As I have gotten more and more exhausted with modern social media, I have contemplated building my own simple website (think neocities), but have been hesitant to put much of myself out as I do not want to feed the AI slop machines.
Nepenthes is encouraging since I could see it being able to protect text in a way "glazing" (ie Nightshade) cannot.
Hopefully AI companies cannot sidestep this as easily as ROBOTS.txt...
As disappointed as I am with the name Switch 2 being so plain and ordinary versus their previous sequel consoles (Super NES, Gameboy Advance, Wii U); with the console being so similar to the Switch (1), I think they'd have another Wii U situation on their hands if they did have a more clever name.
If someone told me this was a mid-cycle refresh, I'd probably believe them; but maybe the official launch reveals will change my mind...
Image Transcription
A small stack of Christmas cards, a small stack of envelopes with the back facing the camera, and a single envelope with the flap facing the camera.
The cards have a round grey cat holding a dead mouse with a red bow on the mouse in the cat's mouth. The cat is standing in front of a gold and dark green striped background. The words "Merry Christmas" are printed on the card in maroon cursive. There is a white border around the edge of the card.
The envelopes have parallel squiggly stripes diagonally covering the envelopes. The stripes are a repeating pattern of thick light green, medium thickness light yellow, thin light red, and medium thickness light yellow again. There is a path of paw-prints walking across the envelope in the same light green as the diagonal stripes.
The envelope with the flap facing the camera is printed with the same pattern and reveals the flap to be a flat-edge flap with rounded corners
I have wanted to send out Christmas cards to my friends for some time, but was never able to get a festive photo to use for such purpose; so this year instead of trying to convince my partner to take the appropriate pictures, I decided to illustrate the card instead.
As for the envelopes, I realized I did not have access to any A6 envelopes and it looked like it would take a long time for them to ship to me. Originally I was going to cut the envelopes out of standard construction paper, but I realized if I made flat-flap envelopes instead of triangular-flap envelopes, I would be able to cut the card out of a single 8.5"x11" sized sheet. With this in mind, I decided to design the envelope myself as well since I could print across the entire envelope area.
The pattern for the card was illustrated in Procreate (but the text was added via Illustrator). The envelope pattern was designed entirely in Illustrator (including the cutting template). The cards and envelopes were printed on card-stock and cut out using my vinyl cutter.
I wish I could say I was surprised to see Disney pulling such a transphobic and cowardly move, but it's certainly not the first time they've done it.
I hope negative backlash can effect some change within Disney, but seeing as they didn't learn their lesson with Moon Girl, I wouldn't hold my breath...
That's a pretty big question, with a couple of different interpretations. If you are asking how I handle thinking about the passage of time, the easiest answer is to make it tomorrow's problem. This is probably not the healthiest answer; but it doesn't pay to stress over inevitabilities, so I just do my best to put them out of my mind.
If you are asking the best way to utilize your time, my recommendation is to start focusing on yourself immediately. It's very easy to prioritize work by staying late or overworking yourself to make your bosses happy, but no amount of overwork will ever satiate your company; it will only serve to drain the life from your body. It's very important to set firm boundaries with your job. I, personally, will not even look at my work phone or computer the minute I leave the office (on Mon-WFH days) and have a hard stop every day at 5PM unless agreed upon well in advance. You lose so much time and energy to your job that just standing firm on your boundaries can be a huge QoL boost.
Please also do your best to cultivate a creative outlet as a hobby. A lot of people don't think they are/can be creative, but anyone can be creative if they find the right outlet. It could be art, sewing, crochet, music, writing, or even creative programming. The important thing is to find a way to explore your feelings and do something productive with them. In my experience, I am often the most vivacious are when I am making art in one form or another; I highly recommend it.
I encourage every American reading this article to call their district representative and let them know that you do not approve of this bill. It's hateful and cruel; and I fear that if it passes, it will pave the way for similar, wider reaching, legislation.
I called my Representative earlier today and their intern was able to tell me the bill number: H.Res.1579. Knowing the number should hopefully make it easier to voice your disgust in this abhorrent bill.
While on the phone (or email) with your Representative, I encourage everyone to voice their displeasure with H.R.9495 as well. H.R.9495 will allow the executive branch to unilaterally declare non-profits as terrorist organizations and strip them of their non-profit status. This would functionally give the executive branch authority to end any non-profit that is engaging in activities they don't approve of, which would likely result in the destruction of any non-profit engaging in harm reduction.
It's also worth noting that most libraries offer digital goods to borrow also.
