I write, sometimes

Call me Storm, pronouns are they/them. @TheClamBeforetheStorm on ao3

[theclam-beforethestorm-archive]

Remaking my blog!

Hi! I'm leaving this blog up as an archive, but will be moving all activity to a new blog, found @theclam-beforethestorm-revamped.

[cipheramnesia]

I think "slop" is a strong contender for world of the year 2025, as it seems to be universally recognizable as a description for the majority of output produced in the name of Return on Investment.

Sure it means algorithmically generative slop now, but look at housing construction, durable appliances, food, automobiles, you name it and tell me it's not just more slop. If enshittification is the process, slop is the result.

[beriliaa]

[a-book-of-creatures]

You can only reblog this today! Next time Thursday 20 will follow Wednesday 19 will be in 2439!

[wildmansters]

The thing that really boils my potatoes about AI in general is that I have been a creative professional for over a decade now and the devil has ALWAYS been in the details. Big and small, I've had single-person businesses rip me to shreds over how their colors turned out on newsprint, and have worked with huge companies with THICK brand guidelines with every detail of their brand identity laid out and enforced with an iron fist.

But I guess all of that stuff doesn't matter anymore? Who gives a fuck if this AI generated baby has six fingers, that mom-and-pop shop is still going to use it. That rug from Temu says Happy Thanksgivirg? Oh well haha it's just a silly funny thing now (nevermind that you never would have given a B-grade item from a craft show the same consideration). I don't actually care that the AI Coca-cola ad has a truck that changes size every scene, but I can't help but think about how, if it had been some poor underpaid artist, they would have been laughed out of the building.

I don't really know how to put it in a succint way but it just feels all the more obvious how much more grace and flexibility has always been possible but never offered.

[abortionlover]

“Ticking Time Bomb”: A Pregnant Mother Kept Getting Sicker. She Died After She Couldn’t Get an Abortion in Texas.

Walker is one of several women ProPublica found with underlying health conditions who died when they couldn’t access abortions.

ABORTION IS HEALTHCARE

[abortionlover]

"nothing was wrong with her pregnancy, only her health."

They view us as less than human. Our lives do not matter. "Pro-life" is a lie.

[abortionlover]

Do not look away.

[xenogears]

Shout out to the (many) times I got called an elitist gatekeeper for saying that the only real way to fully understand a work of fiction is to experience it firsthand and that summaries and reviews are not a replacement for that

[xenogears]

This is the main reason I left the wider mecha anime fandom, it's packed to the brim with people who go "um actually I don't have time to and/or don't want to watch these anime I claim to be a huge fan of and you're a snob for suggesting I watch them"

[xenogears]

It's like this

[tiktoksijustthinkareneat]

[catboybiologist]

Love conversations where every single participant has certified Issues

[virtualgirladvance]

One guys issue is not knowing vampires are real. I feel him

[raevenlywrites]

Love burying the lead "he's 33 I'm 22-" bitch he is 433 give or take

[scrabbleknight]

He doesn't know how to divide by 2.

[thedeadtravelfast]

@nightcrawler-fan @iceandbone

[nightcrawler-fan]

...why does this have better writing than most actual comedy series about fantasy characters?

[kittydesade]

.... is one of those guys Blade?

[your-dads-filing-cabinet]

[ladyaldhelm]

HOW TO TURN OFF GOOGLE AI in GMAIL:

Open Gmail in your browser

Click on the Gear Icon ⚙️ in the upper right

In the General Tab, scroll down to "Smart Features" and UNCHECK THE BOX. It is about halfway down.

Then, right below that is Google Workspace smart features. Click on the "Manage Workspace Smart Features" and make sure both toggles are OFF

[bereft-of-frogs]

There’s that post that’s like ‘everyone should get into a tiny niche fandom at least once’ fully agree, that was really fun -- but I would like to add that everyone should get into a fandom where their opinions run counter to major fanon because it really teaches you about sticking to your guns and trusting your interpretation of the text without having to rely on peer validation

because WHAT are people talking about sometimes

[erros429]

she tumblr on my dot til i com

[erros429]

please do NOT manifest this

[erros429]

THIS ISNT A STOCK MARKET GUYS GET OUTTA HERE

[erros429]

WHICH ONE OF YOU BROUGHT THIS POST BACK

[tinyyellowflowers-blog]

Once I was doing fieldwork with someone from Europe and said “careful, there’s a rattlesnake over there.” And she rushed over like I’d said there was a quetzal.

[tinyyellowflowers-blog]

I said “Ma’am please, we’re three hours from a hospital!” and she said

1.) I don’t understand how that can be

2.) But I’ve never done fieldwork from a car before (!!!) so I’ll take your word for it.

3.) Did you just call me ma’am? Like a cowboy?

[tinyyellowflowers-blog]

We drove through the Los Angeles megacity together — and at one point were stuck in traffic.

“Heeeey”, she said, like someone gently broaching a topic I should have noticed, “Why does the lane next to us have diamond shaped symbols on it?”

That is! A subtle and friendly way of asking why we’re sitting in traffic when there’s a carpool lane Right There! I laughed and pulled into the lane and started driving.

Unfortunately. That isn’t what she was implying, she was genuinely asking. So we were stuck in traffic, she asked about what was clearly a breakdown or emergency access lane, and I laughed and started driving in it. She was Alarmed.

“Hello! Excuse me! We can’t drive in this lane! No one else is driving in this lane!!”

“Oh! I should have said — this lane is for people with more than one person in their car.”

