#the things I see in top results with a grain of salt. I know people will say ‘talk to ppl who have these disorders!’ but like. how do I tell

[poppyseed799]

My favorite pastime: roleplaying characters and just making them soso weird and then pulling up the DSM-5 to try to diagnose them

[moonastro]

your future career

pick a picture

left to right(top)-> 1,2,3

°DO NOT take this as literal, take everything with a grain of salt as this is purely and intendedly for entertainment purposes.

°Don't be afraid to give feedback and opinions about this post (as i would entirely appreciate it).

° This is a GENERAL reading, take what resonates and leave and pass on what does not!

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

pile one: I'm seeing connections related to your career. what i mean about that is that you will have close relationships with very high status people that will help you along with your journey. I'm getting the vibes of when you ask someone about a goal of yours and they tell you that they know someone that can help you with your goal. It feels very prosperous and fortunate.

A career that you worked very hard for and stayed consistent in. like I'm feeling you studied, research and looked at every aspect of the career. Very knowledgeable about what you know. I also feel that you knew what you wanted to do from a very early age and it might have been your dream/goal to pursue that path. And to say the least, you will!! This is the literal definition of aiming high and achieving it. Sidenote- this career will be very unexpected for people when you tell them your status. You probably worked quietly and that's what got you to success.

This is also a career that may consist of you being very independent and thinking for yourself. This will enable you to help your family here also. I see you being the first in your family to achieve something very big and successful. This will allow you to take care of your family and help them out financially and giving them what they deserve for all the hardships that they supported you through.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

pile two: You may be unsure of what you are truly wanting as a career. you may be overthinking or just taking some time off and planning what might be suitable for you. (take this lightly please).

Anyway, i see money coming from overseas, very much investing and saving vibes. You take risks with this career, and take opportunities that are available. You also give a lot so this convinces me that it is investing. You reach for the impossible and you keep moving. some moves that are risky and out of context will also be a theme here, so the job may require toughness and risk overall.

there is a lot of consciousness about your surroundings. there is an instant reflex that you have when it comes to making quick and instant decisions. that actually may be your specialty. people come to you to get opinions and kind of like permission?? this convinces me that it may be a boss career OR a leading position that you take care of.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

pile three: Wowww. This career will be full of success and alignments. you will be very liked in your space and it will truly feel so destined that you will stay at the job for a very long time. you will go through lots and lots of other jobs before finally settling to the one. It may feel like you are very un grounded but trust everything, do not doubt your journey!!!

Somehow i feel like this career will be a luck thing. like i see you getting offered something and you accepting or you going out of your comfort zone only to get the best results from it. This job is somewhat of a surprise to you but you will be good at whatever you do.

I feel like the career will consist of lots of speaking and thinking. Very much office vibes (not saying it is). It will allow you to stand your ground and be able to express your opinions freely. I also think that you will become more confident with this career. like it will definitely change you for the better. Also, there will also be lots of connections like pile one, but for this pile it is more like unprofessional, unlike pile one it is very structured and professional connections. like it is more of you will meet lots of new peers and generally know lots of people by just being friendly.

─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

that's all for this post! thanks for reading, it is most appreciated💗🤍

[ash-says]

How to feel sexy instead of cute:

Before we dive into it I personally feel everyone is blessed with a set of attributes and you should not force yourself out of your way to change it. True essence blossoms when you accept yourself and add to it rather than subtracting things.

Being said that I also understand we all have occasions where we want to look sexy and honestly as girls we should play a little with our looks.

Next whatever I am saying here is not at all applicable to girls below 18. Darling go and study it's not your arena for now.

This post is completely based on personal experience so take it with a grain of salt.

1) Define your sexy.

No no I am not talking about manifestations and subliminal here. Clearing this before hand. What I am asking you to do is what you find sexy. What makes you tingle.

An example for me is being sexy translates to being dressed in off shoulders, wild curly hairs, adorned in jewellery, outfits that have a teasing touch, being a little mean, sassy comebacks, untouchable aura and obviously having a "I don't care what they say. I am in my own league." vibe.

2) Makeup

I am not a pro at this but I surely know the type of makeup that transforms my face into a sultry mess. Trial and error is the way here.

3) Outfits and jewellery

This is a no brainer that you should experiment in various outfits and pick those that make you look and feel sexy. A side note make sure you are comfortable in them. There's no point in wearing clothes that you have zero idea on how to carry. I have seen people wearing short dresses and being called vulgar because they had no idea on how to carry them and then another person wearing more revealing clothes still being called graceful and hot at the same time.

So it's kinda in the energy I guess.

4) Being comfortable in being sexy and a little bit objectified

Harsh truth here but if you are planning to be sexy you shouldn't quickly take offense in being objectified. I know it's wrong but then that's how the world works. Until and unless it's harmless do not react and accept the compliments graciously. If they overstep the boundaries and say something vulgar put them in their place until then it's fine. Be comfortable in getting side eyes and stares. You will get them alot!

5) Unwavering confidence

Know you are looking the part! Know you are that girl( if it makes sense)! No self doubts. I know everyone has it but in public concealment is the key. Move like you own the room and have a demeanor that speaks, " I know I am hot." Again people will try to bring you down so instead of letting it get to you either ignore or give a befitting reply depending on the situation.

6) Practice it alone so you shine in public

This helped me personally and still does. For every outfit I wear I have a personality curated and I practice it alone first in front of the mirror. Like an actor. I have a white sleeveless crop top with V neck I have attributed it to the graceful corporate babe personality and whenever I wear that I make sure to act like it. So I mix a little bit of hot and cold vibes to it. You get the point right?

7) Dance and music

The art forms you consume goes a long way to how you express yourself. Human beings are great at mimicking. After all we are monkeys at core. Invest your time in this and you will automatically see the result. It's a practical tip. Do it to find out.

8) Sensual touch

Even though I struggle with this at times because I don't have much sexual experience, I read somewhere that if you want to give a sensual and slutty vibe without coming off as vulgar softly and sensually touch the things around you. Pick up the glass slowly, slightly graze your fingers on the table or a cloth or whatever you feel okay with as if you are feeling the texture of it. Be present in your body and in tune with your senses. Slow down and don't be in a rush while doing mundane tasks. Trust me it works like hell. The amount of times I have been told I come off so graceful and classy by slowing down and doing things carefully and gracefully. Watch old barbie movies girls and see how they pick up things and move in routine works. You will get what I mean.

9) Standards

Nothing screams being sexy than having standards and knowing oneself. It's the key to it. Know you are not everyone's cup of tea and be comfortable with it. Be disgustingly educated and intelligent. Develop wit and sass because once you start working on this you will automatically start developing standards. Make sure to stick to them.

10) Untouchable

Gatekeep yourself. Don't try to impress people. Rather let them impress you (please note use this according to the situation. Don't do this in front of an HR or client or boss) Don't be swayed by people's money, success or looks. Know they are standing in their truth and you are standing in yours. Their light doesn't diminish yours. Be picky and choosy with who you associate yourself with. Have a life and don't be overly friendly. Network but don't people please. Be a person of substance not a doormat. Be private about your life and have a close knit circle with trustworthy people. It establishes influence and demand. Be open towards people but not so open that every other person knows your life history and problems.

That's all for today's show on ash-says. Stay tuned for more illegal tricks and explosive opinions.

[ryuseiired]

"wait, why does jackalope say mikoto is at the top of murders?"

I've seen a lot of people confused about this so I thought I'd make a post on why I personally think this comment makes sense and isn't, like I've seen a few people get worried about, implying anything new or even especially large about his murder count.

My take, heavily influenced by this post, is that Mikoto has killed three people. The post referenced points out that MeMe shows three murder scenes with discrepancies– using the images they do as reference we can see two clear and notable differences in location, and one scene where the outfit has changed and lacks the hoodie.

(As a side note, if we take that post's proposal as to who committed which murders– one by Mikoto and two afterwards by John– I wonder if this shot from Double with two mannequins next to him implies John's actual kill count? Not particularly relevant to the overall point but I thought it was interesting.)

