confused but still an optimist

Lotty | 25 | she/they | pro Thunderbirds, anti AI architecture sideblog - @ladybird-scribbles header image: Olga Wisinger-Florian - Im Schilf (1902)

[userfish]

this pride month we’re all going to be radically pro transgender. or else.

[userfish]

hey so this means radically pro ALL transgender. don’t put limitations on this. all trans people are radically accepted here.

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

stop using chatgpt!!!! take a bronze pin and carve your questions onto an ox scapula, then toss it into the fire!!!! use the cracks to divine the gods answer!!!!

[grand-theft-carbohydrates]

citations still have to be APA 7th edition though. if you plagiarise, the gods will flood the yellow river again. and you'll lose your academic standing.

[dkpsyhog]

(The Gods, personal communication, July 18, 2024)

[wtf-scientific-papers]

Wang and Lai (2014)

[gemstone-gynoid]

[foone]

FUN FACT:

So you know how the Wilhelm Scream is in a ton of films as a soundtrack in-joke? It was popularized by Ben Burtt, who was a sound editor on a ton of ton of Lucas films, like all the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films.

Well, he cameos in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. That's him there. His only screen time is getting knocked over a rail, and he does an imitation of the Wilhelm scream as he does it.

[loth-caatgirl]

that IS a fun fact!

[toast-the-unknowing]

the bad news: I now hate my current wip and strongly believe there isn't a single joke in it that lands

the good news: I know my process enough to recognize this as the slump that I hit in everything I write when it's like three-quarters-ish done

the bad news: the only way out is through

the good news: I do know the way out!

the bad news: yeah but it's through

[toast-the-unknowing]

making a cross stitch that says "I am funny and he would fucking say that" to hang directly above my monitor

[toast-the-unknowing]

"hey toast you stayed up past midnight because you were working on the fic and not because you were procrastinating by making a hideous pattern for a joke cross stitch" have you never met a writer before

[toast-the-unknowing]

gonna tell my kids this was live laugh love

[lovewithagirl]

ID from alt text: oversized cross stitch with the words "I am funny, he would fucking say that, the only way out is through" interspersed with the AO3 logo / end ID

[medievaljournalist]

so you know that cursed sword that slowly drives whoever wields it mad & causes mysterious illnesses? you guessed it: scabbard was absolutely loaded with black mold

[sasstrid-and-dorkcup]

One thing I know I'm old fashioned about and will be forever is manually downloading music files to my phone instead of relying on Spotify or something similar for my music. They simply cannot compete with my carefully curated library of music that I've been building up since I was probably like 10 or 13 or so. And yeah it's mainly built off of ripping songs from YouTube videos but that gets easier every day. Yeah maybe it's tedious to always have to fix the artist names and song titles from the download. And yeah I've had to redownload all my music onto my new phone this week. But y'know what? It has reminded me of songs I downloaded as a kid that I totally forgot about. I'm reliving the music I loved throughout the different phases of my life. And every time I listen to music it's all songs I wanna hear. It's curated expertly tbh and I'll never stop doing it this way

[saintfelina]

women in GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums)

[genderkoolaid]

as someone with ARFID i really couldn't care less about the distinction between "picky eaters" and "genuine eating issues." if you are an asshole to someone you see as "just picky" i will never, ever trust you. i've lived through the trauma of being shamed and humiliated for my eating needs.

frankly i think a LOT of "picky eaters" have some kind of sensory problems– autistic or allistic– and shame is never useful. i don't fucking care how annoying you think we are. if you've never lived through the humiliation of being the only one not eating at a dinner table, or having to choke down something disgusting you already know you hate because other people insist you don't know your own body, or getting a hunger migraine in a house full of food because none of its edible to you? you don't understand how awful it is to have food issues.

whenever i see people draw this distinction between being "just a picky eater" and "having a real problem" all i think is, who does this serve? most people don't even know ARFID exists. there are so many undiagnosed autistics, or just people with a variety of issues that aren't officially diagnosed. why do we need a medical label in order to be treated with respect and compassion? why did i need to be diagnosed as autistic for my family to realize the abuse they put me through for years because of my eating habits?

it's such an easy habit for neglected groups to fall into– the idea that a medical diagnosis can save us. that by appealing to the medical/psychiatric industry, we can be protected from abuse and given basic respect and resources. but the truth is that it should never have come to this in the first place. dignity doesn't come from an abled doctor telling you that there's a medical reason for your symptoms. it comes from being a person. once you accept that you need a Good Reason to have your needs respected, you doom yourself to neglecting and abusing those who have your same struggles because they aren't lucky enough to access medical recognition.

tl;dr solidarity with all "picky eaters" stop guilting people for having varying food needs, if we make you irrationally angry that's YOUR problem not ours, and abolish "children's menus" & replace them with simple-food / small-portion menus for people of all ages

[iwhumpyou]

rewatched the entire PoTC trilogy on an international flight and I can't believe I forgot how funny it is.

