#Volume Converter

[a2zconverter01]

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[dancingpieces]

So I'm doing a Skip Beat reread, and I'm entertaining myself my trying to make a timeline of how long it's been in the manga/around what date it is. I'm on volume 17 and I finally have the first solid dates since volume one where the had said the LME auditions were on Feb 17th!! I'm on the last chapter of volume 17 (ch 102) and we actually know it's 12/12! So it's taken 17 manga to make it 10 or 10 and a half months (I think the manga started early February based on the number of days mentioned in Vol 1).

I know from here it's gonna take way way more volumes to move far in the timeline, lol, but I'm really happy to be getting to where there are a lot more actual dates to work with, my numbering for figuring out the day it was on was getting real complicated, lol.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Ollie Latch - The Young Convert - Education & Publications - 1976

[fluffydice]

Shoutout my lab partner who asked me how to convert grams to microliters then didn’t believe me when I said that you can’t. Babe tell me your weight in gallons

[shinybulbasaur]

gonna be a bitch for a second but "ohhh they're FINALLY teaching usamerican kids metric" 1. they've been teaching metric units in usamerican schools for decades because 2. they are the established common units of science that ALL equations are built around because 3. they're technically not metric units, they're SI (système international) which is the modern standardized form of metric and many units were redefined around standardizations that would allow for their use in these equations (for example, redefining a meter around the distance traveled by light in a set amount of time, or using kelvin rather than celsius). like yeah yeah it's funny to laugh at the usamericans using their weird measurements but if you're gonna act all high and mighty at least know your history

[clearly-ambiguous]

I have a sneaking suspicion that my coworkers do not realize that volumetric and weight measurements are not necessarily equitable, but it is far too late in this project to ask now

[expanding-our-channel-lineup]

Why RVR School of Photography is Your Gateway to a Thriving Photography Career

Introduction: Photography as a Career There is a huge market gap and in this gap the art of photography career has come up from being just a hobby to a fully fledged profession. Apart from media and advertisements, photography career  now have a significant opportunity in fashion and social media also. At the RVR school of photography, we focus on the development of such skills and taking enthusiastic photographers as our students, we convert them into professionals. Our students have already worked with TCS, Wipro, Times amongst others. This speaks volumes of our training and the changing perception of the employers towards our students.

1. The Growing Demand for Professional Photographers

It became quite apparent that there is an increased need for photographers not only for social functions or individual projects but rather for the e-commerce, media and fashion industries. As marketing experts seek to impress customers with great product photography, storytelling, and other visual elements, skilled photographers are in high demand. Demand for photographers has exploded virtually with the advent of the digital age. At the RVR school of photography, we take the students through the necessary training, which will encourage  them to built their photography career with all the needs to succeed as photographers in the current market situation.

2. Why Choose RVR School of Photography?

At RVR, we don’t only teach photography; we build photography career. This is what makes us unique:

Comprehensive Curriculum: In our courses, we start with the basics of photography and proceed to advanced editing, lighting, and image processing.

Industry Trained Faculty: Our teachers have more than just teaching as they have been active photographers themselves and know what it means to be in the profession.

Practice: Theory is not enough for us. The program has lots of practical sessions for the learners to further their skills and techniques.

Career Counselling and Job Placement: RVR pays particular attention to all students. Many of our students have received jobs in the companies that qualified them.

3. Courses Offered at RVR School of Photography

Our programs target all  photographers to buit there photography career  at all levels. That’s new photographers who want to acquire basic skills and professional ones who wish to perfect their skills.

 Beginner Photography Course: Photography course for beginners covers the fundamentals how to hold and use a camera, basic light, composition, and how to take pictures. This is an appropriate course for everyone who has never taken a photograph; hence, this course provides a good base.

Advanced Photography Course: In our Advanced Course, some students are equipped with more advanced skills in low-light techniques, portrait photography, and image retouching so that they will be able to manage more difficult work and high quality tools.

Specialized Photography Courses: We have organized specialized courses, such as Fashion Photography, Landscape Photography, and Wedding Photography that let the students develop much interest in the specific field of their choice.

Editing and Post-Production: Our courses on editing and post-production concentrate on industry-recognized tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom, and other similar programs. In this digital age, editing techniques are indispensable in content creation, and our students are well trained in those techniques.

RVR School: Paving the Way to Photography Excellence and Shaping the Future of Creative TalentBy Simran

4. Photography Career: Gain Real-World Experience and Build a Stunning Portfolio

In the same mindset, it is quite safe to say that a photographer’s portfolio is their visual CV, one of the most vital components needed to utilize their expertise and up to clients and or employers. At RVR School of Photography, we believe having an impressive portfolio is of utmost importance especially when starting a career as a photographer. 

Students of RVR have opportunities to participate in real product photoshoots, fashion editorials, etc, which are supervised by the instructors. These projects not only sharpen their practical skills but also prepare students to work in the real world where they have to please people, and complete the tasks given to them on time.

Such projects are led by instructors who are experienced practitioners in the industry and have mentored the students themselves through projects. They help the students with their feedback and how to use techniques that will help the students create an artistic identity that is uniquely theirs.

