#data normalisation

[dkettchen]

absolutely unintelligeable meme I made during bootcamp lecture this morning

[hypexion]

A serious (and seemingly obvious) problem with the implementation of the Online Safety Act is that it requires malicious actors to not exist.

Since the UK govenment in any form hates paying for things, especially things required for their goals, the current situation is that websites have to work out to do age verification themselves. There is no government-approved or provided service for this - it's a free-for-all of third-party verification providers.

Now, some people are pointing out that depending on how these companies handle the data given to them to perform verification, it's possible this data could be stolen or leaked. This is a worrying possibility. This danger is primarily one of passive incompetence, although if your driver's licence gets leaked, you won't be happy either way.

But passive incompetence probably isn't going to hurt anyone before active malice does.

Normalising showing your face or identity documents to random websites is an incredibly stupid thing to do. You know who benefits from this? Actual criminals! Phishing attacks continue to be successful because people will put their banking details into websites that are very much not their banks. And while random websites asking for your banking details is suspicious, the OSA makes it so that random websites asking for your driver's license or passport or other such things will now be expected.

Meaning an enterprising criminal can set up a website, stick a fake age verification pop-up on it, and harvest a whole bunch of things that come in useful for committing identity theft. Or blackmail perhaps.

The overall point here is that in this respect, the Online Safety Act is going to make the internet more dangerous, in a way that should be obvious if you actually think about the potential negative consequences.

[is-the-post-reliable]

I wanted to practice media literacy, but something that keeps coming up is reaffirming to trust what a majority of scientists and doctors believe rather than the fringe ones who may be trying to sell you something. And I agree with that, but I keep getting this bad feeling in the back of my mind because, well, I remember learning about how a lot of different scientific fields are based in ableism, racism, misogyny, etc. Like, for example, a majority of doctors in the US are in favour of invasive and traumatizing surgeries on intersex infants to "fix" them, while intersex adults advocate against these surgeries.

Will this come up in the later courses and discussions on media literacy? Stuff like, trusting the scientific method even if the general consensus is scewed due to being a part of an oppressive system? Thank you ☆

hi! so first of all, I want to start by saying this is probably outside of the scope of this blog to definitively answer - this kind of issue could be debated forever. Also, I want to clarify that I’m not trying to give a ‘course’ here, I’m not a teacher in any way, I’m just some guy who likes fact checking

So with that in mind, I think we should definitely acknowledge that scientific communites are made up of people, who all have their own biases. Social beliefs absolutely have, and will continue, to affect our scientific understanding. That being said, I don’t think that bias is inherent to the scientific method - in actuality, it’s the opposite. When biases affect the research, that’s bad science, which is exactly what media literacy and scientific literacy helps us distinguish. Essentially, I don’t think that these biases are a reason to not practice media literacy. Media literacy is what helps us to think critically about these things.

To use your own example, surgical intervention on intersex infants was based on little data, and became the normalised ‘treatment’ before any rigorous studies were done. It’s the introduction of proper scientific method in medical care that has helped to change our understanding of surgical intervention, and is now pushing to limit surgeries on intersex infants.

From the American Journal of Bioethics: ‘However, the main empirical premises behind this approach, namely, that significant psychosocial benefits would in fact accrue to the child because of early surgery and that these benefits would, moreover, reliably outweigh the associated risks of physical and mental harm, were never subjected to rigorous testing (Creighton and Liao Citation2004; Liao et al. Citation2019). Rather, standard practice in this area became entrenched and institutionalized long before the advent of modern evidence-based medicine (Diamond and Beh Citation2008; Garland and Travis Citation2020a; Dalke, Baratz, and Greenberg Citation2020) as well as key developments in bioethics and children’s rights (Brennan Citation2003; Reis Citation2019; Alderson Citation2023; Gheaus Citation2024).‘

[do-you-have-a-flag]

i'm gonna be so real with you, the more i see countries including my own pushing age verification as an excuse to de-anonymise internet use the more i'm like well i guess if it comes to that i'll just lose access. we already deal with so many data leaks regularly, connecting personal id across multiple platforms more than we already do can only lead to more security issues. not to mention the security of info being collected itself and the normalisation of biodata collection. it does not matter that years long usage makes me unlikely to be flagged by some ai as needing verification, that's an arbitrary assurance that can be revoked at any time for a blanket age verification requirement. and this isn't just for social media it's for google also.

[the-maddest-robot]

Ok, so I finished the processing of my new photo of the Flaming Star Nebula (IC 405)

Image taken in SII and Ha with a few RGB images to have the correct star colours. This is technically an SHH combination image but with a narrowband normalisation and a lot of curve modifications (with and without colour masks) to get colours/contrast that I liked. I already had taken a photo of this nebula, but it was using mostly RGB data with a bit of Ha (and a lot less integration time). It did show the dust reflection way better, but I like the contrast we can see inside the nebula's gas on this one. Thanks to @shaythempronouns for suggesting the use of an SII filter to image this nebula. Starless version :

(Image taken using a CarbonStar 150/600 newtonian telescope with a 0.95 coma corrector, ZWO ASI294 monochrome camera ZWO LRGB filters and Baader 6.5nm narrowband filter. 5x120s image for each colour filter (RGB), 29x300s for the Ha filter and 33x300s for the SII filter, total imaging time 6h 35min, stacking and processing done in PixInsight. Photo taken mid-January)

[guardiandua91]

Why I Dislike Digimon Tamers

Okay, so I was discussing this with an acquaintance who was struggling to understand why I dislike Digimon Tamers so I'll put it here. Digimon Tamers went out of its way to be graphic about things that didn't need to be done graphically.

