#rendered the programming altered

[inspectorspacetimerevisited]

Although Professor Aloysius insisted that FE-Line was three-laws compliant,

repeated short circuits altered her programming such that she could kill someone for no apparent reason. (Well, she did have reasons, just not ones that the Inspector dared to question.)

[melinoelabs]

Dear Sirs.

SCP-682's powers are metatextual. He's unkillable because the story says he is nearly unkillable and no solution would be satisfying. His nickname is 'the very hard to destroy reptile' for rigour's sake. You don't have to be Grant Morrison to put this together.

The solution is to alter the narrative so that there is a means of killing him that is satisfying. Unfortunately, only full-on apocalypse scenarios or the use of SCP-682 as a jobber for an even worse threat would fill that criteria.

So unless you want to unleash something even more tiresome, like the Black Moon or the Scarlet King or the Yellow Submarine or whatever other color-coded doomsday monster you have on tap, you're just wasting jumpsuit filling doing anything at all.

The easy alternative is to simply stop trying to kill him.

Just focus on holding him in the most boring, routine ways possible, rendering him increasingly less interesting and thus reducing the time between stories focused on him and thus, the resulting breaches and disasters.

Or you can do what we did. If you aren't chicken.

Ours wasn't a rotted lizard. It was a sort of mummified horse the size of a 1996 Volkswagen Harlequin, and it was a she, but otherwise same deal. Regeneration. Vat of acid. Mass casualties. Violent opposition to the use of breath mints. Endemic to all life. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

We figured out the how it worked, and we speed-ran the whole concept, hurling that vile beast through a veritable plinko-fall of thousands of extermination tests and controlled rampages until there was literally nothing left to do with the 'More-Than-One-Way-to-Fail-to-Kill-a Horse'.

And we trust the populace enough to not lie to them for 'their own good'. Because its funny? Sure. Profitable? Absolutely (don't worry, shareholders!)! But never for 'their own good.'

So we turned those experiments into a 17 season reality television program hosted by Greg Kinnear and force-fed them to a sludge-hungry populace.

There were 'More-Than-One-Way-to-Fail-to-Kill-a Horse' calendars, coffee mugs, t-shirts, two different animated spin-offs running at the same time for some reason, four movies starring Chris Pratt as the voice of the horse, an ongoing sketch on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, 'More-Than-One-Way-to-Fail-to-Kill-a Horse' "acid bath" sour candy flavored yogurt in a tube, a series of increasingly inadequately playtested gameboy cartridges, a 27-issue limited series from Image comics, and adorable plush mummified murder-horse plushes with little suction cups on their red-felt hooves so they can stare balefully out the back of your station wagon at that ASSHOLE Kevin in his souped up Trans AM who does not understand the concept of a safe following distance, and you JUST want to run him off the road with the magno-lifters and recreate the scene from Lost Highway with Robert Loggia, but "you can't use the magno-lifters for revenge" because it's "against OSHA regulations" and "technically assault!"

And once the first shipment of 'More-Than-One-Way-to-Fail-to-Kill-a Horse' Funko Pops hit store shelves, the creature's cultural cache cratered so hard that it became a parody of itself so predictable it's "containment" is now a Universal Studios attraction with two failed executions and a containment breach each night, with double shows on Saturdays.

Now, it was a rocky ride getting there, especially for Utah (projections say you'll get those House seats back in two, maybe three, generations at most, don't you worry!) but we've proven that even if it isn't killable, you can, in fact, beat a dead horse.

Hope this helps.

Humbert, Outreach Liaison Melinoë Laboratories "Hoc non veniet ad nos mordax"

[1alchemistart]

Hi there! This is a big ask but would you consider doing a tutorial of how you render? Even just some quick tips would be helpful, or maybe the brushes you use? Finding a brush for line art is way easier for me than finding one for colouring/rendering T-T (I’m specifically looking at your march from fields of Mistria you did a little while ago)—I love your art!!

thank you dear!

i'm not sure i'd dare call this a tutorial but it's a little breakdown of steps if nothing else, for this style of rendering in particular? since you referenced my march art in particular :]

i usually use the bong pen in clip studio paint, but any flat brush that allows you to layer color comfortably is a good idea! the size of the brush shouldn't change with pressure but rather, its opacity -- most art programs i know contain brushes that either are this, or can be edited to BE this, so alternatives can be found pretty easily :D

i'm gonna be using good ole kris deltarune for this bc of my present deltarune fixation 👍

as many people do, i usually start with a sketch -- level of roughness is based entirely upon my mood, depends on how much you feel like mixing your own mistakes in color later lol. do a better sketch if you wanna spend less time fixing and more time refining! i felt like going for a rough sketch this time around :]

then we lay some flat colors in... i neglected coloring the eye bc this is kris deltarune, the entire upper half of the face is going to be in shadow so ill just be coloring it in the shading stage, lol

the way i personally do shading and highlighting is by manually selecting the colors i think would work well with the flats i have and the lighting i have in mind :] a quicker way to do shading would be to use a multiply layer, of course, but i tend to shift things around way too much here for a multiply layer to work well for me!

the main way i select in-between shades is why i use brushes that change opacity with pressure instead of size! i select a darker color and lightly drop it on the color i want to shade. then, if i want a softer transition, i very lightly do a stroke or two with the same shadow color. the result will be an in-between color between the light and dark! pick that and very lightly brush it along the edges of the shadow :D you can also always alter that in-between color to be more vibrant and saturated, or alter the vibrancy of shadows by very lightly applying barely-opaque vibrant strokes to it. the world is your oyster

then i either merge it all together, or shove it all in a folder, copy the folder and merge the copied folder together so that i can always backtrack very easily... and we begin painting over the lines! The Rendering Has Begun.

the techniques i use for this stage are the same as in the shading/hihglighting stage, we're just being much more refined now and covering the lines. if you're going for something more realistic, you're gonna want to be rid of as many of the lines as possible by the end, which is another reason why making a neater sketch to begin with saves time haha

using references of the lighting you've got is going to make it much easier overall -- what i'm linking here is a very good resource for this, but of course do also peruse real photos of what you're aiming to draw! you can also always use yourself as a reference. i couldn't quite figure out kris's mouth in the end stages, so i used my own in that angle as a guide

make sure to take breaks from a big render, because your eyes are going to adjust to mistakes you've made and you won't be able to see them until you've taken some time to Not look at your own art. this applies to literally any art you make, not just this type of render! it's also healthier to take breaks every now and then anyway lol, don't do massive works in one sitting, you WILL suffer

don't be afraid to change stuff up in the rendering stage either if you feel like it. as you can see below, i ended up changing their expression. just make sure to duplicate your layers so you always have a backup in case you decide you don't like your changes!