“That is RIDICULOUS. You are lying. You are lying about what this lane is for and we’ll get arrested! (ma’am it’s fine but if it weren’t it would be more of a “ticket” situation) we’ll get a “ticket”! (Ma’am again it’s fine but were it not I alone would get the ticket) because that IS NOT the purpose of this lane. That is a RIDICULOUS lie.”

“I’m sorry, I should have said — I thought you were being subtle about my oversight. Please observe the carpool sign.”

“I don’t know what a carpool is and I don’t believe you.”

“How about you look at all the cars stuck in traffic and see how many have more than one driver, and if there are at least five I’ll get back into the traffic jam.”

“FINE!”

<a pause>

(With dawning horror) “none of these cars have more than one person in them.”

“I know.”

“None of these cars have more than one person!!”

“If you weren’t here I’d be right there with them.”

“OK but there was no train to where we needed to go.”

“There’s no train to where they needed to go either.”

“HOW.”

[tinyyellowflowers-blog]

Later that day:

“I know McDonalds and Burger King sell Burgers, but what does Wendy’s sell?”

“Burgers”

“And Sonic?”

“Burgers.”

“Jack in the Box?”

“Burgers.”

“In’n’Out?”

“Look, It’s burgers all the way down.”

[tinyyellowflowers-blog]

She hopped off a plane, went camping on Catalina with her husband and his lab, and then I showed her a rattlesnake, dragged her through heavy brush, took her (food) shopping in Beverly Hills, illustrated American car dependency and love of burger, and threatened to shoot someone trying to break into our hotel room. (I did not have a gun) She speed-ran the US American experience in eight days.

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

reading a romance novel where the protagonist feels the need to stop and inform that audience that it's okay for her, a 27 year old, to hook up with a 31 year old because despite the age difference both of their brains are fully developed. the Discourse really has done incalculable damage.

[ascholarlyengineer]

that's...they're adults 4 years apart, who on Earth would think there's any sort of meaningful age gap

[batmanisagatewaydrug]

[justgazing]

This is breathtaking

[amgeforns]

#you know those posts that are like. pulling up a small weed and discovering it's attached to a root system that wraps around the sewer line.#this is one of those.

[whydidisavethistomyphone]

[werewolfoffeverswamp]

found goat milk and wheat ale at the store. theres no way im NOT making a white gilgamesh tonite

[werewolfoffeverswamp]

ok here we go. recipe/original post here:

[localcryptic]

i sent this post to my friend who is known for making Concoctions. thinking she'd just find it funny. i underestimated her hubris

so for anyone curious about the white gilgamesh experience. i hope this satiates that sick desire in your hearts

[lizardywizard]

TWO THIRDS BEER AND ONE THIRD MILK

FROM A GOAT OR OF ITS ILK

SURPRISINGLY IT'S REALLY GOOD

WHITE GILGAMESH, MISUNDERSTOOD

[astrangertomykin]

My medieval servant boy has gone missing. I’ll just use Google to see if I can find him.

[astrangertomykin]

Oh bother.

[dggeoff-deactivated20161128]

im deleting this fucking website

[best-chance-deactivated20161213]

It took me a minute

[keepcalmandcarriefischer]

Gotdamn I haven’t seen this post in almost a decade

[parkchanwoohoo]

Wow okay the critics were not lying, that is a VERY talented canine actor. Not The Thing levels of good, but damn good. But also, yes, the critics were not lying, the pacing is such ass I'm genuinely curious if the editor was like going through a divorce and couldn't focus on work or something

[parkchanwoohoo]

The brother and sister characters have an uncomfortably Folgers commercial vibe going on

[millionsknives]

i’m not the first person to say this but it’s so insulting and dehumanizing that every AI advertisement frames the consumer as a stupid useless idiot. every AI ad is like ugh i can’t write this email (a thing that takes 2 minutes to do) ugh i don’t know how to interview (if you’re as incompetent as the commercial paints then why did you even apply for this job) oh nooooo i don’t know what groceries to buy (respectfully are you such a dumbass that you don’t even know what you want to eat???)

ads used to be like “tough stains? use our detergent!” “are you an outdoorsy person? get this 4x4 jeep cherokee” and now it’s like. you stupid animal. you don’t know how to socialize. you have no friends. you’re terrible at interviews. you can’t write. you forgot your anniversary with your husband. let the robot do all this for you. export your skills and thinking and interpersonal communication to this evil machine. surely this will have no adverse side effects. we hope you never have an original thought again. submit to the corporate robot overlord you stupid bastard clowns

[autumnhobbit]

there’s this one they keep showing me that’s like ‘ai how can i sound like i know what soccer’s rules are so i can impress my friends’

aSK them you are KILLING a bonding opportunity!!! what is the point of having friends if you have to be fake with them!!!! tell them ‘sorry i don’t know anything about soccer can you explain it to me?’ they would love to if they truly love soccer! you will get to see them experience something they love genuinely and they went out of their way to share it with you and you by the effort of trying to understand something for the sake of the other will have your soul broadened as well!! all these things you will abandon for sheer laziness and propaganda!

[jurakan]

You guys would like this NYT article: "Why does every commercial for AI think you're a moron?"

Highlights:

"I suppose Meta is meant to be saving the child, and therefore the father, from unhappiness, but what it actually seems to be doing is sparing them any feelings that might lend meaning to their lives." "...the less funny assumption is that someone could be more moved by an A.I. letter than by the unpolished emotion of an enthusiastic child." "If, for some reason, your brain stops functioning, Meta’s got you."