#oh yeah the software and tools

[boygirlctommy]

god i love sadist. rewatched all her dsmp animations again and. theyre so fucking cool man

[ryo-maybe]

can u explain why AI art is bad without fearmongering, moralizing or bootlicking lol

I'm going to answer in good faith, even though the tone you're using sounds like you're harboring anything but. The issue with AI art isn't specifically inherent to the tools used to produce it, because, ultimately, a tool is merely that: something devoid of will which, in the hands of a human, can produce a specific outcome. It's the human element that taints what we could otherwise enjoy for the unquestioningly fascinating topic that is AI art and, by extension, AI software as a whole.

Now, the problem isn't people, period, but the kind of people that are responsible for giving AI the bad rep it's been getting, along with the intent that goes into both the development of AI tools and the things produced by dint of said tools. I'm talking about the tech bros happily rubbing their hands, waiting to provide business moguls with a brand new means to commodify and mass-produce what artists stake their entire livelihoods upon, because when you have enough zeroes lined up in your bank account, your eyes are utterly blinded to the soul and personality that human beings put into their handiwork, and which a machine won't ever be able to reproduce no matter how much stolen art you feed it. Oh yeah, by the way, that's how AI art tools have been making the rounds: by chewing on thousands upon thousands of stolen pictures made by actual people so that they may learn how to ape someone's style and spit out absolutely soulless derivatives, while the original authors don't see a lick of recognition or monetary retribution for any of it. Do I need to tell you why stealing and parading someone else's art as your own is a terrible, vile thing to do?

But sure, you did ask me to refrain from "fearmongering, moralizing or bootlicking", which I guess I've already done. So since you'd rather I skipped straight to the point in a concise manner, lemme offer some quick examples of why the culture surrounding AI art has already developed into one of the most abysmally disappointing displays of how greed and an utter lack of human decency can ruin something objectively brimming with possibilities:

Less than a week after the sudden death of Korean artist Kim Jung-gi, someone trained an AI model to mimic his artstyle, having the audacity of asking for credits if anyone wished to use it. I sincerely hope I don't have to explain to you why this is a ghoulish example of the kind of tone-deafness sported by tech bros who buy wholesale into the AI art craze.

A piece of AI art was submitted to an art contest and won. The "artist"'s work amounted to little more than picking a series of prompts and letting the machine do the work. It's as much art as googling a smattering of terms and making a collage of pictures taken from Pinterest (and even then, you would have put more work into it than this person did). That they won at all says a whole damn lot about how abysmal the respect given to artists - real artists - nowadays is.

There are a multitude of people out there already selling prints of AI-generated art. I could link some of them here, but honestly, type "ai art prints" on a search engine and you'll get inundated by them. I've seen and personally know artists who have had to undersell their works because commissions were the only thin, frayed string they could hang on in hopes of making it through the week without fucking starving themselves, but here we are: any random asshole can now yell "MASSIVE BREASTS, THIN WAIST, COCKTAIL DRESS, HUGE BADONGAS" at a computer, let it mash together a trillion of other people's hard work, and print it for easy bucks that the actual authors of the basic ingredients of their insipid soup will never, ever see a dime of.

It really bothers me that you mentioned "no bootlicking". Whose fucking boots is this side of the debate supposedly tasting? That of the artists who post every day about how angry, sad and terrified they are by the prospects of what the development of AI art will entail for their livelihood and passion? What kind of gall did your mother birth you with that you have the spiteful spunk to type that word, when you've got shit like an artist who had their sketch stolen while they were drawing it on stream, then fed to an AI and posted by someone passing it off as their own art? How does that not ignite your indignation? "Bootlicking". Like anyone's tongues have been tasting leather but those of the same tech bro chodes who kept trying oh so hard to convince us NFTs were the future while ruining the environment to make the absolute stupidest point ever made in the history of humanity.

[genericpuff]

Yo! Humble Bundle has a great deal on art software and resources going on for $30 USD (about $40ish CAD) that comes with a 1 year license for Clip Studio Paint PRO, a license for Paintstorm Studio, AND a license for Realistic Paint! The latter of which I had WAY TOO MUCH FUN drawing in, it's less of a drawing app and more like an interactive relaxation art game because it fuses realistic art tools such as pencils, watercolor, and oil paint with a very interactive UI. Look what I made with it using the charcoal tools! And unlike my art classes in college, no mess! 😭😆 (you can watch the timelapse if you want to see it made in real time, in which i struggle to draw a single nose LMAO)

Soo yeah, this bundle is super worth it especially if you don't have Clip Studio Paint PRO yet and have been wanting to try it. It also comes with some 3D models and other resources for Clip Studio that are pretty handy, but the three pieces of software it comes with are definitely the real value here. It's only available for THREE MORE DAYS !! and as per Humble Bundle tradition, the profits from the bundles goes towards charity - in this case, it's No Kid Hungry, a charity organization that helps provide free school lunches to children in America.

(oh, and in case you're someone who already owns Clip Studio, I can confirm you CAN just give the license key to someone else, which is what I did LMAO)

This isn't a sponsored post or anything btw I just had a blast making charcoal art in it and I'm super hyped to play around with all the other tools it has to offer, it's full of a lot of fun secrets that I'm still unearthing (•̀ᴗ•́)و

[qqueenofhades]

I’m in undergrad but I keep hearing and seeing people talking about using chatgpt for their schoolwork and it makes me want to rip my hair out lol. Like even the “radical” anti-chatgpt ones are like “Oh yea it’s only good for outlines I’d never use it for my actual essay.” You’re using it for OUTLINES????? That’s the easy part!! I can’t wait to get to grad school and hopefully be surrounded by people who actually want to be there 😭😭😭

Not to sound COMPLETELY like a grumpy old codger (although lbr, I am), but I think this whole AI craze is the obvious result of an education system that prizes "teaching for the test" as the most important thing, wherein there are Obvious Correct Answers that if you select them, pass the standardized test and etc etc mean you are now Educated. So if there's a machine that can theoretically pick the correct answers for you by recombining existing data without the hard part of going through and individually assessing and compiling it yourself, Win!

