#just because it is non corporeal does not mean it's not physical

[gaypiratebrainrot]

op i got a whole physics degree just to be able to say that you are 100% correct that the sensations of your experience are more real than atoms and "atoms never touch each other youve never touched anything in your life" is hot bullshit and any scientist spouting that has mistaken the map for the territory and has not grappled with the philosophy of their endeavor at all and their opinions about the nature of reality should not be trusted

"nothing is real atoms never touch each other youve never touched anything in your life" ok. well when i pet my dog he is soft and when he licks my hand it is wet and that is far more real to me than whatevers going on at an atomic level

[quicklikelight]

Saw a post just now that was like, how do you work full time and still have time for hobbies? And I think that's a great question to ask, as people navigating a world where increasingly our labor is entirely for the benefit of some faceless (or worse, incredibly public) billionaire and no one else.

I'm a person who takes my labor seriously, and I have had the pleasure and privilege of only working for non-profit or not-for-profit organizations throughout my adult career. I worked part-time for a regular corporation once for six months before I quit out of disgust, and I've worked for a couple of family-owned small businesses during college, but the overwhelming majority of my 12+ year career so far has been in a profit void, which does help.

Even still, I have colleagues at my big shiny non-profit who say, "Anne you have so many hobbies! How on earth do you have time for them?" And the key is,

If I don't make time for my personal passions, I'll die.

I'm not being dramatic. It isn't a joke. An intrinsic and necessary part of me -- the part that labors for love, that labors for the desire of it, for the enjoyment -- will die if I do not create time and space to do that labor. And without that love, that passionate hobby investment, the part of me that is left will not then decide, hey I should labor more for money! It will not decide, hey I should invest in my relationships! It will not decide, hey I should invest in myself as a human being! In my environment! In my community! In the world!

It will decide, if there is no time for joy in the world, I will not be in the world. I will doomscroll endlessly on my phone. I will watch re-runs of a beloved sitcom for 3 hours, exhausted on my sofa, and go to bed. I will show up to work still groggy from the day before, and I will be angry in meetings, and I will be exhausted from customer interactions, and I will either want to cry or I will have zero feelings at all as I enter yet another figure into another cell of the universal spreadsheet. I will not be my best self anywhere, for any reason, because my best self is dead.

People say things like, "I don't dream of labor," and I respect that. But a lot of labor is very good. It's work, to knit a sweater. It's work, to write a book. It's work, to raise a garden, or a goat, or a child. It's work to bake bread, and to sew pants, and to rebuild small engines. It's work to create, and that is--in my humble opinion--what we're here for. To spend all day idly eating grapes would drive a lot of us to the brink. The problem isn't labor--it's capital.

To make time for your hobbies means working intentionally to identify those passion projects as a necessary part of your reason for being on the earth. My job on this earth is not to assign training. My job on this earth is to create beauty, and write stories, and make clothes, and connect from my heart. When that truth is accepted, and you put in the effort to rebirth the part of you that died to capitalism, then it becomes very obvious that the relevant question isn't "how do I make time for hobbies."

The question is, "How do I ensure that my job does not take up all the mental and physical energy I have so that I can re-invest that energy into myself?"

A good place to start is to plan your days / weeks / months with an understanding of your mental/physical boundaries and just do that. There are ways to do this most effectively (collective bargaining, creating a schedule that honors the need for focus vs collaboration, bringing your hobbies to work and being open about how they make your work better) but the most important thing, in my opinion, is for you to understand that your full time job isn't you. It's not what makes you special or important in this world, and it's not what people will remember about you when you're gone, and it's not going to feed you if you stop showing up. So give it as little as you can comfortably get by with, preserve that precious energy, and put it into something that sets your soul alight.

When you invest in the labor that loves you back, that provides for you, that keeps you alive... you'll stop accepting a world in which you cannot dream of labor for fear of losing yourself.

And maybe, at the end, you'll have a sweater. :)

[writers-potion]

Can you please give me tips on how to develop a magic system? If you've already written the tips, just send me a link to the post. Here's what I have so far:

There are seven forces of magic, namely, Passion, Desire, Joy, Hope, Trust, Clarity, and Love. To use magic, you must channel at least two of the forces. I don't really have anything beyond that.

How can I flesh this out?

Questions For Developing A Magic System

Hello! Thanks for the question. Here are some related posts to your question: Magic System Ideas, Writing Magic Systems, Writing Magicians - the basics

That said, I’ll flesh out some of my ideas based on the information given in your question. Here are some questions you can use to make the magic system specific:

What is the effect of the magic? Generally, magic will either be destructive or constructive or both. Is the purpose of your magic to make a person feel the corresponding emotions? 

Does one person have only one type of magic, forcing your characters to work together?

Also consider how you’re going to differentiate the different type of magic – through the use of color, the physical appearances of the different types of magicians, different symbols, different ways of activation, etc. 

Do the different type of magic users like or dislike each other in general? 

Can this magic be learned, or must one be born into it? 

If the magic must be learnt > competitive schooling/training for aspiration magicians, unlocking different “levels” of a type of magic, is it common or rare or people to be able to use 

If the magic is born into > discrimination between magical vs. non-magical people, conflict between “superior” and “non-superior” forms of magic, etc. 

I think a magic system (apart from being a part of worldbuilding) must provide the basis for interesting conflict. Think about how you can make use of the characteristics of your magic system to pull the plot through a main conflict and back to resolution. 

For example, 

There are “good” combinations of the seven magical forces and “bad” combinations that would cancel each other out…or worse. Magicians with different types of magic either alley with each other or have long-standing beef based on how ���friendly” their magic forces are to one another. 

The seven types of magic are tiered. Some magicians monopolize power and inherit it throughout generations – until the hero comes along. 

Enemies-to-lovers dynamic where the hero and heroin have to work together because they’d be useless on their own. 

You can also consider what your magic system means for us in the real world. All of your magic types are emotions. Is the ultimate moral of the story that we must be willing to embrace conflicting emotions rather than just chasing happiness? Or that every one of these is equally valuable? 

Magic systems can be satirical.

Magic systems can be a twisted version of a real-life social/governmental/corporate system, often to critique the real world.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* . ───

💎If you like my blog, buy me a coffee☕ and find me on instagram! Also, join my Tumblr writing community for some more fun.

💎Before you ask, check out my masterpost part 1 and part 2 

[violetasteracademic]

Power and Possibilities

Elriel Month: Theory Post

This week's @elriel-month theme is the perfect time to put together the evidence I have for a pretty popular theory (and one I definitely share) that Elain and Azriel could potentially have a carranam bond. While I'm unsure if it is carranam exactly, I am most interested in the fact that there is evidence of power sharing amongst all of the major mated couples (including Feysand and Nessian, which no one ever talks about!) so let's break it down.

*Multiverse spoilers ahead*

Of course we know Rowan and Aelin are the OG carranam and power-sharers. I have already made a post on the parallel language between Rowaelin and Elriel and the easter egg of true mates being given to another which you can find here.

We have evidence of Bryce and Hunt being able to share their powers in unique ways. While any raw magic can charge Bryce's "battery", they have a unique experience of being able to blend and give each other their powers through intimacy:

Bryce gives him magical orgasms. Literally. ���

Now, we all already know Bryce and Hunt share power. And of course we know that Ruhn and Lidia had an incredibly unique experience being able to find each other's minds across oceans and not only be able to communicate without a comm crystal, but physically touch each other in a non corporeal space.