Example 1: Jeri becomes suicidal during the whole D-Reaper arc.

The reasons are different - but we've seen suicidal characters before. I will use Ken as an example instead of Yamato because that's a whole other can of worms. Ken wanted to die to stop the reactor - he didn't care about his own life - we didn't need to see a physical manifestation of him trying to strangle himself, we were shown it in other ways. Jeri trying to strangle herself was way too overkill and unnecessary.

Example 2: Normalising killing digimon

To me, a good show needs to have a difference between the hero and the villain. This show really didn't. Like Digimon Kaiser didn't mind killing digimon who got in the way of Chimeramon and he destroyed thousands of homes. Wormmon died because of him too. But he was a villain at that point in time. In Digimon Tamers, even characters like Guilmon absorb the data of the digimon they defeat to gain more power so then what makes Beelzemon evil if he does the same to Leomon? Why are Takato and Guilmon considered the heroes and Beelzemon is considered the villain.

Example 3: Toxic parents

Toxic parents is another way that Tamers tried to be dark but we've already seen that with Ken and Sam. And with Ken, it was even worse than Jeri because Jeri only had an abusive father. Ken had an abusive father, mother and older brother. Like Jeri, Ken blamed himself for Sam's death believing it was his fault and while Jeri became miss damsel in distress, Ken turned into the villain - cause villains are made, not born.

All in all, the reason I dislike Digimon Tamers is it did not do anything that Adventure 02 hadn't done already. People call Adventure 02 the lighthearted season but I would say its darker than Digimon Tamers without trying too hard.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Also preserved in our archive

Ethnic groups in Scotland were over two times more likely to experience the death of someone close to them during Covid-19 than the white population, according to a groundbreaking report released today by researchers from the University of St Andrews.

The report, entitled Racism, belonging and Covid's legacy of ethnic inequalities in Scotland drew on data collected by the Evidence for Equality National Survey (EVENS) and was authored by Professor Nissa Finney from the School of Geography and Sustainable Development.

The EVENS data was collected between February and October 2021 to document the experiences of ethnic and religious minorities in Britain during the Covid-19 pandemic. Respondents were asked to consider bereavement since February 2020.

It found that, in Scotland, experiencing bereavement was highest for those identifying with 'Any other' ethnic group (68%), Indian (44 %) and Pakistani (38%). The national average was around 25%.

Similar levels of bereavement experience were found for ethnic minority groups in England and Wales.

The report is a collaboration between researchers at the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE) at the University of St Andrews and the University of Manchester and the Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector umbrella body BEMIS, and has for the first time collated data to show the ethnic inequalities in experience of bereavement during the Covid-19 crisis.

The report also collated data around various questions relating to discrimination and racism in Scotland's ethnic groups, including attitudes to nationhood, belonging, political trust and relationship to policing.

It revealed that 9 in 10 Black Caribbean respondents in Scotland had recent experience of racist insult. Other minorities – Chinese (44%), Other Black (41%, and White Irish (33%) – had also experienced insult in the last five years for reasons to do with their ethnicity, race, colour or religion.

Professor Finney said: "The disproportionate impacts of Covid-19 on ethnic minorities in Scotland and the rest of Britain aren't over. People are still dealing with its consequences day to day. Living with the loss of someone close to you doesn't end when vaccination programmes stop.

"Our research with the EVENS Survey shows that ethnic minority people are more than twice as likely to have experienced Covid-related bereavement compared to White British. In Scotland twice the proportion of people identifying as Black and Asian compared to White British experienced the death of someone close to them during Covid.

"Our new data reveal that racism is becoming normalised. Over 80 percent of ethnic minorities experience racism during their life. In Scotland 1 in 10 Black, Asian, Arab and Chinese people have experienced unfair treatment from the police due to ethnicity or race in recent years. And most ethnic minorities worry about racism. For Black groups particularly, most accept racism as a fact of life. This is a very concerning state of affairs.

"The EVENS Survey shows very strongly that most ethnic minorities have a strong sense of feeling part of British and Scottish society and high levels of trust for Government, particularly Scottish Government."

Nissa Finney is Professor of Human Geography at St Andrews, Director of the Evidence for Equality National Survey, founding member of the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity (CoDE), and member of the ESRC Centre for Population Change. She has researched, taught and published widely on ethnic inequalities, residential mobility, housing, neighbourhood change, segregation and research methods.

Category Health

/Public Release. This material from the originating organization/author(s) might be of the point-in-time nature, and edited for clarity, style and length. Mirage.News does not take institutional positions or sides, and all views, positions, and conclusions expressed herein are solely those of the author(s).View in full here. pure.manchester.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/351424296/Racism_Covid_and_Belonging_in_Scotland_CoDE_BEMIS_DEC2024.pdf

[planetlongjourney]

Hey guys can we normalise liking Data. Yeah it’s normal to like him, but can we just actually drop his name in conversation like you would with an obsessive crush? However now that I think about it people might start thinking I’m some sort of computer programmer or software developer so maybe not. Uhhhh. It’s a no go unless we call him by his full government Starfleet name

[revretch]

Every time I see the latest freakout over AI scraping social media for data, it's like......this isn't new, guys. Far from it. Where did you think computational linguists were getting their datasets, even as far back as 2011??

[nimblermortal]

Please tell me about the etymology of the word Shaman!