I don't have a lot of time to read anymore, but I've been able to "read" maybe half a dozen books or so in the last year by borrowing audiobooks from my library directly on my phone and listening to them on my commute.
Even if you felt comfortable dismissing the environmental impacts of burning down a rainforest because you were too lazy to Google a picture of a factory fire, GenAI as a technology is morally indefensible at its core, since it is based entirely on theft.
I have seen scores of people defend the theft saying intellectual property is the true crime, etc. And while I agree IP laws are abused by massive conglomerations, GenAI isn't just stealing from them. It's stealing from every writer and artist on the planet. Anyone who has ever posted their art online to share with their community has had their art hoovered up by for-profit institutions who then sell it to the masses.
GenAI could only be a morally viable technology if: A) It didn't consume an ungodly amount of energy to run it B) You run a model who's training data was entirely sourced by you to only include sources that have given permission and are properly compensated (if necessary)
A does not seem likely in the foreseeable future; and while B is possible, the scale of data required for constructing a GenAI model, makes it basically infeasible for the average user.
With all of that said, I think it is valid to conclude the technology of GenAI is just as reprehensible as the morally bankrupt corporations that vend it.
While I do not think the users are inherently bad people did using GenAI, there are much more eco-friendly and less theft-based alternatives that are just as easy; and I think it's questionable to throw those out the window for the rainforest-burning, plagiarism machine...
This raises a more philosophical argument as to what signifies the fall of a body like the Federation.
The Federation is a union of other bodies who through the spirit of cooperation decide to work together. If the majority of the bodies that make it up decide to pull out, does that constitute the fall of the Federation?
If one body leaves, of course it has not fallen; and if they all leave, it no longer exists at all. How many planets still need to be in a union for the Federation to successfully exist?
The fact that Vulcan/Ni'Var and Earth both pulled out and are two of the Charter members is certainly notable (though it doesn't prove the fall of the Federation).
If it felt like the Federation had been weakened but was slowly rebuilding, I would agree with your idea that the blow to the Federation was meant to show its resilience; but the fact the Federation was not picking up steam at all (and felt much more in decline), to me indicates that the writers intended for us to interpret this as the Federation in its death throws until the Discovery showed up.
Perhaps this speaks to my own mindset as opposed to how the writers intended it, but it's certainly how it came across to me.
As an aside, it could be interesting to explore what a Federation not primarily influenced by human/Vulcan influence could look like, as well as explore the idea of what constitutes the Federation (for example, could you have a Federation with no planetary members made entirely of individuals who have left their planet in the name of galactic brotherhood?). I am not sure the Federation is still in a place where such concepts could be explored, but it could certainly be interesting...
I'm definitely excited to see Lower Decks hopefully going out on a high note, but I'm definitely sad to see it ending.
As someone who only recently got into Star Trek specifically because of Lower Decks, I am curious what show Paramount is hoping will act as a gateway show, so to speak, for new viewers.
Honestly, I'm not sure how I feel about this leak (assuming it's remotely accurate).
I suppose you could make a horror/thriller-esque story about Plas if you leaned into the body horror aspect of it; but he seems like a much better fit for a comedy instead.
The two most recent runs in 20 years (Gail Simone and Kyle Baker) definitely have Plas established as a pretty unserious guy. There's definitely a tinge of tragedy in his origin of being betrayed by his fellow goons, but he definitely bounces back.
Even runs where he isn't the primary focus (the Injustice tie-ins or the Terrifics) have him as a pretty comedic character.
Having said all that, I am not terribly familiar with Aronofsky's work; so I could definitely be missing something that makes him a good fit...
cross-posted from: https://beehaw.org/post/11075469
Image transcription: A blue stylized shirt with the logo of The Wash from SpongeBob, a sticker of a squashed Plankton, a sticker resembling Squidward's "I really wish I weren't here right now" pin, a sticker resembling Mr. Krabs' mom's underwear, a keychain of Mr. Krabs, SpongeBob, and Patrick playing D&D, a BFF ring (which I didn't make), and a Chum Bucket bucket to hold everything.
I don't have a full picture idea yet, but I would probably upload art/ projects/ WIPs. I also was considering adding writings, but I'm not sure if there would be enough there to have a section for writings.
I definitely don't have as much to share as others, but I would like to see the Internet become a less centralized space.
An author I follow on Bluesky has been talking about neocities a lot and it seems pretty silly and fun. You probably need to be signed in to view this, but you can see her talk about the process here.