So... three total murders would technically mean the Kayano system meets the criteria of "three or more" murders to be a serial killer. But I don't actually think it's as bad as a lot of people assumed from Jackalope's words. He's not a super prolific serial killer or anything, only just barely meeting the criteria. Three isn't that big a number in the grand scheme of things, it's just that it's large enough to put him at the top of MILGRAM.

Most other prisoners only have one victim. Haruka, excluding what's implied regarding animal death, appears to only have one human victim, that being the little girl who appears in his MVs. Meanwhile Fuuta, Muu, Mahiru, Kazui, and Amane all have made it pretty clear at this point that they have singular victims– Killcheroy, Rei, Mahiru's boyfriend, Hinako, and Amane's mother, respectively.

This leaves only a few others with unclear victim counts.

Yuno isn't clear on how many abortions she's had, only states that it's her crime and that it was the result of "lots of sugar-daddying". Whether or not she actually got pregnant and had an abortion more than once over the course of the compensated dating is left uncertain. She could be among the prisoners with one murder, or could have multiple.

Kotoko could either have one kill or two kills depending on what you believe about Deep Cover. If I remember right the guy she beats up in the alleyway during Harrow doesn't die, we only see a news article saying he's been hospitalized? I can't find the source on where I saw this though so take it with a grain of salt. The fact she did kill the guy in the hoodie, Kaneshiro, is indisputable.

The question becomes, if she was tried and found innocent for it already before being put in Milgram, was that really all she's in for? Most of Deep Cover takes place afterwards. Either believing the theory that she indirectly or accidentally got Lucky killed, or simply using the circumstantial evidence that it seemed like she was going to hunt down someone else towards the end of the MV and the prisoner card doesn't look like the warehouse she killed Kaneshiro in, I personally believe Kotoko has two victims.

Nobody seems to really know how many people Shidou killed, but it's also pretty heavily suggested that it's a lot, judging by how many people and/or organ donor cards we see in Throw Down and Triage. He is usually assumed to have the most murders out of anyone in Milgram, which I personally agree with.

This leaves us with a kill count ranking that looks something like:

Shidou (many, many victims)

Mikoto (three victims)

Kotoko/Yuno? (one or two victims?)

Everyone Else (one victim)

This puts Mikoto, assumedly with three kills, at the second-highest kill count in Milgram, but Jackalope isn't implying an unreasonably high number by pointing out how far up he is. Nothing more than what was already shown to us in MeMe, anyway.

And while I can't speak on this. the exact wording Jackalope uses in Japanese may not imply he has the most or is at the top anyway, just near it. Which would be consistent with him having second most!

[ricesinspo]

☆ — art tips that have helped me. by @ricesinspo

these tips are based on my own experience as an artist who draws as a hobby. i've found that learning art is not as simple as just "practice" and "fundamentals", so here are 7 tips that worked for me!

— ☆ —

[★] when doing art studies, use them immediately in an art piece

this way, the knowledge sticks better rather than just being forgotten.

[★] learn things one at a time

for example, if you want to work on coloring / shading, use a subject you already know how to draw well instead of something completely new. this way, you can focus on the coloring / shading without having to worry about how the subject looks on top of that.

you can only take in so much information at a time, if you try to learn many things at once it's going to be more difficult.

[★] look at other people's art (speedpaints, tutorials, etc.)

pay attention to how they do things. try new techniques and see what sticks.

(disclaimer that should go without saying: referencing / tracing for practice is not the same as posting traced art and claiming it as yours / not crediting.)

[★] be specific when practicing

look at your old art and think about what parts of it you want to change / work on / improve on.

[★] Enjoy it!!!

love what you do!!! dont think too much about improvement!!! set yourself free!!! sometimes you just gotta go for it and do the thing!! love the process!! embrace the mistakes!!

yes, it is really difficult (and i'm still working on it), and improvement might be slower than if you just learn 'fundamentals', but as i learned to enjoy the process i started seeking improvement because i actually wanted to rather than only practicing because everyone else said so!!! this way, it's less boring and less likely to burn you out.

try not to worry about fitting in / standing out / being good / whatever!! your art is YOURS and it's YOU!!! thats whats important!!!

[★] on: art style

'normal / realistic' and 'completely unique' styles are both unrealistic ideals to achieve. if you can achieve it great! if not that's fine!! your style doesn't have to have realistic proportions and 'normal' features. your style doesn't have to be completely indistinguishable from everyone else's either.

(and to the "it's not an art style, it's a mistake" crowd: art mistakes are not unforgivable either!! whether it's an intentional stylistic choice that people think is okay to dunk on for some reason, or actually just a mistake, it's fine!! it's just part of the process, and sometimes also the result, and that's fine!!!!!!

if you want to fix your art mistakes by all means go for it, my point is: when you make a mistake in art (or if it generally doesn't look 'right'), sometimes you're inclined to fix it, sometimes it's a "that's unintentional but it looks cool" kinda situation. whichever one it ends up being is up to you, not internet randos who have nothing better to do with their time.)

[★] take every art tip with a grain of salt (including these ones)

if it doesn't work for you, drop it

— ☆ —

this is a formatted version of these tips that i shared on my main blog. putting these here with some changes so it's easier to read. (i realize these are all 'just practice' but With Depth, but imo the reason why 'just practice' isn't effective in the first place is because it's not specific, and the Depth is what makes it a "good tip")

[anewbeginningagain]

IAM has so far felt comfortable enough to:

advise a couple to get married early in their relationship for citizenship purposes when they didn't even need to

advise one of their teams to switch countries, knowing that it would displace others, resulting in the current mess

continue to coach a skater that has almost died (presumably because they would like to keep judges from that country on their side), resulting in that skater getting another concussion

made a top skater's anguish over getting an abortion about how it was interfering with their training process and Olympic gold chances, leaving her to deal with it on her own

ply a skater with alcohol to convince her to team up with an unsuitable partner to compete for a country neither of them are from and for a federation that has screwed them over in the past

continued to be warm with and supportive of a skater of theirs that's been accused of violent rape

All while making it their mission statement to be the "good, safe school that's skater-first". And I've only listed things that we've either heard from the skaters' own mouths or seen unfold with our very own eyes. There are also other things, like who advised Scott to make that stupid Florida video and lie, when the photos were available on FB? It certainly wasn't his idea. I think it's high time they came under some genuine scrutiny. Fans have been a little too enamored with their success to look at the growing disconnect between their PR and what they've been actually doing. The quality of their product has been declining steadily for a while now as well. I don't think you can be successful in a toxic system like skating for too long without it starts to poison you too.

Anon, honestly you bringing up the Scott/Florida nonsense is so redundant if we are thinking about the same thing. Totally irrelevant to this discussion and a very negative example of "fans" losing their shit over things that do not concern them and were only happening because people couldn't handle the precious fairytale they fabricated in their heads not coming true. If anything it was the epitome of the toxicity of the skating fandom and included all the worst traits involved. I also don't see how I.AM are relevant to it.

Now let's go into I.AM. To be clear as I said I think they've been having a worrying track record for a while now and there's a lot to criticize there. But your list is again a mixture of things based on what skaters said (which as we know should be taken with a grain of salt) and a lot of your own interpretation.

Romain telling a fully adult team in a relationship that getting married will help them with citizenship and reach the Olympics is simply stating the facts. It's not the first nor the last time this type of thing happens. It was their own decision by all accounts and unless they felt pressured and did it against their will (which we have no indication to given they've been married for a good few years no) then it's likely on the skaters. Yes, there's a chance there's an unhealthy dynamic there, and if it was a trend with many teams at the school than I would have found it alarming but that's not the case.

Sorry but what? Should coaches not advise a team to switch countries if it's in their best interest? This one is mind-boggling to me, they shouldn't care about the effect on other skaters just like V/M coming back was in their own right and the impact on mid-level teams was not their concern, just like when P/C skipped 2021 worlds and reduced France to one team instead of 3 it was in their own right. Skaters are allowed to act in their own interest, and it's a coach job to assist with that.

The one about not dropping Solene I agree with, I think even if I.AM would have dropped her she would have continued to skate and find another place, but still. To accuse it's for securing a judge with legit zero evidence is exactly the shit I'm talking about, classic TSL loving DRAMA BS.

I don't even know what you are talking about regarding them plying Olivia with alcohol? The fuck?

Criticism over them sticking by Nikolaj are valid.

