#Drawbacks of the Big data

[frownyalfred]

How are you live what's happening with ao3 and the AI? Does it discourage you in any way from publishing your stories?

Great question. I haven't archive locked my stories and don't plan to. That's a personal decision I've made for myself and my own content, and that doesn't mean I don't wholeheartedly support my fellow authors who do so. But I'm of the (again personal) opinion that my works already have been scraped, and will continue to be scraped in some capacity. As have all of my texposts on here.

I appreciate the work the OTW is doing to take down data on other sites where it has been scraped. I think that's absolutely the right course of action. But personally, I am under no illusions that by archive-locking my fics, I am 100% preventing the scraping/sharing/AI use of my content. And at this point, even when we first learned of that big "scrape" a while back, it was too late.

My goal is to make my content as widely available for readers as possible, which comes with drawbacks. Archive-locking fics came with a significant reduction in hits/comments/kudos for some authors, and I decided that was a risk I personally did not want to take. Especially when, again, I was of the belief that many of my fics had already been scraped/were vulnerable to being scraped before we learned about these mass-scraping incidents.

Additionally, I'm quite certain people have been feeding my fics into AI processors, ChatGPT, etc, for a while now. It's not something I have control over, and people will continue to do it even when they know it's wrong. Even with ao3 accounts.

I don't own my fanfiction content, I can't make money off of it, and I don't want to. This would be a very different conversation if I did. Truthfully, my only hope is that by continuing to write a/b/o, and large amounts of it, I can "spike" whatever dataset is using my fics. That thought brings me joy, even if it's a little silly and far-fetched with these better algorithms.

[olderthannetfic]

I thought it would be interesting to see if I could easily determine which ships had the most works updated in 2023.

It turned out to be fairly easy, though a little time consuming. I think these results should be reasonably accurate.

Some points to note:

I did this on my own account, and I have like 2 people muted. So I am capturing the effects of archive-locked works, but my numbers might be off by one or two works due to muting.

Works updated in 2023 is a number that constantly changes as works are deleted or updated again in 2024.

I didn't scrape the entire archive or anything like that, so it's possible I missed a ship that would bump one of these down below 100. I'd take the last few at the bottom there with a grain of salt. But I think we can be reasonably sure the top ones are accurate and that the kinds of numbers that we see at the bottom there (eighteen hundred plus works updated in 2023) are about where the cutoff will be even if we find a ship I missed.

--

As for how I did this, I went to the category tags and the rating tags, filtered for updating in 2023, then excluded ships in the sidebar till I got to 130-150 ships excluded. I also grabbed ships that are big in general from tag search, which you can use to find all relationship canonicals, ordered by frequency.

I combined those lists of ships, cleaned off the works numbers, and generated a list without duplicates. That got me three hundred and something (yes, they were mostly duplicates). I generated the relevant AO3 URLs, opened them in batches with Open Multiple URLs, and copied the works totals into a spreadsheet. Not as tidy as using a script but honestly pretty easy if you know a few spreadsheet formulas to clean up data.

The key here is that if you're only going for pretty good and not accurate beyond a shadow of a doubt, all you need to do is generate a list of likely ships, then check them.

It's possible that there's some much-updated ship that is so evenly spread across these various other tags that it just missed showing up in the sidebar. Hopefully, grabbing more than just the top 100 avoided this problem.

This method also doesn't take into account backdated works. If a whole archive was imported in 2023 but all backdated, there could be some ship that didn't have new works but where AO3 users experience in 2023 was of an influx of content.

I also did this just now, in late March/early April, so some 2023 works have inevitably been deleted or updated again. So the exact work counts don't represent the experience of using AO3 throughout 2023. A fandom active in early 2023 might not have much updating in early 2024, while a fandom active in late 2023 would. This could demote the latter a few places in the rankings since I didn't grab numbers on January 1st.

Even if a person scraped AO3 every day or was monkeying around in the databases, you also have to ask what conceptual answer you're after. Is it works a user could have read at some point during 2023, whether they were deleted by the year's end or not? Is it new-to-AO3 works or only newly-created ones, not including imported archives? Does it matter if the works are fic? If they're in English? What about accidental double-uploads or translations of a single work?

I hope this makes it clear why a definitive ranking is not actually possible.

However, despite these drawbacks, I am confident that the rankings above accurately represent the broad trends on AO3 in 2023. Just don't get too fixated on whether a ship should be at number 73 or number 74.

And, of course, I excluded these from the top 100:

Original Character(s)/Original Character(s) - 20,026

Minor or Background Relationship(s) - 16,187

No Romantic Relationship(s) - 8,052

Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s) - 7,195

Original Male Character/Original Male Character - 6,283

Other Relationship Tags to Be Added - 5,618

Original Female Character(s)/Original Female Character(s) - 3,990

Original Character(s) & Original Character(s) - 3,210

Here's a spreadsheet if you want to see the actual numbers not as a shitty screencap. I left the next few below 100 for context.

