#leon aquitaine

[leonaquitaine]

ReShade Guide: Transparent Screenshots

Want a nice cut-out picture? transparent chromakey shots are here to save the day!

You can achieve this with a combination of two features in ReShade: ChromaKey.fx, a technique that generates a greenscreen effect, and Clear Alpha Channel, a toggle located under the Settings tab.

1 - Setup

Make sure PNG is selected as the target format since JPG doesn't preserve transparency! Also, don't forget to re-enable Clear Alpha Channel after taking your shots - otherwise, you may capture completely black shots!

2 - Enabling the Shader

Place Chromakey.fx right after FFRestoreUI.fx- otherwise, your UI may be hidden by the shader.

3 - Take your screenshot!

You should now be able to capture shots with transparency properly preserved!

Chromakeyed, transparent images can be used in several different situations! For example, I often use it to create tutorial slides.

What about reference cards for art commissions?

Or maybe stickers with your friends. Or Discord emotes. Or whatever strikes your fancy. The sky's the limit!

This is my first guide adapted to ReShade. If you have any questions about this feature or other aspects of ReShade or GPose, feel free to ask!

And if you need a handy guide to help you migrate from GShade to ReShade, here's a link!

[nobutakafairclough]

Hanging out with @leonaquitaine as we take photos for the YouTube version of his Coffee & Carbuncles interview. I swear I'm not as short as this tall Elezen man makes me seem 😭

[lilbittymonster]

I've seen several people lament over the past week that they aren't good at gpose lighting, so between that and recent discussions of a certain prominent pro-AI gposer, I thought I'd throw something together about how I do my lighting in gpose. Hopefully this'll be helpful to some of you!

My go to setup for lighting is two rim lights sandwiching my subject. This is a bit of an extreme example, but you can clearly see where I dropped the red and the blue lights versus how they frame her in the actual shot that I wanted.

For something a little less extreme I still try to get a good profile light on the side of her face/body that's the furthest away from the camera, usually the side that's going to be in the most shadow. Just enough light to brush up and reflect off of her to make the line between her and the background a little clearer.

And this is especially necessary when hair colour matches the background colour, like when I want to take pictures of Vaisha with their pitch black hair at night.

This one is a bit more on the extreme side, but I was also making a themed shot to go with an ask. The important part is highlighting the part of their face that's deeper in shadow so the colour can reflect off of it and define it against the dark background.

Even with brightly lit subjects and brightly lit areas, you're still going to get some weird shadows, so having a couple rim lights to fill in the gaps makes a shot look more rounded. Here's a recent glamtober shot taken in broad daylight, before and after I dropped a yellow and pink light on either side of her.

While the shot on the left is fine on it's own, the shadow of the chair behind her, the shadow of the skirt, and the shadow cast on the right side of her hair pull away from the rest of the daylight. The bright yellow of the chair cushion is a little jarring against the duller purple of the dress. By adding the pink light off to her right, and a golden light behind her to the left, the rest of the picture warms back up and is tinted a little more to the pink side and makes everything look a little more unified.

I also will use lighting to either amplify preexisting light sources or mimic natural light sources.

For example, this alpine lamp is not actually very bright. So what I did was swing the camera around until the lamp filled my field of view and then put a gold light right on top of it to cast a soft backlight over the two of them on the couch.

Or mimicking and enhancing the light of the setting sun here. I dropped a red-gold light off some distance opposite of the camera, where the sun would be coming in, to better reflect off of Kitali's face.

Another example is putting down a very light pink light on the sand to mimic the reflected sunlight. You can just barely see it on the outline of their pants, but it was enough to light the underside of Estinien's face for the final shot.

A more subtle example is placing a pale blue glow to her right to match the glow of the Fae spear, and a soft orange light to her left to match the glowing tree mushrooms. This one even comes with free complementary colours!

A couple more examples of enhancing natural and object light.

A bright blue light dropped at the tip of the spear to enhance it's glow.

Red reflecting off of Nidhogg's Eye.

A strong orange to her right to mimic the setting sun.

A cool blue from above and to her left to strengthen the moonlight.

And sometimes I just start throwing in colours for fun, or to play with colour theory for some extra pop.

And if you want to get funky you can throw down a pride flag!

TL;DR is: wrapping your subjects with light rather than aiming a single point directly at them will help round out the shot, strengthening the natural lighting can help enhance a shot without making it look overproduced, and adding points of complementary colour adds interest and breaks up monochromatic colour palettes.

Most importantly, have fun with it!

(And if you found this helpful I'd appreciate it if you could reblog!)

[gposers]

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WEEKLY FEATURE WINNER!!!