Regarding Gabi's abortion, I have an unpopular opinion that I don't have the energy to go into right now, but sufice to say I disagree.

So yeah, I.AM are worthy of a lot of criticism over Nikolaj and over injuries, and over creating a mass-production type of skating (some like it some not), but most of what you wrote here though is WTF, sorry. There's enough to criticize them for without making stuff up.

To summarize: what you wrote here is like 80% interpretation + 15% pure fabrication + 5% actual stuff skaters said. So classic fs fandom turning narratives into "facts".

[lady-laureline]

I want to get to the bottom of neurodivergent burnout. I feel like there are a lot of people that have no context to take it seriously in, so they don't.

As with a lot of these posts, writing this is my way of ironing out my own understanding - take it with a grain of salt, I'm not a professional. I've tried to keep it general but as I'm speaking from a late-diagnosed audhd experience, it will lean in that direction.

Also, depending on how much you relate, this may warrant a mental health trigger warning? There's self-talk that isn't very kind.

×××

The precursor to burnout is survival mode: a state in which the body doesn't allow itself to fully enter a state of rest, as it is perceived to be "unsafe" by the nervous system. Neurodivergent symptoms aren't always a cause for stress in and of themselves, but people displaying them quickly learn that symptomatic behaviour rubs others the wrong way, even if they lack the intuition to see why.

☁️ People don't like the way I behave.

×

This is compounded by miscommunication.

Say a divergent child says something that sounds neutral to them, but rude to everyone else. They might get reprimanded for hurting someone's feelings, but they don't see how what they said was hurtful. Say this child's requests for an explanation are seen as insolence instead of curiosity.

The adults might come away thinking the child needs more discipline. The child might come away knowing they did something wrong, but unsure as to what that was or how to avoid it in the future.

☁️ I can't trust myself to say good things, even if my intentions are good. If I say a bad thing, it's my fault even if I don't know why it's bad.

×

The more these situations crop up, the more the emotional takeaway morphs into low self-esteem and constant vigilance (to catch mistakes before they happen). As the child grows older and responsibilities increase, they are also faced with a more nuanced picture of society that they're already lagging behind - demanding more nuanced masking, which is already a separate workload - on top of battling those good old sensory issues.

To those who don't know what the fuss is about: you know when you have a fever and your skin is super sensitive? If you separate the tingliness from the discomfort, and then apply that discomfort to the rest of your senses, you'll get a pretty good idea of what sensory overwhelm is like. We don't all experience this the same way (for example, I'm generally fine with food textures but really sensitive to noise) or with the same frequency, but it tends to be both unpleasant and consistent.

These additional energy drains inevitably lead to feeling the effects of hard work without anywhere near the same results of our peers. The easiest explanation, and the assumption most uninformed make, is one of personal shortcomings. Laziness. Selfishness. A "bad attitude".

☁️ No matter how hard I try, it is not enough. I haven't earned my pain. I haven't earned my rest.

×

It's a frustrating experience, and all those feelings need to go somewhere. We learn skills such as silent crying to hide our "overreactions"; we use our anxiety as a driving force for productivity. Many disabled people have the dissociative method down pat. And then there's the assertive emotions.

Displaying anger out of bounds of the neurotypical context is a whole other kettle of fish. When the nervous system is cortisol city, things will boil over eventually. Any witness is likely to be unaware of the extent of the stressors that led up to this outburst, so it can seem to happen out of the blue. Plus, if the inciting incident appears insignificant to the onlooker, they'll probably think it's all a bit childish.

Say what you will about neurospicy social skills but we have a killer radar for cringe. Raise your hand if you smush down irritation on the regular. Better yet, raise your hand if you "never get angry".

☁️ My frustration is misplaced and out of proportion. If I show it, I lose the respect of people I care about.

×

Maybe we've been afraid to feel what we feel our whole lives, but there comes a point where something's got to give. We might even be making a conscious effort to get in touch with our emotions after years and years of ripping them down and sealing them away. It's a Pandora's box situation: once the seal is broken, there's no getting the horrors back inside.

That's usually the beginning of what is widely recognised as burnout. There is so much to sort through, life effectively gets put on hold, at least for those of us lucky enough not to crash and burn the moment we let go of the wheel.

Recovery isn't a matter of a little vacation time: it can take months or years, and it may not look like work but it very much is. The trauma runs deep and we have no choice but to get to the bottom of the trench if we don't want to be stuck in a permanent state of exhaustion. It can be isolating as there's not a lot of energy left for much else - overextend and your body will slap you back in line so fast your head will spin. And no, you do not get to choose what overextending yourself entails.

To anyone actually going through this, try not to keep yourself in check, at least when you're alone. Your psyche does not want to pretend anymore. Pretending has repercussions now.

×

It may come as a surprise that a lot of people don't take kindly to healing. A person in burnout recovery is (by necessity) less accessible, more self-centered, taking up more space and drawing new boundaries. Unmasking may reveal a person your friends don't understand like the contorted version of yourself they got to know. Furthermore - change, when seen as a threat, can cause people to lash out.

☁️ Healing is a punishable offense. It hurts those around me. They don't want me as I am, but they don't want me to change, either.

One of the things I've had difficulty accepting is that there are good, caring people in my life that don't deserve an explanation of what I'm going through. They might have a space in their hearts for the person they think that I am, but the capacity to truly get to know me isn't there, at least yet.

Once I'd been burned enough times, I made a decision to settle for nothing less than sincere interest as a prerequisite for any attempt to make myself understood. From there, it wasn't not far to the bittersweet realisation that the only person's permission I need to grow is my own.

×

I'm not sure how to wrap this up, which might mean future edits (there are always more edits), but the thought is complete enough to post.

I suppose there is no end to becoming one's own person, and even though the line between recovery and living can be blurry a lot of the time, existing with purpose is a decision each of us has to make.

I'm sending a telepathic hug to anyone who needs one right now. Take care of yourselves.

×××

The self-talk of some weird kid:

"People don't like the way I behave. I can't trust myself to say good things, even if my intentions are good. If I say a bad thing, it's my fault even if I don't know why it's bad. No matter how hard I try, it is not enough. I haven't earned my pain. I haven't earned my rest. My frustration is misplaced and out of proportion. If I show it, I lose the respect of people I care about. Healing is a punishable offense. It hurts those around me. They don't want me as I am, but they don't want me to change, either."

(I've included this depressing subconscious narrative because I think it's important to show how little unresolved rejections add up over time. One can put on a dazzling performance to meet social demands while believing all of that, and we desperately need community support that is informed and equipped to help them pick up the pieces once the show falls apart.)

[darkness-falls-tarot]

Sabrina Carpenter and Barry Keoghan: what is going on right now??

All readings are alleged and for entertainment purposes only; please take each reading with a grain of salt.

I know no one asked for it but I heard this from my coworker today and thought it would probably be best to get to this topic while it’s still fresh for everyone.

How is Sabrina: page of swords reversed, the hierophant, knight of cups reversed - the entire ordeal caught her off guard completely. She wasn’t ready for anything like this to happen and was hopeful for a happy ending with her relationship. She’s trying to keep herself grounded but deep down she is an emotional wreck. This has broken her far more than previous relationships have.

How is Barry: 10 of cups reversed, 4 of wands, 3 of wands, 2 of wands reversed - Barry is realizing he’s lost his chance at a happy family or whatever he was hoping for with Sabrina. Now he is enjoying the company of this other woman he was seeing on the side and seeing where this goes instead. But for Barry he is always repeating the same patterns and he will do so again and again because what he wants is never attainable. He’s searching for the perfect woman and if he finds one flaw in whomever he’s with at that time he will go out in search of another.

Oracle card for Sabrina: someone else - well this card is a nail on the head sadly. It literally says someone is in the middle trying to sabotage things.

Oracle card 2 for Sabrina: liar - this card cautions her to be careful of a liar in her life. That would most likely be Barry. If he is in fact cheating she needs to be careful of his behavior and leave him for good. He probably said he changed and was growing with her but if the rumors are true he clearly was playing her all along.

Oracle card for Barry: caution - I’m sensing this is his time to start thinking of what a huge mistake this was to cheat on Sabrina but also all his previous partners were cheated on by him. He needs to start asking why that is.