[trilobitepunch]

~~~

As much as Donatello loved his elder brother, there were times where having one as big, strong, and protective as Raphael demanded some significant drawbacks.

"Rescue like a BOSS! "

This moment, limbs bound all the way to his wrists and ankles, ignominiously slung over Raphael's shoulder as blaster bolts peppered the hallway behind them, was one of those times.

"For the last time, this is not a rescue!"

"You're tied up in the middle of a rebellion lair!" Raph exclaimed, shouting to be heard over the sizzle of blaster bolts and the crack of crumbling concrete. "How does this not count?!"

"Firstly, I would hardly deign to call this second-rate hovel a lair. I mean, they barely have a functioning network, and their data scrambler was so pitiful I could have cracked it in my sleep! Secondly, I elected to allow a temporary restriction of my motor faculties to increase the probability our success by seventy percent."

"Ya wha now?"

"Oh my neutrons, I let them tie me up!"

"Well that was stupid! Why'd ya do that?!"

"To lull them into a fake sense of ease in order to illicit greater quantities of quality intelligence of course. Also, three incoming on your six!"

Donnie ducked in close to Raph as blaster bolts sang overhead, wincing as a chunk of rubble slammed into his bound elbows. Raph snarled, the sound echoing menacingly within the restricted confines of the hallway.

"Hang a left. There's a defensible room," Donnie gasped, and Raph followed his direction without further question. Before long the durasteel door was slamming closed behind them, cutting out the chaos as beyond the rebels floundered and failed to coordinate through the virus he'd implanted within their communications array.

"Did you really have ta let them turn you into a sausage?" Raph huffed, gently lowering Donnie to sit against the wall. "You know hand-to-hand Don, I know ya do! I taught ya!"

"It's hard to extract information through a mouthful of broken teeth Raphael," Donnie huffed, fighting back the beginnings of a pout as his big brother pulled out a small vibro blade. "Besides, that would leave no fun for you."

"Awwwww, you thought of me? I'm touched, brainiac."

"Yeah, yeah," he mumbled, then hissed as the ropes snapped away, returning blood flow to his limbs in a shower of pins and needles.

"Easy."

Raph's big hands carefully eased his arms down to his sides, surprisingly deft fingers massaging blood back into his palms and fingers until the tingling stopped.

"It's fine Raph, you don't have to-"

"I want ta Dee. I'm your big brother. Looking out for you is my job. So let me do my job, okay?"

"I… you…could help me up? I do not think my equilibrium is yet up to the task," Donnie acquiesced, smiling ever so slightly as Raph's face brightened.

"You got it buddy! Alright, up we go!"

Another hiss squeaked past his lips as Raph carefully set him on his feet. Dull pain flashed across his lower back, throbbing a low threat that more would come should he attempt to move before his body agreed to.

"Ya good?"

"Mmmmm. Just a minute," he sighed, ignoring the growing shouts beyond the door in favor of leaning into his taller brother's embrace. A greedy part of him drank in the feeling of encompassing warmth, reveling in the elusive sense of safety only Raph could provide. For these stolen moments there was not a power in the cosmos that could harm him. Not with Raph around.

"… getting kinda noisy out there," Raph rumbled eventually, reluctance in every line of his body as he slowly pulled back. "You ready, or do ya need a lil longer?"

"No," he replied, stepping back. He ruthlessness clamped down on the small, childish part of him that wailed yes and shoved it deep into the box within his mind. "I'm ready."

Blood red light painted the room in harsh contrast as two blades hummed to life.

"You take out those at the door. I'll tidy up the loose ends."

----------

I apologize for my awful writing... I don't remember how this scenario came up but I've been wanting to draw it for some time now. I also wanted to include @colibrie 's original text for it! How do these nerds go from goofy to scary in 0 seconds?

[five-rivers]

Daedalus

@regular-dog Hello! I am your holiday truce gifter this year! I hope you enjoy this labyrinth-themed fic. Happy New Year!

.

Only three years in, and it was already impossible to tell how big Amity Park was.  Normal methods of surveying didn’t work.  Physical maps were either always right or always wrong, and sometimes both at once.  Driving across the city at a constant speed didn’t help, either.  The outgoing trip and the return trip never seemed to match, and there simply weren’t enough one-way streets in Amity Park for that to be the answer to the problem.  

Asking the residents didn’t help, either.  They couldn’t even agree on how big the city they lived in was.  Some of them acted like Amity Park was the second coming of Chicago, others expressed confusion when Amity Park was referred to as anything but a small town.  

(The census data was almost worse.)

But no matter what version of Amity a particular resident believed they lived in, there were always similarities.  There was always Casper High, and its Ravens, and every student went there, and learned from Mr. Lancer, and heard the rumors about Sydney Poindexter.  There was always the Nasty Burger, and Valerie Gray working one of the many distasteful jobs that the place had to offer.  There was always Amity Park Park, confusingly named and full of even more confusing paths, whether it was a city park or a county park, or something else altogether.

There was always Fentonworks, rising tall and strange from a small, ordinary neighborhood.

There was a heaviness there, around that particular building.  A weight that drew in other things, that twisted.  It was the heart of a labyrinth of streets, of old roads and new, of forest paths and disused hiking trails.  It was the heart of Amity Park.

And it should be said that, at the heart of any labyrinth, there was a monster.  

And it should be said that, at the threshold of every labyrinth, there was a princess.

And it should be said that the one thing that every labyrinth waits for is a hero.  

.  

Samantha Manson wound golden string around her fingers, thinking.  It glowed faintly in the dark of her room, like the thinnest, purest beam of sunlight cast through morning mist and a thick canopy of leaves overhead.  

However, her eyes didn’t linger on it.  Instead, she looked out the window over her– garden– conservatory– greenhouse– private park– the place where she went to grow plants, and be among them, that may or may not have changed in nature and size while she was looking.  Which may or may not have had many natures and sizes.  

She closed her eyes.  Insight was useful, as vital as the blood in her veins and the lightning in her nerves, but it had its drawbacks.  

When she opened them again, a hedge maze stood dark and tempting beneath the light of a moon that should not be full and should not be there and had never been that big, in any case.  The lights of Amity- rising high with skyscrapers or low to the ground and scattered among farmhouses– laid beyond it.  

In her hands, the string hummed, as if it had been held taught and plucked.  A single, clear note filled the air.  

“Do you think it will work?” she asked.  

There shouldn’t have been anyone in her room, and there wasn’t.  But her nearest neighbors could be five miles from the walls of her home or five feet, and she rarely spoke to them.  The distance between friends was greater, but also infinitely less.  

Tucker looked up from his computer, which sat at his desk, in his own room, in his own house, the light from the moon shining in from the window behind him.  His glasses reflected the pale, bluish light of his computer screen.  The wheels of his desk chair rolled across the carpet of his room - so different from hers - with a squeak.  

“You’re not getting cold feet now,” he said.  It wasn’t so much a question as an exclamation.  

Sam sniffed.  “Of course not.  But I’m not the one taking the biggest risk, am I?”

There was a third room.  This one dark and starry.  The glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to every available surface were normal.  The patterns they were in were not.  Nor were the eyes that stared out from beneath star-spangled bedsheets.  Nor was the moon, gleaming from windows stationed on either side of the bed.

“I’m not sure if it actually matters if it works,” said the owner of those eyes, blinking slowly.  “I mean, if it works the way it’s supposed to work.  We’ll just go back to plan A if it doesn’t.”

“No offense, Danny, but plan A sucked,” said Tucker.  

“How am I not supposed to take offense to that?” whined Danny.  “Plan A is fine.  It’s a normal plan.  I know my city.”  The last was said with a casual but deep possessiveness.

“Plan A wasn’t even really a plan,” said Sam.  “Your plan was to just fly in and find them, never mind all the other things that are happening.”

“That’s not so different from this plan,” protested Danny.  “It’s basically the same.  It’s just the how that’s different.”

“Pretty big how, though,” said Tucker.  “And I thought you liked this plan.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” said Danny.  “I’m just saying, I’m just saying that even if it doesn’t work, we won’t be any worse off than we were at the beginning, before, you know.  The research.”  He pointed vaguely in the direction of his window.  

Somehow, Sam knew that he was, in fact, pointing at the stack of thick books sitting on her desk.  Only, instead of pointing at them across the there-not-there division between their rooms, he was pointing in their true direction, across the streets and forests of Amity Park.  

The covers of the books shouldn’t have been legible in the darkness.  Sam could read them anyway.  Greek mythology.  Sympathetic magic.  Recurrence.  Narrative causality.  Daedalus, Icarus, Theseus, Ariadne, Asterion.

Four days ago, New Athens High School had sent a bus bearing the fourteen members of their track team and their coach to a meet in Elmerton.  On the way back, the driver had made a wrong turn, knifing straight through the heart of Amity.  The bus, the driver, and the coach had come out the other side.  No one knew what had happened to the track team.  

Danny had spent three of those days looking for them.  Amity Park had spent those same three days winding itself more tightly than the ball of string sitting on Sam’s desk.  Whether it was downtown, or the forest, or the suburbs, the part of Amity New Athens’ bus had passed through was a maze.  

A labyrinth.  

They’d thrown themselves into research, then, begging for information from their allies.  Or, rather, from Danny’s allies.  Most of them, with the exception of Dora, were there for him more than for the rest of them.  Pandora was the one who had finally noticed the connections, the links with old stories, the resonance.  

There was a labyrinth.  There were sacrifices.  Other roles–

“Or, if you don’t want to leave it, you could send Tucker in,” said Danny, shrugging slightly.  “If it doesn’t work with just me.  You know.”

Sam’s fingers slipped.  