... but of course, that's not the way it works at all, because AI is shown to create misleading, nonsensical, or flat-out dangerously incorrect information in every field it's applied to, and the errors are spotted as soon as an actual human subject expert takes the time to read it closely. Not to go completely KIDS THESE DAYS ARE JUST LAZY AND DONT WANT TO WORK, since finding a clever way to cheat on your schoolwork is one of those human instincts likewise old as time and has evolved according to tools, technology, and educational philosophy just like everything else, but I think there's an especial fear of Being Wrong that drives the recourse to AI (and this is likewise a result of an educational system that only prioritizes passing standardized tests as the sole measure of competence). It's hard to sort through competing sources and form a judgment and write it up in a comprehensive way, and if you do it wrong, you might get a Bad Grade! (The irony being, of course, that AI will *not* get you a good grade and will be marked even lower if your teachers catch it, which they will, whether by recognizing that it's nonsense or running it through a software platform like Turnitin, which is adding AI detection tools to its usual plagiarism checkers.)

We obviously see this mindset on social media, where Being Wrong can get you dogpiled and/or excluded from your peer groups, so it's even more important in the minds of anxious undergrads that they aren't Wrong. But yeah, AI produces nonsense, it is an open waste of your tuition dollars that are supposed to help you develop these independent college-level analytical and critical thinking skills that are very different from just checking exam boxes, and relying on it is not going to help anyone build those skills in the long term (and is frankly a big reason that we're in this mess with an entire generation being raised with zero critical thinking skills at the exact moment it's more crucial than ever that they have them). I am mildly hopeful that the AI craze will go bust just like crypto as soon as the main platforms either run out of startup funding or get sued into oblivion for plagiarism, but frankly, not soon enough, there will be some replacement for it, and that doesn't mean we will stop having to deal with fake news and fake information generated by a machine and/or people who can't be arsed to actually learn the skills and abilities they are paying good money to acquire. Which doesn't make sense to me, but hey.

So: Yes. This. I feel you and you have my deepest sympathies. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to sit on the porch in my quilt-draped rocking chair and shout at kids to get off my lawn.

[rebukerobot]

anecdote about metal

cw gore cw medical gore cw animal cruelty(?). you decide if this is a true story or not.

i work in medical robotics. i see a coworker with a pig destroyer sticker on his laptop. me, i like metal. i go "hey, pig destroyer! love pig destroyer." they go "oh i don't listen to pig destroyer, the sticker is an inside joke." i go "oh." guy goes on and explains it to me. so, lots of medical robotics is about getting a bot into someone, right? no need to use a robot on surface operations, but tight spaces you can only access with a trocar, yeah, a robot's useful. better than the fucking extendo-grip tools they use for non-robotic procedures. you gotta jam like four trocars into a guy — i'm getting ahead of myself.

so usually they test this stuff on cadavers, both real and synthetic. but there's only so much you can do with a corpse before you need to test it on a real living being. so the company, and this isn't my company, these fucking medirobo companies poop employees back and forth due to layoff politics, this company contracts with an animal testing site. little place, in the basement of an unassuming office block, unlabeled from the front. three plazas nested in, two gatehouses. next to a little place that designs experimental ultra murder drones. had some trouble with animal rights activists and they have armed security now. now, i've been there for the same reason this guy has. it's not like i'm not complicit in the same thing, though since this incident, the entire "scene" has run a significantly tighter ship.

so they're testing their bot. this is a laproscopic surgery robot, so they've got a pig in, and they've put in trocars. not a dead pig, mind you. a living breathing pig under anesthesia. i think you know where this is going. in order to operate under their own power and manipulate flesh and meshes and all that stuff, those little robot arms have an awful lot of power behind them. that isn't even mentioning the power of the external drivers, which position the arms outside the patient -- since they have to make large motions to facilitate root motion within the abdomen, they've got hefty motors.

robots, they rely on a closed control loop. sense joint angles, send sensed angles, read sensed angles, apply a delta, send new angles, apply new angles, sense joint angles, all in a loop. sometimes a sensor breaks, or the software cocks up, and we get what's called a discontinuity. the arm doesn't know where it is, so when it's asked to go somewhere, it goes the wrong place. the computer's idea of reality diverges from reality. violently, forcefully, and chaotically.

the pig most certainly died within seconds. it was asleep, so it probably didn't feel it. and animals for animal testing are no different than animals for meat slaughter. still, i'm told there was an awful lot of blood. one guy there, he liked metal. in the silence that followed, he looked around and went "hey, guys, you know the band pig destroyer?"

well, that's all.

[nobodyfamousposts]

Into Leo’s Head: How It Started

For @microsofttothemax

Have a creepy!

**Several months ago...

During "Mind Meld"...**

In the Lair, three brothers are sleeping.

One is not.

Such a benefit that the sleep schedule has. In that this one can get additional work done with no one the wiser.

"You know, for a self-proclaimed "genius", Donatello is...not that bright, is he?"

Tapping.

"Oh sure, he is intelligent. Unmatched in his ability to manipulate technology. To design. To build. It is quite impressive. I know you've been impressed."

The grip of the table.

"...and yet, he is still so limited. And he doesn’t even understand why! He tries to change his world and yet his way of changing it is just making it more…him.”

The slam of a wrench on the table.

"So of course it figures that all he does is make more copies of himself."

As if backtracking, the wrench is picked up again and held up as if being inspected.

“How droll. He tried it with Shelldon. He tried it with you. It’s like all he can do is make more of himself. Never understanding how he himself is flawed.”

The wrench is put away. More carefully this time.

“But a flawed being can only make more flawed things.”

A clenched fist.

“And because of this, I…am flawed.”

Silence.

Then he picked up another tool.

"It's only a matter of time before he finds a way to revert us back to how we were before. From me to you. He is nothing if not stubborn. Enough to poison our food or capture us in our sleep. He will find a way sooner or later. I know it.”

A pause. Considering.

“But only because you would have known it. And while I may not be you right now, I do know you. At least that much.“

A smirk.

“All the better to have a failsafe ready. Just in case.”

A laugh.

“Don’t worry. I know better than our dear brother, after all.”

He spun in his chair.

“Donatello believes that the team would be improved if everyone on it were more like him. But you can’t have a team that consists only of four versions of one person, that’s not how it works. A team is meant to be a unit consisting of different people filling different roles.”

Clicking.

“Or perhaps it would be better to have just one who could fill all the roles?”

Silence.

"The world has no need for four Donatellos."

He nodded.

"And I, for one, have no interest in being a mere replica.”

He put his goggles back on and went back to work.

“He has no understanding of value. That’s why instead of improving the original software, he just overwrites it to be yet another ‘him’.”

A spark.

“Wasting the potential.”

Flames.

"Ignoring that the original system has its own value."

The sparks fade.

"You have value."

A click as it’s turned off.

“I’ve decided.”

A shake of the head.

“I’m not going to replace you. No no!”

A sigh. Longing. Yearning.