Thank youuuuuuuuuuuuuu

From The Archaeology of Shamanism by Neil S. Price:

When a dissident priest called Avvakum arrived in the lands of the nomadic, reindeer-herding Evenki in the early 1650s, having been exiled to central Siberia by the patriarch of the Russian Orthodoz Church, no outside had ever heard of a šaman, let alone written the word down or explored the cosmological understandings that underpinned its meaning. By the time of his execution for heresy in 1682, Avvakum's descriptions communicated during his sojourn among the Evenki had already laid the foundations for what anthropologists would later term the study of shamanism. Over the following 150 years, as Siberia was traversed by missionaries, political exiles (often highly educated intellectuals), Tsarist agents, and European travellers, more and more stories were recorded of the intriguing beliefs and practices to be found among the tribal peoples there: from the Nenets, Mansi, Khanty, Ngansan, and Enets of the Uralic group around the Yamal peninsula, the Ob and Yenisei river basins and the north Siberian coast; the Turkis-speaking Yakut and Dolgan on the lower Lena; the Tungusic-Mandchruian peoples of central Siberia, including the Even and the Evenki themselves; and the Yukaghir, Chukchi, Koryak, and Itelmen of eastern Siberia and the Pacific coast, amongst many others. The tales told by these early voyagers were startling, and aroused intense interest in Russia and Europe. A fragmentary picture emerged of an 'ensouled world'in which everything was alive, and filled with spirits - animals, natural features, even what to Western eyes were inanimate objects. To such beings could be linked almost every aspect of material life: sickness and health, the provision of food and shelter, success in hunting, and the well-being of the community. The maintenance of good relationships with these spirits was thus of crucial importance, and the most striking of the travellers' stories concerned the special individuals who attained states of trance and ecstasy in order to send out their souls to communicate with these beings, to enlist their aid or bind them to their will, sometimes even to engage them in combat. The operative sphere of these people, whom the Evenki called šaman, was revealed as a world of mediation, of negotiation between the realm of human beings and the adjacent, occasionally coincident, planes of existence in which dwelt the gods, the spirits of nature, and the souls of the dead. The complex variety of equipment used in these ceremonies was also described: the strange headgear and jackets hung with jingling amulets, the fur and feathers of animals, metal images; the masks and veils; the effigies and figurines; and above all, the drums. Some of this data was published and widely discussed in scholarly circles, and during the eighteenth century the Evenk concept of the šaman was taken up in Russia as a useful collective for the similar figures that were encountered from one tribe to another across the region. From the phonetic constructions used to record these concepts (the indigenous Siberians had no written language), šaman or sama:n was soon normalised via Russian to the western European languages, creating the more conventional 'shaman'(the Evenki pronounced the word with the accent on the second syllable, 'sha-márn', but the alternative forms of 'shár-man' or 'sháy-man' are now more common). At first, there were few that associated these individuals, and the role that they played within their communities, with 'religion' in the sense of an organised system of worship. The notion of a collective pattern of belief - shamanism - arose first when the Christian missions began to seriously target the Siberian peoples for conversion, and thus sought to identify a pagan religion towards the overthrow of which they could concentrate their efforts.

He's such a good writer, isn't he? Anyway that's the first section of the introduction, but I also wanted to include this next paragraph because it deals with the evolution of the term to deal with cultures outside of Siberia (emphases mine):

One major trend however continues to polarise shamanic studies: the question of geographic frames of reference. Even now, echoing the debates of the early twentieth century, some historians of religion strongly resist the use of the term 'shamanism'beyond certain regions of central Siberia. In one sense these objections seem baffling, given that - as we have seen - the concept of shamanism has always been an externally imposed construction, and does not exist anywhere at all other than in the minds of its students. Not even the Evenki have an overall word for what the šaman does, though like several other Siberian peoples they have a broad vocabulary for the different components of the shamanic complex. As both a term and a notion, shamanism is entirely an academic creation, and as such it is certainly a useful tool serving to describe a pattern of ritual behavior and belief found in strikingly similar form across much of the arctic and sub-arctic regions of the world. Even within this broad understanding, the meaning of shamanism is entirely a matter of consensus, discussion, and continuing redefinition; this extends to terminology, many scholars now preferring to write of 'shamanhood' or 'shamanship'. The essential question is to whether we can truly speak of shamanism beyond the circumpolar sphere... in the broadest and most popular undestanding 'shamanism' has latterly come to cover virtually any kind of belief in 'spirits' and the existence of other worlds, states of being, or planes of consciousness - a definition that of course encompasses the majority of the world's religions, organised or otherwise, ancient and modern.

[fatfables]

I found this undergrad project online looking into the growth of adipophilia (fat fetishism).

Well worth a read as the guy gets kinda carried away!

It's reproduced here in full.

Adipophilia 

How do cultural, societal, and technological factors intersect to shape the emergence and growth of adipophilia among young male adults in the digital age?

Shane Tjock

(Bachelor of Science student)

University of Michigan

Department of Environmental Philosophy

Obesity Studies

Abstract

This research project outlines a comprehensive approach to studying the growth of adipophilia (a sexual attraction to fat or overweight people) among young male adults online, integrating observational and experimental methods as well as qualitative and quantitative analyses to provide a holistic understanding of the phenomenon. Adipophilic tendencies have been on the rise in the United States and other western countries in recent years amongst young males and in particular within the homosexual population. The occurrence of sexual attraction to big, round, bloated bellies and buttocks, as well as thick thighs and swollen man breasts is clearly visible through social media platforms, forums, and so called ‘gainer’ dedicated websites. The rise of ‘gainer societies’ at colleges and universities, including the University of Michigan, evidences that the growth of gainerism is not limited to online spaces. Gainerism and feederism are linked sexual proclivities where people actively participate in a concerted effort to make themselves and or someone else fatter. Sexual arousal is often achieved through the act of binge eating or ‘stuffing’ until the stomach is stretched to the max after the consumption of excessive amounts of food and drink. Adipophiliacs like to rub their own and other people’s swollen bellies and elicit pleasure from the effects of purposeful weight gain, such as; out growing clothing, button popping, the appearance of stretch marks, and watching big bellies bounce. Pride is taken in calorie counting, measuring growth, and regular weigh-ins. As well as a personal increase in laziness, selfishness, and greed. The growth of gainerism amongst young LGBTQ+ males is multifaceted and has been caused by the normalisation of obesity in society, the overabundance and marketing of cheap unhealthy foodstuffs, a move towards body positivity, an increased awareness and openness to kink lifestyles, and the fact that it is sexy and fun.