Sam was the obvious choice for the role of princess.  Danny was the obvious choice for the role of hero.  

He should have been, anyway.  

“Hence why I’m asking if you think it’ll work,” said Sam, sharply.  

“I hope it’ll work.”

Sam huffed.  “Not what I’m asking.”

“It won’t hurt to try.”

“It might,” said Sam.  “The monster dies at the end of the story.  The princess is abandoned.  Even Theseus doesn’t have a happy ending.”

“And we aren’t those characters.  It isn’t as if Tucker is going to cut my head off.”  Again, Danny waved in Tucker’s true direction, rather than across the emptiness of his room.  “We’re the ones making the decisions.  We’re just using the stories for– For narrative clout.  Or however you described it.”

“Danny…”

“It’ll be fine.  I mean,” he looked up at her with those too-bright eyes, the rest of his face black with shadows, “if you’re having second thoughts, it’s fine.  We can try something else.”

“I’m not having second thoughts.”  Sam began to unwind the string from around her fingers, wrapping it around the rest of the ball.  The maze outside her window had become a winding garden path, and the neighbors were once again nearby.  

Tucker cleared his throat.  “First thing in the morning, then?  We ride at dawn and all that?”

“Before dawn would probably be better, honestly,” said Sam.  

Danny sighed.  “I’ll set my alarm clock.”

.

It might have been neater to enter the maze in Sam’s backyard, or to start from the spiraling center that was Fentonworks, but that wasn’t where the bus had disappeared.  The bus had disappeared going through downtown Amity Park.  

Well.  Insofar as the bus had disappeared in any particular location.  And insofar as Amity Park had a downtown.  

The lack of permanence of place made discussing things like this somewhat difficult.  

Still.  At the moment, there was a downtown.  A historical shopping district, as a matter of fact.  As he walked down the sidewalk in the crisp, gray, predawn light, Danny could feel beneath his feet a hum.  The shopping district here was the mainstreet of small town Amity, even as skyscrapers loomed overhead, and the layers felt real enough for Danny to reach out and rub them between his fingers.  

(They weren’t really, but they felt like it.)

He stopped in front of an alley that smelled of cinnamon and sea salt.  Here, the layers parted, and you could slip between them, into the interstices and forbidden places of Amity Park.  

“Is this the place?” asked Tucker.  

“Yeah,” said Danny.  “I think so.”  He motioned them to the mouth of the alley, where they’d be covered by shadows and next to unnoticeable by those who were firmly in any one version of Amity Park.  “Sam?”

She teased out the end of the golden string and cast it towards Danny.  As it flew through the air, it twisted and knotted itself before falling over Danny’s head.  The loops shrunk around his neck, creating a narrow golden collar.  

Danny raised his hand to touch it and made a face.  “It’s tight,” he said.  

“Sorry,” said Sam, glaring at the ball of string as if it had betrayed her.  “I don’t–”

“It’s fine,” said Danny, waving it off.  “Just unexpected.”

“Right,” said Tucker, stepping forward.  “Your sword, Theseus.”  He handed Danny a Fenton invention that had a passing resemblance to a lightsaber.

Danny rolled his eyes and took the small cylinder.  “Thanks.  But don’t call me that.”

“Hey, that’s the story we’re trying to tell.”

“We’ll give it a tug if we run out of string,” said Sam.  

“Mm,” said Danny.  “Well.  Might have to give it more than one.  Don’t let me drag you in.”

Sam snorted.  “What, like you drag us into everything else?”

“Seriously.  Just let me go if I start pulling too hard.”

“No way,” said Tucker.  “We’ll just tie you onto some building or something.”

“I have been known to bring down buildings.”

“Well, don’t,” said Sam.  

“Wow.  No sympathy here, I see.”

“Nope,” said Sam and Tucker together.  

“Now go save the tourists,” said Sam, pushing him forward.

“They’re not really tourists,” said Danny.  But even so, he stepped across the line and into the gap.  

Into the labyrinth.  

.

The in-between spaces of Amity Park did not immediately look like they were the in-between spaces of Amity.  Danny sometimes liked to imagine that they were what Amity Park used to look like, before it became a dozen different, mutually exclusive places.  That had to be impossible, though.  There was too much, too many different things, afterimages and fantasies and illusions.  

People walked on the streets, and cars drove, but they were transparent, projections from the layers of Amity immediately bordering this space.  Sometimes, they walked through each other, not noticing at all.  

Danny still flinched when it looked like cars were about to run into one another, and let out a breath of relief when they instead seemed to phase through each other.  

So he walked.  

He walked, and as he walked, the road began to change.  He began to change.  Facades paled.  Grecian columns reached up the sides of skyscrapers and ranch homes.  Brick turned to marble.  Danny’s t-shirt and jeans slowly, gently, became a chiton and chlamys, trimmed in red.  The Fenton Saber became a sword of green-tinted bronze, strapped to a belt around his waist.  His shoes became sandals, laced up to his knees.  

It wasn’t the first time Danny had worn clothing like this.  He did visit Pandora.  But he’d never worn it in Amity Park.  It was a little embarrassing.  The ancient Greeks’ idea of underwear was… lacking, in Danny’s opinion.  But it wasn’t as if anyone here could see him.  

The act of walking here also felt strange, and Danny couldn’t understand why this was needed.  Not really.  Not the act, not the ritual.  By virtue of his nature, he could duck in and out of anywhere in Amity whenever he wanted.  Mostly.  At least, he could find places to duck in and out whenever he wanted.  

He should have been able to find the missing students without any problem.  

But he hadn’t.  

And he still wasn’t finding them.  There was no pull.  No indication of what direction he should go, what direction he could find them in.  

Danny sighed, and the sky above boiled with stars.  

He looked up, not having expected that, then shrugged and continued to walk.  Things here were strange.

There were words on the walls, now, carved into the marble alongside window displays for cell phones and stationary.  Ἀστερίων, Ἀριάδνη, Θησεύς.  He traced Ἀριάδνη with his fingers.  It sparked gold, the same color as the string around Danny’s neck.  

And then the string flexed.  Pulled.  Spooled forward, winding into a ball in front of Danny.  A short thread was thrown off of the rapidly spinning ball and settled on Danny’s head before solidifying into something heavy and cold.

(Elsewhere, the end of the string tears itself out of Sam’s hand, disappearing into the rift between.)

“Oh,” said Danny.  He bit his lip and closed his eyes, and mentally apologized to his friends for worrying them.  “Theseus was from Athens.  Ariadne wasn’t just rich, she had authority over Crete.  We had the roles wrong.”

(Not that Danny really wanted authority over Amity Park.  That… just wasn’t his thing.  He didn’t want to be in charge.  He just wanted to protect.)

But this meant…  He needed to find one of the New Athens kids and get them to be Theseus.  

He didn’t want to do that.  He was here to rescue them, not to force them to rescue themselves.  And… iIf he could find one of them, couldn’t he find the others?  Finding them was the problem he’d started with.  If he could find them, he could bring them out.  

He stumbled as the section of string wrapped around his throat tightened.  That actually hurt!

Then it loosened and Danny took a deep breath.  

Narrative weight, right.  They were already trying this story.  Changing it or aborting it halfway would have consequences.  Ones that Danny didn’t want to deal with.  

He swallowed.  He couldn’t help but remember that in the story of Theseus and the Minotaur, many people, many Athenians, had died before Theseus had finally defeated the Minotaur.  When it was Danny in the role of Theseus, that hadn’t been a concern.  He was certain he could fight any monster, any ghost in the role of the Minotaur.  

But some random kid from New Athens?  One who had probably never seen a ghost, and who had been stuck here for days?  

That… that he wasn’t at all confident about.  

Sam had been right to be wary of the risks.  It was different, when someone else was facing them.  

He rolled the ball between his hands, feeling it over.  Power thrummed between his fingers, brighter and sharper than before.  A thin stripe of gold ran down the sidewalk, twisting over on itself and turning away from the main street.  

Danny sighed, and started to follow.  

.

Danica was starting to panic.  

One moment, she’d been on the bus, falling asleep after a difficult meet despite how risky it was to fall asleep anywhere near Georgie and his so-called ‘artistic impulses.’  The next thing she knew, she was waking up on a sidewalk in some kind of nightmare city.  A nightmare city full of things that looked almost like people but were transparent and walked right through her as if she weren’t there.  

She didn’t know how long she’d been here, trying to figure out how she’d gotten here, where the bus was, where everything else was, but it felt like hours, at least.  She was starting to get hungry.  

She was starting to wonder if she’d gone crazy.  Or if this was what it was like to be dead.  And that was before the buildings started to melt into weird, semi-Greek-Revival messes.  

It was weird here, and she hated it.  She wanted to go home.  She wanted her mom.  She wanted to quit the track team and never have to deal with anything like this ever again.  

“Hello?” called a soft voice.  

She whipped around.  Up until now, this place had been eerily quiet.  

Standing just a few feet from her was a boy, one who could have stepped out of a history textbook.  He was wearing something like a cape, and a Greek-style tunic, white trimmed in red.  Tangled in his hair was a thin, golden circlet.  But the strangest thing about him was the ball of glowing golden string in his hand.  One end of it was wrapped around his neck.  

“You–!” said Danica, suddenly more furious than frightened.  “Did you bring me here?  Why?”

The boy shook his head.  “I didn’t bring you here.  Actually, I’m hoping to help you get out.  You and the rest of your teammates.”  

“They– They’re here, too?  And the coach–?”

“No, just your teammates,” said the boy.  He made a face.  “You guys kind of… Ran into a story.”

“A what?” demanded Danica, incredulous.  She’d also, incidentally, started to back away from the boy.  

“A story.  Have you heard of Theseus and the Minotaur?”

.

“What if I don't want to do this?” asked the girl, after Danny had finished explaining.  “What if I can’t do this?”

Danny stared at her, a bit baffled.  The thing about being a ghost, even half a ghost, the thing about thinking like a ghost… Sometimes it was hard to wrap his head around other perspectives.  Especially when his friends, the only people he really talked to, were just as eager to jump in and help as he was.  

