#I hate hate HATE panel distribution

[liph-zip]

absolutely criminal that he doesn’t have a froggy plushie so have this

[ellestrade]

I've scrolled through your posts (maybe creepy but who cares im lovin em). Loved your posts about the Al Ghuls!

And I'm wondering what you think about the Dick/Talia beef? I personally find it hilarious that Dick has beef with the one who gave birth to Damian, one of the people he loves and cherishes very much

Hi anon, thank you for the compliment!

Anyhow, regarding your question, I don't think that Dick's hostility towards Talia doesn't revolve around Damian— not at first, at least. Of course, the hate could've been amplified when Damian came to light, though until then it was pretty tame in comparison. Or not, I don't know which would be funnier.

Also, I'm going to direct you to @rasalghul777 , again, because I believe that they're more adverse in this than I am when it comes to the complex relationship between Talia and pretty much all other characters, stressing on Brutalia. However, since this is in regards to my opinion, I'll try to put things into perspective. So take this with a grain of salt.

Anyhow, Dick has shown to dislike Talia early on. This is because, considering that she's an antagonist (her father is among Barman's Rogues' Gallery, if I'm not mistaken, as he was one of the main villains) Dick sees that she's a bad influence to Bruce— since this man was madly in love with Talia at the time to the point it's unhealthy for him (one of the main reason why Talia faked her miscarriage and gave Damian away in the original run of his appearance), and vice versa.

(BruTalia my beloved, BruTalia my Roman empire)

So much, in fact, that Bruce did not hesitate when it comes to choosing between her and his own ward, that being Dick at the time.

While I could be wrong, this is the context that I've gathered from this panel 🤷🤷 though I honestly doubt so.

It could also be read as the "Children not wanting to trust their parents' spouse" type of thing, which is hilarious on its' own accord.

It also doesn't help that they have fundamental disagreement from the get-go— their clashed beliefs makes it difficult for them to meet eye-to-eye.

Dick doesn't owe Talia anything, similar to how Talia doesn't owe Dick anything; he doesn't have to try to understand her, nor does she have to prove anything to him. He's entitled to hate her just as she's entitled to hate him. That hate was very much mutual between them.

(Which, when you think about it, is the same exact argument people brought up when justifying Tim's hostility towards Damian. But I don't want to go too off tangent, so that's a conversation for another day.)

However, when Damian came along, you could imagine that Dick's hatred towards Talia would be amplified ten-fold— while it's possible that he doesn't necessarily see Talia as a stereotypical bad mother (mostly for Damian's sake, and the boy insisted that she wasn't) it was difficult for him to see her as an actual decent one too.

I feel like Dick would be more inclined to blame Talia more on Damian's upbringing; even though it was (heavily, sorta) implied that Talia herself wasn't allowed to see Damian, let alone raise him back in the League.

It's worth mentioning that Dick isn't an all-knowing being. He couldn't've known, and having an actual conversation with Damian regarding his upbringing is a delicate process in itself, but he does recognize Talia as a parental figure in Damian's life and would, therefore, instinctively blame her for the majority of Damian's issues.

Though Dick eventually learns to distribute the hate equally on both parents 🤷🤷🤷 I found that to be more comical compared to a one-sided hate.

Dick: I hate both of you, I really do. You both belong together, because then the world would have to worry about two less horrible people.

Dick: But thank you for the child. I love him. He's mine now.

Bruce and Talia: ?????????

However, when push comes to shove, Dick would still (albeit begrudgingly) team up with Talia. Funnily enough, I always see it that Dick would rather side with Talia more than he would Bruce— because fuck if she doesn't have an actual reason to have a complicated relationship with Damian. Bruce has raised, like, 5 kids and couldn't figure out his teenage son? A 14 year old boy with crippling anxiety??? Get outta here.

All in all, I think both Dick and Talia would have that one relationship like two bitter grandma's who hated each other, but would still attend to the same tea party within punching distance if their beloved grandchild asked.

At least Talia would only suffer from glares. Dick would actually tackle Bruce.

[dresshistorynerd]

This is kind of random, but would it have been a struggle for a big busted women to wear fashionable silhouettes in the medieval era? I’ve heard some costume historians discuss that there were forms of bust support, but most of what I’ve seen pre-1500s seems like it would have been a nightmare for any ancestor with a similar bodytype to wear. Am I just from a line of women doomed to horrible back pain? (On the flip side of the situation, I’ve found corsets and stays to be rather comfortable, so that’s not a problem)

As a fellow big boob haver, I have good news for you! There were pretty good Medieval bust supporting garments and I have tested one of them.

With sturdy fabric, tailoring and lacing you can create pretty good bust support. Lacing was popularized first in 12th century in form of bliaut, and in 14th century tailoring became standard for everyday garments. I don't know how well bliaut supported the bust, but since it doesn't fit super snugly, I assume it doesn't distribute the weight of the boobs as well as tailored supporting garments and therefore isn't as supportive. I'm also not actually sure if there was proper bust supporting garments before that, I haven't looked into it. I know Romans bound their breasts with cloth wrapped around the chest, so maybe that technique continued (at least for those who especially needed it) till lacing and tailoring became a thing. For more about how supporting garments developed in Europe through history, I have a post about development of lacing, which coincides pretty well with that history from 12th century forward.

Personally I have experience with Medieval Bathhouse dress, which was used in the Germanic Central-European area roughly in 14th to 16th century. It's called the Bathhouse dress because most depictions of it are from bathhouse settings, but there's depiction also in bed chambers and other contexts, so I think it's pretty safe to assume it was used more generally as an undergarment. It often had separate cups for the boobs (see the only extant garment left of it, the so called "Lengberg Castle Bra"), but not always. Unlike most other undergarments at the time, it was sort of a shift (the lowest layer) and a supporting garment combined into one.

I sewed my own recreation of it (with some alterations because I made it for my everyday use, not as a historical recreation) and did a post about my results, where I go deeper into the history of the garment too. I didn't construct it very well and I did an error in the design of the back, which cause the strain of the shoulder straps to focus too much on very specific spots in the back panel, which eventually made the fabric there break too many times. (There were some other smaller design flaws too, like the waistline is lower than my natural waist so it rose and wrinkled annoyingly.) I did use it daily (except when I washed it) for a fairly long time though and it was super comfortable and helped a lot with back pain (and shoulder pain caused by use of modern bras). I hate that I've had to go back to modern bras because I haven't had the time to remake it yet. (I'll probably make a follow up post once I get around to it, where I go through the issues of the first version and how I addressed them in the next attempt.) Well fitted and shaped bodice which is then laced does surprisingly much even without any additional reinforcements.