What advice do my cards have for Sabrina: death, 5 of cups reversed, ace of swords - with the death card first I say this is a sign for her that a permanent breakup from Barry is necessary for her to heal and will change her life for the better. It’s going to be rough as indicated by the 5 of cups, but as it’s reversed here it will be painful for a time before she sees things in a new perspective. The end result will be a sense of clarity and strength that will come over her; and I am getting the feeling she is going to make some songs from this experience and what the grieving process will also bring. With the ace of swords as well I think she is going to enter her next relationship with more caution and have a better understanding of what she’s expecting from the men she’ll date from now on. I do see her coming out on top in all of this.

What advice do my cards have for Barry: 5 of wands, 3 of cups reversed, page of cups - Barry is going to have a LOT of confrontations coming his way. Gossip will not be on his side and people in the industry, his friends, costars, interviewers, basically everyone will be coming to him and going “Why?” The media will be digging up things on his life and possibly his history of previous relationships and their outcome. This gossip will be venomous and harmful for him and temporary could cause some issues with people watching his films. So any new projects could be at risk; he’ll still get roles but most people will be boycotting in support of Sabrina. With all of this I think it’s going to give Barry some new perspective on his life and the decisions he’s made; he may start to work on healing this issue that causes him to do this or he could try and actually get better at being a boyfriend. It will come as a shock to him but Sabrina was someone he said he’d change his ways because of her, and maybe now he will.

How long will Barry’s new relationship last: says next new moon - that would be approximately December 29.

*Note* if it comes out that this isn’t the official breakup there are some issues and I’m guessing the cheating is true. Either way Sabrina is broken and he’s aware he’s got some issues to work out in his life.

[nickgerlich]

Give The Dog A Bone

Whenever you are a heavy user of something, your friends and family take note. When it is their turn to buy something in a category in which you have expertise, they come calling with questions. Sometimes they even want you to go to a store with them, or online.

I have been there many times, having aided many people buying computers, cameras, and bicycles. Each of these can be expensive propositions, and it is understandable that someone lacking experience or knowledge would be nervous. It is fine to want someone to hold your hand while you are pulling the trigger.

That person who is the knowledgeable friend or family member is known as a market maven, and as long as people have to contemplate big purchases, there will be a need for them. Maybe you are one, or, more likely, have relied on one. But what if a company could provide one for you?

That’s exactly what is happening in the AI era. Although AI has been around for nearly a century, it is only in the last two years that it became a household word. While some fear the power of AI, the rest of us have been busy embracing it and figuring out how to use it to advantage. And we need look no farther than Amazon, which has now unleashed Rufus to all US shoppers.

Rufus is a personal shopping assistant, and is available on both desktop or laptop computer, and on their app. In fact, the app allows for both typed as well as voice queries. It can answer a wide variety of questions, much like you would put in a search bar, but Rufus can also go very granular, answering questions about the fit of a garment. It scans all of the posted product reviews, and aggregates them into a meaningful summary. Lastly, it can provide recommendations, not just suggestions.

Naturally, some people may be skeptical of a shopping tool provided by a retailer, because…well…it has a profit motive ultimately. That’s a fair criticism, but I took Rufus out for a walk and found it to do nothing of the sort. In fact, on some garments it provided enough negative information to give me pause.

As powerful as Rufus is, he is limited and is only as good as the information available. That’s true of AI tools in general, like ChatGPT, Claude, and the rest. In the case of Rufus, it can only convey product information that has already been provided by the manufacturer or Amazon, and when it comes to trickier questions like fit, quality of the fabric, accuracy of color, and so forth, it depends entirely on customer reviews.

That’s a whole other thorny issue, because we don’t really know what motivates people to write reviews in the first place. Are they market mavens? Or just disgruntled shoppers? The reviews section can be slanted when there is more of one than the other. I am a frequent contributor to Google Reviews of restaurants, hotels, and breweries, but I only write positive reviews. If I have a bad experience, I don’t recommend a place.

There are many customers, both happy and disappointed, who don’t write reviews, and their thoughts are not available for Rufus to parse. Rufus, you see, cannot go outside its own eco-system. You get what you pay for, which is nothing. Take it all with a grain of salt.

If you are an Amazon customer and take the time to scroll down an individual product’s page, you will find that Rufus is showing up there too, not just as a chatbot tool. Once you (finally) get down to the product reviews, you will see an AI summary of them, and it is identical to what Rufus would tell you if you asked. It’s a lot like the AI-enhanced Google results pages I’ve been seeing lately, with an AI-generated summary that appears at the top of the page, before any links for further reading.

Rufus is very smart. It cuts through the clutter, squeezing the juice out of oranges that may be overwhelming for shoppers. But it can’t mix that juice with anything else. If you want a mimosa, you have to provide the Champagne. But it’s a great start. Things will only get better from here. If you fear all of this technology, you don’t have to use it, but you also need to know that this is not going away.

Give the dog a bone. Write your review and be part of the process too. You may or may not be a market maven, but in a small way, you’ll be helping and holding the hand of many customers after you.

Dr “Good Doggie” Gerlich

Audio Blog

[felixcloud6288]

Higurashi: Festival Accompanying Chapter 16

Back in Massacre chapter 17, Takano said there are powers in Tokyo who want to see Tokyo fail. And we're seeing some of that now that Nomura is here.

I'm going to take what Nomura says with a grain of salt. She's ultimately trying to manipulate Takano so we can't guarantee anything she says is actually true. In particular, she says the new board in Tokyo wants to discontinue Takano's research because they disagree with it and she brings up wanting to continue Koizumi's legacy.

Remember that under Koizumi's influence, Hinamizawa Syndrome research was directed toward military use. And Takano's thesis went as far as assuming the possibility of human thought being controlled by parasites.

The "logical" conclusion I see is this research could lead to developing mass mind-control.

But anyway, Nomura is an obviously evil person with evil intents. It's absolutely creepy how much she read Takano like a book, but then again she probably didn't need to do much work to figure Takano out. If she really did talk with Koizumi about why he was funding Takano's research and if she knew about her outburst during the meeting last chapter, it probably wasn't difficult to realize Takano is only doing all this to make the people who mocked her grandfather's research acknowledge it as true.

And while we don't hear Nomura's suggestion, we can know exactly what it was. Emergency Manual 34 already exists as it was mentioned in chapter 12. Tokyo ultimately wants to eradicate Hinamizawa Syndrome and act as if it never existed. But invoking Emergency Manual 34 will force Tokyo to have to enact a FAR greater coverup which will be the cause of speculations, conspiracies, and policies for at least 20 years.

And while I'd assume Takano already is a hobby occult writer, she probably slipped some of her writings into all the myth that will surround the Great Hinamizawa Disaster as some way to include a little bit of the true reason for everything into it.

Keiichi has moved into the village and he's getting a look at the school.

Keiichi and his family moved to Hinamizawa after Keiichi had assaulted children with a model gun and shot one girl in the eye. And now he's going to be in a class with children around the same age as that girl.

Chie asked that he set a good example for them as he will be the oldest boy in the class. Keiichi was very awkward in agreeing to that, but he does genuinely want to be a good role model going forward.

I wish I could tell who this is supposed to be. Is she a magical girl, a music idol, or just a character someone drew?

The VN contains a few instances where it mentions things that don't exist in 1983. From @8bitsupervillain's playthrough of the VNs, I found screenshots mentioning Cardcaptor Sakura (renamed as Card Master Sakura) and the end of the Cold War. Cardcaptor Sakura began publication in 1996 while the Cold War ended in 1991.

But anyway, the first thing that popped into my mind was Madoka from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, which is extra insane because it first aired in 2011, a year after this chapter was first published.

I wonder if Keiichi had a similar scenario his father had when meeting Hanyu and Rika. We have no confirmation that this scene of them introducing themselves to him happens in every timeline.

The moment I read "You're the six on the die, Keiichi, sir." I started trying to assign characters to each value and realized none of Rika's preparations include Shion at all.

There was something about how Hanyu's horns are drawn that's been bugging me and I finally figured it out with this panel.

