Anxiety White Noise

Random collection of stuff that keeps me sane-ish. Lots of UtaPri & Haikyū. Warning... there will be self-shipping! A little GRANRODE and Kishow thrown in for good measure.

[anxietywhitenoise]

I commissioned a piece from @jove-bluh and once again it is amazing. My OC bluetenshi (much better looking, younger self insert) and xyx from Blooming Panic.

"Eyes on the page sir."

[liprairian]

James Patterson books are an invasive species humans brought into library shelf environments because we wanted fast-reproducing, easily-digestible food. But at the time, we didn't know as much about their natural airport environment, which has very few available nutrients. This environment greatly favours the genericalist species like Patterson, so there's very little bibliodiversity compared to the more specialized library or bookstore environment. This means that each species in an airport has an enormously expanded niche compared to just about anywhere else books can thrive - in their natural habitat, Patterson books may be one of only 3 or 4 species competing for available nutrients. In these low-density, low-nutrient environments, Patterson books occupy vast swathes of territory without bothering other species. This history makes it extremely easy for them to outcompete the more specialized inhabitants of the library shelf, who have often been carefully selected to fill ultraspecific subgenre niches.

Left unweeded, Patterson books will expand their territory over multiple book bays, crowding out or even straight-up eliminating space for competitors and sending contributor-author runners out to other shelves. Contained to a single, planned set of shelves and kept strictly pruned, Patterson books can contribute to a healthy ecosystem. But many curators don't know or don't care to do the planning and maintenance, leading to the nightmare of overcrowding and loss of circulation.

[anxietyproblem]

[soviet-union-deactivated19911226]

have you been in a natural disaster? which one(s)?

no

cyclone (/hurricane/typhoon)

earthquake

wildfire

tsunami

tornado

landslide

other

multiple of these

Voting ended onJul 10, 2023

tag where you're from if you want

[lovebirdgames]

Win a free copy of Band Camp Boyfriend!

LIKE, REBLOG this post, and FOLLOW @lovebirdgames to enter! Winners will be chosen randomly May 10 (one from Tumblr, one from Twitter, and one from Reddit), a day before game release, and receive a Steam key after release, unless an Itch.io key is preferred.

Don’t forget to wishlist Band Camp Boyfriend on Steam! If you don’t win, you can still grab it at 10% off during the launch sale. GOOD LUCK!

Twitter Giveaway

Reddit Giveaway

[carriesthewind]

Is it ok to take notes in the margins of library books?

No, because it's rude to other readers.

No, because it can damage the book.

No, because it's never ok to take notes in the margins of books.

Yes, because I need to take notes understand what I'm reading.

Yes, because it enhances the experience for other readers.

Yes, because if it bothers other readers, they should just buy their own copy.

No (some other reason - please put tags)

Yes (some other reason - please put in tags)

Voting ended onMay 8, 2023

I have very strong opinions on this subject, and I'm curious how others feel.

[heriablog]

Don't ask why this 47-year-old man is so CUTE.

[anxietyproblem]

[intothestacks]

Librarians Fight Back Against Book Bans

[twoblogger-deactivated20260714]

One fallacy, I think, of anti piracy arguments is that a lot of them seem to assume that if I'm unable to pirate something I'm going to pay for it instead rather than going "oh! that's a terrible shame" and then quickly forgetting about it

[twoblogger-deactivated20260714]

"If you were not pirating [media] you'd be paying for it and therefore piracy is evil 😡" actually if I were not pirating that media I would be thinking about something else. I have made the decision to not spend any money on this and even god himself could not shake it

[3liza]

the research on this was already done decades ago and then quickly squashed because the record labels did not like the finding that people who pirated music were spending way more money on actually buying music legally than people who did not pirate music. it turns out people who care enough to pirate media are generally big fans of that media and willing to spend money on it if they have the money to spend

[3liza]

Study finds pirates 10 times more likely to buy music

According to research, those who download 'free' music are also the industry's largest audience for digital sales

article is from 2009 so we have known this for a LONG time.

