#using that as an example but there are many breeds this applies to. as well as small dogs

[sparrowsgarden]

As I have been promising for years, the eye color chart is all cleaned up and ready to be shared! I'm totally ok with this being saved and passed around, that's why all my info is on it.

Basic image description is in alt, and a full transcript of all text in the image is under the cut.

This model has been in a process of expansion and tweaking for a very long time. Huge huge thanks to all the folks who contributed and hunted down photos, helped me name all the colors, and gave the final proofs!

Sparrow's Eye Color Chart 2025 Edition

Eye colors in cats are difficult to model because they vary to a significant extent on two axes. This is my best attempt at a general model of cat eye color based on observation and research into how eye color works across species.

Pigmentation refers to the amount of pigment in the colored layer of the iris. Higher pigmentation causes darker colors.

Refraction means the extent to which light is scattered in the structures of the iris. Higher refraction causes deeper blues or greens.

Eye colors are related to coat color, but not as closely as breed standards might have you believe! Most coat colors can have most eye colors outside of purebred lines selected to meet breed standard.

What Color Are My Cat's Eyes?

Color names are descriptive of the actual color of the cat's eyes - I chose them all to sound nice so that breeders can use them if desired. Note that breed standards have a much broader use of color names - "Amber", for example, may include much of the golden to orange range.

Colors are based on pictures of cats in full white light (such as midday sun fully illuminating the eye), and tweaked to look good on properly color-calibrated screens. Always determine eye colors based on how they look in full light.

Main Block

standard eye colors possible with most pelts

Every cat is assumed to have genes that specify some genetic eye color in the main block, but certain other alleles can depigment the eyes partially or completely, creating the lower block.

Pigmentation and Refraction are modeled here as dependent on multiple genes, which seems to best fit the wide spectrum of possibilities in cats. The actual number of genes is unknown and could be very many, but for simplicity they are shown here on a scale from 1-7.

In theory, the genetic eye colors of the offspring should tend to fall somewhere between the genetic eye colors of the parents. Then, any depigmentation factors are applied, which may result in an actual eye color somewhere below the genetic eye color.

Lower Block

occur with phenotypes which cause depigmentation of the iris.

Gray-blues: Fairly rare coloration. The cause of gray eyes in humans is not well understood, but one theory is that collagen or very small amounts of pigment in the eye alter the scattering of light.

Blues: Most common depigmented colors. Can be caused by white spotting/dominant white, colorpoint, and sometimes mocha. There are also multiple Dominant Blue-eye (DBE) mutations known which cause blue eyes as the main effect.

Albinistic: Caused by complete albinism, which also fully depigments the back layer of the iris meant to keep light from getting through. This allows the red color from the retinal blood vessels to bleed through, and also causes poor visual acuity.

Following is a list of all eye colors shown on the main diagram. Rows are pigmentation levels starting from the highest pigmentation, refraction increases from left to right.

Main Block: Copper, Chestnut, Umber, Walnut, Earthen, Olive, Moss; Ochre, Caramel, Bronze, Serpentine, Artichoke, Fern, Forest; Orange, Amber, Brass, Peridot, Avocado, Clover, Malachite; Saffron, Butterscotch, Shrub, Spring, Jade, Pine, Emerald; Gold, Citron, Pear, Lime, Mantis, Grass, Viridian; Yellow, Chartreuse, Sprout, Laurel, Mint, Turquoise, Teal; Canary, Chiffon, Honeydew, Sage, Celadon, Aqua, Cerulean.

Lower Block: Gray-blues: Frost, Opal, Flint, Storm, Steel, Slate, Cadet. Blues: Ice, Powder, Celeste, Sky, Azure, Lapis, Cobalt. Albinistic: Pink, Mauve, Lavender, Periwinkle, Cornflower, Royal, Indigo.

Combo Colors

Cats can exhibit a few different heterochromia types, most commonly a blue with a non-blue. The other most common cause for heterochromia appears to be localized hyperpigmentation, which can be caused by damage to the eye. It can also happen simply due to differing iris structure or unusual pigment migration within the iris.

It is also relatively common for the center of the eye to be a slightly different color, without being marked enough to constitute full heterochromia. My provisionary term for this is "dual-toned". The boundary between this and "true" central heterochromia is somewhat subjective.

For any form of heterochromia or dual-toned eyes, my recommendation for describing them is to note both colors with a slash. For dual-tones, I generally write the outer color before the center one.

Complete Heterochromia Blue/non-blue is commonly caused by white spotting/dominant white, other combos are rare.

Sectoral Heterochromia Blue/non-blue sometimes occurs with white spotting/dominant white. Can also be from hyperpigmentation.

Central Heterochromia Can occur due to hyperpigmentation, uneven pigment distribution, or iris structure. More common in certain breeds.

Dual-toned Irises Relatively small differences in central eye color are common in cats.

Iris Atrophy Iris atrophy due to old age can cause a distinctive lighter ring in the center of the iris.

All writing, art, and chart design ©Sparrow Hartmann 2025

Icon designs are released to the Creative Commons under a CC-BY-SA license and will be made available for download.

Go to sparrows-garden.com for more genetics resources!

[dragpinkman]

seeing a dog breed most people do not have the capacity to handle and properly care for marketed as an easy adopt

[cavegirlpoems]

So many TTRPG people, like yourself, seem to exist in a world where players don't actually enjoy the campaigns they're in, and don't actually like playing with the people they play with, and your whole approach to game mechanics seems like it's about trying to bribe these people to continue playing at a given table.

i have no idea where you get this idea from, I play a bunch of different games - including freeform text rp, fest larps, parlour larps, regular tabletop campaigns, longform play-by-post games and narrative wargames - and I have a lot of fun doing it. I wouldn't be a game designer if I didn't actually enjoy games. The thing is, if you study game design and ttrpg theory seriously, you think about the intent behind design decisions. Game design doesn't just happen by accident, the designer put a given rule in for a reason. So, you ask yourself why the designer made the game the way it did, and what they were trying to achieve.

A significant tool for game design is considering the feedback the game provides; what behaviours that ruleset rewards and what it discourages. (You can apply this analysis to other games, too, like video games). When I'm talking about a bribe, it's in that context; how does the game reward you for doing things, and what things does it reward. (For example, 'scrabble' rewards you for playing words with weird letters in them by making those letters worth more points.)

The thing is, ultimately, every game relies on a simple proposition; that if you volunterily use its rules, you will have fun. You don't need to follow the rules, and you can have fun without them, but the idea is that using the rules will let you have more fun, or a different type of fun, than if you didn't. (For example, throwing a ball around is a bit fun, but if everybody agrees to follow the rules of basketball, you get a different experience that a lot of people prefer). So, the only bribe you're making on the interpersonal, out-out-of-game level (unless something weird is going on) is "if we play this game it will be fun". When I talk about bribes and incentives, it's *inside* the game, after we've all agreed to the game's proposition of "if you use the rules, you will have fun".

Now, what counts as an incentive varies by game. Some, like Warhammer 40k, are challenge-based, and have ways to keep score of success and victory; here, things that signify overcoming the challenge are your incentives; how you get a high score, how you win, etc. Others, like most ttrpgs, are creative-based. What constitutes an incentive within the game's structure is less precisely defined. By and large, though, these incentives tend to be things like increased agency within the game fiction, space for creative expression, and experiencing and learning about more of the game fiction. (In this structure, 'being more mechanically powerful' can be thought of as a way of granting a player more agency, because their actions are more likely to succeed and result in the outcomes that they want. If the mechanical growth is lateral as well as vertical, then how to get more powerful is - itself - a venue for creative expression in what to prioritise, which is also a reward).