The way Karin Suzuragi seems to draw Hanyu's head is by drawing Hanyu's hair and then placing the horns on top of her head. As a result, Hanyu's hair doesn't flow around her horns.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Takano's reaction to god rolling ones on her is to flip the table to make the dice become a six. And everything about Operation Apocalypse is that plus more. Not only does she intend to flip the table once more, but she's decided to directly fight against who she believes is responsible for all her struggles.

Although really, she's taking all her frustration out on a local deity who really has nothing to do with anything. Really, Takano should want to befriend Oyashiro since Oyashiro is so deeply tied to Hinamizawa.

Takano said an absolute will shall decide an absolute future. Her will is to make herself and her grandfather into gods. The means do not matter. She previously tried to accomplish this through her research, but now she's decided to achieve godhood by becoming Oyashiro.

And since her approach requires her to oppose god rather than have god's support, she decided to give back the one thing god ever gave her.

I think it's safe to assume Takano offered a ten yen coin to the Furude shrine in every timeline. And in every other timeline, the offering was accepted. So Takano could say she owed nothing to god.

But this time, her offering was rejected. Oyashiro has declared that she will oppose Takano's plan from even the first step.

NIPA BEAM!!!

back

Spoiler Discussion

This is pure speculation on my part, but I want to throw out the possibility that Nomura may be behind even more than what we're given. There's no proof, but I kinda wonder if she may have had Koizumi assassinated. His cause of death was a sudden heart attack. Sure, he's old and it's not unusual for someone his age to die like that, but the Wild Dogs previously killed Rika's father in a way that makes it look like he died from a heart attack.

And the Wild Dogs were hired by Koizumi, but they're secretly working under Nomura during Operation Apocalypse. Maybe Nomura decided to get rid of Koizumi so she could make a power-grab that failed. Or maybe things are going exactly as intended and she just wants to sow as much chaos as possible.

[citizenship-project-2023]

Interview Results

We interviewed 2 respondents to see if the online activist movements are influencing the younger generation and the extent to which they are contributing to political change in todays world, and if not, what are the influences that are taking place.

Censorship

Question 1: When asked the question: ‘Do you believe in the ability of an individual or group holding people in positions of power to account through any means possible? (e.g. hacking, exposés, etc.)’, you responded: ‘No’. Do you mind sharing why you believe this?

Respondent 1:

(Paraphrasing) Too much power for someone outside of the judicial system to have.

They should do it through legal means. Information is classified for a reason.

Respondent 2:

(Paraphrasing) Bad individuals at the top of society are not held to account by ordinary means of reporting. “Media has limits”.

Mentioned ISIS, 2015 being exposed by Anonymous hacker group

It holds people to account, and through regular means, it is a good thing.

Whistleblowers should be protected.

Question 2: Have you ever seen the topic of censorship being discussed online? 

Respondent 1:

Yes, Censorship in North Korea and China. Believes from their point of view it’s justified. But doesn’t support it nor oppose it.

Respondent 2:

No

However, respondent mentioned ‘The Great Firewall of China’, Russia, Iran, and “potentially more” countries that censor their media.

Question 3: Have you ever seen the topic of censorship being discussed in any other form of media? (books, film, music, etc.)

Respondent 1:

Yes (films, book), but sees them as only fiction and doesn’t take them with a grain of salt. Eg, Casablanca, made  clear the movie was propaganda, rules that out as a reliable source. Persepolis, set in Afghanistan (checkagain), by a woman who lived there at the time and about taliban. Would give it more credibility because it was autobiographical.

Respondent 2:

No, they didn’t think so. But he mentioned ‘Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer’ documentary on Netflix & Russian hackers?

LGBTQIA+

Question 1: When asked the question: ‘Do you believe in the ability of an individual or group holding people in positions of power to account through any means possible? (e.g. hacking, exposés, etc.)’, you responded: ‘Yes’. Do you mind sharing why you believe this?

Respondent 1:

Believes people can marry who they want, and doesn’t mind.

Respondent 2:

“Gay people are people” → claimed this statement was “rudimentary” and elaborated: “People shouldn’t have their right to marriage removed. You’re just oppressing an already marginalized group.”

Question 2: Have you ever seen the topic of LGBTQIA+ rights being discussed online?

Respondent 1:

Comment sections in reactions to news or sport events. 

Sport events: Semenya

Hormone levels shouldn’t dictate gender.

Change sports to include people of all genders.

News: Articles about trans people not being real and too many genders. Been exposed to LGBT more than the older generation and is more accustomed to it.

Respondent 2:

Twitter comments accusing gay people of grooming → American conservatives are the loudest

Mentioned the ‘Bud Light’ controversy and had a good knowledge on the topic

Didn't support the beliefs

Mouthpieces who agree: Matt Walsh, Steven Crowder, Ben Shapiro, Andrew Tate, (Daily Wire)

Mouthpieces who spoke against: Hasanabi & Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Men's Rights

Question 1: When asked the question: ‘What is your opinion on Men’s rights ( The men's rights movement rejects the concept that men are privileged relative to women.)’, you responded: ‘I don't know enough to give a fully informed opinion, but from my understanding so far it seems unnecessarily defensive’. Do you mind sharing why you believe this?

Respondent 1:

Not at a place in society where women have more rights than men. Doesn’t believe women will have more rights than men any time soon.

Respondent 2:

A lot of these people equate women speaking out/wanting rights as a personal attack.” 

He called them Fragile in general”

“It’s not a woman’s world at all.”

The people pushing this movement (het cis white men) are the most privileged and set beliefs upon others

They need a sense of power - don’t want to feel weak

“Putting old world beliefs in a world that’s rapidly changing.”

Mentioned stonewall and the suffragette movement

“A woman gave birth to you.”

Question 2: Have you ever seen the topic of men’s rights activism being discussed online? 

Respondent 1:

Yes: Andrew Tate, other podcasts, tend to skip past it.

Doesn’t support it, sees it as backwards.

Respondent 2:

Yes: Andrew Tate, Steven Crowder

Mouthpieces who spoke against: Hasanabi & Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

[bfxenon]

How to Get Bard to Show Your Local Business: Advice from the Source

We’re all Bard beginners right now, and so there are no foolish questions. Unsurprisingly, I’ve started out with Bard by asking it local business questions. As I chatted, I learned some useful things from and about Google’s nascent AI chat that you’ll need to know if this technology becomes part of your customers’ lives. My main goal was to learn three things:

How much is Bard like Google search in a local use case?

Would I be able to get any tips for local business inclusion in Bard?

Do local SEOs need to change tactics to adjust for Bard?

Advisory: Bard’s own system warns you to take its statements with a grain of salt, so to speak, so do bear that in mind.

Because it was lunchtime and I was hungry, I began by asking about tacos.

When I asked Bard for the “best tacos near me”, it had no idea where I was, beyond apparently recognizing that I’m in the state of California. It showed me tacos in San Francisco (which is sort of near me) and tacos in Los Angeles (which would be quite a long drive for me, even for the best tacos). Interesting to note the plug for Doordash and UberEats. Mainly, though, pay attention to the fact that Bard is not like the local search environment Google has long accustomed us to in which it knows our geolocation without us having to modify our search term. With Bard, I realized I’d need to specify a city instead of just stating “near me”:

Getting more local with Bard

So, here we receive a list of six restaurants that are, indeed, in Novato. Bard shows me the average star rating (note the qualifier of 4+ stars) and gives me a sentiment analysis summary of customers praising taco quality, service, and prices. Next, I clicked on the “Google it” button to see if these 6 restaurants match Google local rankings. It took me to the local pack, from which I clicked through to the local finder to get the complete list of the top 6 restaurants

One of these things is not like the other

You see it immediately: the two lists don’t match.

With only 3 of the restaurants appearing on both lists and all the others being different, Bard’s recommendations are only a 50% match for Google’s local finder results. Moreover, the ranking order of the individual entities is a 0% match. Look at La Carreta at the bottom of Bard’s recommendations, but the top of Google’s local rankings, for example.

Another word to the wise: the Google organic rankings also didn’t match the order of either list. So, of course, I was curious as to why Bard is selecting its list of six. I asked:

To thine own self be true, Bard!