He hadn't wanted to make anyone risk themselves.  He wanted to bring them to safety without that.  He also hadn't expected that anyone would just… not want to help.

“Well, I suppose… I suppose you could follow me until I found one of your classmates who could?” he said.  “Although… I’m not sure if we can do that with this story.  It might be that I have to find someone alone and then they find everyone…  In which case you’d just have to wait for them.  Speaking of which, how long has this been for you?  On the outside, it’s been a few days, but you look a little too good for that.”

“I– What?  Days?  I haven’t been here for days.”

“Not from your perspective, maybe.  Time is weird.  Even without all this…”  He waved his hand, trying to indicate ghost weirdness in general.  “... stuff, even with just the things we can look at scientifically, it’s still relative.  Right now, you’re basically in a dimensional pocket.  Pocket dimension?  Whatever.  The point is, is time running at different rates really that strange, comparatively?  At least, it made it so that you didn’t starve before me and my friends were able to figure this out.”  He raised the ball of golden string, ignoring how the movement pulled on his neck.  “Right?”

The girl gave him a ‘why are you using science-fiction terms in what is clearly a fantasy scenario’ look.  At least, that’s how Danny chose to interpret it.  

He sighed.  “What’s your name, anyway?”

“Danica,” she said, then looked angry at herself and shrugged.  “Or Dani, I guess.”

“Huh, small world,” said Danny.  “That’s my sister’s name, too.”  Not to mention his.  Maybe Theseus’s story wasn’t the only one being echoed, with a coincidence like that.  

The girl continued to stare at him, this time with a ‘why the heck are you bringing that up while I’m having a crisis’ look.  Probably.  Danny tended to make a similar expression from time to time.  Usually when the ghosts he fought started having lovers’ quarrels in the middle of a fight.  

“So,” he said, awkwardly.  “You can come with me, of course, just to… test out what will happen?”

“Oh!” said Danica, suddenly.  “Just– Just give me that!”  She held out her hands for the ball of string.  

Danny beamed, and passed it to her.  It glowed even brighter.

“Now what?” she asked, staring at it nervously.  

“Now, you need this,” Danny said, taking off the sword and holding it out to her, hilt first.  “And then you search for your friends, and when you find them…”  He pinched a length of the string between the finger and thumb of her free hand.  “You follow this back out.”

Danica was much more reluctant to take the sword than the string.  But that was fine.  One of the two was for holding things together, the other was for taking things apart.  Danny knew which was easier, and which he was more comfortable with.  

“That's it.  Remember, it's just the members of your track team, okay?  The coach and the bus driver got out.”

“Okay,” said Danica.  She took a deep, steadying breath.  “Okay.  I can do this.”

Danny nodded encouragingly.  “Yes,” he said, “definitely.”

.

Danny stepped out of the in-between, back into the alley he'd left Sam and Tucker in.  Except, it wasn't an alley anymore, but a thin dirt path between hedges.  

He was immediately tackled.  

“We thought we'd lost you!” said Sam.  Then she pulled back and examined him closely before looking pointedly behind him.  “Where're the track kids?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck.  “Well.  In the story, Theseus is from Athens, remember?”

Sam groaned.  “They're having to do it themselves?”

“Yeah.  A girl named Danica.  Dani.  Believe it or not.”

“Wow,” said Tucker.  “Really?”

“Really.”

Danny turned to look behind him, tracing the string where it twisted away from reality and into not-space.

Tucker sighed.  “This is going to take a while, isn't it?”

.

It took Danica surprisingly little time to find her teammates.  For all the time she’d spent wandering on her own, after she’d accepted the sword and the string, she’d located everyone in what felt like an hour.  Some of them were even in groups!

The problem was, she found too many of them.  

.

“Mm,” said Danny, still worried.  “Probably.  I hope she doesn’t have to fight anything.”

.

There had been fourteen of them.  She knew there had been fourteen of them, because the coach and the driver had both done headcounts, because of the number of people they were allowed to field in each event at this particular meet, and because she remembered that someone had been sick.  But there were, including her, fifteen kids now huddled in something that aesthetically hovered in-between the Parthenon and a shopping mall.  

She couldn’t remember who had been sick.  No one could.  But everyone wanted to convince her that it wasn’t them.  

Probably because she was the one with the sword.  

.

“I think that if there was anything, it would have gone after Danny when he was searching earlier, right?” asked Sam.  

“Maybe,” said Danny.  “Unless it was scared of me.  I am pretty powerful.”

“And if Danny’s Ariadne in this, he was Ariadne at the beginning,” pointed out Tucker.  “The story was already going.  Ariadne never fought the Minotaur.”

“Astarion,” said Danny.  

“Huh?”

“That’s the Minotaur’s actual name,” said Sam.  She frowned slightly.  “He was Ariadne’s half-brother, you know.”

“Yeah,” said Danny, slowly.  “He was, wasn’t he?”

.

“Listen,” said Danica, trying to mask the shake in her voice, “I’m sorry, but– But based on everything, you aren’t who you say you are.”  

There was nothing she could do about how badly the sword was shaking.  

“I am!” said the girl, who couldn’t be there, because Eliza had taken the one place in the 100 meter, and Jaylynn did the javelin, and Lachandra had done the high jump, and no one remembered her competing at all.  “I really am, I promise!”

It was convincing, her act.  But it had to be an act, it really did.

“Dani,” said Lachandra, “is it really that important?  I mean, if we take her with us?  We just want to get out.”

“But she could eat us,” said Kevin, who was a bit of a mythology buff on top of being a track nerd.  “She could– If this is the Minotaur story–  She’ll try to kill us and then–”

“I won’t!” shouted the girl.  Her eyes– For a moment, they changed color.  Red.  Her teeth were sharp, too.

Danica gritted her teeth and swung the sword down.  

.

Danny caught her wrist, panting.  He’d followed the string back.  

“Wait,” he said, breathless.  “Wait.”

“Where–” said Danica, jerking back.  “Why–?”

Danny turned towards the ‘Minotaur.’  “Hi,” he said, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible.  “You’re one of Vlad’s aren’t you?”

Their face shimmered for a moment, and then– It was like looking into a mirror.  This wasn’t Dani - his Dani, Danielle - but a boy with red eyes.  He wore a chiton like Danny’s, but he looked starved, pale, terrified.  

He nodded.  

“There is,” said Danny, cautiously, “another story about escaping from the labyrinth.  How would you like to be Daedalus?”

.

“What was that?” hissed Danica, as they walked away from… whatever that was.  “Why are you here, now, leading us out, when you couldn’t before?”

“Story is different now,” said Danny, tightly.  “And I was leading you out before.  Just with the string.”

“What if you get lost?” asked Kevin.  

Danny grinned at him.  “I won’t.  He isn’t trying to keep you in anymore.”

“Who isn’t?” asked Danica.  

“Daedalus.  Him.  He just wanted out, I think.  Sorry for– I’m sorry about all of this,” said Danny.  “I didn’t want to get other people involved in Amity Park stuff, and I especially didn’t want to get you involved in family stuff, but…”  He shrugged, then caught sight of an out.  It looked, from this side, like a slightly darker than expected gap between stately white pillars.  “Here we go!  And I think this one is next to the police station, too, so just, you know.  Check yourselves in.”

“Just like that?” asked Danica.  

“Just like that,” said Danny.  “I will need those back, though.”  He nodded at the string and sword.  

“Right,” said Danica.  She shoved both at him.  “I can’t believe– I would have kill that– Whatever– Whoever–”  She stopped, looking very much like she wanted to cry.  

“I’m sorry,” said Danny again, softly.  “But it is over now.”

The New Athens kids walked into the gap and vanished.  

The string dissolved into golden, glittering light and then settled in his hands as a pair of equally golden wings.  Danny laughed.  

“Okay,” he said.  He turned, bouncing a little.  “I get the picture.  I think we can avoid the Icarus problem, being ghosts and all.”

[jessefandomunited]

Stuck together part one

This is a Daniel atlas X reader . I try my best to put no names or y/n , gendered language or anything of that nature so that people to project themselves onto the reader as much as possible .

Setting is you're new to the horsemen you are the new escape artist of the group and for some reason Atlas is just always knit picking your parts of the performance to the point where you barely talk to him outside of practice, what is his deal!? But when you two are stuck together after a show gone wrong you may in fact figure out he has a soft side to his control freak ways

We were all buzzing with excitement over the new shows. Literally two years of practice for them and my first time on stage with the horsemen as their new escape artist.

I loved being in the horsemen. I loved the structuring of how we practice, the research on our next target and the team atmosphere...for the most part. There was one big drawback to being in the horsemen and his name was Daniel J Atlas . It felt like ever since I arrived he saw me as a newbie who needed to be taught right. I absolutely hated it , just because I was a little younger and new in the group that apparently equated me to a child that needed to be scolded every other second.

Now to be fair Atlas never yelled or made it obvious he was picking on me in particular because he did it with everyone . But I noticed he brought issues up with my parts more than the others. He would always do it in his super cocky way where he'd be like " that's went smoothy but the timing on that escape was just slightly off make sure you are out by the time the clock hits 3 not 4." If everything else with the group wasn't so good I honestly probably would have quit just for him alone. The others have talked to him but he just brushed it off saying he's just trying to make the performance as good as it can be. I'll show him , during this first performance it will be the best one ever.

We were running for our lives , the show went more or less the way we expected, maybe more emphasis on the less. I will say it wasn't my fault , or anyone's , someone tipped off the FBI and we had to flee almost immediately which was a bummer for me because I only got to do one of my escapes before we introduced our next target who was once again another billionaire siphoning user data. He won't get away with it but our timeline was now set back. I grapples for the tracker we each got to lead us to our get away car . We all broke off into teams each grabbing a random tracker that would lead us to our getaway car. It was random so we could scatter and not be actively looking for our partner . We had ten minutes to get to our car or our partner would leave so we did have to book it but they were all close by and well hidden which was good and bad.