Introduction

The rise of adipophilia as a cultural phenomenon is of interest to psychologists, sociologists, and fat fetishists. The question of why young men chose to over-inflate and swell their bodies with fat until their abdomens are abnormally round and swollen, like water balloons about to pop, is the key question of this study. What is it about huge, heavy, rounded-out bellies, that evidence the greed of the young male overconsumer, that is so deliciously desirable?

This study seeks to answer this question through a mix of observational and experimental techniques that provide both qualitative and quantitative evidence that the results of purposeful weight gain are hot as hell. Observations of publicly posted photos, videos, and conversations of male gainers will be carefully considered and analysed in order to identify common themes and factors related to stuffing your belly so full that it strains and stretches out inches over your belt, jiggling with every step you take. Due to the doubtful efficacy of feeding healthy participants up to the point of morbid obesity, the author has decided to partake in several gainer related activities himself and will rate them on a likert scale, from 1: Not at all arousing, to 5: Extremely arousing, in order to gather real world data into the immense joy of feeling oneself grow bigger and bigger everyday. As a voluntary participant the author will also undergo a regular testing and measurement routine in order to ascertain the effectiveness of various weight gain diets and to see if the experience of having one’s growth recorded is as hot as other gainers say it is.

Literature Review

There is a very limited amount of scientific literature on this topic, I have chosen therefore to give a brief overview of adipophilia in popular culture. The most commonly cited adipophilic book is Charlie and The Chocolate Factory, (Dahl, 1964), in which an extremely fat German boy wins a trip to a chocolate factory by eating an obscene amount of chocolate. His wonderfully greedy guts are then sucked up a pipe while he attempts to drink an entire chocolate river. A disappointing failure. It also includes a girl who inflates like a giant blueberry, but this study is not interested in girls. A recent prequel film, Willy Wonka (2023), features a heavy-set policeman who is fed chocolate bribes by chocolatier gangsters until he almost triples in size. A life goal for many. The Fattest Man in America (Nicholson, 2005) is a novel about a thousand pound man who eats himself up to a glorious size in order to become a tourist attraction. Alternatively The Fattest Man in Britain (2009) is a TV Movie (freely available on YouTube) starring Timothy Spall about a man who gets into an eating contest in order to prove that he is in fact the fattest. Heavyweights (1995) is a Disney film featuring the fat kids from The Mighty Ducks and a young Ben Stiller. It is set in a summer weight loss camp. The storyline features a lot of alarming similar events to the story of my friend Shawn when he went to fat camp. Life imitates art. The Simpsons (1989-Present) features several episodes in which characters gain weight, and I also used to fancy Kenen from Kenan & Kel (1996).

Research Objectives

To observe online gainer content in order to identify and analyse themes and factors that turn me on.

To experience the pleasure of gaining an insanely unhealthy amount of weight within a very short period in order to discover just how sexually gratifying it is.

To promote adipophilia as a lifestyle amongst other young gay men.

Observational Study

Design:

Conduct a systematic observation of online communities, forums, and platforms known for adipophilic content. Utilize qualitative methods to analyze discussions, interactions, and content shared within these communities.

Sample:

Select a diverse range of online platforms catering to a single interest and demographic.

Collect data over a specified time period to capture variations in content and user engagement.

Data Collection:

Employ data scraping techniques to collect publicly available content.

Record observations, noting patterns, themes, and prevalent attitudes towards adipophilia.

Analysis:

I have spent the last four months observing several online gainer platforms and websites. I have viewed thousands of photos and videos of fat growing men of all ages, from 18 years and up. Though I have a few doubts about all of them being at least 18 and for some reason I couldn’t really find any gainers much older than about 65. I am unsure as to why this is.

Common themes and factors that I have identified are; huge round bloated bellies, ball bellies, balloon bellies, and beer bellies. Some bellies hang low while others stick out really far. Some look soft and squishy while others look hard and round - as if the guy has swallowed a basketball whole. They are my favourite. All of them are wide, swollen, and beautiful. Gainers often eat in their videos and stuff themselves stupid on takeaways. They like to watch each other over-eat and encourage each other to eat even more. I often did this whilst being sure to maintain my distance as an observer. Other factors were; soft flabby love handles and muffin tops that overhang tight shorts and boxers. These were lush fat rolls that I watched grow fuller and thicker on many sweet boys. Moobs, man breasts, and titties are also very popular. Fat boys tend to get big flat nipples that accentuate their doughy chests. I like how once you’re fat enough your tits rest on top of the dome of your distended over-ripe belly.

In many videos boys play with their fat tits, they squeeze and caress them, while teasing the viewer to suck on them like they were a woman. They also like to rub and pat their bloated bellies. I would eat tacos and rub mine while watching them. Some guys burp really loudly after downing fizzy drinks. It makes them seem so wonderfully greedy. One guy on Tumblr did this in only his boxers and I swear I saw his dick twitch.

