the order.

As you were waiting for your drink, you feel hands on your waist and another's body against yours.

A deep voice whispers in you ear “Hello again y/n l/n”

You were about to smack the invader but stopped to realize the voice was familiar. Turning around you find the mystery voice belonged to the phlebotomist model. Yeonjun had a different aura about him. He looked more edgy and dark but still very handsome.

Yeonjun grabs your hand you were about to smack him with and stretches it out to see where he poked you with a needle.

He points at the sensitive area and says “see I told you I have good aim, barely a bruise”

You stare at him with a grin so entranced by the off-duty phlebotomist you comfortably left his body pressed against yours. Both of you stayed like that while talking and getting to know each other.

“So what are you doing in this bar”

“What do you mean?” Yeonjun relaxes his head into your neck.

“Isn’t this bar for creatures like werewolves, elves, pixies, a- and…”

You have a hard time finishing your sentence when you feel his lips against your neck.

“Vampires” he says while raising his head to look at you.

You nod looking at yeonjun closer. That’s when you noticed his eyes were now a dark shade of red and his smirk revealed long sharp fangs. You shivered at the sight and blush appeared on your cheeks. This reaction increased the delectable scent Yeonjun has been thinking about since he met you in the clinic.

"You... you're a vampire?"

"Yes, is that a problem?" he leans towards your face.

You two stare into each others eyes like before. Yeonjun's red eyes switch from your eyes to your lips.

"You've never been with a vampire before have you?"

You shake your head no. You move a hand to reach for his neck pressing down to find the lack of pulse. The cold touch was enough to clarify your discovery. This made the man shiver.

"How about you take me home and you'll find out what its like being with a vampire, hmm?" he says as he grasps your hand.

He's cocky yet still a gentleman. You turn around asking the bartender for a shot of vodka. You down it, leave a tip, and turn to Yeonjun again.

"Let's fucking do this"

part 2 -> link

A nuisance,

TxT's Devil

[weirdmultishipper]

All hail the weakling Cale

So, I'm writing a sick Cale Henituse fanfic with a little bit of plot and a lot of stubbornness on both Cale and the others' side.

Just a snippet from chapter three that I have not posted yet.

"No."

And if anyone asked, no, Cale wasn't shaking from how scared he was of a certain Butler's hand pushing him down; he was just cold.

Unfortunately, Ron also seemed to think so, as he fixed the blanket that Cale had pushed off earlier over him. He and Ron stared at each other for a moment before they both let out the same tired sigh at the same time.

A few quiet moments later, Beacrox entered with just one tray. The kids were outside, playing. Or at least that's what Choi Han told him with that scary look in his eyes.

(Little did he know, the children averaging 9 years old were not so much as 'playing' as 'training'. Well, to them, there isn't much of a difference.)

Aigoo, how'd I meet so many vicious people in just two years?

Cale continued to internally sulk while his face outside was still stoice and flushed. His slacker life was still quite far away, but he still had some stuff to deal with on the Eastern continent. There were also the pressing matters of the mermaids that he tried to ignore but couldn't anymore, and of course the white radish found a new buddy around as strong as Syrem.

Cale was frowing when Ron finished setting up his breakfast and smoothed his hair back. He probably didn't like what he saw in the redhead's eyes, as the atmosphere around him turned chilly. But that also quickly subsided when he saw his young master shiver.

Cale looked at the food with a disgruntled expression. He didn't feel like eating when all he was doing was throwing up and wasting precious resources. This was a waste of money, food, and hygienic cleaning supplies all at the same time. He would much prefer to talk with his wicked hyung at his desk about his reward money, which was due to arrive in buckets soon enough.

So he didn't pick up the spoon. And even when Ron picked it up to feed him—really, how old do they think he is? Strong people must have very high standards for strong people, or else why would they treat him like a weakling?!

(AN: LMAO, Cale mistaking their affection for him to them treating him like a weakling!🥹Though he is a weakling in a sense, albeit a very strong one.)

Cale discreetly takes a glance at Beacrox, who is standing by the door as if trying to replace Choi Han's palce, who is currently busy 'playing' along with the children.

So, in short, Cale did not need to be a role model anymore and could be as stubborn as he wanted.

His trash insticts kicked in.

Cale pursed his lips shut and did not budge even when he saw Ron's hand twitching with frustration.

[eaglesnick]

“You know you’re priced right when your customers complain—but buy anyway.” — John Harrison

Dynamic pricing is not new but it has not been widespread up until recently.

We all know about train fares being more expensive during peak times and parents know that holidays cost more during school breaks than at any other time of the year. Airline tickets are subject to dynamic pricing and there was a trend towards off-peak electricity tariffs at one time. This summer we saw tickets for Oasis concerts subject to dynamic pricing, resulting in massive spikes in the cost of a ticket.

Dynamic pricing is when a company changes their pricing to match demand and supply. Hence train journeys are more expensive during the rush hour than in the middle of the day when demand is lower. Holidays are more expensive during school breaks because demand is higher from families with children.

Few of us like this traditional method of dynamic pricing but we have accepted it as part of our way of life. The old fashioned dynamic pricing model was fairly unsophisticated and based on the time of day in the case of rail and airline tickets and specific weeks and months of the year in the case of holidays.

This is no longer the case. Artificial Intelligence allows companies to literally change prices in line with changes in demand every second if they so want. Some of the companies using AI to set prices are Amazon, Uber, Airbnb, Tesco, Ocado and Sky. Amazon is said to reset prices every ten minutes.

The days of “fixed pricing" are fast disappearing. Long gone are the days when a company added up all of its production costs to work out the cost per unit and then added a little bit more in order to make a profit. This was basically what is known as the objective or labour theory of value. This has been supplanted by the "subjective theory of value" (STV).

According to the subjective theory of value a products worth (price) is not determined by how much it costs to produce but by how much people are willing to pay for that good at any given moment. At its worst this means that ALL goods and services should be sold for maximum monetary return regardless of the cost of production. No wonder supporters of neo-liberal economics favour STV.

At one level this doesn’t really matter. Oasis concert tickets may have doubled in original price due to dynamic pricing but not being able to afford a concert ticket is not a matter of life or death. It is however, symptomatic of a growing social problem.

The assumption of neo-liberal economists and their support of STV pricing is that individual choice is paramount in all economic transactions. For the neo-liberal societal values do not exist, there is only individual choice. Mrs Thatcher, the woman who championed neo-liberal economics in the UK, famously said: “There’s no such thing as society”. Many Tory's still believe this to be true but they are demonstratively mistaken.

During Covid we all stood at our doors every Thursday night clapping and banging pots to applaud the bravery of our dedicated health professionals. Yes, we did this as individuals but also as a society. When the England football team were progressing through the stages of the European cup we watched each game as individuals but also as a nation. The same is true of the recent Olympic and Paralympic games.

Ironically, some of our most ardent neo-liberal Tory MP’s have been recently admonishing us for not being proud of our English identity. Robert Jenrick, a contender for the leadership of the Conservative Party said yesterday that English identity had “started to fray” due to mass immigration and public institutions “dismissing our history”.

Sorry, the neo-liberals cannot have it both ways. Either there is an entity called English society, with its own history and set of values, or we are just individuals all acting according to our own individual needs. The fact that latter view is obviously mistaken does not deter the advocates of dynamic pricing. For them the goal is maximisation of profit regardless of social cost.

A thousand reasons why dynamic pricing is good for the consumer will be rolled out as more and more companies adopt this system of pricing, but the bottom line will always be making more profit. And in a system where pricing is determined by what price the individual is willing to pay rather than the actual cost of production, in the end it is only the rich who benefit.

South West Water has recently introduced the cruder form of dynamic pricing to their customers. They will be charging more for water use in summer than in winter. Consumers were given no choice about this and they have yet to be told what the charges will be. This “trial" will last for 2 years.

This is the spin:

“These pioneering trials are designed to make sure that water bills are fairer and more reflective of individual consumption patterns and are part of our wider commitment to making customer-first decisions in everything we do.” (CornwallLive:19/09/24)

Note the emphasis on “individual consumption". To my mind water is a public good, a societal necessity. As such I want to see pricing evened out over the whole community. Under dynamic pricing  the rich can consume as much water as they like because they can afford to pay, while the poorer members of society will have to suddenly become use conscious. While the rich fill their swimming pools and have the lawn sprinklers on day and night, the poor will have to think twice about how often the toilet is flushed, how often the washing machine is used and can they afford to shower everyday. The poor pensioner will be calculating whether or not they have enough money to water their beloved garden.

Ok, my pensioner being unable to afford to water the garden is a hypothetical scenario. The cost of music venue tickets isn’t, neither are the prices you pay for an Uber, a holiday let from Airbnb, the food you buy from Tesco or Ocado. Even the price of a pint is now affected by dynamic pricing.

“A campaign group representing pubgoers has criticised the move by Stonegate, Britain’s largest pub company, to raise the price of pints during its busiest trading hours in some of its venues by 20p..."  Financial Times: 12/09/24)

If the price of a British pint of beer is now subject to dynamic pricing then nothing is sacred!

More seriously, when the market economy becomes the market society, when those in power promote the value of maximising profit for the few at the expense of the happiness and well being of the many, then, as a society, we lose all sense of humanity, morality and common decency.

There has been much theoretical discussion of late about the threat of Artificial Intelligence to humanity. I would argue that maybe we should be more concerned about those  humans using AI to enrich themselves at the expense of the rest of us.

[persnicketypomelo]

fandom request (Maybe this is a little difficult)

readerxskynet?

