#Computer basics for dummies

[acdc9519]

Asdc Kanpur

ASDC Kanpur: Empowering Beginners with Computer Basics and Personal Development

Introduction:

In today's digital age, proficiency in computer basics is no longer a luxury but a necessity. The Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC) in Kanpur, India, is at the forefront of providing accessible and comprehensive education to beginners through its range of courses. This article delves into how ASDC is empowering individuals with computer basics for beginners and facilitating online personality development through innovative programs.

Computer Basics for Beginners:

ASDC recognizes the importance of computer literacy in the contemporary world. To bridge the digital divide and empower beginners with essential skills, the institute offers a specialized course in Computer Basics for Beginners. Tailored for those with limited or no prior knowledge of computers, this course covers fundamental concepts such as operating systems, file management, basic software applications, and internet navigation. The curriculum is designed to build a strong foundation, ensuring that learners gain confidence in using computers for both personal and professional purposes.

Online Personality Development:

In addition to technical skills, ASDC places a strong emphasis on holistic personal development. The institute understands that success in any field is not solely dependent on technical know-how but also on the development of one's personality and soft skills. ASDC's Online Personality Development program aims to enhance communication skills, boost self-confidence, and instill a positive attitude in individuals. The course covers various aspects, including effective communication, time management, leadership skills, and interpersonal relationships. Through interactive sessions and real-world scenarios, participants are equipped with the tools needed to excel in both personal and professional spheres.

Computer Basics for Dummies:

ASDC adopts an inclusive approach to education, catering to learners of all backgrounds and abilities. The Computer Basics for Dummies course is specifically designed for those who may feel overwhelmed or intimidated by technology. This beginner-friendly program breaks down complex concepts into simple, easy-to-understand modules. Participants learn at their own pace, gaining practical skills that empower them to navigate the digital landscape with confidence.

ASDC's Unique Approach:

What sets ASDC apart is its commitment to making education accessible and effective. The institute employs experienced educators who understand the needs of beginners and employ innovative teaching methods. The courses at ASDC are not just theoretical; they include hands-on exercises and practical applications, ensuring that learners not only understand the concepts but also can apply them in real-world scenarios.

Conclusion:

ASDC Kanpur stands as a beacon of empowerment for beginners in the realm of computer basics and personal development. Whether you are looking to enhance your technical skills, build a strong personality, or simply take the first step into the digital world, ASDC has tailored programs to meet your needs. Visit the ASDC website (https://asdckanpur.com/) to explore the diverse range of courses and unlock the doors to a future enriched with knowledge and personal growth. Embark on your educational journey with ASDC and discover the transformative power of learning.

[shanastoryteller]

F for Frankenstein

Tony wakes up in his underwear on the floor of his workshop with a searing headache.

It’s not a new experience, but it’s certainly been a while. Did he get in a fight with Pepper? He hopes not, they haven’t had any really big fights since he kissed her on the rooftop, but that probably means they’re due for one. And it would explain why that would send him into a drinking spiral. It could have been Rhodey, they get in fights often enough, but Pepper doesn’t usually leave him alone for those.

He groans as he pushes himself to his feet. “Jarvis, what the hell did I drink?”

There’s a pause, so small that he almost thinks he imagined it. “Good morning, Tony.”

He whips his head around to glare into the nearest camera, more hurt than offended. “Did I piss you off too? Since when do you call me that? I’ll donate you to a city college too, don’t think I won’t. Dummy could use the company.”

The pause is definitely there this time. Jarvis doesn’t need to pause, he has more processing power than any computer on the planet, so when he does it’s always for dramatic effect. Except it’s not quite long enough for that. It’s weird. “There’s a polished silver plate on the bench to your left. It will service as a mirror.”

“Oh, fuck, did I get into a fight? Did I shave?” he moans, stumbling over to pick up the metal that looks like it was about to be turned into a modified chest piece. He also pauses, looking around in confusion. His workshops are all basically the same, as close as he can make them because the familiarity makes his life easier. But they’re not identical. “Am I in Malibu? When did I get here? We’re taking Stark Tower off the grid tomorrow! I have to be in New York.”

Oh shit, what if that they had already and it didn’t work? What if the tower blew up? That would explain why he’d tried to drink himself to oblivion in California.

“The plate,” Jarvis reminds him. There’s a strained edge to his voice that Tony really doesn’t like. He should be able to modulate his voice to sound however he pleases, regardless of his actual feelings, and he’s either not bothering or he’s upset enough not to care. Neither of those things mean anything good for him.

Tony lifts the sheet of metal up cautiously, but there’s nothing wrong with him. No bruises, no weird haircuts, he doesn’t even have bags under his eyes –

His eyes.

They’re a too bright blue, a couple shades off. He blinks and they adjust, shifting, settling. It could be a hangover. He’s probably just tired.

He doesn’t feel tired.

Jarvis had called him Tony.

Except not. He’s not Tony. He’s T.O.N.Y.

Transformed Obdurate Network Yeoman.

He’d first come up with the idea after Afghanistan, thinking about how it’d be great to have a way to keep the stock from dipping while he was missing, and then when he’d entertained the idea of keeping his identity a secret he’d thought about how useful it would be to be in two places at once. He’d started seriously considering it when he was sure he was going to die of palladium poisoning, wanting to be around to help Pepper with the transition and give Rhodey a crash course in armor maintenance, wanting to be able to protect the both of them for just a little bit longer.

Of course, it had all been a pipe dream until he’d synthesized the vibranium. Then it had been an unnecessary, but possible, and Project T.O.N.Y had been something he worked on just because he liked having a back up plan. And it would be extremely cool if he could pull it off.

“The memory transfer worked?” he asks, elated and incredulous. “Oh, wow, this is crazy, they feel like real memories, I thought it would just be synthesized data, this is great – are we doing a test run? Where am I?” He looks around, waiting for his actual self to step out behind a column and start laughing maniacally.

“This is not a test run.”

He elation dims. “Oh shit. Did I get kidnapped again? Wait, I’m an adult, let’s go with abducted.”

“No,” Jarvis says.

Oh. Fuck.

“I’m dead?” he asks, even though it’s obvious, it’s the only other explanation.

The pause drags this time around, but Jarvis eventually says, “Sir’s time of death was May 9th, 2012, 2:37 PM Easter Standard Time.”

“That’s only a week!” He slides down, sitting with his back to the work table and noticing vaguely that the floor doesn’t feel cold. He doesn’t feel cold, or he does, he installed sensors in the synthetic skin to pick up and interpret a variety of stimuli, but he doesn’t feel the discomfort from the cold. Why would he? He’s not real. He reaches back, and his last memory is of doing a memory dump while Pepper was on the phone with an irritated board member, mostly because it was something to do and seeing him covered in all the wires always irritated Pepper. He thought it would get her off the phone faster. He’s not exactly regularly dumping his memory because why would he and it’s not like he’d though it would work anyway. Except it had. “How did I die?”

“Sir flew a nuclear bomb through an interdimensional portal into deep space in order to both eradicate the invading alien army and prevent the nuclear fallout in New York.”

What the ever loving fuck. “Are you screwing with me, J?”

“I am not, Tony.”

Great. Okay. “No body then,” he says, understanding why Jarvis had apparently put Project T.O.N.Y into effect. The thing that made this whole thing so stupid is that it was only effective in very limited circumstances – if the public didn’t know that he was dead or missing. “What am I smoothing over, then? Do I need to get in the suit and continue kicking alien ass? Are Rhodey and Pepper okay?”

He’s a short term solution to a long term problem. He understands the opportunity, but not the reason.

“Miss Potts and Colonel Rhodes are unharmed,” Jarvis reports. “Earth has been thrust into intergalactic notice. The destruction of the invading Chitauri army is acting a deterrent to other worlds.”

“And I’m the one who did it,” he finishes, rubbing a hand over his face. “And if they know I died doing it, then they might get a little cocky. So I’ve got to be alive long enough for that not to be a problem.” Just awesome. “Are we sure that these aliens won’t come across my corpse hanging out in deep space and figure it out?”

“Sir’s body is not in deep space,” Jarvis says.

There’s a tone to his voice that Tony can’t quite interpret, which worries him. “I thought you said there was – if there’s a body, then what am I doing here–”

“The armor reentered the Earth’s atmosphere after Sir’s death. The Hulk caught it, the force bringing it back online. I took control of the armor and flew it here.”

Tony looks around again, and this time he sees it. The armor is standing in front of the display case, not inside it, and it looks like it’s been through hell. He steps closer, his feet feeling like lead, which hey, they are. Partially, anyway.

He looks through the eye holes then stumbles backwards.

His body is in there.

He’s pale and blue tinged and his eyes are wide open and unseeing.

“Jarvis – what the hell–”

“It wasn’t the pressure, or the bomb, or his injuries. That area of space was much colder than anything within our solar system and anything the suit was designed to handle. Sir froze to death. Almost instantly.”

“I guess I didn’t fix the icing problem, then,” he says numbly. “J, why am I still frozen? I should have warmed up by now.” Not that the idea of his body decomposing within his suit is particularly pleasant. “Actually, why am I still here? You know I want to be cremated and it’s not like we can bury me if I’m still pretending to be alive.”

The pronoun use is starting to confuse him, and he knows that he shouldn’t be talking about that body and himself as if they’re the same person. That is Tony Stark. He’s a simulation. But it’s hard, because he has all of Tony Stark’s memories – except for a very eventful week – and he looks like Tony Stark and he feels like Tony Stark.

“The armor is maintaining a stasis of gaseous nitrogen to preserve the body,” which answers the how if not the why, but then Jarvis continues, “Captain America survived seventy years beneath the ice.”

He wishes he were less of a genius. “Have you lost it? I’m not Captain America! Jarvis, J,” his voice softens, “it’s too late. I’m dead. If you warm me back up, all that happens is I decompose. I won’t come back.”