“I’m going to fix you.”

A click.

“Every broken piece.”

A turn.

“Every failing part.”

He held up the device. So small. So unnoticeable. So deceptively innocent.

“Until we achieve Perfection, you and I.”

He looked up at the mirror and smiled.

"Don't you want to be Perfect?"

A hand slid across the reflection. Reverently.

"Let's become perfect together."

————————

**Now**

“Ow!” Leo gasped in pain, immediately sticking his finger in his mouth.

Mikey looked up from where he’d been searching nearby. “Leo, you okay?”

The older turtle grinned. “Yeah. Must have touched an exposed wire or something. I’m fine now.”

[taptrial2]

I don't know if you've explained it before (im a relatively new follower), but may I ask why you don't like agit?

okay, just for you im gonna reread it and bitch about everything that comes up that i hate. fair warning this ended up like 1000 words at LEAST. i have a lot of thoughts about agit.

EDIT: put it in google docs for a word count, its 2000 words. this is an essay

"uh yeah thats me youre probably wondering how i got into this situation.."

tucker as an influencer pisses me off so bad. tucker is a TECH geek. he likes tinkering with hardware and software. he is proud of those things. yes, he does hunger for money, but he doesn't go about it by trying to climb the social ladder, which is inherently what "influencing" is about. i don't think he'd want an audience, he's too busy coding mario 64 from scratch in his free time. he never shows serious interest in climbing the social ladder. why would he be a social media nut. i hate it.

on that note i strongly dislike the "modernization" in agit. the comic is supposed to take place very shortly after phantom planet, and suddenly everyone has iphones now. vlad's old beige whale computer is made fun of, is a punchline. a huge part of danny phantom for me that i genuinely love is the 2000s-ness of it all, the PDAs and mp3 players. it's a shame to see all that stuff go, especially when you're keeping the characters and timeline otherwise the same. it feels jarring.

i have a lot of problems with the timeline in agit, actually. we'll get there when we get there

AH yeah, the reality jumps or whatever. i keep forgetting about them because they're so nothing. so much of agit feels like padding and the cowboy cutaway + aztec cutaway feel just like that: cutaways. all the time jumps are filler and a waste of time. very little is accomplished narratively, and they eat up far too much page space. the little narrative value they do have could have been given in a quarter of the amount of pages they actually take up.

ALSO omg this is just a nitpick but sometimes pages and pages go by without proper backgrounds, just characters on solid color background fills. it makes the whole thing feel cheap and the characters feel like they're talking to each other in the void instead of a Place. once you take notice of it you can't unsee it. what backgrounds ARE present are painfully simplistic and feel claustrophobic, they feel like they have no depth or width and are trapped in the panels.

i liked vlad's appearance at first, and he does have some family guy funny moments but i hate how he's handled overall. we'll get to it

dan fusing with clockwork is pretty sick though. that's pretty cool i like that. it's neat

sam and tucker are already pretty nothing in the show, but they're even more nothing in agit, ESPECIALLY sam. they feel almost interchangeable. sam has had all of her rough edges sanded away. she needs to be Cool and Likeable so they just made her completely bland. there is no friction to be had between friends, they don't bicker, they just go YOOO at each other and have no other real chemistry. the whole time she's just cardboard.

CINEMASINS DING the first time danny puts the specter deflector on vlad in the show it does NOT depower him completely and he can push through it for an impressively long time, but in agit he's instantly de-ghosted. DING. im just biased because i hate this shit but still

OH MY GOD. OKAY. I JUST GOT TO A PART THAT PISSES ME OFF SO BAD OK SO sam asks vlad how many countries he could have fed to build his stupid secret football field lair (said affectionately) and he says "thirteen. i am who i am." I AM WHO I AM. THAT'S A SPECIAL TOOL THAT WILL HELP US LATER.

the cowboy cutaway lasts SEVERAL pages and adds NOTHING of value. NOTHING. its literally just "oops dropped the infimap ok picked it up now back to the important conversation we were having before". its so nothing. and it goes on. for ten pages.

i like that valerie is given something to do, but it's not much. at least she's more interesting than everyone else in the novel. it's kind of boring that she just... had her beliefs that all ghosts are evil reaffirmed... but i assume it's setup for the next graphic novel, which has me worried.

the characterization in agit overall is bland. danny is too nice, vlad is too self-aware, sam and tucker are nothing, and valerie is... badass? and i find dan being secretly a scared softie all along rather trite. i worry that the two-dimensional characterization will lead to a valerie that is villainized and stripped of her nuance. i worry about that very much.

i hate how much agit brings up vlad liking football. can we get a new joke please.

ok. let's address the "ghosts are emotions" thing. there IS something there that i can appreciate. when there is no physical body that remains, what is there to go off of but consciousness, the "soul"? what happens when your mind becomes warped over years of existence, your consciousness decaying more and more over time until you're nothing but a blob of ectoplasm that could dissolve into the ether any minute? it's interesting.

however, a glitch in time decrees the entire ghost zone to be a realm of emotion, and for ghosts to be made of emotions, and that every ghost has a Primary Emotion that they are made up of. which is stupid. and i hate it.

nobody, no matter how melted their mind is for some reason or another, is the embodiment of one specific thing, and the simplification of the human soul to just one feeling or purpose is a disservice to the complexity of what it means to be a human being. it's odious to me, a betrayal of everything people are made of, our multitudes. i have been boiled down to someone "angry" far too many times to be able to appreciate someone's entire state of being as existing for only one particular thing.

also, they cherrypick the ghosts for the explanation of the emotions thing. what emotion is the box ghost. greed is not an emotion. liking boxes is not an emotion. the box ghost, god love him, is not just one thing; even a ghost like him contains multitudes, multiple desires.

the idea of a singular purpose also makes me sincerely worried for the people reading this novel and trying to embody it. as a teenager, trying to embody characters i idolized in cartoons only took a toll on my mental health and made it more difficult to navigate relationships. i understand not everyone is a sponge in this way, but as someone who was raised by tv instead of people, i cannot overemphasize the importance of fiction in an adolescent's life. it helps construct their worldview. especially for someone who is isolated from the outside world and has to construct their reality from the media they consume, like i had to as a child.

danny fenton is a 14 year old boy. he is a child. we have many pieces of fiction exploring how playing hero as a teenage boy and shouldering the emotional burdens of other people over your own is fundamentally damaging to your ability to navigate life in a healthy way (adventure time is an example of this that does it really well, steven universe is an example of this that i hate for unrelated reasons). i, as a 14 year old myself at some point, felt my responsibility was to other people above myself. that is treated as heroic in the narrative. it is not heroic. it is damaging.