I haven't made a Medieval kirtle (though I will some day), but it was the more widely used Medieval supporting garment, which eventually replaced Bathhouse dress in the area where that was used. Kirtle is worn over a shift, but it broadly works similarly. Kirtles could be front, side or back laced depending on the time period and how the Kirtle was constructed. Multiple layers of kirtles could be used and looser overgarments (like houppelande) were often used on top of it. Kirtle was used by everyone, including men, but for those who didn't need bust support, it's purpose was mainly to create the fashionable silhouette. Here's three depictions of kirtles from 15th century. First unlaced, but has lacing on the front, second close up of the side lacing and third shows nicely how both front and side/backlacing shaped the bust.

Morgan Donner is a costumer, who focuses a lot on Medieval costuming and has a big bust, so while I haven't personally tested the supportiveness of kirtle, she certainly has. The kirtle bodice part needs to be patterned to accommodate the breasts by giving it round shapes and the kirtle needs to be a little too small so there's room to lace it to fit well. Lining also helps to reinforce the fabric and make it more firm and supportive. Here's Morgan's pattern from the tutorial in her website and how the kirtle eventually fits for her. (Also look at the handsome boy in his handsome matching outfit.)

She also has a video relating to the same kirtle project, where she explains her method to pattern a kirtle specifically so it's supportive for big bust.

In 16th century more stiffness was added to kirtles, first with very stiff lining and then with boning, but that doesn't necessarily add to the bust support, rather it just allows the kirtle to shape the bust and the body in general more and better support a heavy skirt. Firm fabric secured snugly with lacing is already very good at distributing the weight of the boobs to the whole torso.

In conclusion, at least since 14th century people with our body type were not doomed to eternal back pain and even before that some ways to help with it were probably used.

[velvetinkkwrites]

A Place in This World is a one shot response to @ekingston's Flash Fic Challenge - four random parameters and 1,000 words max. This is a great writing exercise and I highly recommend giving it a spin (heh).

My prompts: sci-fi | stranded in a different dimension | mutual pining | a flat tire

Thank you to @beca-mitchell for helping me get it to 1,000 words on the nose (I'll take my extra credit, please), and thank you to bff @proudlyunicorn for making me aware of the challenge!

Read it on ao3.

---

Startled, Caitlyn tipped backwards with a frustrated huff as the car rattled in front of her, the force of Vi’s boot in the door nearly caving in the entire driver’s side paneling. 

“What the fuck is this luck?” Vi growled. Caitlyn’s eyes narrowed as she watched Vi drag a hand through her mop of pink hair. “We’re cursed.”

With a scoff, Caitlyn pushed herself out of a shallow puddle, holding tightly to her composure so she might avoid snapping at her partner’s explosive lack of patience. “It’s not a curse,” she retorted, leaning closer to the flat tire that had nearly sent them off the road. “It’s physics.”

The air smelled of metal and something sweeter, like burnt honey. The sky overhead churned in unnatural hues of violet and neon green, the clouds moving like ink in water.

Vi crouched beside her and reached for the shredded tire, half-wrapped fingers brushing against deep scars in the rubber. “Right. Because physics explains a flat tire screwing us over in this nightmare dimension.”

Pink lips scrunched to one side as Caitlyn considered the damage done. She thought maybe they were lucky they’d only lost one tire. “The pressure distribution was already unstable from the last jump, and the terrain here is terrible. This was bound to happen, Vi.”

Vi exhaled – scoffed, more like – and Caitlyn glanced sideways to watch her rest both arms over her knee. “Okay, genius. How do we fix it?”

Caitlyn pushed up her sleeves. “Theoretically? We patch it.”

Vi’s expression went flat, unamused. “I hate when you say theoretically. ”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“How do we theoretically patch a tire without a repair kit?”

“Still working that part out.”

These sorts of hiccups were often solved by spontaneous ingenuity rather than a well-laid plan, Caitlyn thought, as she rummaged through the items they’d gathered while on this job. A mysterious jarred substance from D-516 seemed promising and Caitlyn grabbed it before making her way around the busted old jalopy – their trusted vehicle for dimension hopping.

She worked in silence, using sand from beneath her feet as an additional component for binding the black goo from D-516. Caitlyn was focused, Vi was restless. The wind picked up, carrying an eerie hum through the strange trees that lined the road – tall, spindly things with luminous blue leaves that pulsed like a heartbeat.

“So,” Vi said, interrupting the wind with her words. “Least favorite dimension of the trip so far. Go.”

Caitlyn didn’t look up. “I wasn’t a fan of D-82,” she replied, content enough to give Vi the distraction she believed she was looking for. “Being swallowed by the ground is not high on my list of priorities this year.”

Vi snorted. “Yeah, that was bad. But my vote has to go to the upside-down city.”

Caitlyn paused, her right hand covered in muck, and looked at Vi with a disconcerted brow. “Upside-down wasn’t the problem. The reason D-1601 was horrible was because you thought punching the ambassador was a good idea.”

The way Vi threw her hands up was just… so very Vi . “He insulted you!”

Was that the reason? They’d scurried out of D-1601 with tails tucked because of something the ambassador had said… about Caitlyn?

She faltered, then regained focus and continued applying the compound to the split tire. “That’s hardly relevant.”

Vi huffed and leaned back on her hands. Caitlyn thought to warn her of the water that seeped through the earth here, but her own arse was damp with it, too. At least any side effects would be enjoyed by both of them together. “Whatever. It’s not my fault you’re impossible to compliment.”

Caitlyn didn’t respond, but her jaw tightened. The flex of it was visible. Her hand slipped along the tire, flinging black goo to the ground near their feet. Vi wasn’t the first to make such a claim – her mother liked to remind her of that, too. In choosing a career path unbefitting her family name, Caitlyn had made herself undesirable . And what was that if not a woman who could not be complimented?

There was nothing to compliment, after all.

A hand at her cheek drew Caitlyn from her deep and derisive thoughts, shoulders flinching as her eyes flew sideways to meet Vi’s. It was Vi’s hand. Vi’s thumb brushing over the high cut of her cheekbone. A smudge? Grease? Goo? Or was Vi just touching her… to touch her?

Caitlyn froze, staring at Vi whose hand remained on her cheek just a second longer. She saw the moment Vi realized what she’d done. It was written in the way those steel blue eyes went wide, and in the speed with which she retracted her hand.

Good thing she did, too. Any longer and Caitlyn was sure she’d have leaned into that gentle touch.

Vi cleared her throat, rubbed at the back of her neck while Caitlyn returned her attention to the tire. “Well,” Caitlyn said, voice too steady to be convincingly natural. “We’re not entirely doomed.”

“That might be the sweetest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Vi stood first, offering her hand. Caitlyn hesitated – she always did – then took it, allowing Vi to pull her up. Her hand was big, entirely too warm – it always was. 

