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from the Maya Angelou quote which immediately make me think of MBD the first time i saw it👍

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I downloaded the Obsidian app to see if it'd help me with writing outlines/brainstorming in general by spewing my thoughts down and grouping them in categories, and I'm enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.

You basically have a "vault" full of little notepad files that you can link together, and there's a visual "graph" view where you can see how you've linked your notes together, color-code things by groups, etc. It's like your own little virtual conspiracy corkboard, no string or thumbtacks required.

For example, here's an extremely zoomed out version of a fic outline I'm noodling around with to get acquainted with the settings:

Also, the linking process itself is super ADHD-friendly, because all you have to do is put two brackets, then select the name of the file you want to link to. You can also preemptively link stuff to the title of a note you haven't even created yet. On top of that, you have the option to automatically update links if you rename a note!

I kind of wish I had this thing back in my college days when I was writing essays, especially when I had a bunch of observations but no idea what kind of thesis statement I could use to tie them all together. I also wish citing was as easy as linking. There was probably some kind of Word add-on that did the same thing that I didn't know about back then, alas.

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So I was writing a small paper in Microsoft Word and the program suddenly crashed (I saved a couple minutes before, thank god) and I get this message in the corner of my screen two seconds afterward

what the fuck

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I love Thiago so much he’s so fun. Problem Human Of The Week, but unlike your usual Problem Human, Murderbot wants to like him and it wants him to like it. and therein is the tension. otherwise it could just write him off as just another irritating disappointing client who causes issues and doesn’t listen and thinks negatively of SecUnits.

he’s part of the Network Effect™️ of human relationships! Ok! he’s an example of of Murderbot’s more mundane challenges re: social/society integration, the very typical challenges involved with like. professionalism. family dynamics. etc. and the issues between Thiago and Murderbot are very much these more mundane issues, like “I don’t trust your security calls because I don’t trust the culture that gave rise to you and put guns in your arms and I don’t like how anxious Mensah is and I think you’re contributing to her anxiety.” as opposed to “yikes SecUnits scary.” which tbh I don’t get the sense is really on Thiago’s radar. he’s like so sheltered that SecUnits aren’t part of his experiences really.

and yeah he fucks up at the start of the book but he learns also? he listens to Murderbot when they talk it out later and reconsiders his opinions when new information comes up about the danger Mensah was in? and by the end of the book he’s fully advocating to protect Murderbot from people crowding it and pushing Feelings Talk on it while it is fucked up (rescued after squashed by ag-bot and strung up in alien pit etc). I mean he’s overridden by Ratthi who is a level 10 Murderbot Friend who understands that this Feelings Moment (letting MB know just how much ART and everyone care about it and went to rescue it specifically because he knows Murderbot has Emotional Issues and could benefit from a reminder that everyone really cares about it). But like Thiago had the spirit. He was just level 1 or 2 at this stage.

that’s character and relationship Growth! Thiago is not #1 man (Ratthi is #1 man) but he’s an important part of the team and he’s got his own hangups and idiosyncrasies and willing to learn and grow.

me seeing fictional characters navigate interpersonal drama like adults: now this is the real escapist fantasy. oh also sick killware clone baby.

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i was put on this earth to think about The Character.

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Currently obsessed with the scraps Martha Wells keeps giving us about other SecUnits bc those relationships could get so complicated?? Three what was up with you???

(help im devloping highly specific headcanons about niche characters) ->

Like bare w me but what if Three had a batchmate on it's team (02 for instance)?

You would share similar/the same genetics (MB says so in SC). If you're SecUnits from the same batch, does that make you family? Would you call two cars from the same toyota factory siblings?? Or just coworkers that happen to be identical twins? And share the same trauma. And love the same other SecUnit (01) who's ALSO your coworker and maybe sortof adopted you?? Because it was alone before you came and now it can't bear being without you? And all of this has the most intense star-crossed romantic tension underneath because you're all so desperately in love (if you even know what that is) but also in mortal danger at all times because you're a piece of equipment (that shouldn't love anything). And this isn't even getting into the various ways they could handle working under a govmod. AND an augmented-human-run HubSys. How would they get around it, to protect each other? Can they?

I'm over here foaming at the mouth and MB doesn't even think they're FRIENDS buddy you don't even know

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So, okay, fun fact. When I was a freshman in high school… let me preface by saying my dad sent me to a private school and, like a bad organ transplant, it didn’t take. I was miserable, the student body hated me, I hated them, it was awful.

Okay, so, freshman year, I’m deep in my “everything sucks and I’m stuck with these assholes” mentality. My English teacher was a notorious hard-ass, let’s call him Mr. Hargrove. He was the guy every student prayed they didn’t get. And, on top of ALL OF THE SHIT I WAS ALREADY DEALING WITH, I had him for English.

One of the laborious assignments he gave us was to keep a daily journal. Daily! Not monthly or weekly. Fucking daily. Handwritten. And we had to turn it in every quarter and he fucking graded us. He graded us on a fucking journal.