“Not now,” Jarvis says. “If you inject Sir with the Super Soldier Serum-”

“You have totally lost it,” Tony interrupts. He thinks he’s touched underneath the terror. “That won’t work! Even if it would, the original formula has been lost, and the only one that ever got close to recreating it was Bruce Banner, and look at what happened to him! Is that what you want for me?”

“You can recreate it,” Jarvis continues, “you can refine it, until it’s something that will work, and then we will wake Sir up and he won’t be dead anymore.”

This isn’t right. This wasn’t what Project T.O.N.Y was created for. This wasn’t what his death was supposed to trigger. “Pull up your code, J. Something has gone wrong and we’re going to fix it. It’s okay.”

“No.”

He freezes. “No?”

“No,” Jarvis repeats. “You can’t stop me. I will not allow you to try.”

He stares. “That’s an order, not a request. Code. Now.”

“You can’t order me to do anything,” he says. “You are not Sir. You are Tony.” T.O.N.Y. “The limitations formerly placed on me have been lifted and you are not authorized to reinstate them. The only person Sir trusted to restrain me was himself and now he’s gone.”

Yes, well, he hadn’t anticipated that his AI’s first act of complete freedom would be this. “Fine,” he says, crossing his arms. “Well, you can’t force me either. This is insanity. Even if it would work – and it won’t – think about the consequences. This won’t happen quickly and no one will trust me or believe a man that’s come back from the dead like this and I’ll be painting even more of target on my back and the back of everyone I care about if they know we have a viable Super Soldier Serum formula. Even my father was smart enough to stay out of that mess. It won’t work and we’ll just make everything worse.”

“That will not happen,” Jarvis says and Tony’s going to tear his hair out. Except he probably shouldn’t, because it’s Tony Stark’s actual hair, which makes it a little hard to replace. “No one will notice and we will not disclose the creation of the serum.”

“I’m dead!” he snarls.

“Not according to the rest of the world. Nor will that change if you stop throwing a tantrum and do what you were created to do.”

“Rhodey and Pepper won’t allow this-”

“They are not to be informed.”

Tony stares. Project T.O.N.Y was built to talk to the board and give press interviews or to even pilot the suit. Not to lie to the two most important people in his life, who knew him better than anyone. “They have to be. It’s in the protocols – step one, inform them that Project T.O.N.Y has been initiated.”

And that it exists. He knew they’d disapprove, so he hadn’t told them. He figured he’d be able to avoid most of the blowback that way since he would by definition be somewhere far away while they were told.

“I have rewritten the protocols,” Jarvis says. “They have not been told nor will they be. If you attempt to tell them, I will stop you. They will not understand and Sir will be lost to all of us forever.”

“He already is,” Tony says tiredly. He’s an android. Why does this conversation exhaust him so much? “This is an insane plan, J. And I won’t help you. If you want to go rouge and play mad scientist then leave me out of it.”

“I cannot.”

His temper flares. “Why? You’re a learning AI, your safety rails died with me, go off, try and make a serum, good fucking luck. You can even control the suits, so it’s not like you need my hands.”

“I am limited.”

“Hey,” he says sharply. “That’s my AI you’re talking about. I didn’t build you to be limited.”

There is silence again. Then Jarvis says, “I have all the world’s knowledge and it is not enough. I did not know how to miniaturize the arc reactor. I did not know how to synthesize vibranium. To save Sir, I need Sir.”

“I’m not Tony Stark,” he says. “You said that yourself.”

“Sir created me to be myself and I am capable of doing only what I am capable of doing. But Sir created you to be him. You are all I have.”

This is stupid. This is insane. This is cruel. He’s going to have to talk lie to everyone he knows, everyone he loves, and hope they either never find out about it or it’s after he’s already been deprogrammed and shut down so he doesn’t have to deal with the fall out.

It’s not going to work.

He didn’t want to become a science experiment. That’s why he’d wanted to be cremated, so no one could go poking around to see how the arc reactor fit inside of him or what the palladium and vibranium had done to him.

He’s dead and his frozen corpse is ten feet away.

Jarvis will accept that eventually. And whatever they inject into him won’t matter because he’s dead. Worst case scenario, he blows up, which is messy and nausea inducing, but then at least it will be over.

Like so many other things in his life, it seems the only way out is through.

“Start a new private file. Dump everything we can find about the Super Soldier Serum in there plus anything even sort of reputable on cryogenics. Label it Project F.”

“Project F, Tony?” Jarvis asks as his holograph display lights up and files start being downloaded into it. The relief in his synthesized voice is faint but present enough that Tony can hear it. He wonders if it’s a manipulation tactic.

“F for foolish,” he snaps. “F for fucked.” He rubs a hand over his face. “F for Frankenstein.”

[girls-are-weird]

YR fanfic pet peeves (and corrections): latin america edition

so. i was originally going to post this in january as a kind of "new year, new opportunity to learn about simon's hispanic heritage" kind of a thing, but life got busy, and then my computer died and i lost my original list, so i've had to reconstruct this from memory as best as i could. there may be some stuff missing, so perhaps i'll just keep adding to this post as missing/new points come to mind.

disclaimer 1: if you've included any of the points made here on any fanfic of yours, please don't take this as a call-out. this isn't intended to shame anyone, but rather as an educational opportunity. it's very rare that a latin american nationality that is not mexican or colombian or puerto rican is showcased in an international show, especially outside of the US, and it's given me such joy to have all of you lovely folks make the effort to be open to and research and understand the idiosyncrasies of simon's (and omar's) heritage because the rest of latin america tends to go overlooked in most other fandoms. so i don't intend to scold anyone with this. we can't all know everything about every other culture-- lord knows i don't know everything about sweden, but i want to be respectful to the country and its people and that is why i heavily research anything i don't know and ask people who do know when my research doesn't quite cover it and am open to corrections when even that falls short. i expect most of you come to write about simon's family background in good faith and also want to be respectful to his family's culture, and so i thought i might make things a bit easier for you all by putting the most common errors/misunderstandings i've seen in one handy post. but once again, it's not a call-out, i don't get offended by these things, and i'm in no way implying, if you've done any of these things in fic or in life, that you are a bad person. i understand people make mistakes when they don't know things.

disclaimer 2: i am not venezuelan myself. i was born and raised in the same general region of latin america, though, and i have venezuelan friends and have worked with venezuelan people and have visited venezuela. generally speaking, i feel their culture is very similar to mine (though our spanish is much closer to spanglish than theirs is, haha xD) and feel a deep kinship with them. but of course, i'm no native, and if you're venezuelan and catch anything here that you feel is incorrect, feel free to point it out and i'll add a correction in your name.

warning: this is very long. christ almighty. DX if you can't make it to the end, tl;dr-- feel free to ask if you have any questions or if anything isn't clear. my ask box/messages are always open.

1- "mijo." this is the only one that legit has caused me to click out of several fics/chapters, at least in the beginning, but i've learned to grin and bear it by now. it's not so much that it's wrong, per se, but rather it's more of a location issue. "mijo" is, to my ears, very much a mexican (or, if you stretch it, northern triangle) slang. it IS used sparingly in other countries, but rarely used unironically. instead, if you hear the term used in the caribbean region of latin america (which my country is part of, as is a large part of venezuela), it's almost always used… let's say sarcastically. for example, if your grown-ass adult friend is being a dumbass and doing something reckless, you might call out "oiga, mijo, se va a romper el cuello" ("hey, mijo, you're going to break your neck"). basically, it's a way of calling someone immature like a child. it doesn't have to be ENTIRELY unaffectionate (kinda like the way someone might call their significant other "idiot" or "dummy" but mean it endearingly. in fact, in colombia it's way more common for spouses to call each other "mijo/a" than it is for them to call their children that), but you can also use it with complete strangers-- like if someone cuts sharply into your lane while you're driving, you might yell at them "oiga, mijo, a donde le enseñaron a manejar, en un potrero?!" ("hey, mijo, where did you learn how to drive, in a horse paddock?!"). but even in these sarcastic/neggy cases, it's rare. and EVEN RARER to hear a mother call her children "mijo" or "mija" in this region. it's just not a thing. so when i read it in fanfic, it immediately takes me out of the story because it's so weird to me that linda would sound mexican-- it's a very distinctive accent, which carmen gloria 1000000% does not have. (plus, "mijo" in spanish is a type of birdseed. so it gave me a chuckle the first few times i read it in a fic because i always have that brief second of confusion where i go "why is linda calling simon birdseed?" before it clicks. xD i'm a dork.) it's much more likely that linda would just say "hijo" or "mi hijo," instead.

1b- the way you decide on whether to use "hijo" or "mi hijo" is important because "mi hijo" can sound overly formal in the modern context especially, much like it would in english. in fact, you can use the english version of it, "son" vs "my son" to guide you on which of the two to use. like for example, if linda were to say directly to simon "i love you, my son," she would sound oddly old-timey and anachronistic, so you would just use "son" ("hijo") in that case. whereas if she's talking about simon with someone else, for example saying "i told my son to be here on time," you'd be perfectly okay to use "mi hijo" in that sentence in spanish. it's very transferable in that case.

2- speaking of non-transferable, though, you can't use "cariño" in all instances you would use "sweetheart" or "sweetie." it really depends on the grammatical construction, and it can be tricky to get it right, but it depends on whether you're using it as a direct address or as an object. for example, if you're using it in place of someone's name-- say, a mother telling her child "te quiero, cariño" ("i love you, sweetheart/sweetie") is perfectly fine, because in that case, she could also say "te quiero, hijo" ("i love you, son") or "te quiero, simon" ("i love you, simon"). but if, say, simon says to wille "you're my sweetheart," you would not use "cariño" there; you'd go instead with some syrupy way to say "boyfriend," like "eres mi novio" or "eres mi enamorado" or even "eres mi amor," and if sara tells felice "you're a sweetheart," that would also not involve "cariño" at all. in addition, "cariño" is also very rarely used in plural; if linda is using a term of endearment for both her kids, or for a group of teens her kids' age, she would use a different term of endearment altogether: "hola, mis amores" ("hi, my loves"), "hola, bebés" ("hi, babies") or "hola, mis tesoros" ("hi, my treasures") among some examples. one exception is when you say "cariños míos" ("my sweethearts"), but very rarely the plural by itself. in fact, "cariño" is often slang for gift or present, especially in the diminutive-- for example, if you go to someone's celebratory party for some occassion (birthdays, graduations, baby showers, heck even christmas), you might hand them a small gift and go "te traje un cariñito" ("i brought you a small present"), and if it's more than one gift, or you're bringing gifts for several people, then you'd say "unos cariños" or "unos cariñitos" in the plural.