In the same way that you have the adage that 'restrictions breed creativity', the same goes for Fun. Limiting your scope from anything-goes freeform by voluntarily agreeing to use a set of game rules can produce similar results. Voluntarily limiting your agency in the fiction according to a set of game rules produces a friction that players of roleplaying games find enjoyable to push against. In this context, a reward structure within a game serves the useful purpose of signposting which direction you should push to get the fun kind of friction. A game which limits your options, and then gives you more options when you engage with certain behaviours, is telling you that those are the intended behaviours. Likewise, a game that limits your options even further when you do something is encouraging you not to do that. This is because game designs are not neutral and universal, they exist to create specific experiences. A game that rewards you by giving you more space for creative expression when you get in a fight - and gives you less space for creative expression when you avoid violence - is one that wants you to engage in violence, because it's designed to be a game where you have fun by fighting. This isn't bribing the players to sit down at the table and play the game; that has already happened outside the context of the game. They have already agreed to the game's offer of 'if you use these rules, you will have fun'. Rather, this bribing is within the game-space, the games mechanics encouraging the players to engage with it as intended, in the way that will be most fun. IE: these incentive structures are a tool the game uses to achieve the promise it makes; they guide the players towards the fun that they volunteered to have. Hope that makes sense. * * * Now, your initial ask is a weird take that's entirely unrelated to anything I've posted, and - particularly from an anon account- oddly antagonistic. I don't know if you're genuinely confused about game design, or arguing in bad faith. Either way, this probably doesn't merit the small essay I've produced, but have one anyway, it's always fun to clarify my ideas in written form.

[wickmitz]

any thoughts/opinions on vikdecai?

i don’t believe i have any complex thoughts that haven’t already been said by the community at large! mostly my opinions just correlate to a very fond i like them, since mordecai kneecapping viktor in order to save himself from having to hurt him later is really one of the first things that humanizes his character. makes you realize he’s not nearly as cold or practical as he tries leading you to believe -- a front that unravels further given his atlas obsession. and i like that! my favorite thing about mordecai is his subtle longing for the lackadaisy crew, how much he doesn’t wish to hurt them, and how venomously he loathes his current life … what he’s doing now isn’t what he wants to currently be doing, but merely what must be done for his goal, one which is already layered in lackadaisy sentiment. so his bond with viktor is important to me, given how much it highlights this inner struggle and earnest truth within his character. but then again, this can also be applied to mordecai’s relationship with mitzi, atlas, and ivy, so let me discuss them in a more romantic sense. which i’m sure is what this question is trying to get at!

romantically, i view mordecai and viktor’s dynamic as … favorable? it’s entirely plausible there were feelings there, an intimacy only they shared as men inside atlas’ arsenal, people who were entirely knowledgeable of the lackadaisy’s nasty underbelly. it’s their slaughter of people deserving and of many, many innocents that help their boss’s speakeasy run, and this violence ( this constant watching one another’s back ) would only breed closeness in spite of the horror it’s built on. and, of course, they have core things in common outside of their job and efficiency for bloodsport! like their love for family, their devotion towards those who matter most, and how out of place they equally feel on this soil - - in this world and era, where everything feels like it’s out to get them in some way or another. their ability to connect beyond their surface level traits and quirks ( mordecai and viktor are very much opposites on their surface, and they have a habit of bickering about these differences, albeit lightheartedly ) demonstrates the profoundness of what they have and what they’d do to protect it. they care for one another in little gestures, insignificant to most but in a way that truly matters to them … as they can see the genuineness in it, since they’re putting themselves into the careful actions and aren’t just doing things for politeness sake. for example, mordecai tries adorning them in matching cloth so they’re two equal halves, symmetrical, and then we have viktor who pocketed mordecai’s glasses to give him later when they were done with their mission. i like to imagine there are more things like this in their relationship! stuff that isn’t as severe as life or death, like saving your friend’s skin by a mere inch or dragging each other to a finish line every day. any of atlas’ men can offer that. it’s the extra things, done out of agency and personal desire, that bring them closer than any other regular joe on atlas’ payroll. it’s rather clear that they were close canonically, and that viktor was perhaps mordecai’s closest friend in a way that atlas could never be due to the pedestal he was constantly put upon. and while we have less insight on viktor’s feelings, i’d imagine the betrayal has never, and will never, fully heal. it is not a wound he can easily patch up, and it isn’t something one could just forget either. how can you dismiss someone who used to be your hands and eyes and ears? when you two functioned as another man’s extra body in your entirety? you may as well have shared a mind when out on the field, and that’s a closeness and a trust which is hard to lose. viktor hardly lets anyone in as is, just as anti social as his spectacles wearing companion, so to lose that in such a violent was is an unspeakable pain he bears, i’m sure. mordecai took whatever remained of his life from him with that shot. he’s permanently robbed viktor the ability to defend the last few hairs he cares to protect. his purpose is now up in the air. and all this anguish from someone he completely and utterly believed in … there is a lot of hurt, is what i’m saying. a hurt that’s too deep and life altering for it not to be supremely personal too. it’s deep and festering and viktor ignores it, and mordecai ignores it, mostly, but sometimes his paw strays near his wound and he itches at it, and it reopens the ache all over again. there is metaphor to be found there! an abandonment and a departure that leaves you bloodied from maiming or being maimed. it is very easily a multi-layered sentiment!

however, i could still take this or leave it romantically, hence my earlier statement of favorabe rather than unabashed gushing and swooning. this is a ship i like, but i don’t read mordecai as crushing on viktor per se? i’ve always viewed his extreme relationship with atlas as puppy love that’s half bred from devotion, something not entirely genuine but also still genuine enough, which makes for a nice parallel between that and rocky’s bond with mitzi. his rivalry with atlas’ wife and his oddities such as wearing his boss’s shirts read as girlish crush behavior, typical things one does when believing themselves enamored, you know? naturally his views and feelings for atlas aren’t quite that simple nor easy to parse, and i’m not trying to simplify them in any way! i just believe he had a torch for atlas, and thus didn’t carry another for anyone else, at least not as intensely. whatever feelings he might have for someone would always be second to atlas, who was his very reason for living and breathing every day, who was his answer and justification and eventually? his obsession. in many ways i think mordecai was too wrapped up in atlas to properly develop feelings for viktor, even if there were inklings of something inside of him. ironically, the term something is what i love using when thinking about him with viktor or mitzi. mordecai is something with those two, he feels something, an unlabeled sort of thing he can’t really reach -- perhaps he doesn’t even want to, scared of what it might mean, what it could say. and it is different somethings! they are not the same feeling, what he feels towards those two, but it’s not fully known to him in the way that his feelings towards atlas was. it is not as clear! especially now, with things as awful as they are and with mordecai so full of turmoil he’s forcing himself to not share. he also has an intense aversion to emotions, obviously, which doesn’t help matters lol. this man could find some of the closure he’s so desperately seeking if he took more than a glance inside of himself, but then he wouldn’t be apart of this tragic tale, now would he?

still, in a better world where the lackadaisy’s gaggle of traumatized characters are allowed healing without any casualties or major losses, then i’d enjoy seeing a viktor and mordecai slowburn. where they decide to remain steadfast by each other’s side like once upon a time before, and they deal with life as a unit. maybe when given the space for it, mordecai’s affection can finally cement into real love for viktor -- the romantic kind, something sappy and disarming and maddening all at once. maybe viktor will allow such indulgences, finally able to touch upon his heart again and use it in a way that he hasn’t gotten to in a couple ages. or maybe he won’t share the specific feelings that mordecai possesses for him, but he’ll enjoy creating an entirely new thing that’s only for them : he can compromise and he can bend if mordecai is willing to bend just the same. they certainly wouldn’t be your typical couple, their emotions too stunted for regular dates or typical pda, but there’s something more special and intimate to them carving out their own space, and thus having their own secret world. a mix of platonic and romantic affections, a healthy dose of selfishness and desire they couldn’t ever have before but now can hoard so entirely, in small bearable doses. and there will always be some things they both won’t ever be able to shake ( mordecai disabling viktor, atlas, viktor’s daughter, etc ), although they could manage these aches and guilt better together, which is the exact sort of happy ending i’d want for them. if i may be so indulgent myself haha ( <- person who knows lackadaisy’s ending will be mostly dark and tragic but likes playing around with hopeful scenarios and what-if’s regardless! )

[thursdayisbetterthanfriday]

Cybernetics with Chinese Characteristics & why we suck at the real Grand Strategy Game

Part 2 - The Quickening

Back in 2023, I wrote this more blog-like post about the mid 20th century McCarthyite purges of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the knock on effects that had - Namely the inception of the Chinese nuclear program, one-child policy and Chinese computing scene.

