darkforge33

[darkforge33]

[darkforge33]

people needdddd to wear headphones in public because while on an otherwise very lovely walk in the park today i saw a guy sitting under a tree watching a porn parody of the star wars prequels

[darkforge33]

[darkforge33]

me when i;m bothering you

[darkforge33]

rabbits only flop over like that if they feel completely safe btw

[darkforge33]

this crossed my dash while I have a video about that guy playing in the background.

[darkforge33]

People often say to me: “You draw like some kind of inhuman machine.  If I eat your brain, will I gain your power?”  The answer is yes, but there is another way. The key to precise drawing is building up muscle memory so that your arm/hand/fingers do the things you want them to do when you want them to do them.  Teaching yourself to draw a straight line or to make sweet curves is just a matter of practice and there are some exercises you can do to help improve. If you’re going to be doodling in class or during meetings anyway, why not put that time to good use?

[darkforge33]

[darkforge33]

Except these are all instances of sci-fi authors ignoring things that someone had already conceptualized some version of, if not actually attempted to build. Steam-powered cars, the analytical engine, there were even ideas for something that would have served some of the same functions as the internet back before the idea of accessing it via a computer would have even been a coherent thought.

Similarly, I suspect we've already seen attempts at or concepts for whatever new thing will reshape society next. Consider: what's currently been tried that makes you go " wow, that would be really useful/convenient if it worked, unfortunately what you actually made is fundamentally unfit for purpose."

Here's an example: LLM-based ai assistants don't work, and never will. The technology works in a way that actively impedes using it for that. With a different technology, based on say, parsing and categorizing information rather than generating a likely string of text? Something built to help you filter out the bullshit rather than spit out something that looks like an answer? That could be incredibly useful.

Another example: AR glasses. No one has done them correctly yet, but handsfree access to videos and web searches? An end to the ergonomic problems with looking down at your phone? If someone makes affordable AR glasses that don't suck, I think they'll supplant smartphones entirely for most people.

One fun lesson from the long history of speculation about the future is that we simply cannot imagine most of the ways in which the future will be different. 19th century authors in the midst of the early Industrial Revolution wrote about a 1990s where people still took carriages from place to place and the Ottoman Empire was a major world power. 1920s authors didn’t anticipate the invention of the computer, and 1950s authors didn’t anticipate its miniaturization, or the importance of networking. They also thought we’d have Moon bases by now. I don’t know what the blind spots of early 21st century futurism are, but I know they exist, and that any attempt to simply extrapolate current trends is going to fall flat on its face sooner or later. Sometimes it’s because technology improves in ways we don’t expect, and sometimes it’s because it doesn’t improve in ways we do expect, and sometimes it’s because history or social forces come in out of left field and shake everything up.

[darkforge33]

Do you think Bruce Wayne would flirt with Benoit Blanc?

I think if Bruce ever found himself in a situation to meet Benoit Blanc, to his great chagrin, it’d be as Brucie Wayne. He’d be on some rich fuck’s island under cover when a murder happens and it’d be killing him that he can’t break cover to get a closer look at the body. And then along comes Benoit Blanc and Bruce decides, well he’s Brucie right now, it’d be weird if he didn’t flirt a little.

And hey, who knows, if Blanc likes him maybe he’ll let Bruce tag along and get into places Brucie wouldn’t normally be if he wasn’t trying to seduce this weirdly accented, tall glass of deductive skills. (And maybe he’s enjoying it a little more than he should, but technically he’s on vacation so…)

Blanc, of course, catches on and thinks Bruce has something to hide and is keeping him close because he thinks he’s either the killer or in on it.

Except that’s not what the evidence or instincts are actually telling him. Not really.

But he also can’t ignore the fact that Bruce managed to trip and fall directly into the filing cabinet in the office, causing the drawer to fly open and reveal the evidence Blanc’s looking for. Or that the billionaire has a slightly delayed reaction to seeing blood. Not much, but enough for Blanc to notice.

There’s also the way he keeps making suggestions that on the surface seem benign, but are nevertheless intended to lead Blanc toward where his own instincts are telling him to look. So either Brucie is one of those killers who likes to be involved in the investigation because they want to make sure you’re noticing their ‘genius’ or because they think they can control the narrative by being helpful, or…

“Y’know something, Mister Wayne…”

“Benoit, please,” Bruce says with a slow, seductive smile that unfurls like silk over rich velvet. “How many times do I have to ask? Call me Bruce.”

“… Bruce. You’ve been so remarkably helpful.”

“Oh, you know me. I always aim to please.”

Bruce’s smile takes on an electric edge that makes Benoit’s thumb slide to the gold wedding band on his ring finger. He’s a married man, he’s a married man…

“I can’t help but wonder, though,” Benoit says, matching Bruce’s smile for a knowing one of his own. “Don’t you get tired?”

His tone is off, he knows it is because Bruce’s expression doesn’t flicker, not even a jot. It’s just unnatural enough to be telling.

“Tired of what?” the younger man asks, just the right amount of cheerful confusion in his voice and an adorable title of his head like a puppy to make you miss the sharpness behind his eyes. The way his body is coiling tight. Ready for a fight.

