#Image and Video Editing Institutes

[careerbossinstitute]

Best Image and Video Editing Institutes in Ara - Career Boss Institute

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[unsolicited-opinions]

Signal > Noise

Gentle, short introductions to media literacy and information literacy

(I keep kvetching about the absence of media literacy and information literacy...and kvetching is useless.

Signal > Noise will be the tag I use for short, digestible intros to concepts in both media literacy and information literacy.

Asks are open if there are specific topics you want covered.)

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2025-06-18

[Topic: Bias vs Lying]

Our discourse has gotten so ridiculous that we've mostly lost the ability to disagree constructively, think critically, or benefit from the work of smart people with whom we disagree.

We're so fractured and polarized that we routinely say stupid things like:

That source is biased, so it's not valid and nothing it says is true.

If everything is dismissed as bias, and bias is treated as dishonesty, then truth has nowhere to live - leaving us well and truly fucked.

Confusing bias with lying makes us cynical instead of smart. It turns healthy skepticism into hopeless nihilism

"All media is corrupt" isn't enlightenment - it's intellectual surrender and cowardice.

Bias ≠ Lying

A perspective does not prevent a piece of information from being true or useful.

What Bias Is

Bias is all but inevitable and unavoidable, even for those operating at the highest levels of journalistic integrity and discipline. It's baked into how we work.

Below are two paintings of Daniel in the Lion's Den. Same subject, radically different paintings. Is one of them more true? Is one of them less biased?

Maybe photography provides a better analogy. The angle, lighting, composition, saturation, brightness, contrast, and cropping all affect the final image. But the photo is still of a real object, isn't it? Is one of these six photos of the same man in the same room more valid than the other 5?

That's how all media works.

All media selects, frames, and focuses utilizing both conscious and unconscious biases.

That's not inherently deceptive - it's how all storytelling functions. Our brains are wired for narrative, it's how our minds work.

Bias can emerge from:

Cultural worldview (like Western vs. Eastern framing)

Political orientation (like left vs. right vs. authoritarian)

Institutional interest (like corporate vs. activist vs. governmental)

Professional constraints (like time limits, editorial priorities, sensationalism for clicks)

A liberal news outlet might cover climate change in terms of justice and inequality. A conservative outlet might instead focus on economic cost and individual freedoms.

Both might be factually accurate. Both are biased. Both have value.

More examples:

A conservative media outlet may emphasize crime statistics.

A progressive media outlet may focus on police accountability.

A US media outlet might frame a Middle Eastern conflict through geopolitics

A local media outlet might highlight the conflict through individual suffering.

All may very well be reporting true facts, but they frame those facts differently.

If you see journalism without bias, let me know - because that's what I'll read when I need to be put to sleep without learning a single thing.

Lying is a completely different animal.

What a Lie Is

Lying goes well beyond having a perspective. Lying is a choice to mislead - an intentional, deliberate falsehood.

Humans can lie with all media: words, pictures, headlines, graphs, statistics...even silence can deceive.

The key ingredient is always intent. Lies are designed to obscure the truth.

Types of Lies in Media:

Outright falsehoods: "Vaccines contain microchips."

Deceptive omissions: Leaving out exculpatory evidence to frame someone unfairly.

Fake sources or data: Citing studies that don’t exist, or misrepresenting real ones.

Image manipulation: Using photos or videos out of context, or editing them deceptively.

A biased report might emphasize some facts over others, but a deceptive one tries to convince you of something the producer of that media knows to be false.

Framing = Bias ≠ Lying

Framing is one of the most common and most misunderstood forms of media bias.

It's not lying - It's the rhetorical and narrative choices that shape how every story is told.

Examples of framing in headlines:

"Unarmed man shot by police" vs. "Suspect neutralized in police operation"

"Protesters clash with police" vs. "Police attack peaceful demonstrators"

"Israel retaliates after attack" vs. "Israeli airstrikes kill civilians"

The facts might not be in dispute. Someone was shot, a protest occurred, airstrikes happened, etc - but how those facts are framed shapes how we interpret them.

Framing isn't necessarily dishonest. It reflects the values and assumptions of the writer or publication. Understanding framing is essential for media literacy. When you learn to spot frames, you can wring an additional layer of information from the story.

Since it's Unavoidable, Make Bias Work for You

Expecting media to be perfectly neutral is like expecting food to be completely flavorless. It's neither realistic nor desirable. Without a perspective and a framing, a story ceases to be storytelling and our brains...mostly stop processing it.

Every outlet has an editorial mission, an audience, a funding model, a history - so bias is always baked in. That doesn't mean you discard the source. It means you read it strategically, looking for and identifying those biases.

Instead of asking, "Is this source biased?" know in advance that it definitely is.

Instead of asking yourself "should I read this news outlet and regard everything it presents as objective truth"...know that it definitely doesn't, you definitely shouldn't.

Instead, ask yourself questions like:

What kinds of stories does this outlet consistently choose to tell?

Who does the outlet consider trustworthy or quotable?

What kind of loaded language does this outlet use for different groups or events?

Who funds this outlet? Who is its audience? What agenda are they likely to have based on that funding model and target audience?

Bias isn't a disqualifier. It's a clue which tells you more about what you're reading.

Use Biased Sources Without Getting Played

You don't need to trust a source completely to learn something from it. In fact, the most valuable sources are often obviously biased.

1. Identify the Bias

Before even reading, know what kind of outlet you're dealing with. Look at its about page, ownership, funding/revenue model, recurring columnists, and core audience. Does it lean left? Right? Is it globalist? Nationalist? Religious? Secular?

Knowing this lets you anticipate the angle and spot distortions more easily. The more you do it, the easier it gets. After a little practice, you'll see clearly (for example) the huge right wing bias of the Jerusalem Post, the huge left wing bias of Ha'aretz, and how The Times of Israel is mostly pretty disciplined (in their news gathering and framing) about minimizing left/right political biases.

None of these three is perfect, but seeing their usual, institutional biases lets you read them against each other.

2. Use It for Contrast

Biased outlets often highlight stories others avoid or ignore. Fox News may underplay climate change but overplay immigration crime. Al Jazeera will underplay Hamas human rights abuses but spotlight in depth the most embarrassing moments in Israeli politics. The Jerusalem Post will underplay corruption charges against Netanyahu and spotlight the most depraved behaviors committed in the name of Hamas.

Use this to your advantage. Compare coverage across ideological lines. The contrast tells you volumes about outfit AND audience.

3. Look for Hard Facts

Don't quote the adjectives. Quote the data. What happened? When? Where? Who said it? What did the video actually show?

Stop taking an analyst's word as truth - see it as a lens to try on at look at the facts through. If the lens helps it make sense, put it in your back pocket for later use.

Strip away the spin, extract the structure.

4. Cross-Reference Across Angles

Treat each biased source as one side of a triangle. To understand the shape of a thing, you need multiple sides. Balance a left-wing story with a right-wing one. Add an international perspective. Compare them.

Over time, you start seeing the shape of the event instead of the biases of each outfit.

(If you're anything like me, you never want to see or hear another advertisement for Ground News...but still use it sometimes to do exactly this.)