Caitlyn rode shotgun while Vi drove, pouring over a holopad with a list of coordinates for their future destinations. The tire held, Caitlyn’s ingenuity once again proving its worth.

“You ever think about staying somewhere?”

Vi’s gentle question drew Caitlyn from her planing, fingers hovering over the holo as she looked at her partner with consideration.

Vi swallowed. “I mean… one of these places. Just pick a dimension and call it home.”

Bright blue eyes remained on Vi, but Vi’s attention was on the road. “Do you?”

“Sometimes.”

Caitlyn felt that answer in her chest, because Vi had included her in these musings. These dreams of finding a place and making it home – together.

She replied softly. Softer than she probably meant to. “Maybe someday.”

[justsayyesmiss]

TRANS RIGHTS

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

A white woman with a white tank top and pink hair leans into frame, her elbow over the lower panel border, waving to the reader.

LUCY:

Hi. I’m Lucy. That’s not my real name, and this isn’t what I look like. But that’s fine, because while this is my story…

LUCY:

It’s one that thousands of other trans people have lived through, at least a little bit. It’s our story too.

Panel 2

A map of the United States. States colored in red are those with anti-trans laws on the books. Those states are: New Hampshire, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.

LUCY:

I’m here to tell you how nightmarish Project 2025 will be for trans lives. Before we get to the main event, let me set the stage.

LUCY:

I’ve been out and medically transitioning as a trans woman for several years. It costs me thousands of dollars in medical expenses each year.

LUCY:

Also had to flee my home state due to bigoted laws, and faced discrimination everywhere from my own family to my job.

Panel 3

Lucy holds up up a giant textbook-sized printed copy of Project 2025. Her expression is one of outrage.

LUCY:

It’s pretty bad. And if Trump gets reelected and Project 2025 is brought into action, it’s only going to get much worse.

LUCY:

“Transgender,” “Gender Identity” and “Biological Sex” are used over thirty times in this Phone Book of Hate, so I’m going to keep it simple.

LUCY:

Three policies. Just three. That’s all they need.

Panel 4

Lucy sits at a computer, typing away. She looks over her shoulder at the reader.

LUCY:

Let’s start at the top. Page five. “Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology.”

LUCY:

Any trans person’s story would be labeled as pornography. Our lives. Our experiences. Every part of us.

LUCY:

Immediately followed by, “Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned.”

LUCY:

I think you can see where this is going…

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

Lucy sits on a cot in a prison, hugging herself in despair.

LUCY:

That means that any trans person talking about their transition could be imprisoned. Every statement about our lives, a potential offense.

LUCY:

Hell, the story you’re reading right now would qualify.

Panel 2

Lucy stands behind a counter with a cash register in front of her, ready to scan a bag of chips on the conveyer belt. She looks annoyed and exhausted.

LUCY:

Next. “Rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of […] gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics.” Page 584.

LUCY:

Paired with page 495, “a general statement of policy specifying that it will not enforce any prohibition on […] gender identity discrimination” it paints a picture.

LUCY:

Discrimination towards trans people at places like their jobs will be fully legal, leaving us open to unmitigated harassment and hate.

Panel 3

Lucy is curled up in a ball, looking small, looking like she’s just finished crying her eyes out and is just empty.

LUCY:

Page 485. “Withdraw all guidance encouraging Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program service providers to provide controversial “gender transition” procedures or “gender-affirming care”.

LUCY:

Page 462. “Fund studies into the short-term and long-term negative effects of crosssex interventions, including “affirmation,” puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries.”

LUCY:

Page…take your pick. There’s a dozen more.

Panel 4

Lucy, still running on empty, holds a vial of Estradiol in her fingers and stares at it. It’s nearly empty.

LUCY:

By cutting federal funding from any medical facility that offers trans healthcare, and standing against it as official policy…

LUCY:

Hormones and gender care will become almost impossible to find. For those of us who are already on them, it’ll wreak havoc.

LUCY:

Our mental health. Our bodies. Damage that will ruin lives. And for trans folks who can no longer produce a safe level of hormones…

Panel 5

Lucy looks right at the reader, her expression serious and angry.

LUCY:

It could kill them.

Panel 6

Lucy sits cross-legged on the floor, pointing directly at the reader.

LUCY:

I know there’s a lot to keep track of. I haven’t even covered all the anti-trans proposals in Project 2025. If you take nothing else from here , take this:

LUCY:

For transgender people across America, defeating Trump and Project 2025 isn’t just a political race.

LUCY:

It’s a fight for survival. And we need all of you fighting with us.

https://stopproject2025comic.org/comic/anti-trans_discrimination/

[turrondeluxe]

Hey ik on that "equally distribute the horrors" post, a lot of people were talking about Mikey needing horrors (tbh he deserves some, they all need equal rights to the horrors.), but I've never seen anyone even talk about the horrors for Raph? Maybe that's just me and my web experience tho. (If you have any examples of Raph dealing with the horrors pls list them, my cousin ((who also says Mikey needs more horrors, at least)) and I are desperate)

ah that's probably because i specified mikey in the tags because im a mikey enjoyer who is followed principally by more mikey enjoyers teeheee

but huh

i guess i understand what you mean

in terms of Raph Horrors™ we have

mmmm i unfortunately won't include every single horror from every single tmnt iteration out there. there's too many for me to remember all the specific raph horrors from each of them rn so i'll just list some random ones off the top of my head 😺

Feel free to add more to the raph horrors list! lol

Mirage

- Raphael gets progressively demutated and basically reverts to a normal turtle for a while

(the panels of when this was happening were actually very emotive and made me cry) he does say this when he's back to normal which i find very funny tho

90's movies

- Raph gets beaten the fuck up and then gets thrown trough a skylight. He's then placed in a bath tub while he heals (Leo is the one who never leaves his side on this iteration)

2003

- Nearly injures Mikey greatly with a metal tube because of anger (He feels really bad about this and i def think this moment never truly left his brain ever)

- Getting kidnapped by footbots, getting interrogated by Hun

- All the fights with shredder or karai/all the injuries gotten in all the fights with shredder or karai

- Same As It Never Was Raph

- Watching his injured older brother get thrown to a window and watch said older brother heal from his wounds

- Seeing himself as the shredder/ thinking himself as the shredder

- Got his home raided countless times

- Getting separated from his younger brothers + dad in one of said times and waiting alone in the surface without knowing if his family even made it out alive

- Witnessed dad get disintegrated

- Brainwashed (actually getting infected with a digital virus but eh). Him and his brothers are foot ninjas for an unspecified amount of time (maybe days). During this, shredder sends the brothers to the most mortal/difficult missions in hopes that they die under his command.

