#and as such

[an-annyeoing-writer]

I've also regained my willingness to write but opening old drafts feels like opening ancient books that are written in Latin like wtf did I write this? When did I write this? What is this story about?

Guess I'll have to start new drafts so that I have something I can at least recognize XJCJCKDNSJDJJD

[msclaritea]

Hollywood performers are voting now on whether to ratify a new contract with major studios and streamers. It took a four-month strike to arrive at this deal which involves a lot of issues, including the use of artificial intelligence. NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports that some union members question whether the new contract will protect them.

MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: One episode of the Netflix series "Black Mirror" depicts a nightmare scenario some performers worry could happen to them in productions that use generative AI.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK MIRROR")

SALMA HAYEK: (As TV Joan) This show, it is using my life, my name, my career.

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As Character) You assigned them the right to exploit all of that.

HAYEK: (As TV Joan) When? How?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As Character) Terms and conditions.

BARCO: Actress Salma Hayek's character discovers her likeness was replicated without her permission.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "BLACK MIRROR")

HAYEK: (As TV Joan) What can you do to erase this image from every machine in the world?

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As Character) Nothing.

BARCO: Under the tentative deal SAG-AFTRA negotiated, actors, dancers, singers, stunt performers and voiceover actors must be able to consent to being digitally replicated.

DUNCAN CRABTREE-IRELAND: Clearly, it doesn't answer every potential question about artificial intelligence and nor could it, but I do think it provides a really robust level of protection.

BARCO: Duncan Crabtree-Ireland is national director of SAG-AFTRA and the union's chief negotiator.

CRABTREE-IRELAND: I understand the sentiments of people who feel that they would like AI not to exist, especially in an artistic endeavor, but the reality is simply trying to block technology from advancing never works.

BARCO: The tentative contract also requires that performers be compensated for their voices or likenesses, but some union members worry there aren't enough safeguards.

SHAAN SHARMA: We knowingly accepted an AI section that we know has loopholes.

BARCO: Actor Shaan Sharma, a regular on the series "The Chosen," was on the union's negotiating committee. He says he's not comfortable with the AI part of the deal. He says the tentative contract does not ban the studios from using synthetic performers instead of human actors, and it doesn't restrict the fakes from being shared or sold to third parties.

SHARMA: They do have to get your consent, but they could get you to agree for a buck to use it, and then that's it. Not everybody has the clout or the team or the wherewithal to be able to advocate for themselves to get what they're really worth.

BARCO: Actress, writer, filmmaker Justine Bateman is also worried. As a former SAG-AFTRA national committee member with a degree in computer science, she's been sounding the alarm for months.

JUSTINE BATEMAN: You'll see. Every single person will be scanned. It'll be like a wardrobe fitting, which is very unsettling that there would be some sort of copy of you floating around.

BARCO: She says it would be up to each performer to legally challenge any unauthorized use of their likeness for what she calls human-looking AI objects.

BATEMAN: The idea that there would be a nose that is yours in particular, and of the billions of people that are on the planet now and the billions and billions of people who have been on the planet and died and have been recorded in YouTube videos in addition to all these films and series, the burden of proving that that's your facial feature, that would be pretty hard.

BARCO: Bateman led an initiative to label films made without AI, and she cautions performers about the new contract.

BATEMAN: There are still going to be filmmakers like myself that are going to go all human all the time, so I recommend they go through it with your agent and your lawyer and understand what you're not protected over and then put those things in your individual contracts.

BARCO: SAG-AFTRA leaders say future contracts will propose even more protections as AI technology evolves. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF IKEBE SHAKEDOWN'S "DRAM")

Copyright © 2023 NPR.

SAG-AFTRA DID NOTHING TO PROTECT PEOPLE IN THE INDUSTRY FROM AI. ANY PERSON CAN BE THREATENED AND/OR BLACKMAILED FOR USE OF THEIR IMAGE. AND AS SUCH, ANY COMPANY USING AI WOULD AND SHOULD BE SUSPECT, BECAUSE SO MANY ARE AGAINST IT.

[alch3mic]

Are any of the papyruses available? Are they single and ready to mingle?

well my friend, i'm afraid all our wickedtale papy boys are currently caught up in various stages of a romantic relationship with a certain... robot..

[spending-life-pretending]

Remember when everyone joked supernatural had a gif for everything. Well I’m here to die on the hill that gilligan’s island could’ve fulfilled that exact same ecological internet niche

[melanodis]

i like her a normal amount

[williamshamspeare]

Good to know. The beau thing. Hm. I dont have much to say on the matter... hm... is there a certain kind of food prevelant in infernus? Id imagine growing things on stone is kinda hard - amii

Hmm... Food doesn't really grow on stone, no, so I imagine that the average Infernus died is mainly carnivorous! And they'd have some really weird livestock monsters... Ooh, I imagine there'd be a weird creature that sorta resembles a Doom pain elemental, that could make a steak that feels like filet mingon and tastes like perfectly crisp bacon

[finder-of-rings]

Okay y'all I'm curious. If you want to, reblog this and put what you wish for when it's 11:11 or you blow out birthday candles or anything of the sort in the tags.