When Bias Becomes Lying

Bias turns into lying when it refuses to admit its own existence or crosses into manipulation. You're dealing with deceptive bias when:

It claims neutrality while advancing a clear agenda

It actively suppresses or distorts opposing views

It refuses to promptly issue corrections or acknowledge errors

It flattens complexity into false binaries like good guys vs. bad guys

It consistently omits key information that would challenge its narrative

It's part of a disinformation campaign (state media, bad actors, bots)

Ask yourself these questions:

Does the outlet ever challenge its own side?

Does it interview or quote those it disagrees with...without distortion?

Does it foster critical thinking or does it push tribal loyalty?

Thesl answers will let you see lying much more quickly.

When evaluating a media claim, ask:

Is this verifiable?

Does this trigger a strong emotional reaction? Was that the goal?

What's missing?

Does this match the tone of propaganda? (overly simplified, emotionally charged, black-and-white framing?)

Is this story meant to inform...or to rally?

And perhaps most importantly:

Do I want this to be true because it confirms something I already believe?

Recognizing your own bias is more critical than spotting it in others. We are all vulnerable to confirmation bias, and most of us seek out what feels good while avoiding what challenges us.

Practice pausing. Breathe a few times between the click and the share. (Confirmation bias will be the topic of a future Signal > Noise.)

Vary Your Media Diet

To understand a complex world, you need inputs from multiple angles.

If you only get your information from one side, you're not informed - you're enlisted.

Real media literacy is not about being neutral. It's about navigating bias with awareness, curiosity, and courage.

That means reading:

Across ideological lines

Across national borders

Across formats (print, visual, audio)

It's not always fun, it takes some time, but it's essential and cwn dramatically reduce your susceptibility to propaganda -

...so go read smart, articulate people you disagree with!

Instead of avoiding bias, learn to read it. Recognize it. Use it. Balance it. Counter it. Triangulate past it.

And when you find actual deception? Name it and reject it.

That's media literacy.

[bionicle-sprite-comics]

I made a video explaining the very basics on how sprite comics are made! I opted to choose Microsoft Paint because it's a simple program that's easily available on Windows.

If you use macOS, the closest fit would be Paint X, available for like $10. Of course, if you're going to pay for a pixel art tool, Aseprite is much better, and that program has an excellent manual. You could also start an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription to get PhotoShop (or set sail and download a previous version from a fun place).

Free tools are available, like GIMP (because I'm old), Pixelorama, Krita, Paint.net, the list goes on.

Fonts I recommended:

Back Issues

Atkinson Hyperlegible

Transcript below the readmore!

Sprite comics are easy. You just need sprites and an image editing program.

Most comics in the BZPower days were made in MS Paint and they were not fancy-looking comics like mine. Most of them looked like this, and it works very well! In MS Paint, you only need to know two tricks:

The eraser tool has a right-click function that only replaces Color 1 with Color 2. This will help you recolor your sprites.

You can copy and paste sprites as transparent images. Click the dropdown under the selection tool and select "transparent selection" to filter out Color 2.

Here's some bonus advice:

People have huge resolution monitors now, so I recommend doubling your comic's size. In MS Paint, select Resize and then type 200 in the percent field.

The most common mistake is unreadable text. Always pick a font that is easy to read and simple. Opt for a "sans serif" font as they're easier to read than "serif" fonts. Here are two good default pixel fonts:

Small Fonts, size 20

System, size 24

If you don't want to use a pixel font, then you can use Arial or Comic Sans. There are tens of thousands of downloadable fonts, too.

For non-pixel fonts, I'm partial to Atkinson Hyperlegible by the Braille Institute. I also like having a comic book feel to my comics, so I use "Back Issues" by Blambot.

Be sure to pick colors that are easy on the eyes. Like, we can agree that this is kinda harsh. These colors are more gentle. Using gentle colors also makes your more colorful characters pop out.

If you're doing colored text on colored backgrounds, you want a high degree of contrast. Notice that when I apply this Chroma filter, you can see why the text is unpleasant to read; the lightness values shown here are way too close. I can make the background darker and the font brighter to help that.

You should also try to have a system when doing dialogue. People will read top to bottom, left to right. It makes sense for dialog to follow that pattern. If you're going to use lines to indicate who's talking, try to avoid making the lines cross. Plan your dialogue, rearrange the characters if you need to, etc etc.

If you're pressuring yourself and not having fun, then you're ruining it. You don't need translucent word balloons, you don't need fancy custom background art, you don't need to be super witty, and you don't need to obey this video! Just have fun. And send me your Bionicle sprite comics.

[longhairwoozi]

SCoups' Met Gala look and why I love it: A ramble

[Transferring this over from my own Reddit post, I'm not plagiarising!]

Image Credit: Vogue

So I've been thinking about Cheol's Met Gala look all day and I'm currently avoiding my actual academic commitments, so I'm inflicting my semi-rambling thoughts on all of you. My credentials: a minor background in fashion history, a longtime judger of Met Gala appearances, and the caffeine-fuelled confidence of a grad student who's built an academic career on yapping well enough to convince smarter people than me I know what I'm talking about.

Some background on the Met Gala and its theme for people who don't treat this event like film buffs treat the Oscars: the Met Gala is a charity event that provides most of the funding for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, since it doesn't receive the same funding that the rest of the Museum does because clothing history still isn't treated as a serious field (a personal gripe I'm not going to go on a tangent about I promise). It's always held on the first Monday of May, organised by Vogue, and follows a theme related to the exhibition hosted by the Costume Institute that year. This year's exhibition is "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," which follows the development of black dandyism as a distinct men's style which responded to and often reappropriate European symbols of power and status to define a unique culture for the African diaspora in the US from the 17th century to the present. The theme for the Gala this year is more broad, "Tailored for You," but the expectation was that the attendees would incorporate elements of black dandyism or dandyism as it pertained to their own cultures.

So, how did Cheol do? Fucking spectacularly, if I'm anyone to judge. I haven't found a single best-dressed list that features him yet, which is an absolute CRIME, because I love his look so much. If this was any other year, he'd easily be my favourite of the men's looks, but this was the one year that men decided to actually DRESS instead of just wearing clothes (some dudes still did that, but it was much less of an issue than usual). This was his first official outing as a global ambassador for Boss (which is literally a perfect brand for Seventeen's own boss to represent, oh my god), and holy shit did they not disappoint. His look was custom made and inspired by Korean jeogori, the upper garment of the hanbok - the cut of his jacket is clearly designed after it with the overlapping lapels, and the overcoat gives the look the volume and silhouette associated with the hanbok. I just love that Boss gave him a look that incorporated traditional Korean elements and allowed him to represent his culture without making a costume of it - he's the first Kpop idol I know of to actually wear something Korean-inspired to the Met Gala, but I don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of every idol to ever attend so that might not be the case. [EDIT: I was in fact wrong about this, a commenter pointed me to CL, who wore a denim jeogori-inspired look for the 2021 Met Gala. I still think Seungcheol did it better, but shout out to CL for blending the jeogori with the denim to fit that year's theme]

His look also perfectly blends elements of western-style tailoring to meet the theme: the pieces all look to be made from traditional suiting wools (I can't be sure of this but I've been looking at a LOT of photos and videos lol, so that's my educated guess), associated with luxurious menswear of the late 19th and early 20th century in Europe and the US when black dandyism was really coming into its own and still pulls a lot of inspiration from today, and what I initially thought was pinstriping on the lapels and inner lining of the overcoat is actually some incredibly precise pleating, and the sewist responsible for those deserves a fucking award, because that is unbelievably labour-intensive to gather, pin, and stitch into place. [ANOTHER EDIT: A commenter on my original Reddit post pointed out that I totally forgot to mention that the silhouette is also very reminiscent of the zoot suit, an absolute staple of black dandyism that originated out of the 1920s Chitlin' Circuit]

Another nod to the attention to detail: I love that they matched his shoes to the suit - it makes him look taller by not cutting the line off with black shoes, which happens so much when men wear suits that aren't black and I hate it to a degree that is frankly unreasonable - AND Seungcheol dyed his hair to match the suit, which is a level of commitment to a bit I have to admire (it also looks SO GOOD on him silver Cheollie supremacy).