The Norwegian study looked at almost 2,000 online music users, all over the age of 15. Researchers found that those who downloaded "free" music – whether from lawful or seedy sources – were also 10 times more likely to pay for music. This would make music pirates the industry's largest audience for digital sales. Wisely, the study did not rely on music pirates' honesty. Researchers asked music buyers to prove that they had proof of purchase.

[anxietywhitenoise]

Book publishers often use the same fallacy. They justify charging libraries outrageous fees for ebooks and have tried to give libraries different street dates because 1. They are losing a sale. 2. People will pirate those ebooks.

Multiple studies over the years have shown library users buy MORE books. Even before ebooks.

Library users are book buyers - Perspectives on Reading

It’s a common misconception that people who borrow books from libraries do so to avoid paying for them. The truth is that the Venn diagram o

[steamberrystudio]

When Stars Collide by Steamberry Studio

A science fantasy romance adventure

What if I told you my hand slipped and I accidentally released a snapshot of content from my side project that I've been working on late at night and on weekends for the last two years? =o

It's about 34,000 words (consisting of a Prologue and Chapter One) introducing the setting and the characters.

The are 5 love interests (you meet all of them: Asher, Daaz, Noel, Raif, and Yren.)

MC has some customisation.

The setting is a colourful science fantasy that starts out on an exploration vessel poking around in black holes and other shady places where they uncover interesting things like glowy boxes with people sleeping inside them.

[dare-to-dm]

Welp, the Missouri House of Legislatures just voted to defund public libraries.

I’m honestly shocked and dismayed and heartbroken.  Like, I knew things were bad, but I didn’t think it was this bad already.

I’m also quite frankly shocked at how small the state budget for libraries was in the first place ($4.5 million).  I’ve visited so many quality libraries all across Missouri that do so much for their communities.  When I was a social worker, the local library was always the first place I’d visit in the communities I worked in, because I knew they had good services to offer and could help me get connected to other local supports.  Like, even from just a heartless financial standpoint, I can guarantee public libraries are worth the money.

I’m just really sad right now.

[dare-to-dm]

Here is the current appropriation committee for Missouri.  If you live in Missouri and your representative is on that list, you should definitely contact them and let them know this is an important issue to you.

My own representative is not, though I already contacted his office anyway.  I’m genuinely unsure of what I can do, but I feel like this is something I need to act on.

[dsudis]

I am a public librarian (though not in the state of Missouri) so I want to add a little information just in the interests of correctly calibrating the level of upset here.

Public libraries in Missouri, as I believe in most of the US, are organized on a local level–municipalities, counties, or groups of municipalities or counties united into a library district.

The vast majority of public library funding comes from taxes levied in the locality that that library serves.

State aid to libraries typically constitutes a pretty small fraction of a library’s funding–there are about 400 public libraries in Missouri, so that $4.5 million cited above would work out to about $11,000 each, which certainly isn’t keeping any given library running.

The loss of all state aid to public libraries will probably have a greater impact on very small libraries, but this does not mean a total end of funding for any public library. The state does not control the majority of funding for public libraries.

You know who controls the majority of funding for public libraries? Local voters.

Vote in your city and county elections to elect the people who set the budget for your library if it doesn’t have its own special tax!

Vote in library board elections to choose the people who will determine the library’s budget (and respond to book challenges) if your library does have its own tax!

And for the love of god, VOTE YES ANY TIME YOUR LIBRARY HAS A MILLAGE ON THE BALLOT. That’s the specific tax that directly funds your local library! THAT is how you keep your local library going!

[intothestacks]

State Fights: The Coalitions and Strategic Messaging to Battle Bills Criminalizing Librarians

Here is a look at the messaging, coalitions, and strategies in eight states with recent bills to remove the prosecution exemption for librar

[anxietywhitenoise]

If this is happening in your state, please take notice. Librarians have fought for privacy and the freedom to read and many have created safe spaces for marginalized groups. So now they are coming for us.

[anxietywhitenoise]

Amazing marching band at Tokyo Disneysea.

[jelpiparade]

Belle Automata: Chronicle I Now Released!

Aureve is an android, content with a life of weaving silk tapestries alongside her master—but when he dies, his family sells her off due to her being a rogue: a self-aware android.

Thrown into a new home of refuge for rogues, the newly freed Aureve must find her place amongst them and answer the question once and for all: how does one weave a new identity when the strings to the old have been cut?