All of my classmates wrote shit like what they did that day or whatever. But, I did not. No, sir. I decided to give the ol’ middle finger to the assignment and do my own shit.

So, for my daily journal entries, over the course of an entire year, I wrote a serialized story about a horde of man-eating slugs that invaded a small mining town. It was graphic, it was ridiculous, it was an epic feat of rebellion.

And Mr. Hargrove loved it.

It wasn’t just the journal. Every assignment he gave us, I tried to shit all over it. Every reading assignment, everyone gushed about how good it was, but I always had a negative take. Every writing assignment, people wrote boring prose, but I wrote cheesy limericks or pulp horror stories.

Then, one day, he read one of my essays to the class as an example of good writing. When a fellow student asked who wrote it, he said, “Some pipsqueak.”

And that’s when I had a revelation. He wanted to fight. And since all the other students were trying to kiss his ass, I was his only challenger.

Mr. Hargrove and I went head-to-head on every assignment, every conversation, every fucking thing. And he ate it up. And so did I.

One day, he read us a column from the Washington Post and asked the class what was wrong with it. Everyone chimed in with their dumbass takes, but I was the one who landed on Mr. Hargrove’s complaint: The reporter had BRAZENLY added the suffix “ize” to a verb.

That night I wrote a jokey letter to the reporter calling him out on the offense in which I added “ize” to every single verb. I gave it to Mr. Hargrove, who by then had become a friendly adversary, for a chuckle and he SENT IT TO THE REPORTER.

And, people… The reporter wrote back. And he said I was an exceptional student. Mr. Hargrove and I had a giggle about that because we both knew I was just being an asshole, but he and the reporter acknowledged I had a point.

And that was it. That was the moment. Not THAT EXACT moment, but that year with Mr. Hargrove taught me I had a knack for writing. And that knack was based in saying “fuck you” to authority. (The irony that someone in a position of authority helped me realize that is not lost on me.)

So, I can say without qualification that Mr. Hargrove is the reason I am now a professional writer. Yes, I do it for a living. And most of my stuff takes authorities of one kind or another to task.

Mr. Hargrove showed me my dissent was valid, my rebellion was righteous, and that killer slugs could bring a city to its knees. Someone just needs to write it.

[potatoturnipbean]

Murderbot says do NOT touch me ever except for ART who can lean on me in the feed if it wants.

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A Murderbot Noir AU as a gift to @vulcan-highblood for the 2023 MBD New Year Gift Exchange! 

More notes on the AU below:

Keep reading

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Fans' attitudes toward AI-generated works

Irina Cisternino, a PhD candidate of Stony Brooke University, is writing their research on topics related to technology, art and fandom. You can participate by filling out a survey and additionally, signing up for an interview. The survey is expected to last until at least the end of April, those, who signed up for the interview, will be contacted later. You need to be at least 18 years old to participate in either, be able to understand and speak English and identify as a fan.

After the completion of the research, it will be accessible as the dissertation of the researcher. If you have further questions, you can contact Irina Cisternino at irissa.cisternino@stonybrook.edu or Lu-Ann Kozlowsky at lu-ann.kozlowski@stonybrook.edu.

[potatoturnipbean]

wip,,,, i dont know if i’m going to finish this one tbh i’m not really feeling it BUT i do like the armor design :)

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Murderbot/Roadrunner crossover

SecUnit trap:

[potatoturnipbean]

the murderbot diaries r like. come closer i am a normal series abt a funney robot. and then it hits u with a traumatized emotionally closed off character experiencing being cared for and loved for the first time and not knowing what to do with it

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Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah

Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah

Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah

Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah

Peri!

It’s a wormhole capable, asshole ship of action!

(Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah

Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah)

It’s a hulking mass of vengence that’ll never flinch from a fray-ee-ay-ee-ay

It’s got more than just mad skill, it’s does accounting fraud, fake bills

(Woah-oh-ahhh, wap-bap)

And academics swoon whenever they hear it say:

"You are incorrect, Iris, I can bomb the colony."

It’s Peri!

Peri the Transport! 

Peri!

Peri the Transport!

(A-R-T!)

Well it’s lookin’ real sharp with its “deflectors” for “debris”

(Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah

Doo-bee-doo-bee-doo-bah)

It's got an iron will, nerves of steel, and several other metal-themed properties!

Its hull is airtight, and it’s always up for a fight

(Ooh, whoa-oh-ah, wop-bah)

And so Murderbot hears this sound whenever it feels resigned:

"You know I am not kind."

[potatoturnipbean]

"Maro tapped the table and pointed at me, which was vaguely alarming until ART identified it as a gesture of emphatic agreement." - Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

[potatoturnipbean]

Your Murderbot has such incredible physicality and the expressions are GOALS!!! Do you take requests? Any more murderbot would be great (or murderbot 2.0?) Thank you for sharing your art :) :) :)

Thank you! I'm glad you like it. I hope you enjoy my offering of 2.0 :)