keep going until you're happy with what you've got! you can always overwork it so that's another reason to keep backups lol. i like to make use of overlay layers near the end to make certain areas more vibrant where i feel like they should be :]

and you should be done! i don't render in this style very often but it's very good practice and it does look cool :] i hope this has been helpful!! MUAH

[soulemnity]

I'll take you up on that offer to hear about the other strawhats in your android au

i dont have all the characters but i do a big dump about nami and usopp !

nami and nojiko are androids, specifically companions. bellemere raised them as daughters from the moment she got them. having 8 years with each other, of course they become a real family !!! bellemere planned on saving up to get them their adult bodies at some point

when arlong comes along, it wouldve been so easy for them to fly under the radar because of how “sentient” androids were almost unheard of. arlong wouldn’t have known any better if they’d all played along. bellemere, however, refused to let her girls be reduced to just robots. they’re her daughters, she raised them, and that will never change. look at how they’re crying, how they’re even screaming—what could be more human than that ? those are her daughters and theyre alive !!

arlong decides nami could be of use to him and gifts her (forces her to use) her adult body. he even goes the extra mile to burn his symbol on their beforehand. nami loathes it; she was supposed to get it from bellemere and no one else. they didnt even bother to get nojiko hers, just nami’s. sometimes she just wants rip her arm off. it’s not like it’d kill her anyway

the entire time shes going around gathering money for cocoyashi, she’s fighting her own programming. being a companion, it’s in her nature to want to have someone to stick with and help, but she forces herself to take care of nothing but her own needs. she never stays around someone long enough to be assigned to them. that is, until she meets the straw hats

theres something about them that makes her want to slow down, to lower her guard. maybe it’s the way none of the humans care that she isnt like them, or that the captain himself is an android like her, a companion like her, but she wants to care for them, wants to see them happy, and that’s what tells her she needs to leave. she doesn’t think androids can assign themselves to another android, even though the captain and the long nose one seem close, but she flees before she can find out

(and that’s another thing i forgot to add in the first post !!! ace and luffy sort of assigned the other to themselves; they see each other as another human companion that needs their help and protection. they’re the crazy ones for that because thats like. insane to do. it takes force)

and just like canon, luffy chases her down and kicks arlong’s ass, no matter how many times his body nearly gets ripped apart

usopp is technically a builder, but he was a bit altered when yasopp gave him to banchina before leaving. there wasn’t much to build on an island such as syrup, so his version of it became taking care of banchina. if the only building he could do was build her happiness, then that’s what he’d do

when banchina passes, it leaves him without a real purpose, since he was sorta made just for her. androids that have this happen to them are often treated as defective. he reverted back to building little things for himself since he was still made to build, he just has feelings now. meeting kaya, however, sorta kicks him bakc into that caretaker mindset and he does with her what he did with banchina.

ANYWAY this is getting long but meeting the straw hats is like one of thevery few times usopp has ever seen other androids. he doesnt really bond in the same way companion models do, but he can still get attached, and that’s what he does. he kinda has o idea how to fight but the kuro ordeal works out. setaxhing from his programming but not his purpose, usopp’s constantly offering to make or fix things for them.

bonus ! remember tht concept art of nami with a metal arm ? after nami shreds her shoulder in arlong park, she basically renders it useless, and usopp offers to make her an entirely new one, one that’s just her. that concept art metal arm is the arm she gets

(another small bit of info: i think i’ll keep most of the ofhers the same, but im not sure yet. i know i want zoro, sanji, and robin human. speaking of robin, she always felt more at ease around androids since they were never able to look at her and immediately think “devil child,” even if most of them lacked emotions and were just doing what they were made for. despite that, she can’t help but be shocked by luffy, even through a foreign sense of comfort and amusement.)

[fearfulfertility]

CONFIDENTIAL MEMORANDUM

DRC, Black Ops Command, Covert Acquisition Unit

To: Director [REDACTED]

From: Administrator [REDACTED], Covert Acquisition Unit

Date: [REDACTED]

Subject: Surrogate Recruitment via Social Media Application

Executive Summary

This memorandum summarizes the initial pilot testing of "Broodr," a mobile dating application developed by the DRC Covert Acquisition Unit as an identification and capture tool of viable surrogate candidates within the Los Angeles metropolitan region.

The Broodr pilot program aims to:

Test effectiveness in luring suitable surrogate candidates aged 18-25.

Assess the app’s capability to profile and locate high-fertility individuals discretely.

Evaluate the overall success rate of transitioning online interactions into physical capture operations.

Operational Procedure

Broodr was launched covertly through standard digital app distribution channels. It is marketed as a casual social/dating application targeted at young, romantically single men. Four other apps in the market were also disrupted to reduce competition and increase public awareness. The application utilizes advanced profile analytics to identify users displaying surrogate-compatible traits based on fertility indicators such as age, athletic status, height, genetic background, and health metrics.

Once identified, candidates receive targeted messaging from AI bots and doctored profiles using altered photos of athletes and models designed to entice them to designated physical meeting locations. These meeting spots are strategically placed within zones easily secured by DRC rapid response capture teams.

Initial Test Results

Since the pilot launch [REDACTED] weeks ago, Broodr has attracted over [REDACTED] registered users within the target demographic.

[REDACTED]% of identified high-value targets initiated interactions leading to physical meetings.

Capture success rate currently stands at [REDACTED]%, exceeding initial operational goals.

Captured surrogates demonstrate above-average fertility rates, with an average fetal load of 12-16 embryos upon initial insemination.

Key Incident

On [REDACTED], Broodr successfully identified, seduced, and facilitated the capture of a high-profile fitness celebrity at our DRC detainment site in [REDACTED], Beverly Hills.

Mr. [REDACTED], a 23-year-old fitness influencer known for his muscular physique, extensive social following, and endorsements of health products, was identified as a prime surrogacy candidate due to exceptional fertility markers (5'11", 174 lbs pre-pregnancy, optimal athletic conditioning). 

Four real profiles and 28 tailored AI-generated profiles initially contacted him, depicting attractive, athletic personas that closely matched his profile's interests. This sophisticated digital interaction rapidly evolved into sexually graphic exchanges, successfully convincing him to attend what he believed to be a home address for a physical engagement.

