#Reality Solutions

[lurkingteapot]

When I say I wish popular romanisations of Thai were less ambiguous and more consistent, it's stuff like this:

Phupha and Pat (and Pa!) have the same initial consonant sound. Pran's is different—it's the same as Kampung's "p" sound. Pran, Pa, and Phupha share an "a" sound though—the same "a" sound Kampung also has (though it's written differently (*)). Kampung's "u" sound and Phupha's "u" sound are not the same. Kampung's "p" is the same sound as the initial in Pran. Kampung and Korn share an initial. It's the same sound the names Gunn (MSP) and Gun (Atthaphan) and Kan (KPTS) start with. All three of those names are pronounced identically. Kan (KPTS) is not pronounced the same as Kan (The Eclipse). Tian does not share an initial with Toto, but Toto (BBS) and Tinn (MSP) do. If the romanisation of BBS given names and ATOTS place names were consistent, we'd have Phut and Pha and Pran (or Pa Pan Dao). (Pa the person and Pha the word for cliff do not sound the same because of tones, but that's another topic.) I could go on.

And all this is just based on consonants and vowel quality and lengths, not even going into different glyphs for the same consonant. I don't have a solution to offer for this. I 100% think authors or subtitling teams (or, y'know, REGULAR PEOPLE who just want folks who don't speak Thai to be able to put their name in writing) choosing a romanisation that looks good to them is valid. But I'm also a language nerd, so I can't quite stop thinking how much harder this makes it for folks trying to learn more about the language, or pick up more about it, either.

(Name examples and corresponding official romanisation taken from real life, A Tale of Thousand Stars, Bad Buddy Series, KinnPorsche The Series, My School President, and Our Skyy 2)

(*) Edited 2023-06-16 to add: this was a mistake stemming from too many unchecked edits and I'm sorry. Kampung's "a" is neither long nor short whereas Pran, Pa, and Phupha have long "a" sounds and Pat has a short one.

[slxthserenade]

Dimiclaude are super funky because you’ve got Dimitri who truly has zero filter in expressing his affections sincerely in a very straightforward and sometimes morbid manner, and then there’s Claude who’s just barely reigning in his anxieties, literally doing mental parkour to avoid thinking of death.

Dimitri: You know. Us laying in bed together like this, in each other’s arms … I wouldn’t mind dying like this. Such a peaceful way to go. If someone were to attack us right now I wouldn’t hesitate to lay my life down for you, and I would go with a smile, knowing I got to experience the warmth of-

Claude, who has spent the entire day trying not to think of the possibility of Dimitri dying on the battlefield: I love you too but just go to sleep I am begging

[youreaclownnow]

I'm so obsessed

[teddybasmanov]

I hate the 'you work so hard' type of comfort audios. I don't work 'so hard', I definitely don't work hard - I barely work at all.

[goldensunset]

‘filtering out content about upsetting current events on social media is wrong and disgusting because you’re basically looking away and remaining ignorant’ is a weird bit of discourse to me. as much as we like to joke about being terminally on tumblr it’s pretty wild to assume someone doesn’t have, like, a life outside of the fandom stupidity website and that tumblr is the only source of information they could possibly have access to. buddy some of us actually do read the old fashioned news and talk to people i actually don’t need to hear you specifically talk in order to understand that the world is a nightmare. i use this website to scroll through pretty pictures

[wayti-blog]

It's on the strength of observation and reflection that one finds a way. So we must dig and delve unceasingly.

Claude Monet

[aurosoulart]

finally got around to recording and subtitling my performance at the Augmented World Expo 😤 it's 6 minutes long, but worth the watch if you wanna understand more about what I do!

this was part of a competition centered around using XR technology (virtual reality, augmented reality, spatial computing - whatever you want to call it) to fight climate change.

we were the only ones competing in the category of Replace - and I gave this performance showing how Figmin XR, a software that can create free-to-download digital objects (aka 'digital twins'), could be used to massively reduce material waste in the future.