Name: Leon Aquitaine World: Famfrit Bluesky Caption: Remembrance

[sundered-souls]

GPosingway and gen AI

CTRL+F "What is" if you want to go straight to the "what is GPosingway?" section.

Some context first

Screenshot made with Wi-Fi's preset Inflorescence (yes, it's AI and it's relevant)

A few days ago, a post made the rounds about GPosingway, Wi-Fi's presets and Leon Aquitaine's opinion on generative AI. What started as a simple post of someone setting boundaries about screenshots containing AI generated stuff (so far, so good) ended up, with the help of two people's additions, as a gaggle of shit based on hearsay, misinformation, fear-mongering and someone's personal vendetta that inevitably ended up as harassment.

For some reason, several hundred people felt the need to enable it. Because apparently what the "nice and welcoming" FFXIV community needs is pearl clutching over (only one brand of) copyright infringement, and bullying.

So I'm posting to hopefully share what GPosingway truly is, since apparently it was too much to ask to just go to their GitHub page and read three lines of explanation.

Just to be clear: this isn't permission to go harass them or anyone who uses GPosingway, with or without AI-generated textures. You're not twelve and being an abusive control freak isn't sexy. Behave.

Customary disclaimer

For the record, I'm not particularly comfortable with generative AI. I'm also not comfortable with porting assets from other games, unofficial merchandising (incl. commissions of your blorbo from the game), data-mining and taking screenshots of glamours that aren't officially available in game yet.

As I laid my eyes upon the Azem crystal I bought from a friend some time ago, however, I figured I lost my right to cast the first stone. And, frankly, sometimes those commissions are just really pretty.

But here's a stack for those of you morally pure enough to stone people over copyright infringement. I'm sure none of you has ever used a movie or anime character as a pfp in your life—let alone a stolen fanart—so have fun.

(Also please don't stack stones irl. It's bad for the little critters who depend on them to live and reproduce.)

What is GPosingway?

It's ReShade with a bunch of presets.

Yeah, that's it.

It's literally ReShade and it comes with a bunch of presets that are compatible with that version of ReShade and the game and don't conflict with each other.

No, it's not a fork.

It's ReShade. With a bunch of presets. That you don't have to hunt on three thousand discords, patreons, kofis, websites, etc.

Basically, GPosingway's main appeal if that it's less bothersome than hunting down presets on your own and making sure everything is compatible.

Anyway.

It's not perfect for reasons I'll describe later, so if you decide you don't want to use GPosingway anymore, here's what you need to do: nothing.

It's just ReShade. With a bunch of presets.

You don't have to uninstall ReShade to then reinstall ReShade like I've seen someone say, that'd be stupid and a waste of time. Just make sure the presets you use remain compatible with the version of ReShade you have and that's it.

And because it's literally just ReShade, it also means that you can add, change or delete presets like you would with any other ReShade install. And you can delete or just not use textures you find suspicious, because believe it or not, you're not being victimized by your shaders and the Devil isn't here to tempt you.

Do you know what GPosingway is not, though? A stain on your soul.

What's the problem with it?

Well, Leon Aquitaine, the dude at the helm of the project, is pro generative AI. And because he's pro generative AI, he will and has agreed to include presets in GPosingway that use AI generated textures, like Wi-Fi's*.

Which you can yeet from your folders in ten seconds top, if you've installed ReShade through GPosingway and didn't know it was there.

And that's it, really.

(*Neither of them hid it, to be clear. Though I will grant you that they could be more forthcoming on the GitHub page itself.)

Now what?

Well, now you can do whatever you want. Use it, don't use it, the choice is yours. What you're doing on your own computer is no one's business but yours anyway.

Just don't go harassing people or smearing them online because you disagree with them. It apparently needs saying, so I'll say it: bullying people out of a community is much worse than generating textures with AI or using said textures.

If you don't like that GPosingway exists as it is, here's a list of things you can do:

your own ReShade package

sharing a list of your favourites presets to make them easier to find

sharing existing lists

if you really have that much energy to spend, organizing with other people to lobby your government and put limits to what AI is used for and how

And absolutely all those options will be better for your self-esteem than callouts and harassment of a random dude online.

Happy screenshotting!

[sundered-souls-hub]

Welcome~

I'm Skaar (he/they).

▬ Folllows come from @undisclosed-id

This hub will be 98% reblogs, 1% opinion pieces/shitposts from me about the game, 1% WoL QotD when I'm struck by inspiration.

Navigation

— Nymeia's Favor (art) — Byregot's Blessing (screenshots, gifs, videos) — The Wanderer's Minuet (writing) — Thaliak's Wisdom (meta, lore) — Resources — Shitposts

I tend to stick to SFW content. However, partial nudity/suggestive art might still occasionally happen.