Both the Bryce x Hunt and Ruhn x Lidia scenes are very similar to a Feysand scene that I don't really ever see anyone talking about in terms of power sharing with a mate. But they do it, and this indicates it is a connection that happens on all worlds:

Just like Bryce and Hunt, literal stars began to sweep by them. And just like Ruhn and Lidia, they were able to be together in a space where they shouldn't have bodies. And notice the language: I felt him as his power blended with mine.

Another Feysand power sharing moment is of course when Rhys pours his power into Feyre to restore the Cauldron. In Erilea, that's what we call carranam baby.

The Nessian moment is more subtle, but it is there. And I believe we will see all three couples share or blend power on a larger scale:

When Nesta loses herself to the scrying and begins to literally freeze over, Cassian sends his power and heat into her through his kiss and his siphons. He breaks through the ice by pouring his power into her, and unintentionally warms the entire room. Cassian clearly doesn't have a full understanding of what he did or how he did it yet.

Alright.... now what does this have to do with Elriel?

Well, I think Azriel being the one to discover Elain's powers means more than anyone is giving it credit for (and that's saying something, because it is already being given a LOT of credit in the Elriel community!) I believe that the assessments of scenes reflecting Azriel beginning to understand or notice Elain's powers are deeper than just possibly indication of being mates. I think we'll find he can actually feel her power:

Yes he is seeing her and understanding her. He is listening to her. But these passages are worded in such an interesting way. I believe he can literally feel her. Elain starts having another vision, and that's when he discovers the truth of what is happening to her. @rizzoreads88 , this is my take on what these scenes mean from your most recent tiktok!

Now, is this all just theory and speculation? Absolutely, which is why I labelled it a theory post! But I do think it is interesting that Lucien tried to feel Elain. Tried to reach for her through their bond. And this is what happened:

Elain starts actively having a vision while Lucien is trying to reach her. This is in *direct contrast* to when Azriel is studying her while Elain is having a vision.

Even though Elain is using her powers while Lucien is reaching for her through the bond, he doesn't sense or feel anything except the thread of the bond. And likely, due to his blush, the previous thoughts he had the first time he was around Elain. The mating bond commanding that he touch and taste her. But he does not sense or feel her or her powers which are active in that moment. And he is *unconvinced* trying to reach her again will do any good.

We already know Lucien experiences a call from the mating bond to be physically intimate with Elain, and I actually think he was quite respectful in working through that and trying to see past it. However, even while reaching through their "bridge" he could not sense or feel her power while it was active. He didn't feel anything other than the call to be intimate. Whereas all other endgame couples have both.

Elain has already shown her ability to wield Azriel's shadows when she travelled through them and stepped out of them to stab the King of Hybern in the neck. (I do not believe that is a theory, I think that is quite clear. There is no other explanation for how she got across a freaking battlefield by herself in a dress to save her sister at exactly the right time.) Yes, Nesta uses Truth-Teller to remove the king's head, but Elain uses Truth-Teller's power.

Azriel discovers and understands Elain's power.

And yeah, they wanna bang. Do I even need to reiterate that through text grabs?

I can't wait to see how this all unfolds. I truly hope that with Az and Elain already paralleling Rowan and Aelin in so many ways, (Rowan and Aelin sealed their carranam bonds and began sharing power before the reveal that they were true mates and Maeve interfered with fate) they will be the couple that we really get to see power sharing play out with in a meaningful way.

I need their book so bad. It physically hurts.

[dukeofankh]

There is this bizarre little premise that i keep seeing people accept in the wake of the US election: that a politician can either appeal to men's economic anxieties or defend women's reproductive healthcare rights. This concept says we can appeal to men's anger about not being able to afford housing and about not being able to afford to have a family, but to do so is to fundamentally betray queer people. I can't blame people for that, in a lot of ways that problem is one being pushed by the Democratic Party as a core part of their platform. Since the right are misogynistic, if they make their whole platform about how they are the party that protects women and queer people, it means that they don't actually have to radically alter the economic circumstances their donors benefit from.

While under the Democrats things did meaningfully improve, they are not at their core actually capable in their current form of truly addressing a lot of economic issues. They're just too entwined with business interests. They can tweak, they can offer incentives and disincentives,but at its core, the Democratic party is the party of "this is great, the way things are is awesome, vote for us or the Republicans will make it worse."

And people will no doubt point out the serious work that they did while in office--the work out of the FTC was particularly satisfying--but they cannot at their core actually allow themselves to let that become part of their identity. They can't run on that. They can't rile people up about that. They can't go even further, they can't get radical about that. They need the corporate money too much. When presented with the chance to run Bernie Sanders, they physically gagged. They refuse to move further left.

But the Republicans have moved--in many cases against their will--further to the right. They promise to change things. They make it worse, lets get that clear. Any working-class man who votes for the Republican party because he thinks it will materially benefit him does so because he is fantastically ignorant about the actual forces that affect his life. But if you are a man, they are actively willing to break things, and they are claiming that it is because they want to help you.

I can hear people say (correctly) over and over again that leftist principles are the ones that actually help men, be it feminism, socialism, you name it. But that's a non sequitur, because the Democratic party is not leftist. Its major selling point for the past decade or so has been "if you vote for us, things will be normal," when normal for most men looks like being an exploited cog in a machine that no longer even feels the need to compensate them past pure subsistence. Those men are angry. That anger is a resource. There is nothing antifeminist about using it.

There is a natural counterargument here that these men don't actually want to be financially stable. They want to be financially superior to women. They want control over women. And hey, the Christofascist elements of the right cannot be understated. I am not telling you that there are not huge chunks of the Trump electorate that are deeply misogynistic. They clearly are. But that doesn't make every issue they push as part of their platform evil by association. You don't have to surrender this issue to them and let them falsely claim to champion it. The support doesn't disappear if you aren't insulting women while you're fighting income inequality and making housing more affordable.

I've seen people discuss the economic hardships of Americans on here daily. How everything keeps getting worse. How the country was building towards technofeudalism just as much as it was careening towards fascism. How nobody can afford rent or medical bills or student loans, how workers rights and status as anything more than disposable contractors is being eroded.

All of that affects men. Any sane man is going to feel powerless and furious in the face of that. Channel it. Use it. Don't view it as a threat. It's a resource.

[its-rat-time-babey]

Because I’m insane I decided to watch Fanboy and Chum Chum for the lore. Just watch the entire series and see what I can find.

Especially since Fanboy and Chum Chum are connected to Glitch Techs, with both shows being a part of the same multiverse. Just in Glitch Techs, smaller elements like the Freezy Mart exist in the show AND Fanboy and Chum Chum themselves are confirmed to exist as their names appear on the scoreboard in the Hinobi Smash competition, which means that Fanboy and Chum Chum do exist, but they probably go by their real names in the Glitch Techs universe and “Fanboy and Chum Chum” are just gamertags.

Things I have learned so far (just finished season 1):

This is a completely very different timeline and universe compared to Glitch Techs or our universe as comparison. Many things are different.

For example, the USA in this universe only has 8 states. For reference, the US was originally settled with 9 states, so at some point in time they lost one.

Fanboy and Chum Chum takes place in 2004. Glitch techs takes place in 1998.

Fanboy and Chum Chum’s real names are Tobias and Edmund.

Fanboy is anywhere from 17-18 years old. Chum Chum is (seemingly) two years younger at 15-16 years old. This is because they’re in 5th Grade (5th Graders are usually 10-11 years old) and Fanboy mentions that they’re been held back for 5 years, including the current year. Fanboy specifically also mentions being held back twice in kindergarten, but that’s exclusive to him.

