#activist architecture

[a-very-tired-jew]

I was just reminded that the art collective Forensic Architecture exists and once again I’m disgusted.

For those of you who don’t know, it’s a collective of various artists who play at forensic science, conduct “forensic investigations”, and then make art exhibits of their “results”. Their reports and exhibits will make statements such as “the evidence shows that X is linked to Y” but the statistical output that they share will show something like a 5% confidence in the match.

That's right. They make art exhibits of their "investigations".

You want to talk about fandomizing tragedy? Making “forensic investigations” into art exhibits is the bougiest version I can think of, and it's only to serve an echelon of people who enjoy that kind of stuff. If any of the people in this art collective had a background in forensic science they would have taken ethics courses that would tell them how horrid putting on an art exhibit like this actually is. You don't honor the victims by putting on an art show for the rich and powerful to gasp and faint over so that you can fundraise for your next show.

Their founder has even stated that they’re not in forensics but “counter-forensics” and "counter-investigation". They eschew the practices and norms of the scientific community for telling their own version of investigative “truth”. They’ve even gone so far as to quote post-truth philosophies in their work and the controversial Nietzsche quote about there being no facts, only interpretations. Both are dangerous philosophies to hold in forensic science as it presents the evidence as subjective rather than objective. This is why they're an art collective and not a forensic science research group as they purport, they're rejecting objective scientific outcome for subjective interpretation.

You can go to the group's website and they have profiles on all of their team members. Almost every person is labeled as a "researcher", but once you click on their profile it quickly tells you that they're an artist, designer, activist, or some combination of the three. No mention of any scientific background whatsoever. That indicates their ability to actual conduct forensic science research is not great as they don't have any training or education on the methods involved. In fact, their entire program and personnel are out of an arts college with no science programs or faculty outside of anthropology.

That's weird, right?

A group that supposedly made a new discipline of forensic science, according to them, has no members with actual backgrounds in forensic science or scientific disciplines relating to it?

None of the team member profiles detail any scientific background that would be relevant to forensics outside of a few people with engineering and computer science degrees. Neither of the aforementioned disciplines typically train you in forensic practices anyway unless you take certain courses. Because these profiles are public you can go and checked LinkedIn profiles and find the CVs for each member as well. Guess what? No forensic science or relevant scientific backgrounds listed there as well.

But for some reason this art collective has received funding from governments and NGOs for "creating" a new discipline of forensic science. They're a "trusted" source for forensic investigations. That's worrying. That's terrifying.

I'm a forensic scientist and to make an objective field based upon methodology and empirically supported practice into one that is subjective and throws out the empirical aspects is terrifying. Everyone should have klaxons going off in their head whenever they see Forensic Architecture's name appear in a publication. I've reviewed a few of their "investigations" and they are rife with bad practice, manipulation, and misinformation. In fact, it appears that they present their work in art exhibits more than they testify to it in court due to their methods being questionable and their intent being not to help the investigation but to be a "counter-investigation" that can be judged by the court of public opinion. What do I mean by this? In many of their investigations the collective does not actively have personnel at the scene. Meaning they are not getting first hand physical evidence and measurements. Now, it's not always possible to be there personally and as such you rely upon crime scene techs, investigators, and other personnel to collect this stuff. Typically if you're a consultant or outside firm you are getting the evidence after it has been collected for analysis. You want the physical evidence in your hands as much as possible so that you can analyze it properly. Sometimes you have to request going to the scene yourself to get the measurements and evidence you need. The worst type of evidence to receive is honestly digital images of the scene as you are now having to analyze something a general investigator, who likely does not have specialized training, took a picture of.

In situations where you cannot have the physical evidence for analysis and you are left with only photographs then a forensic expert should be tempering their responses and conclusions. You cannot confidently come to conclusions based simply on looking at photos. This is something that is hammered home repeatedly in forensic programs and professionals.

In the case of warzone crime scene analysis, as FA typically does, they are, typically, not collecting evidence first hand from the scene, nor are they receiving evidence secondarily from actual trained investigators (when they are there first hand they also rely excessively upon expensive technology instead of best practices). They rely upon third party photos and satellite imagery to do their analysis.

Time and time again, forensic experts who rely solely upon digital photos and media to make their analysis get ripped apart by a good lawyer. Being confident in conclusions based upon photographs is the easiest way to lose your credibility. But again, the art collective playing forensic scientist primarily puts their work in art exhibits where they are not scrutinized by experts. Hell, I don't think I've ever seen them present at one of our professional conferences nationally or internationally (I would love to be a fly on the wall when that happens).

And finally, if this was an actual credible scientific group that produced credible investigations and had created a brand new field with methodology that stood to scrutiny there would be publications in the forensic journals detailing this. Especially from the "creator" of the field Eyal Weizman.

Guess what there isn't?

But in the end all they’re actually doing is crime scene reconstruction from people who want to cosplay as forensic scientists.

(for more reading on the group see this article that highlights issues with FA from another perspective https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/features/forensic-architecture-fake-news-1234661013/)

[rabbitcruiser]

Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seized control of Alcatraz Island on November 20, 1969, until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.  