Since nothing is new under the sun, we have recently witnessed yet another example of America shooting itself in the foot, yet again, due to it's McCarthyite style purge of Chinese technology.

The release of the Chinese created AI system DeepSeek R1 last week has lead to the largest US stock market loss in history with NVIDIA stock decimated.

A record $465 Billion was wiped off its valuation in a single day. In 2024, the government of Turkey spent this much in a year on it's responsibilities?

Why did this happen?

As always, a lot can be put down to US foreign policy, and the in-intended implications of seemingly positive actions.

Do you want to start a trade war?

Back in the relatively uncontroversial days of the first Trump Presidency (Yes it does feel odd saying that) there were scandals with hardware provided by Chinese company Huawei. This led to the  National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 which explicitly banned Huawei and ZTE's hardware from use in US Government institutions. It also meant the US had to authorise US component manufacturer purchases by these companies.

Crucially this had a 27 month window. This allowed both companies to switch suppliers, and production to domestic suppliers. This actually led to Chinese chip advances. Following on from this came the 2022 move by the US Department of Commerce: "Commerce Implements New Export Controls on Advanced Computing and Semiconductor Manufacturing Items to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) ". This further limited the supply of semiconductor, supercomputer, and similar hardware to the PRC and associated countries.

Ok, well so far this is fairly dry stuff. You might think it would hamper Chinese development and, to some extent, it did.

It also proved to be the main catalyst for one financial quant.

Meet the Quant

Meet Liang Wenfeng (梁文锋). Educated to masters level, Liang was keen to apply machine learning methods to various field, but couldn't get a break. Finally, in the mid 2000's, he settled on a career investigating quantitative trading using machine learning techniques.

He became successful, founding several trading firms based around using machine learning methods, but his interest in base AI never seemed to cease. It was in 2021 that he started purchasing multiple NVIDIA GPUs to create a side project, leading to the creation of DeepSeek in 2023.

Now, due to import limitations, there were limitations on computation. This, however, did not stop DeepSeek's programming team.

Instead they used it as their strength.

Constrains Breed Innovation

For many years, the Western model of AI releases have focussed on making ever larger and larger models.

Why?

Let's break this down from an evolutionary point of view. Modern Western technology companies are largely monopolistic and monolithic. Many of these companies have previously hired staff at higher salaries not to fill roles, but to deny their competitors, and middle market firms, high-flying staff.

They also closely guard trade secrets. What's the training data? What algorithms were used in construction? Guess you'd better chat up some Silicon Valley bros at parties to find out.

For these kinds of firms, having control over large models, housed in data centres makes perfect sense. Controlling model deployment on their own computing systems, and not using local machines, means that they can not only control their systems more carefully, it also means that they can gatekeep access.

If your business model is to allow people to access your models on your servers, and your employees are focussed on making the biggest, best, models, there is no impetus to innovate more efficient, smaller models.

Companies such as OpenAI therefore have the following traits:

Research/Model focus on size over efficiency

Profit driven culture, with emphasis on closed source code

OpenAI's initial focus was as a non-for-profit developing Artificial General Intelligence. This became a for-profit driven company over time. - “I personally chose the price and thought we would make some money.” - Sam Altman

Staff working within paradigm they set in the early 2020's with established code libraries and direct contact with hardware companies creating chips

Significant capital investment - Upwards of several $ billions

DeepSeek, in comparison, is slightly different

For DeepSeek, necessity made innovation necessary. In order to create similar, or better models, than their counterparts, they needed to significantly optimise their code. This requires significantly more work to create, and write, libraries compared to OpenAI.

DeepSeek was started by financial quants, with backgrounds in mainly mathematics and AI. With a focus on mathematics and research, the main drive of many in the company has been exploration of the research space over concerns about profitability.

DeepSeek has also done what OpenAI stopped years ago: actually releasing the code and data for their models. Not only can these models therefore be run via their own gated servers, anyone can replicate their work and make their own system.

For DeepSeek, their traits were:

Research/Model focus on both efficiency and accuracy

Research driven culture, with open nature - “Basic science research rarely offers high returns on investment” - Liang Wenfeng

Strong mathematical background of staff, with ability to work around software, and hardware, constraints

Low capital investment of around $5.5 million

From an evolutionary point of view, DeepSeek's traits have outcompeted those of OpenAI.

More efficient models cost less to run. They also more portable to local machines.

The strong ability of DeepSeek's research focussed staff allowed them to innovate around hardware constraints

Opening up the code to everyone allows anyone (still with the right hardware) to make their own version.

To top it off, the cost to make, and run, DeepSeek R1 is a fraction of the cost of OpenAI's model

House of Cards

Now we can return to today. NVIDIA has lost significant market value. It's not just limited to NVIDIA, but to the entire US technology sector with the most AI adjacent companies losing from 10% to 30% of their valuation in a single day.

The culture, and business model, of OpenAI isn't just limited to OpenAI, but to the entire US technology ecosystem. The US model has been to create rentier-style financial instruments at sky-high valuations.

US tech stocks have been one of the only success stories for America over the past few decades, ever since the offshoring of many manufacturing industries. Like a lost long-unemployed Detroit auto-worker the US has been mainlining technology like Fentanyl, ignoring the anti-trust doctors advice, injecting pure deregulated substances into its veins.

The new AI boom? A new stronger hit, ready for Wall Street, and Private Equity to tie the tourniquet around its arm and pump it right into the arteries.

Like Prometheus, DeepSeek has delved deep and retrieved fire from the algorithmic gods, and shown it's creation to the world. The stock market is on fire, as the traders are coming off of their high, realising they still live in the ruin of barren, decrepit, warehouses and manufactories. The corporate heads, and company leaders reigning over the wreckage like feudal lords, collecting tithes from the serfs working their domain.

A Tale of Two Cities

The rise of DeepSeek isn't just a one-off story of derring-do in the AI world: It's a symbolic representation of the changing world order. DeepSeek is but one company among many who are outcompeting the US, and the world, in innovation.

Where once US free-markets led the world in manufacturing, technology and military capability, now the US is a country devoid of coherent state regulated free-market principles - its place as the singular world power decimated by destroying the very systems which made it great.

"Our merchants and master-manufacturers complain much of the bad effects of high wages in raising the price, and thereby lessening the sale of their goods both at home and abroad. They say nothing concerning the bad effects of high profits. They are silent with regard to the pernicious effects of their own gains. They complain only of those of other people." - Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations

By selling the jobs of working class communities to overseas businesses, destroying unions and creating rentier based business models without significant anti-trust measures, US business and political elites have sealed the present fate of the country.

The CCP led, but strongly anti-trust enforcing, China has been able to innovate, ironically, using the free-market principles of Adam Smith to rise up and create some of the world's best innovations. The factories, opened by Western business leaders to avoid union/worker labour costs in their own countries, have led Shenzhen, and similar cities, to become hubs of technological innovation - compounding their ability to determine the future of technologies across the world.

Will America be able to regain its position on top? It's too early to say, but the innovative, talented, people who made America in the 20th century can certainly do it again.

As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said: “The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself...

We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.

Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.”

Until then, here's a farewell to the American Century 在那之前, 再见美国世纪

[pawborough]

Howdy everyone!

Happy Valentine's day folks! We have the long awaited contest results in this update, as well as some small updates to fauna, and a new system for accessories.