This blog is not spoiler free!

Communities

Feel free to join @spotofmummery's community here and @gatheredfates's community here.

Specialized communities

Roleplay

Screenshots

Writing

Resources

Under the cut ↓

Roleplay resources

Lore index by @/mirkemenagerie

Crystal archives (for RPers on NA data centers)

Chaos archives (for RPers on EU data centers)

Old French names for your Elezens

Units of time/measurement in FFXIV

The wonderful @mimble-sparklepudding has made plenty of OC ask lists you can answer to share your OC lore!

Gpose resources

— Gposingway (Reshade with some pre-installed presets that work well for FFXIV, like True Realism, so you don't have to look for them yourself) — BIPOC friendly presets for GShade/ReShade

Now, a bit of information because I've read truly dumb takes that border on mass hysteria about generative AI:

GPosingway is just ReShade with pre-installed presets that are guaranteed to be up to date with that version of ReShade and with the game. That's it. It's a package, not a fork. If you use it, you're actually just installing ReShade, and you can change, delete and add presets and textures like you would with a manually installed ReShade.

This is why I'm listing it here despite disagreeing with Leon Aquitaine (the dude at the helm of the project) about generative-AI, in the sense that he's in favor and I'm not.

→ Wi-Fi's presets (included with GPosingway) might use AI textures. Idk. Their website is unavailable on my end so I can't confirm (and I have better things to do than to hunt them down). If you don't want to risk it, you can either delete the presets and textures or just change the textures to something you're more comfortable with. Or not use their presets at all. Or not install ReShade through GPosingway. Whichever you prefer. Nobody's going to spy on you to know what you're doing on your own computer—although the use of AI generated stuff might grant you the dubious honor of being blocked by some if spotted.

However, if you were using GPosingway so far and has now decided against it in light of these revelations: you... don't have to do anything. You've just installed Reshade with a bunch of presets, not a goddamn virus. Just do the updates manually from now on (if you want to update at all), pick your presets on your own and you're good to go.

Miscellaneous resources

— Sea's compendium is an extraordinary place to look for more communities, events, discords, free companies, etc.

[sophieaquitaine]

Sophie's first GLAM shot posted to Eorzea Collection <3

This glam was inspired by Starlight from the series The Boys. The Virtual Photography for this session was done by my husband, Leon Aquitaine.

[jackhkeynes]

Vascony

Vascony (Vascon: Vasconna), or more fully the Vascon Kingdom of Navarre and Aquitain (Vascon: Lo Reiame Vascòn a Navarr'i Aquitanna, Vask: Navarron t'Aquitainon Vasca Herria) is a polity of western Europe occupying parts of southern Gaul and northern Spain.

History

Vascony was formed from the political union of Aquitain and Navarre, later expanding to vassalise Leon in the twelfth century.

The fifteenth century saw the Vascon Ascendancy, which began by most accounts in the reign of Ambrose II and reached a peak with his grandson Ambrose III. At the start of this period Vascony was at its territorial maximum: it had conquered northern Portingale and subjugated the rest as a nominally-independent client, as well as much of southern Burgundy (which is to say, enough of Provence to share a border with the Italian states of Genova and Romaine).

In 1458 Ambrose III established by royal decree the New Navarre Enterprise, whose primary aim was to solidify Vascon supremacy in the trade of North Atlantic fish through the Middlesea. British dominion over the Atlantic had long frustrated Vask fishing families, members of which still predominated in the aristocracy. It was ships of this guild that in 1471 sighted Brasil and brought news of the Novomund to Europe.

The decades following the Novomundine Landfall brought new prosperity to Vascony, and in particular to Portingale. At the same time, the polity suffered militarily: the Kingdom of Burgundy retook Provence in 1494 (sparking the 1497–99 War of Provincial Independence), and a decade later the remainder of Vascony's Middlesea coast (primarily the region of Tolose) was taken by Barcelon.

Being a maritime power, Vascony had explored parts of the African coast (as far south as Sant Adrian [Bioko]) during the fifteenth century. However, for much the same reason Vascony lost over a fifth of its population to the Second Great Dying in the years after the plague's arrival in Europe in 1519. Despite this, thanks to Novomundine profits in furs and other goods, the polity actually saw in increase in population from 1500 to 1550 (excluding Portingale) due to immigration.

The Vascon Ascendancy is generally considered to have ended with the War of the Two Queens near the end of the sixteenth century, which also saw the formal end of feudalism within the polity.

The parts of Mendeva first explored by (and whose trade was monopolised by) Vascony—to wit, the island of Brasil and the lands westward thereof—was named Ambrosia in honour of Ambrose III.