AR glasses and haptic feedback technologies are still in their infancy, and they're not YET at the stage where they can be as ubiquitous as smartphones - but as someone lucky enough to work with them every day, let me tell you:

this stuff is powerful. being able to to see, hear, and FEEL digital objects in 3D space changes the wiring of your brain. it's truly indescribable unless you've experienced it yourself, but everything feels real, like it's there with you, especially if it's something you've brought into existence with your own two hands. I share my virtual inventory with my friends - we play with confetti together, paint together, make things together - all in-person, the entire process feeling so natural that we forget all of it is just made out of light.

this is the entirety of what Figmin's mission is about - empowering people to re-learn the joy of playing (which so many of us don't have the time or money for anymore!), while also reducing material waste in the process.

once this new form of 3D computing finally becomes accessible to the public (and it will - it's too magical to be forgotten), we could see a huge cultural shift of innovation similar to what happened with the rise of the internet and personal computers in the first place.

and, like the original PC, it's only going to get better once it does reach people. I'm not going to say that every person out there will use XR for good (we all know how corporate greed goes by now), but that doesn't mean it's inherently bad or scary.

all technology is still just a tool, and we can still use it to connect with one another, to learn, to create... and, hopefully, to change the world for the better.

[icarrymany]

i have horrible second hand embarrassment issues that make it hard to do literally anything but other than that my autisms empathy is LOW

[electric-friend]

i don’t like the surge of casual ‘ed is an abuser’ vibes this izzy clip seems to have sprung. it’s actually making me sick with anxiety that the show is gonna make ed into someone i can no longer enjoy. i really really hope his relationship with izzy can be somehow fixed because if it can’t i think the new season will be really really really bad for my mental state and i mean that so genuinely and seriously it’s not funny.

[laurelwinchester]

spn stans are so terrified of women existing within the world of the show that they will literally rewrite canon to say "dean never truly loved any woman" or they will say absolutely absurd shit like "jensen ackles just doesn't have chemistry with women." and yet they still insist that they're not at all misogynistic or biphobic.

[liquidstar]

i dont think this is implying mizi had romantic feelings for ivan, but, like, if she did wouldnt that be kind of hilarious? like as if the relationship cart wasnt enough of a mess. obviously mizi and sua are in love with each other but then you have till being in love with mizi and ivan being in love with till... if you assume mizi was at least mildly into ivan, like a little playground crush, that means that 1. she has a very specific type of smart black-haired cuties, and till just didnt fit the description 2. ivan wouldnt care because he's too busy being obsessed with the man that's in love with her but she has no interest in because she has a girlfriend anyway. so its moot point.

i want these guys to be as messy as possible because its funny

[prettyboysdontlookatexplosions]

a couple times when i taught first grade i used frog and toad to do a little mini-unit for a small group (of first graders who can more or less independently read frog and toad, which most can't for most of the year) about character, because frog and toad is great for that because the books are never like, "frog is cheerful and optimistic. toad is a loyal friend but very grumpy and gets upset easily," but the characters are so vividly drawn across the stories that the vibes really come across, so it's good training wheels for the concept of, "we can figure out what characters are like even if the author doesn't come right out and tell us." there's this one frog and toad story where frog wants to hang out, but toad doesn't because it's january, and he wants to sleep until spring, so he goes back to sleep and tells frog to wake him when its spring. so frog rips off the pages off his calendar until it says may and then wakes toad up and says "wake up! spring is here!" and and toad bounds out of bed all excited and the last page is the two of them contentedly heading out into the snow while the text says "and they went out to enjoy spring," or something like that. it's real cute.