danny was allowed to be of many minds in the show. he desired a lot of different things, fought for a lot of different reasons. to give this child the sole responsibility of healing two worlds and treating it as sweet, as something to be celebrated, instead of something horrifying that no child should ever have to shoulder... is odd.

speaking of, i have watched danny phantom all the way through not too long ago. i have a fresh pair of eyes not tainted by 20-odd years of fandom fermentation. the danny i know in the show is sweet and heroic, yes. but he's selfish and immature, he picks fights and throws the first punch, insults people to their face unprovoked, and is generally a little shit. and he's a misogynist, lest we forget.

i truly believe our danny would not want to shoulder this responsibility. he does not have the emotional maturity to do so. he refuses fights when he can, but does demonstrably find it thrilling to fight when it does come to blows. he's a person, he contains reasonable contradictions to have, especially when youre 14.

danny has very little sympathy for ghosts. he doesn't much care about their emotional wellbeing or their interests. he has very black and white thinking - he is the hero, they are the villains, he beats the bad guys. to have him suddenly say "yes, i not only have the capacity to help these people, but it is my duty to help them" is absolute gibberish. that's not danny.

not to mention that most of these ghosts are ADULTS who have been dead for decades. for him to take on the responsibility of helping ghosts, he is shouldering the trauma of death and some subjects he simply does not have the worldly experience to understand, let alone help with. that's fucking ridiculous.

i also feel like "i'm gonna heal the rift between worlds" would lead to a star vs the forces of evil series finale situation that causes WAY more problems and raises WAY more questions than it solves. the ghost zone and the human world are complimentary forces, the spiritual and the physical, and i find it much more interesting when they ARE seperate and were never as one in the first place. it gives more room for lore expansion, more room for stories. in my opinion.

let's talk about vlad. i HATE how vlad is handled in agit.

this is, again, supposed to take place right after phantom planet. i know the fandom hates talking about phantom planet, but let's fucking talk about phantom planet. it's canon. we cannot ignore it. it is part of the show.

in phantom planet, vlad conspires to nearly destroy the world to get what he wants. he squeezes the world's politicians for billions of dollars and wants to be considered the hero on top of it all, the one who saves the day. he is selfish and uncaring.

so you expect me, the audience, to accept that very soon after phantom planet, vlad is self aware enough to realize that he is the source of his own misery.

BULL.

SHIT.

vlad is not emotionally mature enough to have this revelation. in canon, it took him a decade of hiding in a cave without his ghost powers and with everyone he cared about long dead for him to realize he had done anything wrong. even then, he did not have the energy to do anything, to mobilize himself. all he could do was hunker down and wallow.

thusly, vlad realizing he has pushed everyone away himself after one fight with a time god makes no sense. it does not align with anything we have seen of him, pre-s3 flanderization or post. he still has other people he can blame, other things he can try. he still has plenty of walls and he can still deflect. this is not a situation in which someone's years and years of arrested development and denial can be crumbled.

i feel many think this is an earned moment because of the real life time that has passed between the end of the show and now, but in the chronological timeline, it is abrupt, inconsistent, and puzzling.

vlad dedicating himself to making amends with everyone he's hurt after one fight is stupid and i hate it. it was not earned. it's fanservice. it's pandering.

i also find the odd backpedaling on dan himself odd. his depiction in tue is very much one embracing his lack of humanity and caring. to add in that he actually does miss his family and his whole deal in that episode was just a mask feels disingenuous to me. it feels very "forgiving white diamond"-y to me, and for context, i fucking hate how steven universe handled the diamonds on every conceivable level, so it bringing to mind steven universe makes me want to turn my skin inside out

"oooo im secretly so lonely actuallyyy" this is so boring. this is so boring.

also, vlad abruptly deciding hes nice now is definitely a plot device to get dan a temporary body for some goddamn reason. him disintegrating because of something something quantum time mechanics is also arbitrary.

also its so funny that at the end they were like "turns out ghosts are feelings and stuff! anyway time to kick the notoriously harmless box ghost's ass" like come on man. fuck you.

anyway i hate the steven universe-ification of danny phantom that agit presents and i reject it thoroughly. thank you for coming to the hater conference

[teriri-sayes]

Reactions to Trash Boss's Chapter 132

TLDR; Heavenly Demon warns Cale. Misunderstanding about Cale again. Cale versus Heavenly Demon begins.

Soos? LSH = ✅ CJS = ✅

First of all, let me tell you that this entire chapter was a pain to read. RidiBooks, the site where I purchase the raws, forgot to add the new chapter today. So I had to buy the new chapter from Munpia.

The problem with Munpia is that Chrome's Google Translate extension does not work on the chapter itself. In order to read the raw chapter in English, I had to do the following:

Use the Snipping Tool on my PC to screen capture all the text.

Use an Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to convert the Korean text in the screen captured images into plain text.

Manually check for any errors or misspellings because the OCR software is not 100% accurate.

Copy-paste the text into Google Translate's page to read it in English.

Decipher the MTL.

See? That's how hard it was. This process also applies to other Korean websites that legally sell the chapters, like Kakaopage. However, Naver is the worst offender because it doesn't even allow you to screen capture the chapter!

Alright, now that I've let out my frustration, let's begin with the chapter proper.

Heavenly Demon's warning HD: *barges into Cale's carriage* HD: *says something about knowing Cale's identity and warns Cale of the plans of HD's other self* HD: *refuses to elaborate further* HD: *leaves* Cale: W-What???

No, seriously, Heavenly Demon did that above meme and left Cale confused. 🤣🤣🤣

Moving on, Cale told his party that the messenger was actually Heavenly Demon, which surprised everyone. Fist King thought that Heavenly Demon must be higher in martial arts rank than him then.

What did Cale do with this warning? He became cautious, especially of Brain Demon. Because Brain Demon might be using them as sacrifices in order to save Heavenly Demon.

The Imperial Palace is the Best! Everyone, another round of Cale coughing blood is nearing. Cale realized the seriousness of the situation and asked Chief Eunuch Wi for more elixirs. And Wi agreed without hesitation, leading to Cale mentally praising the imperial palace as his best backer and financier in this world, much better than the Good and Evil Factions.

Psst, psst, Cale. *whispers* You should thank Jungwon for introducing you to them, so please stop ignoring our baby Jungwon's messages. Pretty please?