Barbossa is the most exasperated character in any scene he's in, unless he's winning. then he's the smuggest son of a bitch on screen (he literally returns from the dead smugly eating an apple). but majority of the time, he's 'why am I the only adult here'. man rolls his eyes so much I half-expected him to turn straight to the camera.

when Will asks Elizabeth to marry him while they are fighting Davy Jones' crew, stuck in a maelstrom, and trapped in the final battle, the first word out of her mouth is "Barbossa!". she then continues by asking Barbossa to marry them, but for a split second Will's face goes like 'Barbossa? Barbossa?? I didn't even know he was on the map of this convoluted love quadrangle!'

when they're in Singapore and Sao Feng threatens the spy he found and Will, Elizabeth, and Barbossa all look at each other to confirm that none of them have snuck in a spy they forgot to tell the others about, before shrugging and telling Sao Feng to go ahead and kill him.

Barbossa's eyes just getting wide and wider the more weapons Elizabeth pulls out of her clothes. c'mon man, let a woman have her toys!

rewatching really gives you the full picture of how many people are scheming at any given time and how each person's schemes intersect with the others, even if they're nominally on the same side. everyone also gets So Upset when their scheme is foiled, accidentally or intentionally, by someone else's scheme, as though they themselves aren't scheming at that very moment.

Barbossa's iron balls. I'm sorry, this is the funniest dick joke in the trilogy that defines how many dick jokes Disney can stick in a movie before it stops being PG-13. Jack's reaction really says it all.

rereading this list I see it's quite heavily tilted in favor of Barbossa which I now realize is because I empathize with Barbossa way more than I did as a kid. I too am frustrated to be surrounded by idiots while I'm the only adult around. man just wants to eat his apple in peace goddammit. so he did a little mutiny and maybe some more murder and mayhem and also maybe unleashed a pagan god upon the world. the guy really likes his apples, is that a crime?!?

[pareidoliaonthemove]

Barbossa in 'Curse of the Black Pearl' is an allegory for how the acquisitiveness of modern society is in no small part responsible for the pandemic of depression overwhelming us.

When we meet him in Curse, he has everything he ever wanted: wealth, command of his own ship, and immortality. And all it cost him was the things that make life worth living - the ability to savour the simple pleasures, food, touch, and the ability to relate to other people, symbolised by the apples.

How many of us sacrifice time with our families and friends to the workplace so we can afford that new car, latest phone, bigger house?

When Barbossa re-enters the story, recently raised from the dead, and eating his apple, it shows that he is fully engaging in life, liberated from his desire for worldly riches.

We need to stop and eat, savour, enjoy our apples.

[jedthewolfdog]

upset and don’t know why? Appease the Brains

lizard brain

questions: do i have food, water, and safe shelter? 

solutions: drink more water. drink things with electrolytes. make and stick to a food schedule that works for you. clean your room. if you are in an unsafe situation, talk to someone trusted about creating a plan to get out 

toddler brain 

questions: have i had enough rest? am i been getting what i need to be healthy? am i cared for? am i frustrated? 

solutions: make sure you’re getting enough sleep on a schedule that works for you (people naturally sleep better at different times and need different amounts of sleep. if youre young you will need to sleep more than 7 or 8 hours). make sure you have varied nutrition in your diet. make sure your medications and supplements are working for you and take them on schedule. work on developing a support system that meets your needs. take breaks from things if you feel burned out, even if it’s only for a day 

monkey brain 

questions: have i had enrichment in my life? am i stuck in a rut? have i had socialization, entertainment, and creativity? has anything challenged me lately? 

solutions: limit your time on social media. make an effort to be in new environments - even if its another room in your house or backyard. examine what is or isn’t working in your routine. pick up a new hobby (if you’re more physically active, consider a hobby like writing or coding. if you’re more mentally active, consider a hobby like woodworking, bookbinding, or a sport). write stories, make art, and write analyses (if you haven’t tried original work - focus on that for a little while). try new music. try a new food. build something with legos. consume a new type of media even if you’re not sure you’ll like it (like graphic novels, radio plays, or watching ballet). take on a long term project and set aside time to work on it on a schedule (whether its every day, every few days, or specific days each week) 

human brain 

questions: do i feel loved? do i feel understood? am i existentially fulfilled? do i have a sense of purpose? do i have a sense of meaning? am i contributing to the lives of the people i care about and are they doing the same for me in return? 