During the Romantic Wars of the mid-seventeenth century, Vascony fought primarily with Morrack to the south. The polity was forced to cede Portingale, its economic heart, to Andalus (then controlled by Morrack) after a series of military defeats.

In an example of early international cooperation, a canal system connecting Bordew to Audaz in Barcelon was completed in 1679.

Vascony was at the vanguard of the Modest Arrangement, a social movement in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries characterised by more stringent enforcement of morality codes, especially with respect to familial powers. Famously, author Antòin Herrel (latterly Tony Smith) was forced to flee Vascony to Kent after attempting to publish his blasphemous work 'Earthly Scene' (Vista Terrena).

At first, Vascony managed not to become embroiled in the Second German War of the 1820s. Once its interests in Mendeva and the East were threatened, however, then-king Hernand IV had no choice but to declare against the Northern Concert and in favour of the Convoy.

Into the twentieth century, Vascony maintained strong ties with its neighbour Provence by virtue of a shared enmity towards the Drengot Collusion to their north.

People

Monarchs

Ranolf VI, (crowned 1170), during whose reign Leon became a vassal of the kingdom

Ambrose III "The Ascendant" (17 March 1435–28 February 1518), who presided over the Vascon Ascendancy

Hernand IV (fl. 1820), who reigned during the height of the Modest Arrangement and the Second German War

Other nobles

Princess Alexandra of Vascony (b. ca. 1430), first European royal to set foot in the Nvomund

Prince Mark of Tolose (d. 1453), who predeceased his son Ambrose III

Princess Natalia of Vascony (b. ca. 1440), younger sister of Ambrose III

Prince Victor of Astorga (b. ca. 1440), younger brother of Ambrose III

Writers

David Bensaíd (fl. 1751), author of the influential political treatise "The Three Cities"

Antòin Herrel (fl. 1820), who was forced to flee to Kent after his work was banned in Vascony

Gonçala Jaubèt (fl. 1902), who later in life moved to Valencia

Galarça fi Molhomé (fl. 2014), lovetale writer turned popular historian

García Ramires (fl. 1920), who translated Bellamy's "A Door, Once Opened" into Leon

[epicdrakonis]

Learning new things thanks to Leon Aquitaine's new Discord. I admired his skill from afar for so long and now I get to learn from him and so many other creative, skilled virtual photographers.

[earaercircular]

In Saint-Léon close to Bordeaux is located a “laboratory” that gives new life to plastic waste

At the crossroads of contemporary design and the circular economy, the Plastiquerie manufactures sustainable furniture from recycled plastic.

So what do the big yellow and blue bags from Ikea or the construction helmets from the manufacturer Vinci have in common? They are made of a plastic material that can be recycled to make new objects. “Recycled plastic is a material with endless possibilities that I want to make known to designers. It’s a bit like the marble of the Anthropocene”, explains Julie Robert, co-founder of La Plastiquerie [1] based in Saint-Léon[2], about thirty kilometres south-east of Bordeaux.

Shelves, furniture or floor tiles

Since 2021, the independent artistic director has been passionate about this raw material, she has learned the properties of in order to manufacture designer objects and furniture. The association recovers plastic waste in polypropylene (PP)[3], polyethylene (PE)[4] or polystyrene (PS)[5]  to give them a second life. “PET[6] waste such as plastic bottles already benefit from recycling solutions. I focus on families of plastics that are still poorly revalued”, she specifies. Protective films, water tubes from construction sites or industry off-cuts from yoghurt pots are thus treated in a 100 m² workshop housed in the premises of the Syndicate of the Entre-deux-Mers-West-region for the Collection and Treatment of Household Waste[7].

There, under a sheet metal shed, a shredder and a hot press transform the collected waste into confetti and then into large recycled plastic plates that will be used to make shelves, furniture or floor tiles. “La Plastiquerie is a laboratory where we develop prototypes of objects resulting from the recovery of plastic. From cans and flowerpots, for example, I imagined a wall light that saves 980 grams of plastic from landfill and incineration,” explains the entrepreneur.

"Companies want to recycle their own waste"

Although the Plastiquerie was co-founded with another woman, Amandine Boutang, Julie Robert now works alone, sometimes helped by an intern and supported by a board of directors, on her experiments with furniture designed in recycled and recyclable plastic. She is thinking about a waste sorting cabinet for the canteen of the Suez[8]  headquarters in Occitanie-Nouvelle Aquitaine[9]. For the Bordeaux start-up Arits[10], she is working on the design of a lamp. A bank has also just approached her for an interior design project…

"Companies come naturally to the association because they want to recover their own waste or participate in the circular economy", rejoices the forty-year-old who wants to sharpen her expertise on recycled plastic to convince designers to adopt it. Two years after the launch of her project, Julie Robert draws a positive balance sheet: “I discovered the world of the circular economy where the actors are positive, imaginative people, full of energy and solutions. A world in which a great breath of optimism is sweeping in which I find myself.”

