#sorry if i was rambling

[def-ace-ing-it]

I’m not usually one to comment directly on social issues but I need to talk about the reduced literacy and degradation in understanding the words of others.

I’m a student tutor at a college, and i have increasingly found that students seem to be unable to understand exactly what my job is really meant to do. This fall semester, I’ve had a number of students who signed up for a session completely online, where they send me their paper and I give feedback without any in-person contact, and assumed that not only was the session in person, but also that I was at the main campus. Now, I may be able to understand some of this, but the problem is that the only way to find where to sign up for my sessions is in an isolated section of a website specifically for my regional campus. Even if they’ve managed to skip that stage, on the website to sign up for tutoring help, it says my specific campus’ name, which is completely different from the main campus. My sessions also have three options for people, in-person, online but face-to-face through Google Meet, or completely online, this is an option you have to choose between to even sign up, but people seem to completely miss it.

I could maybe brush this off as just a few isolated incidents, if this hadn’t also happened with a faculty member. This professor signed up in place of a student, and asked me for my personal opinion on if this particular student would do well in her class based off one assignment.

There are multiple things wrong with this: 1) I am not allowed to do that, as I am both an undergrad and not a student counselor, so my advice is not something to even be considered; 2) this was likely shared without the students knowledge, and this response was clearly a very traumatic event in the student life, which I did not feel very comfortable reading without knowing if the student had even agreed to this; and 3) the professor clearly didn’t read how to submit for an online session, as she copied and pasted the paper into the description box for the assignment.

I have seen video after video of Highschool teachers showing how their student are becoming increasingly illiterate, with being unable to spell without relying on auto correct. Add in the inability to have nuanced takes (such as understanding that some narrators are unreliable and should not be used for weddings, as I have seen people use a quote from Lolita of all things for their vows), and not being able to tell what is political propaganda and this is becoming a serious problem. I’m no expert, so I don’t know how we would even begin to fix this, but there has to be something done about this, otherwise I’m starting to suspect that this is going to spiral into something far, far worse than we can imagine.

[sergeantnarwhalwrites]

Happy (late) WBW!! (Blursday will follow) 🖤💜

How do people greet one another in your world? Is there a special i-am-not-armed gesture for magic users or others with dangerous abilities? Is there a way of changing a greeting gesture to make it insulting?

— @outpost51

Happy wbw! Thanks for the ask!

So yes and no?

Robots & Gardens is more whatever that specific person takes offense too is avoided. Diving into specifics Green and Donnie's interactions work off of mutual respect. If one does something the other finds disrespectful or defamatory (usually to an extreme degree but Green is easy to set off) they will both get pissy about it. So the standard stuff for greetings. People closer to each other will have unique things. Most common is waving both hands over your head. Lol like stationary jumping jacks.

Fucked at Five I'm not fully sure yet. XD There's probably a specific way to greet the elder morphers but even I don't know that yet. I'd love if it was something wild. It probably won't be cause I'm gonna forget lol.

Now Space Don't Dictate Fate is where we sort of get confusing and laborious. There are definitely arbitrary customs that can differ per population. For example first introduction of Arc to Tharion. Tharion is caged and Arc is in a towel. It's very offensive to not show some sort of respect to someone you intend to kill (Though that's more specific to humanoids). Arc then mentions that Tharion should only be worried if they're gonna kill him if they themself feed Tharion. Arc's show of respect.

Certain space monsters prefer to be addressed a certain way. So their followers will do so but not many outside of the following.

Otherwise though greetings among each other are usually the same. Greetings to specific space monsters vary. You will constantly hear me refer to Tharion's very specific crouch for example. If you don't follow the specific monster's standards they are quicker to assume you're not a follower. They usually don't assume threat but Cosma and Greeter's old crew might've fucked that up a bit.

[cheezitwh0re]

10 Things For 2023

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I’ve never actually made my own post on here before as I usually just use this account to collect posts that I like, so I’m still figuring out how to do pretty fonts and colors (the tumblr editor is a little wonky)! I’ve decided to finally maybe start publicly writing for the first time, as I’ve always loved and enjoyed reading the fanfiction others have taken the time to create. Thank you so much @allthelovefromstylesxx for taking the time to tag me in this <3

A fic idea you want to write: I’m very much a fan of any sort of meetcute. I’m a pianist and have always been kind of bashful when people have stopped to watch me play, but I think it would make a cute idea for a oneshot!

A place you want to go: I would love to go on a trip through Europe to study fashion! I’ve been to London once a few years ago, but felt I didn’t really have the time or money to look around as much as I would’ve wanted.