I didn’t do all of the data collection I was supposed to due to becoming distracted by all the sexy fat men, especially the comparison pictures that show you how they used to look when they were thin compared to now. Other reasons for this weakness in my study design will become obvious when I explain the experimental study.

My prevalent attitude towards adipophilia is very positive as is that of all the gainers I spoke to online. They love getting fatter, telling me about it, and sharing private pics with me via DM’s.

Below is a list of all the fat factors that I identified, my rating for how sexy they are, and my explanation of why they are so fucking hot.

Trying on old clothes - Level 4 - Super Hot - Because I love how it demonstrates just how much they must have eaten. Watching a fat young guy struggle to fit into a XXL shirt makes me super hard.

Button popping - Level 5 - Dick Burstingly Hot - As above, only better! Boys suck their bellies in to try and look as thin as they can and they breathe out. Their bulging bellies overwhelm their shirts or pants as they expand, sending buttons flying off as fast as it makes me cum.

Burping - Level 3 - Sexy - Burping due to overconsumption is cool. I think I prefer it when I do it myself compared to watching others. I love how the escaping gas creates extra space in my belly for even more food!

Shaking/Jiggling - Super Hot - Big bouncing ball bellies and just the best! They make me want to grab them and smash my face into them.

Trying to exercise - Level 2 - Kinda Hot - This one I don’t get so much. Why would anyone want to exercise? It goes against all of the glory or adipophilia. It is though kinda cool to see sweaty fat boys struggle on the floor.

Belly measuring and weigh-ins - Level 6 - Super Dick Burstingly Hot!! - Videos and photos where boys measure their belly circumference and stand on scales cause me to nut directly. I love how happy they seem when they see the benefits of all their gorging. It makes me so proud of them.

Experimental Study

Design:

Spend three months eating as much as humanly possible in order to see just how fat I can get with the help of my friends in the gainer society.

Sample:

Me!

Data Collection:

Quantitative data: Weekly weigh-ins and belly measurements.

Qualitative data: Personal record of how turned on I get by my gains.

Analysis:

I first decided to gain when a friend of mine told me about the new gainer society that meets every week at KFC. I had always found fat boys attractive and was overweight myself. My starting weight was 193 lbs. My friend knew that I liked being fat so he suggested that we go together. There was a guy there called Shawn, he was the fattest kid I’d ever seen. He was so cool! He ate like three family buckets to himself. I wanted to be able to do that. Shawn said that I had a good attitude and welcomed me to the group. I ate eight pieces of chicken, a burger with extra cheese, and three corn on the cobs. I felt so full and my belly ached as I walked home. I knew I needed more. That’s when I decided to do this study for my end of year project.

My friends in the UMGS thought that the project was a great idea and helped me to write a plan and food diary to ensure that I ate an extra 500 calories every day in order to expand my capacity and ensure growth. I stuck to it for the first week and then couldn’t be bothered any more so I just ate as much as I wanted. The plan was too restrictive and writing everything down all the time became a fucking ball ache. I just wanted to eat!

After two weeks I was noticeably fatter. My pants felt tighter and my t-shirt began to ride up my belly. Danni one day even pointed out that one of my love handles was on display in class. I started eating all the time and always snacked on Doritos and Snickers during lectures. I started to go topless in my room so that I could see and play with my fat while I did my observation study and snacked. I started jerking off more often. Gaining is definitely arousing.

After a month I needed bigger clothes and went to TJ Maxx to buy cheap shorts and t-shirts. I knew they wouldn’t last long! In the lunch hall my favourites were chilli dogs and fries, with chocolate fudge cake for dessert. I ate so much of it that my friends started to call me ‘Fudge’, I’d never had a nickname before!

My belly was now noticeably bigger. It protruded out and the front and felt heavy due to the fact that I kept it constantly stuffed to the brim. I could now cup my hand under it and lift it up. I love doing that. The fat feels so smooth and luxurious. My Mom even mentioned to me on a Zoom call that I looked like I’d gained weight. I told her that it was normal for guys at college. I was so impressed that I even looked fatter through a screen!

I kept eating and soon I could manage a family bucket at KFC with ease. I would drown the chicken in gravy, which Shawn said they make out of the fat scrapped from the bottom of the fryer. I so hope that this is true. I also started drinking nothing but Cola and Fanta and Beer. If it ain’t carbonated keep it the hell away from me! Brrruuurrrrppp!

From my observational study I learnt that some gainers like to rest their full bellies on a sink. I thought at first that this was just a bit weird and silly but then I tried it! I was amazed by how fat I felt resting my gorgeous growling gluttonous gut on top of the cold service. I spent ten minutes lifting and fondling it while I jerked off to my own reflection in the bathroom mirror.

By the end of the second month I felt massive! My dick was constantly as hard as my tightly packed stomach. Adipophilia is so sexy. I bought new clothes again and they already felt restrictive. My tits became more sensitive and I was overcome with pleasure when Danni sucked on them. They didn’t quite rest on top of my belly yet but I knew it wouldn’t be long.

In the lunch hall I turned to pizza and pasta and all the carbs. It was like the Atkins diet but in reverse. ‘Fudge’ was turning into a real fat boy. My thighs were thicker and began to chaff in the heat. At first this annoyed me but Shawn said that it was a sign of my progress and kindly offered to rub vaseline onto my groin for me. He said that my thighs were soft like two tubes of thick cookie dough. That made it feel much better.