I panted and saw the gleam of the sleek black car and was relieved , until I saw my partner, it was Atlas. My mood instantly soured and I got in without another word.

We road in silence for a while, he was probably upset at his luck too. I did , however, couldn't help but say the smallest of jabs because even though I said it was no one's fault , the fleeing happened so quick for one reason only. " man , if only those doors would have stayed shut for like a minute or two longer we could have been half done with our spiel before having to book it," I said with a smirk . His hands tightened on the wheel slightly and I thought he would finally snap but he didn't , " these things happen." I nod and sarcastically say ," riiight , like in practice when someone does things maybe not 100% accurate , does that count as just something or is that a colossal world ending fuck up?" " what is you deal," he asked pointedly which made me bark out a laugh ," WHATS MY DEAL!? WHAT IS YOUR DEAL!" He seemed to go a bit pail not even glancing at me ," I don't know what you're." " shut up you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about," I snapped ," you literally call me out for the SLIGHTEST infraction acting like that was the catalyst to to the entire show , but when you fuck up , it's nothing?!" "I didn't say that," he said quietly. " so what do you hate me or something you want me out of the horsemen ? Is it because I had the same job as your little girlfriend that you feel the need to punish me for it." He stopped abruptly and snapped his head around and said with this steady voice edging to anger " do not mention Henley ." I rolled my eyes," wool there it is." He turned back and kept driving , and I don't hate you." I laughed bitterly at this ," woooow so nice of you to let me know, how about we just not talk to eachother till we get back how about that?" " fine," he said softly , and we were once again plunged into silence

[elirium]

Okay, so how does the bat communication system work

They could use signal but tbh. That might be to much functionality on what we would need.

Authentication is like in this case pretty trivial, because they are like 2 dozent people who can all be in the same room at some time and get their devices in person. Maybe they have some kind of rsa token for that. And also they build their own devices (again like 2 dozent or something so)

Also the serverlessness of signal is great, if you dont want your data in some server, but also again. They probably have their own servers anyway. And soemtimes the bat communication network is written like if someone is offline they just never get the message so very normal client2client would work.... I would prefer using the batservers instead however.

Anyway so the signal protocol implements perfect forward secrecy (so if the key got into attackers hands the earlier send messages are save) and perfect backwards secrecy (future messages are safe). So you would keep these parts...

Because again they are only like max 2 dozent people the major drawback of signal (it not scaling well for big group communications) this also does not apply.

Okay now to the part of the wireless communication.... We do have the problem here that most of batman canon is before 2018. After thinking a lot about that and crying a bit i decided, to make any of this work we have to make an au in which Wayne enterprises build a 5G network in gotham in the 90s. In this au 5G would be the first one someone invented, so downgrade attacks would not work.

I also asked my friend for suggestions and he said maybe Wayne Enterprises did build a totally second Network additionall to the normal Gotham wireless network with own bts for the bats. And so the bats can just use their own build protocoll (using Dragonfly and ECDH). The Batman Protocoll would use own headers so the normal bts will just ignore that, and we will encrypt the header, so the headers can not be tracked.

I know some 90s comics also said Oracle is talking to the bats per phone, but for the sake of my sanity we are ignoring that.

Anyway so what do the bats for sure not use:

Fax: many things which irl would need to be somewhat private are send over fax, because this is client2client and not saved on any servers which belong to some external company. However!!! It is also not encrypted and just sends the message on clear text. Everyone with access to the connection could just read that

Wifi (i mean. the batcave might be bigger than 50 meter radius so, maybe they can actually use it there.)

Bluetooth

SMS

like normal phone calls

[bisonofyesterday]

Bison’s Big Cool January 2025 Art Dump!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did a bunch of stuff this month! check it out!

my take on Superman villain Brainiac! here he's Krypton's AI (AS HE SHOULD BE), who left Krypton to explore the stars and learn selfishly, i imagine my take on a Superman origin story would have a lot of ufology parallels so my take on Brainiac is a lot more traditionally alien! flying around in a flying saucer, probably abducting cows or whatnot, he's called to Earth when Clark accidentally reactivates a Kryptonian AI beacon on his escape pod and he pretends to be Clark's friend by offering him knowledge about his TRUEEEE HERITAAAAGE, and it'd be like a coming of age story before Clark eventually realizes Brainiac's evilness, Brainiac investigates Earth (including finding a test subject in a young Lex Luthor, Clark is his control group) but when Clark turns on him after learning how he's treating Lex (basically, in a similar way to Clark, filling his head with "you were destined for the stars...if you stay by my side...") and so Brainiac tries to download all of Smallville's collective knowledge into himself before he's taken down, his humanoid robotic guise here being what he made with the fragmentary research he got from Clark and Lex, wowza!

here's my most modern take on my sona! i like the superhero talkshow host outfit a lot still but i think this one feels more succinctly me, more mysterious with a jumpsuit covered in strange symbols, wow!!

and here's an attempt at a sona for the ever lovely @docilepillow, some kind of magical sheep girl (and sonic, the hedgehog, of legend)

aaaaand DRUMROLLLL the most RECENT reference art for The Patriots! my primary OCs! Dean's the naive captain who means well and doesn't kill (he has like stun guns), Red's a snarky technopath who can interface with data instantly (with drawbacks), and Lucy's the US's first supersoldier who's unsure of herself outside of her job! all led by the aging Director C (a former super-operative himself with a cyborg eye) and his assistant-ward, Dr. Josselin, a M.A.D. scientist who exposits on lore! these guys have a website but as i said last anniversary it's STILL outdated, but wow!! they fight political supervillains and are a big satirical thing on how horrible this country is!! wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! that's it gootbye

[honeybeewhereartthee]

PINK KKOMAS 179

Spoiler for my stories

Sheep yawns as he wait for the moment the system tell him, that it finally did what he ask for. Open the Livestream in the purple estate. The moment he saw that little child. He read his information and learn of that estate.

Now he needs to extort it, like that that so called big brother of this child. After all, that child made this mess to begin with. Time to make them pay up big time.

System: the channel is open !!

Sheep wave at the camera as he "saw" purple haired character looking puzzle at the system screen appearing with a sheep ritsu fighting a scarlet Mika (Riku).

Sheep: hello! Welcome new viewers to sheep Livestream!

As he said that he stop the incoming projectile with his bare hand and then proceed to show the purple that it was no other than cc who's thrown onto sheep direction cause Riku think that child his holding is bothersome.

MS: hey look it's that little brat.

Others was not really interested in it as they have better things to do. But as he said that, this caught the attention of other purple.

Sheep who can "hear" ms: yup, this little brat have cause a lot of trouble for making that person over there.

The Camara pointed at Riku who's growling at sheep and the camera. He doesn't understand who's this person talking too, crazy.

- estate -

Captain went out of his au door and saw there's a huge crowd of purple and hallow looking onto something in the living room.

Captain: what are you all making the noise for...

Captain made everyone to back off to let him through, he then saw sheep juggling while he dodge another attack of a very annoyed Riku.

Sheep who notice the arrival of a possible VIP: hello! Welcome to sheep Livestream! If you enjoy the Livestream please donate money for the world 🥺🫶

He did have a bit of drawback on scanning captain Wikipedia page, actually it's not just a bit. His actually mortally wounded cause captain is not the same level as others.

Captain who realize what the sheep did sigh: don't you think it's quite rude to scan stranger background just the first meeting?

Sheep who use full heal only laugh like he was not in dare state just now: but I have to know my Viewer and possible money ba— VIP. 😊 🫶 Btw do you want to save this child or here for the fight just like every other purple did?

Sheep proceed to show the crying cc who is being toss around by sheep and Riku.

Captain:...

Other purple who don't even try saving cc at all:...

Captain, can only sigh: you all are in big trouble after cc is safe and sound.

Demon lord, the only one who did want to save cc: I would want to save him but I can't seems to donate anyway.😢

MS: why bother, that kid will not die anyway. 🙄

Sheep smiles as he heard captain response: please donate money with the system screen shown in front of you~ 😊🫶

Captain stared at the system screen appearing before him. He eyed it suspiciously before he wave his hand to erase data of his on the system. If this is like those things. Then it only mean, it will show things that he disliked to a snooping rat.

_____ have donated 100,000 MV to save Cherish Cutie.

_____ have become a VIP member of the channel! Thank you for donation!!

Sheep is quite shock that that someone would donate MV currency. But he did note that it only improve like 4% for the system task for him. The rest is save for him and that stupid protagonist to keep. Unless the system will scum it away.

_____ have become no.1 VIP member! High tier perks shall be open for you!

Sheep beam: thank you very much!! Here's your little troublemaker. 🫡

He snap his hand and a portal appear behind him. He then proceed to throw cc and cc was thrown in and went to the purple estate which slam onto Yoru who's trying to keep Kiseki off his leg.

Yoru: *WASTED!!

CC: *wasted!!

The two gets knock out cold by the impact but two health potion did thrown on them healing any injury before the portal close.

Captain give a look at cc before he turn around to the purple that is trying to escape.