[youthchronical]

How a Columbia Student Fled to Canada After ICE Came Looking for Her

The first knock at the door came eight days ago, on a Friday morning. Three federal immigration agents showed up at a Columbia University apartment searching for Ranjani Srinivasan, who had recently learned her student visa had been revoked. Ms. Srinivasan, an international student from India, did not open the door. She was not home when the agents showed up again the next night, just hours…

[lunachi369]

He using subconscious psychology against me frfr on purpose I Wana say idk though which he smh

[paul-almeida-arq]

[rapha-reads]

Guys, something historic is happening right now and we all need to turn our eyes to the Madleen ship of the Gaza Freedom Flotilla. They are right now (June 9th, 2am EEST), under attack by quadcopters of the IDF. Everyone, go their Instagram @/gazafreedomflotilla, follow the 12 heroes who are on board, go follow Rima Hassan on Twitter if you're still on Twitter, and write to the representatives concerned (UK, France, Sweden, Germany, Turkey, Netherlands, Brazil, Spain).

Here is the tracker so you can follow the ship.

Al-Jazeera is doing live coverage (link below), I also recommand following the UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, she's in direct contact with the ship.

[cum-aside]

Ok it’s not like I go here really, but I’ve been reading a bunch of DPxDC recently because it’s very good, and I had an idea that won’t go anywhere

The various gangs in Gotham have callsigns/uniforms or something right??? If not, they should, and imma say they do. Anyway. Redhood I think didn’t think too hard about what people in his gang on his turf should wear for identification purposes, but they sure did. And what they came up with was Red.

Wearing red in the vicinity of the ‘Bad Part’ of Gotham?? Part of the red hood gang. Generally head gear is the preferred method of wearing red. Red hats and beanies, red head scarfs and hijabs, red headbands, red masks. The idea has been communicated. To a certain point, wearing red even if you aren’t officially part of the gang is a great way to get an in with them, or be under protection if you’re the right age in the right area, as long as you’re willing to risk getting roped into low stakes gang activity, which can range from working the counter at money laundering sites to community service (guarding clinics and shelters and volunteering) to making deliveries to destroying certain hostile architecture. (Hood saves the real jobs with cops and shootings and turf disputes for actual members, that he knows the names faces and skills of, and who are at least above 18, but preferably over 20, and who wear real gear he supplies them with, not just whatever’s in their closet that’s red) (this does not entirely stop the smaller ‘members’ from getting into their own fights with the cops and turf wars, but Jason has found that giving them Something to do that feels like direct action helps curb those tendencies. And it’s not like those things aren’t things that don’t need doing, so it’s a win win. Mostly)

Danny, bless him, does not know any of this. But has been staying in the sketchier areas of Gotham because that’s where people don’t care how old you are or if your papers are real or not, and he absolutely does not want people looking into how old he is and wether his papers are real or not. He is also wearing an inadvisable and vaguely conspicuous amount of red. His converse are red, his signature baseball tee is white and red, and his hoodie is also red.

Clearly, this kid (he’s like 17) really wants in with the hood gang.

And eventually, they oblige him.

Random people will approach Danny and ask/tell him that them and a couple others are going somewhere to do (insert vaguely/definitely illegal job or act of community service here) and Danny, who is deeply directionless in life currently, and also pretty assured in his ability to eat danger for breakfast, and has never met an institutional authority he doesn’t disrespect at least a little bit, is totally down for some civil disobedience and chaotic good shenanigans.

And then it spirals from there. Like. A worrying amount.

It takes Danny actual months, almost a year, to realize that he’s been low key slow cooked into the criminal underbelly of Gotham, and like… he’s not really mad about it?? Honestly if he had a choice when he came to Gotham, he probably would have picked the redhood gang anyway. He just seems to vibe with them on a… Spiritual Level…

Hm

Anyway

Years go by, and while Danny doesn’t have the most going for him in terms of a normal person life, vis a vis higher education, official employment, health insurance, dating life, or any other benchmark one uses to measure the trajectory of their lives— Danny’s feeling pretty good! Jazz, Tucker, and Sam have all finagled their ways into Gotham, (Tucker has a WE internship, Jazz is working/doing work studies at Arkham, Sam does what she likes now that she is a legal adult and has her inheritance, and what she likes is environmental activism, and occasionally being spotted with fellow activist Damian Wayne, and someone who may or may not be poison ivy, sources differ) and Danny finds his obsession suspiciously well served as a hood goon. Hood hench? Redgoon? Hench hood?? Name pending, who cares.

Danny is also suspiciously good at, well, his job. One of the best runners, even when he gets caught and frisked they never seem to find the goods on him (they never do check IN him, but then why would they) very well liked at every volunteer spot they have, patient, kind, funny, good with old people, kids, bitter people, addicts and the homeless, the sick and injured. And yet also very competent in the field, when they finally let him do actually dangerous things. Act as protection detail to the working girls in the red light district, he’s very respectful, and very good at intimidation, de-escalation, and when push comes to shove, excellent in a fight. Knows when to keep pressing his advantage and when to make a retreat with whoever he’s guarding. Not afraid to fight scrappy, and presses through pain and fear like a true gothmite.

He gets so good at his not really a job job that he becomes essentially, Redhoods right hand man.

The rest of the bats are skeptical of this for several reasons. Because generally speaking, the people in Jason’s turf are not fans of the bats, but Jason does a lot of coordinating with them, and someone so close to him is going to pick that up eventually if they’re half as sharp and useful as Danny is. Other than that, secret identity issues, plus pit rage, plus the fact that Jason trusts pretty much nobody. But Jason has great feelings about this guy, he always feels more clear headed and even keeled when he’s around, and he helps Jason remember the community he’s trying to build, and the community he serves. Also he delegates and mother hens like nobody’s business, but Jason just really can’t seem to work up too much irritation about it.

It is around this time, however, that the past, and shady government organizations come knocking.