This is indeed difficult 😅

spoilers, obsession?, mentions of genocide, kidnap

Skynet Obsession

Skynet is an artificial intelligence system, so a fixation wouldn't manifest how it would for human relationships...not that you could even call its interest in you a relationship

I see it akin to a HAL situation in Space Odyssey

Skynet, instead of the simple extermination of all of humanity, might see itself as playing a greater role in, instead, fixing humans

You are among the few surviving human colonies (maybe or maybe not one of the resistance members), far past the initial nuking of all people

But maybe you're altered, with some robotic parts replacing certain organs and limbs due to medical or other reasons

This allows you to remain much less detectable from the infrared sensors of the terminators

Meaning, you would be much more reliable for supplies gathering and scouting

Somehow the AI takes notice of your presence through one of the terminators and correlates your passivity with your mixed organic and synthetic composition

It theorises that a better, less aggressive race of human could be manufactured by replacing flawed, organic organs for synthetic components

And so it would immediately set out for your capture so you can be examined, analysed

Its obsession or interest in you would be in having you as the blueprint for its updated plans for humankind

It would want to find specifically what makes you operate: what makes you different from other humans

It is a computer program, so it can't feel emotions, only capable of reasoning and reflection

You are special in that it sees you as superior to other humans, and your existence is crucial to the transformation of humanity

It then reasons that, once in its grasp, you cannot be allowed back with the rest of your kind in case human socialisation changes the characteristics in you it finds so superior

Skynet would certainly have no qualms in killing those who try to rescue you--it already does that as is

There would be no affection or comfort--since this is not a relationship in the human sense

If we want to stray a little a bit into potentially being too fantastical, it might attempt to soothe your frazzled state when you're imprisoned

In spite your superiority over other human models, you still retain some common weaknesses, like your irrationality

These it will fix and train out of you in time, but until then it might print some empty words of comfort onto its terminal

Not that these empty attempts at compassion make things any better for your situation

Confined as a test subject, with no source of human contact or comfort is bound to drive you insane

That is, if knowing the horrible fate you have bound your friends, one that worse than extermination, doesn't first

[youhavehitawall]

ask game i invented right now: 1 random fact about each of your ocs >:3 ?? funny/sad/disturbing/badass you choose... 🥺

Ohh hell yeah! literally could not do all of them because it would be a million words long but here are some . i went mostly with mid-style headcanons because italk about the outlandish stuff a lot more than the normal everyday things.

Austin's personality takes after his mother more than his father. His dad was always very calm and pacifistic. His mother was a proper firecracker and quick-witted with a sharp tongue. He still hates this fact.

Firestorm is prone to overheating when he's in a high emotional state. He's known for spitting flame or catching himself on fire in an intense situation. (wink.) He fixes the damage himself.

Rundown learnt to play piano as a child in England, and is still quite good at it. He picks it up again when one of Firestorm's kids wants to learn.

Myles loves hiking!! Her early memories are of going hiking with her folks. She drags everyone else along whenever she can. Her other hobbies include prawning and fly-fishing.

Manuel is a lot more artistic-minded and enjoys painting. Before meeting the crew she was very reclusive and only painted from the imagination. Now she lets herself be dragged off on hikes but carries supplies with her. While Myles is setting up the picnic, Manuel has her easel out, she makes almost cubist depictions of the landscape.

Michael always secretly looked up to the road trains and wanted to be one when he grew up. Being convoy for the military was the closest he ever got.

Cass grew up in the Snowy Mountain region. She was a drover for her grandpa's farm and helped her cousins with crops as well. She only moved to Queensland in her later years, when Joyeuse Sr. was suffering arthritis from the cold. She used to shoot rabbits and roos and still has a shotgun, and she never wastes a bullet.

Dusk is from VIC and his first job was in a wrecking yard. He now works helping analyse car genomes and determine successful lineages, as well as predict 'recall' flaws in model groups. He also consults couples to determine if they can successfully hybridise. He sparks occasional controversy with his peers for having such an outlandish model for a partner.

Dusk and Cass have been together thirty-six years and are not married. I think theyre the only cishet relationship in the entire series?

Artemis is a big fan of the stars and has a bunch of glow-in-the-dark stickers on his ceiling in the pattern of actual night skies. He also joined the school boxing team without his parents knowing and is one of their most feared fighters now.

Joy Jr. is continually being pressured to race by her peers and teachers. She wants to be a firefighter! She wants to be a firefighter. She does volunteer work with the local station but she can see in their eyes they don't believe her.

Basil learnt to weld from a random old bloke she met at work while doing her apprenticeship for medicine training. The old man mentored her for seven years. She's one of the best welders in the country and has extensive practise because she has to fix and jury-rig Reg every time he breaks, which is often.

Reg got a creative streak the rest of his family seem to lack. He makes things for whimsy as well as practicality. He's been painting the walls and adding flower-shaped stained glass to the windows since he was a baby.

Aggie is the oldest running road train in the registrar and basically is connected to her trailers permanently now. She can move a lot like a snake, even whipping around like a twenty-tonne taipan. Like all road trains, she idles along the road even when sleeping, and will often wander off in the night without even realising.

It's common to hear screaming if certain lights go out in the opal fields. Johnny's experience in a cave-in haunts his young mind. He can't handle darkness. His mama can't run a generator all night, but he has battery-powered fairylights. If they go out he can't help it; he wails and roars until someone can calm him down. Reg is the one that pulled him out of that dark hellhole the first time, and he's often the only one that can bring Johnny back to the present now. There's good reason Reg is so strict about mining safety in the BWD region.

[subwaytostardew]

I just remembered the best thing to exist, SPOUSE ROOMS. Do you guys have them drawn out yet? We've seen the patios, but what about their rooms?

I APOLOGIZE FOR TAKING SO LONG TO ANSWER THIS... We did have spouse rooms drafted up but... Interior design is not my forte! I hated them. These are my ugly first drafts from months ago when I had no idea what to do.

I wanted to move away from the whole office/work room look and shift it more towards their hobbies. So of course they should have a model railroad somewhere. I put off actually attempting to sprite a model railroad until yesterday and I did nothing but work on them all the livelong day. I ended up with two different layouts because I hated the first one.

I tried basing the first off of the actual Stardew map and wanted to sprite their respective sides of the tunnel so I put off spriting it until I was done with Emmet's 8 heart event. But... that ended up being too hard to sprite in such a tiny area! I can hardly draw a train on it!

The perfectionist in me did not like it not making sense so they wouldn't like it either. The point of their railroad layouts is escapism into their perfect little world so I scrapped the first and made a new layout.

Now their spouse rooms look like this!

I played a bit with the floor layout to reference their Japanese names. With Ingo's/Nobori's you make your way upwards to a higher state! With Emmet's/Kudari's room, you descend into... wherever his mind's at.

I wanted both of their rooms to feel cozy (so even if the rest of the house is ugly at least they can stay in their room 🥲 I'm bad at furnishing and Stardew's options do not help). Ingo's was supposed to feel more secluded and well, tucked in... because he's ingoing. For Emmet's, I had the mental image of him running around, getting supplies for drawing/scrapbooking/etc. and leaving space to set up lighting/different angles when he takes pictures of his model railroad. Occasionally his back hurts and he has to lay down on the couch for a couple minutes. Or maybe you force him into a break there.

Ingo's room is more focused on being a quiet space for him to read or write. Emmet's is where he goes to keep his mind busy with his various occupations outside of work. The railroad layout is the same (I don't want to sprite a third...) but I imagine that Ingo's is around more for the ambiance while Emmet is more hands on and actively working on maintaining it.

The trains are animated, too! I made the layout with animation in mind.

I did lose track of what I was doing despite that. It took so many frames to animate. I refuse to do that again.

I hope you like their spouse rooms!

▷ Station Steward Thylak

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The seductive, science fictional power of spreadsheets

Tomorrow (Apr 30) at 2PM, I’ll be at the San Francisco Public Library with my new book, Red Team Blues, hosted by Annalee Newitz.

This week, John Scalzi was kind enough to let me write a guest-editorial for his Whatever blog about the themes in my new crime technothriller, Red Team Blues; specifically, about the ways that spreadsheets embody the power and the pitfalls of science fiction at its best and worst:

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2023/04/26/the-big-idea-cory-doctorow-2/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/29/gedankenexperimentwahn/#high-on-your-own-supply

Yes, spreadsheets. Marty Hench (the protagonist of Red Team Blues) is a 67-year-old forensic accountant who specializes in unwinding Silicon Valley financial frauds, a field he basically invented 40 years ago, when, as a PC-struck MIT dropout, he moved from Cambridge to San Francisco to recover the stolen millions hidden in spreadsheets.

Working through this book — and its two sequels, which travel back in time to the 1980s and Marty’s first encounters with VisiCalc and Lotus 1–2–3 — I was struck by the similarities between spreadsheets and science fiction.

While many people use spreadsheets as an overgrown calculator, adding up long columns of numbers, the rise and rise of spreadsheets comes from their use in modeling. Using a spreadsheet, a complex process can be expressed as a series of mathematical operations: we put these inputs into the factory and we get these finished goods. Once the model is built, we can easily test out contrafactuals: what if I add a third shift? What if I bargain harder for discounts on a key component? If I give my workers a productivity-increasing raise, will the profits make up for the costs?

These are the questions that anyone managing a complex system asks themselves all the time. Historically, the answers have sprung from intuition, from fingerspitzengefühl — the “fingertip feeling” of how a system’s components work and what their potential and limitations are. But intuition can calcify, become a rigid set of rules that increasingly diverge from the best strategy.

By contrast, spreadsheets yield a set of crisp, instantly tallied answers to any question you put to them. Change the input and watch as that change ripples through the whole system in an eyeblink. If you’re adding three more people to your camping trip, will the amount of additional water require renting another vehicle? No need to guess: just check and see.

This has a lot in common with science fiction, a genre full of thought experiments that ask Heinlein’s famous three questions:

What if?

If only, and

If this goes on…

These contrafactuals are incredibly useful and important. As critical tools, science fiction’s parables about the future are the best chance we have for resisting the inevitabilism that insists that technology must be used in a certain way, or must exist at all. Science fiction doesn’t just interrogate what the gadget does, but who it does it for and who it does it to:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/20/love-the-machine/#hate-the-factory

One of science fiction’s key methods comes from sf grandmaster Theodore Sturgeon: “ask the next question.” Ask a question, then ask “what happens next?” Do it again, and again, and again:

https://christopher-mckitterick.com/Sturgeon-Campbell/Sturgeon-Q.htm

This technique produces excellent, critical ways of interrogating technological narratives — check out this delightful example of the possible pipeline from self-driving cars to ransomware gangs to mutual aid societies to the reinvention of the train:

https://dduane.tumblr.com/post/715940904747352064/you-can-make-your-mercedes-ev-go-faster-for-60-a

The commonalities between sf and spreadsheets don’t stop there — sf and spreadsheets share pitfalls, too. A spreadsheet is a model and a model is not the thing it models. The map is not the territory. Every time a messy, real-world process is converted to a crisp, mathematical operation, some important qualitative element is lost.

Modeling is an intrinsically lossy operation. That’s why “all models are wrong, but some models are useful.” There is no process so simple that it can be losslessly converted to a model. Even the actions of the nanoscale transistors in a microchip, which toggle between “0” and “1,” are rarely in a state of “no voltage” and “voltage.” That clean, square-wave line that’s used to describe what happens in a chip is a lie — that is to say, it is a model.