Also we encourage active learning through portfolios and conduct regular practice in fine al placement where students are given constructive feedback on their work. Feedback always highlights where the student is strong and where the student has room for growth so that the end product is always balance and professional.

5. RVR School of Photography Alumni Success Stories

Our students have to achieve great milestones by getting jobs in well-known companies such as TCS, WIPRO, TIMES, et cetera. These milestones achieved by some of our students bring glory to our school and prove that the training we provide has immense value in the field.

Some of our alumni who have been successful are:

Ravi Sharma: Worked with times as a corporate photographer and covered events of the high management.

Sneha Kapoor: Worked in the TCS marketing team and was involved in the creation of visuals for the campaigns.

Arjun Mehta: Worked as a fashion photographer in Wipro showcasing their apparel lines in the most appealing way.

These stories inspire our students and demonstrate the quality of training they receive at RVR.

6. Photography Career Skills You’ll Master at RVR School of Photography

The skills our students achieve go beyond the basics:

Mastering Composition: Composing a frame that tells a story with a thousand visual elements.

Lighting Techniques: Using natural and artificial lighting for accentuation and photography.

Editing Mastery: Students’ skills with tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Light room, and others.

Client Management: How to handle clients and their expectations and how to put them to fruition.

7. photography Career Paths After Completing a Photography Course

A degree from RVR School of Photography helps in getting various types of jobs:

Corporate Photographer: Photograph brand images, teams, events.

Fashion Photographer: Work with Brands, models, and designers.

Freelance Photographer: Own Photography business.

Media Photographer: Creative visual images for stories for newspapers, magazines.

With our guidance, students can tailor their skills to the path that suits them best.

8. How RVR School of Photography Supports Your photography Career

We don’t stop with the coursework only, it doesn’t end there. We help them to bulit their photography career:

Placements: With a reach over leading employers like TCS, Wipro and Times. We place students at the best jobs available. TCS, Wipro and Times

Networking Events: We provide events to the students where they meet potential employers and industry leaders (Photography).

Career Counseling: Counseling for photography career selection, for portfolio development, for interview skills etc.

9. Why Photography is a Lucrative Career Choice

Modern-day photography has reached unbelievable heights and most people have accepted it as an industry that encompasses numerous photography career opportunities. Photography career is self-employment, creativity and self actualization all in one package.

Consistently Develops:There is no industry today that does not have specialization in photography career. Companies reach out to professional photographers in other sectors such as marketing, advertising, content creation and social media. The same expertise is requested for events such as weddings, business meetings or product launches. It creates a continuous search for new talented professionals in detail work and creative design.

Different photography Career Opportunities:Several professional paths are available even when one has selected the field of phototgraphy. People of all skills and preferences: travel, fashion, wildlife, food, event and much more can all find their field in photography. Freelancers have freedom to select jobs, individuals focusing on photography career in occupations have a fixed salary and constant work.

Financial Stability and Growth:Would you consider photography career as an art or a business? For any professional photographer, it’s both. On the one hand, established photographers can offer a large range of services as well as find themselves to have long-term relationships with their clients. For instance, wedding photographers have good returns in each event during the busy season. On the other hand, commercial photographers working for top companies can receive good commissions on their projects as well.

Freelance Freedom:If you are one of those people that does not like having a boss, freelancing enables you to live a different lifestyle. A photographer who works on a one-off basis gets to select what project to work on, when to work, and how to sell themselves. This path of employment also means you can work with brands from a different country which means other markets always exist.

10. How to Apply to RVR School of Photography

Do you want to begin your photography career? The application to RVR is straightforward and needs no additional stress:

Look at our Site:  RVR SCHOOL OF PHOTOGRAPHY

Select the Desired Course: Review the courses we offer and select the course you want.

Utilize the Application to Apply: Complete the provided form with the required information.

Meet Our Team For An Interview: Here we evaluate your interest in pursuing photography career and your vision.

Our admissions team is here to help you through each step.

Conclusion: Start Your Photography Career with RVR School of Photography

Photography is not simply a play of light and chemistry, but rather a story, an imagination, and a moment that strikes the heart of many. A photography career is endless since it can either be an exploration of artistic vision or a stable and rewarding profession. RVR School of Photography offers world-class training that combines sound theoretical knowledge with practical experience to make sure our students are industry-ready from day one.

Our professional mentorship builds students’ technical abilities and the assurance that they can succeed in a competitive marketplace. We help them create a solid portfolio, which is the foundation of every successful Registrant photographer, and we prepare them for different photography career paths from freelancing to working with renowned companies.

Whether you aspire to be a fashion photographer, specialize in stunning landscapes, or focus on corporate and media photography, RVR School of Photography is the best starting point. Our graduates speak volumes about the quality of education we offer, as many have attained outstanding milestones in their photography career.

Keep your passion for photography as a hobby, or let it change your life. RVR School of Photography provides tailored mentoring, world-class infrastructure, and an energetic learning environment to help you make creative dreams a successful photography career.