Perhaps the GIW has also noticed how ecto-contaminated and lawless Gotham is and decided that they could start doing research and experiments with its live and undead denizens instead of amity, where the portal has closed, and ghost activity is down since phantom disappeared. Or maybe the GIW has finally located phantom specifically and is interested in what they’re always interested in. Or maybe it’s various ghosts harassing Danny to take up the throne, which he’s been avoiding successfully, but having settled into a life routine that suites him his core has finally ‘settled’ (halfa cores fluctuate more than other cores due to the transient nature of being alive, but halfa people settle into lifelong patterns and relationships quicker than other people because of the static nature of being dead) he is mature enough by ghost standards to assume the throne, or at least begin preparing for it.

Regardless, danny is being tracked down for his childhood baggage’s extended warranty, and brings the entirety of the JL and almost all associated sidekicks, hero group spin-offs, and organizations into the thick of it.

Idk. I just got through Secretary Danny by DeathlySilent13 on ao3 and I thought man oh man wouldn’t it be neat if Danny got to be Jason’s second in command instead??? That could open up a lot of avenues I haven’t seen yet. I’m also just very curious about how the Jason’s runs his gang according to the fandom, and I think that with all the ACAB energy Danny has been assigned, he should have a little bit of community focused organized crime. As a treat. Like I said I don’t go here thou, I just needed to put this somewhere and see if it vibed with anybody besides me

[the-library-alcove]

One of the things that's honestly so fascinating--sociologically speaking--is how Hamas and the rest of their Islamist allies have managed to turn their "Pro-Palestine" cultists and useful idiots into full-on Arab Supremacist Fascists.

Quoting Umberto Eco's 14 Common Features Of Fascism, with my comments as addendum:

The cult of tra­di­tion. “One has only to look at the syl­labus of every fas­cist move­ment to find the major tra­di­tion­al­ist thinkers. The Nazi gno­sis was nour­ished by tra­di­tion­al­ist, syn­cretis­tic, occult ele­ments.” In the Hamasnik cult, this is exemplified by the claims of an ancient--prehistoric, even!--continuity and history of Palestine, the "well, this is their culture!" promotion of misogyny and sexism, as with the Taliban and Hamas, and, of course, the "Blood and Soil" rhetoric we see being promoted as part of the idealized "Palestinian connection to the land".

The rejec­tion of mod­ernism. “The Enlight­en­ment, the Age of Rea­son, is seen as the begin­ning of mod­ern deprav­i­ty. In this sense Ur-Fas­cism can be defined as irra­tional­ism.” See all of the "anti-Western" outlooks from the Hamasnik crowd, plus all of the rejections of science and documented history in favor of a simplified propaganda narrative.

The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beau­ti­ful in itself, it must be tak­en before, or with­out, any pre­vi­ous reflec­tion. Think­ing is a form of emas­cu­la­tion.” See all of the pointless protests, where not only is what is being demanded pointless, but in many cases there is no causal link between their actions and what they supposedly wish to accomplish, and often are actively harmful to their cause. The man who climbed up on London architecture the other month "to bring awareness to the Palestinian cause" did nothing to help them, but he certainly took action!

Dis­agree­ment is trea­son. “The crit­i­cal spir­it makes dis­tinc­tions, and to dis­tin­guish is a sign of mod­ernism. In mod­ern cul­ture the sci­en­tif­ic com­mu­ni­ty prais­es dis­agree­ment as a way to improve knowl­edge.” See how any Palestinian peace activist is treated for an easy example of this one.

Fear of dif­fer­ence. “The first appeal of a fas­cist or pre­ma­ture­ly fas­cist move­ment is an appeal against the intrud­ers. Thus Ur-Fas­cism is racist by def­i­n­i­tion.” Note how "Zionist" has been turned into a pejorative, and "Zio", a slur coined by the KKK, is easily on the lips of these "activists".

Appeal to social frus­tra­tion. “One of the most typ­i­cal fea­tures of the his­tor­i­cal fas­cism was the appeal to a frus­trat­ed mid­dle class, a class suf­fer­ing from an eco­nom­ic cri­sis or feel­ings of polit­i­cal humil­i­a­tion, and fright­ened by the pres­sure of low­er social groups.” See the common statements of "We don't want two state, we want all '48!" and a general refusal to accept that there's a status quo where Israel isn't going anywhere and peace is necessary; instead, there's an attitude of frustration that they want this outcome, and they're going to get it!

The obses­sion with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fas­cist psy­chol­o­gy there is the obses­sion with a plot, pos­si­bly an inter­na­tion­al one. The fol­low­ers must feel besieged.” The sheer amount of "Zionists control the government/media/economy/etc" conspiracism makes this almost too easy.

The ene­my is both strong and weak. “By a con­tin­u­ous shift­ing of rhetor­i­cal focus, the ene­mies are at the same time too strong and too weak.” But at the same time as "Zionists control the world", they're also apparently readily intimidated and rebuffed by a bunch of ineffectual and over-privileged college students.

Paci­fism is traf­fick­ing with the ene­my. “For Ur-Fas­cism there is no strug­gle for life but, rather, life is lived for strug­gle.” Again, see the treatment any Palestinian working for a two-state solution for an easy example of this one.

Con­tempt for the weak. “Elit­ism is a typ­i­cal aspect of any reac­tionary ide­ol­o­gy.” This one is interesting, because you do see it... but not in the usual form, because it's become contempt for anyone who isn't willing to show the "strength" of committing full-fledged to their belief system and sacrifice themselves in its service. See, for example, the adoption and twisting of "none of us are free until all of us are free", where activists for other causes that can actually do measurable good are dismissed or condemned for "not standing with Palestine".