- Getting thrown into the future (Raph is the one brother who hates this event the most lmao)

2007

- Witnesses older brother get kidnapped and blames himself for it

2011 IDW

- Raph gets separated from his family before mutating. Spends years homeless and by himself before his brothers find him again (this forever makes raph feel that even if he's with his family. he somehow doesn't belong)

- Right after getting mutated he spent some time being cared by Buck (blind homeless guy that is the first person ever/parent figure that's nice to Raph). Watches Buck get beaten to death. (Possibly. Buck did survive but i can't remember if he did die because of his injuries. still. traumatizing to raph that was still fairly new to the world)

- Forced to be family warrior/protector (he doesn't want this, he just wants to be a farmer man 😔👊)

- Witnessed shredder stab Casey (Raph's bestie/first ever friend that he relates to)

- Had to fight against brainwashed brother (Foot Leo)

- Witnessed Donnie's corpse (would def fuck u up if you feel like the protection of your family is your responsibility)

- Gets kidnapped and experimented with/tortured

- Dad dies, rip 🕊️

2012

- Losing Spike (he literally stayed 15 years underground with only his family for company. spike meant so much to him)

- Watching mikey get hurt because of his bad leadership literally made him freeze up and not know what to do at all

- The whole scene of splinter letting his brothers insult him. what the hell 💀

- Fighting his (brainwashed/hypnotized?) dad

- Cockroach mutant

- THE FUCKED UP SQUIRRELS

- Watching his older brother get thrown trough a window (the sequel). And watching said older brother be extremely injured.

- Leo 3 month coma

- GETTING TURNED INTO A PLANT?

- Brainwashed via worm that ate all the way through his skull and into his brain

- Dad dies, rip 🕊️ the sequel (this happens quite a bit in the series) and hil being in the front row of how splinter gets mortally wounded and then thrown off the roof

- Fighting his family while brainwashed

- kidnapped and being put into an oven to die (and would have died if leo didn't go ham and destroyed his enclosure)

- Witnessed someone kill himself while he was actively trying to prevent it

- Witnessing the death of both two little brothers

- Witnessing older brother nearly die. Again (Again. this happens quite a bit in the series)

- the whole mutant bomb apocalypse holy shit

theres def more that im forgetting mb

Bayverse

- Home gets raided, the sequel

- All brothers get kidnapped except for him

- BROKEN SHELL BECAUSE OF SHREDDER AND HE JUST KEEPS GOING???? please..............take one second to rest THATS YOUR SPINE

Rise

- Eldest sister syndrome

- The fucking bunny plushie that I've forgotten the name of (his siblings were so mean for no reason at all that ep 😭)

- Rise shredder

- Having to forcefully remove his family from deathly situation even if it meant leaving a beloved family member behind (he prob blames himself about karai ....augh)

- Kidnapped/taken hostage (?)

- Kraang Brainwashed

- Having to fight younger brother while brainwashed

- Apocalyptic Kraang Future

The last ronin

- Died for literally no reason at all . fly high king 🕊️

Mutant mayhem

- Getting kidnapped (quite violently too)

- Milking Machine

- Getting shell cracked from being squished too hard

[kaiasky]

my dream mc modpack is i think

create and tinkers. disable slime islands.

massively nerf storage. the player's inventory and backpacks stay the same, but otherwise 1 m^2 is a max of 10 item types and 64 items total.

in exchange for that, it's easy to make multi block storage or to unify multiple storage blocks into one interface like ae2. By the early midgame "ah, I need more cobblestone, let me add another cobblestone warehouse" is easy.

you CANNOT void items. If an item would despawn, it places itself on the ground if it can. If it's not a block, it places a "refuse layer" that stack up and form piles. and if it can't find a valid placement location then the chunk starts dealing damage ticks to you because fuck you! don't try and cheat my system

whenever possible, gathering items should impact the world. mining requires leaving mines and spoil tips, forestry and farming require space, industrial processes are larger and get larger the higher tech they are. Solar power takes up actual space, no "tier 5 draconic solar panel" shit. (When possible this isn't just "10x10x10 multiblock" it's a series of machines that need to work together.)

uneven resource distribution, you have to go different places for different ores, i love when modpacks do this

There's an early item called the drafting table that lets you enter into spectator mode with copy/paste and worldedit features within a range around the drafting table. Inventories linked to the drafting table get used by construction bots to construct and deconstruct. Expanding the range and capabilities of your drafting table is an important part of the mod. To get you started it has an inventory the size of 10 double chests, but you can't place two drafting tables within range of one another.

Construction bots can mine natural blocks but they can't collect them, and produces a refuse item that has to be disposed of. to 1) encourage actual mining solutions and 2) let you build underground bases without creating literal mountains of spoil. only a large amount of it.

Chisel mod but more. Most decorative blocks are unified into 20 'structural base' blocks that can be stonecuttered into a variety of decorative blocks. So e.g. you automate 'wooden structure block' which can be stonecut (in the drafting table ui this is a radial menu or something) into logs, stripped, planks, slabs, various 'chisel' textures all at a 1-1 ratio. When mined, they drop as 'x structure block', preventing you from needing to micromanage which building blocks you have enough of. eg you don't say 'shit i need more mossy bricks', you say 'i need more stone structural blocks' which means bigger factory, not crafting montage.

easy and convenient wireless redstone and wireless storage info, but no ender chest stuff. data is easy to get from a to b, and materials require infrastructure.

thermal dynamics viaducts are the primary player transportation thing, bc i think they rule extremely hard. lategame transportation is the jump clone ichun mod. and/or getting fired out of artillery. you gotta water bucket clutch tho

none of that 'oh the endgame is making creative items with omega crafting' shit. you launch a rocket into the sun (the joke is that this is the only way to truly void items, so it is the Ultimate Tech) and the credits play. there can be 'postgame' stuff but i hate a modpack that overstays its welcome and makes 100%ing it the only 'winning'.

[dailyanarchistposts]

The personal is political… and what is “personal” anyways?

The neoliberal ideal of private life is that people freely choose what (supposedly) “works for them,” and everyone else in the community is expected to validate and support their “personal” decisions. This approach, promoted relentlessly by individualist consumer capitalism, ignores the broader political context and interpersonal consequences of our “personal” decisions. This is by design; denying the existence of these structures stifles our ability to identify and mitigate the harms we do to each other while making these choices. In practice, a super-majority of us “choose” monogamy under great institutionalized and interpersonal pressure, and attempts to analyze these pressures or critique the harms of this “choice” are lambasted as a campaign against freedom.

To protect the artificial, system-stabilizing divide between “public” and “private” spheres, neoliberalism has privatized intimate relationships themselves. When frustration or worry is expressed about a partner relationship, the response is often: “what they do is their business” — even when it negatively affects the whole fabric of our community. This denial of the inherent political interconnectedness of our intimate relationships facilitates abuse and division, both between the members of a couple and between the couple and their community. An anti-monogamy lens lets us see how Monogamist ideals push people away from mutualism and communal struggle by pretending that the ways we pursue intimacy and build households are unrelated to our political power.