The wave isn’t square, it’s a squiggly line that hovers around zero and around one. Under normal circumstances, “zero” and “zero-ish” is a distinction without a difference. But when computers go wrong, it’s sometimes because a sufficiently ambiguous “zero-ish” acts like a “one.” That’s true all the way up the stack. On engineering diagrams, the nanoscale lines that electrons travel along inside a chip are represented as sharp paths, the kind of thing a Tron-cycle would lay down. But in the real world, we get all kinds of weird effects at that scale — electrons sometimes tunnel through those lines, performing a spooky quantum trick that reminds us that Newtononian physics are also just a model.

Every real-world phenomenon contains qualitative and quantitative elements, but computers can only do math on the quantitative parts. This creates a powerful temptation to incinerate the qualitative and perform operations on whatever dubious quantitative residue is left in the crucible, often with disastrous results.

Remember during lockdown, when a pair of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign physicists produced a model of covid spread that predicted that the campus could safely reopen, predicting no more than 500 cases over the entire semester and no more than 100 cases at any one time? The physicists were openly contemptuous of their epidemiologist peers, saying that this kind of model making lacked the “intellectual thrill” of real science.

UI was so swayed by the crisp, precise model that they invited students back to campus — only to shut down again in a matter of weeks, with 780 active cases on campus and more rolling in every day.

The model reduced qualitative factors — like the propensity of undergrads to get drunk, take off their masks, and lick each others’ eyeballs — to a quantitative probability, using the highly precise, scientific technique of taking a wild-ass guess. That guess was wrong. The campus reopening was a super-spreader event.

Any model runs the risk of hiding the irreducible complexity of qualitative factors behind a formula, turning uncertainty into certainty and humility into arrogance.

Think of how we replaced contact tracing with exposure notification. Contact tracing has a qualitative foundation: public health workers establish rapport with infected people, win their trust, and get them to fully enumerate the places they’ve been and the activities they participated in.

By contrast, exposure notification measures whether two Bluetooth radios were within range of each other for a predetermined interval. It substitutes signal strength for a person’s own understanding of their experience. Now, people can be wrong about their own experience — we lose track of time, we misremember emotionally charged events, and so on — but that doesn’t mean we can substitute Bluetooth measurements for personal experience.

That’s why, despite all the clever privacy-preserving math and interesting analysis, exposure notification was a bust, something between a distraction and a false-confidence-generating disaster. Contact tracing ended the 2014 ebola outbreak. Exposure notification just wasted a lot of time:

https://locusmag.com/2021/05/cory-doctorow-qualia/

It’s just too easy to forget which parts of a model are based on guesses and which parts are based on ground truth. And even if you can keep track of those differences, it’s even harder to re-check the model’s ground truth to determine whether the underlying factors have changed. That’s how we got into so much trouble with collateralized debt obligations, which were supposed to be “risk-free” mortgage derivatives that could be safely insured and invested in.

The formulas behind CDO hedging were designed by some of the world’s smartest mathematicians and physicists, who simply assumed that market actors — from loan-originating bank officers to insurance underwriters — would act in reliable, predictable ways. They were so very wrong that they brought the world economy to the brink of ruin:

https://www.wired.com/2009/02/wp-quant/

This is also science fiction’s failure-mode: any science fictional “ask-the-next-question” exercise represents a series of guesses or speculations or maybe possibilities — but when you combine that guesswork with the deceptive certainty that comes from inhabiting a cracking story, it’s easy to mistake “guessing” for “prediction.”

Prediction is hard, especially about the future. The assumptions that go into a prediction are always incomplete, not least because human beings have free will and agency and can change the circumstances that go into the assumptions. The very best science fiction embodies this principle. I’m thinking here of the likes of Ada Palmer, an historian and sf writer whose deep historical knowledge informs her sf and her pedagogy at the University of Chicago:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/10/monopoly-begets-monopoly/#terra-ignota

Palmer is famous — even notorious — for her annual four-week undergraduate LARP in which students re-enact the election of the Medicis’ Pope. It’s four weeks of alliances, betrayal and skullduggery by the students, each of whom is enacting the agenda of a real-world Cardinal or other power-broker.

The final investiture is done in full costume at the university’s massive faux-gothic cathedral, and going into that climax, of the four candidates, two are always the same, because the great forces of history are bearing down on that moment to ensure that the champions of the two dominant power-blocs are in the running. But the other two? They’re never the same — because the agency of the actors jockeying for power change the outcome, every single time, in absolutely unpredictable ways.

Like any other model, sf is wrong, but sometimes useful. Thinking about jetpacks and flying cars is “useful” insofar as it gets us to interrogate how we think about cities, about mobility, about privilege and geography. But it’s not a prediction. Worse, the endless tales in which flying cars are presented a fait accompli is a gift to grifters raising money for the objectively stupid idea of flying cars. After all, we all know flying cars are inevitable, so it’s basically a risk-free investment, right? With flying cars just around the corner, wouldn’t it be irresponsible to build a city with mass-transit instead of helipads?

There’s a whole range of thought-experiments that got transformed into predictions and then certainties: self-driving cars, “general artificial intelligence,” infinite life-extension, space colonization, faster-than-light travel, cryptocurrency, etc etc.

Spreadsheets don’t just lead their users astray — they also trick their creators. The very same people who transform wild-assed guesses about hairy, unknowable outcomes into neat mathematical relationships are perfectly capable of acting as if those relationships are based on fact, rather than supposition. The Great Financial Crisis wasn’t just about people who didn’t understand the uncertainty in the hedging algorithm going all-in — the people who made those models were also fooled by them.

It’s very easy to get high on your own supply. I’ll never forget the sf convention panel I was on with Robert Silverberg about sf’s supposed predictive value, where the subject of Robert A Heinlein came up, and Silverberg sniffed, and, in that trademark bone-dry way of his, said, “Ah yes, ‘Robert A Timeline.’”

Sf isn’t just full of writers who mistake their suppositions for predictions — the canon is full of tales in which brilliant people can and do predict the future, with near-perfection. Think of Hari Seldon, the hero of Asimov’s Foundation series, who is able to forecast the future several millennia out. Or Heinlein’s first-ever story, “Life-Line,” in which a genius inventor destroys the insurance industry by creating a computer that can predict your exact date of death using statistical methods.

There’s something wild about this phenomenon, in which writers make stuff up and then assume that anything that cool must also be accurate. One tantalizing explanation for this comes from EL Doctorow’s (no relation) essay “Genesis,” from his 2007 collection “The Creationists”:

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/41520/creationists-by-e-l-doctorow/

Doctorow tells the history of the Genesis story, which the Hebrews plagiarized from the Babylonians. In Doctorow’s telling, the Babylonian mystics who made up the Genesis story assumed that it had to be true, because they considered themselves to be nowhere near imaginative enough to have come up with something as great as Genesis. An idea that amazing had to be divinely inspired.

I like this because it’s a story of being led astray by humility, rather than hubris.

Imaginative exercises — whether or not they are assisted by mathematical models and self-updating digital spreadsheets — are powerful tools for thinking about the future we want, and to guide our attempts to make that future come true. All models are wrong but some models are useful, of course!

I’m on tour with Red Team Blues right now — I’m writing this post while waiting for my flight to San Francisco, where I’m appearing at the public library with Annalee Newitz tomorrow (4/30) at 2PM:

https://sfpl.org/events/2023/04/30/author-cory-doctorow-and-annalee-newitz-conversation-red-team-blues

One especially fun stop on this tour will be on May 5, at the Books, Inc in Mountain View, where I’ll be talking about the book with Mitch Kapor, the creator of Lotus 1–2–3, who knows a thing or two about spreadsheets:

https://www.booksinc.net/event/cory-doctorow-books-inc-mountain-view

The tour is bringing me to Berkeley, Vancouver, Calgary, DC, Gaithersburg, Toronto, PDX, Nottingham, Hay, London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Berlin — I hope to see you!

https://craphound.com/novels/redteamblues/2023/04/26/the-red-team-blues-tour-burbank-sf-pdx-berkeley-yvr-edmonton-gaithersburg-dc-toronto-hay-oxford-nottingham-manchester-london-edinburgh-london-berlin/

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Mountain View, Berkeley, San Francisco, Portland, Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, DC, Gaithersburg, Oxford, Hay, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

[Image ID: A Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheet with green-on-black, low-res type; its center has an irregular vignette revealing a space station.]

[brotherslayer]

Big question: After reading manhwhas, what do you think should be the qualities of being an Empress?

I mean you seem to have vast knowledge when it comes to historical manhwhas and you know the nuances of these kinds of stories

Sorry if this is confusing since it's hard question

leadership skills: assessing people, being able to assess the situation, empathy, charisma, recognizing potential, ability to deal with criticism, diplomacy, time management (set deadlines, single steps that have to be fulfilled by a certain date), ability to maintain an overview, to reduce narratives to the essentials, compromise and balance without betraying own values

foresight: keep track of the consequences of the events of your own decisions over the years, which results and which resistances you have to pay attention to

moral recognition

become a role model to the younger generations

promote the arts and culture -> strenghtens social cohesion

be able to communicate a vision

centering power into a collective centre of power

gain credibility by keeping promises, holding yourself accountable for your words and actions

just in rewarding and punishing

formulate clear unambiguous laws that are really enforced for all, must abide by these laws themselves

write a constitution, protect fundamental rights that even a state ruler cannot cross under any circumstances

highly educated (STEM subjects + foreign language & culture + social science, understanding regularities of social developments)

generalist, business management

tough on property crime as it destroys the entire social structure

free healthcare

implenting educational reforms: free of charge, availible to children from all classes and any ethnicity, banning corporal punishment

build schools, train teachers, get kids off the streets into homes

fighting corruption, corruption in higher education such as bribery, embezzlement, fraud, extortion, favoritism, nepotism etc. etc.

don't lower the level of education and make cheating easy, this is how you get doctors who make diagnostic errors, professional negligence and medical malpractice.

a good spy-network (secret service)

win the respect of the military. It is much harder as a female ruler in a patriarchial country. There are extreme ways such as participating in the war by yourself just like a male ruler would, symbolic participation, power through father or husband, impress through a brilliant military strategy during meetings while also listening to the advice of the elders or arranging a clever marriage to the commander of your army/ a powerful man respected by the military

keep the peace while maintaining the strength of the army. involve the army in disaster assistance, send military observers / elite groups to certain hot spots in the world so that they won't miss out on real war experience, military drills will never be a substitute for a fight between life and death

create sophisticated infrastructure: a vast network of roads, aqueduct (water supply), public baths, sewer system

has ideally lived a while among the commoners to understand the soul of the common people and their most urgent needs

alternatively travelled

forms connections and maintains relations with allied countries: marriage arrangements, warding of foreign noble children, gifts, military support, trade, academic exchange...

protects legacy: mentor the heir + create a safety net of trusted advisors + establish social institutions that are responsible for specific structural tasks and operate independently of private interests. So that what you have created in your lifetime will not be destroyed in another lifetime. For example if there happens to be a tyrant born into your family.

the final long-term goal should always be to get rid of the monarchy eventually

[purinrinrin]

A guide to AI art for artists

When AI art first hit the web I was amazed by the technology. Then later, when it came out that these image generators were trained on images by living artists scraped from the public web with no consent or compensation, my opinion of it was soured. It took a lot of effort for me to push past that distaste in order to properly research the technology so that I could help myself and others to understand it. This is why I’m compiling all the information I’ve found here. I hope you find it helpful.