So what are you waiting for? Take action today, and allow us to guide you in unlocking your potential and creating an enjoyable career in photography. Become a student at RVR School of Photography, and see your passion become a successful professio

[phantom-z0ne]

Kingdom Come: 145 words written

The revenge has begun and promises are fulfilled :)

Last sentence(s) written:

The spirits joined the procession once they were finished, beelining for their main target, though they didn't hesitate to quickly yet violently pick off any who worked for him with their bare hands.

[moasli786]

pdf zusammenfügen [ ABELSSOFT ]

pdf zusammenfügen [ ABELSSOFT ]

[teaboot]

Things about the metric system that confuse me

Why are there 16 parts to an inch. Like yeah it's divisible by 4 but decimals and percentages on a system based on 100 are so much easier to calculate than fractions.

What are those little sixteenths called

Why don't you have millimeters. What happens if you need to measure something smaller than 1/16th of an inch. Why is your smallest area measurement the length of my fucking thumb

BECAUSE of your dumb inches and sixteenth and fractions, nothing else makes any fucking sense to remember. What's an inch? 16 little notches. What's a foot? 12 inches. What's a mile? 5,280. How the FUCK does anyone remember that. You know what's easy to remember? 10 millimeters are 1 centimeter. Do you know what centimeter means? 1/100th of a meter. You know how many of them are in a meter? 100. Easy shit

Okay this one is at Imperial but whose tablespoon is a tablespoon based off. Why are tablespoons and teaspoons both distinct measurements, they're fucking spoons. They're almost the fucking same. Like if you had "inches" and "binches" and binches were for no reason at all 1/42nd smaller and you only used them for measuring sawdust. Fuck completely off

Okay actually still looking at Imperial and speaking of Teaspoons and Tablespoons, the names don't indicate anything. How would ANYONE simply deduce by name which is bigger or smaller. Why would a spoon for food be bigger than a spoon for a drink. They both gotta fit in your fucking mouth don't they

Did we all standardize our fucking spoon volumes before we standardized our math? And CUPS? Who in the cholera factory was using scientific standard measurements to quality control your cutlery for any of this to be at all reliable for anyone following recipes

Alright back to you Metric WHAT DOES OUNCE MEAN AND WHY IS IT ABBREVIATED AS OZ

WHY IS POUND ABBREVIATED AS LB FOR LIBRA LIKE SCALES LIKE A CRYPTIC ASS ILLUMINATI SECRET MESSAGE WHEN "P" IS PERFECTLY AVAILABLE. YALL AINT PAYING MONEY IN POUNDS AND PENCE SO WHATS THE CONFUSION

Okay also why the hell would the British using Pounds to mean money run away to make America and start using Pounds to mean weight instead. Do I weigh a hundred dollars? Does Chadley at the gym bench press a thousand cents? I hate you

What is a gallon for. What does it mean. You know what's easy to convert to milliliters? Liters. What the hell is an ounce to a gallon

On top of that, what's your measurement transference? We have grams for weight, liters for liquid, meters for distance, and they're all like 1:100:1000 and shit. What do you DO to like. Show how many square inches of mass a gallon has or whatever

Oh shit I ain't even got into Fahrenheit yet

Actually fuck all of us, the end

[miupow]

한지성 ─── 𝗦𝗔𝗡𝗧𝗔 , 𝗕𝗔𝗕𝗬 !

you have a little christmas surprise for your boyfriend...

★ 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴。。。han jisung x fem!reader 𝗴。⧼ 🔖 ⧽ ⸝⸝ smut, pwp

𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 。。。lingerie kink・est. relationship・lap dance・bondage・sensory deprivation・blindfolds・dirty talk・sub!jisung・begging・dry humping・cumming in pants・degredation kink・praise kink ⸝⸝ ‎ 𝘄𝗰。1. 2 k | 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗶𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗿𝘆。

♬ santa, baby 一 laufey

notes from lia。happy early skzhop hiptape release!!! so excited for it's drop at midnight teehee <33 to celebrate here's a lul xmas drabble with jisung!! this was based off of an idea given to me by @sheerfreesia007 ... thank u so much for infecting my mind with this i love u so much

“come on babe, take this stupid blindfold off! I wanna see you!”

“Shh, be patient, Ji!” you giggle, adjusting your grip on the bathrobe as you bend over to turn up the volume on your speaker. “I told you it’s a surprise— be a good boy now, okay?”

Jisung whines at your words, squirming restlessly; truthfully you’ve given him no opportunity to be anything other than patient, with his wrists and ankles tied to the arms and legs of one of your dining room chairs with sparkly holiday ribbon. They were thin and flimsy, and jisung could most likely break out of them with ease, but you were certain your boyfriend loves to be played with far too much to even consider the possibility.

Soft music fills the room as you turn to face him, a sultry rendition of santa, baby that made jisung sit up a little straighter in his chair. Slowly, you make your way over to him, intent to put on a show even if he couldn’t see it quite yet— your hips swing from side to side to the rhythm of the music, sliding a teasing hand up and down jisung’s sweater-clad chest as you circle around his chair. His breath hitches beautifully, his head lolling back to let you ghost your fingers over the curve of his adam’s apple.