A book you want to read: I’ve had a copy of Howl’s Moving Castle sitting on my desk for a while that I’ve been meaning to get to! I’ve watched the movie plenty of times and was absolutely in love with Howl as a child. I’ll get to it eventually.

Something fun you want to do: I really love fashion and am currently in school for business with the goal of owning my own shop someday. I feel like learning how to sew could be a fun and useful pastime to help me learn more about clothing!

A habit I want to start: ugh... begrudgingly... reading sheet music more often. I’ve played for years and still find it just as unbearable. I need to make myself so I don’t have to worry with memorization as much!!

Something new you want to try: I want to try going out on a date just for fun! I feel like I take the whole thing way too seriously and am too skeptical of people. I haven’t been on a real date in ages.

Something you want to finish from 2022: games!!! I am so so so guilty of having a huge backlog of games that I don’t end up finishing before I see something shiny and new come out that I just have to buy </3

Something you want to stop doing: procrastinating! it makes me so stressed and I realize just how much easier it makes my life not to wait to do things at the last minute. Time and dedication. Time and dedication...

Something you want to keep doing: I want to keep trying new things! I never thought I’d be posting on my own for once, but hopefully this will become a normal occurrence. I can’t guarantee it will be a fully functional blog, but I’d really like to get some of my writing out there for feedback and the enjoyment of others!

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tags: only if you’d like to try this too! if not, then no worries! @not-your-fucking-kacchan​ @floweyy​

[unforth]

Y'all I know that when so-called AI generates ridiculous results it's hilarious and I find it as funny as the next guy but I NEED y'all to remember that every single time an AI answer is generated it uses 5x as much energy as a conventional websearch and burns through 10 ml of water. FOR EVERY ANSWER. Each big llm is equal to 300,000 kiligrams of carbon dioxide emissions.

LLMs are killing the environment, and when we generate answers for the lolz we're still contributing to it.

Stop using it. Stop using it for a.n.y.t.h.i.n.g. We need to kill it.

Sources:

[teaboot]

On of the less intuitive things about love, I've found, of any kind, is the importance of needing things.

I didn't realize it until recently, but I've always seen love as something requiring sacrifice, selflessness, patience, and generosity- to ask for nothing is to be the best person I can be, small and quiet and never in the way, always happy and helpful, self-sufficient and present when desired.

It's only as an adult, now, that I'm beginning to see the selfishness of wanting nothing.

I cut my friend's hair in my kitchen the other day. They wanted a trim and I had the skills, so I offered, and was genuinely excited when they stopped hesitating over "bothering me" and took me up on it. It was a peaceful afternoon, and we had tea and chatted for an hour or more.

My brother and I shared popcorn at the movies a while ago. When I came time to pay, I pulled my card out like a wild western sheriff and slapped it on the machine before he could fight me for it first. The satisfaction was delightful.

Someone called me crying on the phone the other day. Kept apologizing for disturbing me at work, talking about how they were bothering me on my lunch break. I was telling the truth when I told them that really, I was flattered and honored and relieved, knowing that if they were hurting I would know, that I didn't have to worry in silence. It felt good to hear them slowly come down, and to know that they knew it would be better soon, and to hear them laugh wetly on the other end. We're getting together for a visit next week.

It's hard to need things, if you've trained yourself not to. It's hard to want things, when you don't know how to want anymore. Trusting people is difficult, and so is relying on them, but I don't know where I'd be without the people who rely on me.

I've heard a lot of people say, "Nobody will love you unless you love yourself". I've had a lot of thoughts about it. It's not right, but it's not wrong, either, I think.

"Nobody will love you unless you love yourself"... I've always taken that to mean, "You will not be lovable until you develop a positive view of yourself as a person".

Now, I think it's sort of inside-out.

"Nobody will love you unless you love yourself"... because nobody can show their love to you in a way that you can accept until you treat yourself kindly, and learn what you need, and what you want, and how to ask for it, and then give that vulnerability away.

Love, for me, is someone I ask for a ride to the airport. Whether they end up doing this or not is irrelevant.

It's not needy, or selfish, or taking up energy. It's giving the gift of being wanted, and needed, and thought of. It's giving someone the security of being part of someone's life.

[dillyt]

[camilleflyingrotten]

[bitter-hibiscus]

There's not a single thing you could say to convince me that Bruce and Tim are gothamites. Look at this fucking map

Bristol is so far removed from the heart of Gotham that there's quite literally no way it shares many, if any, cultural traits with Gotham. That's not even counting the insane wealth disparity that makes the ways of life (and therefore culture and habits and dialects and food) completely incomparable. Tim and Bruce aren't gothamites, they're Bristol brats, and I fully believe nobody in Gotham would accept them calling themselves gothamites. Especially with the size of the Wayne Estate.

