20+ | Always sleepy and hungry | Likes drawing, reading, videogames, anime&manga, movies, writting | We're all looking someone whose Demons play well with ours.
I will vote for any candidate who promises to go scorched fucking earth on every tech company. Break every single one of them up into companies based around a single product and then split those in thirds. Weaponize existing antitrust laws to the hilt and pass the most draconian versions of them ever seen on this planet. Nationalize google search specifically. Pass consumer privacy protections strict enough to kill the data harvesting industry for good. Make all of these fuckers go bankrupt for this rent-seeking shit
went to the full keynote video for direct information, stick with me while i first include a transcript of what is said (starting 43 minutes in if you want to see the visuals they provide) and then get into my interpretation of the functionality compared to how google search currently already works.
it's bad but I want to encourage people to read along and interpret it in more depth than the article above.
I will be skipping sections (indicated with [...] ) due to things such as when the speakers present hypothetical scenarios, repeat previous products, to cut out marketing flourishes of language, or at my own discretion for focus on the topic at hand. feel free to go to the source yourselves if you want to hear what i cut
transcript of the relevant section:
[...]-we've been on a journey to bring together the best of a search engine with the best of AI. [...] with AI Overview. [...] last year on this stage that we launched AI Mode. It's our most powerful AI Search, bringing in our most advanced Gemini models.
And as of today, we're upgrading it on Gemini 3.5.
[...]
And now, we're entering the next chapter of Google Search, where [...] AI features aren't just in Search; Google Search is AI Search through and through.
[...], it's an AI Search that brings to figure out our most advanced Gemini models, our newest agentic capabilities, and the full breadth of the world's information. [...]
Now, to start, I'm excited to announce we're launching a brand-new intelligent Search box.
Before, the Search box was a contained space, but now, it's totally reimagined with AI. [...]
As you ask, Search helps you formulate your question with AI-powered suggestions.
This goes beyond autocomplete. It offers nuances that you might not have even thought to add, helping you take the exact question on your mind and ask it with ease.
[...] And you can ask across modalities with text, images, files, and videos, and Search reasons across them all. This is the biggest upgrade to our iconic Search box since its debut over 25 years ago. And it's starting to roll out today.
[...], bringing AI Overviews and AI Mode into one seamless AI Search experience. You can float effortlessly from your question to your response on the main Search results page, to follow-ups in AI Mode. Your context stays with you and your conversation gets deeper.
Your links and sources get even more relevant to what you might want to explore, so you continue to get the best of AI and the best of the Web.
[...] this new seamless AI Search experience is live today, across desktop and mobile worldwide.
[...] you'll be able to create and manage multiple AI agents for your many tasks, right in Search.
We're entering the era of Search agents. Now to start, you can set information agents to work for you 24/7 in the background. They can find you exactly what you need, exactly when you need it, and help you take action. You can spin up multiple agents in Search simultaneously, [...]
And these will work with and alongside Gemini Spark to help you get more done, [...]
[...]
your agent sends you an intelligent and synthesized update. It helps you understand what's going on so you can separate the signal from the noise. And it points you to hyper-relevant content, like this crowdsourced research platform, news site and social.
This helps websites and creators get fresh content discovered by people who really care about it, when it matters most to them.[...] your agent continuously scans the entire web, across sites, social, and forums. [...] And it monitors everything from blogs to our Shopping Graph so you don't miss out. You'll be able to put information agents to work for you this summer.
Just ask Search to keep you updated on whatever you want to know.
[...], information agents are among the first of many agents we're introducing in Search to make it more helpful for you.
so what is my understanding of this roll out?
first of all it appears to be less of a replacement for traditional search and more just shoving sentence suggestions and tool prompts into your field of view to nudge you towards searching queries completely within their ai mode, nothing in the presentation directly stated that regular search results would be going away, i feel like while criticising what they are doing we should avoid criticising something they didn't actually do.