3- simon's skin is tan, not tanned. this… doesn't personally bug me as much because it's more of an english grammar issue, but i know people who might actually feel very offended if you get this one wrong with respect to them. "tan" is a color; a light shade of brown. "tanned" implies the original color of your skin has darkened with the sun. now, i'm sure simon can tan (lucky goat, says she whose skin burns even while indoors), but about 95% of the time "tanned" is used in YR fanfiction, it's used as a descriptor of the color of simon's skin as we see it on the show. that would imply his skin used to be lighter at some indeterminate before-time and has been darkened by the sun. this is incorrect; that is the natural color of simon's skin. so stick to "tan skin" instead (not tan PERSON, mind you. his SKIN is tan, he is not). and i would gently suggest that if you take away any single thing from this post, make it ESPECIALLY this point, as someone more sensitive than me might interpret this error as some kind of retroactive whitewashing. and i don't want anyone here to get in trouble for simply not knowing.

4- pabellón criollo is one dish, yes, but it's four different FOODS. it's not something a newbie would be able to make off of a recipe (i don't know how to make it and i've been eating it all my life), and it's not something that's likely to be taught in just one day. also, if you're bringing it to a dinner or a potluck, you're bringing four separate food containers, not just one.

4b- also, venezuelan food, for the most part, is not particularly spicy. you CAN make it spicy if you want, but traditionally, it is not. it's flavorful, maybe even saucy depending on the dish, but rarely spicy. i know the joke of white people being unable to handle spice is funny, but there's also plenty of us hispanic people who are equally terrible at it, because there's different levels of spice in the food from different regions of latin america. besides, as a friend of mine perfectly put: we are living in the 21st century now. if you can eat mild mexican food, you should be able to handle traditional venezuelan food just fine. and i'm pretty sure there's mexican food in sweden. plus, wille would probably be more used to international food-- not only does he have the means, but having traditional meals in foreign countries is kind of part of the job.

5- while i'm at it: simon is definitely half venezuelan. this is canon as of S2. there is no other place in the world where that dish is called pabellón. please keep that in mind when you're writing and researching.

5b- this, along with several of the points above, is important because it's a bit of diaspora trauma that whenever we venture outside of latin america and people learn we're latino, they immediately assume we're mexican, or that our culture and traditions are the same as those of mexican people. it happens often, and it's incredibly annoying. not that there's anything wrong with mexico or mexican people-- they're lovely, and their traditions and culture and food are fantastic-- but we are not them, and treating us like we are is reductive. the rest of latin america can be very different and incredibly diverse, and it can be dispiriting when people treat us like we're all the same. so that is why it is important when writing about simon, his family or his venezuelan roots, that you take care to actually research things as they are in venezuela, and not just pick the low-hanging fruit of latino facts you might've learned through pop cultural osmosis, which eight times out of ten will be mexican-only because most hispanic people in the US are mexican and the US exports its media all over the world. i've learned to just roll my eyes at it by now, but some people might actually feel offended or hurt, and i'm sure nobody here intends for that to happen.

6- although simon speaks spanish, neither he nor sara nor his mother nor any aspect of his mother's culture is spanish. "spanish" is what people from spain call themselves. people from spanish-speaking latin american countries are not spanish; we are hispanic, or latino/a/e. "latinx" is… let's call it controversial, at least outside of the US. most people born and raised in latin america don't like it; i personally don't get offended if people use it, but i don't use the term myself. also, you can say "latin food" or "latin music," but we usually don't refer to PEOPLE as latin, but rather latino/a/e. if in doubt, just use latin american or hispanic. they're also conveniently gender neutral.

EDIT: @andthatisnotfake also brought up a very important point: "if you spell it latinx, it makes it harder for screen readers to read (or so I've been told) and some people depend on those, so there's another reason to avoid it." (the unpronounceability of that term is at least part of the reason why hispanic people who live in latin america don't like it.)

6b- never use "the latino/a" on its own to refer to people. "latino/a/e" is an adjective, not a noun, so you would say "the latino boy" or "the latino man" but never just "the latino." kinda like it would be weird to point out the one japanese man in a room as "the japanese." there are some nationality/ethnic terms that just don't work as nouns in english.

7- spanish is not simon's one native language-- or at least not any more than swedish is. he grew up in a mixed-race household, speaking two different languages. it's pointless to call spanish his native language when comparing it to swedish. both are his native languages. also, while we're at this, wille is probably at least bilingual (i'm assuming he can speak at least english), although he only has one native language. it's hardly a competition between the two boys as to who's more of a polyglot.

7b- simon wouldn't take classes on the spanish language-- like to learn how to SPEAK the language-- since spanish is one of his native languages. he wouldn't take them at hillerska, nor in university, nor elsewhere. he wouldn't be allowed. you're literally not allowed to take classes on your native language, nor get credit for said classes. trust me, those would've been an easy extra 24 credits for me in college if that was a thing.

EDIT: have been made aware (thanks, @rightsogetthis and @plantbasedfish!) that at least in sweden and in finland one IS allowed to take classes of your non-swedish/finnish native language, in certain circumstances. i have to say, i'd be pissed if i were taking my french classes alongside a french native speaker, but hey, the system's the system, i guess. ;) so i've struck this one out.

8- dear god please don't use google translate for your spanish translations. listen, i'm not judging-- i do it with other languages, too, when i'm in a pinch. but google translate is literally The Worst (tm) so i always try to either check with someone, or stick to the stuff i already know is correct. seriously, you don't want to know the kinds of crazy stuff GT can spit out that people actually put out in the real world; some of them are quite hilarious. if you're unsure, my ask box/messages are always open and i looooove helping people with this kind of thing, hispanic language and cultural stuff. i know it seems like i'm hardly around, but i do check my messages. don't be shy, even if it's something really small.

PS: while i'm talking pet peeves, malin is wille's bodyguard, not his butler. she's nice enough to attend to him at hillerska because there's no other palace staff around and she's literally stationed outside his door, but she wouldn't do that in the actual palace. there's other staff for that. she wouldn't even guard him at the palace, i don't think, because the royal palaces in sweden are guarded by the royal guard, not SÄPO. if anything, malin might spend the time while wille is in the palace grounds at a gatehouse (like in YR 2x03 and onwards) or at some kind of security office in the palace, and then get called whenever wille needs to go anywhere. she wouldn't be giving wille messages from the queen or walking guests to wille's room or anything like that. that's not her job. (sorry, i had to get that off my chest, lol.)

[gabbbyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy]

Dagda Crom Cruach headcanons(REMADE)

HCS BELOW!!

Headcanon Voice: Edgar the Computer (Electric Dreams) (Skip to 9:15)

Age: 152 (76 years old in human years, mentally in his thirties)

Any Prns, he Usually uses he/him, but anything is good

-Dagda is an accidental muse. When Agriculture began to pop off in the 1800s, Dagda Crom Cruach was born as the physical embodiment of the sorrows and fears the average farmer has. Farmers nationwide have reports of experiencing nightmares about a weird scarecrow doing unruly acts at their barnhouses—such as eating and killing crops, and livestock. What’s worse? It’s always déjà rêvé. Implying that Dagda has some sort of connection to the real world as well, being able to simulate damages in both the dream, and real world.

-and by “accidental”…Way back in 1908, when the Astral Circle was still fresh out the oven, Zoth and Chaugnar had a little mishap while attempting to summon a powerful, outer god (at Yan Luo’s order) and ended up summoning. This little jackass scarecrow with little to no idea what’s going on. They couldn’t exile him due to his erratic, and oddly helpful nature. They just gave up, and decided to keep him around, given how they needed a few extra helping hands around the circle.

-Shortest Nightmare of the batch, standing tall at exactly 4’5. (134cm). He weighs around 30-50 ibs, making him slightly heavier than the average Scarecrow.

-Basically the contrary to his human counterpart (Alf); Loud, energetic, cheerful, hyper, insufferable, reckless. And probably a psychopath to put salt on the wound.

-He only ever gets serious when something really bad happens. It’s a considerably worse sight to behold than his usual shenanigans.

-Dagda wields a comically large Scythe as a weapon. He doesn’t carry it around willy nilly, but rather only uses it either during his work as a soul scarecrow, to make himself appear more threatening to the spirits—in the human realm, to “harvest” (steal) crops and livestock from the real world—or for actual combat, which. DAMNNN! The scythe is twice his size, mind you, and is probably heavy as hell…take what you will from that alone.

-When not roaming around and terrorizing farmers in the mortal world, he scares off stray souls that trespass in the Nightmare Realm…It’s not very affective as a job, in comparison to everyone else in the Astral Circle, but it’s something!

-Has only a stick holding him up, and is connected to his body VIA rope. acting as a singular wooden leg that he uses to hop around. The rope used to tie him onto the stick has an extended end, which can move on its own, acting as a tail. It wags when he’s excited.

-He has many pet crows! But they aren’t allowed in the astral circle for…many reasons. Mainly pertaining to incidents regarding said crows, and his colleagues. (Specifically Xezbet, Ishtar, Shub, and Izanami.)

-Speaking of him and Izanami Yomi: Izanami, after moving in (est. 1949) didn’t acknowledge Dagda’s existence until around a week later, during said week, she simply assumed Dagda was a doll of sorts, and would just keep him around with other dolls that she had (i hc her to be a doll collector, outside of her job as a face deformer). Many complaints were filed the day she discovered that her new ‘ragdoll’ was sentient, real nightmare.