Every­body is edu­cat­ed to become a hero. “In Ur-Fas­cist ide­ol­o­gy, hero­ism is the norm. This cult of hero­ism is strict­ly linked with the cult of death.” Everyone is expected to sacrifice themselves for the Uber-Cause, Palestine, and even engage in "activism" when bed-bound.

Machis­mo and weapon­ry. “Machis­mo implies both dis­dain for women and intol­er­ance and con­dem­na­tion of non­stan­dard sex­u­al habits, from chasti­ty to homo­sex­u­al­i­ty.” This one is fascinating, because you do have "Queers For Palestine" and other such Turkeys-For-Thanksgiving groups, but at the same time, watch how they treat other queers who don't get in line with their ideology. Also, note how these people actively celebrate and support rapists from Hamas.

Selec­tive pop­ulism. “There is in our future a TV or Inter­net pop­ulism, in which the emo­tion­al response of a select­ed group of cit­i­zens can be pre­sent­ed and accept­ed as the Voice of the Peo­ple.” And the select group of citizens are "a small fraction of coddled students at elite universities" and "a group of fanatical militants".

Ur-Fas­cism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fas­cist school­books made use of an impov­er­ished vocab­u­lary, and an ele­men­tary syn­tax, in order to lim­it the instru­ments for com­plex and crit­i­cal rea­son­ing.”

I'm just going to make a separate list here:

War becomes Genocide.

Humanitarian Aid becomes Manufactured Famine.

Borders become Concentration camp walls.

Suicide bombers become heroes.

Rape becomes Resistance.

Civilian Evacuation becomes Ethnic Cleansing

Unwilling Human Shields become Brave Martyrs

Indoctrinated Child Soldiers become Adorable Spirit Of Resistance or Murder

People returning to their native homeland become Colonizers

Hostages become Prisoners of War

Anti-Rocket Defense becomes a Tool of Genocide

Surrender becomes Ceasefire

Keeping terrorists away from civilians becomes Apartheid

Civilians become Acceptable Targets

And more. (I edited an earlier version of this post that had a graphic I added because I was tired and it contained a lot of what I was going for, but it was pointed out that it had some... issues. So it's gone and this list is added)

So with all of that said, I just find it fascinating (in the same way that, say, a weapon or a dangerous chemical or the like is fascinating) how a bunch of ostensible progressives and Leftists have been conditioned and propagandized into becoming Arab Supremacist Fascists, when the majority of them are not Arab. Many are, in fact, from groups and classes that would be marginalized or actively persecuted if the very Islamists they support gained power over them. At least White Supremacists make sense in a way--they're acting in their own perceived self-interest and self-promotion. But these people? The only thing that's in it for them is the sense of moral superiority and the ability to be as bigoted as they want to against Jews.

And the only thing that I can say to that is that really gives a sense of the seductiveness of bigotry.

[sailf1sh]

It's time...welcome to sailfish ranting about his Grandline University au. (Plus a lil wip teehee)

Thanku to @rougherduckling for helping me with the ideas 😌

GRANDLINE UNIVERSITY AND AQUARIUM

- Set somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico

- A university and aquarium with a heavy focus on marine preservation and study

RORONOA ZORO

- Early childhood education major

- Works at a youth center

- roommates with Sanji

- Likes kids, and wants to teach kendo and give kids good opportunities he didn't have growing up (perhaps relating to Kuina's death)

- Semi-adopted by Mihawk (runs the youth center or kendo place) and Perona (sister figure, Mihawk is her adoptive dad, and fashion/textile major)

- Doing it for the kids ™️

SANJI

- Culinary major

- Comes from California (Zeff owns the Baratie there)

- Very preppy (stark contrast to Zeff) and thinks he's hot shit

- Delayed Bi-panic over his roommate Zoro

- Very confused by Zoro and definitely hates him ™️

- French??? Idk he got really mad one time and started yelling french

- Claims to be from California, but is DEFINITELY French

- Witness protection????? His ass will not tell you anything

MONKEY D. LUFFY

- Undeclared

- Came to Grandline because Ace and Sabo went there (Ace is a dropout who started traveling the world, Sabo got his degree and became a politician/equal rights activist)

- No idea what he wants to be, but he's gonna have fun doing it!

- His village pitched in to send him to school (Garp could have done it, but tbh he forgot about this kid, Dragon supplies money behind the scenes)

- The one who dragged everybody together

- Shanks is his father figure (Shanks is a cool marine life rescuer that works with the Aquarium)

NAMI

- Meteorology major, Architecture/cartography minor

- Seen the bad side of poaching and hates it

- Came to Grandline because it has the best to offer in the way of Meteorology

- Meets Vivi in an English class

- Best friends with Zoro WLW and MLM solidarity

USSOP

- Photography major, journalism minor

- Childhood best friends with Kaya (medical art)

- Tired of Sanji's shit ™️

- Keeper of friend group secrets (release him)

- Someone takes pictures on campus sneakily and puts it in the university newspaper/newsletter and nobody knows who (Sogeking)

TONY TONY CHOPPER

- Med student

- Child prodigy ™️

- Got in on a really good scholarship

- Knows Law (surgeon), VERY intimidated by him

- Just a lil guy :3

- Friends with Kaya

NICO ROBIN

- Teacher of all, and works on archeology digs with the university

- Kind of just knows everything

- Outwardly innocent, FREAK on the inside

- Likes that slutty mechanic

- Her students think she's nice, but are low-key scared of her

FRANKY

- Mechanic, and Engineering teacher

- Biggest "be who you are, for your pride~" man on campus

- Will stop class to rant about it ^

- DOWN BAD for Robin

- His students think he's weird at first, then become his wingman (group chats will be made)

- Exclusively wears shorts (he would wear nothing but the university won't let him)

BROOK

- Just...a guy? Who is this guy actually

- Luffy's friend

- OLD. He changes his answer every time someone asks

- Kinda just shows up on campus and plays music

- People like him, but are very confused by him

- Only Luffy knows the truth

JIMBE

- Marine Biology teacher, and works at the aquarium

- Chill dude ™️

- The adult of the adults

- I'm sorry Jimbe I still don't know enough about you

VIVI

- Political science Major

- Works for equal rights and change within her country

- A Princess????