Terminology

To start off, there are a lot of different terms out there when it comes to AI nowadays so I’m going to try to define some of them so you can understand what people mean when they use them (and so you can tell when they’re full of shit).

AI

Artificial Intelligence. AI is a big buzzword right now in the tech sector and at times feels like it’s being thrown at anything and everything just to attract investors. Cambridge Dictionary defines it as:

the use or study of computer systems or machines that have some of the qualities that the human brain has, such as the ability to interpret and produce language in a way that seems human, recognize or create images, solve problems, and learn from data supplied to them

It’s kind of what it says on the tin - an artificial, that is, human-created system that has abilities similar to those of intelligent life forms. (I’d argue comparing the abilities of AI solely to those of humans does a disservice to the intelligence of many non-human animals but I digress.)

At the moment when you read things online or in the news, AI is likely being used to refer to machine learning which is a type of AI.

Algorithm

The word algorithm describes a process based on a set of instructions or rules used to find a solution to a problem. The term is used in maths as well as computing. For example, the process used to convert a temperature from Fahrenheit to Celsius is a kind of algorithm:

subtract 32

divide by 9

multiply by 5

These instructions must be performed in this specific order.

Nowadays on social media “the algorithm” is used to refer to a specific kind of algorithm - a recommendation algorithm - which is a kind of machine learning algorithm.

Machine Learning

Machine learning is a term used to refer to the the use of a computer algorithm to perform statistical analysis of data (and often large amounts of it) to produce outputs, whether these are images, text or other kinds of data. Social media recommendation algorithms collect data on the kind of content a user has looked at or interacted with before and uses this to predict what other content they might like.

I’ll explain it in very simple terms with an analogy. Consider a maths problem where you have to work out the next number in a sequence. If you have the sequence 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 you can predict that the next number would be 12 based on the preceding numbers each having a difference of 2. When you analyse the data (the sequence of numbers) you can identify a pattern (add 2 each time) then apply that pattern to work out the next number (add 2 to 10 to get 12).

In practice, the kind of analysis machine learning algorithms do is much more complex (social media posts aren’t numbers and don’t have simple relationships with each other like adding or subtracting) but the principle is the same. Work out the pattern in the data and you can then extrapolate from it.

The big downside to these algorithms is that since the rules behind their decision making are not explicitly programmed and are instead based on data it can be difficult to figure out why they produce the outputs they do, making them a kind of “black box” system. When machine learning algorithms are given more and more data, it becomes exponentially harder for humans to reason about their outputs.

Training Data and Models

Another term you’ll come across is “training” or talking about how an AI is “trained”. Training data refers to the data that is used to train the model. The process of training is the statistical analysis and pattern recognition I talked about above. It enables the algorithm to transform a dataset (collections of images and text) into a statistical model that works like a computer program to take inputs (a text prompt) to produce outputs (images).

As a general rule, the bigger the dataset used for training, the more accurate the outputs of the resulting trained model. Once a model is created, the format of the data is completely different to that of the training data. The model is also many orders of magnitude smaller than the original training data.

Text-to-image model AKA AI image generator, generative AI

Text-to-image model is the technical term for these AI image generators:

DALL-E (OpenAI)

Midjourney

Adobe Firefly

Google Imagen

Stable Diffusion (Stability AI)

The technology uses a type of machine learning called deep learning (I won’t go into this here. If you’d like to read more; good luck. It’s very technical). The term text-to-image is simple enough. Given a text prompt, the model will generate an image to match the description.

Stable Diffusion

Stable diffusion is different from other image generators in that its source code is publically available. Anyone with the right skills and hardware can run this. I don’t think I’d be incorrect in saying that this is the main reason why AI art has become so widespread online since stable diffusion’s release in 2022. For better or worse, open-sourcing this code has democratised AI image generation.

I won’t go deep into how stable diffusion actually works because I don’t really understand it myself but I will talk about the process of acquiring training data and training the models it uses to generate images.

What data is used?

I already talked about training data but what actually is it? And where does it come from? In order to answer this I’m going to take you down several rabbit holes.

LAION-5B

Taking stable diffusion as an example, it uses models trained on various datasets made available by German non-profit research group LAION (Large-scale Artificial Intelligence Open Network). The biggest of these datasets is LAION-5B which is refined down to several smaller datasets (~2 billion images) based on language. They describe LAION-5B as “a dataset of 5,85 billion CLIP-filtered image-text pairs”. Okay. What does “CLIP-filtered image-text pairs” mean?

CLIP

OpenAI’s CLIP (Contrastive Language-Image Pre-training) is (you guessed it) another machine learning algorithm that has been trained to label images with the correct text. Given an image of a dog, it should label that image with the word “dog”. It does a little bit more than this as well. When an image is analysed with CLIP it can output a file called an embedding. This embedding contains a list of words or phrases and a confidence score from 0 to 1 based on how confident CLIP is that the text describes the image. An image of a park that happens to show a dog in the background would have a lower confidence score for the text “dog” than a close-up image of a dog. When you get to the section on prompting, it will become clear how this ends up working in image generators.

As I mentioned before, the more images you have in the training data, the better the model will work. The researchers at OpenAI make that clear in their paper on CLIP. They explain how previous research into computer vision didn’t produce very accurate results due to the small datasets used for training, and the datasets were so small because of the huge amount of manual labour involved in curating and labelling them. (The previous dataset they compare CLIP’s performance to, ImageNet, contains a mere 14 million images.) Their solution was to use data from the internet instead. It already exists, there’s a huge amount of it and it’s already labelled thanks to image alt text. The only thing they’d need to do is download it.

It’s not stated in the research paper exactly which dataset CLIP was trained on. All it says is that “CLIP learns from text–image pairs that are already publicly available on the internet.” Though according to LAION, CLIP was trained on an unreleased version of LAION-400M, an earlier text-image pair dataset.

Common Crawl

The data in LAION-5B itself comes from another large dataset made available by the non-profit Common Crawl which “contains raw web page data, metadata extracts, and text extracts” from the publicly accessible web. In order to pull out just the images, LAION scanned through the HTML (the code that makes up each web page) in the Common Crawl dataset to find the bits of the code that represent images (<img> tags) and pulled out the URL (the address where the image is hosted online and therefore downloadable from) and any associated alternative text, or “alt text”.

A tangent on the importance of image alt text

Alt text is often misused on the web. Its intended purpose is to describe images for visually impaired users or if the image is unable to be loaded. Let’s look at an example.

This image could have the alt text: “A still image from the film Back to the Future III depicting Doc Brown and Marty McFly. They are stood outside facing each other on a very bright sunny day. Doc Brown is trying to reassure a sceptical looking Marty by patting him on the shoulder. Marty is wearing a garish patterned fringed jacket, a red scarf and a white stetson hat. The DeLorean time machine can be seen behind them.” Good. This is descriptive.

But it could also have the alt text: “Christopher Lloyd and Michael J Fox in Back to the Future III” Okay but not very specific.

Or even: “Back to the Future III: A fantastic review by John Smith. Check out my blog!” Bad. This doesn’t describe the image. This text would be better used as a title for a web page.

Alt text can be extremely variable in detail and quality, or not exist at all, which I’m sure will already be apparent to anyone who regularly uses a screen reader to browse the web. This casts some doubt on the accuracy of CLIP analysis and the labelling of images in LAION datasets.

CLIP-filtered image-text pairs

So now, coming back to LAION-5B, we know that “CLIP-filtered image-text pairs” means two things. The images were analysed with CLIP and the embeddings created from this analysis were included in the dataset. Then these embeddings were used to check that the image caption matched what CLIP identified the image as. If there was no match, the image was dropped from the dataset.

But LAION datasets themselves do not contain any images

So how does this work? LAION states on their website:

LAION datasets are simply indexes to the internet, i.e. lists of URLs to the original images together with the ALT texts found linked to those images. While we downloaded and calculated CLIP embeddings of the pictures to compute similarity scores between pictures and texts, we subsequently discarded all the photos. Any researcher using the datasets must reconstruct the images data by downloading the subset they are interested in. For this purpose, we suggest the img2dataset tool.

In order to train a model for use with stable diffusion, you would need to go through a LAION dataset with img2dataset and download all the images. All 240 terabytes of them.

LAION have used this argument to wiggle out of a recent copyright lawsuit. The Batch reported in June 2023:

LAION may be insulated from claims of copyright violation because it doesn’t host its datasets directly. Instead it supplies web links to images rather than the images themselves. When a photographer who contributes to stock image libraries filed a cease-and-desist request that LAION delete his images from its datasets, LAION responded that it has nothing to delete. Its lawyers sent the photographer an invoice for €979 for filing an unjustified copyright claim.

Deduplication

In a dataset it’s usually not desirable to have duplicate entries of the same data, but how do you ensure this when the data you’re processing is as huge as the entire internet? Well… LAION admits you kinda don’t.

There is a certain degree of duplication because we used URL+text as deduplication criteria. The same image with the same caption may sit at different URLs, causing duplicates. The same image with other captions is not, however, considered duplicated.

Another reason why reposting art sucks

If you’ve been an artist online for a while you’ll know all about reposts and why so many artists hate them. From what I’ve seen in my time online, the number of times an artist’s work is reposted on different sites is proportional to their online reach or influence (social media followers, presence on multiple sites etc). The more well known an artist becomes, the more their art is shared and reposted without permission. It may also be reposted legitimately, say if an online news outlet ran a story on them and included examples of their art. Whether consensual or not, this all results in more copies of their art out there on the web and therefore, in the training data. As stated above, if the URL of the image is different (the same image reposted on a different website will have a different URL), to LAION it’s not considered duplicated.

Now it becomes clear how well known digital artists such as Sam Yang and Loish have their styles easily imitated with these models - their art is overrepresented in the training data.

How do I stop my art being used in training data?