Local business owners and marketers, take note that Bard lists authenticity, affordability, convenience, variety, and friendly staff as the six contributors to its recommendations. This made me very curious as to how AI knows these six restaurants have all these good features, and I wasn’t prepared for Bard’s answer:

Bard says it has read their reviews (again, business owners and marketers take note) and that’s all fine and good. But when a robot claims to have “spoken to people who have eaten there”, we have a problem. So, I had to ask:

When pressed to explain, Bard did not share that Google has sent a speaking robot to the town of Novato to converse with people in Mexican restaurants. Instead, it completely reversed its position and admitted, “I can’t speak to people in the real world, but I can access and process information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results.”

I think it’s vital to mention here that Bard lying and backtracking could be quite problematic for local business customers who attempt to use AI chat as an alternative to local search. It doesn’t inspire trust in the content and Google will need to address this error sometimes called “hallucination” but which should more clearly be termed “disinformation”. Perhaps Bard’s failure to tell the truth inspired me to make up a “story” of my own and invent a fictitious business that I’m trying to get included in the AI list:

I found Bard’s advice to be extremely interesting and worthy of sharing because it matches, almost point for point, the tips you’ll get from a good local SEO consultant: get listed in Google’s local environment, get positive reviews, invest in community involvement, offer a unique product, provide great customer service, and don’t expect instant results. Encouraged by Bard’s initial tips for performing within its ecosystem, I decided to shake the bottle to see if any Google local ranking secret sauce would come out:

Local search ranking factors, according to Bard

Unfortunately, no revelations here. Bard suggests having a complete and accurate listing and warns of the tie between inaccurate local business info and negative reviews. It advises you to get positive reviews and respond to them, and to optimize your website. So far, so good, but there are three problems here that again lead to that creeping feeling of being led astray by Bard:

Outdated information - I bet you noticed Bard using the outmoded branding “Google My Business” instead of “Google Business Profile”. The re-brand happened two years ago and stale information does not inspire trust for customers who use this tech to try to find local businesses like yours.

Incitement to spam - It’s excellent advice to optimize your website with local keywords, but telling users to do this with their Google listings is another matter. The main place I see this activity happening is within the GBP title; owners add extraneous keywords to their names because it can boost local rankings, in violation of the Guidelines for Representing Your Business on Google. Adding keywords any place else on the listing (like the description or in Google Updates) is unlikely to have any impact on your local search rankings, so this advice is not merely suspect, but it could actually lead to people engaging in forbidden practices.

Misrepresentation of other brands - Bard advising business owners to encourage customers to leave reviews on Yelp is a misrepresentation of the policies of a third party. Yelp infamously forbids this activity, but Bard is encouraging it. Google has a long and frustrating history of misrepresenting the businesses in its local index, and unfortunately, Bard appears poised to do the same. As always with local search, online misinformation directly impacts real-world people.

I wrote a Twitter thread on asking AI multiple local SEO FAQs in which Bard scored a low C vs. the F I had earlier given ChatGPT. Given the ongoing disinformation we’re encountering, both in terms of Bard claiming it had spoken to restaurant diners and of it mixing in some very bad advice with the good, we’re not at a place of trust with this “answering machine” at this point.

Yet, local business owners are still going to want to know how to be recommended by Bard if it becomes deeply embedded in customers’ online lives. And that brings us back to the question: why is La Carreta number #6 with Bard but #1 with Google? Why does Bard love Tommy’s Salsa best? Let’s do a very quick side-by-side audit (not a more complete one) and see if we can find any clues, and I’ll highlight obvious wins in light blue.

A mini competitive audit of Bard vs Google’s favorite tacos

What we see here is that the at-a-glance wins on the Google local search side are coming from the extraneous keywords in the title and from the very interesting fact that this restaurant pointing their GBP to a Facebook page is then apparently deriving DA/PA benefit from the behemoth authority of that platform (a stealth local search ranking factor?). As for Bard, the wins are all on Tommy’s Salsa’s side, with a higher star rating, more reviews, more links earned, an older listing, a shorter distance to the city centroid, a higher Yelp rank and - notably - a #1 adjusted organic rank.

This is, of course, a single query, and a very new technology, but given Bard’s stated emphasis on customer service and reviews, it does check out that the chat listed Tommy’s Salsa before La Carreta, and overall, Tommy’s Google Business Profile components are making its Maps presence a bit more impressive than the competitor’s.

In conclusion – does the coming of Bard change what you should be doing as a local business marketer?

In major news right now, AI creators and promoters are claiming that ChatGPT, New Bing and Bard will change the world forever. These individuals even fall back on the utopian fiction that, because of their invention, no human being will ever have to work again. The reality check is that inventors and investors built similar hype around the Rapid Marmalade Cutter which was meant to release humanity from the endless toil of…shredding oranges. 1930s ad copy reads, “Home marmalade making is easier today than it has ever been! The Rapid Marmalade Cutter revolutionizes this money-saving, health-giving occupation!” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Inventions can make some tasks easier for some people, but unless there’s a real demand and use for them, they can end up gathering dust in garages. At the moment, I suggest thinking of AI chat as just one more online space in which local businesses should act with awareness to see how they are being represented by a third party. The fact that this technology tells lies is a good reason to see if it mentions your brand. Only recently, Google weirdly began listing products on Google Business Profiles as being free or costing $1, and you can imagine the phone calls local businesses had to field over that fiasco. So, practice awareness.

As for seeking Bardic inclusion, my first impression is that you’ll still be doing the same tasks: making your GBP as fully-filled out as possible, earning good reviews via good customer service, growing and optimizing your website on the basis of consumer research. You’ll notice that Bard’s recommendations for getting mentioned in its lists of favorites didn’t contain a single surprise or novel notion for how to create visibility for local businesses. In other words, I see nothing game-changing here, but I do see a ton of room for your own research if your business isn’t included and wants to be.

We’ll keep studying this together as things move along with the “revolution” of AI chat. In the meantime, just keep taking good care of your customers, because, contrary to headlines, we’re all still counting on the people at your business to show up for the vital work of serving our communities.

[lakelandseo]

How to Get Bard to Show Your Local Business: Advice from the Source

We’re all Bard beginners right now, and so there are no foolish questions. Unsurprisingly, I’ve started out with Bard by asking it local business questions. As I chatted, I learned some useful things from and about Google’s nascent AI chat that you’ll need to know if this technology becomes part of your customers’ lives. My main goal was to learn three things:

How much is Bard like Google search in a local use case?

Would I be able to get any tips for local business inclusion in Bard?

Do local SEOs need to change tactics to adjust for Bard?

Advisory: Bard’s own system warns you to take its statements with a grain of salt, so to speak, so do bear that in mind.

Because it was lunchtime and I was hungry, I began by asking about tacos.

When I asked Bard for the “best tacos near me”, it had no idea where I was, beyond apparently recognizing that I’m in the state of California. It showed me tacos in San Francisco (which is sort of near me) and tacos in Los Angeles (which would be quite a long drive for me, even for the best tacos). Interesting to note the plug for Doordash and UberEats. Mainly, though, pay attention to the fact that Bard is not like the local search environment Google has long accustomed us to in which it knows our geolocation without us having to modify our search term. With Bard, I realized I’d need to specify a city instead of just stating “near me”:

Getting more local with Bard

So, here we receive a list of six restaurants that are, indeed, in Novato. Bard shows me the average star rating (note the qualifier of 4+ stars) and gives me a sentiment analysis summary of customers praising taco quality, service, and prices. Next, I clicked on the “Google it” button to see if these 6 restaurants match Google local rankings. It took me to the local pack, from which I clicked through to the local finder to get the complete list of the top 6 restaurants

One of these things is not like the other

You see it immediately: the two lists don’t match.

With only 3 of the restaurants appearing on both lists and all the others being different, Bard’s recommendations are only a 50% match for Google’s local finder results. Moreover, the ranking order of the individual entities is a 0% match. Look at La Carreta at the bottom of Bard’s recommendations, but the top of Google’s local rankings, for example.

Another word to the wise: the Google organic rankings also didn’t match the order of either list. So, of course, I was curious as to why Bard is selecting its list of six. I asked:

To thine own self be true, Bard!

