#the problem with

[ethereal-goats]

Standing at the lab sink, washing sample extraction tools, randomly being dealt 8000 psychic damage bc I remembered the fact that there is a high likelihood that my Mother has seen my NSFW artwork: A Visual

And then right back to workin. Good stuff.

[agendratum]

omg PLEASE read scum villain it’s so funny

well when you put it LIKE THIS

[amphoraeimpetus]

I know everyone hated her plot but I never really minded Geraldines storyline I had no clue her plot would be hated as much as it was. Mainly, because I dont think were supposed to like her, the show is filled with cold and harsh people and it's such a heavy contrast to have someone like her whose so open and emotional. I also think she was there as a story device to push coraline past her limit. idk I just never got why she was so hated lol.

How do you solve a problem like Geraldine...?

I struggle to pinpoint exactly what I find problematic about Geraldine. I have no issues with the actress at all, Gemma Whelan did a great job with what she was given. Perhaps that is the problem; they didn’t really flesh Geraldine out. The same is also true for the Bitter Pill bunch, but I feel I know more about Jamie than Geraldine, and that can’t be right. Hearing Suzanne Heathcoat’s thoughts have been useful and enlightening, but I’m always a little sceptical when one has to step outside the Art to begin to understand and appreciate it. For me, this was the case in respect of Geraldine, but I wholly appreciate that others will have had different experiences (emotionally I am very similar to Carolyn so perhaps that’s my issue?).

The purpose of Geraldine was to wear Carolyn down to the point where she could do what she did, and cease to be ‘Switzerland’ (trying to not give spoilers here). She grated on our nerves as much as Carolyn’s and I think that was the point. On balance, taking into account the character’s development and purpose, did Geraldine need the screen time she received? In my opinion, no. I have no doubt that Fiona Shaw would have been able to convey that Geraldine was getting on Carolyn’s nerves in her scenes, a throw away line would achieve this in lieu of a Carolyn/Geraldine scene. Had they developed Geraldine more as a character, my answer would likely be different.

My real issue (I think) is that they are repeating themselves. We’ve had the ‘surprise child’ before with Kenny and they basically did the same thing here with Geraldine. It doesn’t work for me; it seems lazy and convenient. It would have made more sense to have Carolyn’s brother turn up and serve Geraldine’s function; you remember him, the boy who shoved hamsters through toilet rolls?

Sorry Anon, I fell down the rabbit hole here! In short, when you only have 8 episodes a year, time is precious. This season the finite commodity of time didn’t feel like it was fully optimised, and I suspect this is why there’s so much Geraldine hate. If the time sacrificed from one to be given to another doesn’t yield gold, bitterness ensues.

[origami10]

.

[anxiousbanshee]

I hate clocks

when it says 59 on the minutes and you just have to stare at it until it changes!??

what bitch thought that up and why cant I stop

[simplefocus]

The Problem With Self Driving Cars

Self driving cars. Are they the future? Are they computer assisted death machines? Can they cook me lunch? Well, we can ask a million questions about self driving cars, but there are a few fundamental problems which I would like to discuss. Join me in a discussion on a few problems with self driving cars.

As my main focus is I admit I was a bit ambitious when I chose this topic. Self driving or Autonomous vehicles are constantly changing. There are also varied levels of self driving, from being fully controlled by a computer, to just assisting the driver with simpler maneuvers. Lastly, I attempted to do some research into the topic, but have failed to fully utilize the sources I found. If you would like to see the articles I found please check below my signature.  As always, please feel free to criticize, and discuss in the comments below. I simply hope you’ve had a nice year!technology, I am only going to glance over some details related to self driving cars. If you would like to know more about self driving cars you can look at the sources I have linked below, or feel free to ask me to do another essay on self driving cars.

For the purpose of our essay we will be defining self driving as the time when a car is driving without human interaction. This includes time when the person in the vehicle may not have the ability to control it.

First, as an appetizer, let’s cover jobs. There has been an argument that self driving cars take away jobs from taxi drivers. In all honesty, this is probably true. Waymo, a company related to Google in some way (that honestly is a topic for another essay), has been developing self driving taxis. Many taxi drivers have complained about the competition caused by this.

Moving away from cars, come with me on a brief excursion into self driving trucks. Honestly when I heard of self driving trucks, the first thing I think of is a car stuck in the grill of one. There actually can be a few benefits to having self driving trucks. In theory, once on the highway, the driver can do paperwork and other duties while the truck is driving itself. I do hope this extra work comes with some extra pay.

Now onto the main course! A big problem with self driving cars will be how they are programmed, and who is responsible for when things go wrong. 

Let’s put together a hypothetical scenario. Imagine you are driving a car down the street. Suddenly two children cross the road without looking. It is impossible to stop in time. You have three options. One, swerve into a wall, killing yourself, but saving the children. Two, speed up and turn the children into pancakes. Three, slow down and kill yourself and the children involved. 

What do you do? Difficult to decide? Let me give you an easier question… Who is responsible for any deaths in this accident? The answer: the driver of the car.