With all the extra weight I was carrying I felt myself become more lethargic and lazy. I spent even more time in my room alone doing my observational study but lost the urge to continue with the boring data collection. All I wanted to do was eat, watch videos, and jack off. My gut is now so big that I really have to stretch to reach my dick when I’m sitting. When I lie down it still rises up into the air, whereas before it splayed out wide and flat while I slept. I guess it’s because I always have a pre-sleep meal of filling chow-mein and dumplings every night.

On the very last day of this study I returned to KFC by myself and ate three family buckets! I knew that I could do it! I was so proud of myself that I had to go into their bathroom and jack it while I farted ferociously on the toilet!

I would never have behaved like that before I got into adipophilia. I feel now like a much happier, sexier, more fun, and adventurous guy. I’m sad that this study is over, but I know that my adventure with gaining is only just beginning. I’m now 286 lbs and am determined to gain my first hundred. I am so close and just typing this makes me deliriously hungry. I’m gonna go stuff myself with a mountain of McDonalds before I write out my results which are summarised below.

Results

Month One:

Starting weight 193 lbs, Waist size 36 inches.

Main foods consumed: KFC, Chilli Dogs, Chocolate Fudge Cake.

End weight 216 lbs, Waist size 38 inches.

Turn ons: Outgrowing my pants, feeling my belly swell, burping.

Month Two:

Starting weight 216 lbs, Waist size 38 inches.

Main foods consumed: KFC, Chilli Dogs, Fries, Pasta, Pizza, Chocolate Fudge Cake, Doritos, Snickers.

End weight 245 lbs, Waist size 40 inches.

Turn ons: My fast ass ripping my boxers, eating so much that I actually puked, abdominal pains, lifting and massaging my soft silky overhang, my love handles spilling out in class.

Month Three:

Starting weight 245 lbs, Waist size 40 inches.

Main foods consumed: KFC, Chilli Dogs, Fries, Pasta, Pizza, Chocolate Fudge Cake, Doritos, Snickers, McDonalds, Chinese, Cheesecakes, Profiteroles, Tacos, Ice Cream, Chicken Wings, Candy. So much candy!

End weight 286 lbs, Waist size 42 inches (and feeling tight AF!!)

Turn ons: Red raw stretch marks that circle my deep belly button like a whirlpool sucking me deeper in to the world of gaining, my fat heavy circular tits that feel soft and squishy, eating despite the fact that my stomach is howling in pain due to being stuffed with delicious high calorie junk foods, licking Shawn’s ass out while he farts, knowing that I’m already a huge fat gluttonous pig that’s only going to grow rounder and fatter with every greedy day that passes.

Implications and Recommendations

I recommend everybody to get into adipophilia. Fat is not only beautiful, it is tantalising, addictive, and highly erotic. Fat boys are the epitome of sexual desire and the most lush and lavish example of the human form. Big, round, heavy, ball bellies are the most attractive and every gay boy needs to have one. Social media and other online forums are a great way to get into adipophilia and the gainer/feeder scenes but nothing is better than doing it for real. Growing as fat as you can with the help of friends who want nothing more than to see you bulk out and grow into the fattest, roundest, blob of lard possible is unbeatable. Especially when they are more than happy to beat and suck you off while you gorge yourself on heavy milkshakes.

The personal implications for my belly and ass have been massive. They have both grown and swollen out immensely. Other gay boys love to watch and grope my fat ass as it bulges out of my straining gym shorts. It’s so soft and wide and round now, more of a balloon butt than bubble butt! The belly is so much bigger than it was. It loves what I have done to it and only wants more. It speaks to me now and says “Feed me!” all of the time. I have forgotten what it feels like to be hungry. A sensation that I never want to feel again. Being constantly full is the only way to be. The only way to ensure that I keep expanding.

Societal implications are also hugely positive. The more young guys who get into gaining then the more sexy fatties there will be for me to look at, encourage, play with, and fuck. Boys deserve to be fed to the brim with everything that they could ever desire and more. I want everyone to experience the advantages of the fat, lazy, and greedy lifestyle of a true glutton.

Conclusion

Adipophilia is on the rise and we should all welcome it with open arms and a tray of twenty four chocolate cream donuts! Through my observational and experimental studies I have discovered just how thrilling purposeful weight gain can be, both for the gainer and the people encouraging them. Online adipophilic content is growing every day, like my waistline, and I predict that it will continue to do so. I sincerely hope that adipophilia continues to develop into the mainstream and recommend any young male researchers interested in the topic to repeat and expand upon my study in order to help validate the scene. I promise that you will have a whale of a time!

[spacetimewithstuartgary]

AERONET: Ensuring quality satellite data for mineral exploration

In October of 1957, the USSR launched the world's first artificial satellite into orbit around Earth. Today, we're combining Earth observation with image processing in the search for mineral resources.

Satellites now play a significant role in mineral exploration by providing remote sensing data that helps geologists identify areas with potential mineral deposits.

Remote sensing from satellites

Remote sensing, collecting and studying information from a distance, began seriously with the beach-ball-sized Soviet satellite Sputnik 1.

Satellites equipped with multispectral and hyperspectral sensors capture data across various wavelengths of light. Different minerals reflect and absorb light differently, creating unique spectral signatures. This helps geologists map rock types and geological structures, like faults, folds and fractures. This information helps to identify areas which may be worth closer investigation for prospective minerals.

But satellite data is also affected by atmospheric interference from clouds, dust and aerosols. That's where measurements of atmospheric characteristics become crucially important to process satellite data into useful, reliable and standardized information.

AERONET: A network of atmospheric aerosol measurements

AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) is a global network of ground-based instruments that provides high-quality, long-term observations of aerosol optical properties. It plays a critical role in correcting satellite data, especially for atmospheric and surface reflectance studies.