Contest Winner

We previously held a sweepstakes to win a Design An Accessory Tier (1st place) and Monarch Tier (2nd place) and we can now announce the winners!

(We want to apologize for the low quality of the video; we wanted to crop out the advertisements on the website we used)

Over 580 people entered! 

Congratulations to our winners Emma and Erika!

Thank you to everyone who entered!

Fauna Updates

As previously seen with the Featherbeau, Kintsune, and Javasqueak, we have been updating all the fauna art to match the new style overhaul.

Here is a comparison to the old artwork.

Toshi has very minimal changes. There are some minor color and shadow touch-ups, but as this was our most in-style original fauna, very little change was necessary.

Here is the new and old art.

Like the Featherbeau and Kintsune, the Phantowl has a full overhaul. With a more dynamic pose and better detail, we hope to invoke spookiness in the new design.

The new and old designs are below.

Accessories + Dye system 

Speaking of designing accessories, we've finally begun production on our accessories! Here is a preview of what we are working on, showing illustrations of the original Gilded Helm and Iridescent Trail!

Our focus is on adapting challenging items. For example, the Helm, and similar helmet items, provide unique challenges when on fluffy breeds. 

Here are a few previews of our solutions so far:

And here is a preview of our first backer-sponsored design!

Lastly, we’re very excited to announce a system we've been workshopping. 

Accessory dyes! 

PawBorough is built by the players, and it is in our interest as players to have as much quality customizability as possible. We want expansive options! All the recolors!

Accessory dyes will allow users to craft any accessory on the site into a different color. 

The system we are designing incorporates “standard” and “special” dyes. 

Standard dyes are a set number of colors which will be compatible with all accessories, meaning all accessory items get a blanket number of recolors. 

“Special” dyes will only be compatible with certain items, and will include alternative colorings such as rainbow, pastel colors, gradients, patterns, etc! 

The benefit of such a system means all items will get a set number of varieties, and it lets us expand upon certain pieces to include alternative or unique colorings. But it doesn’t commit us to an undoable recolor demand. 

We’re still working out the kinks and pain points, such as easy to see information on what takes a special dye and what doesn’t, but we hope this will prevent item bloat, give users more creative control, and overall improve the gameplay! 

Site Themes 

We’ve started workshopping the Borough themes with our completed assets. Take a look at these previews! 

Zenith 

Luna

Pawprints

Next let’s look at a cute feature we have on the backburner. 

Ever imagine your cat has polydactyly? While we can’t break lineart, we do have a fun new feature for rare cat collectors. Every cat will have their very own paw print on their profile, with a very very small chance of having a sixth toe!

There are 55 unique pawprints!

Have fun trying for cats with silly paws ~

Stonehide texture

We’ve upgraded our asset technology! The rainbow sheen seen here on the scales of the Stonehide was a breakthrough in our coloring limitations. This texture will be applied to mystic breeds in the future and bring further quality to our assets!

Great stuff! 

On the backend, we've not done many notable new things this month, but we're continuing through as we prepare for a dedicated alpha. Longhairs were stuck with file processing complications, but we're working them out and working in tandem!

Speaking of alpha, we're looking at opening free applications for alpha and transitioning from solely an internal to a semi-external volunteer test. More information on this as we grow closer. 

To Summarize: We showed updated Beta, Toshi, Phantowl and accessory assets, the dying system, two new site themes, a cute pawprint feature, and a new texture for mystic breeds.

What to expect next month: Further accessory assets, potential alpha update, and asset and software updates.

Note for Tumblr users: Something went wrong on our end, and while this update got posted to Kickstarter, it somehow did not got posted to Tumblr. We have re-uploaded it now for proper record keeping. Our sincerest apologies.

[aikoiya]

LoZ - Gerudo Misandry Is Not Funny Or Okay

I find it really damn odd that so few people talk about misandry when they bring up the Gerudo or the societal norms of other Amazon-esque races.

And even when they do, it seems to always be done with a tone of levity behind it.

As if it isn't every bit as terrible as misogyny.

As if their biological situations don't make men absolutely vital to the continued existence of their people & culture.

So, treating men as less than is as terrible as men treating women the same.

And, honestly? I can't help but see this disregard by fans (especially the feminist fans) as very spiteful.

Like, how do these people not see how this isn't okay?

I mean, no wonder Ganondorf always ends up such a sack of shit!

Seriously girls, imagine what it would be like growing up the only female in a society of all guys.

No maternal figures, no female role models, no female friends, or even acquaintances. And you're unlikely to ever even see another woman until you reach 18-20.

Separated from the most important woman in your life at 3-6, if not birth. To be raised by a pair of warlocks who despise their neighboring kingdom & are intent on turning you into a vile, tyrannical witch.

And every guy around you knows nothing about actual women, just misogynistic stereotypes, so all you can do is apply those same stereotypes to yourself & there's just this general consensus that women are basically unnecessary beyond producing children.

They don't have a single clue about what it means to be a woman. They don't know anything about women's health. No one to explain things to you when you need them most. So, in the end, you're mostly left to figure it all out on your own.

And the only real examples of women you have are people that your adoptive fathers say are oppressing you & your people. So, all you can do is quietly just assume that all women = bad. And that includes you too.

So, all you can do is frantically do everything you can to make yourself useful to these people who, knowingly or unknowingly, look down upon others of your sex.

And therefore, unconsciously, you as well.

And you're expected to rule these people. To lead them into a golden age.

I can't even imagine how damn isolating it must be. I can't imagine the pressure. These are your people, yet even so, you are still alien to them. Still other. Still "not one of them."

And in many ways, a commodity.

Based entirely upon something that you have zero control of.

And upon reaching 18, you're likely used as a breeding mare.

And the only people who could ever truly understand your situation & the pressure that comes with it... are all dead...

Now, switch the sexes & you basically have every Gerudo Voe's reality.

It's no damn wonder that Ganondorf always becomes evil.

There's also the ridiculous superstition that "men bring about disaster."

And then we get into the detrimental affects this shit has on the Vai!

Look at how these women react to just seeing a dude!

And this chick can't even look a man in the eye!

Because, apparently, she's never even seen a real man in person before! So, Link has to freaking wear a full-face mask in order to get her to manage to speak to him!

And let's not even get into what the little Vai wear! The sirwal are fine, it's the tops that need to be changed.

Kids aren't supposed to show that much skin!

LoZ Cultural Masterlist 2

[amenvs3000f24]

Week 6 Blog Post

Hyams’ quote highlights the importance of natural history on a comprehensive level. He emphasizes the value of unifying every aspect of history and acknowledging it through our actions today. Without processing the past, we cannot truly understand the impact of our actions in the present. I’m sure we can all think of an example where our pasts have made us think deeply about our actions. Perhaps a hurtful joke delivered by a friend still lingers in the back of your mind, even after an apology. Maybe a stranger holding the door for you yesterday made you stop and do the same for someone today. I think Hyams’ quote is impactful because although he references ancient history, I don’t think it must be applied only in that context. I think for many, nuance is a skill that is learnt. I imagine it is innately human to stick to what we know, even in a learning environment. This is why ensuring students are comfortable shifting perspectives and keeping an open mind is vital. The same should be applied to nature interpretation, and this involves ensuring audiences can be communicated with effectively, as well as conveying information in a way that invokes relation and understanding.

In order to ensure audiences are being effectively communicated with, it is important to understand how they receive your information. In the context of interpreting natural history, the value of the information being offered can fluctuate depending on its delivery. Written communication may be dismissed as disengaging or exhaustive, but it’s value shines through when we consider its permanence. There are certain emotions that cannot be evoked through the use of oral communication. When we see a weathered plaque, we feel connected to it’s history; the who, what, why, and where. Sometimes, the plaque may answer all of these questions, or maybe it won’t. Either way, we have connected with a piece of history and it has invoked a thought process that may span centuries.