“Hey, handsome ;)  Hott as fuck! A stud like you promising an unforgettable night got me seriously curious. What are you into? I would love to work out all your kinks, physical and sexy!” - Copy of Chat Log

Upon arrival at the designated location, a rapid response team swiftly and discreetly apprehended Mr. [REDACTED]. Upon completion of on-site insemination, secured transport protocols were immediately enacted, moving Mr. [REDACTED] to the nearby Paternity Compound 141, best equipped for his subsequent gestation, birth, and expiration. Mr. [REDACTED] was assigned the surrogate ID S-141-548-P (which will be used henceforth to identify the surrogate).

Post evaluations confirmed highly successful insemination, resulting in an exceptionally high fetal load of sexdecuplets (16 embryos), and in under 33 days, S-141-548-P's weight jumped to 534 lbs (+360 lbs) with an abdominal circumference of 96 inches (+64 inches), rendering the surrogate wholly bedridden and dependent on continuous medical supervision. Despite his extreme size and rapidly declining mobility, regular medical evaluations confirmed that S-141-548-P's health remained within acceptable operational parameters.

"I can barely process what's happened—my body’s unrecognizable. I used to flex these abs for millions online, and now they're buried beneath a mound of babies. I'm so enormous and heavy that breathing feels like a workout! I never thought I'd feel this helpless—or this big." - S-141-548-P, Gestation Day 21

Labor commenced on day 33 of gestation, and over 22 hours, all 16 fetuses were successfully delivered. Upon completion of delivery, vital signs deteriorated rapidly, culminating in S-141-548-P’s expiration approximately [REDACTED] minutes after the last fetus was expelled. Post-mortem assessments indicated complete [REDACTED] shutdown, extensive [REDACTED] to the [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] system. 

"I can't stop it! They’re coming! Everything's ripping apart, and every contraction feels like my belly's splitting open. Oh God—I can’t move, I can't breathe, but my body... I'm just so... fat…" - S-141-548-P, Gestation Day 33

Of particular note is that S-141-548-P was well known on social media channels for exemplifying his abdominal muscles, mainly using the moniker “All Core, No Compromise.” The primary cause of expiration was confirmed to be the macroscopic tearing and rupture of all abdominal muscles, a typical result for surrogates subjected to such high fetal loads.

Recommendations

The capture and subsequent pregnancy of such a notable public figure not only significantly boosted internal operational morale but also underscored the strategic efficacy of Broodr as an unprecedented method of securing high-value surrogate candidates. This incident has provided robust proof-of-concept evidence, strongly supporting further investment and nationwide deployment of the Broodr initiative.

Based on the Los Angeles pilot:

Expand Broodr's implementation to additional high-density urban areas (e.g., New York City, [REDACTED], San Francisco).

Increase application analytics capabilities to enhance fertility trait profiling.

Implement additional security protocols to ensure continued operational secrecy.

Conclusion

The pilot deployment of Broodr in the Los Angeles metro area confirms the application's high efficacy as a discreet surrogate recruitment and capture tool. Expansion into additional metropolitan zones is recommended to bolster surrogate conscription efforts further nationwide.

Prepared by: Assistant Director [REDACTED]

DRC, Black Ops Command, Covert Acquisition Unit

----------------

Click Here to return to DRC Report Archives

[psychotrenny]

On a more serious note, the Islamic Revolutions of the 19th Century West Sudan (region) are interesting because they provide a relatively early example of holistic ideologically-motivated revolution that follows a deliberate plan of societal renovation. This contrasts with the many less directional revolutions that sought to solve very specific issues or merely change the individuals/associations who held power in society without changing the social structures themselves.

Like the backbone of these Islamic revolutionary movements derived from the West Sudanese intelligentsia and associated strata. Usman dan Fodio, Seku Amadu and Al-ḥājj 'Umar were all prominent scholars with close ties to the regional Islamic mercantile community, while much of their initial following derived from their students and the relatives of students. These movements also had very clear ideas of how they wanted to restructure society both socially and economically. While rallying against the specific misdeeds of local rulers (abuses of power, unfair taxation), each of reformers also had their sights set higher than the replacement of bad individuals with good ones.

Instead of merely removing the morally corrupt and religiously syncretic rulers, the reformers strove to expunging all pagan elements from broader society while establishing a stronger education system to more permanently spread and maintain orthodox Islam within their territories. And instead of merely lowering the taxes as new rulers they changed the basis that taxation laws were founded on; employing Maliki school Sharia instead of going entirely off the whims of worldly rulers. There were institutional changes to the very nature of Statehood in the region too. States were no longer ruled by kings who were divine personages themselves; they were replaced by Amirs who functionally first among equals with the other governing scholars. This meant that many formerly powerful institutions were either rendered impotent (Palace Slave officials) or eliminated altogether (the office of Queen mother/sister). Like through their study of Islamic literature and analysis of the societies they lived in, these scholars came up with a plan to change their societies and to one extent or another put it into action. The changes the wrought went far far deeper than the names of the rulings families

Mind you it's important not to exaggerate the extent of these changes. They may have deliberately altered the nature and mechanisms of culture and politics, but the mode of production did not receive similar treatment. There were certainly economic changes in the region throughout the 19th century but these were driven more by international trade relations than any domestic political programmes*; a decline in demand for slaves and increase in demand for the agricultural products from the region (Kola Nuts, Peanuts, Palm Oil etc.) meant a region wide decrease in the export of slave as more of them were retained locally for employment in agriculture. However this was a process that occurred throughout West Africa rather than being confined to the Islamic Sudan; it was not a result of deliberate effort by Islamic Reformists. These were revolutions of the Superstructure, not the Base. To put it in European terms they had much more in common with the Liberal revolutions of the 18th century than the Communist ones of the 20th.