Let me talk about existing google features I think it is just reworking:
image/file upload search, google lens, the various search filter tabs you can already see under the search bar, advanced filter/search tools, google alerts, it's already existing AI mode, already existing agents and gen-ai features
a LOT of what this 25 minute section of video discussed is just updates of existing google products that are then mashed together to encourage a multimedia interaction.
the use case they repeatedly present is a person speaks or types the beginning of a thought, selects a predicted autofil end to their sentence, and is presented with with a series of interactive results with the option to make real world purchases completely within their interface environment. the end goal appears to be just pushing the virtual assistant angle to do the work for you and prevent you from navigating away even to create purchases, multimedia, or receive information.
the actual beneficial part of the update is they have somewhat streamlined including multiple elements to your actual search queries, for example you could always upload an image to search and then add text key terms to refine the results- but now you can add videos and files as well so there can be multiple sources to search with. however this is not that different to how many gen-ai chatbots already function.
essentially it looks like if you want to do a traditional web search that won't change but there will be an intrusive chatbot element because like a lot of companies they want to lock you into their environment and act as middlemen for your online interactions.
yes this is another attempt to convince you you NEED ai to do things people have been doing online for 33 years, including 5 years where google didn't even exist yet. yes in addition to attempting to justify ai it is also one of many ways they normalise data harvesting users. yes it is just repackaging multiple features already provided and when you actually look at what's new it amounts to some refinement updates and incorporating everything into one location. yes it will have a negative impact on both websites that rely on SEO and users who are babied into handing over their autonomy and decision making to software they don't understand and have to trust the reliability of.
no it is not getting rid of traditional web search functionality. everyone please relax a little on that specific matter. continuing to use that functionality and ignoring or blocking the ai elements (i block google ai overviews in search results using ublock) is already a small statement you can make
try using other search engines like Duckduckgo, Ecosia, Brave Search, or StartPage. you don't have to do all your online searches in one location, and different engines have different upsides (i find so many movies via duckduckgo) so get out of any one virtual environment if you can.
The Tricks of Basil Seeds (I just wanted to get this out of my head so enjoy)
Qingying was confused. She had been summoned to Yangxin Hall and had no idea what to expect. When she came in, she found that his majesty was there along with the Empress Dowager and the Empress. She bowed and greeted them in turn, trying to hide her nerves. She had perhaps expected either the Dowager or the Empress, but certainly not the both at once. Qingying was not stupid, she was aware that neither woman liked her. Whatever had gone on between the Dowager and her aunt had soured her attitude towards Qingying for the foreseeable future. Qingying could not say that she truly understood. Qingying was not the person who had done those things, whatever they might have been; so why did Qingying now have to pay for it?
Qingying could, however, understand why the Empress would dislike her. Qingying had been brash and all but flouted the rules the day of Hongli’s bride selection. The scepter had almost gone into Fucha Langua’s hands in front of everyone. Yes, Qingying had been teasing and testing Hongli, but in the process Fucha Langhua was very nearly humiliated. If not for the late emperor’s arrival and subsequent cancellation of the selection, as well as Qingying’s own loss of face, that humiliation would have perhaps followed Fucha Langhua for the rest of her days. Her own impetuousness had harmed someone else. That, Qingying could understand.
What she still did not understand was why she had been summoned here.
“Qingying, sit.”
“Thank you, your majesty.”
His majesty calmly drank tea while the Empress tried and failed to hide her discomfort. The empress dowager looked low-spirited but otherwise calm. When his majesty put the cup down, he turned to look at Qingying. His eyes were different, just as they had been the morning that the late emperor left the world, kind but haunted. Whatever he had dreamt that night must still have shaken him, along with the grief of losing his royal father, Qingying had surmised.
“Qingying, I have decided to have your aunt be moved to a temporary imperial residence.”
Before Qingying could bow in thanks or even process her surprise, the Empress Dowager’s prayer beads slammed onto the table.
“Huangdi!”
“Huang E’Niang, you and Muhou have been at odds for many years, the late emperor’s decree has already been fulfilled. It is better that Muhou lives far enough away that neither of you will have to fight anymore, and there can be peace in the harem.”
The Dowager did not look pleased, but there was nothing she could say to that. Carefully, Qingying stood from her seat and bowed to give thanks.