Source

Florence Donnarel, A Saint-Léon, un «laboratoire» pour donner une nouvelle vie aux déchets plastiques, in : Libération, 9-01-2023, https://www.liberation.fr/forums/a-saint-leon-un-laboratoire-pour-donner-une-nouvelle-vie-aux-dechets-plastiques-20230109_72VUV54KQJBBJGALYJ2C2FTORQ/

[1] Plastic is far from fantastic when it comes to recycling. At La Plastiquerie, we collect non-recycled deposits to revalorize them and produce small and medium design series. Its objective: to transform plastic waste into highly desirable objects and furniture! http://www.laplastiquerie.com

[2] Saint-Léon is a commune in the French department of Gironde (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region) and has 242 inhabitants (1999). The place is part of the arrondissement of Bordeaux.

[3] Polypropylene is the second-most widely produced commodity plastic (after polyethylene). In 2019, the global market for polypropylene was worth $126.03 billion.

[4] Polyethylene (generic acronym PE), or polyethene, refers to ethylene polymers. Simple and inexpensive to manufacture, PEs are the most common plastic material, representing with 100 million tonnes, approximately one third of all plastics produced in 20186 and half of packaging.

[5] Polystyrene (PS) is a synthetic polymer made from monomers of the aromatic hydrocarbon styrene. Polystyrene can be solid or foamed. General-purpose polystyrene is clear, hard, and brittle. It is an inexpensive resin per unit weight. It is a poor barrier to oxygen and water vapour and has a relatively low melting point.[6] Polystyrene is one of the most widely used plastics, the scale of its production being several million tonnes per year.[7] Polystyrene can be naturally transparent, but can be coloured with colorants. Uses include protective packaging (such as packing peanuts and in the jewel cases used for storage of optical discs such as CDs and occasionally DVDs), containers, lids, bottles, trays, tumblers, disposable cutlery,[6] in the making of models, and as an alternative material for phonograph records.

[6] Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods, and thermoforming for manufacturing, and in combination with glass fibre for engineering resins.

[7] The Syndicat de l'Entre-deux-Mers-Ouest pour la Collecte et le Traitement des Ordures Ménagères (S.E.M.O.C.T.O.M.) (Syndicate of the Entre-deux-Mers-West-region for the Collection and Treatment of Household Waste was created by prefectural decree of January 28, 1980. It is a closed mixed syndicate governed by the General Code of Territorial Communities and therefore a public service. Bordered to the north and south by two rivers (the Garonne and the Dordogne) which gave the name to the territory of "Entre-deux-Mers", it is located to the south-east of the Urban Community of Bordeaux and is covers an area of 666 km². It partially or totally brings together 7 communities of municipalities as well as part of the Libournais urban community (CALI). It brings together 85 municipalities and more than 110,000 inhabitants. https://www.semoctom.com/web/fr/11-semoctom.php#:~:text=Le%20Syndicat%20de%20l%27Entre,et%20donc%20un%20service%20public.

[8] Suez a Belgian-French company known as GDF SUEZ after 2008. The company was split up, and as of 2008, the 1858-created company's spun-off environmental business continued as a separate company under the Suez name.

[9] https://www.suez.fr/fr-fr/nous-connaitre/notre-presence-en-france/occitanie

[10]The Bordeaux-based startup Arits, which manufactures sun, has imagined a brilliant lamp, which illuminates interiors with an unprecedented technology. The company aims to reproduce the entire cycle of the sun at home. From sunrise to sunset, passing through the Zenith or the Golden Hour..https://arits.fr/

[leonaquitaine]

Tips: Player Portraits

A limited number of backgrounds and emotes. Only two lighting controls - and only one is positional. Itsy bitsy viewport space.

It's time for /gpose(Extreme), AKA Player Portraits!

(This is a small collection of things that I learned while playing around with Portraits and Adventurer Plates, so please don't expect a full-fledged guide!) Ready? So let's do this!

1 - Expressions and Static poses

I often start a portrait with some adjustments from the default, lifeless pose. Static poses are great for this because you have precise control over positions and angles, and can get you going with minimal effort.

(Some) unlocked expressions and poses can be selected through the Pose and Expression dropdowns in the Character interface:

2 - Lighting

Things start to get tricky now. There are only two sets of light controls: Ambient, and Directional. Both allow for tone and intensity control, but they kind of interact in a funky way.