CHRONICLE 1 Features

A renameable heroine

100,000+ words of professionally written dialogue

7-10 hours of gameplay (depending on reading speed)

Full voice acting (English)

2 romanceable characters (Victor & the Nightmare Prince)

6 endings

Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1814230/Belle_Automata_Chronicle_I/

itch.io: https://jellyfishparade.itch.io/belle-automata

Once you play the game, please review Belle Automata on itch or on Steam!

To leave a review on the Steam page, click [HERE].

To leave a review on the itch page, click [HERE].

Additionally, IF you have played Belle Automata, please take this brief Exit Survey once you have finished playing! If that link doesn't work, you can click or highlight here. (https://forms.gle/tnV9pmiyoLySXATd9)

[dorkery]

Must-know for Japanese fandom: the meaning of "proship" and the concept of "proshippers" in Western f｜オレンジア｜note

[TN: This is a translation of this note by Maromi. If you are able, I encourage you to read the original article for yourself as translation

I have never read a more excellent article

[todayiwrotenothing]

[brightwanderer]

This is a great take and I would like to adopt “Feelings Yakuza” in English actually, I feel like it conveys the whole thing way more obviously than “anti” (not to mention the muddled meaning of “proshipper”).

[thebiscuiteternal]

To avoid harassment, EA and SEA artists have started pre-emptively blocking users with "proship DNI" or any variation thereof in their profiles as a result of this article and said feelings yakuza are getting pissed that their DNIs are being hard enforced by the other side. How very dare.

[septmilleneurones]

I’m screaming with laughter at the actual Japanese term, o-kimochi yakuza. The “o” is an honorific indicator to indicate how prissy and self-important these people are being.

[jelpiparade]

I thought a lot about whether I would address this publicly as I tend to keep this to myself but I'd like to just say something in regards to why I have turned off anons for now and the foreseeable future.

Please don't call me names or curse me out because I choose to have all of my main characters be FMCs. I have never gone into a yuri space demanding male LIs or in a BL space demanding an FMC and I think it's interesting that as soon as a person to decides to concentrate on black women centered stories it becomes a problem.

The majority of game protagonists are male and I will not be contributing to that statistic.

It's unfair to accept the fact that the vast majority of games have male protagonists and are not customizable and put all the weight of diversity on tiny studios that are making games at a loss.

It is especially unfair while expecting no change from those major studios and purchasing whatever they put out, and on the same token expecting the smaller ones to come up with resources to conform to the wants of their players when said players do not offer any monetary support to those smaller studios.

All games give the player the feeling of, "oh I wish I could have seen this included," but only players of the works of indie developers choose to make their dissatisfaction our problem.

At what point does it no longer matter what the person or people behind the studio wants to make? At what point are we just venues for the desires of others and no longer creators trying to put out the ideas that have been festering in our own hearts?

The honest truth is that my audience is not everyone. If you feel attacked or excluded by this truth, then I am beyond sorry you feel that way, but not all games can be made for you. The solution? Seek out the games that you DO connect with on a personal level, cling to those people, support them with everything you have, tell them how much their work means to you - because you never know how people are working against them to break them down to make games that you don't personally connect with.

I'll wrap this up to say this: to all the polite anons, thank you for your interest in Afrodesia. Desia will be the last customizable character created by Jellyfish Parade.

Thank you for reading,

//owl.

[hummingbird-games]

You know what?? I’ve got a little time tonight.

Some of y’all are ugly. Y’all are so damn ugly. You come into these game developers’ spaces and demand things and when you don’t get what you want, and are explained to politely and intentionally, you lose your shit.

I’m not going to repeat what owl. has said, but I am going to say that if you’re going to act a fool then you can carry that energy elsewhere. It is not wanted and you’re being disrespectful. I am so sick and so tired of watching my peers make games with female protagonists (MOST TIMES OTOME GAMES WHERE ITS UH KIND OF THE POINT?!?) and people get irate and nasty about it.

My siblings in CHRIST if you don’t go and find the devs who are making the content you want, oh my God. Your support is probably the difference between then giving up or moving forward!

Stop being assholes, good lord.