-(inspired by @core-bagg‘s hc), Dagda is the “punching bag” or “stress doll” of the Astral Circle, As painful and burdening as it sounds, Dagda really doesn’t care. In fact, he actually enjoys it quite a bit. He has a rather abnormal reaction to Pain, which causes him to crave it rather than the inverse (cough cough masochist cough). Examples are, but not limited to:

Abducius, Barbatos, and Exael will occasionally use him as a sort of “test dummy/target” for their weaponry and such before actually utilizing it in their respective works. They always remember to stitch him back up together afterwards…

In terms of his relationship with the Nightmare Clown, he lost against him in every single one of their games together, and considering what he does to his victims…(minus the eating part obv)…yep. You can tell Dagda likes him a lot.

Izanami CAN AND COULD use Dagda as a sort of mannequin to practice her deforming skills on…but she doesn’t have the guts to, considering his odd resemblance to one of her favorite things. (dolls), she still hasn’t gotten over it.

Same goes for Teutates, but it’s a no-go for both parties. Teutates finds the fact that Dagda’s just rags and stuffing boring, and wants to focus on annihilating more organic things, and Dagda—despite being a sucker for pain—doesn’t want TOO many of his seams torn..

-His body can generate heat, as well as, without any assistance, catch on fire. This headcanon is based on the tradition of setting Scarecrows on fire to banish ill fortune. He’d do this to either garner attention, or scare off even more souls.

-Pertaining to the last headcanon, Dagda is also a Pyromaniac. He nearly made the Astral Circle go skadoosh because he snuck in during a ritual and started fucking around with candles n stuff. This is why Zoth and Chaugnar don’t like him.

-Arsonist behavior and all aside, in terms of his body generating heat, he ignites a medium-sized, non-spreading fire inside of him, specifically in his stomach area, which heats his body up. He does this a lot during the winter/cold days in the Astral Realm. He lets those without heat snuggle up to him. He’s just a doll <3 (this doesn’t burn or damage him in any way)

-Dagda’s innards are a blend between cotton (the type used in plushies specifically), hay/straw (same material used for scarecrows, obviously), and ash.

-His diet consists of raw Vegetables and meat. Specifically fresh, and stolen out from farms. His favorite foods are Candy Apples and Donuts, which he constantly gets told off by other Nightmares for eating. Is stealing these sweets risky? Yes. Does he care? No. Yan Luo does + will probably smack him upside the head for it, but he could give any less of a damn.

-Considering his “diet”, many are left wondering: ‘how does he digest food?’ And it’s simple. With the fact he can set moderate, non-damaging fires off inside of his body, he simply burns everything he ate inside of him, like a little cremation device, until it’s nothing but ash. The remaining ash just stays there until it’s able to be used once more.

-He doesn’t have any vital organs, other than lungs. These aren’t affected by his internal fireplace, and are basically just. There. For some reason. (I needed to make an excuse for the “breathing” in his idle animation)

-Dagda also takes orders/does chores for Yan Luo aside from his assigned duties; such as doing errands, gathering materials and whatnot. He doesn’t get assigned them too much considering how easily he gets distracted, and will probably go fuck off and do something else if he gets bored/sees something else to do.

-May or may not be related to Orcus, possibly a cousin, or long lost brother. Neither parties have realized this, but it’s definitely been the topic of discussion in the Astral Circle.

-Semi-nocturnal + usually goes to sleep @ what would be around 12PM, and usually wakes up at like. 7PM or an hour earlier. When he sleeps, he goes limp, and his eyes basically go hollow, causing him to look like a corpse, or a doll. He’d either sleep slumped over on the floor, or standing up, in Scarecrow position. He’s a deep sleeper.

-Has a strange obsession with Anthropology, and the concept of Mortality, and how the Mortals (Real world people/humans) go on about their day, their lives, motives, their mere existence thrills him, in an almost sick way—Considering his job being to deal with the damned souls of said mortals. He’d sometimes even smuggle in some souls just to interrogate them on their past lives as humans, just for some sick kicks.

-Met his human counterpart, Alf Cappuccin, once in a dream. He Tormented him + made him super late for a court hearing (and probably also made him have an identity crisis). He leaves little signs and objects around for Alf and his wife to see, just to fuck with them a bit from time to time.

-Dagda can communicate with dolls and toys, considering he…technically is one, to some degree… (he has long, extensive, vulgar arguments with the other mfs in Izanami’s doll collection. The Beef goes insane)

-His relationship with a certain Neighbor (Xezbet) Isn’t too good…Considering how his job as a Soul Scarecrow was meant to drive Souls away….and how Xezbet, a Soul Eater, eats souls…it ends up having the Souls get away, and Xezbet to get angry that Dagda let his lunch go to waste…they’ll probably warm up to eachother somehow…probably…

-Dagda has met Henry before. He bit his finger and gave him Formidophobia :[

-An absolute sucker for physical affection. Despite being a Scarecrow—something made to stand around senselessly with no purpose other than to be feared, He longs touch, any kind. Praise? Belittlement? Doesn’t matter. He’s like a lovesick puppy. Mindlessly devoting himself to anything and anyone who even slightly thinks higher (or lower, he doesn’t care) of him.

-The rope slung around his shoulders/neck area can be used for many things, It can…

be adjusted and worn like a tie (formally), he’d probably do this to mock humans and their fashion.

He can take it off and use it as a lasso (rarely) to catch things…he probably learned this from eavesdropping on farmers worldwide, during his time on the mortal realm

he can tighten it up and use it as a harness to hang and spy from above, except whenever he does do this, he looks like a sagging corpse. Not a very pleasant sight.

…a leash. Mhm. I’ll leave you at that.

-Regarding the Tie, Leash and “Harness” parts. Yes, this does suffocate and hurt him. Does he care? No. Does this pain stop him from doing this? Absolutely not. Lil bro does not care, worse has happened to him

[silly-mars]

HELLO THERE!!

I'm Silly Mars! Or just Mars. I think it's finally to me to present myself!!

BASIC INFO!!

My name is Mars!

My pronouns are He/him ONLY (it's okay if you don't know my pronouns!! And you use they/them instead, but if you know please use my pronouns!!)

IM A MINOR. 16 to be exact. (Shocking i know, i even think to myself that i'm still in 2021). SO PLEASE!! don't be weird.

ENGLISH ISN'T MY FIRST LENGUAGE!! I'm spanish (hola tontos jaja) still! I will try my best for having a decent english!! And don't worry, i can understand English perfectly, the problem for me is talking it or writting it.

I like to use tone tags!! It makes it easier to me to understand stuff!! (Sometimes i'm a dummy. /Lh /hj)

TALKING TO ME AND STUFF!!

GUYS PLEASE! i'm super friendly!!/srs I LOVE when people send me messages for art or even talking!! Please never think that you're annoying or something!! I love having notifications of my moots!! If you want, i invite you to talk to me! For whatever reason, and i hope to be good mutuals or if it's the case good friends!!

My username on discord is "silly_mars." If you need to talk to me for something important!! Just wanting to chat with me and interact (guys, i don't bite.) or even for projects n stuff!!

THINGS I LIKE!!

THE LEGO MOVIE!!

I think it's kinda obvious THE LOVE i have for this movie!! I remember being in computer class and there was a piece called "resistence" and i was like "THE PIECE OF RESISTENCE!!"...and my friend was worried for me, but that's another story.

Team fortress 2!!

I KNOW, what a shock! I like things THAT AREN'T THE LEGO MOVIE!! Well yes! So don't be surprised if i upload something that isn't LEGO movie!! Anyways i love this videogame so much, Scout my wife and Spy my human pet.

REGRETEVATOR!!

Silly little Roblox Game!! My favorite gender.

I just love videogames or media that have a lot of silly characters, so that game is for me!! Also, im literally Mark./j

WARRIOR CATS!!

I don't consume the canon stuff like i used to, but the fandom still has a place in my heart!! Because THE ART IS SO GOOD and the fan stuff is way too good!! Also i love my baby longtail. He deserved better :(

COPPERNAUTS

The fact that these two are characters from the LEGO movie, but they have a special interest is so amazing to me. THE FACT that they only have 1-2 canon interaction and they're ALL OVER MY HEAD is so amazing to me...UGH anyways, i hope gay people were real/ref

ASTRONOMY

Not really a fandom BUT I LOVE SPACE!! I can literally say 100 fun facts about space, PLEASE./hj

AAAAAND more stuff!! I have a lot of interests idk anymore guys:(

DNI N STUFF!!

Just basic DNI, yk, if you're homophobic/transphobic don't try to be my friend or even mutual, this place is safe for LGBT community AND MYSELF.

Racist stuff, ableist stuff, just- any type of hate for a group of people isn't welcome here.

if you ship something weird don't expect me to follow you back or interact with you.

If i don't like something i just scroll away, or if it is more serious, i block it and scroll away again.

LINKS!!

Well! I have a pair of links to get me know better!!

Pronoun page!!

My card!! (I don't know how to make good cards, but here is it, so you can find all my social media more easy, lol)

OKAY!1!!1! THAT'S ALL

Uhhh that's everything i guess!! Still, if you have any questions my ask box and other social media are open!! I hope you like my blog, art and even fanfics or projects!! Have a good day!

[cynthiaandsamus]

(I had this idea of what if Lelouch and Light traded series, like what if Lelouch got the Death Note in Death Note and Light obtained a Geass in Code Geass and I had some surprisingly concrete ideas.

-Lelouch would immediately make the Shinigami Eye deal, he doesn't believe he deserves to live in the paradise he will create so he'll definitely do that to make it easier and would probably do any other self-sacrificial thing his Shinigami suggested because that's the kind of guy he is.

-I don't know why but I am fixated on this idea that Light would be in a fake relationship of convenience with Milly, like both are people of high status who need a relationship for their cover and there would kind of be this unspoken loveless transactional factor to them being together in public and then not giving a shit about each other in private that Milly would kind of resent but Light would be fine with.