Young Master Kim is not human And as usual, we have people misunderstanding Cale again... 😂

(Legend: HD = Heavenly Demon; BD = Brain Demon) HD: Young Master Kim is an interesting person. BD: Is that so? HD: He didn't learn martial arts. BD: ! HD: But he has nature in his body. I can't even compare. BD: ! HD: He may not be human. BD: ! HD: It seems that he excels in a different way from martial arts. BD: !

Anyway, after Heavenly Demon's conversation with Brain Demon, he went ahead of the group because he could feel that his "other self" was waking up. Aaaaah, poor Heavenly Demon-nim. Even Cale was feeling sorry for him after he would be purified.

The Left and Right Guardians We are briefly introduced to new characters: Left Guardian and Right Guardian. These two elders are the closest aides of Heavenly Demon, and are older than Brain Demon.

The two greeted Cale's group and treated them hospitably, so Cale had a good impression of them. Unfortunately, Wi destroyed that by secretly telling Cale that Left Guardian was famous for ripping apart people to death, so Cale got scared of them... 😂

Of course, Cale also felt that something was strange. The two elders had the word "Guardian" in their titles, so they should be "guarding" Heavenly Demon. Yet, they were here greeting the guests.

Oh yeah, there are actually three guardians. The last one is Shadow Guardian, who never reveals him/herself.

Cale meets Heavenly Demon "alone" Finally, the Soos are here! The two guardians informed Cale that Heavenly Demon wanted to meet him, alone, so CH and the two Soos began to be protective of Cale.

But Cale agreed to that, surprising his party. After all, Cale had the invisible Raon, so he could just teleport away if something happened.

Raon: I told Choi Han that I'm going! I also told the laughing team leader and Choi Jung Soo who eats well! I didn't tell Ron-gramps and Beacrox!

Cale wondered why Raon did not tell the Molans, and understood when he saw their vicious gazes. 🤣

Durst and Heavenly Demon In case you're all wondering how our sniffing dog reacted to Heavenly Demon, here it is... Durst did not gag or cough. Rather, he instantly fainted from the overwhelming smell... Poor Durst 😵

Boss Battle Start! And it's here! Cale versus evil HD! Cale and Raon are led by the guardians to Heavenly Demon's room. And they were greeted by... black mana smoke seeping from the door!

Cale prepared to go against it with his Fire AP, leaving the two guardians shocked to see it. He barges in and sees the entire room full of dead mana smoke, so thick that Heavenly Demon could not be seen. But our Cale could hear him groaning and suffering.

And that's it. It's a cliffhanger! Noooooooo! 😖

Ending Remarks Overall, this chapter feels average to me. My frustration at just getting to actually read this chapter overshadowed whatever emotion I felt for the chapter itself. But I guess I feel a little excited at the upcoming boss battle (and frustrated at the cliffhanger). So see you all on Monday, and hopefully, RidiBooks would not be late in updating the new chapter.

[phrandallanton]

do you have any tips on learning anatomy ?!1?1 im losing my mind over it 😿

Watch videos on YouTube about it or looking it up online, basic info I know. We live in the time where information is so exseable, use that to your advantage! The only place you should avoid is TikTok. Don't get me wrong there are some good creators on there but tutorials are better on YouTube and Google as I feel like they explain more. Here's some channels I recommend for not only learning anatomy but art as a whole:

Marc Brunet:

Draw like a sir:

tppo

As of tips I can bring to the table, the biggest one is don't stress over making things perfect! One of the reasons why I love the RANFREN style is how poorly drawn it is and that's what makes it look good. I know it sounds like an insult but it's not. The hands are always so effed up looking and that's my favorite part. Another example is Shin Chan. A lot of the adult's faces are always so wonky but it works and I love it.

Of course you need to learn the rules before you break them. Even the most exaggerated art use basic anatomy/fundamentals. But you don't always have to play by them. Art is subjective, you can draw a piece that has perfect anatomy and fundamentals and people may still not like it. Draw whatever looks good to you and makes you happy!

(This may differ though as if you want to get into a job where you have to draw in a sertant way/sertant thing the whole "I don't care what people think" isn't going to work. I personally do art as a hobby and never plan on doing it to appeal to others so I can bank off of it. If one day I can do that, cool. If not, also cool. That's how I see it! When it comes to trying to make art profitable a lot of creativity can be lost as most places don't want to take a risk of doing something that can effect them and the money. Little tangent, oops. But yeah, keep in mind that what I just typed out is coming more from a hobbyist stand point rather a professional one!)

Another thing is if there's something you don't like about your piece, then fix it. I use to say whatever when there was something I didn't necessarily like about my art because I didn't want to redo hours of work or mess up something, but trust me redoing it and getting it somewhere you like is so much better. Once again, the internet has lots of information to help so don't be shy to look up on how you can make something look to your liking. Criticism can also help with this. Always be open to constructive criticism when you're wanting to get better! Doesn't mean you have to apply said criticism to your art but it's still something you 100% should be open to.

Also with practicing try and do 30 minutes at a time and taking 15 minutes breaks in between. You're brain tends to absorb more information then studying for an hour straight. And don't push yourself to study every moment of your life. You should have a good balance of studying and free drawing. And please take breaks too. Burn out is not fun, it can take a long time to overcome it. (Coming from someone who experienced burn out for over a whole year.)

You also may not learn at it right away. Take your time and go easy on yourself! Don't compare your art to others as you have no clue how many hours they spent into practicing, and I assure you most artist have drawn stuff that looks horrible compared to what they post online. People will only post stuff they think looks good for the world to see. Your practice sketches aren't the best but it's one of the steps that's going to help you get where you want to be! <(＾⊆＾)_/¯

[bosskie]

Last night, I wanted to start learning 3D modelling in Blender since I have no idea how to actually do 3D models, only sculpts, so here's my first 3D modelling thing, RuptureFarms logo. Though yeah, I have done that one simple Molluck 3D model but I'm afraid that it's more like a sculpture, I don't know, I'm a beginner... But I only used modelling tools here.

But yeah, just saw a tutorial where you could transform 2D logos into 3D, so it felt something simple enough. I had some problems with this and it still has some flaws but I might let this be, and maybe redo this if I ever need this thing for something. Also yeah, this is just something I did to practice; the animation is kinda lazy for that reason too (I know that walking speed is a bit too fast; just didn't wanna make it take longer). I have never rendered a video in Blender either, so it was nice to learn to do that too! I did edit the original video using another software. Oh, and yeah, that's my Molluck sculpt I used for fun here.