Still the fact that there was any kind of genuine ideological program at all, complete with its share of well known thinkers and an entire library of relevant literature, certainly makes it more recognisable to the modern revolutionary than many of the other civil wars and succession disputes given such a title. Even ignoring how important this process was for the West Sudan specifically, it's a very interesting slice of history that more people should be at least aware of. This post was largely based on volume 6 of the UNESCO General History of Africa (mainly chapters 21-3) and I'd highly recommend reading the whole thing if you're curious. At bare minimum it should be remembered that this sort of history is not unique to Europe

*I've definitely read a paper (which I cannot for the life of me find in my notes so if anyone knows something relevant it would be greatly appreciated) that suggests these processes aided the Islamic Reformers as many of the Pagan/Syncretic rulers relied mostly on slave raiding and sale while the more orthodox Islamic communities were already more involved in plantation production. However I've seen nothing to suggest this was a direct influence on or result of Islamic Reformist politics and a similar process occurred in the Pagan kingdoms to the South and East too

[cloudyydraws]

How do you male your art look soo soft and painterly and nice and yk :D

hi!! omg tysm for the kind words!! im not the greatest at putting my work into words, but i usually love putting a focus on playing with colors!!

i wouldnt say i have any specific techniques--i'm still largely learning and mostly self taught--but the best i can do is link some of my progress shots, walk through my progress a little, and maybe link a past speedpaint!

Here's the initial sketch I had for the Kanade piece!

I start with a background color and base colors (largely unaffected by any background colors). Then i use a couple of gradient maps + slight filters to get an alteration that i want and layer them over the base until I get something I like.

I really just play around with any program related features to get something going--personally I find it easier having something to start with rather than having everything figured out at the beginning! For this reason I find the way I work a little messy

For the rendering process, I typically merge my sketch and color layers together and paint on the merged layer--this is usually how I forget to get proof of my progress LMAO so I take screenshots while I work instead. Once I have a good amount of rendering thought out, I add some glow effects on other layers + filters if I need to add to the mood

I literally resort to fixing anything and everything in the rendering process, so my colors tend to change a lot when I work digitally (the above is like ~1.5hr difference in just painting over everything--i also never finished it lmaooo)

For brushes, I use a ton of brushes on the csp store! So far I've been playing around with a lot of them, so I don't think I have any that I specifically default to? But these two have been useful for color blocking and sketching--otherwise I think I also tend to use the csp defaults

I use the laptop I draw on for school as well, so to keep it functional I typically do not save/record speedpaints with csp... but I do have some past processes when I used procreate that I can link here! They will link to twitter posts, but I may have some on this blog iirc

Honakana Speedpaint - Portrait - Emu Card Paintover

[beardedmrbean]

Article link

A Texas man is facing child porn charges after investigators say he used artificial intelligence to undress a teenage girl.

Authorities arrested Roman Shoffner, 30, on June 28 on a charge of possession of child pornography, Montgomery County Precinct 3 Constable Ryan Gable said in a July 1 news release.

The arrest comes weeks after an investigation was launched on May 15, the constable said, though it’s unclear what tipped authorities off to Shoffner’s alleged activities.

“Shoffner used an artificial intelligence program on his cellular phone to alter a picture of a 17-year-old female by removing her clothing,” according to the constable’s office. In the image, the teen’s face was unchanged, but she was rendered naked “from the neck down.”

Detectives took Shoffner’s phone and had it analyzed, the constable said. Based on evidence gathered, detectives believe Shoffner created the image “with intentions of possessing Child Pornography,” and he was arrested.

The arrest was the first of its kind in Montgomery County and was made possible due to an amendment made to Texas law in 2023, Lt. Ken Washington told KRIV

“The modifications in the law that happened in 2023 stated that you can’t have a modified image — one that depicts child porn,” Washington said. “This one is the first time we’ve filed this charge.”

Montgomery County is a roughly 40-mile drive north from Houston.

While altering images is nothing new, the rise of AI has made it easier and faster to create convincing fakes. Lawmakers are aware of how the technology can be abused, and U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) recently unveiled a bipartisan bill — dubbed the TAKE IT DOWN Act — largely in response to increasing deepfakes and similar digitally-generated content.

The bill would, in part, put greater accountability on social media companies and websites, where these images often circulate and are seen by a wide audience.

“In recent years, we’ve witnessed a stunning increase in exploitative sexual material online, largely due to bad actors taking advantage of newer technologies like generative artificial intelligence. Many women and girls are forever harmed by these crimes, having to live with being victimized again and again,” Cruz said. “By … putting the responsibility on websites to have in place procedures to remove these images, our bill will protect and empower all victims of this heinous crime.”

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Emily Yoffe

Published: Jun 11, 2024

Eithan Haim, 34, is at the beginning of his career as a surgeon. He and his wife are expecting their first child in the fall. And now he is facing a four-count federal felony indictment for blowing the whistle on Texas Children’s Hospital, where he worked while a resident. 

At TCH, he discovered the hospital was secretly continuing gender transition treatments on minors—including hormonal intervention on patients as young as 11 years old—after publicly declaring, in March of 2022, it would no longer provide such services.

The hospital unwillingly backed away from the treatments under pressure from the Texas governor and attorney general. But Haim found not only were the treatments continuing—the program appeared to be expanding. He recorded several online presentations by medical staff encouraging the transition of children—one social worker described how she deliberately did not make note of such treatment in the medical charts of patients to avoid leaving a paper trail. Haim told me, “They were talking publicly about how they were concealing what they were doing. You can’t take care of your patient without trust. For me as a doctor, to not do something about this was unconscionable.”

Haim, like a growing number of medical professionals around the world, had grave doubts about the safety and efficacy of the explosively growing business of youth gender transition medicine. When he looked into it, he found that children distressed about their biological sex often had multiple mental health challenges—conditions that were being ignored in the rush to put vulnerable young people on hormones, and even to perform surgical interventions. These treatments are profoundly life-altering, with a high risk of rendering a young person sterile. In the last few years, a growing number of countries have investigated these treatments for young people, found the evidence wanting, and have effectively banned interventions such as puberty blockers—drugs that prevent children from entering puberty.

Haim felt he had to act, but he knew the career risks of speaking out could be enormous. He contacted conservative journalist Christopher Rufo, who published an exposé without naming Haim. Before giving Rufo evidence that puberty blockers were still being surgically implanted in young patients, Haim made sure the patient’s names and other identifying information were redacted. This was both to protect patient privacy, and himself from violating the law known as HIPAA, which protects individual patient identities while also allowing various uses of medical information. The story Haim gave to Rufo was published May 16, 2023. The next day, the Texas legislature voted to ban the medical gender transition of minors.

Haim says there was no immediate aftermath: “Everything went quiet. I was anonymous and went on with my life.” Then June 23 of last year, the day Haim was to graduate from his residency, two federal agents from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services showed up at his house to have a little chat. Haim’s wife, an assistant U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, a different division of the U.S. Attorney’s office than the one that has indicted her husband, advised him not to talk. 