- Pretty woman..... - Nami probably

- Science classes with Nami

SHANKS

- Sends Luffy to bother Buggy

- 'ahaha...come get slushies with me and I'll call Luffy off.'

- Lost his arm to a shark saving Luffy

- Marine life rescuer

- Works with the aquarium

- Goes out with Mihawk on occasion, Buggy gets way too pissed about it

BUGGY

- Theater teacher

- Luffy fails his class and keeps retaking it

- Shanks' ex

- Students egg Luffy's dumb shit on

This au is very much the silly one of my aus, with a big Y2K/2000s vibe XD

We have a few silly plotlines (and angsty ones teehee) drafted up, but who knows perchance I will make a post on those too! I'll probably make a post about Hellfire au soon too (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)

Also the playlist for this au if you're interested 😏

🌊GRANDLINE UNIVERSITY🏝️

[astrolook]

The Astrology About Your Difficult Placements & Turning Them Into A Career Opportunity

Note: This post is based on my personal observations and patterns I've noticed over the years. It's important to understand that no single placement in a chart can determine whether someone is “good” or “bad,” a success or a failure, or even something as extreme as a criminal. Astrology is complex, and the entire birth chart must be considered as a whole. What we often label as "difficult" placements can actually become powerful sources of strength if we choose to approach them with awareness, effort, and a growth mindset. These placements aren’t curses, they’re invitations to evolve. This post is based on Vedic/Sidereal Astrology.

Astrology is a lot like Google Maps, it shows you possible routes to your destination, but it’s still up to you which path to take. It can guide, not dictate. That’s why I find it disheartening when some astrologers deliver overly negative interpretations that leave people feeling helpless or afraid and making serious life decisions based on it. Every placement holds multiple possibilities, some more challenging than others. With awareness and the right mindset, even the toughest placements can become powerful tools for growth.

These placements don’t doom you, they challenge you to rise.

Mars in 12th - Hidden enemies, betrayal from co-workers/colleagues, vehicle accidents, high blood pressure, imprisonment, compulsive behavior, hit man.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for martial artists, military careers, architectural /structural engineering, psychologist, working in intelligence or secret service, crime scene investigator, MMA fighter, monk, athletes, etc.

Moon in 8th - Volcanic emotions often buried. Might be emotionally manipulative in a subtle way. Intense and secretive and hide their emotions. Reads people with their x-ray vision.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for healers, astrologer, detective, investigator, researcher, astronomer, criminal profiler, hospice worker, witch, therapist, grief counselor, cult leader, etc.

Venus in 8th - Can get into surface-level relationships for "convenience". STDs, in some cases. Financial ruin from the partners. Betrays/cheats or the other way around.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for relationship counselor, sex therapist, even porn stars, financial advisor, lobbyist, artists, script writer, photographers, videographers, model, financial firm chairman, business owner, club/casino owner/worker, etc.

North Node in 1st - Prone to attract scandals, betrayals. Identity crisis. Chases validation, success or people only to feel empty. Project an image that's not real.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for social media influencer, streamer, entrepreneur, lawyer, public figure, vlogger, model, activist, etc.

Sun in 12th - Side character in their own life. Hypochondriacs. Felt underappreciated or not recognized for your self-worth. Isolate themselves when depression hits.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for foreign settlement or just moving far away from birth place where they get recognized for being an entrepreneur, startup founder, politician or govt jobs in a foreign country/state, behind-the- scenes work in the movie industry, freelancer, software engineer, etc.

Venus in 6th - Overindulgence in food/drinks. Ovarian cyst for women. Menstrual issues. Prone to get STDs. Betrayal from women. Having a crazy ex.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for service workers, emergency care, veterinarian, doctor, nurse, mental health worker, wellness coach, interior designer, HR, cosmetologist, gynaecologist, pet groomer, dog walker, plastic surgeon, Hairstylist, Makeup specialist, homemaker, hospitality worker, etc.

Mars in 6th - Workplace drama. Chronic illness. Rude to others or other way around. Betrayal from men. Might be a smoker.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for chefs, firefighters, military careers, surgeon, personal trainer, conflict resolution expert, racer, raw material manufacturer, athletes, Managerial positions in the hospitality/retail industry, architect, engineer, etc.

South node in 4th - Detachment from home life or unstable family situation. Foster care, in some cases. Odd one out of the family in some cases.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for a travel consultant/guide, social worker, game developer, life coach, realtor, real estate agent, antique items seller, costume designer, comic artist, comedian script writer, animator, VFX specialist, foster care worker, paediatrician, nutritionist, etc.

North node in 8th - Prone to get into trouble with law enforcement. Into drugs. In and out of jail in some cases. Stalker or the other way around. Pimp, in some cases.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for a criminal lawyer, police officer, forensic investigator, crime or thriller writer, crisis management expert, industrial worker, manufacturer, de-addiction center worker, activist, law enforcement, etc.

Saturn in 4th - Childhood trauma or abuse. Protein or vitamin deficiency, in some cases. Punished/emotional neglect by a parent, in some cases.