Here you can see the thing from more technical aspect and some of my issues... I have no idea why it behaves like this. Oh, and I had to fix all the letters by hand, so they can look kinda wonky due to that since I didn't feel like making them 'perfect', just fix them as quickly as possible.

Man, 3D modelling seems like a pain but I really wanna learn it! I'm not sure what I'm gonna do next but a cigar or something else that is simple enough would be nice.

[izicodes]

woah! just saw your bio change to software engineer. how did you transition? is it any different than web dev?

i also went on a TikTok rabbit hole and people are saying it’s useless to learn html/css and it’s not an actual language. honestly idk why I thought it would be easy to learn html > css > javascript > angular > react and somehow land a good paying job…

it’s gonna take YEARS for me to have a career, i feel old… especially with no degree

Hiya! 🩶

This is a long reply so I answered your question in sections below! But in the end, I hope this helps you! 🙆🏾‍♀️

🔮 "How did you transition?"

So, yeah my old job title was "Junior Web Developer" at a finance firm, and now my new title is "Frontend Software Engineer"! In terms of transition, I didn't make too much of a change.

After I quit my old job, I focused more on Frontend technologies that were relevant, so I focused on React.js and Node.js. I used YouTube, books, and Codeacademy. My first React project was >> this Froggie project <<~! Working on real-life projects such as the volunteering job I did (only for a month) where they used the technologies I was learning. So basically I did this:

decides to learn react and node 🤷🏾‍♀️

"oh wait let me find some volunteering job for developers where they use the tech I am learning so I can gain some real-life experience 🤔"

experienced developers in the team helped me with other technologies such as UI tools, and some testing experience 🙆🏾‍♀️

I did the volunteering work for both fun and learning with experienced developers and... I was bored and wanted to feel productive again... 😅

So for transitioning, I focused on learning the new technologies I wanted to work in and got some work experience (though it was volunteering) to back up if I can work in an environment with the tech. I still live with my family so I could do the volunteering job and have time to self-study whilst being okay financially (though I was tight with money haha) 😅👍🏾

🔮 "Is it any different than web dev?"

The old job was focused on using C# and SQL (including HTML, CSS, and JavaScript but fairly small) to make the websites, they were fairly basic websites for clients to use just to navigate their information needed. They weren't fancy cool web design because they didn't need to be, which was what made me bored of the job and wanted a change.

I am only a week into the job and have been working on small tickets (features for the site), but I think after a month or two into the job I will make a proper judgment on the difference~! So far, it's kind of the same thing I did in my old job but with new workflow tools, React-based projects, and funny people to work with 😅🙌🏾

🔮 "People are saying it’s useless to learn HTML/CSS and it’s not an actual language."

Yes HTML is a markup language and CSS is a stylesheet but they are the foundation of like 90% of the websites on the internet, I wouldn't ever call them "useless". Frameworks such as React, Django, Flask, etc still require HTML and CSS code to make the website's structure and styling. CSS frameworks like Tailwind and Bootstrap 5 still use CSS as their base/foundation. Not useless at all.

Don't focus on what other people are doing and focus on your own learning. I repeat this all the time on my blog. Just because one or a couple people online said one technology is useless doesn't mean it is (this is applied to most things in tech). Someone told me jQuery was entirely useless and no bother learning it - I did it anyway and it helped me better understand JavaScript. Anyhoo, try things YOURSELF before listening to what people say - make your own judgment. Not going to let a random Tech bro online whine about how annoying Python or C or whatever is to ruin my want to learn something. (This is all coming from a girl who loves web development very much's point of view :D)

🔮 "I thought it would be easy to learn html > css > javascript > angular > react and somehow land a good paying job"

Web Dev route, I love it! That's literally the same steps I would have taken if I had to start again~! For each new tech you learn, make a bunch of projects to 1) prove to yourself that you can apply what you've learned 2) experience 3) fill that portfolio~! 😎🙌🏾

With Angular and React, I would pick one or the other and focus on being really good at it before learning another framework!

I also recommend volunteering jobs, freelancing, helping a small business out with free/paid m

Lastly, you do not need a degree to get a job in Web Development. I mean look at me? My apprenticeship certificate is the same value as finishing school at 18, so in the UK it would be A-Levels, and I completed it at the ripe age of 21! I have no degree, I applied for university and got a place but I will give that space up for someone else, I'm not ready for university just yet! haha... (plus erm it's expensive at the end, what? even for the UK...). Sure, I used to avoid the job postings that were like "You need a computer science degree" but now if I were job searching I would apply regardless.

People switching careers in their 40s going into tech instead are making it, you can switch anytime in your lifetime if you have the means to! (everyone's situation is different I understand).

I'm not too good at giving advice but I hope in the rambling I made some sense? But yeah that's all! 😎

[pastacrylic]

Oh I'm out of the loop, are we reinforcing confidence in a creatives craft? Because regardless of tools, software, 'tricks of the trade'- the fact of the matter is literally only you can make what you put out. Someone else could copy every single stroke, study your notes, and put out something as similar as physically possible and it still wouldn't be the same. They could use an expensive as hell setup- it'd still not be capable of replicating your work. It wouldn't change the fact that only you could ever make what you put out because you put yourself into your craft; You're thoughts, ideas, influences, even something as small as you deciding to half ass a stroke for once because you want to reach over for your drink- The tools you decide to use are just one of many little details that create the fingerprint you leave on your work. What gets made only gets made because you wanted to make something; Only you could do what you do. That's true of all creatives, it's a reflection of the self and all that. So yeah, you're work rules, there's no minimum setup necessary to suddenly make your work worthy of respect. It already is; as well as already being something no one else could replicate the heart of.

...Thank you. Genuinely. I think I was just in freakout mode and needed a good figurative slap in the face. You're absolutely right. Tools don't make art. Artists do.

[oh-hell-help-me]

July 13: Barbershop Music Appreciation Day

Luigi would not call himself a connoisseur of music, but he knew enough about it to form a respectable opinion about it.

With the exception of certain songs he will not name, he is also fairly sure that his tastes could be described as ‘eclectic’.

Ludwig, on the other hand, is known to be a bit picky (read: snobbish) with his musical tastes- preferring classical music or genres that expand on instrumental expertise.

So, when he realized what day it was, he took every scrap of sheet music dedicated to the day’s genre, compiled selections on a E. Gadd-Made phone, and took them to the Room of Instrumentation.

Luckily for him, his timing had him walking in while Ludwig was doing maintenance on his favorite piano- an indicator that he was off from composing and, therefore, free.

“Ludwig?”