Pictured is the Obadjiwan-Fort-Témiscamingue National Historic Site. Visuals are a great way to grab interest and encourage the audience to want to delve deeper into the material. (Source: Parks Canada, 2023)

It is understood that effective communication breeds effective interpretation. Following Hyams’ approach means communicating all parts of history; the good and the bad. In most of my education I have been taught history through the lens of Canada as a European colony. Indigenous perspectives were rarely taken into consideration in my early education, usually only mentioned as a stepping stone in the ‘victory’ that was Canada’s colonization. This perspective could be considered as one narrative that I was taught, but I didn’t learn until a bit later into my education that there were so many more stories that went unheard. Biases are present in natural history as well, and their presence can affect how we interpret nature today. I don’t think history can be so easily minimized to a puzzle, with events all being small pieces of a larger picture. There are many different perspectives to be made with the pieces of history depending on the perspective we have.

Source: Parks Canada Agency, Government of Canada. “Review of Existing National Historic Designations - HSMBC.” National Historic Designations, 23 July 2024, parks.canada.ca/culture/designation/revue-review. Accessed 18 Oct. 2024.

[flimsy-roost]

I'd like to talk about the latest Pokemon Center plush line!

I tend to avoid official nintendo merch, because I give that company enough of my money already. But White was the first Pokemon game I ever played (after saving my allowance for months for it and a used DS lite), so I have a very special place in my heart for gen5/Unova pokemon. When I heard they were releasing a line of Unova "Sitting Cutie" plushes, I wanted to at least check it out.

And I did! And I mildly disappointed my wallet! There are some bangers in here! But there are a lot of... decidedly un-bangers. Tippy-tappers at best. So I wanted to take the time to walk you through some of the ways this line fell short of its central claims: namely, Sits and Cuteness.

"Sitting"

I'd first like to address the distinguishing claim of the line; that each of these plush can sit up unsupported (or, more generously, could be propped up stably).

It would be easy to only give examples of pokemon that shouldn't have been considered for this line at all, of which there are many:

fig. 1) in what universe, praytell

But there were many more that were so, so close to plausibility in the face of physics, that really only needed a modified design direction.

Let's compare Eelektrik (left) to Serperior (right). Eelektrik is extremely top-heavy and prone to tipping, problems which could perhaps have been mitigated by a coiled design (like Serperior), or even as a flat. It could be argued that the current form stays true to the original art, which should always take precedent. I see you, and I hear you, and I disagree

A skosh below the "no way in hell" category of sittability, lay a group of lesser design sins broadly defined as "questionable in the face of a stiff breeze." For many plush in this category, the product designers could learn a thing or two from Toxel:

fig. 2) a well-balanced bean

Put another way, the popular rule-of-thumb "four on the floor," most commonly begged for in the context of starter evolution lines, may be applied to great effect:

Top-heavy Golurk? Four on the floor!

Tall, spindly, misguidedly "source-accurate" Genesect? Four on the floor!

Think of his poor Tepiggy spine! FOUR ON THE FREAKING FLOOR

Purrloin, look! Your big sibling has it down! Get at that generational knowledge, girl!

"Cuties"

I'm not aware of a single official merch line in existence that lacks at least one cursed artifact. Plush are particularly susceptible, and this line is no different.

While I have to give the designers props for a perfectly lovely Mienshao, they canonized my bestie as having a cringe childhood:

All this Mienfoo wants are uppies. How's she gonna kick ass when her feet go straight into her torso? Her glowup will never come if she can't even land a pound.

Entire evolution lines fell prey to design decisions here. Please compare gen5 Elgyem and Beheeyem to their inbred and deformed purebred domesticates:

fig. 3) has IV breeding gone too far?

Let us also more closely examine the full Sandile evolution line compared to wild type examples, as I consider these among the least forgivable offences:

Why is the plush Sandile so sad? Perhaps he knows what is to come.

Where sass? Why snoot so droop????

NO MY CREATCHURE?????? NO NONONO NOT THE SNOOT!!!!!!!

figs. 4-6) look how they slaughtered my boy

Finally, I would like to highlight a subset of the line that has Witnessed The Horrors. These are more subjective in their cuteness. You know the saying; one man's uncanny gremlin is another man's terrified blorbo.

Meet Drilbur, who has recently Seen Some Shit!

fig. 7) the boy who inspired this post, with WT reference

The bug-eyed-ness is what tips this into horror movie prop for me personally. I should not be able to see both his eyes from a diagonal. I could understand how some people could find him endearingly goofy, but my litmus tends to be: would I be amused to open my eyes to see him in the dark at 3am, or would I shit my pants? Drilbur here leans towards the latter.

Here is an example of a shell-shocked friend I find cute:

Crustle, normally hiding safely under their rocky shell, is leaned back to fulfill the barely-followed criteria of "sits," and so turns their eyes to god to ask why he has forsaken them. I love it.

BONUS CONTENT: KERMIT DEINO!!!!

:D

[andrewplimmer]

The True Essence of Freedom

We all crave freedom and believe it's our right, but true freedom requires effort, ownership, and accountability. Freedom spans across various aspects of life—your body, beliefs, thoughts, values, relationships, and finances.

Unfortunately, it’s easy to feel trapped in any of these areas—like you’ve lost control or external forces are against you. To truly value freedom, you need to stay in the driver’s seat of your life.

Freedom is not free.

To feel free in your body, you must make daily sacrifices. Master the art of delayed gratification—invest in your health now to reap the rewards later. It might sound militant, but it’s the truth. Those who feel free in their health have earned it through consistency and confidence. On the other hand, those who neglect their health pay a greater price later, both physically and mentally.

Living in a free country doesn’t mean you are truly free.

You aren’t free unless you practice freedom. If you don’t pursue it physically, mentally, financially, and spiritually, you’ll end up constrained or imprisoned in some area of your life.

This is the freedom paradigm. When we take freedom for granted, it eventually constrains us.

For example, many people feel financially trapped due to inflation—not because of their actions but because they were passive. They didn’t protect their purchasing power or educate themselves about the changing environment. Now they’re financially trapped, losing hope for the future as their savings dwindle.

Financial freedom is an illusion unless you actively create it.

The same applies to physical health and wellbeing. It’s your birthright, but it’s not free. To feel free in your body, you must continually invest in your health and wellness—it comes at a cost. If you don’t pay that cost, you’ll eventually feel confined in your own body.

Emotional freedom isn’t free either. You need to create an atmosphere that fosters emotional happiness. Society and mainstream media often create an environment that breeds fear and anxiety.

Emotional freedom requires surrounding yourself with positive influences, uplifting messages, and tools that build self-confidence and inspire greatness. This is the opposite of emotional confinement, which leaves you feeling depleted and helpless.

Spiritual freedom is equally important. Cultivating faith and connecting to a higher power opens the door to grace and divine intervention, enhancing our sense of freedom.

Spiritual and emotional well-being significantly impact our ability to cultivate freedom in our lives.

But again, freedom is not free. To be truly free, take control of your life. Build a stronger version of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and financially.

It takes courage, belief, and pursuit—but it’s worth it.

I want you to BE free and FEEL free.

Whatever constraints are holding you back, take action today to tear down those walls. Do it for yourself, your loved ones, and for the good of humanity. Live, love, and value FREEDOM.

helping people build a freedom based business. Retire Thrive Explore, live free. http://freedom.andrewplimmer.com

[ranger-rai]

I apologize in advance, this is a bit of a long one...

How good would a dragonite be as a service pokemon for depression, anxiety, and mobility / physical issues? Is it true they can sense distress? I've heard about dragonites looking off into the distance before a rescue attempt as if they could sense something out there.

I've had Sunshine, named because he brightens my day, for a few years. Total sweetheart. Nearly drowned from an incident involving not being able to swim and losing my footing, and he refused to leave my side pretty much ever since and has only gotten more so. Been thinking of getting him officially certified with his own vest because of it, but wondering if there might be any issues or particular benefits to doing so that I'm not aware of.