For example, if the Ambient light is set to minimum intensity, it affects the Directional source in a way that mutes its intensity, resulting in a cell shade-like pattern; so balancing both seems to yield better results.

The second-to-last slider on the Directional lighting controls the elevation of the source (the vertical axis), while the last controls the horizontal rotation around the character.

At zero, the vertical slider places the light on the horizon; top at 90, and bottom at -90.

3 - Camera

The controls for the camera are pretty straightforward, if a bit limited: you can zoom in and out with the mouse scroll, move the camera by dragging the character, and use the sliders to control camera distance and inclination.

I often use variants of the three types described below. At Max zoom and distance, the character elements are presented in a pretty good ratio. At Min, you get some forced perspective effect, where objects closer to the camera are considerably larger. Max distance and medium zoom result in a nice frame filling.

Forced perspective can also give you some neat poses if you play around with angles:

4 - Animated Emotes and Glowy Weapons

Animated emotes can be a treat since they hide some really nice keyframes. With a bit of luck, patience, and composition you can land really nice results:

And yes, glowy weapons do preserve their animations! That gives off a nice shiny collectible card effect. Keep that in mind when positioning your character!

So there you have it. Portraits can be tricky to set up, but the results can be very rewarding!

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 7.25 (before 1900)

306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. 315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I's victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge. 677 – Climax of the Siege of Thessalonica by the Slavs in a three-day assault on the city walls. 864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings. 1137 – Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux. 1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques who is proclaimed King of Portugal. 1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire. 1278 – The naval Battle of Algeciras takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in a victory for the Emirate of Granada and the Maranid Dynasty over the Kingdom of Castile. 1467 – The Battle of Molinella: The first battle in Italy in which firearms are used extensively. 1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali. 1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil. 1547 – Henry II of France is crowned. 1554 – The royal wedding of Mary I and Philip II of Spain celebrated at Winchester Cathedral. 1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela. 1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. 1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico. 1718 – At the behest of Tsar Peter the Great, the construction of Kadriorg Palace, dedicated to his wife Catherine, begins in Tallinn. 1722 – Dummer's War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border. 1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé. 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war's last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement. 1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550). 1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed. 1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain). 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a numerically superior Ottoman army under Mustafa Pasha at the Battle of Abukir. 1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed. 1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua. 1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone. 1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery, in the wake of the defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run. 1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank. 1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established. 1869 – The Japanese daimyōs begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869). 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship. 1897 – American author Jack London embarks on a sailing trip to take part in the Klondike's gold rush, from which he wrote his first successful stories. 1898 – Spanish–American War: The American invasion of Spanish-held Puerto Rico begins, as United States Army troops under General Nelson A. Miles land and secure the port at Guánica.

[lilbittymonster]

Very disappointed that those new tarot cards ReShade presets are using AI generated images and I will absolutely not be using them.

For anyone else concerned with the use of generative AI I would suggest also not using them.

[gposers]

The Winner of the 59th GPOSERS Challenge has been decided!

Name: Leon Aquitaine Server: Famfrit Image Caption: Rock On Theme: Spotlight

[brookston]

Holidays 6.25

Holidays

Arbor Day (Philippines)

Barbed Wire Day

Blade Runner Day

Color TV Day

Cucumber Day (French Republic)

Custer’s Last Stand Day

Custom Officer’s Day (Ukraine)

Day of Friendship and Unity of the Slavs

Day of the Seafarer (UN)

Doonesbury Day (Washington, DC)

Feast of the Optional Holiday

Festival of Ranting and Vaporing

Flag Day (Finland)

Frelimo’s Foundation Day (Mozambique)

Global Beatles Day

Half-Christmas (from “Workaholics”)

International Hug a Deer Day

Korean War Remembrance Day

Lakota Victory Day

Leon Day

Log Cabin Day

Mitch Lane Day

National Camp Counts! Day

National Day (Day of Slovenian Sovereignty; Slovenia)

National Iodine Day (Thailand)

National Leon Day

National Olaplex Day

National Police Community Cooperative Day

No Prayer in School Day

Paddington Bear Day

Pixie Day (Devon, England)

Rainbow Flag Day

Reuben Day (625 Day; Lily & Stitch)

Salute Your Hometown Day

Sense of Humor in Bed Day

625 Day (South Korea)

Smurfs Day

Stripper Appreciation Day

Switch 625 Day

Teacher’s Day (Guatemala)

Tennis Shoe Day

UNICEF Maroon 5 Day

World Anti-Bullfighting Day

World Sand Dune Day

World Vitiligo Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Anthony Bourdain Day (a.k.a. Bourdain Day)