Captain, glare at the purple who froze in the spot: now then... Its time to discipline you all for doing something stupid.

[arctic-hands]

What MP3 player? And is it still available! I hare having to muse my phone, and all modern ones require WiFi and that defeats the object of a portable music player!

So about 4 years ago I decided I too was sick of streaming, ads, and algorithms, and was running out of space on my phone for all the songs I wanted to play on the VLC app, so I got a SanDisk/Sansa Clip Jam (the little one on the left)

[Image Description: two MP3 players, next to a hand for scale. On the left is a very small blue one, with a very small and simple white-on-black screen, and a physical button pad underneath the screen. The player on the left is much, much larger, with a larger screen capable of showing color images, and touchscreen buttons underneath. Both players are open to LP albums, but the one on the right actually shows the album art for Churches. End I.D]

Now the little Clip Jam was good for a while and I was glad to have it, but it did have some drawbacks that became clear. Mine was used but I believe these are still being made/marketed. It was twenty bucks used.

Pros (aside from the big one of owning your own media without ads/algorithm

Ultra portability

MicroSD slot for more space

Audiobook-capable, Audible compatible once you register it to Audible

Physical buttons

FM radio

Shuffle capable

NO WIFI, plug in and drag-and-drop uploading

Neutral:

no Bluetooth capability

Has stopwatch

The "clip" in the name refers to the clip on its back, which lets you attach it to clothes and such

Immediately apparent drawbacks:

No external speakers, must have wired headphones to hear anything. They use your standard jack, so I'm assuming you could use compatible external speaker but I never had one to try

Sometimes chapters of audiobooks don't go in order and you have to go in with tag editor software

and sometimes the books upload as one big file, meaning you have to go in with another software to break it up

Thing that made me fully disgusted with the thing after a year or so of frustration:

The HARDware capabilities of the Clip Jam mean that it can only handle two thousand LINES. Not files, lines. Meaning the Artist counts as a line, the Album counts as a line, the songs each count as a line. This is bad enough with just putting music on, but when you add audiobooks to it, the titles of the books and every chapter counts as a line. With an SD card you can add about another two thousand lines. When you use up your line capabilities, the data will be on your device/card but the player won't show it or let you access the files at all.

SANDISK NEVER TELLS YOU ABOUT THIS. It was not in any of the listings for it, it was not in the manual. At. All. I only found out by chance by finally coming across a years-old forum post talking about it after months of frustration while I tried to figure out why half my files (mostly audiobooks by this point) weren't showing

So I started looking for a new one.

...for the life of me I don't remember how I came across the Phinistec Z6, prolly saw it mentioned on the r/DigitalAudioPlayer while trying to come up with a new one to buy for cheap. The brand seemingly came out of nowhere, but it had what I needed. I got it thirty dollars used from ebay. They were still being sold new as of a year ago, I just prefer getting li-ion battery things used.

[Image Description: the players again, the Clip Jam is showing the SD card option, the Z6 is showing a list of Music/Folder/E-book/Bluetooth/Recorder. End I.D]

I don't have an SD card in either and the option only shows up on the Z6 if you have one in.

Pros for the Phinistec Z6

No bullshit line limitation

MicroSD slot for added content

Maybe just a pro for me, but this thing is HEFTY. Not heavy, but dense enough I'm worried you'd crack a skull if you threw it at someone. Wonderful tactile weight in my case.

Long battery life. I think I've had to charge it 5 times in the year I've had it.

External speaker

Wired headphone capable, as well as Bluetooth capable

FM radio (only works when wired headphones are plugged in, the dongle acts as an antenna. This is pretty standard, it used to be that way on phones too)

Audiobook capable. This isn't advertised but it can save your story place in the middle of the chapter. I didn't use this feature too much tho, I got an e-ink reader a few months after. I don't think it's Audible compatible, but there are workarounds for converting those to MP3

NO WIFI, plug in and drag-and-drop uploading

Neutral:

Can read written books for some reason. Not sure why anyone would want to on a screen that small, but it exists

So-so voice recording capabilities

A crappy photo camera for some reason?

Touch screen buttons

Cons:

It doesn't ship with current software, and for the latest update you have to email the company for the download link. Kinda sketch, I'm prolly some Chinese corporation's data bitch now, but seeing as I'm American I'm used to being a corporate (and government) data bitch for my own country anyway

Also had the problem of songs not playing or being listed in the right order. The listing was fixed with the update, but even after tag editing the songs were PLAYING in the wrong order when accessed under MUSIC. When accessed under FOLDER songs play in order, but artists are listed in order of upload then, not alphabetically, so it can get tedious when trying to find the artist you want if you've got a lot of artists on there. Not a deal breaker, just annoying.

No shuffle, but because of the above if you want to shuffle on a specific album just access it thru the MUSIC function

While screen brightness can be turned down, the backlight behind the buttons is blinding white no matter what you do which sucks in the dark if you have sensitive eyes

Isn't as portable as the Clip Jam if you've got small pockets (looking at you, women's jeans)

The external speaker is a bit tinny and higher notes can get a bit staticky (especially a problem when you listen to LP)

Virtually no information out there about Phinistec

I vastly prefer the cons of the Z6 over the hardware limitations of the Clip Jam, all things considered.

[coral-skeleton]

The use of AI in academics is a bit of a minefield, it both has the potential to be a very usefull tool, and to do alot of harm, depending on how it's used and which type of AI is used. It is therefore important to draw a distinction between generative AI, such as chat gpt, and AI used for identification of various things, the latter of which has been used to forward science for years now, with things like an ai identifying different ways protiens can be folded helping in cancer research, and in ai being used to classify large data sets in astronomy. Now, what we're talking about here is generative AI, specifically large language models, which are entirely different from the AI previously used in science. Firstly, llms are trained on vast datasets, containing billions of sources from the internet, everything from blogs, to newspapers, to tweets, to scientific articles, all with the goal of making a computerised model of human language usage.

There is no way for us end users to know what is and what isn't included in its training sample, and therefore, we can't determine if its output is reliable information or not. But giving reliable information to the end-user is not what llms were designed for in the first place. Llms were designed to give output in a way that mimics the natural ways we use language. It's much closer to the predictive text function on modern phone keyboards than it is to a search engine like google. It gives a response to any query that sounds like it might be plausible, but in reality, it merely predicts what word is most likely to come next in the context of any given scentence. These are the biggest drawbacks of llms. There's no way of knowing who's work is being used, and it's not doing anything creative or even particularly intelligent. It's merely predicting a likely response to any given question without verifying if that response is even correct. If it's therefore used to write a whole essay, for example, it is not just plagiarism, but a type of plagiarism where the original sources cannot be cited.

If it's used in this way, it definitely breaks down your critical thinking and creativity, as, again, it doesn't do anything creative but merely predicts likely responses, theres no actual thinking behind it, and therefore, merely accepting it's writing as a correct answer and handing that in for assignemnts mean that students don't learn anything new, and especially don't learn the principles of thinking in and of itself. They won't learn how to read and evaluate text for themself, how to formulate new ideas, how to expand on old ones, how to find reliable sources, how to critically reason, how to formulate arguments, or think through a problem logically. In other words, students miss out on all the core points of education, all the important skills that are supposed to be learned in high school language classes, making them more susceptible to misinformation and disinformation, and therefore easier to manipulate in any political direction as they cannot evaluate ideas for themselves.

And that is the big danger that generative ai presents to us as a society. Students already don't know the point of doing literature analysis in high school language classes, a problem that has been present for decades already, but different from previous times they now have an easy out and can choose to not learn these critical skills at all.

[fabbyf1]

Hiiiii so I might be completely wrong with this one, but I think you’ve once mentioned that you went to the Austrian GP?

If the answer is no, pls ignore this ask, I’ll be embarrassed

If the answer is yes, would you mind giving some insights to a first time GP-visitor who is only mildly anxious about it?🥺🥺

Did you have GA? Did you camp there? If yes to either pls share some helpful insights 👉🏼👈🏼

Also what can I expect from stuff like the fan zone? What’s the food and drink situation like? Were you able to hear on track commentary? Do I have to run and hide because things are scary and everyone is going to hate me?🙃

BESTIEEEEE I would love to answer these questions for you.

YES, i went to the 2022 Austrian GP!! (shoutout to the gayest lestappen celebration ever.)

i drove to the track every day, so i did not camp. there were plenty of parking lots (big grass fields) with free parking. there were TONS of signs on the highway and on the local backroads directing you to the track. i had no problems finding it, even on the first day. i stayed at an airbnb about 45 minutes away (because it was GORGEOUS) and i never had any issues or sat in too much traffic getting there each morning.

i sat in the T3 grandstand, which was a fucking HIKE. a HIKE bestie. my calves are still burning. it's hard to tell from watching the race, but that shit is way up at the top of a hill, and the parking lots are all down at the bottom near the pit straight. there was no way around hiking that bitch every day lmfao.