Now imagine you are no longer driving. Instead your car is driving for you, and you have no ability to intervene in this accident waiting to happen. What should the car do? Who is responsible for the death in this scenario? This is the biggest problem with self driving cars. If this happens the car will have to kill someone, the problem is how to program it, and who is responsible for the catastrophe to follow.

Assigning blame is difficult with self driving cars. In our original scenario the driver is at fault. Now we have to decide between the owner, the programmer of the car, and the company which manufactures the vehicle. A company will want to protect itself, so we could possibly create options for the car. Car A will crash and kill you in this scenario. Car B will pancake the children instead. Now the owner is a fault, but we have another problem. Will you buy a car that advertises it will kill it’s occupants? Also if you buy Car B, you immediately admit you intend to kill anyone in the way. There is no perfect scenario here.

====

I admit I was a bit ambitious when I chose this topic. Self driving or Autonomous vehicles are constantly changing. There are also varied levels of self driving, from being fully controlled by a computer, to just assisting the driver with simpler maneuvers. Lastly, I attempted to do some research into the topic, but have failed to fully utilize the sources I found. If you would like to see the articles I found please check below my signature.  As always, please feel free to criticize, and discuss in the comments below. I simply hope you’ve had a nice year!

Until next time -Simple

====

website links:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/542626/why-self-driving-cars-must-be-programmed-to-kill/

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/10/autonomous-vehicles-are-creating-jobs-heres-where.html

I am not authorized to distribute the following sources so you will have to find them on your own. The following sources are not publicly available online, or may require payment to access:

JafariNaimi, Nassim. "Our Bodies in the Trolley’s Path, or Why Self-Driving Cars Must *Not* Be Programmed to Kill." Science, Technology & Human Values, vol. 43, no. 2, Mar. 2018, pp. 302-323. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0162243917718942.

Brown, Alan S. "Google's autonomous car applies lessons learned from driverless races." Mechanical Engineering-CIME, Feb. 2011, p. 31. Academic OneFile

[sunstar-of-the-north]

The Problem With Shipping

This is a series I wanted to make and I finally got enough inspiration to do so. I'm probably going to upset a lot of people, but I want to address these issues. So without further ado let's get started!

Ah shipping. It can make friendships and bring forth many people in a community. It can however break friendships and cause ‘wars’ that can split whole communities apart. Shipping can be all for fun but some take it way too far. Today I will be discussing the problems with shipping and what steps can be taken to fix them. There are many types of shipping. However I will be mainly focusing on the fanon type. A fanon ship is one that isn’t considered canon to a book, show, or movie’s plot and made by fans. Now there is nothing wrong with fanon ships. It’s how the people act with their ships that is the problem. Some people are so loyal to a particular ship that they will go as far as to send death threats to the writers or even voice actors of a show when they don’t make their fanon ship canon. Examples include the two voice actors of Voltron who received such threats. Even one of the show’s executive producers was threatened by shippers that they would break both of her hands (Z, C, Will “Toxic Fandoms: When Criticisms and Enlightenment Go Too Far”).  Not only is this appalling, but it’s downright ridiculous! At the end of the day, these are fictional characters. People are taking their passions way too far. Another thing is these are stories, movies, shows that are the creators’, not the fans’. They will decide what they see fit and should not be blackmailed and bullied into pleasing a group of people who only want their pairing to be canon. How would you feel if some random strangers started to threaten not only you but your family because you didn’t have Person A fall in love with Person B in your book? If it were me, I’d be offended and furious that these people are telling me how to write MY story. These are MY characters. I will write them how I see fit. So please, you can ship whoever you want, but don’t force the original creator to change their story just because you think these two characters are ‘meant to be’. Another major issue with shipping is people will attack those who oppose their pairing or like a pairing the first party doesn’t. I will be the first to admit that there are MULITPLE ships I don’t support: Megascream, SymBrock, MegaOp, Kigo to name a few. I WILL NOT attack anyone who does like these ships however. If someone asks my opinions of them, I will give them but in a mature and calm manner. There are shippers who don’t do this though and get into huge shipping wars over them. Again, these are fictional characters. At the end of the day NONE of this matters. Don’t make a huge scene when you see someone opposing your ship. You have a right to voice your opinions, but do it in a calm and respectful manner. Threatening the other party and belittling them will make things worse. Another thing to do is just ignore it. If you see a ship you don’t like, then just ignore it and move on. Don’t attack/threaten this person and tell them to stop making content for this pairing. If you want to voice your opinions, then you can. Like mentioned before, be respectful about it and treat your opinions as such, not law. There are problems with shipping that need to be addressed. I’m not saying people need to stop shipping. On the contrary, people should be making ships they see fit. What I am saying is let’s all try to be more respectful of the original creators’ and respectful towards each other. I hope you all have a great day everyone.

Cited Sources: James, Wil, Z., Sean, and C., Aria. "Toxic Fandom: When Criticism and Enlightenment Go To Far". GeekDad, 3, Oct. 2018, https://geekdad.com/2018/10/toxic-fandom-when-criticism-and-entitlement-go-too-far/

Characters Mentioned (c) Respective Owners