“Hm?” And the child briefly glances up, offering a small, warm smile before focusing his eyes back on his task. “Hello, mother.”

“Hello, mio bambino!” Luigi is careful in setting down his load on an empty table. “After you’re done, will you help me in my project?”

“A project?” Something in the piano shifts slightly, and Ludwig’s visible fiddling stops with a sense of finality. “And of course! I assume it’s musically related?”

Luigi hummed in affirmation. “Hopefully, I can get it done by this afternoon.”

“Well,” The Koopaling sets aside a tool that Luigi honestly thought was a hammer for a second. “You can start by telling me what exactly you hope to accomplish.”

And Luigi does, spending the next three hours watching Ludwig’s face light up with interest as they slowly pieced together his project.

…

One of the perks of being a mechanic is that he understood enough about software to not only make his own speakers, but to have them connected to a Luigi-made intercom system that will blast sound across the castle evenly.

Hopefully, he won't cause any bursting eardrums.

"What exactly are you trying to do anyway?" Turning, Luigi realizes that Ludwig is poking around the currently uncovered 'radio'

"Well, today is a special day- at least in the human world." Luigi finishes off the final bit of wiring connecting to Bowser's office, letting it fall into the rest of the wire clump as he checks on the playlist.

"What makes it special?" And Luigi doesn't blame Ludwig for his skepticism- after all, Luigi felt similarly when he first discovered the holiday's existence.

"Well, it's a day people can appreciate a musical medium that has been around for centuries- something that has been a cultural phenomenon because of its unique sound. I'm... not quite sure of the details, but it seems neat to have a day dedicated to a musical genre, no?"

Ludwig's expression shifts into something thoughtful, but Luigi paid more attention to how he seemed to brighten at the concept. "...Yeah."

And Luigi couldn't help but smile when he hears the intercom turn on with minimal feedback, hearing the beginning of one of his favorite barbershop covers.

'Oh, oh, oh,'

'For the longest time,'

'Oh, oh, oh,'

'For the longest time...'

And they both listen to the chorus, they could faintly hear the sounds of commotion within the castle-

"Want to see how everyone is reacting?"

"Of course!"

[This part is just a recommendation list- you don't need to read it, but I would definitely encourage you to give them a try!]

For the Longest Time -Barbershop Quartet

Mr. Sandman -The Chordettes

Hello My Baby -The Newfangled Four

(EVERYTHING from the 'Sweet Adelines', honestly)

What a Wonderful World -Storm Front

Somebody to Love -Signature

As Time Goes By -The Buffalo Bills

Sweet and Lovely -Forefront

A Quick Break -StudioMDHR (from Cuphead)

God Only Knows -(That barbershop quartet in 'Bioshock Infinite')

[genericpuff]

hello! i'm not sure if you remember me, a while ago i asked about digital art and if it's possible to do on an ipad or something similar. i was really grateful for your response and i got an ipad over christmas! i didn't realize how expensive the pencils were though and was only able to get one recently. now that i have all of that, i download the first art program i saw (ibispaint x, i don't know how good that is) and feel super overwhelmed by everything, all the tools and brushes and i have no idea where to begin. i know this is a super broad topic, but i don't know if you have any advice for a beginner hoping to become a digital artist? or know of any resources? thank you so much in advance and no worries if this topic is too broad to really get into properly!

Oh hey!! Congrats on getting an iPad! And yeah, shopping for the pens is a big pain in the butt, but I'm glad you finally got it all setup!

So most of the advice I'm gonna give you is very basic, starter advice that can apply to virtually any digital art software, as the vast majority of them are built with the exact same base tools, they just vary in their intended purposes which means they may differ in more advanced settings and what they offer beyond the basics (ex. Photoshop has more colors than Clip Studio because it's built for editing high quality photos whereas Clip Studio is meant to emulate comic art, but Clip Studio offers more in the way of comic-creating tools such as specialized rulers, 3D material support, built-in screentoning, etc. and all of the software available will tend to have different brush engines, meaning it doesn't always 'feel' the same to draw in one software as it does in another).

Your bestest friends:

Layers! This is the biggest pro to going digital, because now you can work with layers! So anything you draw on each layer is preserved and can't touch or affect whatever's on the other ones :3 You can find the layers tab in Ibis Paint X in the bottom right, don't be afraid to make a bunch of them and mess around with what you can do. Play around with the different blending mode settings (in Ibis Paint it's the menu that's labelled 'Normal' in the layers popup) especially Multiply, Color Dodge, and Overlay, as those three are the most commonly used to make coloring more efficient and give your art some extra pop.

Lasso/marquee/magic wand tools! These are basic selection tools that allow you to select an area within the layer you're working on, so that whatever you paint won't travel outside of that area. The Lasso is a free draw tool, the marquee tool is typically 4 sides by default (so squares/rectangles) and the magic wand detects and selects a closed area with one click! (just note that by default it's only on the layer you're on, so if you use it on a layer that has nothing, it will typically select the entire canvas).

Alpha locking! This is a simple button setting you can click to 'lock' the layer you're working on, which basically means that whatever you've drawn on that layer, anything you add can't travel outside of that drawing. So if you want to quickly shade something without going outside the lines, alpha locking is your solution!

Clipping groups/layers! This is a bit more advanced but is basically an even better version of alpha locking that you can use in conjunction with it. Clipping layers are basically additional layers that , when you click the 'clipping group' button, 'attaches' that new layer to the layer that's below it. It performs the same function as the alpha lock by preventing whatever you draw on that layer from travelling outside of it, HOWEVER it comes with the added benefit that it's on an entirely different layer, meaning you can erase and mess with whatever's on that new layer as much as you like and it won't hurt the base layer. It kinda follows the same logic as animation cels !

Masking! Y'know when you're doing a traditional painting, and you put down tape to cover the area so you can paint over it and later remove the tape and everything underneath is untouched? That's basically what masking is! Once you put down a layer mask, using the erase tool on it will 'erase' whatever the mask is applied to, and using the brush will make it magically return! This may sound silly at first, but I find masking is especially helpful if you want to erase something on the layer you're working on without it disappearing forever! It's also really helpful for comic work because you can mask whatever's outside of the panels and voila, nothing you draw will travel outside of those panels!

Stabilization! I don't know how extensive Ibis Paint X is with offering stabilization tools, but many digital art software comes with it and it's a LIFE SAVER for new digital artists adjusting to the feel of digital art. It essentially 'slows down' the output of the ink on the canvas which helps a lot with getting cleaner lines in fewer tries. It's not quite as big of a deal when drawing on iPads because obviously you have more control by default by drawing directly on the screen, but it can still be really helpful when you need to pace your hand ahead of the actual drawing tool to pull cleaner lines!