there was a big screen right near me, but they don't play the sky commentary on it. every race i've been to there's been a local commentary instead. so in this case, it was german commentary. so if you don't speak german, you won't know what's happening. (pov you're me trying to translate what i could to my Texan bestie because she was LOST lmfao. don't worry guys, i got this.) the cell service wasn't great, but you'll have to keep in mind that my lil American phone was data-roaming and literally trying it's best lmfao. so it might be different if you have a European plan. not sure how that works. but if you have data, you could pull up the sky commentary to listen to and that would be helpful in knowing what's going on.

i'd say the biggest drawback to going to ANY race is that... it's really hard to know what's happening. even if you can fully understand the commentary. it's not the same as watching it on tv. it's not a bad thing! you just... might be a little lost sometime and miss a lot of the on-track action. it's fun to watch the race afterward and see everything you missed.

the food and drink situation was pretty good! there were lots of different stands selling all sorts of food. everything i ate there was really yummy. it was all pretty reasonably priced, from what i can remember. our tickets said no outside food or drink, but i brought a reusable water bottle with me every day and they never stopped me at security.

please drink LOTS of water. more than you think you need. especially if you're drinking alcohol. and wear LOTS of sunscreen. the sun was insane.

there were lots of reports of fans (specifically female fans) being harassed during my race. which is honestly... so fucking disgusting. and i'm so sorry that happened to people. but thankfully, i never ran into any problems. everyone i met there was really nice and everyone in the grandstands seemed to look after each other. and it's not just because i'm a max fan either... i have a very obvious Lewis tattoo on my forearm that lots of people commented on lmfao.

but as your Cool Aunt, i would say... regardless of your gender or your appearance: be cautious, don't get too drunk, keep your eyes open, and always have an escape route in your mind. but that's my advice for anyone leaving their house though, lmfao, not just a gp.

i think you're going to have a great time, bestie. i loved that weekend so much. idk if you're a local or have been to Austria before, but if it's your first time there, i hope you enjoy it. it's one of the prettiest places i've ever visited. i can't wait to go back one day.

[olderthannetfic]

How I would do 2023 ship stats

You know, normally, I don't bother to do much with top AO3 ships stats. That's partly because someone already does it and partly because I think they're stupid stats that just lead to people gloating about their blorbos "winning". But I do routinely have a look at what's new and popular when I'm doing things like making a dance party playlist for Escapade Con, just so I know what fans might be getting into lately. I have to say, collecting these is not hard. It's not even particularly time consuming.

Doing it super efficiently would be easier with a script, yes, but most fandom stats aren't actually collected with scripts, and if you're only looking for the top 100 ships, you can more or less do that by hand. How I would set about it for you, the random fan who's curious but not curious enough to learn to code, would be to log into AO3 and then find tags where you can see the sidebar. They should be tags that encompass the whole archive and that are mandatory and unique… in other words, ratings.

Since every AO3 work must have one and only one rating, you can just check these five and get a good sense of what's on there. There are some minor wrinkles to iron out, but it's a good preliminary research step.

The way you want to do it is to start with a spreadsheet. Open up your ratings URLs (and also paste them in the spreadsheet for convenience—google sheets will make clickable links). Copy all the sidebar top ships into a list. Filter out all of these ships. Copy the next set, etc. After a while, you'll have a good list that's longer than 100 ships but that most likely contains everything really popular. (Filter for things posted/updated/whatever in the past year if that's the data you're after. Filter for f/f or whatever topic you're interested in if that's the question you're asking instead.)

Use your spreadsheet to generate the actual links for each of these ships. AO3 URLs are predictable: you can generate them from knowing the exact spelling of the tag and the normal format of this type of URL. (There are a bunch of standard spreadsheet functions that can be used to get rid of the work count numbers you've copied from AO3 to get just the pure ship tags. I'd use things like =right() and =left().)

Open the links. Copy the work totals back to your spreadsheet. Voilà!

One drawback of this method is, obviously, that it's boring and tedious, but if you didn't like boring and tedious, why were you collecting fandom stats anyway?

A more important drawback is that in using exclude filters, it's possible you could miss a ship. If the posting patterns are just right, there might be something that has its numbers reduced by excluding other ships that should be on your list. You could have a similar issue if the ships on your list are mostly one rating (so higher in those searches) and some other slightly larger overall ship is spread more evenly. I would try to ameliorate this problem by looking at the sizes of the smallest ships you're covering. They will likely be bigger than the entire fandom section for most fandoms. Taking another look at the bigger fandoms that could be hiding a small-end-of-big ship can help double-check that you haven't missed anything. Grabbing the top 130 or 150 ships in some search while only looking for the top 100 will likely find most of the edge stuff too.

Add any ships that look like they should be double checked to your spreadsheet. Add their work totals. Re-sort your list.

Another thing to consider is that AO3 keeps track of the most recent update date on fics. That's what's easy to search by. If you're only interested in when a work was first posted, easy manual filtering isn't the way to go… However, if the objective is to see which ship tags were active in a given year, most recent update date is the relevant piece of data anyway.

You're not going to recreate centreoftheselights' exact analysis unless you collect data year to year, but you can come up with something pretty similar that answers a similar question, and you don't need to be a programmer to do it.

In the end, accept that some data require hard collection methods that a site doesn't easily offer you and you might have to scrape multiple times a year with a script if you want to know that particular thing… or you might have to randomly sample and hand-count as with FFN shipping stats. (Yes, I've done it. It can be done. It's just annoying.)

So when you're setting out to look at some stats question, the big first step is to decide what you're even asking and why and whether you're just wimping out and going with what's easy to collect instead of what you actually want to know.

...now I'm kind of curious. Maybe I'll go pull some 2023 numbers.

[bigfootbeat]

Why Can't Satellites Find Bigfoot?

For decades, Bigfoot, a cryptid creature from North American wilderness, has captured imaginations. Despite numerous sightings, hazy photos, and suspicious footprints, Bigfoot's existence is still unproven. Technology has led many doubters and believers to satellites, questioning why this advanced equipment, which can capture comprehensive photographs of Earth, have failed to give compelling evidence. Satellite resolution limitations, the size and complexity of wilderness areas, Bigfoot's elusiveness, and the difficulty of analyzing satellite imagery prevent satellites from proving his existence. Satellite imagery resolution is a major drawback. Satellites can take very precise photographs of Earth, but not enough to spot a Bigfoot in a dense forest. Commercial satellites typically have pixel resolutions of 30 centimeters, representing a 30-centimeter square on the ground. This is great for spotting massive structures, cars, and landscape changes, but it cannot distinguish a large, hairy monster blending into the environment. Even military-grade satellites with higher resolutions struggle to detect small, moving objects in dense forest canopies. Bigfoot, if it exists, is unlikely to stay in open regions where it may be seen, complicating the issue.

Satellite monitoring faces another obstacle in Bigfoot's supposed enormous habitat. Bigfoot is most often seen in distant, forested areas like the Pacific Northwest or Canada's deep forests. These millions of square miles have harsh terrain, heavy vegetation, and few people. It is nearly impossible to find a single organism in such a vast desert. Satellite imaging generates so much data that manually inspecting every frame for Bigfoot is nearly impossible. Automated satellite image recognition systems are trained to distinguish human-made structures and vehicles, not cryptids; hence, they are unlikely to detect Bigfoot. Bigfoot's elusiveness complicates everything. Bigfoot is likely intelligent, cautious, and good at evasion. Since such a species must avoid predators and humans to thrive, this makes evolutionary logic. Many Bigfoot fans believe the monster is nocturnal, spending most of its time in the dark when satellite photography, which relies on visible light, is less efficient. Bigfoot would be hard to discern from bears or deer using infrared technology. Satellites would struggle to record Bigfoot's silent, fast movement through deep woodlands. Satellite images interpretation is another challenge. Proving that a satellite photograph of a big, bipedal figure in the forest is Bigfoot rather than a bear, person, or foliage shadow would be difficult. Such ambiguous material would likely spark arguments rather than confirmation. Skeptics have sometimes attributed Bigfoot sightings to misidentifications, hoaxes, or pareidolia, the tendency to see familiar things like faces and figures in random patterns. Satellite imagery, with its quality and context issues, would undoubtedly be scrutinized. Satellite-based evidence is also limited by Bigfoot skepticism in culture and science. Most scientific institutes prioritize credible or pressing goals including environmental monitoring, climate research, and urban planning. Using powerful satellite technology to find a mythical monster is unlikely to attract support or money. Satellites may theoretically help find Bigfoot, although they are not deliberately deployed for this purpose. Satellites cannot confirm Bigfoot's existence because of technological, environmental, and interpretation issues. Satellites are useful for viewing Earth, but not for discovering a massive, elusive beast in deep wilderness. Satellite imaging resolution, Bigfoot's putative habitat's vastness and remoteness, the creature's evasiveness, and the difficulty of interpreting ambiguous data all contribute to the lack of definitive evidence. Bigfoot remains a folklore and story, evading even the most advanced technologies. The topic of whether Bigfoot exists or is too good at evading discovery continues to spark arguments and curiosity.