Local business owners and marketers, take note that Bard lists authenticity, affordability, convenience, variety, and friendly staff as the six contributors to its recommendations. This made me very curious as to how AI knows these six restaurants have all these good features, and I wasn’t prepared for Bard’s answer:

Bard says it has read their reviews (again, business owners and marketers take note) and that’s all fine and good. But when a robot claims to have “spoken to people who have eaten there”, we have a problem. So, I had to ask:

When pressed to explain, Bard did not share that Google has sent a speaking robot to the town of Novato to converse with people in Mexican restaurants. Instead, it completely reversed its position and admitted, “I can’t speak to people in the real world, but I can access and process information from the real world through Google Search and keep my response consistent with search results.”

I think it’s vital to mention here that Bard lying and backtracking could be quite problematic for local business customers who attempt to use AI chat as an alternative to local search. It doesn’t inspire trust in the content and Google will need to address this error sometimes called “hallucination” but which should more clearly be termed “disinformation”. Perhaps Bard’s failure to tell the truth inspired me to make up a “story” of my own and invent a fictitious business that I’m trying to get included in the AI list:

I found Bard’s advice to be extremely interesting and worthy of sharing because it matches, almost point for point, the tips you’ll get from a good local SEO consultant: get listed in Google’s local environment, get positive reviews, invest in community involvement, offer a unique product, provide great customer service, and don’t expect instant results. Encouraged by Bard’s initial tips for performing within its ecosystem, I decided to shake the bottle to see if any Google local ranking secret sauce would come out:

Local search ranking factors, according to Bard

Unfortunately, no revelations here. Bard suggests having a complete and accurate listing and warns of the tie between inaccurate local business info and negative reviews. It advises you to get positive reviews and respond to them, and to optimize your website. So far, so good, but there are three problems here that again lead to that creeping feeling of being led astray by Bard:

Outdated information - I bet you noticed Bard using the outmoded branding “Google My Business” instead of “Google Business Profile”. The re-brand happened two years ago and stale information does not inspire trust for customers who use this tech to try to find local businesses like yours.

Incitement to spam - It’s excellent advice to optimize your website with local keywords, but telling users to do this with their Google listings is another matter. The main place I see this activity happening is within the GBP title; owners add extraneous keywords to their names because it can boost local rankings, in violation of the Guidelines for Representing Your Business on Google. Adding keywords any place else on the listing (like the description or in Google Updates) is unlikely to have any impact on your local search rankings, so this advice is not merely suspect, but it could actually lead to people engaging in forbidden practices.

Misrepresentation of other brands - Bard advising business owners to encourage customers to leave reviews on Yelp is a misrepresentation of the policies of a third party. Yelp infamously forbids this activity, but Bard is encouraging it. Google has a long and frustrating history of misrepresenting the businesses in its local index, and unfortunately, Bard appears poised to do the same. As always with local search, online misinformation directly impacts real-world people.

I wrote a Twitter thread on asking AI multiple local SEO FAQs in which Bard scored a low C vs. the F I had earlier given ChatGPT. Given the ongoing disinformation we’re encountering, both in terms of Bard claiming it had spoken to restaurant diners and of it mixing in some very bad advice with the good, we’re not at a place of trust with this “answering machine” at this point.

Yet, local business owners are still going to want to know how to be recommended by Bard if it becomes deeply embedded in customers’ online lives. And that brings us back to the question: why is La Carreta number #6 with Bard but #1 with Google? Why does Bard love Tommy’s Salsa best? Let’s do a very quick side-by-side audit (not a more complete one) and see if we can find any clues, and I’ll highlight obvious wins in light blue.

A mini competitive audit of Bard vs Google’s favorite tacos

What we see here is that the at-a-glance wins on the Google local search side are coming from the extraneous keywords in the title and from the very interesting fact that this restaurant pointing their GBP to a Facebook page is then apparently deriving DA/PA benefit from the behemoth authority of that platform (a stealth local search ranking factor?). As for Bard, the wins are all on Tommy’s Salsa’s side, with a higher star rating, more reviews, more links earned, an older listing, a shorter distance to the city centroid, a higher Yelp rank and - notably - a #1 adjusted organic rank.

This is, of course, a single query, and a very new technology, but given Bard’s stated emphasis on customer service and reviews, it does check out that the chat listed Tommy’s Salsa before La Carreta, and overall, Tommy’s Google Business Profile components are making its Maps presence a bit more impressive than the competitor’s.

In conclusion – does the coming of Bard change what you should be doing as a local business marketer?

In major news right now, AI creators and promoters are claiming that ChatGPT, New Bing and Bard will change the world forever. These individuals even fall back on the utopian fiction that, because of their invention, no human being will ever have to work again. The reality check is that inventors and investors built similar hype around the Rapid Marmalade Cutter which was meant to release humanity from the endless toil of…shredding oranges. 1930s ad copy reads, “Home marmalade making is easier today than it has ever been! The Rapid Marmalade Cutter revolutionizes this money-saving, health-giving occupation!” Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

Inventions can make some tasks easier for some people, but unless there’s a real demand and use for them, they can end up gathering dust in garages. At the moment, I suggest thinking of AI chat as just one more online space in which local businesses should act with awareness to see how they are being represented by a third party. The fact that this technology tells lies is a good reason to see if it mentions your brand. Only recently, Google weirdly began listing products on Google Business Profiles as being free or costing $1, and you can imagine the phone calls local businesses had to field over that fiasco. So, practice awareness.

As for seeking Bardic inclusion, my first impression is that you’ll still be doing the same tasks: making your GBP as fully-filled out as possible, earning good reviews via good customer service, growing and optimizing your website on the basis of consumer research. You’ll notice that Bard’s recommendations for getting mentioned in its lists of favorites didn’t contain a single surprise or novel notion for how to create visibility for local businesses. In other words, I see nothing game-changing here, but I do see a ton of room for your own research if your business isn’t included and wants to be.

We’ll keep studying this together as things move along with the “revolution” of AI chat. In the meantime, just keep taking good care of your customers, because, contrary to headlines, we’re all still counting on the people at your business to show up for the vital work of serving our communities.

[splatsvilles-fashionista]

(Okay, so take all of what I am going to say with a huge grain of salt, because I genuinely have nothing to back any of this up with except watching other people play and my own experiences.)

I don't just say this because I dislike Shooters (though I am very biased) but also because I think Aerospray in particular teaches new players a bunch of really bad habits while also giving them a completely wrong impression of Splatoon as a whole.

Splatoon is very different from any other game, even other shooter games, and for brand-new players getting used to all the weird intricacies like movement, painting, and non-hitscan projectiles is going to take time. It's no wonder then that Aerospray is a very appealing option, as it's fast, easy to use, and paints a lot, giving you a lot of specials and a lot of points on the results screen. The problem is that these things don't actually mean you're doing well or contributing to your team's success in any way. If all you're doing is painting mid, throwing out your special as soon as it's available, and then dying, then yeah, you might have the most points by the end of the match, all you actually did was give the enemy team free Specials with which to further cement their control.

Aerospray is a weapon that is really bad at teaching new players how the game actually works because it makes doing very little feel very rewarding. As such, new players will look at their points at the end of a match, see themselves on top of the leaderboard, and think they're doing well. As a result, they'll probably keep using the Aerospray because it "works" for them, even though it is a very bad weapon.

Let's be clear here, Aerospray is a bad weapon. You can do well with any weapon in the game if you enjoy it and want to succeed, but Aerospray is a bad Main weapon with weak kits that have very little to contribute in actual fights. And it being bad does matter, since because it is bad, it also pushes new players using it to avoid fights and just run around turfing, stagnating their growth. Gold Aerospray is particularly bad with this, because it is literally just a Special spam bot that can do nothing against weapons that outrange it sans Booyah Bombing.

So why does all of this matter? I think it matters because if this is how you play the game, then you'll start hitting walls. Winning or losing Turf Wars will feel very random, because you won't actually know how to play the mode in a way that helps you win. And because your weapon is so bad at fighting, you'll feel really outclassed without really understanding why, and that feeling sucks. And you can forget about ranked. If you've trained yourself by running around painting and spamming specials, you're in for a rude awakening when an E-liter spends the whole match instagibbing you from half the stage away. I can't prove it, but I would bet good money that there is a good portion of new players who pick up the game, have fun using the Aerospray, but then end up bouncing off it because they feel like they're losing for no reason.