…I’ve been an awful good girl, santa, baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight…

With a flourish you kick your leg over jisung’s lap, seating yourself perfectly against the swiftly growing bulge in his pants. You can’t help but grind your clit against his fly, the sensation far too much and not enough all at once— jisung whimpers pathetically in your ear, clued in on the fact you were wearing only flimsy panties underneath that robe of yours. Achingly slowly, you untie your robe and let it fall off your shoulders down to the floor. It pools in a heap at jisung’s bound feet, leaving you bare except for the “surprise” you had prepared for his Christmas gift.

“let me see you…” jisung begs quietly, tugging weakly at his restraints. the pout on his plump lips is just too cute, you can’t help but coo.

…Santa, baby, a ’54 convertible too, light blue… I’ll wait up for you dear

You can’t keep denying him any longer, for both his sake and yours— you peel the red silk blindfold from jisung’s eyes, tossing it haphazardly to the floor along with your robe. He blinks a few time to adjust to the light, his heady gaze falling onto you when his eyes finally open.

“oh fuck…” jisung sighs, his brown puppy eyes widening as they trail down your body, soaking in your outfit… or what could barely be considered one.

…Next year I’ll be just as good, if you’ll check off my Christmas list…

You were dressed in a skimpy santa costume, barely enough fabric covering you to be anything more than lingerie. Your little fuzzy skirt did nothing to cover your sparkly red thong, your ass out and your weeping cunt perfectly visible through the sheer material.  Jisung gulps heavily, his adam’s apple bobbing, shifting and squirming and fighting his restraints in a desperate attempt to touch you. he cants his hips up off the chair, the bulge of his hardening cock grinding against your swollen clit. The barely-there pleasure makes you moan lowly, your gloved hands sliding up your bare torso to squeeze at your bikini clad tits— exactly what you know jisung wants to do himself, his pretty lips falling open as he watches your movements in erotic rapture.

…santa, cutie, and fill my stocking with a duplex, and checks… sign your x on the line…

“you look so sexy, baby, fuck!” jisung warbles, his hips continuing to move on their own, building a delicious rhythm that makes you both pant and whimper. “wanna touch you so bad, holy shit, please let me touch you—”

“nuh uh~!” you chide, wagging your finger in front of his face with an evil giggle. “I said be a good boy, remember? If you stay perfectly still for me maybe I’ll untie you…”

You plant your heeled feet on the floor for better leverage, bouncing and grinding in his lap as your hands move from your tits down to his belt buckle. Your own patience is running thin, your cunt throbbing with need and wetting jisung’s lap, but teasing him is just too much fun; you make no real movements to unbuckle his belt, only sliding your fingertips across the leather to dip beneath his waistband. Jisung’s hips buck wildly when you begin to caress the warm bare skin of his hipbones, nearly toppling you over onto the floor. Your santa hat begins to slide off your head, so you grab it and tug in onto jisung’s head instead. He looks so cute like that, peeking up at you so sinfully from underneath that goofy floppy hat.

…come and trim my Christmas tree, with some decorations bought at tiffany’s…

Finally, you pull his belt free from his belt loops, letting it fall aside with a metallic clink. his cock strains obscenely in his boxers when you pop the button open and tug the zipper down, a wet spot clearly visible where his head was trapped in the fabric. Jisung whimpers lowly when you retract your hands back to his shoulders, leaving him untouched and desperate.

“come on…” jisung whines through grit teeth, his chest heaving and his covered cock throbbing. “fuck me, baby, please…”

Santa, baby, I forgot to mention one little thing, a ring, I don’t mean on the phone…

“can’t hear you over this music, sungie. You’re gonna have to beg better than that!”

You grind against him harder, faster, making jisung choke and splutter—his thighs shake underneath your weight, a telling sign that he’s close to coming. It surprises you a little, him getting so close to the edge from hardly anything at all, your pussy pulsing with need and excitement. You need to see him cum in his pants. If this is his gift for the holiday season, that would be yours.

"baby-- fuck, fuck, I--" jisung can hardly string together a sentence, his eyes unfocused and hazy. "p-please! please, baby, please, please, please--"

“oh my god, ji, are you gonna cum?” you jeer, a wicked smile spreading across your ruby red lips. “I’m barely even touching you! you’re so cute, sungie, cumming in your pants like a teenager just from some grinding…”

“i—I--!” jisung stutters, his eyes rolling back in his head and his mouth stuck open in a permanent moan. He shakes his head rigorously, like he’s begging you to reconsider, but you’ve already made up your mind.

“go ahead and cum, ji! If you cum I’ll untie you, okay? And then I’ll fuck you, since you’ve been such a good boy for me—!”