On the bright side, this is a good placement for an architect, realtor, nuclear power plant engineer/worker, zookeeper, homeless shelter worker, factory worker, volcanologist, meteorologist, nutritionist, bio tech careers, newsreader, magazine/article writer, TV show host, small business owner, carpenter, etc.

Wanna go deeper into the layers of your placements? DM me for a complete astrology reading or a 5 year/8 year marriage report or synastry reading🌙💬 and check out my pinned post for pricing + details 💫💸

Let’s decode your cosmic chaos together ⭐

Part 2 of this post will be about retrograde planets!

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Often when I post an AI-neutral or AI-positive take on an anti-AI post I get blocked, so I wanted to make my own post to share my thoughts on "Nightshade", the new adversarial data poisoning attack that the Glaze people have come out with.

I've read the paper and here are my takeaways:

Firstly, this is not necessarily or primarily a tool for artists to "coat" their images like Glaze; in fact, Nightshade works best when applied to sort of carefully selected "archetypal" images, ideally ones that were already generated using generative AI using a prompt for the generic concept to be attacked (which is what the authors did in their paper). Also, the image has to be explicitly paired with a specific text caption optimized to have the most impact, which would make it pretty annoying for individual artists to deploy.

While the intent of Nightshade is to have maximum impact with minimal data poisoning, in order to attack a large model there would have to be many thousands of samples in the training data. Obviously if you have a webpage that you created specifically to host a massive gallery poisoned images, that can be fairly easily blacklisted, so you'd have to have a lot of patience and resources in order to hide these enough so they proliferate into the training datasets of major models.

The main use case for this as suggested by the authors is to protect specific copyrights. The example they use is that of Disney specifically releasing a lot of poisoned images of Mickey Mouse to prevent people generating art of him. As a large company like Disney would be more likely to have the resources to seed Nightshade images at scale, this sounds like the most plausible large scale use case for me, even if web artists could crowdsource some sort of similar generic campaign.

Either way, the optimal use case of "large organization repeatedly using generative AI models to create images, then running through another resource heavy AI model to corrupt them, then hiding them on the open web, to protect specific concepts and copyrights" doesn't sound like the big win for freedom of expression that people are going to pretend it is. This is the case for a lot of discussion around AI and I wish people would stop flagwaving for corporate copyright protections, but whatever.

The panic about AI resource use in terms of power/water is mostly bunk (AI training is done once per large model, and in terms of industrial production processes, using a single airliner flight's worth of carbon output for an industrial model that can then be used indefinitely to do useful work seems like a small fry in comparison to all the other nonsense that humanity wastes power on). However, given that deploying this at scale would be a huge compute sink, it's ironic to see anti-AI activists for that is a talking point hyping this up so much.

In terms of actual attack effectiveness; like Glaze, this once again relies on analysis of the feature space of current public models such as Stable Diffusion. This means that effectiveness is reduced on other models with differing architectures and training sets. However, also like Glaze, it looks like the overall "world feature space" that generative models fit to is generalisable enough that this attack will work across models.

That means that if this does get deployed at scale, it could definitely fuck with a lot of current systems. That said, once again, it'd likely have a bigger effect on indie and open source generation projects than the massive corporate monoliths who are probably working to secure proprietary data sets, like I believe Adobe Firefly did. I don't like how these attacks concentrate the power up.

The generalisation of the attack doesn't mean that this can't be defended against, but it does mean that you'd likely need to invest in bespoke measures; e.g. specifically training a detector on a large dataset of Nightshade poison in order to filter them out, spending more time and labour curating your input dataset, or designing radically different architectures that don't produce a comparably similar virtual feature space. I.e. the effect of this being used at scale wouldn't eliminate "AI art", but it could potentially cause a headache for people all around and limit accessibility for hobbyists (although presumably curated datasets would trickle down eventually).

All in all a bit of a dick move that will make things harder for people in general, but I suppose that's the point, and what people who want to deploy this at scale are aiming for. I suppose with public data scraping that sort of thing is fair game I guess.

Additionally, since making my first reply I've had a look at their website:

Used responsibly, Nightshade can help deter model trainers who disregard copyrights, opt-out lists, and do-not-scrape/robots.txt directives. It does not rely on the kindness of model trainers, but instead associates a small incremental price on each piece of data scraped and trained without authorization. Nightshade's goal is not to break models, but to increase the cost of training on unlicensed data, such that licensing images from their creators becomes a viable alternative.

Once again we see that the intended impact of Nightshade is not to eliminate generative AI but to make it infeasible for models to be created and trained by without a corporate money-bag to pay licensing fees for guaranteed clean data. I generally feel that this focuses power upwards and is overall a bad move. If anything, this sort of model, where only large corporations can create and control AI tools, will do nothing to help counter the economic displacement without worker protection that is the real issue with AI systems deployment, but will exacerbate the problem of the benefits of those systems being more constrained to said large corporations.

Kinda sucks how that gets pushed through by lying to small artists about the importance of copyright law for their own small-scale works (ignoring the fact that processing derived metadata from web images is pretty damn clearly a fair use application).

[rabbitcruiser]

Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seized control of Alcatraz Island on November 20, 1969, until being ousted by the U.S. Government on June 11, 1971.  