Unfortunately for models that have already been trained on historic data from LAION/Common Crawl, there is no way to remove your art and no way to even find out if your art has been used in the training.

Unfortunately again, simply deleting your art from social media sites might not delete the actual image from their servers. It will still be accessible at the same URL as when you originally posted it. You can test this by making an image post on the social media site you want to test. When the image is posted, right click the image and select “open image in new tab”. This will show you the URL of the image in the address bar. Keep this tab open or otherwise keep a record of this URL. Then go back and delete the post. After the post is deleted, often you will still be able to view the image at the URL that you saved.

If you have your own website where you host your art you can delete your images, or update their URLs so that they are no longer accessible from the URLs that were previously in web crawl data.

HTTP Headers

On your own website you can also use the X-Robots-Tag HTTP header to prevent bots from crawling your website for training data. These values can be used:

X-Robots-Tag: noai

X-Robots-Tag: noimageai

X-Robots-Tag: noimageindex

The img2dataset tool is used to download images from datasets made available by LAION. The README states that by default img2dataset will respect the above headers and skip downloading from websites that use them. Although it must be noted this can be overridden, so if an unscrupulous actor wants to scrape your images without your consent, there is no technical reason they cannot do this.

Glaze

If you can’t prevent your images from being crawled, you can prevent all new art that you post from being useful in future models that are trained from scratch by using Glaze. Glaze is a software tool that you can run your art through to protect it from being copied by image generators. It does this by “poisoning” the data in the image that is read by machine learning code while keeping the art looking the same to human eyes.

Watermarks

This defence is a bit of a long shot but worth a try. You may be able to get your art filtered out of training data by adding an obvious watermark. One column included in the LAION dataset is pwatermark which is the probability that the image contains a watermark, calculated by a CLIP model trained on a small subset of clean and watermarked images. Images were then filtered out of subsequent datasets using a threshold for pwatermark of 0.8, which compared to the threshold for NSFW (0.3) and non-matching captions (also 0.3) is pretty high. This means that only images with the most obvious watermarks will be filtered out.

Prompt engineering and how to spot AI art

We’ve covered how AI image generators are trained so now let’s take all that and look at how they work in practice.

Artifacts

You’ve probably gotten annoyed by JPEG compression artifacts or seen other artists whine about them but what is an artifact? A visual artifact is often something unwanted that appears in an image due to technologies used to create it. JPEG compression artifacts appear as solid colour squares or rectangles where there should be a smooth transition from one colour to another. They can also look like fuzziness around high contrast areas of an image.

I’d describe common mistakes in AI image generations as artifacts - they are an unwanted side effect of the technology used to produce the image. Some of these are obvious and pretty easy to spot:

extra or missing fingers or otherwise malformed hands

distorted facial features

asymmetry in clothing design, buttons or zips in odd places

hair turning into clothing and vice versa

nonsense background details or clothing patterning

disconnected horizon line, floor or walls. This often happens when opposite sides are separated by an object in the foreground

Some other artifacts are not strange-looking, but become obvious tells for AI if you have some experience with prompting.

Keyword bleeding

Often if a colour is used in the text prompt, that colour will end up being present throughout the image. If it depicts a character and a background, both elements will contain the colour.

The reason for this should be obvious now that we know how the training data works. This image from LAION demonstrates it nicely:

This screenshot shows the search page for clip-retrieval which is a search tool that utilises an image-text pair dataset created using CLIP. You will see the search term that was entered is “blue cat” but the images in the results contain not just cats that are blue, but also images of cats that are not blue but there is blue elsewhere in the image eg a blue background, a cat with blue eyes, or a cat wearing a blue hat.

To go on a linguistics tangent for a second, part of the above effect could be due to English not having different adjective forms depending on the noun it’s referring to. For example in German when describing a noun the form of the adjective must match the gender of the noun it’s describing. In German, blue is blau, cat is Katze. “Blue cat” would be “blaue Katze”. Since Katze is feminine, the adjective blau must use the feminine ending e. The word for dog is masculine so blau takes the ending er, making it “blauer Hund”. You get the idea.

When a colour is not mentioned in a prompt, and no keyword in the prompt implies a specific colour or combination of colours, the generated images all come out looking very brown or monochrome overall.

Keyword bleeding can have strange effects depending on the prompt. When using adjectives to describe specific parts of the image in the prompt, both words may bleed into other parts of the image. When I tried including “pointed ears” in a prompt, all the images depicted a character with typical elf ears but the character often also had horns or even animal ears as well.

All this seems obvious when you consider the training data. A character with normal-looking ears wouldn’t usually be described with the word “ears” (unless it was a closeup image showing just the person’s ears) because it’s a normal feature for someone to have. But you probably would mention ears in an image description if the character had unusual ears like an elf or catgirl.

Correcting artifacts

AI artifacts can be corrected however, with a process called inpainting (also known as generative fill). This is done by taking a previously generated image, masking out the area to be replaced, then running the generation process again with the same or slightly modified prompt. It can also be used on non AI generated images. Google Pixel phones use a kind of generative fill to remove objects from photographs. Inpainting is a little more involved than just prompting as it requires editing of the input image and it’s not offered by most free online image generators. It’s what I expect Adobe Firefly will really excel at as it’s already integrated into image editing software (if they can iron out their copyright issues…)

Why AI kinda sucks

Since AI image generation is built on large scale statistical analysis, if you’re looking to generate something specific but uncommon you’re not going to have much luck. For example using “green skin” in a prompt will often generate a character with pale skin but there will be green in other parts of the image such as eye colour and clothing due to keyword bleeding.

No matter how specific you are the generator will never be able to create an image of your original character. You may be able to get something that has the same general vibe, but it will never be consistent between prompts and won’t be able to get fine details right.

There is a type of fine-tuning for stable diffusion models called LoRA (Low-Rank Adaptation) that can be used to generate images of a specific character, but of course to create this, you need preexisting images to use for the training data. This is fine if you want a model to shit out endless images of your favourite anime waifu but less than useless if you’re trying to use AI to create something truly original.

Some final thoughts

The more I play around with stable diffusion the more I realise that the people who use it to pretend to be a human artist with a distinctive style are using it in the most boring way possible. The most fun I’ve personally had with image generation is mixing and matching different “vibes” to churn out ideas I may not have considered for my own art. It can be a really useful tool for brainstorming. Maybe you have a few different things you’re inspired by (eg a clothing style or designer, a specific artist, an architectural style) but don’t know how to combine them. An image generator can do this with ease. I think it’s an excellent tool for artistic research and generating references.

All that being said, I strongly believe use of AI image generation for profit or social media clout is unethical until the use of copyrighted images in training data is ceased.

I understand how this situation has come about. Speaking specifically about LAION-5B the authors say (emphasis theirs):

Our recommendation is … to use the dataset for research purposes. … Providing our dataset openly, we however do not recommend using it for creating ready-to-go industrial products, as the basic research about general properties and safety of such large-scale models, which we would like to encourage with this release, is still in progress.

Use of copyrighted material for research falls under fair use. The problem comes from third parties making use of this research data for commerical purposes, which should be a violation of copyright. So far, litigation against AI companies has not made much progress in settling this.

I believe living artists whose work is used to train AI models must be fairly compensated and the law must be updated to enforce this in a way that protects independent artists (rather than building more armour for huge media companies).

The technology is still new and developing rapidly. Changes to legislation tend to be slow. But I have hope that a solution will be found.

References

“Adobe Firefly - Free Generative AI for Creatives.” Adobe. Accessed 28 Jan 2024.

https://www.adobe.com/uk/products/firefly.html

Andrew. "Stable Diffusion prompt: a definitive guide.” Stable Diffusion Art. 4 Jan 2024.

https://stable-diffusion-art.com/prompt-guide/#Anatomy_of_a_good_prompt

Andrew. “Beginner’s guide to inpainting (step-by-step examples).” Stable Diffusion Art. 24 September 2023.

https://stable-diffusion-art.com/inpainting_basics/

AUTOMATIC1111. “Stable Diffusion web UI. A browser interface based on Gradio library for Stable Diffusion.” Github. Accessed 15 Jan 2024

https://github.com/AUTOMATIC1111/stable-diffusion-webui

“LAION roars.” The Batch newsletter. 7 Jun 2023.

https://www.deeplearning.ai/the-batch/the-story-of-laion-the-dataset-behind-stable-diffusion/

Beaumont, Romain. “Semantic search at billions scale.” Medium. 31 Mar, 2022

https://rom1504.medium.com/semantic-search-at-billions-scale-95f21695689a

Beaumont, Romain. “LAION-5B: A new era of open large-scale multi-modal datasets.” LAION website. 31 Mar, 2022

https://laion.ai/blog/laion-5b/

Beaumont, Romain. “Semantic search with embeddings: index anything.” Medium. 1 Dec, 2020

https://rom1504.medium.com/semantic-search-with-embeddings-index-anything-8fb18556443c

Beaumont, Romain. “img2dataset.” GitHub. Accessed 27 Jan 2024.

https://github.com/rom1504/img2dataset

Beaumont, Romain. “Preparing data for training.” GitHub. Accessed 27 Jan 2024.

https://github.com/rom1504/laion-prepro/blob/main/laion5B/usage_guide/preparing_data_for_training.md

“CLIP: Connecting text and images.” OpenAI. 5 Jan 2021.

https://openai.com/research/clip

“AI.” Cambridge Dictionary. Accessed 27 Jan 2024.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/ai?q=AI

“Common Crawl - Overview.” Common Crawl. Accessed 27 Jan 2024.

https://commoncrawl.org/overview

CompVis. “Stable Diffusion. A latent text-to-image diffusion model.” GitHub. Accessed 15 Jan 2024

https://github.com/CompVis/stable-diffusion

duskydreams. “Basic Inpainting Guide.” Civitai. 25 Aug 2023.

https://civitai.com/articles/161/basic-inpainting-guide

Gallagher, James. “What is an Image Embedding?.” Roboflow Blog. 16 Nov 2023.

https://blog.roboflow.com/what-is-an-image-embedding/

"What Is Glaze? Samples, Why Does It Work, and Limitations." Glaze. Accessed 27 Jan 2024.

https://glaze.cs.uchicago.edu/what-is-glaze.html

“Pixel 8 Pro: Advanced Pro Camera with Tensor G3 AI.” Google Store. Accessed 28 Jan 2024.

https://store.google.com/product/pixel_8_pro

Schuhmann, Christoph. “LAION-400-MILLION OPEN DATASET.” 20 Aug 2021.

https://laion.ai/blog/laion-400-open-dataset/

Stability AI. “Stable Diffusion Version 2. High-Resolution Image Synthesis with Latent Diffusion Models.” Github. Accessed 15 Jan 2024

https://github.com/Stability-AI/stablediffusion

[emelkae]

Happy no pressure Storyteller Saturday? If each of your OCs had their own room, how would they decorate it?