[nay3lim]

Blog Post #2

Is it right for AI to be legal?

Even though artificial intelligence (AI) has a lot of drawbacks, like the potential for businesses to steal data through user input and the potential for criminal use of AI deepfake technology, it should still be allowed because it makes organizing data simple, like what search engines do, and because it has applications in free speech. The ability to produce parodies of political figures through deepfakes should be preserved because deepfakes are an emerging historical form of protest that should be preserved. In addition to being a potent tool for protest, deepfakes have started to become ingrained in society through presidential deepfakes.

Why is it crucial to comprehend how ideology functions in the media and how it influences how we see the world?

It is important to comprehend media ideology since it unconsciously impacts our perception of the world. The current social and economic structure, capitalism, is frequently presented by the media as inevitable or natural, giving the impression that there are no other options. By encouraging people to accept things as they are rather than questioning or challenging them, this upholds the power structures that currently exist. Understanding the impact of ideology allows us to assess the media critically and become more conscious of how it shapes our opinions and behavior.

How can one view change as a good thing?

One thing that might not be attainable is change. According to the article, ideologies are ways of thinking and acting that portray elements of historical and malleable human experience as timeless and unalterable. One could argue against this statement because it is up to us as humans to alter our civilization. We are not required to follow the same protocol that has worked for us in the past. For instance, inequality can be reduced if people treat one another fairly and give each other an opportunity to be heard and seen.

What power structures are there in the political economy of social media?

The interaction between laborers, a ruling body, and production is characterized by political economy. Political economy can be used to describe information posted on social media platforms, how it is received, and the factors that influence what information is accessible to the majority of users. For instance, user data may be used to determine what content advertisers wish for viewers to see. Fuchs contends that news organizations and big, powerful businesses have greater ability than individual bloggers, advertisers, or journalists to disseminate information to viewers. This reveals a significant power dynamic between social media firms, news services, big advertisers, and regular users as social media corporations control the content that is consumed on their platforms.

Gonzalez, J., & Torres, J. (2021). News for all the people. Power and Inequality, 223–231. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315201511-28

Fuchs, C. (2014). Social Media: A Critical Introduction. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781446270066

[ufokevin]

woo doohwan. 32. cis man. he/him, they/them. ┊┊ cerberus corp has been watching  KWON "HARVEY"JUNGHYUN.  some of the public has dubbed them RUBIX because of PROBABILITY MANIPULATION gifted by VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION RELATED TO CAFFEINE AND ELOCTRUCTION AFTER PRESSING A DEFECTIVE BUZZER AT A JEOPARDY CONFERENCE. having been an extra ordinary since 2020, they’re doing a good job at hiding REFUSAL FOR PLAYING THEIR TRICKS/MENTAL EXHAUSTION/TEMPORARY LOSS OF EMOTION/THE MELODY OF CLOSING TIME BY SEMISONIC. when they aren’t working their day job as a CHURCH AND SYNAGOGUE LIBRARIAN, they are fond of PLAYING SCRABBLE WHILE WATCHING NOVA and are never seen without HIS PROMISE RING ON A NECKLACE. at first glance they seem ASTUTE & ELOQUENT, though their close friends know them to also be ARROGANT & VIOLENT.  they consider themself a VILLAIN. ┊┊

ESEN'S EX FINANCE CONNECTION

001.  GENERAL

name  Junghyun Harvey Kwon nicknames  Harvs, Har Har Harvey, Jungykins, Haryay, age  32 date of birth  january 11, 1990 zodiac  capricorn place of birth  chicago illnois current residence  queens new york gender  male pronouns  he/him, they/them* (mainly as rubix) sexuality pansexual occupation  chruch and synagigue librarian

faceclaim  woo dohwan height  6'3 tattoos  a small heart with the I love you Esen in Turkish on his chest piercings  navel piercing and n*pple piercing distinguishing features  Ambixterous in all activities positive traits  loyal, open-minded, creative , funloving, charismatic negative traits  impulsive, annoying, venegeful, insecure, hypocritical labels / tropes  g-rated stoner, brilliant but lazy, the wing man, the human calculator likes  sweets, chess, aglets, random fun facts, costumes from power rangers, nadira from power rangers, spicy lemon takis dislikes  unstimulating events, organizations (especially abc and cerb), betrayal, mediocrity fears  not having an impact, being in his fathers shadow hobbies online scrabble, online jeopardy, canoeing, habits  biting his sleeves, picking up a piece of paper and folding it repeatly, double dipping

002.  EXTRA ORDINARY

Near death experience: Harvey's winning jeopardy required him to do a little tour. He already had the money deposited so he wasn't in a position to say no. So being one of the first ones up for a panel. He was there asking question. A photographer asked for him to press the button and his heart stopped. He woke up in a morgue and found himself doing probabilities of getting out and stealing a security guards uniform. Since them he has legally been a man without a name.

Powers:

Power-Probability Manipulation- the power to manipulate probability might seem mundane at first sight. But Rubix likes to take it to the next level. He uses probability to his advantage by creating challenges for the heroes in questions from riddles to impossible board games with almost unreasonable constraints.

Rubix still believes he’s being fair stating the probability, timing, and a head start when he’s feeling generous.

Rubix likes the idea of probabilities because unlike most of his life, they give him some form of control. Even if it isn't garanteed, he believes it better than nothing. And datas is in valueable

Drawbacks/Vulnerabilities: Calculating Probabiliities don't always mean they come true. A person can also refuse to participate in his challenge. Finally after a probaility challenge he is emotionally and mentally exhausted. Closing time is a sentimental song because it reminds him of the times he heads home and sings off key with her. Finally certain substances such as weed make him extra sleepy.

Why he's a villian: It's one thing when your first love leaves you and you have to learn to accept that. It's another thing when Harvey learned that fame after his death was fleeting and his death was covered up. It made him feel out of control of his own existence. And if the big guys wanted him in the shadows, he'll give them a menace in the shadows. He pushes people in power in particular Cerb to show them he's here.

The first time he smiled is when he saw mysterious menace traumatize the bank workers. With a mask on face and a dark shimmer costume he became Rubix

Cerebrus Corp: They're tracking someone the problem is since he's dead there isnt a set identity. Their main lead is someone messing in elaborate buildings and distressed cerb agents he messes with

Codename: They chose rubix like the rubrix cube. 1) because its a common toy available so cerb couldn't narrow him down and 2) such a fun one

Extra:

He grew up a doctor's son and hence his issues

Was a nerd but also class clown

Former friend of Omars because of the incident that shall not be named

Esen's former finace how kinda still cares about her as a person but refuses to say that aloud because he doesnt want her to have a target on her back. Has the promise ring but like lies and says its his father's class ring

Was Jeopardy college week champion from 2019-2020 but his episodes were pulled because he died on tour and that would just open a ton of lawsuits

Did I mention he hates abc for basically almost wiping his accomplishments off the web , he really does

If he didn't have his nde he would probably be a congress librarian

when he uses his power he feels like he's something and eyes glow green cause probability powers

And yeah thats it for now

[sacra1sf]

Advertising: The Foundation of the Internet

Both Ethan Zuckerman in his article "The Internet's Original Sin" and Maciej Ceglowski's talk "The Internet with a Human Face" describe advertising as being the main business model that drives the collection and surveillance of data.

Zuckerman explains his theory that advertising is the original sin of the internet. By this, he means that advertising is what caused surveillance to become so popular. He explains that there are 4 main downsides to having an ad-based business model.

First, the whole appeal of online advertising is that companies can track users' data and interaction with the ad to identify marketing demographics and other information; therefore, it is hard to imagine advertising without surveillance. Second, the advertising model incentivizes businesses to create ads that just rack up engagement, even if it's meaningless, which means the production of content like clickbait. Third, the model leads to the centralization of the web, which shrinks the size and reach of channels. This centralization creates risks to online speech because big companies acquire small ones that may create competition and therefore provides these big companies with extremely powerful reach to audiences. Finally, efforts to mitigate advertising's drawbacks using compensation in the form of personalization can lead users into "echo chambers" of polarized ideas that match the content they have been interacting with.

Ceglowski has similar views. In his talk, he talks about "Investor Storytime," where companies are paid to tell another company how much money they will make if they put an ad on their site. He says that this model encourages surveillance because companies need to show investors why they deserve money and how beneficial it will be to run ads on their site. With all this surveillance, though, not much comes out of it. Sites then encourage personalization of ad content for a better experience, which just means the collection of more data. Ceglowski explains that this is just an opportunity to encourage surveillance because if the model isn't working, then that just means more data needs to be collected for it to function properly, but if it is working well, it would work even better with more data. It is an endless loop that incentivizes the collection of invasive data.

Both Zuckerman and Ceglowski suggest advertising is the main culprit of surveillance. What was intended for good turned sour now that companies have become greedy for more and more data.