This doesn't mean I don't have some tiny, nit-picky criticisms, but you've all got to promise not to hold them against me since they don't relate to Seungcheol in the slightest. First: I wish they'd taken more a risk with the colour. I'm a maximalist who hates grey at heart and I refuse to apologise for this, especially when black dandyism AND traditional hanbok give so much potential for fun colours. Second, and this is an actual criticism that isn't just my personal tastes showing through: the inner lining of his overcoat isn't finished and you can see the raw threads dangling in high-res photos, and this enrages me. In fairness, pleated fabric is a bitch and a half to hem, and I get the feeling the lining was deliberately left unattached to the outer fabric so it can move and have the craftsmanship shown off better, but it still annoys me because it does just look a little sloppy.

Overall though, a solid 9.5 out of 10 and by FAR my favourite look worn by a K-pop idol for ANY Met Gala (sorry to Johnny of NCT, who had the top spot from his appearance in 2022, you've been dethroned).

[A final notes I didn't think of until now: I LOVE that every photo I've seen of him at the Gala has the Seventeen ring front and centre, that's my codependent teenies!]

[mariacallous]

In less than a day, prosecutors, police and the government in Serbia reacted to an AI deepfake video of Prime Minister Milos Vucevic allegedly posted on Facebook.

The rapid reaction contrasted with other cases of deepfake content posted in Telegram groups or broadcast on national TV stations about Serbian citizens and opposition politicians.

The Special Prosecution Office for High Tech Crime told the police to collect all “necessary notifications” on the matter, said a prosecutor’s statement on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the government said a Facebook account named Corvus01 had posted the AI-generated video statement in which the PM talked about “non-existent government projects”.

“A criminal complaint has been filed against an NN [anonymous] person and work is being done to establish the identity of the person,” the statement said, adding that police had asked Meta company to send them all data on the account and to remove the fake video.

As the video is not publicly available, it was probably removed after the government’s request.

However, BIRN’s Digital Rights Violations Annual Report 2022-2023 noted numerous other cases of AI-generated videos of politicians being published without sanctions.

In August 2023, Zeljko Mitrovic, owner of pro-government TV Pink, published AI-manipulated footage of Marinika Tepic, vice-president of the opposition Freedom and Justice Party, misrepresenting her remarks.

The same month, Mitrovic did the same with Dragan Djilas, president of the Freedom and Justice Party, airing the video on TV Pink as “satire”. Mitrovic posted the deepfake on X and later showed it on TV Pink without the audience being properly informed that it was fabricated.

Mila Tomanovic, a lawyer handling the Djilas case, told BIRN that Djilas sought a temporary measure that would prohibit the broadcast and re-recording of the video but the Higher Court in Belgrade in November 2023 rejected the call. The Court of Appeal then cancelled the decision of the Higher Court, which is currently considering the temporary measure again.

Tomanovic said Mitrovic defended the edited video as artistic expression. “However, the spread of violence, lies, fraud, deception, misuse of other people’s data, provision of false data and fabrication and presenting a person in a false light cannot possibly be art, or of importance to a democratic society,” Tomanovic said.

Other cases in which Serbian institutions didn’t respond concerned tens of thousands of Telegram users in Serbia who were sharing images of women “undressed” by artificial intelligence, as BIRN reported this week.

Ana Toskic Cvetinovic, executive director at Partners for Democratic Change, an NGO from Serbia and a privacy protection expert, told BIRN that the prosecution in the case of the PM likely reacted to a criminal complaint of the unauthorised publication and display of other people’s files, portraits and video.

“In our country, there is no specifically regulated or sanctioned use of artificial intelligence for the generation of audio and video content, so the use of deepfake can be brought under existing criminal offences, such as unauthorised publication,” she said.

She added that what was specific in the latest case was “the speed of reaction of the prosecution, which is mostly absent in other cases”.

“The prosecution and the police generally state that these crimes are difficult to prove, including collecting evidence from companies that manage social networks,” Toskic Cvetinovic noted.

Nina Nicovic, a lawyer, told BIRN that a direct parallel cannot be drawn between the fake recording of PM Vucevic and the deepfake material circulating on social networks and Telegram groups about “ordinary citizens”.

“If something related to the non-existent projects of the government of any country is really published on a video, then every country … has the right to react urgently because it can lead to consequences for the country,” said Nicovic.

However, she added that her impression is that institutions in Serbia only react fast to rights violations in the digital sphere when politicians are involved.

“If they can react so quickly to everything related to the government and politicians, in certain situations such as the Telegram groups they should have reacted just as urgently,” Nicovic said.

She said one big obstacle is that the courts, prosecutor’s offices and the police do not have enough IT experts to help solve these cases.

thinking about @roycohn's post about AI deepfakes and Ted Cruz...

[astoundingbeyondbelief]

Kaiju Week in Review (March 3-9, 2024)

Shin Ultraman took an eternity to reach home video, but Godzilla Minus One will proceed as a more reasonable pace (by Japanese standards). Toho will release roughly one billion different editions on May 1, with Amazon- and Godzilla Store-exclusive physical bonuses both on offer. Godzilla Minus One/Minus Color is included with some of the pricier versions, or you can buy it as a standalone Blu-ray or DVD.

The black-and-white version of Shin Godzilla, SHIN GODZILLA:ORTHOchromatic, also hits Japanese home video on May 1. Like Minus Color, no 4K edition, just Blu-ray and DVD. A handful of new bonus features about ORTHOchromatic are included.

As is standard for Toho, none of these releases will be English-friendly. But given the films' popularity (and the lack of any legal way to watch Minus One since it left theaters), expect bootlegs to circulate at light speed.

Unsurprisingly, Godzilla Minus One cleaned up at the Japanese Academy Awards, with eight victories out of eleven nominations: Picture of the Year, Best Supporting Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Art Direction, and Best Lighting. That's one more than Shin Godzilla, and pretty much guarantees that the Toho Godzilla series will keep the prestige pictures coming. Strange times!