As Haim later wrote in City Journal, “Before leaving, they handed me a letter revealing that I was a ‘potential target’ of an investigation involving alleged violation of federal criminal law related to medical records.” Haim then went public about the threat facing him in an interview with Rufo. (The U.S Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas did not respond to a request for comment.)

Haim was indicted last week, but, as of this writing, he and his attorneys do not yet know the precise nature of the charges. One of his lawyers, Mark Lytle, told me it’s very unusual to bring felony charges for an alleged HIPAA violation unless there is a significant underlying crime, such as a hospital clerk selling a celebrity’s medical records. He said the indictment of Haim seems politically motivated. “The government is entering into the town square on the culture wars and didn’t like what Eithan had to say,” said Lytle. “I think they are looking to make an example of him.” Haim is raising money for his legal fees through this GiveSendGo account.

Haim told me despite the peril he is now facing he has no regrets about blowing the whistle and is committed to fighting the federal charges. He said, “If we don’t fight back, what world are we delivering our children into?”

--

[zimcard-artblog]

can I ask a question?

how do you render your art? like you make it feel doodly but clean at the same time

hope you have a nice day

Thank you! I like to think my art style is an organized mess! It's cause I've leaned more to a certain digital painting style where I don't have to rely on making clean lineart as I can just render it all instantly. Here's my work progress:

I use a marker brush on Firealpaca (One of the drawing programs I use, the other being medibang for the comic), it's on a soft pen pressure setting 0.20 (soft) and with opacity by pressure on so it has a soft feel along with no sharp edges so that I can focus on anatomy structure calmly.

The lineart process is simple, not wanting to go overboard besides drawing the important stuff. The imperfections can be altered later.

Then, I color it. A base layer is really for the main colors, if I wanna put shading then I separate each color by clipping layers so I can shade them individually but for this example, I won't dive too deep into it besides that I don't use any watercolor brushes besides- well, Dp-flat is like a watercolor brush/blending brush but it has a strong texture that I like. I prefer to shade manually with airbrush, dp-flat brush, and a makrer brush (opacity on).

And we got rendering!!! I Spend a lot on rendering as it's fun- especially for smaller pieces! I often use a marker brush but with a different pen pressure (normal, 1.00) so it has a sort of sharper end so I can also add faint brush strokes/lineart to give it a solid look. I use the color picker a lot to overpaint some specific lines and colors while also using the brush as an eraser to shape/sculpt the form!

I've got more examples for my more finished works to show how noticeable the results are regarding how I render! I like to experiment from time to time

[colorico-art]

Resource - Digital Tool Assets

Okay, so I've jumped around with several programs to try out based on the needs I had at any given time. These are program specific assets and resources that I've come across while using testing out the various programs.

Sketchbook

I still use this program, though strictly while on-the-go (I use an Android tablet). I personally use it more for quick sketches and then carry them back onto my PC to render, but I know @kreature1827 uses the app and has done some incredible work within the app. The link provides free brush and texture assets.

The program does work across multiple platforms, however I am unsure if there are any sync features present.

Clip Studio Paint

I purchased this program some years ago and tried it out for a bit, and don't get me wrong: it's a really good program. The issue I personally have is that when I moved over to Linux, CSP has no functionality within the system (that, and the pricing model past V1 was not something I personally liked to get involved with). The CSP Asset store is accessible through the program, and includes a lot of brush, pattern, model, and stamp assets.

Since CSP moved into a subscription model, they've added the option to have the program sync with multiple devices.

Krita

This is my current program of choice, and it's also one of the programs I started out using when I looked into illustration work. I did drop it a couple of times, though the reasons were always surrounding the need for on-the-go use and resource management (before Krita 4, it demanded so much out of my laptop that I couldn't use it effectively). The link provided provides a ton of brushes, plugins, and tutorials.

Krita does have an Android app available for beta testing, however my reason from moving away from the mobile app was due to the odd interactions within the app (i.e. some of the tools, like Transform, don't behave properly and require multiple specific alterations to only get a half-decent result).

Medibang Paint

This is what I used whenever I got a tablet before I coming across Autodesk Sketchbook. It's a very robust program, but it does have a specific use for manga art work. You can make some custom brushes, however the program didn't particularly click with me or how I approach my art pieces (i.e. I didn't stick with it at all). The link provided gives program-specific tutorials on getting specific results, such as halftone screens and tool usage.

Medibang is excellent with the cross platform use (it's even better than CSP in that it's free with a simple account), and can be synced with almost any device or operating system. The program does feature ads, which I personally detest. But the ads aren't intrusive and they're mainly out of the way.

[trans-beast]

Computer biology

Computers and similar pieces of modern tech have tons of wires, circuits and cables among other things that all need to fit together just right in order to function. They are powered by electricity and have innards that can be very fragile if not handled properly.

There is an entire network of delicate innards that transmit electrical pulses from one spot to another, much like neurons within a human brain. If something malfunctions, the cause could be all kinds of things, be it damage or alterations to the inner workings of their mechanical nervous system, or internal errors within the ephemeral digital mind’s eye that is the internet, programs and the virtual plane upon the monitor as a whole. A bit like how a brain can be damaged from direct physical damage or tampering, or from trauma that comes from events that don’t leave bruises.

If not properly cared for, computers can get “injured” or “sick”. They can catch a virus if you don’t take the proper precautions when rooting through parts of the internet that are “unclean” or “contaminated”. Like rooting through garbage and choosing not to sanitize anything.

If a computer works too hard, it can overheat and shut sown. People also have a habit of doing that when they get heatstroke. If made to stay turned on for too long, the computer may begin to slow down. Sleep mode doesn’t fix the problem, just puts it off til later, like how one might nod off into microsleep after prolonged periods of sleep deprivation.

Your organs don’t work so well if the veins and arteries don’t plug into ‘em. Moving the position of some of your arteries just a few centimeters to the left may be catastrophic, or it could be negligible. Some wires in your devices might cause very little change if they get a bit loose, but depending on which wire and where, it could also render a device more sensitive or in need of repair.

Therefore, technology is a subcategory of domesticated organism, and it’s absolutely normal and essential I light incense for the 2DS I lost as a little kid.