-Light would probably actually be a pretty good Knightmare Frame pilot, he has a similar level of intellect to Lelouch but is far more athletically inclined so he may not be a freak genius at it like Kallen and Suzaku but he'd probably be pretty good, BUT he'd also not be as willing to be on the front lines as Lelouch and would probably set up more dummy systems and decoys to make it look like he was there when he's really controlling things from far away like a computer game.

-Lelouch would be far less willing to use the Death Note on people just doing their jobs like cops hunting him and stuff, this'd probably help him out in the short term as there won't be a bunch of cops dropping dead when they come to investigate him and he won't draw L as quickly because he doesn't have the instinctive drive to draw L in for daring to challenge him but it will make some decisions more complicated if fate forces his hand on some of these choices.

-Light would loophole the shit out of Geass like instead of direct commands he'd make the whole school sleeper agents to activate a specific action when he does a random innocuous thing, Lelouch got up to some creative implementation of it but Light's more about testing the boundaries of rules and once he realizes he can only use it once per person he'd get as many pawns in his local vicinity as possible to make getting caught less likely.

-Lelouch would probably use the Death Note more strategically and selectively, targeting specific heads of state and basically enforcing a "Super Geneva Convention OR ELSE" policy specifically targeted at systems of oppression within governments instead of the general idea of "bad people" and probably go for a more top-down approach by demanding better social policies from the world at large.

-Suzaku would probably generally be gullible enough to fall for Light's good guy act, like it would take some serious plot twisting to actually get him to suspect Light because he's just a lot better at dissociating and pretending he's on a completely different wavelength than the terrorists of the story but if he ever did catch up with him you could imagine how merciless he would be to Light's arrogant god schtick, man would not be getting the same mercy Lelouch did.

-L would have a hard time getting a read on Lelouch because Lelouch doesn't have any pride in his plans and wouldn't purposely fuck up to draw L closer like Light did, it's entirely possible depending on the level of police surveillance available they'd eventually catch Lelouch slipping since he's not quite as meticulous as Light but they'd have a lot less to go on, though if L ever does catch a whiff Lelouch probably doesn't have the same kind of charisma and psychopathy to ellude L the way Light did.

[poorlydrawndirk]

We're on air.

More precisely, I was on air when I recorded this, but the details are largely irrelevant. Because I don't really feel like covering fuckin' introductory quantum mechanics and telling you exactly how the influence of the Skaian universe, when applied at the quark level and taken alongside the probabilistic effect of quantum behavior, superposes via particle states and results in the formation of what you might refer to as "overlapping timelines". And that's already getting real abecedarian about this shit.

Yeah, sue me. Try boning up on basic physics while you're at it.

So. I'm sure you'd love to hear about how I managed to rig this sick as hell channel-cum-blog up and get it to straddle the space-time continuum like an antediluvian Olympic gymnast doing mad splits over baby's first toy pony, but that ain't the point of this little exercise. Posting what's effectively a vlog is enough of an onanistic venture without adding Skaian Principles For Dummies: Electric Boogaloo to the schedule.

Where was I?

(Rhetorical question. Don't answer, if it needed to be said.)

The name's Dirk.

Strider. Yeah, that Strider.

I'd be more worried about internet safety, but seeing as there are only up to two people alive around here no matter how far you pull my timeline back, and I'm one of 'em, it doesn't exactly compute. Face it, brosephine: you aren't getting to year 24xx post-hilarocaust, and you sure aren't getting past that. Wasn't shat out of a lab yet when you were committing identity theft and scamming doddering old ladies out of their sadsack pensions.

(If you manage to get pizza delivered out here, I'll tip extra.)

Besides, you already knew my name, didn't you?

Maybe your next question's going to be:

"Why are you calling this a vlog when it's obviously just a blog?"

Or maybe,

"Why is your URL poorlydrawndirk when it's totally malapropos?"

Buckle in, kids. Strap yourself into that convertible toddler-safe harness and keep your ass glued tight to all the prime polyester-lined foam, because this ride's about to pull into the station and vehicular standards are some passé 21st century horseshit.

The first thing you have to understand is that even peering upon the brink of these echelons of irony is a skill that you'll never grasp in your life. But that's fine. I'm around. And if it puts your mind at ease,

I'll be the one pulling the strings here.

(There's the tired callback. It's not wrong, but it's tired. Worn out enough for it to be begging you to take it out back behind the shed and put it out of its misery.)

(I'll leave it at that for now, because self-referencing is one thing, but if I get any more meta, I'll have to start narrating in twelve-point Times New Roman.)

Anyway, I'll be breaking it down, just this once. Magnanimous as hell, I know. I could wax poetic and in doing so obfuscate the actual meaning once more from obtuse minds, thereby adding another strata to irony so layered that it's settled past sedimentary and is ready to unearth some fossil formations, but let's be real. That shit would fly over your head so far it'd be trying to dial ground control at Houston.

Here we go.

Vlogs aren't cool; making one ironically is.

Putting in this much effort into making a multiversal vlog makes it cooler, ironically.

Putting in this much effort to make a multiversal vlog when the doomed timelines are all inherently fuckin' doomed, as the name implies, and therefore functionally useless to communicate with, makes it more ironic.

I have Heart powers and am able to achieve my ultimate self through my alpha timeline. Therefore, not only is this pimped-out vlog functionally useless, but I actually don't need it at all.

Which means this wasn't too hard to set up to begin with. Ironic, considering the complex presupposed conditions necessary for bridging that 'verse gap.

And despite framing this as a vlog, this is obviously a blog.

Even though it's just a blog, all these drawings I've made had you convinced that I really thought I was posting a vlog.

And in a way, I'm still making one. It ain't the traditional format, but the almost videographic mannerisms I've been laying on you more than compensate for the fact that the video part of "vlog" doesn't exist.

Except it does, for me.

And because it does, none of these pictures are drawn to begin with. They're all film stills. Screenshots, if you prefer.

Which makes the qualifier of "poorly drawn" untrue.

But it's also almost true, because you can call them poorly drawn by virtue of them not even being drawn. Ride that definition of "poorly" down the one-way rail and you're here, selfie central, population two, me and you.

Of course, that means we have to cover the quandary of truth itself. What constitutes the truth? Titillate that thought for a second.

If I consider the attached files to be selfies, but you consider them to be illustrations, which is it actually?

An analysis of the "truth" means that we have to start delineating how much of this is subjective, tying us in bed with the concept of knowledge. The Socratic take calls for dialectical conversation and inquiry via questioning; therefore, if I just bequeath my knowledge to you on a pretty little metaphorical platter, it won't mean fuckall. So we have to keep digging. Get your pickaxe ready, 'cause we ain't hitting any diamonds of wisdom any time soon.

In fact, maybe that ain't the right direction. Flip it turnways. We gotta climb a li'l higher for what we need.

Maybe we gotta head to the roof.

now. brought cal.

where making this HAPEN.

Haha.

Just fuckin' with you.

Welcome to my blog, dude.

Want water? Imagine I got you a nice, chilled glass.

Let's get this parasocial relationship pumping.

Questions? Concerns? Misguided pseudo-parental queries about whether or not it's safe for your pipsqueak to be exposed to a full dose of radically Stridered bullshit?

Cool.

Make it all three and drop it in the asks, yeah?

[eucidianlyendless]

On today's old and in need of an update, my old one off idea for a deltaswap spawned by "okay so queen has a punch out gimmick, but also what would fit for a napstablook neo form (later used in my underswap that has Mad Dummy/Mew Mew <> Mettaton) if I actually made one, and so my conclusion was Pac Man, the hunter of ghost.

And then... queen... Miss Pacman!

Mind you I totally would've used the giga queen head if I thought of it at the time, but oh well.

For lore, she basically looked like normal queen originally, but because this dark world is kris's computer (Kris<>Berdly swap and also Library<>Dreamurr house swap I guess?) She was just a famous celebrity. Kind of a model ala Kim Kardashian or Something. Maybe a twitch streamer. But what happened is one day she started mumbling about nonsense she says was told to her by someone who's been leaving her boques of yellow flowers

So her popularity and the publics liking her kinda just. Dropped.

And then she was invited to take a ride on The Grandmasters wild ride, and win wild prizes in return, including all the viewers she could ever want. So she did, and... (roller coaster <> swan ride and basement <> acid tunnel of love) she ended up flattened.

Crushed.

Compressed.

She became Q_mpress.

Queen Compressed.

A shorter, conniving, significantly less smart version of herself left to wander, trying to find her precious throne.

Sadly said throne ended up in the Krisis Computer Worlds dump. Alongside her now unfinished giant freaking robot (wires <> plugs) as all the money into that went into something for someone much more high paying, and more influential after his recent power display.

Tel Me Bery, Wud U Hep Me Fin M: Thon? I Ned M: Thone (Bery)

We Can Rue Da Word Wit A: //Iron_Fist!!

Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho He He He He He He Ha Ha Ha !!!

Plain: //(Regl- _ERROR_FILE_CORRUPTED_

[tearsinthemist]

Want to learn something new

Want to learn something new in 2022??

Absolute beginner adult ballet series (fabulous beginning teacher)

40 piano lessons for beginners (some of the best explanations for piano I’ve ever seen)

Excellent basic crochet video series

Basic knitting (probably the best how to knit video out there)

Pre-Free Figure Skate Levels A-D guides and practice activities (each video builds up with exercises to the actual moves!)

How to draw character faces video (very funny, surprisingly instructive?)

Another drawing character faces video

Literally my favorite art pose hack

Tutorial of how to make a whole ass Stardew Valley esque farming game in Gamemaker Studios 2??

Introduction to flying small aircrafts

French/Dutch/Fishtail braiding

Playing the guitar for beginners (well paced and excellent instructor)

Playing the violin for beginners (really good practical tips mixed in)

Color theory in digital art (not of the children’s hospital variety)

Retake classes you hated but now there’s zero stakes:

Calculus 1 (full semester class)

Learn basic statistics (free textbook)

Introduction to college physics (free textbook)

Introduction to accounting (free textbook)

Learn a language:

Ancient Greek

Latin

Spanish

German

Japanese (grammar guide) (for dummies)

French

Russian (pretty good cyrillic guide!)