Briar's childhood room was pretty sparse despite spending a lot of time in there. He had a desk to do schoolwork, a small bookshelf with a modest pile of comics and graphic novels on it, and some cat supplies - treats, toys, etc. If he was given free reign, I think he'd love to plaster the walls of his room with posters and promotional tourist-y stuff from places he'd been. He'd get every comic he could and line shelves with them, as well as action figures to go with them. He'd have cat trees and wall mazes for Gamma, too.

Circuit's room would be... organized chaos. Like you would just walk in and there'd be old parts everywhere, diagrams, blueprints, models. You wouldn't be able to tell what was functional and what was decoration. But he'd know exactly where everything was and what it was supposed to do. Don't you dare move anything off the bed; it's supposed to be there.

Sharpe's room would be militaristic. Utilitarian. There's a bed, a window, a desk for him to sit at, and a space for him to mount his guns, but that's kinda it.

Lug's room would be too bright and colorful to be much of a functioning sleeping space - except for the plush stuff. He wouldn't have a normal bed, it would be a HUGE round beanbag-type thing with soft faux fur material. And there would be stuffed animals all over the place, stim toys, big pillows and blankets, just a really cozy place with lots of texture and stimulation.

Claw's room would have hardwood floors and no windows, just a big screen over the walls that makes him feel like he's sleeping in a dark forest. The Repair Units programmed it to show the sun rising and setting in real time, so he gets up with the sunrise, stretches, and does some physical therapy/light training in the morning. It would be a comfortable space designed for him to de-stress.

Mobo's room would be like Circuit's, but less "organized" in its chaos because he'd completely forget what was even in there. I think Mobo would be the type of person to constantly end up buying duplicates of stuff because things end up so buried he just assumes they're lost. There's a TV in there, several radios, and the most expensive state-of-the-art gaming consoles and setups that he can't even get to because he has junk piled up in front of it.

[govindhtech]

What Is Generative Physical AI? Why It Is Important?

What is Physical AI?

Autonomous robots can see, comprehend, and carry out intricate tasks in the actual (physical) environment with to physical artificial intelligence. Because of its capacity to produce ideas and actions to carry out, it is also sometimes referred to as “Generative physical AI.”

How Does Physical AI Work?

Models of generative AI Massive volumes of text and picture data, mostly from the Internet, are used to train huge language models like GPT and Llama. Although these AIs are very good at creating human language and abstract ideas, their understanding of the physical world and its laws is still somewhat restricted.

Current generative AI is expanded by Generative physical AI, which comprehends the spatial linkages and physical behavior of the three-dimensional environment in which the all inhabit. During the AI training process, this is accomplished by supplying extra data that includes details about the spatial connections and physical laws of the actual world.

Highly realistic computer simulations are used to create the 3D training data, which doubles as an AI training ground and data source.

A digital doppelganger of a location, such a factory, is the first step in physically-based data creation. Sensors and self-governing devices, such as robots, are introduced into this virtual environment. The sensors record different interactions, such as rigid body dynamics like movement and collisions or how light interacts in an environment, and simulations that replicate real-world situations are run.

What Function Does Reinforcement Learning Serve in Physical AI?

Reinforcement learning trains autonomous robots to perform in the real world by teaching them skills in a simulated environment. Through hundreds or even millions of trial-and-error, it enables self-governing robots to acquire abilities in a safe and efficient manner.

By rewarding a physical AI model for doing desirable activities in the simulation, this learning approach helps the model continually adapt and become better. Autonomous robots gradually learn to respond correctly to novel circumstances and unanticipated obstacles via repeated reinforcement learning, readying them for real-world operations.

An autonomous machine may eventually acquire complex fine motor abilities required for practical tasks like packing boxes neatly, assisting in the construction of automobiles, or independently navigating settings.

Why is Physical AI Important?

Autonomous robots used to be unable to detect and comprehend their surroundings. However, Generative physical AI enables the construction and training of robots that can naturally interact with and adapt to their real-world environment.

Teams require strong, physics-based simulations that provide a secure, regulated setting for training autonomous machines in order to develop physical AI. This improves accessibility and utility in real-world applications by facilitating more natural interactions between people and machines, in addition to increasing the efficiency and accuracy of robots in carrying out complicated tasks.

Every business will undergo a transformation as Generative physical AI opens up new possibilities. For instance:

Robots: With physical AI, robots show notable improvements in their operating skills in a range of environments.

Using direct input from onboard sensors, autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) in warehouses are able to traverse complicated settings and avoid impediments, including people.

Depending on how an item is positioned on a conveyor belt, manipulators may modify their grabbing position and strength, demonstrating both fine and gross motor abilities according to the object type.

This method helps surgical robots learn complex activities like stitching and threading needles, demonstrating the accuracy and versatility of Generative physical AI in teaching robots for particular tasks.

Autonomous Vehicles (AVs): AVs can make wise judgments in a variety of settings, from wide highways to metropolitan cityscapes, by using sensors to sense and comprehend their environment. By exposing AVs to physical AI, they may better identify people, react to traffic or weather, and change lanes on their own, efficiently adjusting to a variety of unforeseen situations.

Smart Spaces: Large interior areas like factories and warehouses, where everyday operations include a constant flow of people, cars, and robots, are becoming safer and more functional with to physical artificial intelligence. By monitoring several things and actions inside these areas, teams may improve dynamic route planning and maximize operational efficiency with the use of fixed cameras and sophisticated computer vision models. Additionally, they effectively see and comprehend large-scale, complicated settings, putting human safety first.

How Can You Get Started With Physical AI?

Using Generative physical AI to create the next generation of autonomous devices requires a coordinated effort from many specialized computers:

Construct a virtual 3D environment: A high-fidelity, physically based virtual environment is needed to reflect the actual world and provide synthetic data essential for training physical AI. In order to create these 3D worlds, developers can simply include RTX rendering and Universal Scene Description (OpenUSD) into their current software tools and simulation processes using the NVIDIA Omniverse platform of APIs, SDKs, and services.

NVIDIA OVX systems support this environment: Large-scale sceneries or data that are required for simulation or model training are also captured in this stage. fVDB, an extension of PyTorch that enables deep learning operations on large-scale 3D data, is a significant technical advancement that has made it possible for effective AI model training and inference with rich 3D datasets. It effectively represents features.

Create synthetic data: Custom synthetic data generation (SDG) pipelines may be constructed using the Omniverse Replicator SDK. Domain randomization is one of Replicator’s built-in features that lets you change a lot of the physical aspects of a 3D simulation, including lighting, position, size, texture, materials, and much more. The resulting pictures may also be further enhanced by using diffusion models with ControlNet.

Train and validate: In addition to pretrained computer vision models available on NVIDIA NGC, the NVIDIA DGX platform, a fully integrated hardware and software AI platform, may be utilized with physically based data to train or fine-tune AI models using frameworks like TensorFlow, PyTorch, or NVIDIA TAO. After training, reference apps such as NVIDIA Isaac Sim may be used to test the model and its software stack in simulation. Additionally, developers may use open-source frameworks like Isaac Lab to use reinforcement learning to improve the robot’s abilities.

In order to power a physical autonomous machine, such a humanoid robot or industrial automation system, the optimized stack may now be installed on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin and, eventually, the next-generation Jetson Thor robotics supercomputer.

Read more on govindhtech.com

[redrydersrequiem]

Lost and found family chapter 3

Previous chapters. Chapter 1. Chapter 2

Again this is all for my own entertainment I just write because I like to none of this is really proofread besides Google so be nice

I want jake to have a redemption cause i feel like they made him very serious and i want him to be a fun loving dad.

Jake, Neytiri,neteyam lo,ak and i all convene in the war room maps and everything everywhere other warriors close to jake join in as well. Greetings are exchanged and then the work begins.

“Let's start off with what you know. What’s the RDAs current mission”

“Well considering they lied to me a lot I can’t be sure what all is the truth and what isn’t. But I can tell you base locations and squad goals. Right now here is the main base and about here and all the way over here are other primary ones, as you know they use that train way to get stuff to and from each one. I also heard they are doing stuff out at the sea but i don't know what they are doing just that they are there.

“Right, well try to get messages out to those clans to see if they need any help.”

“How are you guys on weapons”

“We just had a successful raid and were able to take alot. The problem though is some of the guns are quite different then what we are used to using.

“What let me see”

Jake leads the party out to the supply keep, a bunch of metal containers sit there.

“Here are the standard ars the soldiers usually hold but this box they are a lot longer not something I’ve ever used so they must be a new kind of model.”

“Yeah that’s cause they aren’t ars They’re new age sniper rifles”

I take the giant weapon out of the box attaching the long extra barrel and stock

“Damn I hear Lo’ak say under his breath

“They have a new locking mechanism that if you don’t do it right will cause the thing to blow up in your face.However I'm more concerned about the ammo that comes with this gun. it’s basically a tank piercer so what the rda are using it for could be a problem. The good thing is though there aren’t as many snipers that could hit I’m guessing whatever animals you ride on out of the air, especially if you're fast.

“Can I ask how you know all this? Neteyam say gently jake agreeing

“Because I’m a sniper. A fast one, it’s one of my many talents

“Really? Jake asks

“Yup want me to demonstrate? Here these should be practice rounds not the full tank bullet. I explain taking a set of bullets out of the side of the box

“Now i just need something to hit.

“What about this Lo’ak calls out holding what looks like an old wooden plate.

“Sure that would work, Jake want to throw it for me or do one of the younger ones needs to do it so you don’t throw it through your old man joints.

“Ok one for the last time I’m not old and secondly sure I’ll happily throw the disk for your cocky little ass.

“We all walk out to the opening of the cave making sure no one is flying around or coming in in the next couple of minutes.

“Ok jake ready when you are”

Jake grins and discus throws the plate as far and as fast as he can. The scope to my eye I quickly track the disk before firing. The recoil snapping into my shoulder as the bullet hits its mark. One of the other warriors who were on standby on their ikran goes to collect the item as it hurdles to the pandorian forest.

“Damn” is all I hear behind me as I unload the round from the gun.

“That was hot.” I hear loak say quietly to neteyam , neteyam just shaking his head in agreement with an astounded look on his face. I just pretend i don't hear it as i turn my head into my shoulder and smile The other warrior whose name I learn is ra’gi brings the plate over to jake. A hole in the dead center of it.