Edit bc a lot of you are reblogging this base post instead of the additions in the notes: Turns out I am a victim of fanon and Tim only moved to Bristol after Bruce took him in. Tim can call himself a gothamite. Bruce cannot

[darlingofdots]

the vast majority of fanworks are bad, and that's fine, actually. they are bad for the same reason that the average number of legs for a human person to have is less than two: statistics. like with all endeavours and especially creative ones, most people who write fanfiction or draw art of their favourite characters are bad at it. if you line up all the crochet projects in the world, most of them will be, well, bad. some are bad because they're the first thing a person ever made, or the second or third or tenth, and this kind of thing takes practice. others are bad because the person who made them is just not very good at it. maybe they just learned how to make granny squares and they're perfectly happy to never expand or improve on that. most people who dance or bake or garden or braid hair are not amazing at it! and you'd never go to your kid's dance recital or eat your friend's homemade carrot cake and expect the same experience as you'd have at a professional ballet performance or award-winning bakery. And that's if we assume there is an objective measure of Good Art, which there isn't! Some art is just "bad" because you don't like it!

I think though that specifically with fanfiction, we sometimes forget that when we read a book or watch a movie, dozens of people have looked at it and given feedback and made changes and done quality control before the final product reaches our shelves or screens, and that's not counting the original writer's learning process and past experience. A published book is not anyone's first crochet project, even if it is their debut novel. But with fanfiction, the barrier to entry is so low (on purpose! this is a good thing!) that we do get to see a lot of wonky granny squares, and on sites like AO3 they're sitting on the same shelf as the hand-made silk lace wedding dress and you can't always tell just by looking at it which is which. The consequence of this is that we encounter fic that we think is unpolished, has bad punctuation, is out of character, and we are tempted to think "well, this is awful! how dare this person put this wonky granny square on the same shelf as the lace wedding dress!" But that's not how fandom is supposed to work! That wonky granny square is somebody who is really excited about this TV show they just watched and they are reaching out into the void to share their excitement with you. To scoff at them for not making a lace wedding dress is really, really rude. Even if they did make a lace wedding dress, maybe it's just really not your style, or you think they should have used a different pattern, and it's still their wedding dress. You don't have to wear the dress and you don't have to read the fic.

We all know that there is some fanfic out there that is incredible. I think it's important to talk about that! But the vast majority of people who post their writing online are just sharing their little hobby projects that they make for fun and I also think it's important to remember that.

[bizarrelittlemew]

i can't wait to be 30+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 40+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 50+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 60+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 70+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 80+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to be 90+ and still in fandom and i can't wait to look back on my life and know that i loved things deeply and passionately and was inspired to create and was part of communities with incredible people from all over the world brought together by the stories that touched us

[tariah23]

[dailyhatsune]

Miku comes out to her dad

memories of miku and mike at the pride parade

[kcrabb88]

It's truly wild to me how many people out there don't understand that the Star Wars prequels are a tragedy or how tragedies work.

Posts like "these are the Jedi failed movies" truly just make me shake my head. They're actually the "fascism wears a smile until it strikes you down and then it's too late" movies. They're the "the senate became corrupt and clapped in the face of genocide" movies. They're the "make people scared enough of war until they accept authoritarianism" movies. They're the "fear and possessiveness will tear you up on the inside" movies. The Jedi were the heroes of lore, people loved and looked up to them, looked to them for safety, and then too much got put on their shoulders on purpose by Palpatine, and also by a senate that didn't want to act (not you Padme and Bail and Mon, you're perfect). They were drafted and used and scapegoated, which is, you know, a tenet of the vast majority of authoritarian governments (Hitler and Stalin, for instance, might be on different ends of the political spectrum, but they sure both did scapegoat specific groups and commit mass murder, just differently).

When some people say "these movies are about the fall of the Jedi" what they mean is "the Jedi failed" but that's not what "the fall of the Jedi means." It means they were wiped the fuck OUT. Like, Jesus, in Rogue One Tarkin is talking about burning out the final MEMORY of the Jedi by blowing up the holy city in Jedha. Palpatine had to get rid of the Jedi because to get rid of the Jedi was to get rid of the final people standing in his way after he had already worn them out. His intention was not only to kill them, but to alter the galaxy's entire perception of them. To rip away hope. People are always looking for the Jedi to be Bad or nitpick their mistakes (because while other people are allowed to make mistakes, the Jedi never are). Palpatine made himself look like a benevolent grandpa who would keep everyone safe. And that, more than anything, is what gave him SO much power. He stole the narrative.