“Your concubine thanks you on behalf of my aunt,” she said.
She was not immediately relieved from her bow and remained completely still as he stood up.
“There is still another reason. I do not wish for scheming and fighting to enter the palace,” he said.
He was right in front of her. Unperturbed, she only looked up when she felt a hand on her wrist.
“Get up.”
She stood quickly, then felt her sleeve being pulled back.
“Qingying, you remember when you received this bracelet, don’t you?”
“Yes, your majesty. Her highness gave it to me the day I entered the manor as second madam,” Qingying replied, confusion coloring her face and voice.
“And you’ve not removed it since?”
“No, your majesty.”
Qingying was curious. What could his majesty mean? Then, with one deft motion, the bracelet was removed from her wrist. She tried not to shift back from being startled by the movement.
“Your majesty?”
His majesty did not explain, he only examined the inner side of the bracelet. After a few moments, he took a small knife and he pried it open. He overturned, shook it once, twice, and small things poured out of it.
“What is that?” Qingying asked.
“If I am right, these are basil seeds,” his majesty replied, sounding… angry. “Qi Ru!”
From behind a screen, Qi Ru appeared. He bowed, greeting them one by one then checked the pips that had fallen from the bracelet. According to Qi Ru, they were, indeed, basil seeds.
“Your majesty, the presence of these seeds…”
“Speak.”
“They harm a woman’s fertility, I fear.”
Qingying felt her heart break. For six years she had silently wondered why she had yet to have a child, despite his majesty regularly lavishing her with his attentions. For six years she had prayed, cried, and had even begun to think something was terribly wrong with her. She looked down at those basil seeds; she didn’t sob, she refused to let tears fall. She couldn’t look anywhere else, she couldn’t bring herself to look at the empress.
She could understand being disliked, but she could not understand this. If the roles had been reversed, Qingying could never imagine doing something so… cruel. Qingying heard his majesty’s voice, but it sounded far away, as if Qingying was under water. The world shifted around her, but it didn’t really come into view until she heard her name again.
“Qingying?”
Those eyes, those caring, haunted eyes; warm and familiar lifted Qingying out from the water. She took in a soft, sudden breath as though she really had brought her head above water after too long below the waves. Qingying didn't dare look anywhere else except for the emperor. If she did, then she would surely—
She felt gentle, familiar fingers on her face, brushing something from her cheek.
Oh. She was already crying.
Qingying felt as though she was no longer in her body when she sat down. She heard Doctor Qi asking to examine her hand and she offered up her pulse, not quite able to feel anything. All she could do was look ahead, too shaken to really speak. She heard nothing that made sense, her health being otherwise fine, but her fertility would likely still be affected due to the exposure.
“So long as her highness guards her health well, she may still have a child.”
“Good. Li Yu, get rid of these things.”
“Yes, your majesty.”
Qingying finally began to comprehend what she was hearing and looked at the emperor, trying to stop her tears.
“Qingying, do not worry,” he said softly. “I will send the doctors to look after you, all you need to do is go and rest. I will deal with the rest.”
Her heart was soothed, hearing those words. She bowed and took her leave, not looking at anyone else. As she got into the sedan, she ignored A’Ruo’s angry words and only idly reminded her to mind her tongue. A’Ruo was voicing a bitterness Qingying wasn’t sure a human person was capable of—
No, Qingying thought. A human person was very capable of such viciousness.
It was only after she returned to the Prince’s Manor that she realized something. Instead of returning to her room, Qingying went to Second Madam Gao’s quarters. Moxin did not look pleased to see them, and neither did her mistress. Still, Qingying was allowed in.
Qingying had not been fond of Xiyue, nor had she ever been particularly unhappy about her either. Xiyue was a very talented but silly girl. But she had also married into the Prince’s household the same day that Qingying had. She had also been given a bracelet that had matched Qingying’s; if she was right…
“Second Madam, what brings you here?” Xiyue asked.
“Just now, his majesty called me into Yangxin Hall. His majesty had discovered that basil seeds were hidden in the bracelet that her highness the empress gave to me the day we entered the manor. I am concerned that the same trick has been used on you, so I came to tell you.”