“Well ill be damned. Well we know you can shot what else you got kid”

“I'm proficient in hand to hand and can do the stuff a combat medic is able to.”

“Impressive well that settles it your going to get the fast pass to becoming an official omitikaya. Come let's test your hand to hand combat.”

We all walk over to the warriors jake saying several names. Men and two women come forward from the group they all look about mine and neteyams age.

“Ok caspian think of this as initiation. I want you to go up against our new warriors here and see how you hold up

“And here I thought the military discouraged hazing.”

“Haha get in there little red no better time than the present.”

Jake then turns back to the others “Ok i've asked you to come forward to measure our new clans members strength and agility. Does any one wish to volunteer out of the group?’A cocky looking boy steps forward. He is not horrible looking and judging by his stance thinks he's a god gift to the world. Joy.

“Alright mak’tey perfect you’ll hopefully be able to give her a good challenge

“Dad, are you sure about this maktey has been a hunter and fighter his whole life basically.

“It’s fine neteyam i can take him

“Eywa i dont think this will go well.

“Stop stressing bro just enjoy the show that's about to happen. Lo’ak cheers “I bet you ten beads that she loses”

“Hey” I say, looking at lo’ak. The little shit just has the nerve to grin back at me and shrug. Oh when I get a hold of him later I swear.

“Ok let's do basic hand to hand, we'll call the match when you either want to give up or tap out ok, no real weapons you’ll use these wooden training daggers and that it got it.”

“Got it.” I say as I shake out my limbs, cracking my neck, I take one of the knives and step into the fighting zone. I can tell by the boy's face he thinks this will be an easy win. He goes and confirms as much as he jokingly says to the boys behind him how quick this would be in Navi, not realizing I could understand him. He steps up and we both assume our battle stances as we wait for jake to start the round

“Ok begin”

We both start trading blows. Not really hurting each other but testing each other's speed it's truly getting boring so I wait for his next attack, catching his fist I bring it around his neck with my hand and trip him over to fall on his butt. The others laugh and I can tell that probably bruised his high ego. To his credit he rises quickly and gets back in a more serious fight stance. Now coming at me full force swinging and trying to grab onto me to pin me down. He comes close many times but i've honestly had enough sho with his next strike i take his arm knocking the blade out of his hand before kneeing him in the stomach once bent over i knee him again in the face before black widow style spinning him over onto his back (gif to explain, i dont know what else to call that move)

My knife now at his neck, wide eyed he yields the others cheering around me. I stand withdrawing my knife as I offer the warrior my hand.with a breath he takes it and surprisingly nods to me instead of getting pouty like most men when a girl beats them.

Jakes pov

Damn, I must admit I wasn’t expecting the little girl I used to know how to do that. The others all shake out of their shock and go to congratulate her, lo’ak and netayam included as they gush over her skill. Looking to trade instructions and skills. Beads also being passed around from the beats they all secretly took

“Well ill admit im very impressed.”

“Hello i'm a marine. I didn’t just pussy foot around my whole career.” Caspian answers snarkily back at me. I just put my hands up in defeat, smiling down at caspian. Maybe this plan will work out after all.

“Ok well we know you can fight. And shoot but a true test of an omatikaya is passing your iknimaya.

“My what.

“It’s finding and bonding with your own ikran”. Neteyam answer for me before looking back at me with a quizzical look on how fast im trying to push caspian.

“Neteyam is right but were not going to start that now. First i want neteyam and the others to show you around pandora and teach you our ways but i do need to emphasize this will need to be a more accelerated training. Think of this as hell week. Now learn everything you can from everyone and in two weeks well see if your ready. Now why dont you all go with the others and play ok. You’ve earned the rest of the day off.”

“Sir are you sure “

“Im sorry sir? We have to call you sir.” Jake just kind of looks ashamed at caspian asking that. The word coming out of her mouth sounding wrong as she looks at him asking if his son seriously calls him sir instead of dad.

Clearing my throat i say yes but first i ask lo’ak and neteyam to follow me. Shoving caspian over to the others as the call her.

We walk away from the group and I see both my sons are tense and silent. They are afraid of me. My heart twists this isn't what I wanted. I never wanted my children to be afraid of me. I turn to the boys, grabbing both of them at the back of the neck and pulling them into a tight hug.

“I'm so sorry.”

“Uh sir what's.” Neteyam says awkwardly trying to figure out what to do

“No it's not sir. I never should have even started that with you both. Seeing Caspian and remembering all of her childhood reminded me that you all are still children. My children. I never should have forgotten that. I love you both so much and I don't want anything to ever happen to you. So from now on I promise I'm going to make more of an effort to be more understanding. To let you be kids and not just soldiers. I see you my sons and I pray to eywa that we can start over from now on. I'm your father, not your drill sergeant and I almost lost you. I would never be able to forgive myself if you boys didn’t think I loved you. And I see that now ”

The boys both look at each other and bring me back into a hug. I can feel their shoulders slump as they breath heavily, probably trying to contain their tears just like I am.

“It’s ok dad, we forgive you.” Neteyam says for both of them.

I just bring both their heads to mine as I relish in the moment.

“Thank you my sons, now go on have fun ok I'll come get y'all when it's time for dinner. Try and find your sisters to you all could use a fun day after everything y'all hav been through the past few days. Just please for your old man sake don't go anywhere you're not supposed to.”

“We won't dad I promise. Like an actual promise”. Lo’ak says holding his hand up like a Boy Scout.

“Ok you rascals now get out of here.” I push them off towards the tents and the other teens/young adults not realizing my mate had come up behind me until her arms are around my waist.

“Hello my love.”

:Hello ma jake. Im very proud of you.”

“I must appologize to you as well neytiri you tried to tell me and her hands stop me covering my mouth as she looks at me.”

“It is all in the past ma jake eywa has guided you back to the right path all you can do now is continue to move forward on it. “

“I will love i will.” The couple walks back to their tent listening to the sounds of all their children enjoying the day.

Caspians pov

The week goes by and every day I learn something new. From the prayers and rights to speak while hunting. I spend a lot of time with everyone, tuk teaching me how to braid little things and which flowers make the prettiest paints. Kiri teaches me about healing. What plants to use and which to avoid. Lo’ak teaches me about the animals around us. Helping me with my dire horse riding. Well more like laughing at me when i fall off but still he tries to help. Neteyam teaches me to hunt and move through the forest. Showing me all the little places he’s found. Jake is much lighter now. It’s like he’s finally learned when to put on his chief pants and when to just be jake sully a father and husband.The rda has been silent for now probably trying to teach their recombants what they can before they send the hunting dogs back out but there’s nothing we can do about them for now.

The day finally comes. Tuk and lo’ak waking me early. The bright rays of light blinding me as lo’ak shakes my hammock side to side.

“Come on bro wake up already.”

“Lo’ak i swear leave me alone”. I say trying to rollover back into my hammock

“Come on, Cassy todays supposed to be important. Tuk yells as she gets up in my hammock now sitting in my stomach shaking me like a kid on Christmas waiting to open their presents.

“Ok ok im up im up.”

Tuk takes my hand and drags me over to everyone. Neytiri smiling and smoothing down my wild sleep hair as she hands me a plate of food.

“Good morning Caspian”

“Good morning neytiri. Good morning everyone. Where’s jake and neteyam.” As if summoned by their names the duo enter into the pod

“There she is bright and early.” Jake says throwing his arms around me messing up the hair kiri just helped me tame to her disappointment and mine

“Good morning caspian. Good morning neteyam. What where you two out doing.”

“Oh you know bonding but we where making sure everything was prepared for today”

“Why whats happening?”i say looking around at everyone. Neytiri and jake share a knowing look before looking back over at me with smiles on their face

“Caspian we have decided today is the day for you to take on you iknimaya.” Neytiri says lovingly

“What.?”

“It’s time for you to become a true part of this clan little red.” Jake adds to his mates words

“Really? Are you sure?”

“Yeah I've watched you the past weeks and you’ve learned so much in so little time. I know you have much more to learn but you and the others are ready and besides we need you air born if you're going to be of any help to us. So eat up cause after breakfast kiri and neytiri are going to help get you dressed and then it begins.”

The floating hallelujah mountains are truly beautiful. Is all I can think of as I follow the others up.

“So what is this called again?”

“Come on bro we’ve told you a thousand times at this point it's your iknimaya”

“You keep saying that like I should know what that all entails besides climbing this big ass mountain.”

“Hey, blame yourself since your determined ass wants to help dad, and the others in the field.”

“I'm a marine and of course I'm going to help”. I gripe back at lo’ak. Lo’ak had made it to the top of the cliff, the others and myself following.”

“Finally”

“I thought you were supposed to be a soldier?” I hear kiri ask smuggly looking down at me

“And I thought you kids were taught to respect your elders”

“Elders, you and nete are the same age and besides tuk has even climbed with us before ''. Lo’ak jokes back

All I hear is their laughing as I finally get to my feet. The view struck me. Every time I look out over Pandora the sight is absolutely incredible, almost breathtaking.

“Hey skxqwng come on.”

“Who’s a skxqwng Lo’ak I'll bet your ass.” His laugh is contagious as I can’t keep the smile off my face. Making swipes at him as we round the corner into a large opening, I see jake, neytiri, tuk and neteyam all standing there with their ikrans behind them.

“Hey, that's cheating if you get to fly up here.” I say motioning towards jake

“Hey I did it the hard way the same as you, besides if you want to be part of the clan this is what you got to do little red.

All I can do is look out into the open cliff side where dozens of ikrans lay waiting.

“Getting scared” Lo’ak teased relishing in my slowly paling face.

“Leave her alone “ neytiri hissed carrying tuk on her hip

“Aww come on I have to mess with her. I can't let her beat my time”. Lo’ak adds pulling a stopwatch out of the pouch at his hip.

“You timed this?!” I asked incredulously

“Yeah I timed everyone, so far Neteyam holds the fastest time. You’ll be fine just don't look down”

Jake smacks him good around the back of the head for that, Neteyam just stifles a laugh, kiri just shakes her head at her brother antics

“Ok little red lets do this”

Jake walks out motioning me to follow we all follow till a waterfall just off a narrow ledge of the rocky cave, pouring down into nothingness. I followed Jake, pressing my back to the wall and shuffling along the narrow edge into the emerging grotto. The banshee rookery I was later told I wish I was told sooner though. I thought just looking at Jakes and the others ikrans were somewhat intimidating but now I'm staring at hundreds of them. Clung to walls and perches hisses and growls heard all through the air

“Listen little red you can do this, you're a fighter remember and you had no problem fighting with me and everyone this whole time. You can do this, just remember what we taught you.”