anyway. so i did this story with a small group one year, and when we were discussing observations we could make about the characters that we could then turn into inferences about their traits, one of the things the kids decided was a takeaway re: frog here was: he's a bad friend. why? because!!!! he lied to toad!!!! you shouldn't lie to your friends!!! they were very offended on toad's behalf, that frog had taken his earnest request and used it to trick him. and, you know, i couldn't really argue with that. i could, and did, tell them that frog's behavior as a friend would be much more upstanding in upcoming stories, and that in this story he sure wanted to spend time with toad which is a good-friend thing to do, and i could and did attempt feebly to explain that i thought the author maybe was trying to be a little bit funny and show us that toad was being a little dramatic the whole time, but that type of sophistication was i found beyond even these slightly precocious first graders, for reasons less to do with reading comprehension and more to do with their general developmental capacity for complexity of thought and psychological reasoning. but, ultimately, if they decided in their personal value codes that lying to a friend for personal gain was really really bad and they would never consider someone who lied to them for personal gain to be a good friend, like, that's their right as readers. (i think eventually they landed on, frog is mostly a good friend but not always, which was about as much nuance as i could hope to squeeze from their tiny brains and left me satisfied. lol.)

but my point is: they knew that it was their right as readers. they felt no compunctions whatsoever about exercising their own moral judgement on the text, regardless of how unpunished frog's transgression remained. i didn't have to teach them that part.

[craycraybluejay]

I feel rly weird around ppl w "maps dni" bc it just rubs me the wrong way that ppl equate others w those feelings to having committed an actual crime or done something otherwise bad for existing. It's like "bpd dni" or "intrusive thought havers dni" its all just thoughts i block people who make me uncomfortable thats it.

like its not my business what ppl r thinking yk. idc. also ive seen interviews n maps genuinely dont care/want to "invade the queer community" they know its a different thing ok. the fight to treat people like people is universal but the fight to do so for people whose thoughts you detest is closer to advocacy for unpalatable mental illness and general freedom to exist with badwrong thoughts than it is advocacy to be in a relationship with someone who can actually consent to you regardless of gender. Like. they know. everyone knows and if u think that would ever be a thing,, it wouldn't. the same way that groups for abortion rights are not the same groups you go to for idk trauma support.

obv sometimes its better not to post certain things even if its harmless text ppl will dogpile u and accuse u of things bc someone got triggered. but sue me if i dont think its a crime for ppl w badwrong attractions to exist and i think its weird that others think it is.

like im a sadist i know how this shit goes intimately. "killing and torturing people is bad." "yes." "you're a bad person and deserve to be hurt for it." "but i didn't kill or torture anyone and don't really plan on it?" "you're evil for even thinking or feeling it. you still deserve to be punished." "but i didn't DO.. ANYTHING??" "weirdo murder fetishizer is triggered lol xd get hit by a truck" "..." "ur disgusting and evil and you should kys for having badwrong thoughts." "but i'm not doing anything wrong." "idc ur a gross evil monster" "i have a feeling this isnt getting anywhere. bye."

^it's like y'all reach argument bedrock the moment someone drops the idea that you CAN HAVE "badwrong" thoughts and feelings that would be unethical to act on irl without acting on them or being a bad person by the simple sin of thinking them. this is puritan nonsense. all of you have thought "sinful" thoughts. all of you have wanted to do things that would be cruel or dangerous; because if you have a brain that just Happens, whatever the nature of the thought. If you want to yell at your kid that's fine, they're annoying you and you have every right to feel that way. If you actually yell at your kid you are hurting them and that's not OK. You want to go harass someone online because they said something stupid? Fine. You actually go and do that? Bad. how hard is this to understand. am i speaking alien.

also if u punch people and go to therapy for it you are not going with the goal of stopping this desire to punch people. you are going with the goal of finding ways to vent this feeling that dont hurt anyone and figuring out the root cause of it with your therapist to better understand how you can work together to prevent this from happening.

[littleoddwriter]

Reasons to stay alive

Hey there! As I'm currently struggling immensely with staying alive, due to an ongoing BPD episode, I wanted to write down my personal reasons for staying. I'm sharing my list because I thought it might help others to perhaps be reminded of things they don't usually consider in those dark spots. Feel free to add onto the list, create your own, etc. Share it. Keep it private. Whatever feels best to you. <3 And please remember that there are no silly reasons. If it means you're going to stay another day, it is a perfect reason!