We'll see if Minus One can also capture Best Visual Effects at the American Academy Awards tonight. The Creator remains its biggest competition. The Gareth Edwards film is better-positioned by the usual metrics, with a second nomination for Best Sound and five wins at the Visual Effects Society Awards, but the enthusiasm gap for the films themselves may prove decisive. I'll be doing a much lengthier analysis during Wikizilla's Oscar stream tonight, which will start at about 6:00 PM ET, an hour before the ceremony begins.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire tickets may not be on sale yet, but Cinemark theaters have rolled out the above merch (much more efficiently than Target and Walmart have rolled out the toyline, if my local theater's any indication). I have a suspicion those plushies will be worth a mint a few years from now, small as they are; don't know about the other stuff. I bought the larger popcorn tin when I saw Dune: Part Two on Thursday. The promo image is deceptive, as the green area is transparent plastic and the Titan image is on the opposite wall of the tin, so that popcorn's either defying gravity or being held up by a hidden insert. There are Kong and Skar King variants as well, the latter revealing his height (318 feet). Poor Shimo; being the "secret" villain really narrows the amount of merch you get.

The other interesting GxK news this week (apart from the endless TV spot variants, which I'm not even trying to keep track of) is a collaboration with the American Red Cross, of all institutions. Donate blood, platelets, or AB Elite plasma from March 25 to April 7, get a free T-shirt. And for completion's sake, I'll mention the Roblox and Call of Duty cross-promos too.

Chibi Godzilla Raids Again, an unexpected delight last year, is getting a second season starting April 3. The official site revealed that Minilla is joining the cast, while those silhouettes to his right look like Titanosaurus (unjustly neglected in recent years), Gigan, and Gabara. Expect to follow the first season in being uploaded to the GODZILLA OFFICIAL by TOHO YouTube channel with English subtitles.

Here's another chance to watch Tsuburaya and Toei Animation's Kaiju Decode short, originally released in 2021. (It goes away at the end of the month, because every Japanese studio is apparently hellbent on making short films ephemeral, so download it now.) It's the basis for a recent mixed reality game for the Meta Quest 3 and Meta Quest Pro, hence its return to the spotlight.

UniVersus, a collectable card game predicated on pitting characters from various franchises against each other, is going all in on Godzilla after offering a couple of Minus One cards through highly convoluted means last year. They're releasing a couple of Godzilla Challenger Series (preconstructed decks) on June 21, one based around Godzilla and Mothra, the other around King Ghidorah and Rodan, with Mechagodzilla thrown into the mix for both. I've never played this game in my life, but the prospect of a shiny Godzilla card with James Stokoe art is sort of tempting.

[harvardfineartslib]

“In order to tell the truth, you need to invent what might be missing from the archive, to collapse time . . . to formally move things around in a way that reveals something more true than fact.”

Simone Leigh (b. 1967) is an American artist whose work focuses on explorations of community, Black feminism, and the traditions and material culture of the African diaspora. Over the past two decades, Leigh has created artwork that situates questions of Black femme-identified subjectivity at the center of contemporary artistic discourse. Her sculpture, video, installation, and social practice explore ideas of race, beauty, and community in visual and material culture. Leigh often draws her concepts and inspirations from anthropological, historical, and colonial archives that represent stereotypical views of black women through a European lens. She creates new forms incorporating her research on these archives with African aesthetics and Black feminist concepts.

In 2022, Leigh was the first black woman to represent the United States in the Venice Biennale.

Image 1: A large head sculpture that is work-in-progress in her studio

Image 2: Untitled, 2022, stoneware

Image 3: Brick House, 2019, bronze

Image 4: Last Garment, detail, 2022, bronze, steel, metal, filtration water pump, water

Simone Leigh Edited by Eva Respini. Boston : Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston ; New York : DelMonico Books, [2023] HOLLIS number: 99157252441903941

[dndhistory]

42. Gary Gygax - Monster Manual (1977)

The first of what would become a DnD institution with every edition and also the first publication by TSR tagged as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, the First Edition Monster Manual is as would be expected a list of monster that can appear during D&D games and that you can use to populate your dungeons, now handily contained in a single volume, instead of spread around several magazines, brochures and supplements as was the case in Original D&D.

This is a lot heavier on the mechanics and general description of the monsters than on lore. There was actually little lore at the time, most of the unique creatures would come from the Greyhawk or Blackmoor settings that were the home games of Gygax and Arneson, that where the Demogorgon or Orcus are coming from, for example. So there's a general description as well as attack stats and so on.

By far the best thing about this edition, however, are the 350 illustrations included, which would have a life far longer than the edition itself. By the early 90s, the SSI D&D Gold Box video games would still be basing their graphics off many of the images that started out here, and this also gives us some of the first truly great D&D art. Other than the famously funny looking Beholder here you get a lot of art signed DAT, meaning David A. Trampier, and his stuff is amazing, his line drawings with thick black outlines would make for some great tattoos if anyone's interested. DAT also had a fascinating life, eventually disappearing without a trace for years. Really worth taking a look at.

[careerbossinstitute]

Expert Tips for ECommerce Photo Editing: How to Enhance Your Product Images?

E-commerce businesses grow rapidly; however, a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures of products greatly affect the buying decisions of consumers. Indeed, it has been reported that quality images can increase conversion rates by as much as forty percent. Without professional product imagery however, it does not matter what you love to sell, your e-commerce business will hardly survive. 

Nevertheless, with high-quality editing services, simply taken photos can be transformed into alluring images that compel customers to purchase them. Therefore, this blog aims at providing the important tips for ecommerce photo editing which helps make one’s products easy to spot and appealing to customers. If you’re interested in starting a career as image or video editor for ecommerce stores, enrol at any good Online Image and Video Editing Course. 

1. Start with High-Quality Photos

Prior to engaging in editing, it is crucial to check whether there are clear images at the foundation. No amount of editing, however professional it may be, can replace a low-quality photo, especially if it is out of focus. 

Purchase a quality camera or get a smartphone with a decent resolution, and ensure to take photos within well-lit environments to avoid shadows and grain.

Best Practices:

Use ambient light or use diffused electric light to eliminate strong shadows. Photograph the entire product from all possible angles. Always use a tripod to avoid camera movements and ensure uniformity among the images.

2. Consistent Image Size and Dimensions

Uniformity in all product photos is necessary for achieving a seamless design in your e-commerce website. Customers love uniformity as it enhances their shopping experience. Oftentimes, varying image dimensions can look unprofessional and may take away the focus from the products in question.

Pro Advice:

Select a common width and height as well as the aspect ratio for all product pictures so that they fit in appropriately in the website grid. The most preferred formats in e-commerce are square (1:1) or rectangular shaped (4:3) images.

To know more about editing, enrol at the Best Image and Video Editing Institutes.

3. Background Removal and Simplification

A background that is tidy and devoid of distractions serves to better place emphasis to the product. In e-commerce in particular, the use of white background is common as it gives a professional touch to the images and guarantees that the images presented will be centred on the products.

Techniques for Background Editing:

Use Background Removal Tools: Photoshop, Clipping Magic, and Pixlr make backgrounds a snap to change and edit in just minutes. 

Remove Extra Background: firstly Remove the Background, and then Use a feather or smoothing tool on the border of the product to make sure that the look is not too stark after the background has been cut.

4. Color Correction and White Balance

The images captured in your will images must reflect the accurate product colour. Distorted product colours caused by incorrect white balance, for instance, or poor lighting conditions may lead to disappointment and losses due to returns. Colour correction is hence vital to ensure that the product is well-enhanced but realistic.