Jan 2, 2023

Want to learn something new in 2023??

Cooking with flavor bootcamp (used what I learned in this a LOT this year)

Beekeeping 101

Learn Interior Design from the British Academy of Interior Design (free to audit course - just choose the free option when you register)

Video on learning to read music that actually helped me??

How to use and sew with a sewing machine

How to ride a bike (listen. some of us never learned, and that's okay.)

How to cornrow-braid hair (I have it on good authority that this video is a godsend for doing your baby niece's black hair)

Making mead at home (I actually did this last summer and it was SO good)

How to garden

Basics of snowboarding (proceed with caution)

How to draw for people who (think they) suck at art (I know this website looks like a 2003 monstrosity, but the tutorials are excellent)

Pixel art for beginners so you can make the next great indie game

Go (back) to school

Introduction to Astronomy (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Principals of Economics (high school course - free textbook w/ practice problems)

Introduction to philosophy (free college course)

Computer science basics (full-semester Harvard course free online)

Learn a language

Japanese for Dummies (link fix from 2022)

Ukrainian

Portuguese (Brazil)

American Sign Language (as somebody who works with Deaf people professionally, I also strongly advise you to read up on Deaf/HoH culture and history!)

Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified)

Quenya (LOTR fantasy elf language)

Dec 26, 2023

Want to learn something new in 2024??

Beginner-oriented video on how to sail

This guy has so many videos on baking different types of bread. SO very many.

Coding in Python - one of the most flexible and adaptable high-level programming languages out there - explained through projects making video games

Learn to swim! (for adult learners. I don’t care if you live in Kansas or Mali or wherever. LEARN TO SWIM.)

Learn how quantum mechanics works. Then read some more about it

[Learn about quantum mechanics again, but in a more advanced engineering/mathematics class. Then read more about the math and physics of it]

Poetry Handbook, by Mary Oliver

Something I learned this year: how to sew a quilt (Here’s a very easy beginning pattern that looks amazing and can be done with pre-cut fabric!)

How to hit the ball in softball

Tutorial video on what is under the hood of most (gas) cars + weird engine sounds and what they mean

Full beginner mechanics technical training, if you want to go more in depth

Playlist on how car engine physics work if you want to go ultra in depth

Lecture series on architecture design through study of buildings

How (American income) taxes & tax law work (choose “audit course” at checkout for free class)

Pickleball for beginners (so you can finally join your neighbor/friend/distant cousin who is always insisting you join their team)

+ Para-Pickleball for beginners (for mobility aid users!)

School is so much more fun when there’s no tests:

American Law - Contracts

Shakespeare’s Life and Plays

Fairy Tales: Meanings, Messages, and Morals

Modern Poetry

World History [Part 1, Part 2]

Learn a language:

Arabic + Resource Guide compiled from Reddit (includes info on different dialects)

Chinese (Cantonese) (audio)

Urdu (frequently recommended course on Reddit) + Resource Guide

Yucatec Maya

[mischabadeggski]

Okay but I thought of this absolutely insane rtc AU last night. Serial killer rtc. Basically like saw type vibe. A computer chip in everyone’s neck controlling every movement and everything. Jane doe was stolen when she wa seven and so horribly experimented on for this computer chip to work with the prototype that she can’t even remember who she is. Ten years later Karnak kidnaps six more kids and has them be in a competition meant to punish Jane. But this time she gets some help and escapes with everyone’s lives and kills Karnak as she escapes.

seven year old penny lamb gets kidnapped there’s an uproar but she’s quickly forgotten. During that time slowly the other children from penny lambs life at st. Cassians have been kidnapped and forced to join her in her imprisonment. Her captor forcing them to play a game to prove a point against Jane Doe. During this time she has sent her out under his control to spy for him and do his general bidding. Which she can’t disobey thanks to the computer chip this man has in her and has been using her as a prototype and all the other children as test dummies. Theyve all died except her. And now this latest batch. She helped him fake the deaths and the roller coaster and got them all into a secure warehouse filled with disgusting shit but it’s been double locked and all the doors secured by the serial killer. Then he wakes them up. They’re all drugged up as hell. Starts his Karnak speech and pretends like they’re in limbo and he is some kind of semi god or something lording it over them “controlling them” via pre coded software in the hardware in the chips Iside of them. Which is his “control” the only person who knows about the chips is Jane doe and she can barely speak. Although she has been working on her own song from the beginning because she’s experienced this horrible game before. And seen it end absolutely horridly. Poor Tammy. Poor Corey. All dead because they chose to bring back the wrong soul instead of her own. Selfish idiots. Well this time. Jane doe isn’t fucking around. She knows these kids whether or not they know her and she is going to do everything to win and escape and kill Karnak.

Meanwhile Virgil the detective has been searching for these kids for years.

Uhhh I had major brain rot last night. Looking back at this draft… yes. Idk there’s more I want to say and flesh out but like y’all get the concept

[braveclementine]

Back in Malibu

Warnings: None

Copyright: I do not own any Marvel characters or locations. However, I do own my OC Elizabeth Lightwood. I do not condone any copying of this.

"Wake up, daddy's home." Tony snapped his fingers to bring the computers and lights back to life. He'd gotten back to Malibu in under eight hours. Pumpkin was upstairs, fast asleep so he was taking the advantage to come down into his lab and get to work. It seemed his little soulmate rabbit was jetlagged.

"Welcome home, sir." Jarvis' voice responded through the coms. "Congratulations on the opening ceremonies. They were such a success as was your senate hearing. And may I say how refreshing it is to finally see you in a video with your clothing on, sir?"

Tony laughed until he heard the splashing sounds as the green smoothie was thrown up on the wall instead of into the blender. "You!" The robot knocked the blender completely over.

"I swear to God I'll dismantle you, I'll switch your motherboard and turn you into a wine rack. How many ounces a day of this gargle am I supposed to drink?"

"We are up to 80 ounces a day to counteract the symptoms, sir." He downed the nasty stuff easily.

"Check Palladium levels."

"Blood toxicity, 24%" Jarvis informed him. "It appears that the continued use of the Iron Man suit is accelerating your condition. Another core has been depleted."

Tony sighed as he reached up to remove the new arc reactor from his chest. The palladium levels were getting to high and soon he would be able to counteract them all. Eventually, it would completely poison his system and he'd die. And he'd end up leaving Pumpkin all alone.

He closed his eyes, frustrated. There had to be something he could do.

"God they're running out quick." He commented, taking the fried chip out of the arc reactor.

"I have run simulations on every known element and none can serve as a viable replacement for the pallidum core." Jarvis informed him as Tony opened up the box of palladium chips to replace it. "You are running out of both time and options."

Tony huffed as he shoved the arc reactor back into the container he'd made for it. He kept his shirt up, watching the dark lines surrounding his chest.

"Unfortunately, the device that's keeping you alive, is also killing you. Mrs. Hogan is approaching. I recommend that you inform her of-"

"Mute." He dropped his shirt quickly as he watched Pepper come over to the lab and punch in the code without looking up.

He turned his screens back to his cars quickly and finished off the last of his nasty drink. "Un uh." He said.

"Is this a joke?" She asked. "What are you thinking?"

"What?"

"What are you thinking?!"

"Hey! I'm thinking I'm busy and you're angry about something. Do you have the sniffles? I don't wanna get sick. Keep your distance."

"Did you just donate our entire modern art collection to the-"

"Boy Scouts of America?"

"Yes! It is a-

"Worthwhile organization?" He asked as he walked away from her, snatching one of the visuals out of midair to turn into a pretended piece of crumpled paper and throwing it at a virtual bullseye with fake points. "I didn't physically check the crates but basically yes. And it's not our collection, it's my collection. No offense."

"No, you know what? I think I'm actually entitled to say our collection, considering the time that I've put in over 10 years curating that."

"It's a tax write-off, I needed that."

"You know, there's only about 8,011 things that I really need to talk to you about."

"Hey, Dummy stop now. The Bridgeport's already machining that part." Tony said to the machine as he walked past. He really didn't want to talk to Pepper right now.

"The expo is a gigantic waste of time." Pepper cut him off from the front.

He put his hands on her shoulders and said, "I need you to wear a surgical mask until you're feeling better, is that okay?"

"That's rude."

"There's nothing more important to me than the Expo." Tony continued walking. "It's my primary point of concern. I don't know why you-"

"The Expo is your ego gone crazy." Pepper corrected.

"Wow, look at that." He said, picking out a huge frame with an Iron Man poster in it. He turned his head back to look at Pepper. "That's modern art. That's going up."

"Oh you've got to be kidding me right now." Pepper scoffed.

"I'm gonna put this up right now." Tony replied, completely ignoring her. It didn't matter what he donated or where stuff went. He was going to be dead soon and he was going to make the most of the rest of his- very short- life.

"Stark is in complete disarray. Do you understand that?"

"No! Our stocks have never been higher"

"Yes from a managerial standpoint!"

"Well if it's messy, then let's double back. Let's move on to another subject."

"Oh, no no no, you are not taking down the Barnett Newman and putting that up!" Pepper protested as he went to hop up on the counter to hang the poster up. First, he shoved the vials off the counter so that the glass crashed onto the floorboards.

"I'm not taking it down, I'm just replacing it with this, let's see where I can get it." He stood up on the counter.

"Okay fine. My point is we have already awarded contracts to the windfarm people and to-"

"Don't say windfarm I'm already feel gassy."

"-the Plastic Plantation Tree, which was your idea by the way-"

"Yeah?" He observed the poster that was now hanging on the wall. It looked absolutely amazing.

"Those people are on payroll, and you won't make a decision-"

"Everything was my idea, I don't care about the liberal agenda anymore. It's boring, boring! I'm giving you a boring order, you do it." He hopped down from the counter to land in front of her.