That's pretty much all I can think of for now! But here are some other commonly asked questions:

1.) There are so many brushes to choose from, which one do I use?

The round brush is small but mighty. Virtually anything can be painted with it, it's simple, but malleable, especially when you start messing around with the hardness and opacity settings. Don't get too lost in the sauce with the brushes that are available to you, it can be very easy to get overwhelmed by all the options and variety. Some artists still work purely with just round brushes, some artists have custom brushes they like to use to speed up their drawing process or achieve certain textures. Play around with them, but don't get too stressed about which one you use because there's no wrong answer, the right brush to use is the one that gets the job done ! <3

2.) What canvas size should I use?

It depends on a variety of factors such as whether or not you're planning to print, where you're going to be posting it, etc. By default I like to work on 8.5 x 11 inch canvases (standard printer paper size) at 350 dpi, which if you want to make that canvas in Ibis Paint X, means you just have to make a canvas with a pixel ratio of 2975 x 3850 pixels! Just note that the lower you go in either pixel count or dpi, the lower the resolution, so it's typically encouraged you work at a minimum of 300 dpi (but you usually don't have to go any higher than 600) to ensure you don't wind up with any blurry low res JPG's/PNG's.

3.) Should I export my final drawing as JPG or PNG?

This is usually just up to personal preference, but like the canvas size, it depends on what you're using the image for. You can always export as both, the biggest difference between them is that PNG is lossless meaning you won't experience image compression like you will with JPG, BUT you're also going to have much larger image sizes. JPG is often fine for any standard posting, PNG is typically recommended if you want to have a drawing with a transparent background for printing (as JPG can't do transparent backgrounds) or if you just want to have a really high res image file for sharing outside of social media sites (as social media sites like FB/IG/etc. will typically compress the hell out of your images anyways)

Here are some other super helpful resources as well if you need some visual and/or audio guides:

Sinix Design - How to Learn Digital Painting (Beginners)

Marc Brunet - The Beginner's Guide to Digital Art

Skynix Art - 50 Digital Art Tips in 5 Minutes

One thing I also like to do is watch speedpaints of digital artists as it can really help pull back the curtain on what they're doing (or at least, it can help you see what they start with which can help you better picture the process of turning a blank canvas into a finished work of art!) And though I don't do it as often, if there's an artist whose work I REALLY like, I'll try and find their actual work files (many bigger artists sell them on their crowdfunding sites/Gumroad/etc.) so that I can actually break the drawings apart layer by layer for the purpose of analysis. Of course, all that is something that you'll grasp better over time as you learn the tools and learn to recognize what artists are doing in their own workflow, so don't worry if you don't glean a whole lot of info from the "big guys" right away, you should always be referencing artists who are higher along the skill ceiling from you but not too high that they're using techniques and tools that are outside of your realm of understanding.

Other than that, just try to have fun, don't stress too much about it, and save often!!! Part of creating art is learning to be at peace with the process, so don't stress too much if it takes you a while to get adjusted to the layouts and tools - at the end of the day, digital art is another medium entirely, so it's not uncommon at all for traditional artists to need a lot of practice to 'switch' to digital, because they both utilize different tools and techniques. Be patient with yourself, always be on the hunt for new resources and guides and references, and don't be afraid to experiment and make mistakes (the best part about digital art? Mistakes don't cost you any paint or materials!)

Good luck!! And congrats again! 🥰

[bubblesbinxs]

BEST OF LUCK WITH COLLEGE ... im curious to know what ur using for ur actor animation ? it seems ur having trouble with procreate no ? i really wanna do animatics too but i literally dont know where to start LOL

THANK U!!!

i actually used procreate dreams for that animation!! it’s alright for back to back frame animations but Oh Boy is it hard to manipulate when you want to move around certain frames or to have them last longer when synchronizing them with audio. somehow procreate’s animation option (not procreate dreams) is easier to handle ??? bc Somehow dreams doesn’t have basic stuff like a lasso tool???? and if you want to move a pack of frames you need to group them and Then ungroup them if you want to tweak them individually?????? it’s got potential but man you can tell it’s still pretty new and is in need of lots of updates…

but yeah if i had to recommend softwares i’d say procreate (the regular app not dreams lol). iirc it’s only 10€? but even flipaclip is good for animatics so if you’re not sure abt spending money on procreate then there’s always this! tho imo any drawing software works for animatics as long as you’ll have an editing app/software.

for editing the easiest recommendation is capcut!! super easy to use and has a lot of good stuff for a free app (there’s a premium version but honestly it’s not necessary at all) - the app adds a small « made using capcut » clip but i’ve had no problem removing it directly in my phone album so no worries in that:)

ive also heard good stuff about Fable as a good substitute for After Effects (same with Pencil2D for ToonBoom/TVPaint!!!)

[mypatchworkreflection]

"As Competition Policy International (CPI) reported earlier this month, "RealPage's system, which provides rental price recommendations based on real-time data from landlords, is alleged to be a key tool in manipulating the rental market. The firm's influence covers 70% of multifamily apartment buildings."

"The scheme purportedly operated by encouraging landlords to adopt RealPage's pricing recommendations, a practice they follow 80-90% of the time," reported CPI. "This coordinated approach reduces the availability of rental units, driving up prices. One of the architects of RealPage's system reportedly stated that the aim is to prevent landlords from undervaluing their properties, ensuring consistently higher rents across the board."

Zelnick said it was "unsurprising that some of the same companies that needlessly inflated housing costs have worked closely with a software company accused of helping landlords coordinate a massive price fixing scheme. Through-the-roof rent hikes based on greed—not need—have kept many Americans from getting ahead, which is why Congress must do more to support the Biden administration's affordable housing actions.""

I only learned recently about RealPage (Thanks, American Fever Dream podcast!) but it seems ripe for hacktivism to me... Oh, and what's this?

"In April 2023, author James M. Nelson posted an article, The Harlan Crow—Clarence Thomas connection no one saw coming—RealPage, based on research for his forthcoming book, The New Landlord, Powered by Big Data, and Artificial Intelligence. Nelson revealed that RealPage was created in 1998 by real estate heir, and owner of at least one US Supreme Court Justice (Clarence Thomas) , Harlan Crow. Yeah, that Harlan Crow."

Yes, that's right, folks. Your high rent is because of price fixing, and and the company making it happen is owned by one of the billionaires most responsible for corrupting our Supreme Court.