How to Make the Colours Remembered Correctly?

Adjust White Balance: It may be necessary to use other programs such as Lightroom or Photoshop to change the white balance to an appropriate and more realistic one.

Increase Saturation and Vibrancy: The saturation or vibrance of the image can be increased to some level without altering the actual colour of the product and still make it visually bounce out.

Enrol at the Best Image and Video Editing Institutes, and learn ways to edit ecommerce products.

5. Use Retouching Sparingly

Retouching may enhance a product's image by eliminating dirt, scratches, or creases. Yet again, unrestrained retouching renders a product excessively artificial in a way that might irritate consumers if the product falls short of their perception in reality.

Retouching Instructions:

Take Out Distracting Factors: Get rid of any dust, unwarranted reflections, or small imperfections that could interfere with the focus on the item.

Do Not Edit More Than Necessary: Keep in mind what the product actually looks like. Excessive practice of smoothing tools or sharpening devices may create an artificial or too-shiny effect on the product.

6. Utilise Shadows and Reflections

Incorporating a light shadow or even a reflection towards the bottom of the product aids in creating a 3D visual illusion making the product become more believable. This easy and quick tip also helps separate the product from the background making it more appealing.

Shadows and Reflections Creation Tips

Drop Shadow Technique – Make use of the drop shadow option available in various editing tools to recreate realistic shadows that are soft and natural beneath the product.

Add Reflections – For example, if the product is made of glass or contains electronics, it is often helpful to include some reflection on the product.

7. Use Focus Stacking for Sharpness

With intricate items such as jewellery or electronics, one can employ Focus stacking technique to keep in focus every bit of the product. This method consists of taking a series of photographs of the same subject at different focus levels and combining them to come up with a sharp and detailed image. 

Focus Stacking in Practice: 

Capture the product at various levels of focus-points (i.e. Foreground/middle ground/ background) in about 5-7 angles. 

Use image processing applications such as Photoshop or Helicon Focus to join the images so that there is sharpness in all the areas of the product in the picture.

Conclusion

Publishing marketing content or doing e-commerce business is a competitive field and thus it is important to engage in quality images for product promotion. If you spend some time mastering these professional image enhancing technologies such as, uniformity in image dimensions, cleaning of the background, colour enhancement, web adjustments made among many, you are likely to reap in more customers to your products and with it sales will increase. 

However you should remember that where there is a need to improve editing skills, it is equally worth maintaining the attributes of the products so that the consumers will not be dissatisfied. Take your e-commerce photography to the next level by incorporating these editing strategies and see the effect your edited images have on the sales. To learn the editing skills, enrol at Best Image and Video Editing Institutes - Career Boss.

[3thurs]

Third Thursday January 16

Third Thursday events and exhibitions for January 16

The next Third Thursday — the monthly evening of art in Athens, Georgia — is scheduled for Thursday, January 16, from 6 to 9 p.m. All exhibitions are free and open to the public. This schedule and each venue’s location and hours of operation are available at 3thurs.org.

Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia

Yoga in the Galleries, 6 p.m. — This free yoga class surrounded by works of art in the galleries is led by instructors from Five Points Yoga and open to both beginner and experienced yogis. Sanitized mats are provided. Space is limited and spots are available on a first-come, first-served basis; tickets are available at the front desk starting at 5:15 p.m.

On view:

“Waffle House Vistas” — Photographs by Micah Cash taken from inside Waffle House restaurants, plus a newly commissioned time-based work.

Permanent collection: A wide range of the museum’s permanent collection is always on view, featuring painting, sculpture, works on paper and decorative arts from the Renaissance to contemporary periods.

The museum’s days of operation are Tuesday – Sunday. Reserve a free ticket and see our policies at https://georgiamuseum.org/visit/.

ATHICA: Athens Institute for Contemporary Art

ATHICA@675 Pulaski St., Suite 1200:

“Plantronics: Presented by PlantBot Genetics” — Animatronic plant sculptures, video and wheat paste mural.

ATHICA@CINÉ Gallery:

“R.B. Pruett: Paintings” — Through cutting up and repurposing paintings, Pruett uses layers of fragmentation, collage and distortion to build new images that twist and turn with a cartoon cubism.

Lyndon House Arts Center

Artist reception for the new exhibitions “Twist: Carol John” and “Distillations: Patti Robert-Pizzuto and Johntimothy Pizzuto,” 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.

On view:

“Twist: Carol John” — In John’s paintings, dots, lines and squares multiply to create vibrating forms and surfaces that resonate with playful pops of color. 

“Distillations: Patti Robert-Pizzuto and Johntimothy Pizzuto”— Composed of drawings on paper and wall-bound constructions, this show brings together the work of life partners who share a restrained palette and lightness of touch. 

“Inspired: Artworks by Students of the Clarke County School District” — This year's CCSD student art exhibition biennial features artworks by students inspired by Athens artists and creatives.

“fast tracks, ski masks, plaid slacks: Tim Root” — Tim Root’s playful wooden constructions draw from a comic book aesthetic, featuring humorous yet grotesque characters brought to life in bold colors and graphic black outlines.

“Window Works: Meditations on Perceived Acts of Violence: Michael Reese”— This body of work examines the idea of perception as it relates to Black bodies. The work speaks to Reese’s understanding of the intellectual and behavioral gesturing that is required of Black folks to successfully control the narrative of perception.

The Athenaeum

“Matt Keegan: Realia” — The sculptures, collage and paintings here are informed by a set of 400 double-sided image-based flash cards the artist’s mother made from the late 1980s to the mid-2000s to teach English to high school and adult ed students.

ACE/FRANCISCO Gallery

Show closing and special event, 6 p.m. sharp, — MacArthur Genius Grant winner, birder and South Carolina poet laureate Drew Lanham will read his poem from “Murmur Trestle,” plus music by T. Hardy Morris and other special guests

On view:

“Murmur Trestle: Photographs by Jason Thrasher” —Thrasher spent six years focusing his lens on an immersive exploration of the railroad trestle associated with Athens band R.E.M., photographing it within its changing natural environment.

“Grit Portraits: Paintings by Tobiah Cole” — Paintings of some of the artist’s friends from his many years at the Grit, a beloved restaurant formerly on Prince Avenue in Athens. A limited-edition fine art print of one of Cole's landscape paintings made in Maine will be available for purchase.

The Classic Center

Contact the venue to ensure Third Thursday exhibition and access: 706.208.0900

“Legendary Georgia Musicians in Watercolor” — Jackie Dorsey’s homage to musicians who have called Georgia their home. 

“Linnentown Then and Now: The Johnsons” — Portraits by Caroline Ford Coleman).

tiny ATH gallery

“Noah James Saunders” — Wire sculpture in fused glass by the local artist. Music by Humdingers during this opening reception.

—

Third Thursday was established in 2012 to encourage attendance at Athens’ established art venues through coordination and co-promotion by the organizing entities. 

Contact: Michael Lachowski, Georgia Museum of Art, mlachow@uga.edu.

[jcmarchi]

OpenAI launches Sora: AI video generator now public

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/openai-launches-sora-ai-video-generator-now-public/

OpenAI launches Sora: AI video generator now public

OpenAI has made its artificial intelligence video generator, Sora, available to the general public in the US, following an initial limited release to certain artists, filmmakers, and safety testers.