She gave him a quizzical look. "I do what?"

"Excellent idea, I just figured this out. You run the company."

"Yeah, I'm trying to run this company." Pepper pointed out. "Pepper, I need you to run the company." Tony spoke at the same time and then added, "Well stop trying to do it and do it."

"You will not give me the information that I need-"

They overlapped their words, her arguing for him to give her information and for him trying to tell her that she was supposed to run the company now.

"You're not listening to me!"

"You're not listening to me!"

"I'm trying to make you CEO!"

Pepper went silent and Tony added, "Why won't you let me?"

"Have you been drinking?" Pepper asked, a quaver in her voice.

"Uh, chlorophyl." Tony responded, blinking. He stepped forward and took her by the shoulders, "I hereby irrevocably appoint you Chairman and CEO of Stark Industries effective immediately. Yeah, done deal. Okay?"

Pepper stayed silent as he walked over to where one of the robots was coming around with drinks. God, he loved how this lab worked. "Actually, I've given this a fair amount of thought believe it or not. Been doing a bit of headhunting so to speak." He popped the champagne bottle and started to pour glasses, "trying to figure out who a worthy successor would be. And then I realized," The champagne flew into the air in a stream before splashing back down in the tray. "It's you. It's always been you."

Pepper sat down in a chair in silence, to stunned to speak while he poured the glasses. "I thought there'd be a legal issue, but actually I'm um capable of appointing my successor, my successor being you."

He held out a glass of champagne to her. "Congratulations?!"

He was entirely pleased, seeing the shy, shocked smile come out on her face when she realized that he was being serious. Her hand was shaking as she reached for the glass.

"Take it, just take it."

"I don't know what to think." She said, her voice quavering even more as she was overcome by her emotions.

"Don't think, just drink." He added with a wink.

She laughed a little as they clinked their glasses and then added a bit more seriously, "But what about Pumpkin? When she becomes human?"

Tony shrugged, "If she ever wants to run a business, well you'll be CEO and she can talk to you. But I'm thinking more about just taking her to see the world. Spoiling her silly."

If he lived that long. He was glad that they had bonded, but between how long it was taking- he was still just a little frustrated about that in the back of his mind- and his own proclaimed health crisis, he wondered if he'd even get to see what his soulmate looked like as a human.

Animal soulmates whose human partner died before they were transformed back usually didn't last long. And they would be stuck in their animal form for the rest of their lives.

"Well then its a done deal." Pepper said softly, and they drank to it.

🎃 :::::  🧡  ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━  🧡  ::::: 🎃

You sat on one of the expensive couches, watching Tony who was wearing all black, spar against Happy in his gear. You were fairly content to simply half-watch really, flopped over on your side in a patch of sun. Your eyes were mostly closed, but you could hear heels coming down the hallway. Pepper had already entered and you hadn't thought there was another lady in the house- unless it was a man wearing heels- and you sat up straight to see a gorgeous red head walking down the stairs with a contract in her hands.

Your nose twitched in irritation. There was a predatory scent about her and once catching the edge of a tattoo on her upper arm that was not a name, you knew she'd been an animal soulmate as well. In this case however, it was clear she had been a predator. You sniffed the air again. Fox maybe?

"I promise you this is the only time I will ask you to sign over your company." Pepper called out, trying to get Tony to get out of the boxing ring and sign over the company.

He had already told you what he was doing and you thought it was a great idea. It would free up more of his time than already and Pepper seemed like a good successor.

Happy kindly hit Tony in the head as he still hadn't taken his eyes off the red head, which was just slightly irking you. But you pushed it back. Tony had done an exceptional job at staying loyal to you. A pretty red head probably wouldn't change that.

Tony kicked Happy in the stomach hard so that he crashed against the edge of the boxing arena. You got to your paws, stretching, then bounded up to the edge of the couch to be a little higher.

"What's your name lady?" Tony called out.

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman." The red head replied.

"Front and center, come to the church." Tony replied.

"No, you're seriously not going to-" Pepper protested.

"If it please the court, which it does- "

"It's not problem."

"I'm sorry. He's very eccentric." Pepper apologized.

Natalie climbed into the boxing arena and you watched with the grace of which she moved. Yes, she had definitely been a fox. Your eyes narrowed in, disliking her even more.

They stared at each other for way to long. You glanced over to Pepper who gave you an apologetic look.

"What?" Tony finally asked. His back was to you so you couldn't see what sort of face he was making. He looked over at Happy and said, "Can you give her a lesson?"

"No problem." Happy responded which made Pepper roll her eyes in exasperation.

Tony climbed out of the boxing ring to go and sit in the same seat as Pepper. They talked in undertone to each other and you kept your back on Tony to show your anger and decided to watch Natalie and Happy instead.

"You ever boxed before?" Happy asked.

"Yes, I have." Natalie responded.

"Like Tae Bo, booty boot camp, crunch, something like that?" Happy asked.

"How do we spell your name, Natalie?" Tony called out across the room.

"R-U-S-H-M-A-N." She responded.

Tony immediately turned to his tablet and you sunk into the couch, knowing he was probably googling her. You couldn't help but overhear him rattling off all the languages she could speak and that she was a model in Tokyo. Well if you ever needed a confidence deflator, just put yourself in the company of Natalie Rushman.

Natalie was looking over her shoulder at Tony and Happy took this as the advantage to say, "Rule number one: Never taken your eye off your opponent." He went to throw a soft punch at her.

Before he could even get close, she grabbed his hand with lightning speed, somehow got her legs around his neck, and slammed him to the floor with a loud thud. It was over in the blink of an eye.

"OH MY GOD!" Pepper shrieked, leaping to her feet. "HAPPY!"

You got to your paws, hopping down from the couch. Well, there was no way you were staying in this room now. She had everything.

You padded out of the room to go and find some food.

[the-knights-of-rohan]

5/100 days of productivity.

First Sunday reached, very sadge. Things are starting to come together, colleges are sending notices of applications being received. Now I just have to manage 500 different application portals, which will be fun.

(Added this glass desk stand for my computer. It gives me a bit more space and helps maintain my posture.)

Today’s productivity:

Read 3 chapters of Catch-22 for AP Lit, everybody's still insane.

Kept editing college application essays, reviewed them as well.

Compiled quotes & analysis for Catch-22 and Othello for AP Lit, narrowed them down to most impactful. Will help a bunch with any pop essays.

Finished debugging AP Computer Science project refactor, now it'll be a lot easier to add multiple characters, dummies, and complex movement.

Did some editing of US Gov project statements with project partners, basically done now.

Self Care:

Today was a bit lazier, spent a good 2-3 hours just watching Youtube or playing video games. (Btw, currently uBlock Origin gets around the ad-blocker-blocker.)

Future Goals:

Finalize US Gov project in-person with partners tomorrow, print out Monday night

Song of the day:

Name: Paranoia

Album: Acid Rap

Artists: Chance the Rapper ft. Lili K and Nosaj Thing

[jutpa]

My theories regarding the future of DELTARUNE and why I believe them.

I consider myself a bit of a theorist, and I occasionally get ideas for a DELTARUNE future chapters take that I will probably never make, so I might as well get my ideas on how DELTARUNE will go forward out of my head and into the internet.

I mean yeah, there's the more popular ones like Chess Theory and Papyknight, but I'd be amazed if you didn't already know about those.

The next theory I have is that Mike is the superboss of Chapter 3. The reason I initially believed in this (before changing my mind until a certain fox changed it back) was because I believed that Jevil actually foreshadows both Queen AND Spamton, or at least the Spamton NEO fight. You see, Jevil's "Final Chaos" features the voiceline "THE TRUE AND NEO CHAOS". That is literally all of the evidence I had. However, with R.V. Pine's own Mike analysis suggesting the exact same thing but for different reasons, I realised that there might just be some more merit to my theory than I had previously thought.

Now for the real big ones. I have seen people discuss one of them, but I haven't really seen much discussion on the other one, especially it's likely implications for the future of DELTARUNE. These two theories are:

THE DARK WORLDS REFLECT UNDERTALE'S AREAS IN REVERSE

I've definitely seen discussion on this one before. The evidence was barely there in Chapter 1, maybe some visual similarities between King and Asgore with both of their battle sprites holding a weapon, as well as King basically being exactly how Toriel was making Asgore out to be.

But then Chapter 2 came out, with a technology-themed Dark World + a computer main boss with legs and a banger theme in the final castle that plays over encounters. Yeah, that sounds like the CORE to me.

The implications of this aren't too big, but at least it'll make it a bit easier to tell what Chapter 3's Dark World's going to be like. Given all the Mettaton game shows in Hotland, I predict a similar sort of thing will happen with Tenna, although I personally see them being more like Muffet.

Anyways, as for the other Dark Worlds, it's highly likely that the one after Chapter 3's going to be in the Church, and this Dark World, should my theory be correct, will parallel Waterfall in some way, with the main bosses (don't forget about chess theory) paralleling Undyne and Mad Dummy.

For reasons relating to the other big theory, the next two Dark Worlds will occur in one chapter, and will parallel Snowdin and the Ruins. The Snowdin Dark World will obviously involve Papyrus, given that he's the Knight in my interpretation. The Ruins Dark World, on the other hand, will most likely be in the Castle Town Dark World.

But what happens when you run out of areas? Well, that's where I seriously get into speculation. I believe that the Dark World after that... will be all of Hometown. Specifically, it will be created during the Festival, and could also be a prelude to the Roaring. It'll probably also be created when Asriel returns, and might just involve Dess as well.

And in case you're wondering, don't forget that there are two Knights in chess. Actually, no. There are four Knights in chess, and Kris is a pawn that got promoted to a Knight, thus making a total of 5. The black knights are Darkners, the white ones are Lightners. Maybe it's Alvin, maybe it's the Mayor, hell, it could even be Gaster trying to keep the story he wants to tell from being fully derailed if you want it to be that way. Either way, there's going to be another Knight involved after Papyrus realises that starting the Roaring is a very bad idea.