All of the weird stuff Fanboy and Chum Chum can do comes from Chum Chum. Chum Chum has the power and Fanboy can also use it because he’s Chum Chum’s best friend. Oz is also friends with Chum Chum and can do similar things, but to a lesser degree because he’s not as close to Chum Chum as Fanboy. Yo gains Chum Chum-like abilities basically as soon as Fanboy temporarily gives Chum Chum to her, and on top of that Fanboy seemingly loses his abilities until he’s reunited with Chum Chum. Chum Chum is the source of like 90% of the show’s weirdness.

Fanboy is a Lance Corporal, aka the highest non-enlisted rank of the us military.

The Norse gods are real in this universe. I’m not kidding.

With the previous information, Chum Chum is very likely a Norse giant. I’m also not kidding.

Fanboy and Chum Chum both have glass eyes. Fanboy’s left and Chum Chum’s right eyes are fake. My personal conspiracy theory is that Chum Chum pulled an Odin some time in the past (as Odin is a real person who actually exists in this universe) and sacrificed one of his eyes for forbidden knowledge and that’s why he’s so powerful. Fanboy may have done the same as a sort of blood oath to his and Chum Chum’s friendship, hence why he has access to so much of Chum Chum’s power.

The creators of Fanboy and Chum Chum must have already had the idea for Glitch Techs even when this show was first being made. You can find all sorts of stuff in here that connects to the 2015 Pitch Bible for Glitch Techs. Yo’s Tamagotchi has a character identical to Chomp Kitty on it, characters that look extremely similar to Five and Miko’s Pitch Bible designs show up in an in-universe commercial, hell a character that looks extremely similar to Agent 68, a character who is only found in the Glitch Techs Pitch Bible (Either getting remade into Inspector 7 or even the Tech Inspector in “I’m Mitch Williams” later during development or being someone who would have appeared in season 3) shows up physically. They had the ideas all there to begin with.

Hinobi as we know it in Glitch Techs doesn’t exist in the way that we know it, but it does exist under a different name and purpose. Instead of Hinobi the video game company, it’s a (so far unnamed) Toy Company (that also owns the Frosty Mart in some way). My logic here is that:

Chomp Kitty on a tamagotchi. Obviously.

That character that looks like Agent 68 is an “Agent” of the unnamed toy company, in this case an inspector sent to reclaim some recalled toys. He’s also the head of security for the Frosty Mart’s company, so the Frosty Mart is probably owned by this alternate reality Hinobi in some way.

The few arcade machines and video games seen so far work perfectly fine, but many toys, especially any toy with mechanical parts have a tendency to break and act somewhat similarly to glitches.

There’s an episode where that Chomp Kitty Tamagotchi breaks and Fanboy and Chum Chum attempt to repair it by throwing it into a grave that’s been said to fix stuff that’s been left there. This results in the toy basically Glitch Techs style glitching and repeatedly trying to kill Fanboy and Chum Chum. Hell once they destroy the Tamagotchi completely a ghostly version of it almost identical to a Glitch from Glitch Techs forces itself through their TV. It’s even easily distracted by stuff from its original tamagotchi game like a glitch would be.

So my theory is that Hinobi in this universe is a toy company. Their toys can be extremely dangerous under the right conditions, especially if something goes wrong and they glitch in some way, Fanboy breaks the arm off of a robot toy by accident and every other robot in the area tries to kill him for example, and that Tamagotchi specifically is so much closer to a glitch techs glitch because it’s the closest this alternative universe Hinobi has to a video game.

Again, I am completely insane.

[ri47]

Economy: KHU Standard

Before going any further, it should be clarified that the KHU Standard economic system is not the only one that exists within the KHU's territories, but is the only one that is mandated by the Seneschal Board. In short, this means that certain territories may issue their own currency and dictate their own economic norms, but that all affiliated entities are required to respect the KHU Standard

The KHU makes use of three primary currencies, each with their own system of established value: SIP, Vo, and Lira

While the average person rarely carried anything besides SIP, all were required to "own" some amount of Lira. Vo, on the other hand, was seen as more of an investment currency than normal legal tender (in spite of its official recognition in government exchanges)

Steelgoods Interests Piso [SIP]: SIP, more commonly referred to as pisos, are the most commonly issued currency in the Union. The value of SIP is fairly stable, as steelgoods (a euphemistic governmental term for unprocessed alloy plate) remain in more or less permanent demand. SIP is also notable for being the only currency issued in standard physical cash rather than being a digital marker, which has the handy side effect of ensuring that the average person can avoid the hefty transaction fees associated with the cashless currencies. SIP is available in note, coin, and digital format. While one piso can be subdivided into one hundred sentimo, physical currency is only issued for a half-piso. Though it's technically illegal, the presence of a dividing line across the centre of the half-piso has led to the practice of splitting the coin to create a fourth-piso in some territories.

Trade Voucher [Vo]: Vo, usually just referred to as vouchers, represent an investment in Callisto's trade with affiliated (but nominally non-puppet) colonies. Most currency-issuing client states maintained their own form of voucher, but these voucher currencies were all measured against the Vo proper, and so most were handily converted into it as a way of "cashing out" on financial investments in trade sectors. When the board cracked down on the minting of currency and corporate scrip by non-Seneschal entities, dissolving all forms of voucher, only those holding Vo were insured in SIP. all others were left at the mercy of the entity which issued their vouchers. Because of this, many populations were left without any financial power, leading to the collapse of several smaller governments and a handful of larger ones.

Federal Lira [Lira]: The Federal Lira is the currency in which all official debts are paid to the board and its associated governmental entities. Taxes, fees, bills, and anything similar are paid in the lira. While the exact value of the lira may seem to fluctuate, this is actually a side effect of the fluctuating values for currencies which may be converted into lira. Once another currency is converted to lira, the value of the holder's account towards paying government debts rarely fluctuates. While the highly restricted financial infrastructure of the lira makes it non-viable for daily use (lira cannot be converted back into other currencies, does not mint, and cannot be used for non-government debts), the usage of lira remains mandatory. For logistical reasons, groups are allowed to share accounts that pay towards agreed-upon debts. This sees frequent use in rural communities, where pisos are gathered to be converted into pools of lira, paying towards territorial taxes and other regular bills that would prove troublesome to pay every time they arrive.

By 103 EC, only the piso and lira remained in regular use. While some voucher currencies continued to exist within the KHU, these were relegated entirely to contractor stations and other demigovernments that were too large to be fully brought under the currency unification mandates.

[grainelevator]

I’m so so sorry this is going to be a really long rant but !!!! FUCK !!!! I’ve been desperate for this conversation.

We had a dinner guest very confidently say, word for word, that health is a colonial concept. Queue a chorus of tongue to the top-teeth disapproving *clicks* and the sound of my grandmother decisively putting her fork down. The questions started coming with an underlying tone of absolute distain. “What is health?” “Do you mean the healthcare system?” “Do you see an alternative here?” “Do you know why there isn’t one?” “Are you aware we fight tooth and nail for access to this so-called colonial concept and the system that facilitates it?”

Immediately this white girl is shaking in her boots (I don’t blame her, my grandma is 58, capable of lifting a car, and probably of scalping a dinner guest if the need ever arose). But it became so obviously clear over the course of her attempt to explain that what she meant is “native culture is unhealthy, health is a deviation from and erasure of native culture” which is, uhhhh, bullshit. I feel like so many people (liberal and upper class white women in particular) see a facet of colonial society that isn’t equally represented in minority communities and then interpret it as being a colonial invention as opposed to a colonial privilege. The same goes for “settled dwelling is a colonial concept” no it isn’t, lots of us did that for centuries, it just sucks now because a colonial system got dropped on top of the practice. Saying health, housing, parenting, etc are Colonial Concepts is saying outright that you cannot envision indigenous people as presently or historically capable of upholding those ideals in an equal capacity.