RIP to my pokeball pouch that I kept my 2DS and many DS games in, you were well-loved before you were tragically lost at the airport when I was a kid 😔

[cast-you-dxwn]

So I now have two tentative verses for the Bioshock AU

Daddy Won’t You Please Come Home

And

Big Brother Is Watching You

Daddy Won’t You Please Come Home: Michael was an effective soldier and a more effective leader in the civil war against Andrew Ryan’s tyrannical rule. A man wholly opposed to Ryan’s Objectivist viewpoints while also being aware of Frank Fontaines slimy and exploitative tendencies, nonetheless saw the revolution as the only way to address the staggering inequality that has erupted from Ryan’s Anarcho-Capitalist dystopia.

Fontaine recognized Michaels charisma and combat prowess as a direct threat to his own goals, that the man would surely turn his uncompromising morals on the crime boss as soon as the war was won. Therefore he arranged a mission in which Michael was captured by Ryan’s forces, taken as a prisoner of war.

To make an example of him, Michael was entered into the Protector program, psychologically and surgically altered to serve as a guardian to the ADAM gatherers, the Little Sisters, designated Subject Phi. But much like Subject Sigma, the Alpha Series of Big Daddies was discontinued before Subject Phi was bonded to a Little Sister, sparing him the fate of many of the other series, who succumbed to coma or suicidal insanity when their bonded wards were picked off by Splicers.

Thus he exists as a partially-free agent, still bound by both conditioning and the fragments of his remaining moral code to defend the Little Sisters, in opposition of those seeking to exploit them.

Big Brother Is Watching You: During the course of the early stages of the Gatherer Program, it was explored whether or not little boys could serve the same purpose. Unfortunately, whether due to some reaction to the ADAM slug implantation or simply the difference in treatment during their conditioning, these so called “Little Brothers” were roundly hyper-aggressive towards research staff and those who interfered with their gathering duties, rendering them unfit for duty.

As a result the program was abandoned and the Little Brothers left to fend for themselves, and without Protectors they were easily picked off by Splicers. Except for one. Michael, one of the children kidnapped from a less well-to-do community, managed to evade splicers and other threats long enough to learn to survive in rapture, surviving off of scavenged Adam from corpses much as the Little Sisters can.

At some point he met Brigid Tenenbaum, who recognized what he was and managed to undo some of his conditioning, dulling his rage and bringing more of his cognition into focus, but still leaving him too feral to keep around (he’d never shown anything but gentle care for the little ones, but he had bowed up on Tenenbaum more than once) so she assisted him in building a suit of his own from pieces of Big Daddy suits.

As it stands, Big Brother is a shadowy and mysterious harbinger of blood and vengeance, serving no master and being seen only when he descends to protect a Little Sister, as tall and strong as an Alpha-Series with all of the oily quickness of a Big Sister.

[shimmerloid-ai]

Preliminary Considerations - Which Vocal Synthesizer Software is Right for You? - Free Softwares

Although this blog puts a major emphasis on the VOCALOID 4 editor, it, or VOCALOID in general, is not the only vocal synthesizer that exists. There are tons of other software that have the same function and a variety of different voicebanks, with some being cheaper and of higher quality than VOCALOID, or even free! That’s right, there are quite a few free vocal synthesizers out there (however the lack of frills may come at the expense of some missing features or difficulty of usage), which I recommend trying out before pouring your hard-earned savings on a program that you may not even use. What if you learn that you do not enjoy tuning or do not have the time to use the software? It would be a huge waste of money that could be invested in other stuff, such as basic necessities (GOOD FOOD) or other leisurely items, like video games, clothing from your favourite bands, art supplies, or merchandise. In addition, there has been a rise of a lot of smaller companies coming out with vocal synthesizers with incredible UIs that not only look appealing but are easy to navigate, and voicebanks that sound far too human and advanced than hATsUnE mIKU (don’t worry, I love Miku with all my heart, I am just trying to prove a point here). There are also some really sick features that you may not find in the franchises with bigger names.

In this post, I will be describing the features of different free vocal synthesizers and their advantages and disadvantages so you can find the one that meets your vocalo-p needs. Please note, I do not own all of these synthesizers, some of these are from reviews on Reddit and VocaVerse Network. In addition, some cons like lag could just be a me problem and better computers may not experience such issues. Also , I will not be covering every single singing synthesizer in existence, just the well known ones and those with proper UIs because there are so many. I am omitting NEUTRINO because it does not have a UI despite having such high-quality vocals, along with ALTER/EGO, as it does not have a piano roll.

UTAU

(Song: Meltdown by iroha(sasaki); UST: Tanjiro Taidana)

UTAU was designed to be the free sister software to VOCALOID. Not only can you use it without spending a cent, but it allows you to make your own voicebank as well! There are tons of popular voicebanks out there, including the Vipperloids, Gahata Meiji, Kohaku Merry, Matsudappoiyo, Denatsu Sora, Shuu Mawaine, and my personal favourite, SUZU.

Pros: 

Almost every single voicebank is free to download

Different types of voicebanks (CV, VCV, CCVC; Monopitch vs. Multipitch; Power, Weak, Soft, Whisper, Growl, Screamo; tons of languages)

Can make your own voicebank right in the software

Pitch bending on the piano roll instead of a parameter box!

Variety of job plugins to make usage easier

Credited for its growl and vibrato handling

Cons:

EXTREMELY dated, UTAU has not been updated since 2013

Not friendly for beginners, especially due to its old UI

Need to change your system's locale, and installing voicebanks can be frustrating

Most voicebanks (namely Japanese) can only read Hiragana phonemes and not Romaji ones; but job plug-ins can fix this issue

Open Utau

(Song: The Lost One's Weeping by neru; UST: Tanjiro Taidana)

If UTAU is the sister software to VOCALOID, then Open Utau is the younger sibling to normal UTAU. Open Utau is an open-sourced vocal synthesizer on GitHub with every feature in the original software while being easier to use.

Pros:

Dark mode with a sleek, easy-to-navigate UI!