“Of pretending,” Benoit says, lifting a cigar to his mouth, making a show of patting down his pockets for the lighter. “I know I surely do. It grates on a man, always being underestimated. Everyone thinking you’re not as sharp as you are. Not as clever, not as quick. It must be a relief, I think, to finally be seen…”

The hand that had been rummaging in his pocket shoots out, aiming for Bruce’s perfect face. Bruce deflects it, twisting Benoit’s hand in a viper-like move Benoit hasn’t seen since…

“Ra’s doesn’t train just anyone,” he says, acutely aware of how much Bruce’s expression has changed without so much of a flicker of muscle. How sharp and hard the angles of his face have become. How deadly. “I confess, I didn’t see it at first. You’re very good, Bruce. I never would have put two and two together if you hadn’t twisted Haggart’s elbow the way you did when he tried to grab Maxine.” He smiles self-deprecatingly. “Take that as a compliment from one detective to another… Batman.”

[darkforge33]

I've been trying to decide what to do with my life lately and have absolutely been tempted by scammy work from home data entry jobs! I'm now very interested in bookkeeping, are there any resources you could point me toward?

the first thing you should know is that you can, technically, be a work-from-home freelance bookkeeper. but you probably shouldn't be because being your own boss sucks no matter what ladies selling essential oils try to tell you. however. there is nothing in this world stopping you from telling people that you are a self-employed freelance bookkeeper. if you have more than three friends with self-employment of their own then you probably know three people who can be a reference for you when applying for jobs. oh, him? yeah, i did the bookkeeping for his etsy business. that is definitely a real thing i did and you can't prove i didn't. spackle the gaps in your resume with time spent doing freelance work. and if you actually want to give freelance work a try there's nothing stopping you from bailing if it turns out it sucks.

anyway. you don't actually need an accounting degree to be a bookkeeper. if you want to go to community college and get an associate's degree, that's probably helpful but not actually necessary. taking an intro to accounting class will definitely be a help.

making a quickbooks online accountant account is free and gets you access to proadvisor, which will literally teach you how to use it as well as covering things like basic bookkeeping principles. lots of people will tell you that no one who knows what they're doing cares about dumbass little certification badges. we don't care about people who know what they're doing. we care about impressing people who are impressed by dumbass little badges and are bad enough with money to give us some.

for extra skills, hop on youtube and learn some excel basics. maybe some excel advanced. idk i like structure so i actually did this udemy course for funsies while i was still in college. it looks like they actually added a bunch of stuff to it since i bought it??? anyway it was a good investment for me and has saved me a stupid amount of hours. the only thing it didn't really cover was powerquery, so i guess look into that separately if you love data manipulation and impressing people.

you can be a fully remote bookkeeper, but my limited experience is that a fully remote bookkeeper is seen as pretty replaceable. what's invaluable is a bookkeeper in an office older than you are where everyone there is scared of computers. i got mine by sticking my resume into indeed and letting it notify me when there were nearby jobs fitting the criteria. then i clicked a button to autosubmit my resume. this is not best practices but if you want a low-effort job you have to find somewhere that will accept a low-effort application.

keep your linkedin updated with your latest certs and skills and sometimes you might get a job from it, you wouldn't think that would work but apparently it does

mostly probably check out the quickbooks thing

[darkforge33]

Hey! If you're like me and struggle with Time Blindness, listen up!! I made a Free Time Decision board!

I got a cute poster board thats bright along with stickies that pop so that I can visually see what I can do with my free time (also generally good for object permanence and executive dysfunction).

Time blindness has seriously affected the way I spend my days. It's hard enough for school work and regular work, but it's also hard for choosing what to do in my free time. Sometimes if I have 30 minutes of free time, I'll start drawing, only to hypercocus on that and not listen during class. However, if I have 4 hours of free time, I won't know what to do with my time so I mostly end up endlessly scrolling on social media and feel like I'm wasting my time, leading to self deprecation.

So, I decided to make this Board:

The board is split into 4 sections, based on how much time an activity takes. Each section has stickies that are color-coded.

Pink stickies are things that I would like to prioritize. Green stickies are self care things and hobbies I would like to do more often.

Yellow stickies are things I commonly do that I would like to prioritize the least, but still enjoy doing.

When I finish a task during my free time, I draw a heart on a sticky. Although, if you want to make it more fun, use stickers to check off a task.

Finally, the check marks or stickers are meant for you to visually see what tasks you haven't done that often so it makes it easier to decide on what to do and to generally see how you spend your free time.

So yeah! Quick and easy to make, and cheap for supplies. So the next time you're not sure about how you want to spend your free time and don't want to regret about how you spend it, use this board!

[darkforge33]

Hi guys!

[darkforge33]

a quick and sloppy tutorial on drawing profiles for the anon who requested it. hope this helps some people! 

[darkforge33]

I think the perfect illustration of how absurd the psychology of executive dysfunction is that, when I’m having a bad function day, I often find it helpful to groan like an annoyed zombie before undertaking some physical task. Like, it doesn’t just make me feel better - it legitimately helps. I have performatively registered my protest against the very concept of Doing Things with whatever powers might be listening, and can therefore proceed to Do The Thing.

[darkforge33]

Recently accidentally discovered the best executive dysfunction hack I’ve ever found

Ok so we’ve all heard of tips involving lists, make a list of everything you need to do, cross it out when you’re done, etc.

Well recently next to each item on my list, I wrote down how to start that task. This can be as simple as “get out my notebook and the assignment” or a little more detailed like “open chemistry textbook to page 235 and review the section on gibbs free energy”

Basically, you do all the executive functioning all at once before you start your tasks! Now when you get to the task, your brain doesn’t need to access that executive functioning to figure out how to start, you’ve already done it. Even stupid stuff like “take the assignment out of your backpack” helps a weird amount when it’s written down. Like it helps more than you think it should. I was rolling my eyes up until the point where it worked