Imagine an anarchist (or other flavor of politically-engaged collectivist) applying the neoliberal logic of personal choice to Capitalism and other systems of power:

“I know you hate Capitalism, but I really like my job. If you don’t like it, just don’t participate in it, and I’ll keep doing what’s right for me.” “You say pipelines are harmful, but I like using oil and gas. You can get solar panels if it’s important to you! It’s just a personal choice.” “It’s equally valid to support the police as it is to oppose them. Maybe you’ve had bad experiences, but cops have always been helpful to me. Just pick what works for you.”

This should feel absurd. Capitalism, policing, energy systems, and climate destruction are bigger than our individual choices–and so is Monogamism. This is not a matter of simply choosing between two equally accessible options: it’s a constant fight against the ways those systems restrict our lives. Those of us who oppose the restrictions of Monogamism cannot opt out of the ways it dominates our social scripts, legal affairs, and modes of resource distribution.

[mip-dev-center]

MIP "Interactive" Scenario 3: What-If TWR Liked You

(dated 6/6/24). After last interactive, I explained to the denizens of my server that attempts to court MIP Units were not likely to succeed for various reasons. In fact, I proposed that "successfully courting thorns would be a lot worse." I created a short, non-interactive scenario to prove my point. This is that scenario, nestled in the aptly-named "#this-is-just-a-what-if-scenario-and-didnt-happen-ok" channel, is now archived in this wonderful Post.

"You know... You're actually kind of tolerable, 44."

"...Follow me. I am going to show you something."

Thorns Without Roses leads you to a sealed-off chamber.

It opens, revealing an elaborate garden. It's quite impressive, especially given the small space.

"This is my garden. Once I receive my own structure, the Director shall entrust me with a proper Greenhouse. It is going to be quite elaborate and intelligently designed. I am looking forward to it."

"In the meantime... This Garden of mine is a sufficient testing ground. I have cultivated it with beauty in mind, and the atmosphere inspires a measured concentration."

"Take a seat. This bench, in particular, has quite a lovely view. You will appreciate it."

You take a seat on the bench. It is quite comfortable. Small purposed organisms flit about, distributing nutrients throughout the various sections of plant life. The garden feels a bit empty without any birds, but you find yourself enchanted regardless. The tiny purposed organisms move about in carefully-crafted patterns, reporting to machines hidden by dense foliage. Everything is meticulously maintained; not a single petal is out of place. It is not a stifling sort of order, though. Every plant seems... happy, somehow. Or so you think, at least. You're surprised to find that TWR has such a caring side.

"Okay, now give me your hand..."

You oblige.

author's note: I hate this panel so much I think it looks really ugly... but I hope you are able to enjoy it, even if I don't.

"Good! Thank you, 44."

You smile at her.

"Looking at you like this..."

"You know, you kind of remind me of a flower right now. You're right at home in my little Garden. It's a wonderful place, isn't it?"

You nod. It's a bit strange to see Thorns compliment someone like this, but she sounds genuine.

"I knew you would agree. You're fond of plants, aren't you?"

She's smiling quite warmly, for some reason. Honestly, it's a little off-putting. I was not aware she was even capable of such an expression.

...Anyways, you tell her you do, indeed, love plants.

"Good. It makes me happy to hear you say that. Now, hold still. I have prepared a 'surprise' for you."

Against your better judgement, you listen to her.

Suddenly, a collection of vines wrap around you, restraining you against the bench. Hopefully you're comfortable, because it doesn't seem like you'll be getting up any time soon!

Of course, perhaps if you weren't such an idiot, you wouldn't have found yourself in this situation in the first place. Honestly, I knew something was up with her. She's probably planning to dissect you or something.

"Alright, I have to tend to my duties now. Unfortunately, my position as an Assistant keeps me quite busy. But do not worry! I shall be back later. In the meantime, you can familiarize yourself with your new residence!"

She smiles manically. What is she doing?

"Okay, farewell, little flower! Don't go anywhere...!"

You watch them leave out the Chamber door. It seals shut behind TWR, and your restraints release.

The vines move to cover the doorway, just in case you had any ideas about leaving. This is... Absolutely not allowed. How does she plan to get away with this...?

Something must be wrong with her. I don't remember programming her like this...

Well, I'm sure the Director shall fix everything. Think of this like... a temporary garden tour, or something.

[SCENARIO END]

...I failed my mission, by the way. This scenario seemed to have the opposite effect.

not that I can blame anyone I wish Thorns would lock ME up in her garden ahahahahahha who said that

[greater7expanse]

with Pocket Player (working title) i hope i can get people (esp the youth) more interested in things like right to repair, making & modifying your own tools, fair music distribution & ownership, as well as the desire to acquire general engineering & manufacturing skills with the clarity of mind required to understand the origin and consequence of the things that surround us. to be honest i'd also like to make a lot of money in the process but idk if that's compatible with what i'm about to say...

power and freedom is currently awarded to those that can create or capture value and capitalize on it; ideas and culture are made downstream by actors lacking the means to directly turn them into reality so our value is captured and lost higher up in the chain to those who can. all meaning is lost and social stratification occurs as the "bottom players" with little hope of exercising their free will involuntarily resign themselves to consuming ideas or worse, producing them on behalf of those who can. due to information asymmetries and power differentials socially dominating structures self-validate and reinforce themselves with little resistance. lest we continue to subject ourselves to the will and influence of others we must collectively orchestrate another great emancipatory movement and industrial revolution in order to free each other and turn relations of (co)dependence into ones of mutuality and collaboration (interdependence)..

in practice this directly relates to the tasks of Research, Design, Development, and Production. surviving the next decade while minimizing suffering will require decoupling our reliance on the structures that enable these tasks and making our own together. i.e seizing the means of production and freaking them a little... because in a world like ours it becomes exceedingly important and obvious that we must own the means by which we achieve our dreams....

we are all captive agents in a big interconnected game, however our seemingly limited position in such a complex mechanism is actually our freedom - we must never forget that we are much more free than we think...

finally and ironically, we need much less talking heads speaking about said culture and more "solution oriented, practical thinking & action"-heads. get off the panel and onto the farm/assembly line/mill/garment house, stat! you're being way too serious! my point is not to hate but to say: how can we possibly imagine a better future for ourselves if we don't see visions of it play out beside us - it's our duty to create and present new possibilities of life and play in the real world... not for the sake of vanity or accomplishment but in pursuit of renewal and spreading hope...

Waking Life and everything that will come out of it including Pocket Player is the embodiment of my personal struggle with these ideas throughout the course of my actualization in this lifetime, and so I hope to share and present my vision of a better future in hopes that it can inspire others to see that it is possible to do the same, that's about it!