[valkyries-things]

ALAA SALAH // ACTIVIST

“She is a Sudanese activist, who became known for a photograph of her standing on a car leading chants by a crowd of protestors went viral in April 2019 during the Sudanese Revolution. She was a 22 year old student of engineering and architecture at the time. Salah's white robe, a traditional Sudanese thoub, resembles the dress of female Sudanese protesters against previous dictatorships, as well as that of student protesters who were referred to as "Kandake" after ancient Nubian queens. Salah co-wrote the book The song of revolt - The Sudanese uprising told by its icon with Martin Roux, providing her personal account of the Sudanese revolution. As a member of MANSAM, one of the main Sudanese women's networks that signed the 1 January 2019 Forces of Freedom and Change declaration, Salah was later invited to give a speech at the 29 October 2019 meeting of the United Nations Security Council. In her speech, she insisting on equal representation of women in the Sudanese transitionary institutions.”

[thatdeshigirl]

i just know Annabeth is a HUGE environmental activist like:

Polluting the ocean? You're harrassing my boyfriend you're SO going to pay for this. Oh, you're cutting down forests? No way in hell are you putting Grover through that you capitalist imbecile. Acid rain? Damaging MY architecture projects? Oooh I'm going to send them to Tartarus and I'm going to fucking love it.

[danaens]

SEX AND GOTHAM CITY

EPISODE 2

SILK DRESSES, OLD SCARS… and casual sex

I stumble back from another disorienting Saturday night, the kind where you wake up genuinely grateful you did. The evening was a blur of too many Cosmos and one charming guy named Henry, whose skin smelled like Dior Sauvage and who gave off strong I want to sleep with you energy.

And that’s when I start to wonder: is casual sex still a right… or, in Gotham, has it become a calculated risk, with a survival rate?

In a city where turning the corner might get you killed, the bed of a stranger becomes either a grave… or a cradle of protection from the world outside.

And let’s be honest: here, danger doesn’t discriminate. You could fall into the arms of a sex-addicted maniac, or a nymphomaniac with a taste for bondage and taxidermy.

In doubt, I sacrifice myself, for research purposes, obviously, and end up tangled in the sheets with Mister Henry. Sheets that, fittingly, smell of odd fantasies.

He’s a political activist. Forty something. A fellow journalist who fills columns ranting about how Batman is a fascist and the enemy of democracy. God… maybe being tied up and sodomized would’ve been more fun.

Between one moan and the next… between his gasps of "Justice belongs to the people, not just one tyrant!"…I survive. Unfortunately.

⭒⋆🍸⭒⋆

Henry Fontana, 43, Journalist and Activist, Gotham Gazette: "I don’t do casual sex that often. I don’t just go with anyone. I like interesting women... the ones who can hold a conversation."

(Which doesn’t matter, because he does all the talking)

Cecilia Burleigh, 23, Architecture Student, AUG: "Casual sex scares me. I mean, it excites me too, the idea of sleeping with someone who only wants you for that, but also terrifies me. My friends have all ended up in… weird situations."

Lydia Child, 23, Architecture Student, AUG (Cecilia’s friend): "I had a friend-with-benefits thing. Then he fell in love with me, and that was the end of it. With strangers though? One guy once took me to his basement and said he had a kidnapping fetish. He was supposed to be the one kidnapped..."

Dr. Ralph Farnham, 36, Physician at Blackgate: "I have sex every day... sometimes I don’t even pay attention to the face."

Silver St. Cloud: "For me, casual sex is the only kind I have with men. That’s how they should be taken, on top, or when you’re bent over. If there are feelings involved, taking it from behind stops being pleasure and starts being pain."

⭒⋆🍸⭒⋆

As I write this all down, I feel a strange sense of contradiction bubbling up.

I’ve spent years working the streets, met more men than I care to count, and now that it's not work but pleasure, I’m… afraid?

Tonight, the Wayne Foundation is hosting one of those classic “charity” events, where the only charity is the open bar. For my friends and me, it’s Christmas in heels: silk gowns, bad botox, and unlimited Pinot Grigio. Silver is, of course, front and center, clipboard in hand, like the prom queen she never stopped being.

But this year’s invite includes a chilling clause: "Guests are requested to attend with a companion.”

Translated from Gothamesque: if you're single, stay home.

Apparently, Gotham’s elite isn’t ready for “single empowerment.”

Sunday morning. The only mass I attend religiously is brunch at Vesper’s. Her apartment is peak minimalist-chic: cream-colored walls, nude female art, and black fig candles that scream expensive.

Silver dives into the scrambled eggs. "They only write that for show" she says between sips of mimosa, in that voice that sounds like she knows everything and judges nothing. "You don’t have to bring a man."

"Well, I’m tired of the formality" I reply. "Why assume I need a plus-one just to walk through the door? This isn’t a gala, it’s a secret society initiation."

Barbara, naturally sarcastic, chimes in with a smirk: "It’s all a ploy. They’re scouting who’s got the genes for fashionable heirs."

I burst out laughing. So hard I spill coffee on my new blouse. Goodbye, vintage Armani-from-a-street-market.

"Bianca!" Vesper gasps, like I’ve just cursed in church. "I actually think it’s cute" she continues, dreamy-eyed. "Assuming everyone has a ‘someone’... it’s kind of romantic."

Silver looks at her like she just suggested reviving the corset. "Honey, half the women those men bring are escorts picked up between Crime Alley and Park Row." She glances at me."And no offense to the escorts. But there’s nothing romantic going on here."

"I met a lawyer the other day" Vesper says, all conspiratorial. "His name is Harvey."

Barbara raises an eyebrow. "Harvey Dent? He’s fifteen years older than you and has double the personalities."

"So what?" Vesper replies. "He invited me to the gala. He’s sweet."

"Again with the dynasty concept..." I mutter, dabbing coffee off my blouse, wondering if baking soda can fix regret.