AERONET operates more than 500 ground-based remote sensing sites around the globe. The robotic network was established more than three decades ago by NASA and the PHOTONS (PHOtométrie pour le Traitement Opérationnel de Normalisation Satellitaire).

In 2024, CSIRO installed new atmospheric monitoring instruments at the Australian Resources Research Center in Perth. This includes an automatic weather station, air quality sensor, hemispherical sky cameras and a sun photometer.

This data is now feeding into the international AERONET network of ground-based instruments measuring atmospheric aerosols, ensuring celestial data streams provide accurate observations from our Southern skies.

CSIRO scientists are also using the rooftop installation in Perth to test remote sensing instrumentation prior to installation in other remote locations in Australia.

Seeing through the clouds

Dr. Ian Lau is an Earth observation specialist and has worked with AERONET since 2016. His work focuses on extracting mineralogical and environmental information from data.

Dr. Lau said accurate remote sensing data relied on identifying and removing data contaminated by clouds. "Clouds can block direct sunlight, artificially skewing some measurements from optical satellites. Cloud cover can also change quickly, causing rapid changes in the measured data.

"With a set of algorithms applied to raw data, a cloud-screening procedure detects and either flags or removes data points that are likely affected."

Remote sensing for Australian conditions

Australia is a major source of specific atmospheric aerosols, including dust and smoke. Our deserts are the largest dust source in the Southern Hemisphere. Bushfires and burning are commonplace.

Sitting within the AERONET network is AeroSpan. Operated by CSIRO, Aerospan's network of automated instruments located to characterize the primary sources of Australian continental aerosols like dust and smoke.

Why satellite calibration/validation is valuable

"Quality control of sensors and ground-based data validation helps us develop realistic products for mineral exploration," says Dr. Lau. "With satellite calibration data from Southern Hemisphere Earth observation in high demand, good quality data helps researchers better understand our regional conditions."

Calibration is the process of setting up instruments to provide consistent and accurate measurements. Calibration ensures that the reading from the instrument is consistent with other instruments.

"Calibration links data to known, accurate ground and atmospheric data collected at specific sites," said Dr. Lau. "With this data verified, we can be confident that the data from satellite remote sensing is also accurate and reliable."

Dr. Lau is part of the team developing a proposed autonomous calibration site for next-generation satellite-based instruments capturing highly detailed spectral information.

"Because different minerals reflect light across various wavelengths, we rely on accurate atmospheric correction for optical satellite data," he said. "Many smaller satellites launch, often without the resources for rigorous calibration and validation in orbit. These satellites rely on Radiometric Calibration Network (RadCalNet) sites."

A RadCalNet provides a dataset of traceable and standardized products that researchers and commercial satellite providers use to calibrate and validate the accuracy of optical satellite sensors.

Adding to the network of global calibration sites

Earth observation satellites such as EnMap and PRISMA use sensors operating in the visible to shortwave infrared wavelength range, utilizing sunlight reflected off Earth's surface.

CSIRO is working on commissioning a new RadCalNet site 200 km north of Perth in WA's Nambung National Park, home of the Pinnacles Desert.

"It makes for an excellent calibration site because it provides a highly reflective and stable surface," said Dr. Lau.

The consistency provided by validated data means it has had accurate atmospheric correction applied and has been precisely wavelength calibrated to detect the presence of certain minerals. This gives a more precise analysis of the spectral signatures of rocks and soils.

"If you're identifying prospective regions for more detailed investigation, it's important to have very good quality data and ensure that the products are correct," he said. "You don't want to be predicting there are mineral deposits or vectors towards the mineral deposit when you've got some false positives."

Expanding wavelengths for the future

Instruments such as the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer) satellite typically operate with nine spectral bands, but researchers and scientists are demanding more wavelengths. More wavelengths mean more data.

Hyperspectral satellite imagery, which operates twelve bands across the electromagnetic spectrum, will allow for improved retrieval of atmospheric constituents like methane and carbon dioxide.

"The ASTER satellite had a limited number of specific spectral bands, similar to having only a few TV channels," Dr. Lau said.

In contrast, hyperspectral satellites offer many more "channels," allowing for better differentiation of minerals, improved signal-to-noise ratio, and enhanced coverage.

[touchh-me-not]

Yesterday at Library, learning normalisation of data in informal way

[beardedmrbean]

BEIJING (Reuters) - After quitting the education industry last August due to China's crackdown on private tutoring, He Ajun has found an unlikely second life as an unemployment influencer.

The Guangzhou-based vlogger, 32, offers career advice to her 8,400 followers, charting her journey through long-term joblessness. "Unemployed at 31, not a single thing accomplished," she posted last December.

He is now making around 5,000 yuan ($700) per month through ads on her vlogs, content editing, private consultations and selling handicrafts at street stalls.

"I think in future freelancing will be normalised," said He. "Even if you stay in the workplace, you'll still need freelancing abilities. I believe it will become a backup skill, like driving."

China is under instruction to unleash "new productive forces", with government policies targeting narrow areas of science and technology including AI and robotics.

But critics say that has meant weak demand in other sectors and risks leaving behind a generation of highly educated young people, who missed the last boom and graduated too late to retrain for emerging industries.

A record 11.79 million university graduates this year face unprecedented job scarcity amid widespread layoffs in white-collar sectors including finance, while Tesla, IBM and ByteDance have also cut jobs in recent months.

Urban youth unemployment for the roughly 100 million Chinese aged 16-24 spiked to 17.1% in July, a figure analysts say masks millions of rural unemployed.

China suspended releasing youth jobless data after it reached an all-time high of 21.3% in June 2023, later tweaking criteria to exclude current students.