Jisung is just too easy, you know him and his body far too well for him to fight back— he cums with a broken cry, sticky hot cum staining his boxers and mixing with the copious amounts of slick that gushed from your needy pussy. You help him ride through his climax with your hand tangled in his dark messy hair, knocking the santa hat aside as you tug at the strands. his moans turn high-pitched and shameless, his body shaking and twitching underneath you as his cock spurts out his last few ropes of cum.

“nasty boy,” you coo to him, staining his jawline and neck with red lipstick marks, “ready for more? This is just part of your present~”

Hurry, hurry, my santa, baby!

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Mark Zuckerberg announces mind-control ray (again)

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in PITTSBURGH on May 15 at WHITE WHALE BOOKS, and in PDX on Jun 20 at BARNES AND NOBLE with BUNNIE HUANG. More tour dates (London, Manchester) here.

Mark Zuckerberg has told investors how he plans to make back the tens of billions he's spending on AI: he's going to use it to make advertisements that can bypass our critical faculties and convince anyone to buy anything. In other words, Meta will make an AI mind-control ray and rent it out to grateful advertisers.

Here, Zuck is fulfilling the fundamental duty of every CEO of every high-growth tech company: explaining how his company will continue to grow. These growth stories are key, because growth stocks trade at a huge premium relative to the stocks of "mature" companies. Every dollar Meta brings in boosts their share price to a much greater degree than the dollars earned by companies with similar rates of profit, but slower rates of growth. This premium represents a bet by investors that Meta will continue to grow, which means that the instant Meta stops growing, the value of its shares will plummet, to reflect the fact that it is a "mature" company, not a "growth" company.

So Zuck needs to do everything he can to keep investors believing that Meta will continue to grow. After all, Zuck's key employees and top managers all take much (or even most!) of their compensation in Meta stock, which means that the instant the company stops growing, those workers' pay will plummet and they will seek employment elsewhere, depriving Meta of the workers it needs to successfully create or conquer a new market and once again become a growth stock.

This is why Zuck keeps telling stories. The most important story Zuck tells is about himself, the boy genius who converted a tool for nonconsensually rating the fuckability of Harvard undergrads into a social media monopoly with four billion users. Zuck's cult of personality isn't the product of mere narcissism – it's a tool for creating the material conditions for ongoing investor confidence:

https://www.businessinsider.com/mark-zuckerberg-shirt-latin-what-does-it-say-explained-words-2024-9

If Zuck is a boy genius, then Zuck's pronouncements take on the character of prophesy. When Zuck announced the "pivot to video," investors poured tens of billions into Facebook stock and into video-first online news production, despite the fact that Zuck was obviously lying:

https://slate.com/technology/2018/10/facebook-online-video-pivot-metrics-false.html

The "boy genius" story is an example of Silicon Valley's storied "reality distortion field," pioneered by Steve Jobs. Like Jobs, Zuck is a Texas marksman, who fires a shotgun into the side of a barn and then draws a target around the holes. Jobs is remembered for his successes, and forgiven his (many, many) flops, and so is Zuck. The fact that pivot to video was well understood to have been a catastrophic scam didn't stop people from believing Zuck when he announced "metaverse."

Zuck lost more than $70b on metaverse, but, being a boy genius Texas marksman, he is still able to inspire confidence from credulous investors. Zuck's AI initiatives generated huge interest in Meta's stock, with investors betting that Zuck would find ways to keep Meta's growth going, despite the fact that AI has the worst unit economics of any tech venture in living memory. AI is a business that gets more expensive as time goes on, and where the market's willingness to pay goes down over time. This makes the old dotcom economics of "losing money on every sale, but making it up in volume" look positively rosy:

https://www.wheresyoured.at/reality-check/

Now, Zuck has finally described how he's going to turn AI's terrible economics around: he's going to ask AI to design his advertisers' campaigns, and these will be so devastatingly effective that advertisers will pay a huge premium to advertise on Meta:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/the-ai-revolution-is-an-advertising-revolution-morning-brief-100001467.html

This narrative is especially galling because it's literally the same story Zuck has been telling for decades: "Facebook has built a mind-control out of Big Data, and we can sell anything to anyone":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/09/30/dont-believe-the-criti-hype/#ordinary-mediocrities

This is a facially absurd proposition. After all, everyone who's ever claimed to have perfected mind-control – Rasputin, Mesmer, MK-ULTRA, neurolinguistic programming grifters and pathetic "pick up artists" – was a liar. Either they were lying to themselves, or to everyone else. Or both.

But many of tech's critics helped sell this narrative (and thus helped Meta sell ads). Many critics have fallen prey to the sin of "criti-hype," Lee Vinsel's term for critiquing the claims of your adversary without bothering to ask whether they are true:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/02/02/euthanize-rentiers/#dont-believe-the-hype

The project of convincing investors that tech's "dopamine hackers" had perfected mind-control with warmed over, non-replicable Skinnerian behavior-mod techniques and mass surveillance sold a hell of a lot of ads. After all, if there's one kind of person the advertising sector has always been able to sell to, it's advertising executives, who are the easiest of marks for a story about how easy it is to trick the public into buying whatever you're selling:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/05/florida-man/#wannamakers-ghost

Every ad-tech sales-bro who takes a meeting with an advertising executive finds himself pushing on an open door. Advertisers desperately wants to believe in mind-control rays. Think of the department store magnate John Wannamaker, who said, "half my advertising spending is wasted – I just don't know which half." Imagine: some advertising exec convinced John Wannamaker that he was only wasting half of his advertising spending!