[renarin-kholin]

WaT review:

3/5 stars

The good:

- Adolin!!!!!!

- Kaladin and szeth!

- Moash getting turned into an Inquisitor! Genuinely the only moment of the book to make me gasp out loud.

- My riding chasmfiends into battle theory came true! Although it didn't feel as grand and epic as the sandworms in dune. I think Brandon heard the people complaining about too much venli in RoW (couldn't be me) so he just cut all their stuff this book 😭

The bad:

- Mostly everything else.

- Todium povs ruined any bit of surprise we could've had. Like why tell people what you're going to do! Just DO IT and let the readers be shocked and horrified!

- Todium was a mustache twirling villain the entire book explaining how he had four members on the thaylen council, how they took apart one panel of the aluminum lining, how they would've removed fen from power, how he had deepest ones ready etc.

- Too much information regarding things that never got resolved or brought up again but also not enough information that was actually needed.

- Jasnah you are smarter than this: "don't join our enemy because he's murdered thousands and by joining him you become complicit in the damage!" and yet is Fen not complicit because she joined the Blackthorn's side? What about all the pillaging and war crimes Alethi soldiers have done? Or does it not count now when it's your side?

- Ivory was USELESS!!! what's the point in having a super smart logic driven inkspren who doesn't even help during the most important debate of your life?

- Kaladin winning his fight with talk no jutsu or more accurate poetry slam no jutsu

- I'm sorry but the mental health element of this book was obnoxious. A lot of it felt like exactly what you'd read in a school textbook regarding the subject.

- "I'm his therapist" bad bad bad hated this cringe so cringe the worst cringe

- While I like where everyone ended up I do not like the marvel element of the blackthorn now being a force on Todiums side like what the hell is that 😭

- I'm sure I'll think of more but man am I disappointed. I'm never going to get the feeling I had while reading WoR again am I?

Bonus thought regarding the Shin: Strange voices lying in stones distributing swords is no basis for a system of government

[ratguy-nico]

People...I made a think, im extremely ashamed of myself for this one.

When you see this, many questions will come to mind, first of all why.

(Read underneath if you want to know why)

(Ended uploiding the comic in other post so you actually dont need to read this, just do if you're comfortable with a guy complaining about himself)

Now the rant of hate to my own child. EHEM.

To begin with; why does the first panel look totally diferent to the other ones? Easy, I start this when I was better in the head, actually I started this comic at the same time that my last drawing of Louise and Rudy, the rest I did it since friday and spent 4 days trying to do something with it... but this is the only thing that came out. Sorry

Second. Why the colors?... I truly dont know, I started with the regular palette (got it?) but then decided I wanted to try new things, tried to do shit that pros do with weird color palettess, I forget that my knowledge of color theory is limited to complementary colors so a don't have any idea of what this disaster is (in an early version there was a smurf rudy, imagine)

Somenthing similar happens with the lineart, trying to do new things, the gods nows why 😩

Also get creative with the panels, there's an early version, that I have the intention to uploud that was way more simple, I dont know why I didnt went with that one. Maybe because I hate myself.

The distribution of the panels...again no idea; creo que estaba tratando de hacerme el interesante, i dont know how to express this in english, but lets say i was trying to be cool. Im not, I know.

Ending this sad parade of excuses I have to say, Im not happy with the result, but... I really want it to do this good, I like this comic in my head, since Im a kid I loved to draw comics like crazy, I would like to go back to that. So this is my first step, its not perfect but is a start.

Bare with me, I know is hard, I have to do it daily.

(I decided to upload the comic in a different post, even if I hate it, its my baby and deserved better than to be with this sad mopping babbling of a guy too old to be doing this kind of tantrum)

[kryptonitecore]

Rereading: The Transformers, #14-18 (2009)

I think the Joe Gladki framing device, the perspective of a fairly ordinary American man whose paranoia is being manipulated by one of Megatron’s constituent parts, is actually really interesting to me. I’m slightly skeptical of how Joe’s able to afford it, even from a dodgy under-the-table seller, but it’s an actually compelling use of a human perspective, which is something I feel Costa has been struggling to find despite his obvious interest in bulking up the role of human characters. Yes, the reliance on ‘being a man’ is a bit tiring, but at least it’s a motivation rooted in a vulnerability that makes a certain amount of sense for the character. If anything, I think this framing device was underutilised and could have played a much larger role. Although Gladki returns (very briefly) later on, he is almost entirely confined to the first few pages. I wonder if this is the sort of thing that could have come earlier in Costa’s run, where it didn’t have to be shoved to the side to get to something more climactic? 

Continuing along these lines, I think this is the best of the Costa volumes I’ve read so far, in no small part due to the fact that things actually happen here. The pace picks up significantly, especially in the later issues, and far more characters are shown on panel, particularly Decepticons. We get some segments that are very much telling rather than showing, but they’re mostly exposition to fill in some of the gaps that had been left behind.

However, several of my old objections still remain. For a start, and again, especially in the earlier issues, all of the characters are just perpetually annoyed. It’s no secret that Costa struggled with writing Cybertronian characters or conceiving of them in a way that he found personally compelling, so I think he sometimes tries to get around that by having everyone argue for no reason - it’s tension… just tension that doesn’t really make any sense.

Other old nit-picks returns, like having characters call each other ‘brother’ rather abruptly and there still not really being an explanation for the near-total collapse of the Decepticon faction, but there you go. I mean, I’d assume energon ran out, but we have no idea how they produce energon or how much of it they need and how they distribute it. I don’t think we’ve ever seen the Autobots making or consuming energon either, yet they seem fine…

This is a more abstract point, but I do wonder whether they might have been better served by saving Ironhide’s death for this point in the storyline. Ironhide was killed off (in place of Bumblebee) very early in the run to establish Skywatch as a threat, teach Rodimus something, and cause Optimus’ defection. However, I really think that could have achieved that without killing off one of the more thoroughly established Autobots, especially considering that Skywatch very quickly become allies of the Autobots. Now, however, the comic is trying to emphasise Megatron’s power as much as it possibly can… It seems a death in the ranks could have been a more convenient and impactful way to up the stakes.

Speaking of high stakes, in the last issue we have the moments that probably have the longest-lasting impact on the continuity as a whole, which are Jazz shooting the policeman, Powell, and Optimus realising that Spike might have killed Scrapper even though he was unarmed and injured. I have some issues surrounding the scene with Powell, the first being that the lack of urgency or alarm from Bumblebee (and the other Autobots!)  really undersells the scene. Secondly, Jazz’s actions are… nowhere near as egregious as some later comics made them sound, in my opinion. I don’t hate the idea of how the highly televised killing of an authority figure, even one who was actively dangerous to his own allies, could become a PR nightmare. That, I can very much get onboard with as a narrative direction, but what I do struggle with is the idea that this would be such a shocking and impactful moment for Jazz and the others. I mean, surely they’ve killed people/seen people killed in far more dubious circumstances, right?