Progressive language does not negate the inherent infantilisation or racism of that belief. Furthermore, treating liberation from the material and social suffering of our condition as a deviation from our culture betrays the fact that you understand it exclusively from the perspective of colonial power and abuse. Thus, native culture (and african american culture) becomes, in the eyes of white liberals, synonymous with what was inflicted upon us as opposed to who we are. How dare we aspire towards health when to do so is a betrayal of our culture? Our culture being traumatisation, grief, victimhood, and above all else, a necessary social technology of both white guilt and white liberal saviourship.

Wow. Do NOT apologize for this! You are a great writer and your arguments are excellent.

I’ve been thinking about these connections a lot too. A very strong example of how consumption impacts health (I can’t believe I actually have to say that) and how these health conditions (including how these problems are managed) affect different groups in different ways are food swamps. Food swamps are areas that have little access to nutritious food, caused by factors such as cost and physical availability. In North America, native people and black people are significantly more likely to live in food swamps. These populations are less valued and seen as expendable.

It is well established that consumption of highly-processed food leads to negative health outcomes. However, the people who follow the rhetoric of positions such as “health is a colonial construct” (It’s not - health exists as a spectrum, and the delineation of healthy and unhealthy may be highly variable. This is not the same thing as non-existence) are also the ones who deny the cause and effect nature of health. This misinformation is especially harmful in places with a high population of people who are already marginalized. No one benefits from the insistence that diet does not influence disease…except for the corporations making people sick.

Food companies are not your friends. Pharmaceutical companies are not your friends. Preventative diseases line their pockets. Your wellbeing and that of others needs to come before their profit.

[boyheros]

do u have any specific ideas on how the membrane like..knows to clone? is it instinct or was it told?

YES I have quite a bit of an idea actually. It's a bit of both, i'd say! (thank you so much for asking me oc lore questions btwwwww <3)

Base black is a really weird and unique substance. In living things it acts as the sortof semicorporeal "spirit glue" that attaches your incorporeal soul to your corporeal body. It's ability to attach to ever-changing matter like that is why it's used in manufacturing/cloning. Now, as a human, your memories are stored in some kinda physical way in your brain. Your soul will also carry a sortof 'spiritual' memory of yourself (a la ghosts or something) AND, your base black has it's own kind of memory. hard to describe but I guess but it's like. a spiritual memory of being physical. It remembers EVERY version of yourself you have ever been. THIS form of memory is critical for cloning.

By feeding the membrane a live sample from a human (blood) it will attach to that living thing and try to "remember" what (and who!) it is/was. This is kinda the instinct part. Base black likes to be attached to things that are alive, or else it will decay. it WILL attach to that sample. so you can kinda "tell" it to clone by using that "instinct"... additionally base black has a certain "saturation" i guess? a human body has however much base black it needs for it's size. so when you submit a little blood sample to a full-size membrane, it wants moooooore it needs more Stuff. so, utilizing the process of it 'remembering' being the person the sample is from, you can kinda manipulate it to grow into something. (the machine i had designed before (Delphi model) has a larger than standard base black membrane size because it was made for making human faxes, which would often be full sized adults. machines made Just for cloning have much smaller membranes, since clones are made as babies)

base black manufacturing for non-living stuff works similarly, but you have to try and make the membrane remember being in the form of something that wasn't alive. you kinda have to train it? this means you can't use cloning machines for anything but cloning (unless you retrain it heavily), as they want to be made of people, and vice versa. they remember being in that form over n over...

But this leads me to something I've been wanting to talk about for a while: "unsolicited ejections" (called UEs). to make a new clone you need to purge the base black membrane of previous physical contaminants (reset it to nothing, essentially), but you don't need to completely purge the feeder reservoir. this is because once the membrane accepts the sample, becomes part of that thing, it'll want to be that thing even if you supply it with stuff that may have some other DNA contaminant. (this is actually why getting possessed can be soooo dangerous. it'll Change You. but that's a whole other long textpost). now. this means sometimes even though you don't "tell" the membrane to make a clone, it may still try sooo hard. even if it has no sample, it just remembers Making. UEs almost never result in actual living clones...more so just contaminated meat mess. BUT. they can! this is actually why there's so many Maverick clones. the Delphi-4 Human Facsimile Machine has been contaminated with "Maverick" for decades. and no one can figure out how to fix it. Foster is a UE. Maverick (Delphine) is one, kinda. isn't it amazing that even with cloning you can have accident children...

but also im unsure if i've ever mentioned: this cloning process does not work every time. it actually fails most of the time! making something with the right shape and DNA isn't too hard, but the getting it alive (conscious, human) part is tricky (this is why UEs don't tend to result in proper clones). cloning something usually involves soliciting the machine to try over and over and over and over until you get something conscious. but because this cloning process involves moving physical matter into the right shape as opposed to growing it in a wholly natural manner, you can basically recycle the old stuff until it becomes alive stuff lol.

[handicappedbuenchico]

Introducing: Dream Demon Verse

To preface, the Dream Demon Verse will also be connected to my Spencer at @/richstupidstoner, as this verse's predecessor was also connected to my own interpretation of Spencer Lewis as well :)

The Dream Demon Verse is the phoenix that rose from the Freddy's Little Helpers Verse's ashes! It's essentially the same CONCEPT-- a canon compliant AU which explores what happened to Carlos, Spencer, and John Doe's souls after their untimely demises via F.reddy K.rueger--however there are a few things that I never fully cemented, and I want to take the time to do that here:

To finally make the distinction as to what ACTUALLY happened to Carlos and Spencer post-canon, Carlos and Spencer's souls share a corporeal form with two of the three dream demons. The reason why Carlos and Spencer essentially got a revive is because after Freddy's defeat at the hands of Maggie, the dream demons emerged from Freddy's body in physical form, instead of the boys' souls being what emerged. The implication being that Carlos, Spencer, and John's souls were used to give the Dream Demons a way to physically manifest themselves through basically merging together.

To describe Carlos and Spencer's "relationship" with the dream demons their souls are merged with would be very akin to Dr.Jekyll and Mr.Hyde almost. Carlos and Spencer are trying to just be their normal selves again with this new chance at life, all while their unwelcome body mates are trying to get them to cause mayhem and suffering in the dream realm because they didn't get the chance to give their power to the next evilest person after Freddy (that's their usual preference, but now they're stuck sharing bodies with two teenage boys because their old deal maker is dead for good LMFAOOOO).

Carlos and Spencer, like Freddy before them, don't have much power outside of the dream realm. Their powers are strongest within the dream realm itself (because they're merged with dream demons, of course). Speaking of their powers within the dream realm, they unfortunately discovered their dream powers AFTER the merge. Carlos has the ability to control all noise surrounding an individual person within the dreamscape, meaning he can make things eardrum shatteringly loud, can-hear-a-pin-drop silent, along with regulating the volume of everyone and everything surrounding someone. Spencer's dream powers were a little tricky to figure out because his literal two characteristics were being a stoner and a gamer nerd...like Spencer would be so fucking OP and borderline canon breaking if I wasn't careful. Then I remembered where his powers would be in full effect, and his predecessor also having a penchant for being extra and OP AS FUCK, so I then said fuck it. Spencer can summon any video game weapon or healing item he wants at will (hey if Freddy had the power to kill and injure people in real life while they were in his dream world then logically speaking someone should be allowed to revive and heal while they're in the dream world! The movies never said someone COULDN'T do that, they just never had any character attempt such a thing). Spencer also has this constant colorful smoky aura that causes anyone near him to get an instant contact high and hallucinate.