I've long maintained that the threat from AI to workers isn't that AI can do your job – it's that an AI salesman can convince your boss to fire you and replace you with an AI that can't do your job:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/18/asbestos-in-the-walls/#government-by-spicy-autocomplete

The corollary here is that it doesn't matter if AI can design ads that work, not so long as an AI ad salesman can sell this proposition to an advertisers, and not so long as a tech CEO can sell it to investors.

AI keeps passing the worst kinds of Turing tests – for example, it's great at helping people who are prone to life-destroying hallucinations that they are talking to God:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/ai-spiritual-delusions-destroying-human-relationships-1235330175/

Zuck kept up his growth story with this mind control narrative for more than a decade, got caught committing a string of spectacular frauds, and then lured investors back into his stock offerings by telling the same story. This isn't just an indictment of Zuck, it's a stinging rebuke to the whole idea that markets are a kind of infallible computer for assessing and operationalizing information. The market's "thought process" demonstrably lacks the object permanence that most babies acquire by the time they are a year old. You can tell when your child has acquired object permanence by the fact that they cease to enjoy "peek-a-boo" (object permanence means they understand where you have gone when your face is hidden).

In claiming that AI will give him an infinite growth mind-control ray, Mark Zuckerberg is challenging the market to a game of peek-a-boo – and he's winning.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/07/rah-rah-rasputin/#credulous-dolts

Image:

Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

[royalarchivist]

How to Archive VODs and Clips

Whether you want to download VODs and/or clips for your own records or because you’d like to share them online, knowing how to archive things is handy, especially when so many streams become lost media once they’re deleted off Twitch and/or YouTube.

Here are a few programs that I use for Royal Archivist!

—

Of all the programs on this list, my personal favorites / the ones I most strongly recommend are Cobalt and Twitch Downloader! (When all else fails, OBS is also a good backup).

Cobalt

Cobalt has gained a lot of popularity the past few months, and for good reason! It's a very reliable, extremely user-friendly website that lets you save videos in MP4 formats, convert them into MP3 formats, or video-only without sound.

Cobalt is currently compatible with: BlueSky, Dailymotion, Facebook, Instagram, Loom, OK, Pinterest, Reddit, RuTube, SnapChat, SoundCloud, Streamable, TikTok, Tumblr, Twitch, Twitter, Vimeo, VK, Xiohongshu, and YouTube.

Twitch’s built-in download feature

If you’re downloading your own clip, this is the easiest method to use

First, navigate to your clips page.

To do this, click on your Twitch icon and go to “Creator Dashboard.” There will be a row of icons on your left - click the fifth button from the top (the one above the settings icon) and click on the link that says “Clips.”

At the top of the page, click on “Clips I’ve Created” and you should see a list of every clip you’ve ever made (regardless of whether or not you’ve published them, the clips are there!)

If you're having trouble, you can also type: https://dashboard.twitch.tv/u/ YOUR USERNAME HERE /clips/created

Click on the share button, and the list shown in the photo below will pop up.

After you click on the “Download” button (for landscape or portrait), a new tab will open up with the clip (which will autoplay, so heads up if you have your volume turned up high!)

Right click on the video and click “Save Video As”

That’s all there is to it! Please keep in mind that Twitch’s download function only works for clips you’ve made! You cannot use it to download VODs, or other people’s clips.

Twitch Downloader

Twitch Downloader is by far the BEST Twitch download program I have ever used. I’ve used several different ones, some which have broken because of Twitch’s updates, others which have fallen into disrepair because their creator no longer updates the program, but this one has been working consistently for me for a little over a year now. I’ve kept it very close to my chest because I’m terrified it’ll stop working one day, but it’s better to share resources than horde them out of fear.

Pros:

HD quality for all downloads! Whatever quality the stream was, that’s the quality the download will be (unless you adjust anything in the settings).

The best feature of this program is you can adjust how much you want to clip! Only want a 30 second clip from a 6 hour VOD? You can specify the section you want to download so long as you know the timestamps where you want the clip to start and where you want it to end.

You can download entire VODs.

When saving the file, it will automatically enter the original name of the stream and the stream date. (You can change this, but it’s very handy when you’re downloading an entire VOD and not a section of one).

It will automatically prompt you to update it when a new version has been released. (You do have the option to opt out of this, if you want).

There are a lot of other features available, however, I’ve never tried any of them so I can’t say how well they work. The Github page has a lot of examples and a Q&A section though, so check that out if you’re curious!

On the rare occasion that the program encounters issues, it's easy to use a past version, and the creators are quick to release new updates that resolve any problems. As of today (February 21, 2025) the latest version is currently 1.55.2, which updated last week.