Along these same lines, I was actually very interested to see that Spike killing Scrapper came back around, and I do think that Costa was doing something neat by having these two situations serve as parallels to one another - Powell holds the surrendered and injured Autobots at gunpoint, intending to kill them, but hesitates when Bumblebee talks to him, whereas Spike had few to no reservations about killing the injured and surrendered Scrapper. However, it is a little jarring for Scrapper to be the death that causes Optimus’ crisis of faith in Spike and Skywatch, especially considering what happened to Ironhide, who was killed trying to help rescue Prowl. Admittedly, Ironhide was not killed by Spike himself, but he was certainly killed by Skywatch’s forces, who were Spike’s men.

The emotional core of these last few issues is quite dependent on you being invested in Spike and Optimus’ relationship. It does at least balance that out with lots of Megatron and Optimus moments, but overall I think Costa is still more focused on defining the  separation between humans and Cybertronians, this time around the idea that Cybertronians are incapable of change or real improvement, which is an idea he’s brought up before, most notably in the Thundercracker-centric issue. 

Optimus Prime: (to Megatron) It’s the first upgrade I’ve seen you make since we first tangled. Myself, I’ve used this same blaster for millennia… But these humans… They advance.

To be blunt, this is simply not an interpretation of the characters that I care for, especially as I feel it would be far easier to argue that Cybertronians are socially, politically, and philosophically entrenched than it would be to argue that their pace of technological development is too slow. The fact that this idea repeats itself, even appearing during the major confrontation between Optimus and Megatron, really does suggest to me that this was something that Costa considered a core theme of his work. However, it ultimately puts me off some of those scenes, because even as I am watching Megatron and Optimus argue, I’ve got this nagging feeling that the author actually wants to write about Cybertronian nature and human nature instead.

[jt-sparky]

It’s not about the traits, it’s about who and why they have it. So comparing gets you nowhere.

It's absurd that people believe certain characters are entitled to a specific trait or trauma. I understand the frustration that Jason is more popular compared to Helena but maybe her fans should focus on creating more content uplifting her than bashing Jason.

Jason is a victim to inconsistent writing and poorly written stories (often times due to classism and the writers straight up hating him) and some of his slander is justified but the same point which I always see regurgitated is that his fans give him something belonging either to Helena Bertinelli or Selina Kyle. I often hate fanon interpretations (I'm looking at you wimpy Tim) and oftentimes people do reduce characters to mere caricatures and do steal stuff from others. But in the case of Jason a lot of these "stolen" aspects have a canonical origin:

Jason is dubbed the "angry robin", which is a problem in itself, however the times when he is "aggressive" is when women and children are hurt so it is not wrong to speculate he is more protective over them. In UtRH, he makes it a rule not to sell drugs to children or involve kids in the drug distribution. The whole event leading up to DiTF is that he allegedly shoves a rapist off a building because a woman committed suicide. During Lost Days he dismantles a child trafficking ring and kills the guy responsible. He also has multiple maternal figures so again it is not wrong to state he would show a lot of respect towards women. All these CANON events do showcase him having a tendency to prioritise women and children.

The CSA (it does not even have to specifically be child prostitution) is not outright stated and it is up to personal interpretations if you think it did happen but no one can outright deny the heavy implications. Again, many times when he was shown as "aggressive" during his Robin run is when a sexual crime was involved (like I said he may or may not have killed a rapist). As well as the fact that when he talks to Mia about her own prostitution he says he relates to it (sorry but I can't remember the exact details because I haven't reread that run in a while), btw I am not saying him bringing up Mia's cannon trauma is justified. A lot of fans also speculate that CSA is the secret Bruce referred to in BftC that caused Jason to show an extreme reaction.

Multiple times it has been showcased that Jason loved school, he showed an interest for the theatre and he often references classical literature. During his time in Arkham/prison, one of the panels shows him reading Pride & Prejudice. Another instance is when (I can't remember if it was pre-crisis or post-crisis) he said "Call me Ishmael" (a reference to Moby Dick). If you want to know any other books Jason has canonically read here is a link to a list.

If people are gonna hate Jason then hate him for correct reasons (e.g: his killing philosophy, inconsistent motives and character, hurting the batfam) not because he has some aspect YOU BELIEVE that he "stole" from another character.

The only reason people keep saying “Jason fanon copies Helena canon” is because they mad their fav isn’t well known.

Most of Jason fanon traits is based on his robin days. He’s been written as an anti hero and villain and has a lot of characterisation. His writing is inconsistent. So what’s wrong if people write him based on how they view him. It’s called fanon for a reason and expecting people to pick up your fav while you are hating Jason is ludicrous. The morale superiority some people have just because their fav is not well known or a woman is ridiculous.

I used to nod my head to this take because I felt like “hey Jason is a guy and Helena/Mia are women whose stories been stolen” like I wanted to be politically correct and I thought this was right. But fuck this. Why do they get to have those traits only? Is it a crime if someone thinks it’s rationale for Jason’s character to take this trope. Fanon is meant to write wtv fuck u the want that isn’t in canon and half the time they aren’t far- fetched.

Jason has always looked out for women and children during his robin days and even as red hood sometimes. Sure it’s inconsistent but it’s without a doubt people do that simply because they know his character. He is from the crime alley and his mother was a drug addict. People hc him being an English teacher simply because he has shown to be interested in literature. He was from the streets so it isn’t far fetched and even implied in a comic (during Mia’s interaction in arrow) that he might have done child prostitution to get by. It’s fanon people are allowed to explore possibilities. How does him having such experiences invalidate your fav’s experiences? Is it wrong that such a strong and big guy had such experiences? Maybe people write that so they can cope with such experiences since they relate to him more. Are these experiences only for your favs? That’s ridiculous.

I don’t get why people are mad at a fanon characterisation that has its roots in comics. The guy hasn’t been written well at all and people in fanon write their take on him. One you have never read Jason as Robin or redhood. 2 you think you’re justified to hate Jason simply because “poor Helena, Jason takes her place”.

Dc has so many characters and some characters are bound to be similar in some ways.

Helena is already an amazing character so why does hating Jason your way of promoting her? She doesn’t need to be compared tf. Some people just hate on Jason and read zero comics on her. Somehow people have made themselves believe Jason is the reason why Helena isn’t popular. Jason is popular because he’s a bad victim not a model one and people relate to that. A lot of people DO NOT WANT HIM to be Helena. They prefer him as a villain. I’m deadass done w anyone who tries to pretend he can’t have any of these traits. It’s not about the traits, it’s about who and why they have it. So comparing gets you nowhere.