Depending on the thread, Carlos and Spencer can be either be struggling to control the literal demons within them (honestly the demons just end up taking control of their bodies for a stretch of time because Carlos and Spencer aren't gonna be able to wrangle the literal demons that are now possessing them on their own) or they can be in some form of control over themselves and the demons within them (ngl they probably made a deal with the dream demons to cause non-lethal harm, in order to satiate their desire for evildoing, in exchange for almost total control of their new bodies and some damn peace).

Due to the canon stating that Carlos and Spencer's existences were erased from reality, and that they are only remembered by exactly THREE people (Maggie, Doc, and Tracy), technically your muse should have no recollection of who Carlos and Spencer are. HOWEVER, I am more than willing to bend this rule for the sake of RP; there are canon reasons for why your muse can remember Carlos and Spencer. For example, your muse can have the ability to control their dreams like Doc canonically can. I always got around this canonical technicality by saying that the closer your muse was to Carlos and Spencer before they died, the easier it is to remember them.

CARLOS AND SPENCER WILL HAVE NO FREDDY ICONOGRAPHY ON THEM. AT ALL. So, that means no red and green sweaters, no fedoras, no razor gloves. Nothing. The dream demons themselves are actually more serpentine in appearance, rather than looking like they were burned in a fire, so Carlos and Spencer will also NOT be looking like third degree burn victims. They'll look just like they did when they died, just with more pale and scaled skin while also having black eyes with blood red pupils. They also will have severe scarring from their original deaths (Do I even need to bring up the absolute ASS WHOOPING Spencer received during his death scene? That's a lot of scars man. Don't even get me started on the scars Carlos would have after having his HEAD explode). They CAN shapeshift into their old selves, as in before their deaths, but that takes a lot of energy to do and maintain for them. They would only really do that in the dream realm probably.

That's all I really have for now! I'm sure if I think of more things to add, I'll just reblog this post.

[astarab1aze]

light blue heart - yeah gimme uhhh boneless salad, with a sprite, and either of our ships. for the big funny.

muse relationship headcanon game

who curses more?

don't they both cuss like sailors ksjdfhs hydre is vulgar and has fun being vulgar, but kaen's speech patterns are more informal in general. naturally as opposed to sort of...forced? like if hydre spoke totally naturally, he would sound like a very formal tightass with a deep voice from hell, no curse words to speak of. so i will say...mmmmmmmm kaen.

who is more patient?

-checks notes- well it can't be hydre cos he's impatient as hell when he's got his heart set on something. incite him, and he's not backing down. so i'm going to say kaen. flat-out, without even knowing all the deets on this front. i just know how impatient hydre can be and it's not...not pretty.

who does the driving?

do...does kaen drive or use public transportation? cos hydre doesn't drive. he flies, walks, teleports, etc. i remember talking about it exactly (1) time, and kaen being in college and so on. so if anyone could drive, it would probably be kaen, because hydre can't even physically operate a vehicle without breaking it. and i don't mean ripping the steering wheel off, though that could happen too, but i mean like. instantly, the battery's dead and the core functions of the thing are rendered entirely...non functional skdjhfs

who is louder? who is quieter?

i'd say kaen is louder, or at least more talkitive, where hydre is generally more calm and quiet. though, he can be big and booming and obnoxious when he wants to be. so maybe 50/50

who is more physically affectionate?

aren't they both? unu

who is more likely to tease the other?

they're both mischievous little shits, but kaen does more verbal teasing for sure. hydre does more physical teasing, and not in the context of this question skjdfh

who is better with time management?

kaen, 10000%. college kid, u kno? but also hydre has been living for so long, time is basically not a thing for him so he has no need to manage it

who wins the arm wrestling matches?

depends on when exactly they have an arm wrestling match. before kaen settles into their own godhood, hydre wins. actually, i think he wins more often than not anyway, but not because kaen can't. if that makes sense. rather, because look at their stupid dragon and how seemingly hard he's trying to keep up his streak-- let him win a good long while, then win over him once and bruise his ego ksjdhfs

who controls the music in the car ride?

NO CAR TO LISTEN TO MUSIC IN

who covers dinner when they order in?

i'm sure kaen would press, but hydre's so hunter-gatherer in a way, no one's paying for shit. well, he also steals things. he really only sometimes pays for things and largely only when he remembers to. he's a god, what's some starbucks barista gonna do? call the cops? lol, lmao even, fuck the police and your corporate overlords who don't pay you enough to even go that extra mile, he's taking the coffee and the cake pops right out of the display

who is more outgoing? who is more shy?

hydre doesn't...care. about socializing in the same ways mortals do. he will, but just doesn't give a damn. kaen, i feel, is more specifically outgoing than he is. like he's definitely introvert-coded

who has the more outlandish fashion sense?

hmmmm. neither of them? hydre wears plain black clothes and calls it a day. kaen might wear a wider variety of things, but they're not necessarily outlandish. like what does outlandish even mean? omg

who starts the tickle fights? who ends them?

if we're talking tickling, i'd imagine kaen. hydre doesn't do that kind of thing. if he's touching them at all, it's because he wants them in his mouth. or to be affectionate in his own strange sort of way really only kaen could even understand.

who has the darker/more “edgy” sense of humor?

hydre. anything dark is hilarious to him, even the things that explicitly make others uncomfortable. it's more the shock of it, the darker the better because of the expressions and reactions people have to that. he's definitely very twisted in his own way, but it's rooted in a sort of hopeless acceptance of whatever the edgy joke is about, not the joke itself. 'how can you be so surprised that horrible things happen? and how can you not laugh at the absurdity of it all?' is more or less is exact thoughts on dark humors.

who is more competitive when it comes to games?

i imagine they both could be pretty competitive. hydre, principly, is so competitive that when confronted by some idiot hero type, he will use literally any trick in the book to prevent them from pulling one over on him, no matter how weak and powerless he sees them. it's not so much power that could defeat him, but intelligence. hmmm. i see riddles and word games shared between them.

who has the bigger appetite? the bigger sweet tooth?

UM, i should say they have a matching appetite sksksk-- but, i think, realistically, it's probably hydre again. he's almost always hungry, and his happetite is immense, neverending, bottomless, and insatiable. it's more or less a 'curse', a consequence of his being. he was made to eat and destroy, but i've been fiddling with the idea that he ultimately devours his parents and replaces them as the worldeater, the god above all others (very much to his chagrin). it then becomes his purpose for existing. so hE--

who is more likely to get in a confrontation in public?

i'd say 50/50, but hydre's are probably infinitely more violent.

who hosts the parties/hangouts? who organizes them?

kaen. 1000% kaen. hydre is lazy and he could never. ewwww people, unless he gets to eat them-- which is ironic because he's actually quite fond of mortals, even if he thinks their lives are weird and pointless. an introvert who would like to be invited so he can show up and suck the life out of everyone. kaen is more social, i feel, in general so it's not like that for them. doing things together is, i imagine, also incredibly spontaneous.

who is better at cooking? do they ever cook for each other?

i think they're both good at it, just in different ways and with different dishes. hydre's experience is with miraglasian foods, where kaen's is probably more culturally mixed and therefore more broad. encompassing more verses hydre's monoculture.

who is more likely to engage in dangerous and/or illegal behavior?

they get up to all kinds of hijinks together, for sure, but not anything too severe? except hydre, on his own. he kills and eats people and that's pretty illegal. a little theft, pranks, general fey mischief is one thing. straight up mass-murdering for dinner is another.

who is more likely to notice when something is wrong with the other?

hydre. whether he does anything about it is a different story, but he notices without fail, i think. kaen is probably more sensitive...? like. would be more likely to say or do something. hydre's cool to sit there and vibe.

who does the talking in public settings (i.e. to the waiter at a restaurant)?

maybe it's best kaen does all the talking---

who is more likely to extend a helping hand & provide emotional support?

lol kaen. i don't think i need to elaborate here. just look at hydre smfh

who is the bigger prankster? do they get the last laugh or do they suffer for it?

i think it'd be about 50/50. hydre would inevitably turn it into a contest and progressively do more and more, throw his entire ass into it.