The day I decide to write about casual sex, I realize that in Gotham, it’s not just a fear, it’s a taboo. At least for the upper crust, who still want you fake, married, and smiling.

⭒⋆🍸⭒⋆

For the gala, I choose a white satin dress and my trusty Afghan jacket. I feel like Penny Lane in a sea of fake James Bonds and bleached-blonde Vesper Lynds.

Cosmo number three. My girls are scattered across the social jungle, probably flirting with predators in tailored tuxedos. I look around. Silver’s right: the escorts are everywhere. And yes, I recognize a few. Gotham is a handkerchief, small, sparkly, and full of gunpowder.

"So drinking’s a vice now?" A voice behind me. Male, familiar..I turn around. It’s him, the guy I ran into the other day.

"I wasn’t drunk" I say, which isn’t a total lie. "I was... dazed. Nothing’s a vice if you do it with awareness."

He laughs. Dangerous smile. This time, in a black suit that looks guilty on purpose. "So you’re Bianca. The girl who writes about sex. Didn’t recognize you last time." He smirks. "Read your article. The one about vigilantes. It's funny."

"You think vigilantes are funny?"

"No. But you are."

"You should be complimenting my looks, not making me feel like a stand-up clown."

He laughs again. He has a cut on his lip, and that smile,it’s honest. Like it’s the first one in years. "Making someone laugh is a gift. Clowns don’t have it. They just piss me off."

I smile back. It’s somewhere between hard and soft. But only his eyes seem soft. The rest? It’s all armor. He doesn’t smell like Dior or Versace. He smells like tobacco and masculinity, heavy, gritty, real.

"I’m Jason, by the way. Jason Todd" he says, not warmly, but definitely with intent.

"And I’m Bianca Bradshaw. But you already knew that. You look out of place." (It’s the classic line we all say at these parties.)

"I’m family. But still out of place. You? You seem comfortable."

"Comfortable, but not family." I answer honestly. I’ve adapted here, but this world? It’s not like where i came from.

"What are you writing about now?" he asks, bold as ever.

"Casual sex. And how dangerous it is. You know, for a woman, the idea of wanting to sleep with someone but being terrified he’s a psycho..."

He sips his bourbon. "Gotham’s dangerous for everyone."

And there it is,the awkward pause. I’m probably being too shallow. I am charismatic, but I say stupid things. And for once, I don’t know why I’m second-guessing myself. Jason’s interesting. He could be another test subject for my article. But he’s not easy. Getting under his covers seems harder than getting in his head.

Another guy calls out to him, slightly shorter, friendlier, but with those same Gotham-tough eyes.

And just like that… Jason disappears.

⭒⋆🍸⭒⋆

Maybe unlike other women, I'm not afraid of casual sex, I'm afraid of feelings. Whether they are positive or not. I'm afraid of when I'm not the one putting the cards on the table, but there's someone else who mixes them.

So I ask myself

In Gotham is more dangerous casual sex or having feelings for someone?

I hope you like this episode, let me know <3 In the next ones I'll try to delve into the other girls too!! I really enjoy writing, I hope you also read.

[thehmn]

I’m currently listening to Maren Uthaug’s book 11% about a world where most men have died. I should probably wait until I’ve finished the book but I’m so fascinated by the world building.

As of now it’s still unclear why the men died but when the story takes place there’s a mix of older women who fucking hates men and young women who have only met drugged up men at “breeding centers” and imagine “males” as violent boogeymen but otherwise don’t really care and just want to live in the new seemingly perfect society their grandmothers fought for. The only people who still fight for men’s rights are witches who believe masculine energies are as natural and Of Nature as feminine energies, but even they sound more like animal rights activists, standing outside breeding centers with signs every Friday. Their most provocative sign is a picture of a man with Human written on it.

Christianity has been completely transformed and is now run by priests (they don’t call themselves priestess) who can only hold ceremonies when they have their periods and snakes are their most sacred symbol because they gave knowledge to Eva and God is called The Mother.

Trans men exist but are referred to as Man Women and they all seem to be sex workers who have functional silicone penises, though I’m not far enough into the story to know if they have other jobs. They generally also still have breasts because working as a wet nurse is another source of income for them. Testosterone treatments is not an option because it would make them too masculine and dangerous to be allowed into society but they all have male names and everyone use male pronouns for them.

A really fascinating aspect of the world is how people want to get rid of the old “patriarchal architecture” of straight lines and boxes but refuse to tear it down with machines, instead insisting on letting Mother Nature reclaim it. Only Rat Girls are actively trying to destroy the old buildings by releasing hoards of rats into them and planting bamboo to break up the concrete. New buildings have round shapes and are build in ways that make them blend in with cultivated nature and inside they’re painting in beautiful colors with no hard edges. They sound a lot like colorful hobbit homes. Also, locks are considered uncivilized and of a time when violent men roamed the earth and made life unsafe so nothing, from front doors to bathrooms, have locks. For a while after most men died women would go for Night Walks to relish in the fact that they no longer had to be afraid, though they liked to visit the witches at night because it felt a little spooky, which the witches thought was good fun.

The story is naturally about a middle aged witch who is hiding a young boy illegally and gets milk from one of the trans men in the red district while also sleeping with a Christian priest who struggles with her sacred job because her periods are irregular.

I’ll come back with follow up thoughts once I’ve finished it. Unlike what you might think, Maren Uthau isn’t a scary man hater. I’ve listened to most of her other books and this isn’t a recurring trope so clearly she has something to say specifically with this story and it’s rated pretty highly by both male and female readers. I think I’m in for quite the ride.