My favourite band

Renfield (2023)

Going to the cinema to see horror movies I've been looking forward to

Also, the Barbie movie

Getting to spend more time with my plushies and dolls

Seeing what my The Simpsons calendar brings each day

Attending the Horror Convention next year

Season 3 of Chucky

Buying more Chucky dolls, plus Glen(da) and Tiffany

Getting to wear my new jacket

Medically and socially transitioning

Watching TV shows with my dad that are on our list

Writing the fanfics I've been wanting to write for months and years

Writing my original story and publishing it as a book

To be a teacher

(...)

[jahiera]

I’ll grab my screencaps when I’m home but one of my favorite conversations just as a player is party post-goblin camp where you talk to Astarion and you tell him that he “saved lives,” to which he replies that (paraphrased) the scale of lives didn’t change, they just killed goblins for tieflings. It’s fairly offhanded and unaddressed beyond that, but it’s one of those little moments that reconciles with the violence the player did in such a minute way that I think about it all the time. Because leading up to destroying the goblin camp, and even after, we are fairly secure in our positions and our choices, we aren’t really given many causes to doubt ourselves in game as players. Killing the goblins feels like the better answer—and of course, arguably, it still is—but in the goblin camp you can do a lot of fairly shitty things without much blowback, because you’re doing them to people your companions don’t like or respect or see as valuable, as real lives in comparison to others.

And again, within the frame of everything, the goblin camp is as a whole fairly horrible, their plans and their behavior was horrible, but does it justify you thus reducing yourself to their level if you use your tadpole powers to degrade and belittle and destroy them? debatable! people still died! and it was, if you’re of the mind, necessary to save the more “innocent” tieflings. but it’s not like there werent children in the goblin camp too—children that you can kill, outright, and just breeze right past that with no doubts or questions or eyebrows raised. there’s an…. inconsistency of thought there in lots of the choices you can take and still feel good about (because of who you’re doing it to) that fascinates me because most of the actions in there feel fairly justified in the moment. they’re done to goblins, who are framed in such a way that it’s easy to decide they’re all evil and irredeemable. And the only person to really point that out—in such a manner and way that it’s clear this whole thing means nothing to him either way, he doesn’t care either, and maybe that makes it even more interesting, because Gale/Wyll/Shadowheart all feel pretty justified in what happened there—is Astarion. you just traded lives for lives. is there really glory in righteousness here for you. it feels like one tiny moment that really drives home what BG3 as a whole is going for in terms of subverting the expectations of your choices and being a “good guy” in fantasy rpgs and what your heroism actually is, if anything. because you won’t get out of this fully right no matter how much we can ends justify the means it. to save the tieflings it was necessary but maybe there isn’t a right answer, or at least not a perfect one.

[taylortruther]

I don’t wanna sound mean or hateful but tbh I am Taylor fan - yes. And yes - I do think that ALL billionaires should be publicly shamed for their CO2 emissions - including Taylor. I’m really concerned about climate change, I’m from the small Asian country and it already affects us here and the truth is that all the big companies and all billionaires are mainly responsible for what’s happening with climate. I’m not saying Taylor or other public figures should fly commercial and risk their safety - of course not. But I do think they should be more responsible, find a way to make their flying more eco - for example - why Taylor won’t bring all of her crew - band and dancers - on the plane with her when she’s flying to another country for tour? Why is she flying alone? Why she isn’t speaking up about the climate, why she’s not campaigning for a change? And those questions aren’t just for her, they are for all the celebs who remain silent. Just because I love her it doesn’t mean I won’t criticise her cause her actions and the way of living sadly affect my living conditions. I know it’s easy to live in America or Europe and have access to AC and food no matter what the weather is. But there are countries like mine that depends on the weather. I’m sorry but I had to say it cause it makes me really sad how some ppl on here treat those who actually care about the planet cause their life RIGHT NOW is at risk

i'm glad you shared this - thank you for explaining and adding this needed perspective (because i am a privileged american and i know a lot of my followers are too.) and i think those logistical concerns are completely reasonable. because taylor doesn't speak up (and i no longer expect her to, about anything really) we can only hope she is doing what she can, or assume she's not, i guess.