[briarlovesclara]

Movie Theater Etiquette Preferences (the opinion of one AMC worker*) + explanations!

DONT'S:

Don't come up to a register unless you are called/gestured to: This one is pretty simple! Every concessionist has a different style in which they call you up. I like to verbally say that I can help, as well as waving/raising my hand. Some of my coworkers make eye contact or some other physical indicator. WHY?: There are many reasons that coming up before you are called can cause issues. Sometimes the person behind the counter is not available to help, such as management doing refunds or fixing kitchen orders. The worker may also be clocking off of their shift or going on break. There are also many things we need to be keeping track of, such as stock and popcorn, that require us to step away. The person might not even be a concessionist, and was just helping out for a short while! Finally, it can cause confusion. The other day a customer walked up to a register not in used and then was confused when I called the next person behind them, since I assumed they were being helped by someone who had run to grab something.

Don't be a creep: One of the most straightforward rules, but it's often disregarded. Just because we are working does not mean you are entitled to anything about us, or that we are looking for your attention.

Don't come up to non-line areas: Our AMC has a corner of our concessions counter off to the side behind our drink fridge that you can theoretically access as a customer or a worker. This area is not for customer interaction! If you'd like to get service, no matter how small of an issue, come to the front in the line area and/or get into line. WHY?: When we pass by that corner, we are often busy with another task. Having to stop to refill your popcorn, get you a condiment, etc. can be disruptive to not only our job but often other customer's service. For example, it's tempting to get our attention from off to the side if there is a crowd at concessions and you want a refill. However, we are usually assisting another customer, or calling from the lines. Especially if it's busy, make sure that you're waiting your turn to keep everything fair. You could also be interrupting the job of a non-concessionist, like the food runners, who are just grabbing something. In that case, they have an entire building to service (often alone) and are already extremely busy (and have gloves on, so they don't want to touch dirty things for you!).

Don't let your personal opinions interfere with our interaction: Make sure that your negative opinions stay inside! If you don't like someone's mask/hair/etc, there's no need to comment on it. Odds are, it was chosen for a reason that will not be shaken by a random stranger. WHY?: All this does is add hostility to the worker's day and cause an uncomfortable situation. We are not trying to escalate our interactions (in fact, our theater trained us all in de-escalation), but it's hard to find an appropriate response to a personal attack. If anything we were wearing was against theater policy, it would have been addressed by the management. If it's nothing that you think is against rules, you just don't like, you don't have to comment! Just showing up to work is not inviting your opinion.

Don't blame us for policies/technology: Make sure you understand how little power the everyday crew member has on policy decisions or app/website construction. WHY?: This is more of a personal preference, but oftentimes even jokes leave me feeling like I should apologize for the corporation I have no control over. We don't make rules on IDs, or how our points system works. Understand that we are working under largely the same restraints that you are, and that we are helping as much as we can within that framework.

Don't come up as a group if you're ordering separately: If you are paying for an entire group, feel free to come up together. If you are with your friends and each of you are paying separately, come up when called and stay on your own/with the payment group. WHY?: We have specific pull ratios for our lines. It is unfair for 5 people to be pulled from one line on accident. This also relates to the first DON'T about not coming up when called. Situations may arise where the concessionist was not aware of how many interactions they were signing up for when they called over a group.

Don't panic if your food isn't out to the minute: When you order ahead, your food pops up on our screens 10-15 minutes before your 'scheduled' delivery time. If your delivery is scheduled for 6:00 pm and it is 6:05 pm, don't worry! We are most likely on the way with your order. Similarly, if it was extremely busy when you were ordering at concessions, your food may take 20-25 minutes to be delivered to you. If it is expected to take any longer, the concessionist you ordered from will often mention the new expected wait time. WHY?: You may be missing your movie coming up to see us. If you are alone, we may be delivering the food while you come up, and it will be a few minutes before we try again if you are not there, especially when busy. *If it has been 30 minutes or more, feel free to come up to concessions and ask about your order. Make sure you're asking a concessionist at the counter, as they will be the only ones able to check on your order, and not another employee at box office or ushering.

DO'S:

Do decide who is ordering: Make sure that going into a concessions order you know who will be ordering, or that all of you will order for yourself. WHY?: If you are jumping back and forth between discussing/deciding what to order and actually ordering, it's easy for concessionists to lose track of what you are actually getting and what you are considering. If you have a large group order, consider asking the concessionist to review the order before it proceeds, and don't get upset at any mix-up. Deciding ahead of time that you will either take full responsibility of the order or everyone will order their own items reduces confusion, missed items, and double ordering. I have often had to ping-pong between parents, families, friends, etc who are contradicting each other throughout the entire order.

Do project and speak clearly (and listen!): Make sure your face is physically turned towards the concessionist when you are talking to us. Be close to the counter and feel free to stop the conversation to move back and look at the menu. (Bonus: if you are engaging with the concessionist, make sure you are listening as much as possible! It's not always viable, but try to avoid side conversations with party members, even when you think we aren't talking to you.) WHY?: It is often loud behind concessions, and if you are turned to your party member when you are ordering it can seem like you are just consulting them rather than giving a request. (If I am standing and looking at you, I may be talking to you. This might include vital instructions for your order, or questions you need to answer.)

Do know your seat number if you are ordering food: Unless you are not currently seeing a movie, your food needs to be delivered to your seat (no fee at our location). Make sure that you have your ticket or know your auditorium/seat number before ordering in order to save time.

Do make sure you're in the right line: When you are walking to our lines, look and see whether you are a paid member or not. Please use the appropriate line. WHY?: We have a pull ratio that favors paid members. It is unfair to those who are paying for priority for you to get those benefits for free by going in the paid member line.

Do have your ID if applicable: If you are an A-List member, are seeing an R-rated movie, or are ordering alcohol, you must have a valid ID with your name, picture, and birth date. WHY?: For our A-List membership, this is to protect you from identity fraud or scams, as you are paying monthly and getting free movies. For R-rated movies, make sure all party members are 17+ with valid ID, or have 1+ party member 21 or older with a valid ID that is staying for the movie. This is a potentially job-ending matter for employees, and you will be turned away from getting tickets or coming in. Please refer back to to the DON'T about blaming us for policy-- from our perspective, you seeing one movie is not worth our job. For alcohol, we have to card every single person, no matter how 'obviously over 21' you are. Please refer back to the DON'T about blaming us for policy.

Thank you for reading!

*These are only my opinions and are tailored to an AMC Dine-In audience. These opinions are not an official statement from AMC or my specific location, and are my own.

[renee-rust]

Architecture as a form of nudging

Having a background in corporate architecture means that I have spent a lot of time thinking about people’s behaviors and modifying the built environment to nudge individuals towards better behaviors. The important thing to note here is that those behaviors were already disclosed by many as something that they wanted. To be able to identify these, we would often have focus groups were we listened to various perspectives and goals people had in term of their workplace. This was a way for us to map the context in which the choices made lead to the behaviors they wanted to modify.