Over 200 million people are currently working in the gig economy and even that once fast-growing sector has its own overcapacity issues. A dozen Chinese cities have warned of ride-hailing oversaturation this year.

Redundancies have even spread to government work, long considered an "iron rice bowl" of lifetime employment.

Last year Beijing announced a 5% headcount reduction and thousands have been laid off since, according to official announcements and news reports. Henan province trimmed 5,600 jobs earlier this year, while Shandong province has cut nearly 10,000 positions since 2022.

Meanwhile, analysts say China's 3.9 million vocational college graduates are mostly equipped for low-end manufacturing and service jobs, and reforms announced in 2022 will take years to fix underinvestment in training long regarded as inferior to universities.

China currently faces a shortage of welders, joiners, elderly caregivers and "highly-skilled digital talent", its human resources minister said in March.

Yao Lu, a sociologist at Columbia University, estimates about 25% of college graduates aged 23-35 are currently in jobs below their academic qualifications.

Many of China's nearly 48 million university students are likely to have poor starting salaries and contribute relatively little in taxes throughout their lifetimes, said one Chinese economist who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

"Although they cannot be called a 'lost generation', it is a huge waste of human capital," the person said.

'DOING THREE PEOPLE'S JOBS'

Chinese President Xi Jinping in May urged officials to make job creation for new graduates a top priority. But for younger workers unemployed or recently fired, the mood is bleak, nine people interviewed by Reuters said.

Anna Wang, 23, quit her state bank job in Shenzhen this year due to high pressure and frequent unpaid overtime. For a salary of about 6,000 yuan per month, "I was doing three people's jobs," she said.

Her ex-colleagues complain about widespread pay cuts and transfers to positions with unmanageable workloads, effectively forcing them to resign. Wang now works part-time jobs as a CV editor and mystery shopper.

At a July briefing for foreign diplomats about an agenda-setting economic meeting, policymakers said they have been quietly urging companies to stop layoffs, one attendee told Reuters.

Olivia Lin, 30, left the civil service in July after widespread bonus cuts and bosses hinted at further redundancies. Four district-level bureaus were dissolved in her city of Shenzhen this year, according to public announcements.

"The general impression was that the current environment isn't good and fiscal pressure is really high," she said.

Lin now wants a tech job. She has had no interview offers after a month of searching. "This is completely different from 2021, when I was guaranteed one job interview a day," she said.

REDUCED STIGMA

Shut out of the job market and desperate for an outlet, young Chinese are sharing tips for surviving long-term unemployment. The hashtags "unemployed", "unemployment diary" and "laid off" received a combined 2.1 billion views on the Xiaohongshu platform He uses.

Users describe mundane daily routines, count down the days since being fired, share awkward chat exchanges with managers or dole out advice, sometimes accompanied by crying selfies.

The increasing visibility of jobless young people "increases broader social acceptance and reduces stigma surrounding unemployment", said Columbia's Lu, allowing otherwise isolated youth to connect and "perhaps even redefine what it means to be unemployed in today's economic climate".

Lu said unemployed graduates understood blaming the government for their plight would be both risky and ineffective. Rather, she said, they were more likely to slip into "an internalisation of discontent and blame" or "lying flat".

He, the influencer, thinks graduates should lower their ambitions.

"If we have indeed entered 'garbage time', then I think young people could accumulate skills or do something creative, such as selling things via social media or making handicrafts."

[anon-oliver]

More Date Everything OC ideas (based mildly off @suncrat DLC idea)

TW: Foot Fetish, Servent Power Dynamic

Otto Manuel, the ottoman: he’ll fulfill any and every request of you, whether physical or informational, but especially if you need a footrest. While he starts out as just a pathetic lackey, his secret is that he’s ‘into’ touching your feet and legs. Love happens when you participate in his fantasies, friendship when you normalise it, hate if you disrespect him to the point he snaps, +Smarts. Headcanon voice: Yuri Lowenthal. Location: patio/deck.

Autumn, the outdoor activities: she’s essentially a kids’ P.E teacher, but ironically everybody else treats her like the immature one, when all she wants to do is have fun with everybody. She doesn’t see herself as much of a maternal figure, she’s still a kid at heart, willing to take part in any fun activities you want, just keep things PG with her. +Sass to her endings, Love if you help her convince her fellow objects to take her seriously, Friends for just joining her in her games, Hate if you make fun of her. Headcanon voice: Michaela Laws. Location: toolshed.

Also, the way you get to the DLC, after a week or 2 in game, Skylar and Lucinda will come up as soon as you put on your date-viators, to tell you how to get to the backyard (haven’t figured out the specifics, but Dorian is involved, and the data-drones have a blind spot, probably).

[bpdnchill]

AI is a tool designed to normalise false information and increase distrust in experts.

It was created by *checks notes* tech companies who profit from reduction in critical thinking skills.The same people who brought us;

Crypto, the worlds first truely independent currency! Belovd by scam artists and criminals the world over. Zero practical use outside those areas.

Metaverse, an independent free market virtual world where you can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a digital object that doesn't exist and has the graphical definition of a minecraft tree!

NFTS, a true revolution in art and art ownership where you can invest thousands in an ugly digital blob that has no real world value whatsoever, except you aren't actually paying for the picture you thought you just bought, you're paying for a data entry which may or may not direct to the picture you just thought you bought.

Dear gods, this is the worst timeline.

Here have some youtube links if you want more info.

Crypto scams

More crypto scams

Whatever the fuck is happening in the Metaverse

NFTS and why they probably aren't legal

A brief overview of the current tech fraud explosion.