Introduced in February, the tool faced overwhelming demand on its launch day, temporarily halting new sign-ups due to high website traffic.

Changing video creation with text-to-video creation

The text-to-video generator enables the creation of video clips from written prompts. OpenAI’s website showcases an example: a serene depiction of woolly mammoths traversing a desert landscape.

In a recent blog post, OpenAI expressed its aspiration for Sora to foster innovative creativity and narrative expansion through advanced video storytelling.

The company, also behind the widely used ChatGPT, continues to expand its repertoire in generative AI, including voice cloning and integrating its image generator, Dall-E, with ChatGPT.

Supported by Microsoft, OpenAI is now a leading force in the AI sector, with a valuation nearing $160 billion.

Before public access, technology reviewer Marques Brownlee previewed Sora, finding it simultaneously unsettling and impressive. He noted particular prowess in rendering landscapes despite some inaccuracies in physical representation. Early access filmmakers reported occasional odd visual errors.

What you can expect with Sora

Output options. Generate videos up to 20 seconds long in various aspect ratios. The new ‘Turbo’ model speeds up generation times significantly.

Web platform. Organize and view your creations, explore prompts from other users, and discover featured content for inspiration.

Creative tools. Leverage advanced tools like Remix for scene editing, Storyboard for stitching multiple outputs, Blend, Loop, and Style presets to enhance your creations.

Availability. Sora is now accessible to ChatGPT subscribers. For $200/month, the Pro plan unlocks unlimited generations, higher resolution outputs, and watermark removal.

Content restrictions. OpenAI is limiting uploads involving real people, minors, or copyrighted materials. Initially, only a select group of users will have permission to upload real people as input.

Territorial rollout. Due to regulatory concerns, the rollout will exclude the EU, UK, and other specific regions.

Navigating regulations and controversies

It maintains restricted access in those regions as OpenAI navigates regulatory landscapes, including the UK’s Online Safety Act, the EU’s Digital Services Act, and GDPR.

Controversies have also surfaced, such as a temporary shutdown caused by artists exploiting a loophole to protest against potential negative impacts on their professions. These artists accused OpenAI of glossing over these concerns by leveraging their creativity to enhance the product’s image.

Despite advancements, generative AI technologies like Sora are susceptible to generating erroneous or plagiarized content. This has raised alarms about potential misuse for creating deceptive media, including deepfakes.

OpenAI has committed to taking precautions with Sora, including restrictions on depicting specific individuals and explicit content. These measures aim to mitigate misuse while providing access to subscribers in the US and several other countries, excluding the UK and Europe.

Join us at one of our in-person summits to connect with other AI experts.

Whether you’re based in Europe or North America, you’ll find an event near you to attend.

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From exclusive content by industry experts and an ever-increasing bank of real world use cases, to 80+ deep-dive summit presentations, our membership plans are packed with awesome AI resources.

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[thethief1996]

Sorry to bother, but I am seeing reports come out Abt the missile being fired from a jihad group not Israel. What proof of it being Israel?

Not a bother at all! It's great that you're seeking out information. I'll do a quick recap so you can understand what's going on.

Last Friday (14/10), Israel issued a warning urging 1.1 million Palestinians to leave Northern Gaza and move South in 24h, including the staff, patients and refugees residing in 22 hospitals. The World Health Organization issued a statement asking Israel to backtrack on that decision, since 2000 injured Gazans were being treated and thousands were taking refuge in these facilities. The medical staff categorically refused to abandon their posts.

About the evacuation orders: the hospitals were directly called to evacuate, including al-Ahli. Al-Quds hospital was called on Friday and initially given the deadline of 6 AM to evacuate, then pushed further to 4 PM. Ahmed Muhanna of Al-Awda hospital said they received a similar call initially giving two hours to evacuate, and explicitly said the 35 doctors would stay. Nisreen al-Shohafa, head of the emergency room also in Al-Awda hospital, reported to Al Jazeera that the IDF called and said the hospital should evacuate because it would be bombed.

On Saturday (15/10), the Archbishop of Canterbury said al-Ahli, which is an Anglican-run hospital, said it was hit by rocket fire and four staff members were injured. Al Jazeera verified these reports and said two Israeli artillery shells hit the hospital on Saturday.

Yesterday, al-Ahli received three evacuation orders successively, according to the Anglican leaders who run the hospital. After the Israeli army issued these orders, the hospital was bombed.

An IDF spokesperson said there was an operation happening in the area at the moment, but they were using different ammunition from the one that caused that type of damage.

Two hours after the bombing, the IDF issued a statement blaming the strike on a misfired missile launched by the PIJ on Twitter, and corroborated with video evidence. The video evidence was debunked by a New York Times journalist from the visual investigations team, who said the alleged video showed a timestamp 40 minutes after reports of the initial blast. After this, the IDF edited their original tweet to erase the video so it simply stated they had investigated their own operational systems and found the rocket was fired by the PIJ towards Israel.

The IDF continued with this narrative, posting a video today showing the type of craters caused by Israeli bombs and the damage of the hospital. Similarly, the BBC has analysed the data they could find and said it was inconclusive if the blast was Israeli or not.

The only problem is, the data they are analysing are videos and pictures of the blast. You'll see that both links in the previous paragraph show the same picture of a small section of the parking lot. The same image was circulated as proof by a senior research fellow for Airpower and Military Technology at the Royal United Services Institute think-tank in London. David Lisovtsev, an Israeli analyst, posted a video sourced from a Zionist Telegram channel and said it looked like a failed Hamas rocket. A spokesperson to the IDF posted a video showing an alleged conversation between two Hamas leaders planning the rocket launch, and when he was questioned about the credibility of it, said the IDF had lied before but this time it was different.

There has been no independent investigation, because no journalists or forensics teams are allowed into Gaza. I cannot emphasize enough to you that all these reports by Israel are based on blurry videos and maybe three pictures of the parking lot (I am being hyperbolic).

TL;DR

The evidence that the bombing was conducted by Israel is the following: They bombed the hospital with lesser artillery four days prior, they were conducting an operation in the area at the time of the blast, they called the hospital three times and told the 10k refugees to flee hours before the bombing and the evidence provided to the fact it wasn't them is jumbled at best.

The evidence that the bombing was conducted by PIJ, Hamas or any other Palestinian institution: The IDF investigated themselves and found themselves not guilty. Other journalists looked at videos and pictures and said the crater was not big enough to be caused by an Israeli missile.

[teeto-peteto]

RUINED KING AU GUIDE POST

Hello everyone, i see some people still stumbling upon the very first crumbs of my AU and i decided to make this post linking all the related content here. I'll be pinning this post so everyone who is interested in looking into the (still little) AU can have easy access.

What's the AU about? It's called Ruined King AU but its not exclusively about the characters about the game, but it will center around Miss Fortune's gang in the game. This means besides the 6 protagonists of the game, characters like Viego or Thresh also have a paper, aswell as champions that are mentioned in the game, like Yone, and champions who are not ingame but exist in League Of Legends, like Lillia. Its also named like that because i still havent found an appropiate name.