I know dragonites are quite intelligent, and they have a natural inclination to help those in need, but I've heard some agencies refuse to certify sufficiently strong or dangerous pokemon . . . And I've heard about dragonites capable of denting and even ripping metal bunker doors off their hinges, though both examples of that were combat-trained battle pokemon that had readily dominated their respective tournaments.

So an expert's advice would be helpful.

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about what happened to you. Trauma and accidents can really affect us, and having a partner that can help is incredibly crucial.

It is true that some people are more difficult to have certified as a Service Pokemon, usually the more "aggressive" ones due to misconceptions and due to many people who have tried getting them certified for selfish reasons.

Many Pseudo Legendary pokemon get this treatment because of their powerful status and their frequency in championships, leading to a higher direction of breeding and training for battle instead of for service, something we try to handle from various busts and shutdowns of unofficial breeders.

Out of all of the pseudo legendaries, Dragonite is one with the most utility and service abilities.

Dragonite are known for their speed which has resulted in them being use for package delivery, however Dratini are very compassionate and it's said that they evolve into Dragonite to gain arms so they can protect even further.

As a result, Dragonite are protective. However, they have a harder time being trained in full service because they haven't had arms or this much power before.

Before a Dragonite can be certified, you'll need to have any official battle records, and if they are notorious for battling it might result in a disqualification, however minimal competitive battles would look pretty good on a record.

You'll also want to enroll in some basic service courses asap before the evaluation process. It will look better to have completed them before applying.

As for the range of service, Dragonite is not only mobile, but they do indeed have the ability to sense strong emotions, which will prompt a good-natured one to seek them out and help.

Your Dragonite should be trained to be in tune to your emotions primarily, which will be a specialized training later down the road.

Because of their need to help, you'll want to train them how to react appropriately to your various emotions, like anxiety or depression which will need different reactions, but thankfully there are plenty of trainers and specialists.

I'd recommend looking into someone from a Dragon Clan to assist.

I think the Dragonite Clan is primarily in Kanto, but I've heard that they might have migrated to Hoenn.

Some dragon clans are stationary, like Druddigon or Garchomp, while others are more free and migratory like Altaria or Dragonite.

I've been learning a lot about dragon clans lately thanks to my partner, and she's really helped me understand dragon types a lot better now.

Btw, the Garchomp clan is indeed here in Sinnoh.

I've used my own research to help care for a family of Garchomp, and despite her age, Delilah has been holding up well.

Either way, I hope this helps, and please feel free to reach out if you have any more questions!

[beardedmrbean]

How do fake stories created with artificial intelligence (AI) work? What narratives do they present? And how dangerous are they?

DW fact checkers answer the most critical questions about the role of AI in the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

1) How do AI-generated image fakes work?

AI is everywhere these days — even in wars. Artificial intelligence applications have greatly improved this year, and almost anyone can now use standard AI generators to create images that look real, at least at first glance.

Users must "feed" tools such as Midjourney or Dall-E with prompts, including specifications and information, to do this. The tools then convert the written prompts into images. 

Some create more artistic illustrations, while others create photorealistic images. The generation process is based on what is known as machine learning. 

For example, if generators are asked to show a 70-year-old man riding a bicycle, they search their database to pair the terms with images. 

Based on the information available, the AI generators create the image of the older cyclist. Thanks to more and more input and technical updates, the tools have improved vastly and are constantly learning.

All this applies to images related to the Middle East conflict. 

Here, too, people use such tools to create more or less realistic scenes that, according to our observations, are often intended to capture emotional moments to spread certain narratives. But more on that later.

In a conflict where "emotions are very, very high," says AI expert Hany Farid, disinformation, including its spread through AI images, works exceptionally well. 

Hardened fronts are the perfect breeding ground for creating and disseminating fake content and intensifying emotions, Farid, a professor of digital forensics at the University of California at Berkeley, tells DW.

2) How many AI images of the Israel-Hamas war are in circulation? 

Images and videos created with the help of artificial intelligence have already added to disinformation related to the war in Ukraine — and continue to do so. 

As AI tools have developed rapidly since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many observers expected it to play an even greater role in the Israel-Hamas war. However, according to experts, the great flood of AI images has failed to materialize thus far.

"In the conflict between Israel and Hamas and related disinformation, we are not seeing a massive use of AI-generated images," says Tomasso Canetta from the European Digital Media Observatory. 

"There are some examples, but it's not much if we compare it to the amount of disinformation that is actually old images and old videos that are now reshared in a misleading way," he adds.

However, this does not mean the technology isn't a factor. Farid explains that he does not consider the number of AI fakes to be the relevant factor.

"You can have two images that go super viral, and hundreds of millions of people see it. It can have a huge impact," he says. 

"So it doesn't have to be a volume game, but I think the real issue we are seeing is just the pollution of the information ecosystem."

3) What narratives do the AI fakes serve in the Israel-Hamas war?

The AI images circulating on social media networks can usually trigger strong emotions. 

Canetta identifies two main categories. One refers to images that focus on the suffering of the civilian population and arouse sympathy for the people shown. The other is AI fakes that exaggerate support for either Israel, Hamas or the Palestinians and appeal to patriotic feelings.

2) How many AI images of the Israel-Hamas war are in circulation? 

Images and videos created with the help of artificial intelligence have already added to disinformation related to the war in Ukraine — and continue to do so. 

As AI tools have developed rapidly since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many observers expected it to play an even greater role in the Israel-Hamas war. However, according to experts, the great flood of AI images has failed to materialize thus far.

"In the conflict between Israel and Hamas and related disinformation, we are not seeing a massive use of AI-generated images," says Tomasso Canetta from the European Digital Media Observatory. 

"There are some examples, but it's not much if we compare it to the amount of disinformation that is actually old images and old videos that are now reshared in a misleading way," he adds.

However, this does not mean the technology isn't a factor. Farid explains that he does not consider the number of AI fakes to be the relevant factor.

"You can have two images that go super viral, and hundreds of millions of people see it. It can have a huge impact," he says. 

"So it doesn't have to be a volume game, but I think the real issue we are seeing is just the pollution of the information ecosystem."

3) What narratives do the AI fakes serve in the Israel-Hamas war?

The AI images circulating on social media networks can usually trigger strong emotions. 

Canetta identifies two main categories. One refers to images that focus on the suffering of the civilian population and arouse sympathy for the people shown. The other is AI fakes that exaggerate support for either Israel, Hamas or the Palestinians and appeal to patriotic feelings.

2) How many AI images of the Israel-Hamas war are in circulation? 

Images and videos created with the help of artificial intelligence have already added to disinformation related to the war in Ukraine — and continue to do so. 

As AI tools have developed rapidly since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine, many observers expected it to play an even greater role in the Israel-Hamas war. However, according to experts, the great flood of AI images has failed to materialize thus far.

"In the conflict between Israel and Hamas and related disinformation, we are not seeing a massive use of AI-generated images," says Tomasso Canetta from the European Digital Media Observatory. 

"There are some examples, but it's not much if we compare it to the amount of disinformation that is actually old images and old videos that are now reshared in a misleading way," he adds.

However, this does not mean the technology isn't a factor. Farid explains that he does not consider the number of AI fakes to be the relevant factor.

"You can have two images that go super viral, and hundreds of millions of people see it. It can have a huge impact," he says. 

"So it doesn't have to be a volume game, but I think the real issue we are seeing is just the pollution of the information ecosystem."

3) What narratives do the AI fakes serve in the Israel-Hamas war?

The AI images circulating on social media networks can usually trigger strong emotions. 

Canetta identifies two main categories. One refers to images that focus on the suffering of the civilian population and arouse sympathy for the people shown. The other is AI fakes that exaggerate support for either Israel, Hamas or the Palestinians and appeal to patriotic feelings.