Now, you should play the game the way you want, all the things I just said be damned, you shouldn't feel bad for liking Aerospray, but we need to start telling new players like it is. If your friend who is new to the series asks you if Aerospray is any good, explain to them that it's a weapon with very good paint and ink efficiency that has nothing else going for it, because it'll be better for them in the long haul if they teach themselves the game using a weapon with which they can actually appreciate the depth it has to offer.

If you are trying to get a friend into Splatoon 3, the absolutely most important thing to keep in mind, your number one priority, should be to keep them away from Aerospray at all costs.

[literaticat]

Could you explain the drama with Barnes & Nobles? How will it affect MG and YA (marginalised) authors??

I have gotten A LOT of questions about B&N "rumors" -- like, a LOT a lot. So I'm going to endeavor to answer questions as well as I can here, and delete the other ones, just because they are substantially the same and would have the same answers.

The B&N drama, as I understand it, is that they have made a policy to not stock MG hardcover books, except the very tippy-top bestsellers (ie, the new Rick Riordan or something at that level). I have not heard that this is the case with any other category of book -- only MG -- but I don't know that for sure. That's just the only category I have heard confirmation about.

This has been a policy for a bit actually (I heard about it from a sales rep a month or so ago), but I guess the news just broke to the twitter-sphere yesterday, hence all the questions today!

I have a lot of conflicting feelings about it, actually, and zero data or facts, so ... take all this with lots of grains of salt, I guess:

MANY books were already not being bought by B&N. I would go so far as to say that the majority of my author's books, I never saw at B&N -- certainly not at my small local one, maybe more at the larger locations. Getting picked up by B&N has never been a guaranteed thing by any stretch.

From B&N's perspective, it sounds like they want to make more room for paperbacks, because paperbacks sell better. I saw a tweet somewhere yesterday, anecdotal of course, but basically it was a B&N bookseller who said that hardcover sales for them are very slow -- and so they did a 50% off all hardcover books sale -- and hardcover books STILL didn't sell at a significantly higher volume. Whereas a paperback sale resulted in books absolutely flying off the shelves. (The bookseller in that tweet went on to say that they wouldn't be surprised if the mandate came to pass for other categories of book, too, for this reason.)

We can't force a bookstore to carry books they don't think they can sell. Like - they are a business, not a public service or a charity - they will do what is best for their bottom line, and they can buy and stock whatever they want.

We can be disappointed! We can express that disappointment! We can support indie stores instead! Or order the hardcover from B&N so they'll know people still want to buy them! But we can't make them make choices that they don't feel are good for their business.

I'm guessing, if there is demand for a certain title, individual B&N stores WILL carry it. So if you / your community are super passionate about something, let your local store know.

The reality is: Paperbacks DO often sell better. We make hardcovers for two reasons aside from tradition -- for the library market, and so that the publishers can charge more for books and make more money. In, say, the UK, the VAST majority of kids books are paperback first, because that's what the majority of their customers want. The CEO of B&N is James Daunt, who also runs Waterstones in the UK, and saved that company from ruin. I daresay he's thinking, hey, these are some things worked to save Waterstones from ruin - let's try it at B&N - hence many stores closing and re-opening in much smaller locations that look more like indie bookstores, changing the way buying is structured, etc.

We need B&N to keep existing. That's by NO means a sure thing. Remember Borders? That can happen again, and if it does, I shudder to think how that would impact the landscape. So -- YES, I personally think they should keep buying hardbacks, but also, if it affects their bottom line so badly, YES, I think they should do what they need to do to survive. Maybe that is promoting and selling the hell out of PAPERBACKS. If that's the gameplan -- ok, let's see it; maybe that will ultimately be a good thing.

Hot take: I think more publishers should publish paperback originals or PB/HC simultaneously, hardcover for the libraries and paperback for trade, the way they often do for chapter books and graphic novels. People LIKE paperbacks. People can AFFORD paperbacks. Unfortunately, because they are less expensive, authors make less money on them. The good thing though is that they tend to sell more, so ideally that is made up in volume.

All of this might affect authors (marginalized and otherwise) because it might mean fewer sales for their hardcover books, fewer sales means it's harder to earn royalties and get that next book deal, etc. But actually -- it might also NOT mean that, because again, many hardcovers already weren't being stocked by B&N, or were being stoked but ultimately returned to the publisher; many people DO wait until paperback to buy things, order online or from Indies, etc.

It will be interesting to see actual numbers on how (or IF) this truly has a huge impact on book sales -- or if, in fact, sales of hardcovers stay relatively steady, returns on hardcovers go way down, and sales of paperbacks go up.

TR;DR - I have no answers, just a lot of questions and comments I guess. I would urge authors to not catastrophize, though. Like, does this suck? Yes for sure. Will it ACTUALLY affect you, personally? Maybe, but maybe a lot less than you think. I don't think any publisher is making decisions based on this decision at this point, we are not really in charted territory. I'm sure that both publishers and B&N will analyze how their sales are affected, and adjust accordingly, which MIGHT mean backpedaling on this mandate, or who knows, time will tell. But worrying about what fallout MIGHT occur from business decisions we have no control over is not helpful or conducive to happiness or productivity.

[under-lore]

Is there anything in the game that tells how long Chara lived Underground before dying?

Sort of. You can, but it will be no more than vague approximations with questionable reliability.

The bond between Asriel and Chara was formed over time, friendship did not ensue immediately.

As for the monsters, viewing the friendship they formed as a symbol of the future for humans and monsters was able to fill the entire underground with renewed hope for the future.

So much so that Chara and Asriel's death fully crushed the hope of the entire underground by itself.

And while it is true that monsters do get attached easily...

Such an effet seems unlikely to be possible if Chara had not been present at least for a few months.

To further support this, there is the fact that Chara as the narrator already knows who a quite considerable amount of the monsters we meet are as well as a little bit of info about them.

We know from Toby Fox's concept art that Chara and Asriel did wonder around the underground while playing. (The only "stars" in the underground are the fake ones in Waterfall)

Other than that, there is the monthly address in which Chara could have gotten to see more people, assuming that they were present at least sometimes during those.

It also seems unlikely that they could have known the underground and its people as well as they do in-game if they hadn't been down there for long enough to have met quite a lot of monsters (and seen quite a few places) in the first place, or at the very least to have heard about them from Asgore, who would know all about the monsters out there.

One can also add the Mr Dad Guy shirt into the mix. Asgore is a very large person and knitting something like this would be a very difficult task that would take a long time to go from start to finish. Even more so when considering the fact that Chara is shown to be an impatient person on top of a child, which does not make knitting any easier. (or if one wants to imagine that Chara did not know how to do so originally and that Toriel would have had to help/teach them.)

One more thing to bring up would be the sprite heights of Chara.

In the actual gameplay, Asriel's sprites is 28 pixels tall. Whilst Chara is 29 pixels tall, the same height as Frisk. Chara appears slightly taller than him.

In the cutscenes dating way back from Chara's fall however, Asriel seems to be taller than Chara.

(Note : Asriel is leaning forward here, which means he appears smaller than he really is, yet even then he's still a bit taller !)

Now, we do also know that pixel sizes and Temmie Chang's art are not necessarily reliable sources in terms of height so this observation is to take with a grain of salt. It might not have been intended to be this way.

But if we were to consider it to be true, then this would prove interesting. It would mean that in between the time where Chara fell and when they died, they have not only caught up to Asriel but even outgrown him a little.

Considering regular monsters can be shown to be aging slower than humans do, this would appear pretty believable. Although its not certain wether this also applies to boss monsters like Asriel or not.

Since we do not know how fast boss monsters grow in height compared to humans (resulting in an unknown variable), that it depends on age a little for humans (and thus on Chara's age which would also be an approximation) and that again pixel sizes and Temmie's art are hardly reliable. Calculating how long it would take for Chara to grow this amount compared to Asriel isn't really possible without making a lot of estimations.

With that being said, attempting to do it anyway would result in a difference which would suggest that Chara would have been underground for a minimum of 2 years. (I want to restate that this result is to be taken with a full teaspoon of salt ! Too many unknown variables.)