Is it an School AU? Not exactly. Althrought their studies play a role in the AU, it will be also highly focused on what happens outside school, the bonds between characters, heavy influenced by both internet culture and my own experiences in my hometown. Just six dudes who happen to be on the same institution bonding through experiences, things happen, its not an entirely cheerful AU but it mostly is.

LINKS: How did the gang end up together + A brief walk on their life journey and where are they now.

How they look like!!!

Early concept/summary of their relationships (Spanish in the image and english translation in the caption.)

Headcanon charts that apply both for canon and AU

Study interest/Future achievements (Spanish in the image and english translation in the caption.)

Heacanon charts that apply both for canon and Au pt.2

About the Shadow Isles champions and Gangplank

Pyke has a fish :3

Brief look into the main cast

Sleepover day post!!

Miss Fortune's birthday party post!!

Roadtrip post (Applied to the AU)

Silly post about vines because i dont know how to edit videos

Driving skills ask

Since this is also becoming the pinned post, im including some of my info:

Hi! My name is Rain. I use She/Her pronouns. Im absolutely obssesed with Pyke and i selfship myself with him, but i dont gatekeep and i love having other Pyke interested people interacting with my posts!!

I have an art account where i post mostly league stuff but other fandoms aswell -> @rain-waifu

Basic DNI's. Just dont be a fucking cunt. If you support Trump or any kind of bullshit like that i will rip your fucking face apart <3 No TERFS allowed you better run the fuck away.

Asks are always open <3 for AU and league related stuff and other type of questions too. Hope you have a great day!!!

[kosmos2999]

Saturday’s Late Night Sci-Fi Cinema:

The Humanoid (1979 film)

Original Italian release poster (left) and American release poster (right)

Main cast:

Richard Kiel as Golob Corinne Clery as Doctor Barbara Gibson Leonard Mann as Nick Ivan Rassimov as Lord Graal Massimo Serato as The Great Brother Marco Yeh as Tom Tom Arthur Kennedy as Doctor Kraspin Barbara Bach as Lady Agatha

Production staff:

Directed by: Aldo Lado (as George B. Lewis) Story by: Adriano Bolzoni Screenplay by: Adriano Bolzoni, Aldo Lado and Garry Rusoff (uncredited) Produced by: Giorgio Venturini Cinematography by: Silvano Ippoliti Edited by: Mario Morra Music by: Ennio Morricone Production company: Merope Film Released by: Titanus (Italy) and Columbia Pictures (US) Original release date: April 11, 1979 (Italy) YouTube channel: Something Wild Video

In a far distant future, the planet known as Earth, Metropolis, is facing a great danger.

Lord Graal, the evil brother of the Ruler of the Peaceful Galactic Democracy, the Great Brother, has escaped from his inprisonment.

The Great Brother (above) and Lord Graal (below)

After a succesfull escape, Graal seeks refuge on the planet Noxon. A world under slavery of the wicked 200 year-old Lady Agatha, who wants to be at Graal's side on his conquest of Metropolis and the rest of the galaxy.

They will get the help of Dr. Kraspin, a malevolous scientist, and also an outcast from Metropolis. He has a hatred for Dr. Barbara Gibson for being the accuser of his lack of ethics.

Dr. Kraspin and Lady Agatha

The evil trio has a ploy to turn the citizens of Metropolis into humanoids using a rare element named Kapitron. As they stole it from the Groven Institute located on Metropolis.

They took a tall man, a soldier named Golob as a guinea pig. And then he was ordered to kill Dr. Gibson. A plan that failed thanks to Tom Tom, a kid with mystic powers.

Golob as a human

Golob with his robot dog, Kip

Golob turrned into a humanoid

Golob now joins Dr. Gibson, Tom Tom, a young soldier named Nick and a couple of mysterious warriors to fight the menace of Lord Graal and his evil allies.

From left to right: Nick, Tom Tom, Dr. Barbara Gibson and Golob

The Humanoid, (a translalation from the original title L' Umanoide) a 1979 space opera film from director Aldo Lado under the pseudonym of George B. Lewis

Fascinating facts:

This film was produced and released two years after Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope. Because the similarities in story, plot and character costumes, it is considered a rip off the George Lucas movie. Even more, filmmaker Aldo Lado used the pseudonym of George B. Lewis for directing it.

It was ranked 28 (of a list of 75) of the Best Space Opera Movies by the Independent Movie Database (IMDb).

The opening sequence was directed by Enzo G. Castellari. It was uncredited.

The special effects supervisor was Antonio Margheriti under the pseudonym of Anthony M. Dawson. He was the director of the film shown in this blog last weekend, War Between The Planets and the other three movies of the Gamma-One series.

Some of the scenes -- particullary the ones of the Groven Institute -- were filmed at Eliat, Israel.

The Groven Institute

In Germany, the movie was re-titled Kampf Um Die 5 Galaxis (fight for the 5th galaxy).

Comment: In my opinion, mo matter this is a Star Wars rip off, The Humanoid is a very enjoyable movie. That's why I choose to share it with you this weekend.

Thank you for your support on the third year of this blog.

I also want to share this images from Golob's starship taken from screenshots of the movie. Very nice design!

For more information and more stuff about this movie, you can access the film's official homepage:

[demi-shoggoth]

2023 Reading Log, pt 6

I have read a lot less this year than in the last couple of years. I'm not going to beat my previous record of 129 books, that's for sure. But I feel like I've hit a decent stride of quality over quantity with this batch (also, one of them is over 600 pages long)

26. The Ashgate Encyclopedia of Literary and Cinematic Monsters, edited by Jeffery Andrew Weinstock. For anyone who is remotely interested in either monsters or literature, this book is a must-read. Yes, I know it’s an A-Z encyclopedia format and is more than 600 pages long. You can skip around, or read it in chunks. This book is the perfect tool for thinking with monsters, and is an excellent reference tool for using monsters intelligently in a project, or just as a collection of “oh, I should check that out”. It’s not perfect. All kaiju are lumped together under “Godzilla”, which barely gets two pages. Pokemon gets a single, very dismissive, paragraph. On the other hand, the entry for Harry Potter is ridiculously long and very fannish, and the “HP Lovecraft, Monsters in” article ignores Lovecraft’s racism entirely (because it’s written by ST Joshi, who else?). My biggest complaint is the lack of a general Mad Scientist entry—mad scientists are the monster of the 20th century, and both psychopaths and witches get generic entries as well as specific examples. My two biggest highlights are “Women, Monstrous”, which is a college level course in institutional misogyny and how it has been celebrated by some authors and subverted by others; and "Nick of the Woods", which is possibly the most influential American novel that has been almost entirely forgotten in the modern era. You can draw a direct line from Nick of the Woods to everything from Marvel movies to Wounded Knee.

27. Tasting History by Max Miller, with Ann Volkwein. “Tasting History with Max Miller” is one of my favorite YouTube series, and the book of the show doesn’t disappoint. It’s beautiful, with color photos of the food and images of historical characters and events. Most of the recipes come from existing episodes, and so the stories therein are familiar, but not told identically, and there are some that have new lore to go with old recipes. Or lore covered in the show, but a different recipe because the one that was made for the video wasn’t very good. Also, my copy is signed! Max Miller came to a local book fair, so I got to hear a book talk and then get my copy signed afterwards. And that was… two months ago? My reading really has slowed down!