Lastly, let’s be honest Jason fans don’t read any other comics or works besides Jason. So how would they copy a character they don’t know exist?

[bllsbailey]

Piers Morgan Drops Hammer on Taylor Lorenz After She Repeatedly Laughs Over UnitedHealthcare CEO’s Murder

Piers Morgan was left dumbfounded during a panel discussion involving former Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, who said she felt "joy" over the cold-blooded execution of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Thompson was murdered on December 4th in a targeted attack outside the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan, where he was shot multiple times by a gunman who had been lying in wait. 

The suspect, Luigi Mangione, was apprehended on Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after being recognized at a McDonald's; he was found with a gun, a silencer, and a manifesto criticizing healthcare companies.

Lorenz had applauded Thompson's brutal slaying on social media, openly suggesting that other healthcare CEOs should suffer the same fate. Morgan brought her in for a panel discussion, which also featured Tomi Lahren, and Taylor doubled down.

— Rusty (@Rusty_Weiss) December 10, 2024

“Why would you be in such a celebratory mood about the execution of another human being?” the British journalist asked. “Aren’t you supposed to be on the caring, sharing left where, you know, you believe in the sanctity of life?”

Lorenz countered, “I do believe in the sanctity of life and I think that’s why I felt, along with so many other Americans, joy, unfortunately.”

It's at this point where Lorenz attempts a half-hearted backtrack, but the smile on her face and the ensuing giggling throughout the segment betray her actual feelings.

The Hate Actually Emanates From the Left—'Journalist' Taylor Lorenz's Despicable Take on CEO's Murder

“Joy?! Serious? Joy at a man’s execution?” a shocked Morgan retorted.

“Maybe not joy, but certainly not empathy,” Lorenz tried to defend.

Y'all don't hate Taylor Lorenz enough. pic.twitter.com/GV54WSEa6j— Leftism (@LeftismForU) December 5, 2024

“How can this make you joyful? This guy is a husband, he’s a father, and he’s been gunned down in the middle of Manhattan. Why does that make you joyful?” the "Piers Morgan Uncensored" host pressed.

“So are the tens of thousands of Americans that he murdered!” Lorenz argued. “So are the tens of thousands of Americans, innocent Americans, who died because greedy health insurance executives like this one push a policy of denying care to the most vulnerable people, and I am a part of the many millions of Americans that have watched people that I care about suffer and in some cases die because of lack of healthcare.”

Guess it's back to the joy part again.

The Left's Ghoulish Death Cult Is Celebrating Murder of Health Care CEO, Calling for More Assassinations

Morgan asked if all healthcare officials should be similarly killed, which prompted Lorenz to start laughing like a schoolgirl, adding, "Um, no."

“Well, why not? Why are you laughing? You seem to find the whole thing hilarious. A bloke’s been murdered in the street. I don’t find it funny at all," Piers countered.

When Morgan brought Lahren into the discussion, things got a little ugly.

Lorenz demanded the host stop referring to her comments about being "joyful" over Thompson's murder, despite having said it earlier in the segment.

When Lahren called the alleged journalist's take a "bridge too far," Lorenz could be seen repeatedly chuckling. Morgan had to interject and address the buffoonish behavior.

“Taylor, I don’t mean to be rude, but why the f**k are you laughing all the time?” the exasperated host shot back. “I don’t get it. Sorry, apologies for my language, but honestly, I find it unbelievable! What are you laughing at?”

Perhaps Taylor's utterly insane justification of cold-blooded murder is what led to Vox Media ending its deal to distribute her podcast and YouTube show.

[hydrus]

Version 598

windows

zip

exe

macOS

app

linux

tar.zst

I had a great week fixing bugs and cleaning code.

full changelog

fixing some mistakes

First off, I apologise to those who were hit by the 'serialisation' problems where certain importers were not saving correctly. I screwed up my import folder deduplication code last week; I had a test to make sure the deduplication transformation worked, but the test missed that some importers were not saving correctly afterwards. If you were hit by an import folder, subscription, or downloader page that would not save, this is now completely fixed. Nothing was damaged (it just could not save new work), and you do not have to do anything, so please just unpause anything that was paused and you should return to normal.

I hate having these errors, which are basically just a typo, so I have rejigged my testing regime to explicitly check for this with all my weekly changes. I hope it will not happen again, or at least not so stupidly. Let me know if you have any more trouble!

Relatedly, I went on a code-cleaning binge this week and hammered out a couple hundred 'linting' (code-checking) warnings, and found a handful of small true-positive problems in the mess. I've cleared out a whole haystack here, and I am determined to keep it clean, so future needles should stick out.

other stuff

I moved around a bunch of the checkboxes in the options dialog. Stuff that was in the options->tags and options->search pages is separated into file search, tag editing, and tag autocomplete tabs. The drag and drop options are also overhauled and moved to a new options->exporting page.

I rewrote the main 'ListBook' widget that the options dialog uses (where you have a list on the left that chooses panels on the right). If you have many tag services and they do not fit with the normal tabbed notebook, then under the new options->tag editing, you can now set to convert all tag service dialogs to use a ListBook instead. Everything works the same, it is just a different shape of widget.

A page that has no files selected now only uses the first n files (default 4096) to compute its 'selection tags' list when there are no files selected. This saves a bunch of update CPU time on big pages, particularly if you are looking at a big importer page that is continuously adding new files. You can change the n, including removing it entirely, under options->tag presentation.

If you are an advanced downloader maker, 'subsidiary page parsers' are now import/export/duplicate-able under the parsing UI.

job listing

I was recently contacted by a recruiter at Spellbrush, which is a research firm training AI models to produce anime characters, and now looking to get into games. I cannot apply for IRL reasons, and I am happy working on hydrus, but I talked with the guy and he was sensible and professional and understood the culture. There are several anime-fluent programmers in the hydrus community, so I offered to put the listings up on my weekly post today. If you have some experience and are interested in getting paid to do this, please check it out:

Spellbrush design and train the diffusion models powering both nijijourney and midjourney -- some of the largest-parameter count diffusion models in the world, with a unique focus on anime-style aesthetics. Our team is one of the strongest in the world, many of whom graduated from top universities like MIT and Harvard, worked on AI research at companies like Tencent, Google Deepmind, and Meta, and we have two international math olympiad medalists on our team.

We're looking for a generalist engineer to help us with various projects from architecting and building out our GPU orchestrator, to managing our data pipelines. We have one of the largest GPU inference clusters in the world outside of FAANG, spanning multiple physical datacenters. There's no shortage of interesting distributed systems and data challenges to solve when generating anime images at our scale.

Please note that this is not a remote role. We will sponsor work visas to Tokyo or San Francisco if necessary!

Software Engineer

AI Infra Engineer

next week

I did not find time for much duplicates auto-resolution work this week, so back to that.