“Basil seeds?”
“Yes, Qi Ru was present and said that they harm a woman’s fertility.”
Xiyue made a squawking sound of disbelief.
“What manner of trick is this!” she yelled, standing up. “Lady Ula-Nara, don’t you dare try to throw dirty water on her highness.”
“Second Madam Gao, if you do not believe me, you can take your grievances to his majesty or the Empress Dowager,” Qingying explained, her eyes beginning to sting all over again. “Her highness the Empress Dowager was also there when the basil seeds were removed. I take my leave.”
Qingying didn’t overstay and returned to her own rooms quietly. If Xiyue was unwilling to listen to her, then hopefully she would listen to his majesty.
“Mistress, are you sure that was the right thing to do?” A’Ruo asked.
“Out of us three who entered the Prince’s Manor first, only one of us has had children. Meanwhile, Second Madam Gao and I have prayed and drunk every manner of fertility concoctions and have nothing to show for it,” Qingying explained, trying to regain full control of herself. Even if Second Madam Gao hates me, I cannot knowingly let her suffer.”
“But what if Second Madam Gao has no basil seeds in her bracelet at all? She may accuse you of lying.”
“A’Ruo, nothing I said was an accusation of her highness. I only spoke the truth and nothing more.”
“And if she has no basil seeds in her bracelet after all?”
“Then it will be all Second Madam’s misfortune not to have had I any children until now,” Qingying lamented quietly.
-.-.-
Xiyue stared at the mirror as she readied herself for bed, then glared down at the bracelet. It was a token of sisterhood, not some scheme. Still, when she thought back to all the days that her highness had reassured her that she would one day have a child, she felt her stomach turn. She took off the bracelet. She examined it carefully. It seemed fine. She even shook it for good measure and it made no odd sounds. She was tempted to put it back on and forget the whole thing, but something made her stop. Second Madam’s face when she mentioned the basil seeds…
Xiyue reached for one of her hairpins and began poking at the underside. To her utter surprise, a panel popped open. With mounting dread, she overturned it and shook it; and felt her stomach turn as dark pips rolled out onto her dressing table and off to the floor. Xiyue had never taken that bracelet off since the day she had arrived.
For the second time that day, Xiyue burst into tears.
Okay so I found the most incredible horse statue while doing research for my job and guys. Are you ready for this. Are you sure you're fucking ready for this thing
And a Peek into the future after Yongqi enters the world.
Hongli moved the blanket, and saw those same pink marks on her belly, jagged, sharp against her pale skin. Before, in his youth, his true youth, he had reacted with utter disgust. Still, he looked at Hailan’s eyes and she tried to shy away without moving. He looked at the marks again and tilted his head. He had never considered before just how striking they were on her skin. Almost instinctively, his hand hovered over her belly and he looked at her again. She did not refuse and with all the care he could muster, he stroked the marks on her stomach.
“Do they hurt?”
“No, your majesty,” she replied, perhaps too quickly.
The birth had been long. He had heard Qingying raising her voice at the doctors’ collective incompetence. Hongli didn’t like to think of it, but Hailan very well could have died that night. Yongqi would always have a mother in Qingying, as would Yonghuang, but no one could replace their birth mothers either. Twice Hongli had seen Hailan give him Yongqi, and once Hongli had not appreciated any of it, only bestowing her a greater title in compensation for not seeing her again. He would not be so foolish this time.
“Hailan, thank you.”
“Your majesty?”
He smiled at Hailan gently.
“It is a wife’s duty to bear children, but I had not considered the cost of it before. Your body that your mother gave you, it has changed to give us Yongqi. Hailan, thank you.”
A gentle flush of pink dusted her cheeks.
“I… your majesty overpraises me.”
Hongli found himself chuckling at her soft refusal. Still, he didn’t press her to accept his gratitude. He looked at the marks again and thought of something.
“They look a bit like a tiger’s stripes, do they not?”
Hailan’s brows furrowed softly, as if she were trying not to pout.
“Your majesty is teasing me.”