The first category includes, for example, the picture above of a father with his five children in front of a pile of rubble. It was shared many times on X

(formerly Twitter) and Instagram and seen hundreds of thousands of times in connection with Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip. 

In the meantime, the image has been marked with a community notice, at least on X, that it is fake. It can be recognized as such by various errors and inconsistencies that are typical for AI images.

The man's right shoulder, for instance, is disproportionately high. The two limbs emerging from underneath are also strange — as if they were growing from his sweater. 

Also striking is how the hands of the two boys who have wrapped their arms around their father's neck merge. And there are too many or too few fingers and toes in several of the hands and feet in the picture.

Similar anomalies can also be seen in the following AI fake that went viral on X, which purportedly shows a Palestinian family eating together in the rubble, evoking sympathy for Palestinian civilians.

The picture below, which shows soldiers waving Israeli flags as they walk through a settlement full of bombed-out houses, falls into the second category, which is designed to spark feelings of patriotism.

The accounts that share the image on Instagram and X appear to be primarily pro-Israeli and welcome the events depicted. DW also found the picture as an article image in a Bulgarian online newspaper, which did not recognize or label it as AI-generated.

What looks fake here is the way the Israeli flags are waving. The street in the middle also appears too clean, while the rubble looks very uniform. The destroyed buildings also look like twins, standing at pretty regular intervals. 

All in all, the visual impression is too "clean" to appear realistic. This kind of flawlessness, which makes images look like they have been painted, is also typical for AI.

4) Where do such AI images come from?

Private accounts on social media distribute most images created with the help of artificial intelligence. They are posted by both authentic and obviously fake profiles. 

However, AI-generated images can also be used in journalistic products. Whether and in which cases this can be useful or sensible is currently being discussed at many media companies.

The software company Adobe caused a stir when it added AI-generated images to its range of stock photos at the end of 2022. These are labeled accordingly in the database.

Adobe now also offers AI images of the Middle East war for sale

— for example of explosions, people protesting or clouds of smoke behind the Al-Aqsa Mosque. 

Critics find this highly questionable, and some online sites and media have continued to use the images without labeling them as AI-generated. The image above, for example, appears on the site "Newsbreak" without any indication that it was computer-generated. DW found this out with the help of a reverse image search.Even the European Parliamentary Research Service, the European Parliament's scientific service, illustrated an online text on the Middle East conflict with one of the fakes from the Adobe database

 — again without labeling it as an AI-generated image.

Canetta from the European Digital Media Observatory is appealing to journalists and media professionals to be very careful when using AI images, advising against their use, especially when it comes to real events such as the war in Gaza.

The situation is different when the goal is to illustrate abstract topics such as future technologies.

5) How much damage do AI images cause?

The knowledge that AI content is circulating makes users feel insecure about everything they encounter online. 

UC Berkeley researcher Farid explains: "If we enter this world where it is possible to manipulate images, audio and video, everything is in question. So you're seeing real things being claimed as fake."

That is precisely what happened in the following case: an image allegedly showing the charred corpse of an Israeli baby was shared on X by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the conservative US commentator Ben Shapiro, among others. 

The controversial anti-Israeli influencer Jackson Hinkle then claimed that the image had been created using artificial intelligence. 

As alleged proof, Hinkle attached a screenshot of the AI detector "AI or not" to his post, which classified the image as AI-generated. 

Hinkle's claim on X was viewed more than 20 million times and led to heated discussions on the platform. 

In the end, many stated that the image was, in all likelihood, genuine and that Hinkle was, therefore, wrong. Farid also told DW that he could not find any discrepancies in the picture that would indicate an AI fake.

How can that be, you might ask? AI detectors, which can be used to check whether an image or text is possibly AI-generated, are still very error-prone. Depending on the image checked, they get it right or wrong and often only make decisions as likely probabilities — not with 100% certainty.

Therefore, they are at the most suitable as an additional tool for checking AI fakes, but definitely not as the only tool.

DW's fact-checking team could also not detect any clear signs of AI-based manipulation in the image, presumably showing a baby's corpse. 

Curiously, "AI or not" did not classify the image as AI-generated when we tried it out ourselves — and pointed out that the image quality was poor.

Another AI detector (Hive moderation) also concluded that the image was genuine.

[dailycharacteroption]

Roleplaying Races 14: Trox

(art by Nicholas “Rookzer0” on Artstation)

And here we have another example of an ancestry originally created as an example in ARG’s race builder, this one demonstrating how strange and powerful you could make a playable race. The result was powerful and bulky beetle-folk with a chip on their shoulder.

While there doesn’t seem to be any one specific inspiration for this ancestry, fantasy has always been full of big, monstrous peoples who may or may not actually be surprisingly gentle despite their bulk and fearsomeness.

Interestingly, trox got a major update to their lore in Starfinder, which we’ll talk about momentarily.

As we learn in Starfinder, the trox as a people were created by the goddess Hylax as her envoys and sentinels, and are in fact native to the Liavaran moon of Nchak. However, while the majority of their people lived in relative peace, that group is not who we are talking about today.

You see, many trox were sealed inside protective asteroids by their goddess and launched to various other worlds to serve as envoys for her diplomatic ways, and one such stone fell to Golarion in the ancient past. However, the Golarion clan had the misfortune of being discovered by the duergar , who saw their physical might and similarity to the giant beetles they already used as beasts of burden and enslaved them, subjecting them to eugenic breeding programs and alchemical enhancement to turn them into powerful brutes.

Many trox have since rebelled and broken free, escaping to the surface, only to discover that the evils of slavery were present there as well. As such, while they retain some aspects of their heritage, the trox of Golarion are distrustful of other species due to the suffering their people have gone through.

Sporting heavy chitin elytra, mandibles, and armor, trox resemble humanoid beetles, but they are not fully arthropod-like in anatomy, sporting an internal skeleton as well and soft fleshy parts as well. Additionally, they also sport an array of smaller appendages on their chests in addition to their bipedal arms and legs. While not strong and articulate enough to wield objects, they can come in handy.

While the trox of Golarion have become brutish and somewhat violent, they share with their ancestors a strong sense of community that overrides personal desires, they also prove inquisitive, eager to learn about the ways of others, and fiercely loyal to those the call friends. Sadly, the vast majority of them still live in slavery, either to the duergar or to surface slavers of various peoples.

Trox are immensely strong, but centuries of conditioning have dulled their minds in all regards.

Despite their bulk, they prove surprisingly agile when they need to be.

Their night-eyes also suit them well for a life underground.

This in turn is fueled by their powerful digging claws, making them swift under the ground.

The conditioning that they were subjected to and the subsequent fury this engenders also makes them surprisingly violent when replying to the attacks of foes that have harmed them.

Additionally, their grabbing appendages are quite useful for latching onto a grappled foe, freeing up their arms to fight other foes.

There is one alternate option for the trox, representing those trox that have trained themselves to abandon their rage and focus, tapping into an atrophied vibration sense, all the better to notice when invisible foes like their duergar slavers are coming.

With their extremely high strength bonus, trox are very suited for melee builds, particularly grapple builds thanks to their extra appendages, making any combat class a good pick for them. The penalty to all three mental stats is something of a deterrent for any caster or skill-based class, but not an insurmountable one. In fact, the fact that their penalty applies to all three means that it’s almost like the board is even between the three, just expect to have to make a little effort to bring them in line with other casters and characters. Any class that can blend casting with more traditional combat will probably work best for them, such as druid, magus, paladin, and warpriest.

That does it for today, but we’ve got one more entry to do before we’re done. Look forward to it tomorrow!

[border-collie]

I‘m not a writer but I would love to learn more about the different types of border collie!

Ok so, BIG PICTURE there are three types: Show line, Working Line, and "all other purposes" (usually called sports line but *I* personally take issue with this as a sports dog owner.)