Cons:

Sometimes when you click “Get Info” it won’t immediately load the VOD. This is pretty easy to solve by just restarting the program, so it’s not a huge issue imo.

You can’t preview clips before you download them, so you need to know the exact timestamps you want.

You can’t download VODs that are privated or no longer on Twitch.

How to use:

Download Twitch Downloader from Github and install the version that works for your computer. (In this case, I would download the GUI Windows-x64.zip version. Make sure you’re downloading the GUI version if you want a user-friendly version of this program).

Enter the URL of the VOD you’d like to download.

You can adjust the quality of the video and the length. If nothing is specified in the “Crop Video” section, it will download the entire VOD.

Once you’re ready, click the “Download” button and you’re good to go!

Open Video Downloader

If you’ve ever wanted to download any kind of video, I’m sure you’ve heard of Youtube-dl. There are different versions of this program, but some of them are a bit finicky and if things stop working, it can be difficult and frustrating trying to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it — which is why I recommend this program.

Open Video Downloader, aka youtube-dl-gui, is one of the best video downloaders I’ve ever used. It’s basically Youtube-dl with a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that makes the program very easy for anyone to use.

Pros:

No coding knowledge required! VERY user-friendly.

The creator fixes user issues very quickly! Whenever the program experiences a problem, a new update is released within 24 hours.

It can download videos from pretty much all major social media platforms, including Youtube, Twitter, Tumblr, Twitch clips, Instagram, and more.

Cons:

You can’t adjust the length of what you want to download. If you want to download a 2 minute section from a 5 hour Youtube VOD, you’ll have to download the entire video.

On rare occasions, I’ve had issues where it cannot download an unlisted Youtube video. There are sometimes ways to get around this, but it’s a pain and usually not worth the effort.

How to use it:

Download the latest version of the program from GitHub. Scroll all the way down to “Assets” and select the version that’s right for your computer. (For example, I use Windows, so I would download the .exe file).

Once you’ve installed it, you can start downloading things! For this example, let’s say I want to download Quackity’s “Welcome to the QSMP” video. All I need to do is copy the link and paste it into the white box at the top of the program.

Once that’s done, you should see the video pop up in your download queue. You can queue multiple videos to download at once (you can also download entire playlists too). When you’re ready, click the green download button on the bottom right (as shown in the picture below) or if you only want to download one specific video from your queue, click the download button (circled in red) next to the video.

You can adjust the quality of the video you want to download, and in theory you can choose whether to download just the audio or just the video of a video, but personally that’s never worked for me. That might just be a me issue though.

If you’d like to change where your videos are saved to, click the Folder button (circled in yellow) and choose a download destination. If nothing is chosen, it will default to your Downloads folder.

There are ways you can customize this program, but like I said earlier, this program is very very easy to use and does not require any tinkering whatsoever. You open it, download what you want, then close it. Nice and simple!

Other Recommendations

OBS is a good backup when all else fails! I have to use OBS pretty frequently for YouTube VODs, since there aren't a lot of tools that let you clip parts of a YouTube video (and I'd rather not download an entire 7 hour long VOD for a 30 second clip). There are already a lot of good tutorials out there explaining how to use OBS, so I recommend poking around and seeing what works best for you. If you're new to video downloading / archiving things, I'd still recommend starting with some of the tools I mentioned above first.

I’d recommend making a folder on your computer for clips. I find it very helpful to name all my files with this method: [Stream date] Streamer name - Something that helps me remember what this clip is about / something that will help me find it later, or a quote.

Example: [2-6-24] Mike - I hate capitalism

If you’ve got a significant amount of clips on your computer, I’d recommend backing them up and/or saving them to an external harddrive!

That’s about it! I apologize if I’ve missed any steps, but hopefully everything is more or less easy enough for folks to understand! I’m someone who does not like downloading random programs onto my computer and I’m very paranoid about cyber security, but I’ve used these programs for over a year now, and they’re very reliable and trustworthy. 10/10, I recommend both of them.

Lastly: if anyone has a recommendation for good Youtube clip downloaders, please let me know! I haven’t found any good programs that let me specify how much of a Youtube video I’d like to download, and I am suffering. Help your friendly neighborhood Archivist so I can share more clips from the early days of QSMP.

[tremendouslybeautifulsimz]

Music Tv Vol. 2

Under The Cut

New Mesh

300 Swatches (separated in 2 packages)

Functional As Radio

Deco Version

Music Included

*Since there are 150 swatches in each part I highly recommend scrolling through the swatches in build & buy so all of them will show*

Details

So The tv is functional as a radio so it gives the appearance that you actually have your Apple Music playing on the tv.

Now the lyrics DO NOT SCROLL like they do on apple products. It's for aesthetic purposes only.

There Will Be A Video Of How It Looks In Game On My Instagram

This Comes With a Functional & Deco Version. Music Is Also Included

Last but not least since you guys voted for a dump, I will not be doing any future volumes unless you guys' request for me to.

This separated in two packages so you guys will be able to see all swatches.

How To Make Sure The Music Plays Correctly In Game

Step 1: Put music in Hip-Hop folder.

