rad, dude

hi my name is colin!- he/him - 20 - sideblog @smeepydoesminecraft

[momdusa]

From 3DBearnadette on tweeter...

[klapollo]

okay i looked into this and apparently this isnt even just dracula the wolfman and frankenstein's monster like. they're DESCENDANTS of them who are normal guys who turn into a vampire a werewolf etc. they do this to "atone" for the actions of their ancestors.

this is them normally and they apparently transform by slapping their hands together and shouting WACKO and this is called the "drak whack." dracula is alive too. they call him Big D.

[azure-aeon-soulstar]

There is no heterosexual explanation for this

[r0zeclawz]

my name is detective sleeping and im about to get started on my toughest case yet. the pillow case

[a-book-of-creatures]

Ah, an undercover assignment

[silvysartfulness]

Sleeper agent

[plounce]

"tumblr thinks this" "tumblr users act like that" the only thing all tumblr users do is look at posts.

[plounce]

some of them don't even read posts.

[beanytuesday]

Going Viral

[cheaphalloweencostume]

no joke i really love discovering a fandom for some weird show or internet thing ive never heard of in my life and then promptly discovering that said random is batshit and full of the most vicious hateful infighting possible

[cheaphalloweencostume]

especially when the media at hand is completely shallow nonsense projects by random nobodies and there are people on tumblr willing to kill and die for their headcanons this happens to me like twice a week

[cheaphalloweencostume]

what if i told you with my hand on a stack of bibles that in the dark underbelly of tumblr there are people fighting to the death about these things’ sexualities

[disco-dancing-in-the-desert]

[jurisffiction]

i keep thinking about this marketplace ad....... i wish all ads brought this mix of disgruntled earnest flourish

[shithowdy]

this is your periodic reminder that for all the artifacts and errors and "tells" one could possibly list, the only reliable way to actually determine if an image is ai generated is to investigate the source. it is becoming increasingly common for "fake classical paintings" to circulate around curative aesthetic blogs, and everyone should be using this as an opportunity to not only exercise their investigative skills but also appreciate art more in general. you're all checking out the artists you reblog, right? 🫣

so what are some signs to look for? let's use this very good example.

what a lovely late-impressionist piece blended with evocative leyendecker-esque themes! why haven't you ever heard of this artist before? surely tumblr would be all over an artist like this. who is justin brown?

your two options from here are to do a search for the name, or a reverse image search. i prefer reverse image searching, particularly when it comes to a common name like "justin brown". so what does that net?

Immediately, without looking at any text, something is wrong: it barely exists. an actual historical piece would turn up numerous results from websites individually discussing the piece, but no such discussions are taking place. Looking at the text, though, does show the source-- and at least in this case, the creator was honest about their medium.

But let's also look at the "exact matches", in case a source doesn't make itself apparent in the initial sidebar results like this.

This section will often tell you post dates of images, and here it can be seen that the very first iteration of the image was posted 15 days ago. It did not exist online prior to that.

Seeing how long an unsourced image has been floating around is a skill applicable to more than just generative images! See a cool image of an artifact or other intriguing item with a vivid caption? Reverse search it! If all the results are paired with that caption and only go back a few months, you might just have viral facebook spam.

Sometimes generative creators are dishonest about their medium and do not tag it like in the example, so that's when establishing "jpeg provenance" becomes important. While it can be a little trickier to determine if someone is using generative images and not admitting to it if they aren't trying to pass it off as a classic, something to consider is the age of their account and the frequency with which they post. Here are some account red flags:

-Did they only start posting art after 2022, or if they did before, did their style/skill level WILDLY change? Not gradual improvement-- I'm talking amateur graphite portraits straight into complex digital renders. Everyone starts somewhere, newness is not a red flag alone; it's newness combined with existing in a vacuum away from any community.

-Do they post fully-finished paintings several times a week? -Do many of these paintings seem iterative of a similar theme or subject matter ("three well-dressed young men face each other under shade and dappled sunlight")?

-Does their style change in inconsistent ways? An artist that can swap between painting like Drew Struzan and Hokusai should be pretty well known, right? Why is no one hyping this guy?!

-Do they have social media besides the source instagram? If so, what are they posting about? Are there any WIPs? Doodles? Interactions with other artists? Gallery dates? 3am self-doubt posts? Or is it all self-promo? Crypto? Seemingly nothing art-related at all for someone pushing out 3 weekly paintings?

Basically, if it's important to you to omit this stuff when you curate, please don't just smash reblog if the source doesn't seem to be the OP themselves. Seeking out sources was important even before this became an issue, now it is more than ever.

peace n love

[ruhua-langblr]

Duolingo Sucks, Now What?: A Guide

Now that the quality of Duolingo has fallen (even more) due to AI and people are more willing to make the jump here are just some alternative apps and what languages they have:

"I just want an identical experience to DL"

Busuu (Languages: Spanish, Japanese, French, English, German, Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Polish, Turkish, Russian, Arabic, Korean)

"I want a good audio-based app"

Language Transfer (Languages: French, Swahili, Italian, Greek, German, Turkish, Arabic, Spanish, English for Spanish Speakers)

"I want a good audio-based app and money's no object"

Pimsleur (Literally so many languages)

Glossika (Also a lot of languages, but minority languages are free)

*anecdote: I borrowed my brother's Japanese Pimsleur CD as a kid and I still remember how to say the weather is nice over a decade later. You can find the CDs at libraries and "other" places I'm sure.

"I have a pretty neat library card"

Mango (Languages: So many and all endangered/Indigenous courses are free even if you don't have a library that has a partnership with Mango)

"I want SRS flashcards and have an android"

AnkiDroid: (Theoretically all languages, pre-made decks can be found easily)

"I want SRS flashcards and I have an iphone"

AnkiApp: It's almost as good as AnkiDroid and free compared to the official Anki app for iphone

"I don't mind ads and just want to learn Korean"

lingory

"I want an app made for Mandarin that's BETTER than DL and has multiple languages to learn Mandarin in"

ChineseSkill (You can use their older version of the course for free)

"I don't like any of these apps you mentioned already, give me one more"

Bunpo: (Languages: Japanese, Spanish, French, German, Korean, and Mandarin)

[cogbreath]

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

I always feel kind of sorry for really big tall guys because there’s a much higher need for awareness of your body language when you’re like 6’6” and 300 pounds. when you’re a close-talker at 5’9” it’s a little off-putting but when you’re a close-talker at 6’6” it can come off as looming.

[chaumas-deactivated20240115]

ex firefighter guy came into work yesterday and pretty clearly wanted to Hang Out but had the unfortunate combination of an intense unsmiling affect and Every Possible Muscle so every time he had a question it was like

[funny-tik-toks]

[prideandprejudiceandknuckles]

[strialternatives]

[ladychlo]

"nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them" Assata Shakur

FREE PALESTINE.

[retroactivebakeries]

[billymayslesbian]

remember when the porn ban was happening and everyone was moving to different sites and someone made a forum called tumblr 2 and tumblr sent a cease and desist signed by david karp with the shittiest elementary school cursive signature youve ever seen bc i think abt that a lot

[billymayslesbian]

literally nothing beats this

[sudo-trans--pony]

[3000s]

you cant be talking about women like that ftm baby