Goats Cheese Day

International Rosé' Day

National Catfish Day

National Croatian Wine Day

National Fried Okra Day

National Strawberry Parfait Day

Independence & Related Days

Croatia (Independence Memorial Day; 1991)

Détian Tsardom (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Florida (Readmitted to the Union; 1868)

Mozambique (from Portugal, 1975)

Norfolk Empire (Declared; 2019) [unrecognized]

Slovenia (from Yugoslavia, 1991)

Virginia Statehood Day (#10; 1788)

4th & Last Tuesday in June

Hetero Male Monday (Boise, Idaho) [Every Monday in June]

National Columnists Day [4th Tuesday]

Please Take My Children To Work Day [Last Monday]

Taco Tuesday [Every Tuesday]

Festivals Beginning June 25, 2024

National Potato Council Summer Meeting (Fort Collins, Colorado) [thru 6.28]

Odessa Classics (Lucerne, Switzerland)

Organic Beer Fest (Portland, Oregon) [thru 6.27]

Resurrection Fest (Viveiro, Spain) [thru 6.29]

Southwest Fuel & Convenience Expo (San Antonio, Texas) [thru 6.27]

Feast Days

Adelbert of Northumberland (Christian; Saint)

Agoard and Aglibert, near Paris (Christian; Martyrs)

Antoni Gaudi (Artology)

Bonalu (Goddess Mahakali; Hindu Goddess of Time and Death)

Build on Relationships Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Charles Martel (Positivist; Saint)

David of Munktorp (Christian; Saint)

Ed Gein Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Elf Thumping Day (Shamanism)

Eurosia (Christian; Saint)

Febronia (Christian; Martyr & Virgin)

Gallicanus (Christian; Saint)

Gay Wiccan Pride Day (Everyday Wicca)

George Orwell (Writerism)

Gohard and His Companions (Christian; Martyrs)

Humpty Dumpty (Muppetism)

Kay Sage (Artology)

Kristina Abelli Elander (Artology)

Ludi Taurii (Games of the Bull; Ancient Rome)

Maximus (a.k.a. Massimo) of Turin (Christian; Saint)

Melee of Scotland (Christian; Saint)

Moloc (or Luan; Christian; Saint)

Molaugz (Christian; Saint)

Peter Blake (Artology)

Peyo (Artology)

Philipp Melanchthon (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)

P.H. Newby (Writerism)

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession (Lutheran)

Prosper of Aquitaine (Christian; Saint)

Prosper of Reggio (Christian; Saint)

Robert Henri (Artology)

Rose O'Neill (Artology)

Sam Francis (Artology)

Seamen Day (a.k.a. Seafarer Day; Pastafarian)

Thoth’s Day (Pagan)

William of Monte-Vergine (or Vercelli; Christian; Saint)

Yann Martel (Writerism)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Fortunate Day (Pagan) [25 of 53]

Shakku (赤口 Japan) [Bad luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

All You Need is Love, by The Beatles (Song; 1967)

America the Beautiful (Disney 360° Film; 1967)

The Banker’s Daughter (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1933)

The Betty Boop Movie Mystery (Animated Film; 1989)

Big Daddy (Film; 1999)

Blade Runner (Film; 1982)

Bosko’s Dog Race (WB LT Cartoon; 1932)

The Country Girls, by Edna O'Brien (Novel; 1960)

Crockett-Doddle-Do (WB MM Cartoon; 1960)

A Day at the Beach (MGM Cartoon; 1938)

The Diary of Anne Frank, by Anne Frank (Diary; 1947)

8-1/2 (Film; 1963)

The Firebird, by Igor Stravinsky (Ballet; 1910)

F9 (Film; 2021) [F&F #9]

The Fox Chase (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Disney Cartoon; 1928)

A Frenchman in New York, by Darius Milhaud (Orchestral Work; 1963)

Have You Got Any Castles (WB MM Cartoon; 1938)

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, recorded by The Hollies (Song; 1969)

Herbie Goes Bananas (Film; 1980)

Hondo, by Louis L'Amour (Novel; 1953)

The Hungry Goat (Fleischer/Famous Popeye Cartoon; 1943)

Indelibly Stamped, by Supertramp (Album; 1971)

The King of Staten Island (Film; 2020)

Kinky Boots: The Musical (Film; 2019)

Klute (Film; 1971)

The Last Flight of Noah’s Ark (Film; 1980)

Lumber Jerks (WB LT Cartoon; 1955)

Mass Mouse Meeting (Phantasies Cartoon; 1943)

The Mechanical Cow, featuring Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1937)

Mickey Mouse Disco (Disney Cartoon; 1980)

Monty Python: Live at the Hollywood Bowl (Comedy Concert Film; 1982)

Mopping Up (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1943)