The pandemic forced many people to work from home for a prolonged period. Finally, after around two years many companies came to us to try and encourage people to return to the office. It turned out people were very reluctant because they had already gotten use to a different reality. First, we conducted surveys to understand what their pain points were and what positive reasons to returning to the office were. One of the big pain points that surfaced was that people felt the office was now too loud and distracting for focus work. Many desks were placed with felt dividers between them for a sense of privacy. The issue here, was that those dividers were creating a false sense of privacy, encouraging people to take calls from their desks and having louder conversations than usually because they could not hear themselves properly through their headphones. After finding this out, we removed those dividers and created open desks where people would sit side by side and see each other. The other feature we added was phone rooms, which could be used for calls. Additionally, we also created many break out rooms where groups of people could work together in a non-disruptive manner. These nudges lead to people feeling like there was better division of loud and quiet spaces, allowing for different forms of work to coexists.

Another example that comes to mind is how active people are at work. Many people find that they are stationary when they go into the workplace, which goes against their goal of leading a healthy life with enough physical activity. One of our clients mentioned this to us with the added issue that during peak hours, ie between meetings, the elevators were often full and took people way too long to move between floors. This is something we can all identify with if you have ever tried taking the elevators in E62 between classes. As we were developing the project we realized that people were taking the elevators because that is what they first saw when they walked through the doors. So, when we were tasked to design their new building, we switched this around. We placed their main staircase right in the center of the building making it a true feature, where people would meet up and socialize. By removing the barriers to using the staircase and making it more inviting than a typical dark fire stair, it became easier for people to choose the stairs over the elevator.

As a side note this begins to indicate as to why the elevators in E62 are often so packed. Does anyone actually know how to get to the third floor and above using stairs?

The built environment that surrounds us often nudges us to behave in all sorts of ways. These nudges are most successful when they are focused around an inherent goal we already had. We often do not think of the built environment as nudging us, which again just proves that it is a well-executed as it makes us feel like we are in control and doing something we wanted to. These nudges work well because they follow the framework of activating a desired behavior, being externally imposed, they make us mindless about the decision and encourage or discourage particular behaviors.  

[spamtonratiogeneral]

Proudly not watching NATLA. I don't really care what changes they made, whether it had been entirely the same or another hilarious fuck-up like the non-existent movie. Like whatever they did to fuck up the story I get if you're invested in the adaptation so fair enough

What I actually care about is the fact that it even exists at all. Even with the very rare cases where it actually brings something worthwhile to the work (I hear the Netflix One Piece is good? idk), why bother adapting animation to live action? Because nearly every time there is no artistic motivation to do so at all, merely the blatant cynicism and that sneering reduction of animation in the entertainment industry as just "the means of making cheap children's cartoons" that just refuses to fucking die already.

In general I find adaptation to rarely justify itself artistically, especially if the source material was really bloody good already. Of course great adaptations exist, sometimes from elevating/subverting it's source (or in the case of Starship Troopers for example, taking the everliving piss out of a pile of shit), sometimes merely by translating the work into a new medium that lead to interesting new avenues for expression and storytelling provided by the change in medium (and by this I mean wholly different mediums, like between book/videogame/film or show/play), or both.

Changing between live-action and animation as a means of making film/TV is not a big change in medium to provide entirely new storytelling opportunities, BUT 99% of the time, animation is more effective. Casting is never dependent on an actor's irl appearance, the method of animation can even be changed at any point to serve a function, animation (with sufficient time, resources and passion) allows total control over the entire visual presentation of the work. And by such total control over the presentation alone, suddenly you are open to an infinity of possibilities in choreography, character expression, visual comedy, tone, colour, environment etc. etc. You are no longer limited by what can be captured in physical reality on a screen in any one take. You are limited by what you can fit on a 2D screen.

What we call live action today in mainstream media is not really live action, it's in large part a corporate compromise to extend just past the financial and physical limitations of practical effects to achieve whatever the script needs the screen to do via CGI. Which is just 3D animation, but it's completely focused on adhering to a visual realism. Of course extremely good and thoughtfully presented live action works still exists; if it's filmed and/or presented thoughtfully and meticulously enough, then it can be similarly poignant as an excellent work of animation. But outside of like, auteurs, this does not usually happen.

This particular example is not from some troubled source material with lost potential or any severe caveats in visual presentation. This is fucking. ATLA. Like, the animation isn't as massively funded as a Disney Renaissance ig?? But for 2000s cartoons, it was insanely forward and completely holds up today, it's still cherished today. And ATLA in general was a masterpiece. It still IS a masterpiece!! It hasn't gone and fucking died in need of a replacement!!!

So there's just no way I can see it worth my time to dedicate my time to an inferior version of an awesome show that already exists.

It's just obvious that this show only exists so Nickelodeon can boost the profitability of [BRAND]. Love to the good honest crew and actors for the show, love that they're carrying out childhood dreams and getting to do promos with the original VAs and all. Wake me up when the animated ATLA films come out.

[beansprouts]

Each new “update” goes backward.

Going backward means losing features over time. This has been the general trajectory of corporately made technology and particualrly software.

Here’s an example of what I mean, with what I’ve spent the last half hour or so trying to troubleshoot. In my case it’s a video game functionality, but consider this a microcosm of the issues in pretty much any consumer software.

Goal: Take screenshots of my Dragon Age experience. I legally own all of the games. I have made beautiful blorbos in these character creators and I want to take screenshots of them in their journey, which I will then share. This should not be a difficult ask.

Dragon Age: Origins, 2009: has robust screenshot-taking features! On PC there’s a built-in screen capture shortcut which saves to a local subfolder of Documents. In addition to this, the game itself takes some automated screenshots when you reach certain story checkpoints, saved to the same folder. So taking your own screenshots is really simple, and the game makes some for you!

Dragon Age II, 2011: does not have a screenshot hotkey, nor automated screenshots, but because I bought the game on Steam, I can use Steam’s overlay to take a screen capture, which I can then track down using the Steam UI (it’s also in My Documents somewhere). It’s a little clunky, because it requires launching DA2 through another layer, but the flow is still pretty simple: one key and it’s saved.

Dragon Age: Inquisition, 2014, I bought at a GameStop (I know, right? If I hadn’t been there I wouldn’t have believed they still sold PC games at the time). Though 18-year-old Julia hoped even then it would be a physical disk, instead the box came with a code for downloading the game through EA’s hot trashfire Origin, the world’s worst game launcher. Inquisition did not exist for Steam yet (and won’t for quite some time). To take screenshots, I add Inquisition as a Non-Steam App to enable the overlay and use the Steam hotkey like I did for Dragon Age 2. This requires some annoying one-time setup to troubleshoot Origin booting up with the game, and you have to have Origin as well as Steam running constantly in the background (should be fine for most modern computers, but every running application eats valuable memory), but for the most part taking screenshots itself isn’t hard.

Sometime within the past year (2023) EA catches on that its userbase hates Origin and force-updates everyone onto the EA App instead. I actually think as a launcher it works somewhat better than Origin but the transition seems to come out of nowhere and quite a few people’s game configurations break. Among the EA App’s “features” is that for all of its games it blocks the Steam overlay entirely. I can no longer use Steam’s nice screenshot shortcut.