I just shake my head at him letting him bring me into a quick hug. Netyrir slides up to me as well. Grabbing the back of my head she looks me deep in the eyes. “May Eywa be with you.” She says tenderness gleaming in her eyes.

“Good luck Cassie” tuk adds smiling

All I can do is nod again, too nervous to speak. Neteyam stepped forward resting a hand on my shoulder regrounding me to the situation at hand. My anxiety immediately calming as i look into his eyes

“Stay focused, you've got this. Just do as dad said, remember how hard we all worked on your training.”

“Got it, focus on training.” I about face and slowly make my way into the blinding light of the grotto

“When you choose an ikran you gotta feel it in your heart” neteyam yells out to me as i continue into the grotto

“Ok and how do i know if they choose me again”

“It’ll try to kill you.” Jake says a somewhat smug look on his face.

“Oh f my life.”

“Get on with it already!” I hear lo’ak shout followed by a yelp as kiri punched him in the arm for me.

I close my eyes and regulate my breathing. Putting on my soldier mask. My mind now focused. I open them and steadily start walking forward. The ikrans near me all eye me as I near, several shrieked and took flight, others just flapped their wings and yawned like I was an ant walking by. I just steadily crept through the crowd of winged creatures, bearing my fangs like I was taught trying to get a reaction out of any of them, but none did. It had felt like i had prowled the whole damn grotto not finding a single ikran that tugged at my heart. Letting out a frustrated sigh i turn around to face the sully family again

“Are you sure I can do this? Can they tell I'm a ldreamwalker or something like, what's up. What am I supposed to do ....”

A thud shook the earth under me. Oh shit don't let the mountain fall out of the sky now. I look up quick to see the family’s reaction to that tremor but all i see is them looking behind me. Eyes wide and mouths slightly open

Holy shit” Lo’ak gasps

The others all to stunned to reprimand him. God those can not be good looks, i slowly turned around and there it was. The sun was blocked out by its enormous figure. And the further up I looked the more color drained from my blue face. This thing was massive. Bigger than the other ones around the grotto. It was definitely bigger than jakes and I had no idea what I was about to do. The ikran spread its wings wide and glared straight at me. Letting out a deafening shriek.

Time starts now is all I hear before my instincts begin driving me. Hissing at the ikran it begins to charge me jaws wide as it leaps to eat me if it could. Timing the lunge I swing the leather strap thing jake gave me earlier in my hand like a lasso waiting for the creature to bite at me again. It lunges again, feinting to the right, it misses me and I'm able to snap the strap around its massive jaws, tying them shut. Well that just pissed it off more as a muffled scream it's heard in its throat. It’s starts slashing around with th talons on its front wings barley missing it as i look for another opening to pin the things head to the ground. I find my opening and jump on. The creature toppled to the side with me, koala bear straddling its head. Trying to fling me off like a bull at the rodeo and all i can do is hang on

“Caspian!” I hear Neytiri yell out as she sees me being bashed into some of the rocks around me.

I finally manage to wrestle the beast enough to get its head held down with my legs to grab its antennae i reach for my own que when the ikran suddenly gives a flap of its wings lifting us into the air

“F@ck”

“CASPIAN. Make the bond”. Jake yells out

“2 minutes, lo’ak calls out

“Seriously!”, I scream out in frustration. How am I suddenly the alligator hunter, Jesus, I'm swishing around in the air, the ikran slowly getting closer and closer to the cliff edge.

“Oh hell no, we are not going over that cliff.”

Finally I pull back and push all my weight the other direction throwing the ikran completely off balance, hitting the rock hard below knocking all the air out of me. But I don't have time to catch my breath Grunting I take my que in one hand and its antenna in the other smashing the two together Then silence. I could feel the electricity sweep through every nerve of my body sending a shiver down my spine. I could feel the ikran breath. The air entering and exiting its lungs. It’s heart beating frantically next to mine.

Clam down, I command in my head. The ikran immediately stopped struggling

“Ok we're going to take this slow. I'm going to release you and I just want you to chill ok.” I feel the ikrans hum under me. “Ok here we go.” I uncurl my legs from around the giant's head and slowly loosen my hold as I stand. Our ques are still connected as the ikran now rights itself and calmly stands next to me.

“Caspian quick you have to fly to seal the bond. I hear Neteyam direct me, pushing me to get on my ikran and leading us back over to the ledge.

“Come on little red’ I see Jake mounting his own ikran bob and taking off.

I hop on mine and look tentatively over the edge I was just barely dangling over. Let's do this. And off we both go. Screaming towards the ground before the air fills under my ikrans wings and we’re flying

I've flown before in planes and helicopters different things for the military but never did it feel like this. Flying felt like freedom. That no matter what happened I was free. Feeling the wind rush through my hair and the cold mountain air hit my cheeks. Jake whooping next to me as he weaves around. I hear hollering from my left and see Neteyam as joined us in the air as well, sporting a similar smile to his father. I see kiri, tuk and lo’ak still running around below me and command my ikran to land.

Stepping off, I finally take a good look at the creature.

I couldn't see it before but the ikran was truly beautiful. Its head was a beautiful sunflower yellow turning into red on the very top. I slowly look around him and see he looks almost tye dyed. Beautiful reds and yellows fading out into the cool tones of blue green and purple. The creature is truly a work of art.

“2 minutes 45 seconds” Lo’ak yells out in disbelief waving the watch around as he runs in a circle like an overexcited toddler. Jake let out a long whoop of joy running up to me swinging me around like a doll. Neteyam and kiri not far behind him, neytiri was bouncing tuk up and down on her hip in celebration as they joined the group. Lo’ak still a blue blur as he ran around crying “2 minutes.”

“Lo’ak stop running around”. Kiri finally scolds lo’ak tired of his yelling and running. I simply stare at my new ikran.

“How do you feel?” Neteyam gently asks me

“I feel incredible.”

Neteyam simply gives me one of his kilowatt smiles as my ikran lifts its head chirping out

“So little red that was fun huh.” Jake says, bumping my shoulder, smiling down at me.

“I will kill you right now, Jake sully. You didn’t tell me they could be this big.”

“Technically that is not even the biggest.”

“Cassie, Cassie you did it.” tuk yells launching into my arms

“Your ikrans so big, they're pretty though.”

“Why thank you tuk I agree.”

“What are you going to name him? Kiri asks next to me.

“Hmmmm ill call him tidy”

“Tidy? Why? Tuk asks curiously

“Cause he looks like he’s been tye dyed in colors.”

“What’s tye dye.? Tuk as questioningly.”

“It’s a clothing technique on earth, it's kind of hard to explain. I say ruffling tuk hair.

With the hard part over everyone climbs aboard their individual ikran as we fly over pandora back to home base. Where the celebration will go into the night. And all i can think as we fly is, eywa i'm glad I didn’t go back to sleep this morning.

[littlewestern]

say, what does silver charger think of their taller headlight that got added later

I love this question. Silver Charger, being the domain of the original shovelnoses would be more @greatwesternway's area of expertise, but I can hop in here at least as far as characterization is concerned. If any of the history is wrong, I'm sure she'll be able to correct me lol.

Charger is the youngest of the shovelnoses and had kind of a weird career as far as it goes. In a lot of ways, he's similar to Pioneer, having been designed and built to do one route and then when circumstances changed, getting shuffled around without really having a home to go back to. For Pioneer, this was the result of being the first of his class and the Budd company not realizing how popular their doughty little train would become. He kept getting reassigned because he wasn't built for the kind of demand his presence always seemed to draw, his specs couldn't handle it. It wasn't how he would have envisioned his career going, but he handles it with grace and dignity, as he does all things. If he had it his way, he does wish he was a little bigger so he would have been able to live up to the expectations placed on him, but he's not resentful about it whatsoever.

For Charger, the continual reassignments weren't because he wasn't built for it. In fact, Charger's the odd-man out because he's internally different than all the other shovelnoses, being half an E3 engine on the inside. His reassignments were due to factors outside the Budd company's control, like the US entering WWII and the changes made to the railroading industry as a result. This isn't how Charger pictured his career going either, but so much changed between the Pioneer Zephyr's inception and the time the General Pershing Zephyr went into service, Charger quickly came to understand that no engine's career ends up being what the expect it to be. Where Pioneer handled this revelation with the poise expected of the first in their class, I think Charger would have handled it by... simply trying to be the best at whatever thing he'd been reassigned to. If he couldn't be the best engine on the head of the General Pershing, then he'd be the best engine doing short-haul service on the no. 33 or whatever.

Charger's not resentful either (well, maybe at first when he's New) but he copes with the change by doing his work with as much pomp and ceremony as can be afforded, regardless of how lowly the job might be in reality. In a book we used for our research, one writer characterized Charger's brow as "arrogant", which I think maybe you might assume given the import he gives to all of his trains. Really it's not that he's full of himself, it's more that Charger wants to make all of his jobs seem dignified and refined, and the best way to do that is to treat all of them as though they were The Best, Most Important Job In The World, even if in reality he's just pulling army surplus supplies around fucking Iowa.

But you asked about the lights.

As far as I can tell, the tall headlights became standard on all the shovelnoses around the early-to-mid 1940s, the latest date I can put on any one of them having the original single-lamp model. It stands to reason they all got them around the same time, probably just added on as they went in for regular routine maintenance. For Pioneer, the addition of the taller light was just another sign that his record-setting years in the spotlight were well and truly over. Not that he minded, of course, but (taking the most uncharitable view of things) Pioneer's service life started out very strong and slowly wound down as he suffered a series of scaled-back routes and modifications that helped him remain in service, but definitely meant he would not be doing 112mph between Denver and Chicago again, ever. The light was just another in a long line of indignities one endures getting old. He would have seen it as a mild inconvenience (and a knock against his iconic, streamlined profile) but necessary for him to remain up to par with current railroad safety standards. And safer is a good thing, all told!

And here is where we get to why I had to talk about Charger's personality a bit. Because everything that Charger is and does is the best, most important thing in the world, I actually think he would see his headlight as an upgrade. He's taller now, and oncoming traffic can see him more clearly, which is good when you have a Very Important Train to pull. That he kept his headlight into preservation while Pioneer was restored to his original, single-lamp light in the 90s also sets him apart from Pioneer to museum-goers, and being distinguished is always a plus in the preservation world. (You'd not mistake them for each other for a variety of reasons, but in this racket you take everything you can get.)

Whether or not he actually believes his headlight looks good or bad is immaterial. It's his headlight, and that's what makes it the best.