solutions: reach out to friends and loved ones, and do activities together, like play a game online or walk in the park. talk to safe people about things that upset you, such as a trusted friend or a therapist, and find steps to improve your mental health. interrogate whether your religious beliefs are working for you, and if they are, make an effort to practice your faith, whether that is attending services (including digitally if they have them), reading and discussing your religious texts, or following holidays. read self help books or blogs from trusted professionals. read about philosophy and interrogate your own understanding of things. learn how to communicate your needs, thoughts, and desires to people who will listen. be active in your community (whether in community service, activism, or getting involved in local politics). adopt a rescue animal. give money to causes you care about. make an effort to learn about points of view and lived experiences that are different than your own. challenge assumptions about how you are expected to live your life and decide whether you want those things or not. express love for the people you care about - through kind words, good acts, crafts, or otherwise. if there are steps in your life you have been afraid of taking, make a plan to take them 

if you fulfill higher needs before lower needs, you will still feel bad. if you feel bad and don’t know why, start lower and work your way up. basic needs must be met before moving on healthily 

[bogleech]

Its been a month since the last time I went on this same tangent but neural networks, their history, their potential, and the intentions behind those who pioneered them are actually all really fucking incredible and cool and it cannot be emphasized enough how unfairly they've been perverted by capitalism right now. Some of you think you understand that but I still see you very quick to dismiss that there was ever any merit to the technology at all.

The data centers aren't needed for it to exist, or even for it to be used for entertainment or novelty. The data centers are because it's being crammed into a billion times more than that, because they're inserting it into literally everything several billion people are using every second of every day.

[weenie-extraordinaire]

I remember years ago reading about how excited medical researchers were, because they created one of those that scanned like, 20,000 healthy scans of tissue, and a thousand scans of unhealthy tissue, and they started feeding it scans of tissue and it would identify healthy from unhealthy tissue with a staggeringly high accuracy rate? I remember it was being touted as a medical breakthrough.

[bogleech]

This is still advancing as far as I know. Picking things out from sets is one thing that it's best at!

But there's a downside we unfortunately all could have guessed, too, which is that actual doctors using ai assistance become more careless and lazy at doing it themselves.

https://archive.ph/whVMI

...On the other hand, though, pretty much all medical work has BEEN understaffed, pretty much always, and the staff they have is therefore constantly over-worked, right?

Virtually everyone is overworked in all industries. That's...the original reason we wanted robots.

So I have to wonder, like, is it also possible the human's "20% drop in effectiveness" is just what it looks like when something else can shoulder what was already unhealthy burden? Was the average doctor doing 20% more than the human brain and body was really comfortable handling? Would their personal efficiency have also similarly dropped a bit if they just had more human help, too?

This has still been a net positive where it's been implemented, with the combination of computer and human saving more lives together, but when lives are on the line we obviously still want both of those at their best.

[headspace-hotel]

ChatGPT is the same concept

understanding the actual scientific applications of neural networks makes it easier to understand what fucking garbage the AI chatbots and "Assistants" and this and that are.

Show it lots and lots of a certain thing, and it will become really really good at finding patterns in that thing.

But with the AI chat bots, the thing they showed it lots and lots of is...Language. they crammed every sentence on the whole entire internet into it basically

So the AI is really really good at finding patterns in...how people write sentences online.

Which means it can create sentences that follow the same patterns as sentences that real people write on the internet.

The devastating error has been that when "language" is the thing the AI is trained on, people mistakenly think that the AI "knows" a lot about the things the sentences appear to be about and not sentences themselves

[muzzlesbian]

ublock origin is not enough i need advertisers to feel physical pain

[demilypyro]

having free control over our endrocrine systems and the ability to change our genitals is currently inextricably tied to trans rights, and for good reason, but frankly i don't think it even needs to be. it should just be a matter of bodily autonomy, and that should be universal. if a cis dude wants tits and a pussy i think that would be fine. if cis women want a dick or nothing at all that should be allowed i think. people shouldn't need to be transgender to be allowed to change their bodies. free the nipple, enlarge the nipple, remove the nipple. whatever the fuck you want. i dont know if there's a term for this belief but i hold it very strongly. everybody biohack yourselves NOW

[kzlatkova]

Anyone who's ever done anything creative needs to fucking see this.

[headspace-hotel]

everybody talking about the lack of spaces where kids and teenagers can just "hang out" is really coming together with all my thoughts on ecology, lawns, and the way land is used

Many outdoor spaces are not functional for human life. Concrete and no trees makes the world hostile for humans the same way it does other creatures.

Suburbs where every house has a lawn that is basically decoration cause the houses to be spaced far apart, which makes walking very difficult...

The harder to exist in the outside becomes, the more people become focused on the virtual world, which causes the outside to become treated as less important, and people have less ability to imagine an outdoor space that is nice to exist in

The trouble ultimately is that the earth's surface already exists and is free. Simply being in a certain position in three-dimensional space is something that you inherently can do as long as you can walk there, unless someone stops you.

But our system is that a person has to pay someone money for every aspect of existence, in both space and time, even though space and time are both inherent qualities of the fabric of the universe.

So, spaces that someone can exist in for free are kept hostile to human life

[shiverandqueeef]

if you aren't best friends with your lover and a little bit in love with all your friends than what's the fucking point