“I am not. They are not black upon orange like a tiger, but they are not dissimilar in shape. Perhaps this means our children will be fierce as tigers?”
Yongqi was level-headed and strong, but Hailan had been utterly ferocious when she brought evidence to decry Ling. Hailan was so soft and sweet, but he had never known until that day just how strong she was. Or perhaps, he thought, as he looked at those marks again, he simply had not noticed. Hongli brought his head down and placed a soft kiss on her stomach and tried not to laugh as she made a gasp as though she was scandalized.
“Your majesty?”
Something in her tone sounded frightened. He looked up, studying her expression and trying to find out what was wrong. She tried to hide her discomfort and Hongli waited. Only when a long moment passed without her saying anything did Hongli ask.
“Hailan, what’s wrong?”
For a long moment, she didn’t say anything. Finally, she answered in perhaps the softest voice Hongli had ever heard:
“My stomach does not hurt, but my body still aches.”
Ah.
“Very well then,” Hongli said.
He gathered her into his arms before laying down with her on top of him.
“Shall we sleep like this?”
Hailan looked at him with wide eyes, almost as if she could not comprehend what he had done.
“Your majesty, is this appropriate?”
“All is well. Sleep well Hailan.”
“…yes, sleep well, your majesty.”
It was easier to drift to sleep this time, the phantom pains of his punishments eased quickly. He dreamed again of his teacher, her hands steady at her embroidery frame. He felt her glance and her words through the haze of slumber.
The Hexi Chapter of Where Winds Meet (Sixteen Sounds of Yan Yun) by 不系舟
The soundtrack is Yu Pan(玉盘 jade plate). In ancient China, the moon was often compared to a jade plate, a poetic image frequently used in classical poetry. The most famous example comes from Li Bai's lines, translated by Xu Yuanchong: "Before my bed a pool of light—Is it hoarfrost upon the ground? Eyes raised, I see the moon so bright; Head bent, in homesickness I m drowned."(床前明月光，疑是地上霜；举头望明月，低头思故乡。chuáng qián míng yuè guāng，yí shì dì shàng shuāng。jǔ tóu wàng míng yuè，dī tóu sī gù xiāng。) Here, the moon stands as a symbol of home and native land.
The dialogue at the beginning and the end of the video:
"Look! There's a white jade plate in the sky."
"That's the moon."
"Uncle Jiang, why are you always looking at the moon?"
"Because it's my hometown."
"Oh... so it's your hometown."
Hexi河西 is a historical-geographical term, lit."west of the Yellow River", referring to what is known today as the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province. Its major cities include Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, and Dunhuang. Serving as a vital link between the Central Plains and the Western Regions, it was the golden route of the ancient Silk Road.
The Western Regions (Xiyu西域) was a historical Chinese term referring to the vast areas west of the Yumen Pass and Yangguan Pass. It primarily covered what is now Xinjiang and parts of Central Asia, extending as far as West Asia, South Asia, and beyond. Throughout history, it served as a crucial hub for trade, cultural exchange, and military interaction between the Central Plains and Western civilizations, such as Persia, India, and Rome.
Whoever controlled Hexi held the gateway to the Western Regions. This strategic position allowed them to cut off the frequently invading Xiongnu cavalry, secure the frontier, protect trade caravans traveling between the West and the Central Plains, and foster prosperous commercial exchange.
Throughout history, Hexi witnessed countless stories of joy and sorrow. As a crucial crossroads between East and West, it became a melting pot where Central Plains culture, Western Regions influences, and Buddhist art converged, leaving behind magnificent legacies like the Mogao Caves.
More than just a geographical name, Hexi carries profound historical and cultural weight. It stands as a symbol of the frontier, epic journeys, bustling trade, and the enduring dialogue between civilizations.
When Chinese players got to the Hexi chapter—after going through Liu Sanyang's story, finishing the Well-Digger's quest, and surviving the whole Anxi Army arc—players were crying so hard. Not sure how well the English localization handled it, but the Chinese screenwriters and the voice actors are so amazing.
romaincrisis
jbbartram-illu
jacobvanloon