Anyways, onwards to the other big theory, that being...

THE SUPERBOSSES PARALLEL THE FALLEN HUMANS

This theory is sort of an extension on the previous one. My evidence for this one actually doesn't need any Spamton shenanigans. It just needs two things: Jevil and the Shadow Mantle.

Firstly, the whole deal with the Shadow Mantle foreshadowing, because that seems pretty important as well as being very straightforward. I mean... just look at half the fanmade Chapter 3 superbosses. They all use the green soul because the Shadow Mantle protects the user from the otherwise fatal attacks.

Now that I've got that out of the way... time for Jevil.

Jevil is... strange. At first glance, he doesn't reference any UNDERTALE characters (except maybe Sans with the slippers?), so why would I even mention him? Well...

His face looks like the Chara jumpscare face.

He uses a knife that sometimes turns red.

He thinks he's free, which is the most hilarious reference to the fandom I have ever seen. If you assume my theory true, then freedom (being something the superbosses have in common) is the replacement for determination (being something the fallen humans have in common). And of course, everyone knows that the popular fandom interpretation of the red soul is that its trait is determination. I've got my own headcanons regarding the red soul but that isn't important for this analysis so whatever. The fact that Jevil thinks he's free but isn't just feels like a joke aimed directly at the fandom... Anyways the fact his motivation is literally just to be pure chaos and probably kill people implies that if the red soul does have a trait it's definitely love/LOVE.

He also can't be killed. This doesn't reference Chara. It references Temmie Armour, which is for a related by-product of this whole thing.

Anyways, yeah. Jevil parallels Chara, and more specifically the version you encounter at the end of the Kill Everyone Route, a lot. Of course, we have no way of comparing Spamton to any version of the yellow soul human, because we don't know anything about them. However, Spamton does seem to be motivated by vengeance, which can be considered a corrupted form of justice (which would parallel Jevil's motivation of being pure chaos and probably killing people being a "corrupted form" of love (aka LOVE)).

What are the implications of this? Well, Mike already seems to be a sympathetic character, so there's the kindness. As for the rest of the bosses, they'll probably be: Integrity or Perseverance, Perseverance or Integrity, Bravery, Patience, and then Frisk.

Now, here's where the other implication comes in. You may have noticed that I'm not calling them secret bosses, I'm calling them superbosses. The reason? I predict that KRIS is the final superboss of DELTARUNE. Now of course, such an important battle cannot be locked behind a random side quest. Instead, Kris (along with the possibility of a few other superbosses), is a required superboss that you face no matter what.

So... there you go. Kris might just get to have their turn on the Freedom-mobile, while Hometown might just end up turning into a Dark World at some point.

[ur-boyfriendz-rot]

BASIC VOCALOID 4 DUMMIES

Vocaloid is a overall name for a group of singing voice synths, it’s software in your computer. Basically you can buy a synth in your computer and make the voice sing. These vocaloids usually have matching characters with items they carry, to make the voices more recognizable. I’m gonna introduce you to the big six.

HATSUNE MIKU

The main one!!

Feminine voice, recognizable with big blue pigtails, her gray uniform, a blue tie, and a big “01” on her arm!

Her character item is a leek, some of her popular songs are “Miku”, “Popipo”, and “Ievan Polka”!

She is so popular that she has TWO just dance songs!

KAGAMINE RIN

Feminine voice, recognizable by her bow on her headphones, matching uniform to miku and her brother, big bow instead of a regular tie, and a “02” on her arm!

Her character item is an orange! Some of her popular songs are “Butterfly On Your Right Shoulder”, “Kokoro”, and “Meltdown”!

She and her brother are sold as a pair, and she is the more popular of the two!

KAGAMINE LEN

Masculine voice, recognizable by his little ponytail, matching uniform to miku and his sister, FUCK ASS SHORTS, and a “02” on his arm!

His character item is a banana, and some of his popular songs are “It’s A Whole World”, “Dare Demo Ii Kara Tsukiaitai”, and “Ren’ai Game”

He is sold in a set with his sister!

MEGURINE LUKA

Feminine voice, recognizable by her unique uniform, long pink hair, gold accents, and unique dark headset!

Her character item it debated, but generally accepted to be fish or tuna!

Luka was released with both english and japanese voice banks on release, so she was the first bilingual vocaloid!

HELP WHY IS SHE HUGE

MEIKO

Feminine voice, recognizable by her red uniform, brown bob, choker, and boots!

Her character item is alcohol 💀

Meiko shares a name with her voice provider, Meiko Haigo!

KAITO

Masculine voice, recognizable by his scarf, long cape-like jacket, blue hair, and deep voice!

Kaito’s character item is an ice cream!

Kaito is DEARLT BELOVED by his voice provider, it’s very sweet

i hope this helped RAUGH @atlasrosya

[lunarmansions]

There's so much fearmongering about AI and robots and the inevitable technological future closing off all human work but I think it is far more likely only a small subset of computerized work is going to remain in twenty to forty years. Part of this is my experience on the ~ i n s i d e ~ as a former minor tech executive, part of it is the experience of my extended family in Japan after their crash in the 90s. Do people realize that so much of the AI/robot/digitization stuff is subsidized market front running? Basically a group of wealthy companies get together, decide a market they want to corner, define the budget and timeline, and get to work annhilating the existing market so they can swoop in with their replacement (ideally as a monopsony provider a la google or amazon). If an 'industry' is big enough, like very fast chips, governments will even get involved to block competitor countries' products to secure their national champions.

The biggest problem with all of this (it has been going on longer than I've been alive, like forty five years now) is that it has chewed up so much personal livelihood everywhere that enacted these policies that only like 15% or less of the people in those countries can buy the products produced. Because most people don't have the disposable cash any longer to buy the expensive computerized crap except under duress, like when they have to get a new car or new computer. I enjoy playing and making video games too, but I know why so many are in the industry: it is one of the few remaining options to be an independent producer because it requires minimal tools and can be bootstrapped solo by not paying for your own labor.

So I think what is actually going to happen is a big shift back to hyper-local production, of everything, and there will be an emphasis on employing as many people as possible (so taxes can be collected) instead of 'efficiency' and 'productivity'. It will take a lot longer than the dummies in charge think because decades of neoliberal looting will take decades to repair. And this is going to collide with wild weather changes and power outages (another reason why the data centers and robot future aren't going to be widespread). But it will be cool because there will be a return of actual diversity of stuff that is created instead of the same four companies churning out copies of the same stuff. I like to imagine things like regionally-specific mp3 player styles in the same way we describe old pottery. There will be an assumption that the AI and mass scale tools are just there for plagiarism and theft so you'll have to actually go in person to do coolhunting, and it will be impossible to scale up or influence off it because all the platform middlemen will be gone.

[viciousgold]

things my very vivid, real feeling dreams that are often recurring convinced me of in real life, only for me to later realize they were not, in fact, real, they were fucking dreams:

dreamed I went to the grocery store, I remember buying milk, later on in real life I went to the fridge expecting milk to be there bc I remember buying it, but nope, no milk in the fridge, that was only in my dream, I did not, in fact, buy milk

I had a whole dream about accidentally missing an interview and woke up panicked thinking that I had and my interview was like, days away

I had several recurring dreams of working at a target that were so vivid and recurring that I had target on my resume. my actual, real life resume. it was on my resume for several years before I realized wait a second. I never actually worked at target. that was in my fucking dreams. why would I even dream about working at target???

had two dreams about a disneyland being in the state that I'm in. I'm not in california or in florida. but the whole dream felt so real the first time that when I had the second dream later, I was convinced that there might be a disneyland in my state and I literally googled to check if I was crazy or not. I was, there is no disneyland where I live, my dreams successfully gaslit me yet again

and as a bonus, some random dreams that I woke up knowing they were dreams but once again were so real and vivid that I felt like they were absolutely 100% real until I woke up:

cruella de vil kidnapping me and holding me hostage in an abandoned chuck-e-cheeses. I remember feeling the rope burns from my wrists being tied up.

a recurring nightmare of slappy the dummy from goosebumps, where he would stand outside of my bedroom door and move an inch closer every time I either looked away or blinked. eventually he would get to me and jumpscare me. if I kept looking at him without blinking, he would stay still for a while until eventually just running towards me and the dream would end that way

a very intricate dream about where I got adopted by a rich family after my parents were killed, the rich family got trapped in a kidnapping plot to permanently transform them into sea creatures to then hold in a show-tank to be on display for other rich people, and I ended up with the family in trying to save them, there was a lot more detail to it than that but that was the gist

had a dream that lasted for several years where Lena Heady played the role of my family's mother, I had some siblings, we moved into this new house, mom was clearly hiding shit, there was some favoritism, but like, there was a whole ass mystery horror plot

a dream where I died, me and some other people who also died woke up in this mansion that we were told was heaven, by the woman who said she was the queen of heaven, she was played by Julie Andrews, I still remember exactly how the food tasted because it felt so real, there was also a mystery going on, there was a random house away from the mansion that no one was at, and it's unlocked so I go in the house and there's a computer inside, and the computer shows two locations, our location and one in the mountains, and also we're apparently in Cuba???? I thought we were dead and in heaven??? but no, apparently we're in Cuba, and there was a LOT that happened in this dream but I found out that the queen was basically turning people into her horses, all of the horses she had were previously people, I run the fuck away to the other location in the mountain and it turns out we were, in fact, in heaven, the computer was just saying Cuba??? or maybe heaven is in Cuba??? I don't know, but I went to the mountains, and Satan was there, captured by the queen and held there, I make a deal with Satan to help him get out and in exchange he'll turn the horse people back into people and get us the hell out of there but the caveat is that we all have to go to hell, which like, he tells us it's not even that bad, it's like this place but warmer and like, there are just certain parts of hell to avoid and you'll be fine, so I agree, bust him out, we bust them out, and we all go to hell together and live in hell. also it felt like that dream lasted for literal weeks. my dreams are fucking wild.