Step 2: Go To Music Settings And Uncheck All Sims Music

Step 3: Only Your Music Should Play

Early Access, Public 1.11.24

Do Not Share My Content (Always Free After 2-3 Weeks except Blender content)

Recolors Allowed Do Not Include My Mesh

Do Not Use/Altar My Mesh To Make Your Own Content

DO NOT CONVERT TO ANY OTHER GAMES

Do NOT Share IN Discords, Facebook Groups or Give Away In CC Folders.

*STOP PUTTING MY CONTENT IN FOLDERS AND PUTTING THEM BEHIND A PAYPALL*

IF THERE ARE ANY ISSUES PLEASE BE SURE TO LET ME KNOW VIA MY IG DMS!!!!

IF YOU USE ANY OF MY CC PLEASE TAG ME ON IG I WOULD

[jesslovesboats]

I guess it's time to start moving some content from twt over here! For those who don't know me, I'm a public librarian with a special interest in polar and nautical history, and I love nothing more than connecting readers with good books. I've managed to convert some friends to my way of thinking, and one of them coined the phrase "sad boat books" to describe the types of books that I'm always reading and recommending. Here is my first list of sad boat books-- I can personally vouch for all of them!

New to sad boat? Start here to see if it’s for you!

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton

The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger

Terra Nova, A GREAT first expedition!

The Worst Journey in the World- The Graphic Novel Volume 1: Making Our Easting Down adapted by Sarah Airriess from the book by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

A First Rate Tragedy by Diana Preston

Robert Falcon Scott Journals- Captain Scott’s Last Expedition by Robert Falcon Scott

“I Love Ernest Shackleton” starter pack

Endurance by Alfred Lansing

Shackleton’s Boat Journey by Frank Worsley

The Endurance by Caroline Alexander

“I Hate Ernest Shackleton” starter pack

The Lost Men by Kelly Tyler-Lewis

Polar Castaways by Richard McElrea and David Harrowfield

Roald Roald Roald!

The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen by Stephen Bown

The South Pole by Roald Amundsen

The Last Place on Earth by Roland Huntford*

*DISCLAIMER: this guy hates Captain Scott and gets most of the Scott details wrong, read for Roald only!

The Franklin Expedition

Frozen in Time: The Fate of the Franklin Expedition by Owen Beattie and John Geiger

Erebus by Michael Palin

May We Be Spared to Meet on Earth: Letters of the Lost Franklin Expedition edited by Russell A. Potter, Regina Koellner, Peter Carney, and Mary Williamson

Non-polar sad boats

The Bounty by Caroline Alexander

Batavia’s Graveyard by Mike Dash

The Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger

In The Heart of the Sea by Nathaniel Philbrick

Sometimes a sad balloon can be a sad boat

The Expedition by Bea Uusma

The Ice Balloon by Alec Wilkinson

Karluk/Wrangel Island, the expeditions of my heart

Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy Levy

The Ice Master by Jennifer Niven

The Karluk’s Last Voyage by Robert A. Bartlett

The Last Voyage of the Karluk: A Survivor’s Memoir of Arctic Disaster by William Laird McKinlay

Ada Blackjack: A True Story of Survival in the Arctic by Jennifer Niven

Miscellaneous sad boat books that are well worth your time

The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance by Mensun Bound

In The Kingdom of Ice: The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette by Hampton Sides

Madhouse at the End of the Earth by Julian Sancton

Alone on the Ice: The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration by David Roberts

Labyrinth of Ice: The Triumphant and Tragic Greely Polar Expedition by Buddy Levy

If you read and enjoy any of these, please let me know!

[twentyfourfirst-sims]

A set of 42 modern, patterned wallpapers, converted and adapted from two sets by warmthlu.

Volume One features 21 wallpapers, one more than warmthlu designed. A happy accident; the first wallpaper in this set wasn't seamless so, after much fiddling, I decided to redraw the whole pattern from scratch. During this process, I ended up with a calmer, more minimalist wallpaper I loved so much, I wanted to include it, too!

Volume Two has those same 21 wallpapers, but they now feature skirting and cornicing in complimentary shades from my State of Elegance palette. The skirting and cornicing was taken from my new 'Details' set, which is available here.

Included in this set are:

I. 4t2 WARMTHLU WALLPAPERS - VOLUME 1 — Catalog: Build > Wall Coverings > Wallpapers — Price: §4 — Colours: all original 21 colours + 1 additional recolour

II. 4t2 WARMTHLU WALLPAPERS - VOLUME 2 — Catalog: Build > Wall Coverings > Wallpapers — Price: §5 — Colours: all original 21 colours + 1 additional recolour

DETAILS — Credit: warmthlu (here and here). — Descriptions: both volumes feature a description written by me, hinting, as always, at upcoming custom content. This is one of my favourite things to do ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ — Everything has been compressed; the swatch is included in the .zip.

LINKS — 📝 Terms of Use — 🦋 Bug Reports (Google Form) — 🎁 Commissions — ☕ Patreon — 📁 Download on Patreon (Free)