Pitchbend with a click of a button; piano roll tuning is still consistent

Splice tool; useful for note-bending

No need to switch locale to Japanese

Easier to get the hang of

Frequent updates

Can use VSQXs and svps. without needing to convert them into USTs

Cons:

No Defoko…

Choppier and buggier than classic UTAU

Slow with rendering wav. files and launching the software

Phonemizers are tricky to work with, you don’t always get the same output as the same phonemizers in normal UTAU

External resamplers can cause overheating and slow down the software

Tuning is more dependent on job plugins than the original UTAU

Many users claim that otoing is easier in classic UTAU

SynthesizerV Studio Editor R1

(Song: Tengaku by Yuuyu; VSQx by Adam Edmond)

This preliminary edition of SynthesizerV was a major breakthrough for the vocal synth community when it was first released. With its realistic-sounding voicebanks and minimalistic aesthetic, this software has changed the game by a landslide for synth users. Although it's quite limited, R1 was an amazing start for what will become a godly program in the future. Pros:

Pitch bending on the piano roll and in the parameter box (very smooth, I experienced no lag when using it nor did I have to make pitch points or pause while editing the parameters)!

Voicebanks sound quite human

MIND BLOWING GLOTTAL EFFECTS (nine different growls, two screams, and a vocal fry that do not sound robotic!)!

Really simple UI, easy to pick up, great for beginners!

Cons:

Outdated; is no longer being updated by Dreamtonics

Needs a recording license for commercial use (though I highly doubt it is still being upheld)

Only four voicebanks are available; Eleanor Forte, Yamine Renri, GENBU, and AiKO - who is paid and an outdated version of her R2 voicebank (R2 versions of the same voicebanks sound much cleaner and realistic)

A little too minimalistic; aside from the addition of glottal effects and the typical pitch deviation, loudness, tension, breathiness, voicing, gender, and vibrato parameters, there is not all that much you can do in this edition of the editor

SynthesizerV Studio Basic

(Song: Antibeat by Deco* 27; UST: Mayu Sama Desu)

Also known as SynthV R2, this is the free edition of the software that is currently being updated, despite having fewer features than its complete, paid version. 

Pros:

Ready to play with as soon as it is installed

Twenty-five free voicebanks; sixteen Japanese, seven English, and two Chinese; all with unique sounds

AI voicebanks!

Instant mode; allows you to automatically tune the pitch of an entire track with the press of a button, although it may make the voice sound too pitchy

Waveform that allows you to see the volume and pronunciation of certain notes

Can use paid voicebanks in the free editor!

Just as easy to figure out as SynthV R1!

Cons:

Can only have a maximum of three vocal tracks in a single svp. file

Pitch bending is a lot more finicky compared to SynthV R1

Lite voicebanks sound mono-pitch

Lacks a ton of features that are available in SynthesizerV Pro; scripts, auto-pitch tuning, rap vocals, cross-lingual synthesis, vocal modes, alternate phoneme choices, and many other features are not included in the basic edition (even paid voicebanks can not use cross-lingual synthesis, vocal modes, etc)

The glottal effects parameter that was in SynthV R1 is sadly not included in both the Basic and Pro editions of the current program

VoiSona

(Song: iNSaNiTY by Circus-P; VSQX: Cirty_09)

Previously named “CeVIO Pro”, VoiSona is a vocal synth that uses AI technology to create beautiful vocals with characters that originated from a variety of other vocal synthesizers (such as VOCALOID!) and are created with the recordings of talented singers and voice actors. CeVIO project has also launched a trial speech vocal synthesizer called “VoiSona Talk” for their first anniversary.

Pros:

Users get Chis-A’s full voicebank upon downloading the synthesizer!

The program itself is entirely free to download

AI technology makes tuning easier

Piano roll pitch-bending

Has some features that are missing in its sister software, CeVIO AI

The “husky” parameter is great for making whispers

Can be used as a VST plugin in most DAWs or a standalone editor

Cons:

All other voicebanks are paid; either you purchase the entire voicebank once, or get a subscription to use all of them

HEAVY LAG; the program is quite slow with processing commands

Free-hand pitch-bending is not as easy to perform compared to UTAU or SynthesizerV; can be quite sensitve and the AI may not always yield the desired result

DeepVocal

(Song: New Darling by MARETU; UST: Mimisan15)

The successor to the Sharpkey Galaxy software, this vocal synthesizer was designed for Chinese voicebanks. Its UI is a combination of VOCALOID4 and UTAU, giving it a sense of comfort and familiarity. Speaking of which, you can create your own voicebank in DeepVocal as you can in UTAU and OpenUtau, and there are some pre-made voicebanks of popular UTAUs, including Namine Ritsu, Inari Akane, and Kuro Bousuka. In addition, there is also a Kiana voicebank commissioned by MiHOYO and based on the protagonist of Gun Girls Z and Honkai Impact 3rd!

Pros:

Ready to use as soon as its out of the box

Great engine for Chinese voicebanks

Can create your own voicebank

Runs smoothly

Has all of the necessary parameters needed to create songs and covers

Cons:

Voicebanks can be kind of shaky, choppy, and more sensitive to pitch changes compared to other engines like UTAU and VOCALOID

Pitch bending can be quite clunky

Voicebanks may have difficulty reading certain phenomes from converted USTs; you may need to edit them if you don’t want lyrics being read as “a” or “ra”

These were all of the major free softwares I found, but if I come across another vocal synthesizer in the future, even if it is not talked about in the vocal synth community much, I may make a post about it.

I know there are a ton of cons I found for much of the vocal synths on this list and they sound like nitpicks on my part, but as I stated at the start of this post, some of these issues could be a Shimmer Thing™ and they may not arise for you when using these softwares. I won't be surprised if you read through this post and are now feeling thrown off by the various features and pros and cons of these programs, so here's my two cents on what I think beginners should go for:

If you like realistic voicebanks and want a very simple software to start with, get either SynthesizerV Editot (R1) or SynthesizerV Studio Basic (R2). If you would like to experience them (spicy) glottal effects and very kind pitchbending (like it does not make you want to bash your head against the wall because Renri won't cooperate) along with unlimited vocal tracks, then try out R1, and if you want more features, voicebanks, and continous updates, go for R2. Or even better, try out both and decide which one suits your interests better.

If you have a preference for robotic voicebanks, would like a variety of vocals to play with, and find plug-ins interesting, then UTAU may be for you, especially if you want VOCALOID but you can not afford it at the moment. Although I shitted more on Open Utau than I did on regular UTAU, I recommend the former over the latter as it is still being updated and the UI is signifcantly easier to navigate, along with its phenomenal pitchbending function.

Finally, please take my words with a grain of salt. If you like the voicebanks or are interested in a specific software, or discover one that is even better than any of the listed vocal synthesizers, by all means, go for it! This is just a surface guide by an idiot who spends most of their time trying to make Fukase not sound like a computer dying, and I have not used any of these softwares as much as I have messed with VOCALOID. Plus, my computer is an absolute bitch, so you guys will probably have much better luck than me.