So for my current run of Inquisition, every time I take a screenshot, I use Window’s OS-level snipping tool. (I actually have a custom hotkey for this on my homemade keyboard because, in case you couldn’t already tell, I’m a horrible massive nerd, but for everyone else) The built-in windows shortcut for that is Winkey+Shift+S, and it force-minimizes your screen so you can use the snipping tool overlay. You then have to switch to the tool itself, which is kind of slow, and manually save the screenshot.

I mean, like, it works. But it’s annoying. It takes a minute for Windows to switch contexts between all the open applications. Inquisition has a lot of loading to begin with (especially if you play with mods), and the last thing a player wants is more hard waits when they’re just trying to take a goddamn screenshot.

Look at the bolded dates. Look at how much feature access I, the user who paid comparable amounts of money for each game, am given over time, versus how much I have to use workarounds. Do you see how the software updates go backward?

And it’s not like taking screenshots is something the software devs should be trying to limit or anything. I’m not making the game “less fair”. Hell, you could call my OC-posting unpaid marketing for the franchise. There’s no good reason for video game companies, or any software companies, to be doing this. And yet they have been.

As parting words, some “research” on screenshotting with the EA app:

[buriedsecretspodcast]

Accidentally overriding reality: untrustworthy and accidentally faked photos

I've been thinking and writing a lot about instant photography as paranormal evidence over the last week or so, and over this period of time, I've come across a number of articles talking about how digital photography, in particular smartphone photography, is beginning to feel less and less reliable. In particular, two news stories have broken that talk about how in some circumstances, you can't trust the pictures that you take on your phone.

The first story is about Samsung's photo "enhancements" (much more on that down below). The second is about how people thought that they were cropping out or redacting sensitive information on screen grabs on their Google Pixel phones because it looked like the images were cropped or redacted. But years later, it's been revealed that the "redacted" data was still available in the file, and it can be retrieved, meaning that credit card numbers, names, addresses, and other sensitive information has been compromised.  (By the way, a second "acropalypse" bug has now been found on Window devices, as well—another strike against feeling like you can trust the images that you see on your devices.  Images aren't quite what they seem.)

Before I get into the Samsung controversy, I want to elaborate a bit more on some reasons why instant photography feels so trustworthy, particularly in contrast to the mysterious ways in which are phones can twist reality in the photographs that we take.

Instant photos feel real

Like I mentioned when I wrote about instant photos as paranormal evidence, Polaroid photos are extremely physical. They take a moment and immediately allow you to have a keepsake of it, a physical reminder of where you just were, who you're with, or what just occurred. I love bringing my Polaroid or Fujifilm camera on trips, because it's nice to have that physical souvenir of a place, rather than just a bunch of smartphone photos.

So when trying to create a record of something as insubstantial as a ghost, of course it makes sense to want to do that through a physical means. Because, again, instant photographs allow you to take a particular moment in time—something that can only be experienced by being there physically—and turn it into an artifact immediately.

I think there's something in the desire to try to capture a non-corporeal entity like a ghost in an incredibly physical and immediate form of media. It almost feels like a way to "prove" the existence of ghost.

In addition to being harder to fake than digital photography, a Polaroid of a ghost or paranormal phenomena translates an insubstantial thing into a very real feeling photograph. It literally takes the image of the ghost from the theoretical, invisible, untouchable realm of the unknown and turns it into a physical photograph that you can hold. The desire to want to catalog your paranormal experiences using Polaroids makes complete sense. If you see a potentially paranormal anomaly in your instant photo, it feels like the phenomena is more real because it was captured in the picture.

Fakery in smartphone photography

On the other end of the spectrum, there's the computational photography , which can modify the images we photograph with smartphone cameras in various ways. An article in The Verge sums up the recent Samsung controversy well:

This week, Samsung drew criticism for the technology its newer phones use to “enhance” photos of the Moon. A user on Reddit, ibreakphotos, conducted an experiment by creating a blurred photo of the Moon and then taking a picture of it using their Galaxy S23 Ultra. Even though the photo was completely blurry, their Samsung device appeared to add details to the image that weren’t there before, like craters and other marks, calling into question whether the highly detailed Moon photos people have been taking with their Galaxy devices really are photos of the Moon.

The Verge article is a fascinating read; not only does it document the Samsung moon-augmentation scandal, but it also talks about how many, many images of the moon that we see have been modified. Part of that is because it's so easy to do these days:

And while faking the night sky once involved “sandwiching negatives, doing things in the darkroom,” as Nordgren says, it’s become far easier and more prevalent in the age of Photoshop. “One of the biggest things people do is sky replacements,” Lynsey Schroeder, a professional astrophotographer tells The Verge. “They’ll take the Milky Way from a different photo and Photoshop it in so that it looks like it was there.” An expert would immediately know that it’s fake. “But to the general public, they don’t know.”

As someone who's reworked plenty of photos in Photoshop, I can say that this sort of photo manipulation is trivially easy. Like I've mentioned before, as popular apps like Facetune allow people to modify photos on their mobile devices, people have learned to trust digital photography less and less.

But Samsung's wholesale replacement of the moon in photos—using a "deep-learning-based AI detail enhancement engine"—strikes me as a step beyond that.   (Samsung has apparently been using AI in their cameras since the Galaxy S10, and their "Scene Optimizer" technology since the Galaxy S21 series. Though I can tell you that pictures of the moon on my Galaxy S22+ still look like garbage. So they've clearly made some major changes for their latest devices.  Either that, or I guess I gotta try using my phone's 100x zoom, which I had no idea existed. )

It's one thing for someone to decide to modify their own photographs; it's another for apps themselves to rework images in the process of capturing them.

In the case of someone photographing the moon and getting a completely different image, there was never a "real," unedited version of the image. You can't revert between the edited and original versions; the edit is the only one that exists.

Samsung isn't the only company that has introduced "computational photography" into its cameras. Apple's live photos and portrait mode could be considered computational photography, but as AppleInsider points out, "users are beginning to ask where to draw the line between these algorithms and something more intrusive, like post-capture pixel alteration."

There are so many questions that this raises, but the question of memory resonates the most to me. Many people (myself included) use smartphone photos as an aide-mémoire. I'll often take pictures not because something is beautiful or because I'm expressing myself artistically, but because I want to remember something. I'm not going to post that image to Instagram, but I will scroll back in my phone, see the timestamped, unaesthetic mirror selfie in a venue bathroom, and think "oh, right, that's the day that I went to that concert."

For me, the visual information that I collect in the form of photos is more for constructing and preserving my memories than anything else. So my question is: If our everyday smartphone photos help us remember reality and our pasts, what happens when, unbeknownst to us, our cameras are modifying the images? In that case, it becomes a form of memory modification. At that point, you aren't the arbiter of your memories; the images on your phone can override your recollections. As AppleInsider eloquently puts it, "the final image doesn't represent what the sensor detected and the algorithm processed. It represents an idealized version of what might be possible but isn't because the camera sensor and lens are too small."

There's something truly chilling about that.

The AppleInsider article goes on:

By changing how the moon appears using advanced algorithms without alerting the user, that image is forever altered to fit what Samsung thinks is ideal. Sure, if users know to turn the feature off, they could, but they likely won't.

So here we are, in a place where large tech corporations have the power to override reality—and perhaps even our very memories. No wonder instant photography, despite its limitations, can feel like a more reliable way to access paranormal realities.

If smartphone cameras are increasingly depicting "idealized" images of the world, smoothing out anomalies and removing variations from what an computer might consider "normal," what does that mean for paranormal photography? Is it possible that phone cameras might capture paranormal phenomena, but the AI in the phone's camera wipes that out, replacing it with "expected" reality? Or could strangeness seep in anyway, through synchronicity and glitches?