[coffinbutch]

Halfway thru midnight mass and I am... deranged

[awritersbro]

I use the word "y'all" far too much as a Michigander raised by Michiganders in Spain.

However, I do have an excuse: My grandfather was from Alabama.

And as such, I will continue to use the word "y'all" as much as I please.

[minijenn]

Ah boy oh shit its Jen’s First Station of Awakening Oh god bless pray for me

[enbymurderhusbands]

I HAVE AIDS no, that’s too strong-

[trust-me-i-just-get-weirder]

I’m going to indulge in vitriol for a second: Why the fuck is there a 4chan bro giving asexuals and adhd people shit like they have some kind of high ground. You unironically reference “good boy points,” you’re just as cringe as the rest of us.

[firemedicdiaz]

What do you think Buck’s level of medical training is? (I don’t go here but I feel like I need to ask for your sake 😘)

Okay, so it’s never explicitly stated in the show what level of training Buck has.  

We know Hen’s a paramedic, we know Chim’s an EMT, we know Eddie’s an ex-army medic (likely a civilian paramedic, though that’s never explicitly stated either), and we know Bobby’s likely an EMT as well.

Now, you’ll have to excuse me for making a few educated guesses here because Canadian paramedicine and paramedicine in the US differ, and I’m sure some scopes of practice differ between each state, too.  

On the one hand, Buck is never really sent out on medical calls, nor is he asked to step into medical situations over much.  In 1x07 he and Bobby are on a solo tour as things heat up with full moon happenings, and he gets a little stressed when he thinks he may be stuck delivering a baby without backup.  That made me think that he was potentially an EMT-B or an EMT - knowledgeable enough to take a set of vitals, but not experienced enough to handle something as big as childbirth without someone better trained (or more experienced) to help out.

However, in 2x01 (I think), a situation arises where a patient requires a needle decompression of the chest for a tension pneumothorax (when there’s air in the chest cavity outside the lungs, causing the lungs to collapse).  Now, in Canada, only paramedics are allowed to perform needle decompressions.  EMTs are trained on it, sure, but only for the purpose of assisting.  I’m going to go ahead and assume that because of the inherent dangers involved in performing a needle decompression, EMTs in the States aren’t allowed to do it either.

In this situation, Bobby asks Buck to perform the decompression.  Buck jumps in, ready to help out, when Eddie steps in to take over, citing his past experience in performing the procedure on the battlefield and suggesting an alternate placement for the needle.  Buck argues, not keen on doing things differently from the way textbooks say to do them, but Eddie insists, and in the end gets to do the procedure.

Now, the level of understanding of a needle decompression that Buck has could easily be ascribed to an EMT, but the fact that Bobby, his captain and the one person above all others who should be following rules to the letter, tells him to do the procedure means that Buck must be certified at a level where he’s allowed to do it.  Bobby wouldn’t just toss an EMT with no experience in performing the procedure into a situation where he’d have to do it knowing that that would be A) ILLEGAL and B) dangerous AF for the patient.  If Buck didn’t have any experience and wasn’t certified to do it, he could nick an artery, damage the heart, damage a lung, hit a nerve bundle, or any number of other terrible things.  

Realistically speaking, one could argue that this is a drama and that TV sometimes does things for show (vis a vis Hen performing a thoracotomy in the back of an ambulance or Abby performing a steak-knife tracheotomy with no training), but aside from a small handful of truly out-there TV moments, 9-1-1 has done a pretty good job of following protocols.

Anyway, none of it means anything if I’m wrong and needle decompressions ARE in a lower tier scope of practice in California (an internet search revealed little in the way of competency definitions for various levels of paramedical practice in California), but I feel like my own knowledge and experience might be on my side.

Anyway, thank you for sending this ask and sitting through my TED talk. :)

[toppat-dad]

(S-so you mean that Wilf was planning on proposing but Randy died..? *tears up* also is it just me or does it seem strange that Reynaldo would choose someone like Randy to be his Right Hand? Can you explain why or will this be explained later through asks?) -Anon Spammer

(Yes, that’s what it means!) This will be explained later, through story (and later through asks if that doesn’t work. Randy isn’t exactly highest priority in terms of story at the moment, so anything about him will probably be neglected until he’s open for asks)

[ryangha]

[zhanghaos-hairclips]

So...