I hope this guide was of use and provided a better insight on the various engines out there. My next post will compare different paid vocal synthesizers, including CeVIO AI, Piapro Studio, and of course, the various VOCALOID softwares. Don't worry, I'll get to the actual tutorial bit very soon.

Also, feel free to ask any questions about vocal synthesizers, or... literally anything! I'm practically starved for asks-

Thanks for reading!

[dustedmagazine]

Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Nathan Salsburg & Tyler Trotter — Hear the Children Sing the Evidence (No Quarter)

How can you make two strangely transcendent songs originally written and recorded by Lungfish even more metaphysically oblique? Apparently, you set Will Oldham (appearing here under his long-standing Bonnie “Prince” Billy appellation), Nathan Salsburg and Tyler Trotter to work, with few limitations on studio time. The two album-side-long covers — of “Hear the Children Sing” from Lungfish’s Love Is Love (2003), and of “The Evidence” from Pass and Stow (1994) — find a weirding place, somewhere between transfixing and trance-like. The effect is more magical and peculiar than any of those adjectives can suggest.

The expansive lengths of the performances (just shy of 20 minutes for “Hear the Children Sing” and just over 21 minutes for “The Evidence”) create a number of rich textures and musical phenomena. Principal among these is the music’s repetition — the simple melodies of Salsburg’s prettily plucked guitars, the understated percussive programming from Trotter and Oldham’s cycling through the lyrics, from Lungfish’s resident visionary and spiritual troublemaker Daniel Higgs. Oldham practices a jealous fealty to the original lexical choices and syntax, but he alters his vocal phrasing slightly here and there as he runs through the lyrics for both songs at least four times, his tenor simultaneously buttery and airy.

With repetition, some snatches of lyrics and certain words acquire curious qualities. Often they strive toward a sort of pure sound, leaving some — if not quite all — of their capacity to mean behind. The words empty, attempting to register only as strings of phonemes. The effect is something like reading Gertrude Stein, especially some passages of The Making of Americans. That’s interesting, but even more intriguing are the phrases and clauses that retain their insistent significations, in spite of the numerous repetitions. See the sort-of refrain of “Hear the Children Sing”: “Oh, the devil is a flower / Plucked from a cloud.” The array of metaphors there, operating with ambiguous relation to everyday idioms, seems primed for emptying. But the symbolic power of Higgs’ figures persists. Nothing coheres, precisely, but you can’t stop thinking about what the words might mean. They are too potent to mean nothing.

Both performances are lovely and odd (and they are rendered distinct by flourishes from other musicians recruited into the sessions: Zak Riles’ unobtrusive banjo picking in “Hear the Children Sing,” Ned Oldham’s gentle, pellucid electric guitar in “The Evidence”). But it’s Oldham’s singing and Higgs’ lyrics that make Hear the Children Sing the Evidence so memorably discomfiting. These lyrics from “The Evidence” are suggestive: “If you’re outside the lingo / If you’re outside the jargon / You talk beyond a system / You’re talking out of turn.” Establishing a position outside of the specialized “jargon” of Western discourses of rationality and “evidence” seems to be one of the intentions of these songs. But their repetition inevitably creates a “system” in which things (the sound of notes, the pluck of a string, the arrival of a lyric) unerringly come in their turn.

Perhaps the repetition itself wants to project us outside of those systems, into a transcendent, entrancing beyond. Perhaps it does. Perhaps these are the wrong questions to ask. The music doesn’t care. It’s too busy being beautiful.

Jonathan Shaw

[hydrus]

Version 621

windows

zip

exe

macOS

app

linux

tar.zst

I had an ok week. I fixed some bugs, did some duplicates work, and cleaned up some build and environment issues, and there's some more user work for ratings.

full changelog

ratings

Thanks to a user, we have more rating options.

First, under options->thumbnails and options->media viewer, you can finally set the size of ratings!

Second, under services->manage services, you can now set many more 'star shapes: triangles pointing up/down/left/right; diamond; rhombus pointing right/left; pentagon; hexagon and small hexagon; six point star; eight point starburst; hourglass; large + and X shapes.

In an experiment, you can also set custom svg star shapes. I've thrown a couple of very basic examples into a new install_dir/static/star_shapes directory, but you can add more yourself. Try to add something that's squarish and has a clean simple sillhouette on top of a transparent background.

We're debuting some unusual new drawing tech here, and you may see some new misalignments or clipped borders at certain sizes. I'm going to keep working here to nail down good padding and margins, and we'll play around with svgs more to see about getting nice clean borders showing up. If it all works out, I expect we'll migrate all the existing hardcoded polygons to svg. We're also looking at unicode character icons too.

duplicates stuff

The duplicates filter now prefetches the next five pairs of images, for faster image rendering (it used to just do the next pair). You can now alter this number under options->speed and memory.

I fixed an issue where flat colour images of the same num_pixels but differing resolution were counting as pixel duplicates.

The duplicates auto-resolution system now lets you do 'system:known url' and 'system:number of urls' for 'test A or B', and 'system:number of urls' for 'test A against B using file info'.

build stuff

I went on a 'cleaning out old libraries' kick this week, prompted by a user report about the PSD-reading library we were using (psd-tools). The psd library was pulling in a drawing library, aggdraw, which, in Linux at least, was including a very old and vulnerable version of a bz2 decoder. I don't know if this decoder ever actually ran for what we were doing, but I didn't like having this complicated library with possible security problems when all we use it for is grabbing resolution, icc profile, and a preview image. I hacked together a file parser and some other solutions we had lying around, including an ffmpeg renderer, and now the program no longer needs psd-tools. Some PSD rendering may be a little worse, but I also improved some transparency handling, so some files are better.

Similarly, I removed the swfrender executables from the bin directory. These are a fun old tool to make flash thumbnails, but the project has been discontinued for a long time, and the exes are very old and we shouldn't be relying on them, especially for a crazy format like flash. New flash files you import will get the default 'flash' icon. For the future, the excellent Ruffle library is putting together a modern version of this render executable, so when that is ready, I'll investigate bringing this functionality back.

On the other side of things, the AVIF library test last week went well, so I'm folding that in today. We should have better AVIF rendering.

next week

I want to integrate the 'A is an exact match of B' tech into the manual duplicate filter so we can test it with real world data.