It's just like. Of course WE know what was going to happen! We know from watching the OT that the PT can only end in tragedy. But the characters don't know that! They don't have all the info! That's how a tragic story structure works. We see it coming and they can't.

Anyway. The Jedi are laser-sword wielding monks with psychic powers who just wanted to do what they could to help. The world would be better if more folks remembered that.

[mikasa-imadebiscults]

The man that saved my life

(The man that saved my life, I’m gonna talk about him and how he really saved me)

(Warning: Swearing, mentions of suicide)

I met him at middle school when I was 12 years old. He was the behavior specialist of the school and I met him through the assistant principal because I was talking to her about my focusing issues and she introduced me to him. I’m so grateful for that.

The first day I met him I was talking to him about my focusing issues and somehow I got to talking to him about my past. I remember he told me that this is gonna get better and at first I thought “Yeah right.” But things truly did get better.

I would talk to him and he was extremely nice and patient with me. He was a very good person and he was very good at his job. He was there for me when my parents weren’t, he was there for me whenever I was happy, frustrated, sad or anything, he was there for everything.

I shed tears for him whenever I found out someone dear to him passed away, I was worried for him whenever a real bad storm came. I remember when I told him about my toxic friend telling me to go kill myself, he told me to promise him to never give them that power and I made that promise to him.

No matter how dark things get I have a dream to keep on accomplishing and I cannot let him get that phone call saying that I passed away due to suicide. I trust and respect this man with my whole fucking life, I’m so fucking grateful for him. I was struggling for so long, a person that young shouldn’t ever have to experience the stuff I’ve been through, but people do experience stuff similar to that every day and sometimes even worse and I wish they didn’t. He’s my favorite person in my life and I don’t even know where I’ll be or what would’ve happened to me without him.

[secondbeatsongs]

as a bi person, the bisexual flag brings me infinite joy and always puts a smile on my face, however as a person who has a Passion for Graphic Design, that undersaturated shade of purple infuriates me when it's used digitally

like, on an actual flag - which was its original purpose - it looks great!

those look fine! lovely, even! with the semi-transparent fabric, the way it catches the sunlight, it looks beautiful!

but now look at how it looks digitally

the pink and blue are so vibrant compared to the sad, lonely lavender!

and let's look at this statement from Michael Page, the creator of the bi flag:

(sidenote: he created this flag in 1998, so if his takes on bisexuality is different from yours, it's okay to notice that! a lot has changed since the 90s when it comes to lived experiences and the way we describe them. but, it's also important to respect his thoughts about this and the way he presented them, even if today, we'd probably not say that bi people "blend unnoticeably into both the gay/lesbian and straight communities.")

so in pantone colors, the pink is 226 C, the blue is 286 C, and the purple of the flag is 258 C.

but...here's the deal

Michael talks here about how the key to understanding the symbolism is to know that the purple blends into both the pink and blue. and on a physical flag, I think you can see that!

but digitally, it absolutely does not blend. it clashes badly, and looks oddly separate from the other two colors.

which got me wondering...what purple do you get if you actually blend 226 C and 286 C?

oh! oh, my god.

look at that! look at how nicely it fits between those colors!

look at it next to the original color scheme! look at how much more vibrant the purple is!

and friends. this is just blending through rgb! you get even more purple variations when you use other color spaces!

let's compare all of them:

(top: original, lab. middle: lrgb, lch. bottom: rgb, hsl)

look at all of the different purple options you can get just by combining these two colors!

if you want almost too-vibrant saturation, you can go hsl, if you want something more relaxed that's closer to the original, you can go lab or lrgb. and if you want to split the difference, lch is bright and violet, while rgb is there with its saturated but darker purple.

anyway, I guess I don't really have a point here? this isn't so much an informational post as it is Me Getting Weird About Colors, but I think it is a useful lesson about how colors look very different on screens compared to how they look on objects in real life.

and sometimes, I think it's okay to compensate for that.

out of all of these, this is my favorite bi flag:

it's the one where the colors were blended in lab color space. for me, the lighter, softer purple is close enough to the original bi flag purple, while also feeling like a smoother blend of the blue and pink

but that's just me! and it might not even look the same to you, since every screen is different, because technology is a nightmare!

anyway, thank you for coming with me on this colorful journey! I will now retreat back to inkscape and make pained sounds about inkstitch gradients until something tangible pulls me back into reality

[kelddaa]

mornings in the desert