The Notebook (Film; 2004)

The Omen (Film; 1976)

On Being and Nothingness, by Jean-Paul Satre (Book; 1943)

One Size Fits All, by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention (Album; 1975)

Porky’s Party (WB LT Cartoon; 1938)

Prime Suspect 1973 (UK TV Series; 2017)

Purple, by Stone Temple Pilots (Album; 1994)

Purple Rain, by Prince (Album; 1984)

The Queen of Hearts (Ub Iwerks ComiColor Cartoon; 1934)

Red-Headed Woman (Film; 1932)

Sleepless in Seattle (Film; 1983)

Technology, Phooey (Ant and the Aardvark Cartoon; 1969)

The Thing (Film; 1982)

25 or 6 to 4, by Chicago (Song; 1970)

Won’t Get Fooled Again, by The Who (Song; 1971)

Today’s Name Days

Dorothea, Eleonora, Ella (Austria)

Adalbert, Dominik, Maksim (Croatia)

Ivan (Czech Republic)

Prosper (Denmark)

Inna, Lenna, Linda (Estonia)

Uuno (Finland)

Aliénor, Eléonore, Prosper, Salomon (France)

Doris, Dorothea, Eleonora, Ella (Germany)

Erotas, Fevronia (Greece)

Vilmos (Hungary)

Agato, Diogene, Guglielmo, Oriella, Orio (Italy)

Maiga, Milija (Latvia)

Baniutė, Geistautas, Geistautė, Vilhelmas (Lithuania)

Jørund, Jorunn (Norway)

Albrecht, Eulogiusz, Lucja, Łucja, Tolisława, Wilhelm (Poland)

Fevronia (România)

Tadeáš (Slovakia)

Guillermo, Máximo, Próspero (Spain)

David, Salomon (Sweden)

Bill, Billie, Billy, Guillermo, Liam, Mina, Minnie, Prosper, Velma, Vilma, Wilhelmina, Will, William, Willie, Willis, Wilma, Wilson (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 177 of 2024; 189 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 2 of week 26 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Duir (Oak) [Day 17 of 28]

Chinese: Month 5 (Geng-Wu), Day 20 (Geng-Shen)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 19 Sivan 5784

Islamic: 18 Dhu al-Hijjah 1445

J Cal: 27 Blue; Sixday [27 of 30]

Julian: 12 June 2024

Moon: 84%: Waning Gibbous

Positivist: 8 Charlemagne (7th Month) [Charles Martel]

Runic Half Month: Feoh (Wealth) [Day 2 of 15]

Season: Summer (Day 6 of 94)

Week: 4th Full Week of June)

Zodiac: Cancer (Day 5 of 31)

[jasmineleeplays]

Duke Konan's heir, Tugdual mab Konan de Rennes stole a keg of wine together with his partner in crime Hamon mab Elina Leon, and was caught by the cook Martha. Tugdual watched and kept a lookout for Hamon while abstaining from drinking the wine himself. Tugdual appears to be practising his Temperate trait, but Duke Konan teaches him to take personal responsibility for his actions and thus changed Tugdual's trait to that of Diligent.

Our Court Physician Iehan has trouble reading the atrocious translation of Hippocrates book. Duke Konan offers Iehan his assistance to translate the text, which increased Iehan's Learning by 2 and gave Konan 300 Learning Lifestyle Experience.

With that we unlock the Learning Lifestyle Perk of Embrace Celibacy. Unfortunately, because Duke Konan has the Eager Reveler trait we cannot take the Embrace Celibacy decision. This seems like a bug rather than a feature.

Duke Konan declares war on Prince Owain III ap Maredudd of Deheubarth for the Principality of Deheubarth.

Our new Spymaster, Trggvi uncovered a secret of Duke Guilhem VIII 'the Tyrant' of Aquitaine, that of him murdering his sister Agnes de Poitiers. We gain a Strong Hook through blackmailing Duke Guilhem, and made him pay us 60 gold.

For some reason, we lost our alliance with Earl Eadric 'the Wild' of Shropshire - apparently because AEthelhild Eadricdohtor Aelfricson decided to divorce Duke Konan's bastard half-brother Jafrez mab Alan de Rennes and remarried her soulmate Prince William II.

We unlocked a new Dynasty Legacy for the Prydain Dynasty - Mostly Fair, which giver a Popular Opinion of +5 and a 30% reduction in Hunt and Feast Cost.

Despite a last minute hail-Mary in getting an alliance with the Petty Kingdom of Munster, Prince Owain (now Lord Owain IV ap Maredudd of Dyfed) loses the war and the Principality of Deheubarth to Duke Konan and becomes Duke Konan's latest vassal.