28. Birds: Myth, Lore and Legend by Rachel Warren Chadd and Marianne Taylor. This book collects legendry about birds from around the world, and compares the stories that different cultures tell about the same animal with the animal’s actual ecology and behavior. A fair amount of the stories were new to me, which I was expecting, but I wasn’t expecting the science to be as well! For example, the book talks about a paper that suggests that lyrebird foraging is important for reducing wildfires, as they help to break up mats of eucalyptus leaves and encourage decomposition. Also, as can probably be expected in a book about birds, there’s a lot of very nice photography.

29. The Cat’s Meow by Jonathan Losos. Losos is an evolutionary biologist (he’s the guy doing all of the studies with convergent evolution in Caribbean lizards) who got the domestic cat bug, and this is his book about the evolution of domestic cats. It’s written in a very readable style and goes into quite a bit of depth on how we know what we know. So individual scientists and breeders are profiled for topics like, which population of wildcats do domestic cats descend from? How does the behavior of feral cats in the Australian Outback differ from feral cats in rural Georgia? How is a new breed developed from a single individual? Losos also shares plenty of anecdotes about his own cats, as any loving cat owner would, and shares his “million dollar idea” with the reader. Saber toothed housecats, bred for both long canine teeth and a calm, indoor-friendly disposition.

30. Iberian Monsters by Javier Prado. This was a birthday present from my girlfriend @abominationimperatrix. The book is an illustrated collection of Iberian bogeys specifically—monsters designed to scare children into doing X or avoiding Y. At least half of the monsters in here are altogether new to me, and each entry often discusses multiple related monsters, with the “headliner” getting a full page illustration. Three things that jumped out to me. 1) How many parallels there are between the monsters of Spain and the monsters in Spanish colonies, like Latin America and the Philippines. I mean, that’s logical, but since I knew less about Spain’s monsters, I didn’t see the connections. 2) The large number of monsters that are based on historical individuals. Mostly soldiers and bandits, but also a watchmaker and an anti-fascist writer. 3) The story that scared me the most as a little kid was “Tailypo”… and there’s a variant in here that’s even worse. You know, for kids!

[mariacallous]

In the weeks since Hamas launched its October 7 surprise attack on Israel, the ensuing conflict has generated an unprecedented wave of disinformation, an “algorithmically driven fog of war” that has tripped up major new organizations and left social media companies floundering.

Yet, amid all of the deceptive images and video moving around on social media, the content generated by artificial intelligence tools has remained relatively peripheral. Even as some wondered if the Israel-Hamas war would be the first conflict dominated by false generative AI images, the technology has had a more complex and subtle impact.

“There are definitely AI images circulating but not to the degree where I think it’s playing a central role in the spread of information,” says Layla Mashkoor, an associate editor at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab, which studies online disinformation.

Primarily, Mashkoor says, AI-generated disinformation is being used by activists to solicit support—or give the impression of wider support—for a particular side. Examples include an AI-generated billboard in Tel Aviv championing Israel Defense Forces, an Israeli account sharing fake images of people cheering for the IDF, an Israeli influencer using AI to generate condemnations of Hamas, and AI images portraying victims of Israel’s bombardment of Gaza.

“In terms of general use that I’ve been seeing online, it’s mostly been to drum up support, which is not among the most malicious ways to utilize AI right now,” she says.

A key factor here is the sheer amount of misinformation circulating, which makes it difficult for AI images to shape conversation. “The information space is already being flooded with real and authentic images and footage,” says Mashkoor, “and that in itself is flooding the social media platforms.”

This point is reflected in a recent paper from the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review about the role generative AI might play in the spread of false info worldwide. In it, the authors write that concerns about the effects of the technology are “overblown.” While, yes, gen AI theoretically lets people proliferate misinformation at a futuristic rate, those who seek out this misinformation—often those who have “low trust in institutions … [or are] strong partisans”—already have a surfeit of familiar nonsense to pursue, from conspiracy theory websites to 4chan forums. There is no demand for more.

“Given the creativity humans have showcased throughout history to make up (false) stories and the freedom that humans already have to create and spread misinformation across the world, it is unlikely that a large part of the population is looking for misinformation they cannot find online or offline,” the paper concludes. Moreover, misinformation only gains power when people see it, and considering the time people have for viral content is finite, the impact is negligible.

As for the images that might find their way into mainstream feeds, the authors note that while generative AI can theoretically render highly personalized, highly realistic content, so can Photoshop or video editing software. Changing the date on a grainy cell phone video could prove just as effective. Journalists and fact checkers struggle less with deepfakes than they do with out-of-context images or those crudely manipulated into something they’re not, like video game footage presented as a Hamas attack.

In that sense, excessive focus on a flashy new tech is often a red herring. “Being realistic is not always what people look for or what is needed to be viral on the internet,” adds Sacha Altay, a coauthor on the paper and a postdoctoral research fellow whose current field involves misinformation, trust, and social media at the University of Zurich’s Digital Democracy Lab.

That’s also true on the supply side, explains Mashkoor; invention is not implementation. “There’s a lot of ways to manipulate the conversation or manipulate the online information space,” she says. “And there are things that are sometimes a lower lift or easier to do that might not require access to a specific technology, even though AI-generating software is easy to access at the moment, there are definitely easier ways to manipulate something if you’re looking for it.”

Felix Simon, another one of the authors on the Kennedy School paper and a doctoral student at the Oxford Internet Institute, cautions that his team’s commentary is not seeking to end the debate over possible harms, but is instead an attempt to push back on claims gen AI will trigger “a truth armageddon.” These kinds of panics often accompany new technologies.

Setting aside the apocalyptic view, it’s easier to study how generative AI has actually slotted into the existing disinformation ecosystem. It is, for example, far more prevalent than it was at the outset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, argues Hany Farid, a professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information.

Farid characterizes the technology as a “specter” hanging over audio and video that purports to come from the conflict, and that he receives half a dozen to a dozen calls daily from reporters enquiring about veracity. “For a lot of people, the ability to dismiss inconvenient facts is absolutely playing a role in this conflict,” he says.

Farid cites multiple examples that immediately drew this kind of dismissal, including people pointing to various pieces of digital evidence about who was behind the missile strike on the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, as well as images of children buried under rubble, some real, some fake.

Some of the most prominent examples of this are the photos of burned children Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on his X account. After they were published, someone fed the images into the detection tool AI or Not, which the users said determined that they were AI. Farid says his team analyzed the photos and concluded AI wasn't used, but the seed of suspicion had already been planted. Things were further confused when someone used AI to replace the child in one of the images with a puppy.

“And then that went online, and then people are like, ‘Well, wait a minute, if he could have made that one, then that one could be fake, and now these two versions are going around, and everybody started saying, ‘Oh, the puppy was the original, this is the fake,’ and then you just muddy the water,” Farid says.

In other words, this distribution follows a historic pattern: Misinformation gets shared on social media, then amplified via algorithms and humans. “In the broader picture, in our ability to reason about a fast-moving highly impactful world, I think this conflict is worse than what we’ve seen in the past,” says Farid. “And I think gen AI is part of that, but it is not exclusively gen AI. That’s too simplistic.”