Show line are pretty easy to identify and separate out, for the most part, these dogs have been completely separated from the rest of the big border collie gene pools since the mid twentieth century. These dogs are bred to the breed standard and type and are what compete in the colloquial dog shows typically. They are pretty dogs, with lots of hair, and anyone can look at them and say "now THAT is a border collie." They also, for the most part, are never expected to work sheep except to show that they have some level of herding instinct.

This becomes a big issue considering the primary registry of the border collies (International Sheep Dog Society or ISDS) says a border collie is any dog that herds sheep in a creep stance and uses their gaze to intimidate stock to move. (FUN FACT! Any dog of ANY breed history can become a fully registered border collie if they can prove they work like this!) ISDS dogs (or if you are in America, which lots of border collies are, American Border Collie Association or ABCA and a few other herding dog registries out there that I won't list them all) are, by and large, are considered Working Line. But working line is a BIG category! Here in the US there are lots of border collies used to work cattle which is rarely done elsewhere I the world, there are dogs bred to do everyday work on farms and ranches, and then there are the dogs bred to be good at herding competitions specifically. All of these dogs do their jobs just a bit differently and at different levels depending on the terrain, the fine details of the job, the dogs breeding and more. But for the most part they herd and are bred to herd with very little thought put into what they look like. Because they are bred first to work and not look like border collies, a lot of them actually DON'T look like most laypeople would describe a border collie. Many have a lot more white or a lot less white than the typical imagined border collie. They come in more colors than just black and white (so do all other varieties, but show lines specifically is dominated by black and white dogs) They also come in more coat lengths. Short haired border collies are VERY common in working lines for example.

Now what happens when these dogs are bred for something else? That's kind of the All Other Purposes Category, which is usually called Sports Lines but I'll explain why I don't agree with that name. Some of these reasons are to be able to perform well at a specific sport, these are what I would consider true Sports Lines. Sports lines are selected specifically for level temperament, physical soundness to prevent injury and high biddability to their handlers. They are often very heavy on working line backgrounds but some have some show lines mixed in especially to improve on structure. They can be any color, but black and white is still very common. All coat types are also common. While they are bred for structure, they often aren't bred for anything else and will stray from that perfect Show Line look. The next category is Color Bred. Border collies come in A LOT of colors, but working, show, and sport breeders don't really care what colors they are producing they all have other major qualities in mind before color. Color breeders primarily care about color first and foremost which means that they often have not great structure, temperament, or working ability. Lots of breeders who claim to be producing Sports Lines (and a few claiming to be working lines) are actually breeding color bred dogs either because they are selecting for color, or they got their dogs from someone who is. The bad structure and temperament in color bred dogs is unfortunately often applied by outsiders of this dichotomy to Sports Lines as well giving sports lines a bad reputation alongside color breeders. But, again, I feel like it's a misnomer situation. The final category is pet lines. These often heavily overlap with color bred lines. These dogs are selected to be "good pets" now the problem with this is, for the most part, border collies really aren't good pets. They require a lot of work and are very sensitive dogs. Often these dogs get rehomed when people realize they got in too deep and can't handle this dog which isn't a Labrador which is not usually a good situation for the dogs.

This is a high level breakdown, but is the gist of the breed as a snapshot. I can go more in depth if anyone has more questions!

[shenzaibird-art]

Here's some general lore that applies to all of my settings because I was randomly inspired to actually write up lore for once haha I've been calling these collectively "the forces of magic ability". All of them are things that everybody has, but you need to learn to use them and practice to actually make any magic. It ended up being a lot of text so I guess I'll put it under a readmore thingy:

[Now, I kinda just came up with the new words yesterday so I might still decide I don't like them and change them (and/or those symbols) but so far I'm liking this so I decided to post. These concepts aren't new, I just had never talked about them because I didn't have names for them (other than magis, I think I've already talked about that a lot but I'll say it again anyway)]

MAGIS is the magical energy that powers every spell and any magic craft. It flows inside your body, swirling around tiny organs called "magis nodes," located in the head, heart, hands, feet, and tail. Magis is used up when casting spells or channeling it into workyns ("spell blueprints"), but it regenerates. However, if you use all of your magis more quickly than you can regenerate, you will pass out. You can't die from lack of magis, but it's not nice and your magis nodes might become a bit sore for a while as you recover.

VOLIS is the ability to control the magis. It comes from "volition", as it's the power of one's will, so to speak. It's similar to thoughts, you "think" of the spell you want to cast, and so you cast it. But it's a separate kind of thinking, more akin to moving your body. It's not a fully conscious thinking exactly, so you won't cast the wrong spell just because you thought of something else for a second. Volis not only controls the magis at the moment of casting a spell, but also any further actions that a spell can have, such as the movement of a conjured creature. How many spells a person can keep up at once will depend on how well trained they are at using and managing their volis.

PERCIS is the ability to perceive magis and magic crafts. Spells are crafted as small tokens, but they don't really need to be labeled because percis allows you to tell them apart by just having them nearby. A magician with several spells in their pockets knows exactly what each of them is without having to check on them. But of course, you can only identify a spell if you have knowledge of what it's like. Percis is a sense, much like seeing or hearing -- if you know what a dog is, you'll know it when you see one, and a similar principle applies to sensing a spell through your percis. Even if you never encountered a particular spell, you might know how to partially identify it if you know its type. For example, you will know a dog is a dog even if you can't tell what breed it is. But percis can be used for more than just telling spells apart. By having keen enough percis, one can learn to recognize someone by their unique magis and notice their presence before even seeing or hearing them (although this is a very rare skill because most people don't give too much importance to fine tuning their percis for anything beyond telling spells apart really). There's a limit of how many spells you can have on yourself without overloading your senses however, which is why most people carry only a few essential spells around. These explanations turned out far longer than I expected.

[emstargazer]

I'm very new to the berserk fandom and it's been fantastic, on tumblr at least, so i don't know why the perception of the fandom has changed for the worse. Could you elaborate on how/why that happened?

I've talked about the berserk fandom in general‚ be it on twitter, instagram, reddit et cetera, but it's kind of difficult to compare it on tumblr since it's only really a pseudo social media.

Anyways, to answer your question. It's believed to be more than one reason, but 2 things that I think were the most prominent ones(from my own observation and experience at least) - covid era and the sudden boost in popularity specifically on twitter.

Now the covid one is something that applies to A LOT of other media communities aswell. Basically what it did was open up a path for Berserk to be consumed by people who usually wouldn't even touch it(animanga haters, those who would usually just watch trendy shonens and others). On a surface level it sounds nice, but then slowly it grew apparent that those people severely lacked the media literacy required to understand Berserk for even its pretty obvious core messages. So what did those people do? They egregiously twisted many themes it's trying to portray and usually either made fun of some very explicit scenes or saying Miura deserved to die for writing them.

The latter mostly comes from the previously mentioned burst of relevance on twitter, but still not being exclusive to it. If you were ever using twitter you may know what kind of toxicity it breeds, so this may make sense to you. In case you weren't, there are youtube videos out there and whatnot that can explain it to you better than me. Besides, that could be a whole separate post in and of itself.

As I said in the post you're referring to, those bad corners did exist in the past. One big difference - there were only bad corners. Vocal, but miniscule and completely dismissible parts of the community. One long known example of this I can think of on top of my head was the berserklejerk subreddit. I have no idea if that thing is still breathing, though sadly I'm afraid it most likely is. If you were to visit it and were lucky, all you would see are Donovan, Eclipse **** jokes repackaged and repeated over and over again. Nothing posted there was funny, appropriate or respectful to the actual work. Still, they could've been ignored and for the most part they have been. Now... Imagine that instead of being 0.1% of the fandom, it's more than 50%.

The covid influence was actually described very well in this one twitter post I found a few days ago.

For the berserk fandom in particular, check out RealLifeRyan's video about it. It does a fairly decent job at expressing what's wrong with its current state.