#but For Every Complex Problem There Is A Simple WRONG Solution

[hug-your-face]

Bulleting the key points in @beatrice-otter's most excellent ask reply to reach the TLDR crowd:

There are 4 choices America has in dealing with Israel. One of them is a Marvel-movie fantasy with dire consequences. Two of the others keep America's hands clean at the price of even worse outcomes. Biden is taking the most emotionally painful but best choice for Palestinians.

Biden isn't supporting Israel because he supports genocide; he's doing it so that he can continue to maintain diplomatic pressure on Israel to stop the violence.

Biden is maintaining the relationship with Israel to use that relationship to try and influence things to curb the violence and pave the way for a just peace settlement of some sort.

We've been hearing reports for months that Benjamin Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister, and a far-right-wing demagogue) hates Biden's guts, because Biden is pressuring him to stop the genocide and work towards peace.

If Biden stopped US support for Israel, it wouldn't force Israel to stop what it's doing ... but it would let them ignore us. It would remove any leverage or influence we might have.

Trump is good friends with Netanyahu and backs Israel to the hilt. Trump would use American influence to encourage further and more widespread Arab genocide.

Biden has also mentioned the possibility of a two state solution where Palestine becomes its own completely separate country. That's huge, because up until this point the US position has always been that Israel is the only possible legitimate nation in that territory.

And finally:

The lower voter turnout, the more likely a Republican win. Not voting is a decision that (a) supports the genocide Netanyahu is pushing right now because it supports Trump; and (b) shows the rest of the world "if you do awful things, Americans will be so horrified that they will check out rather than act. So go do more awful things."

Doomscrolling saps your will to act and pushes you toward the apathy that supports these horrors. Take care of yourself and others.

There are other ways to act in addition to voting. See all @gacorley 's notes on the original post. Then go do them.

This is this SHORT version of a longer post. If you can't be troubled to read through all of this one let alone the longer post, maybe pause and take a breath and do so before replying.

[foone]

why are printers so hated? it's simple:

computers are good at computering. they are not good at the real world.

the biggest problems in computers, the ones that have had to change the most over the time they've existed, are the parts that deal with the real world. The keyboard, the mouse, the screen. every computer needs these, but they involve interacting with the real world. that's a problem. that's why they get replaced so much.

now, printers: printers have some of the most complex real-world interaction. they need to deposit ink on paper in 2 dimensions, and that results in at least three ways it can go on right from the start. (this is why 3D printers are just 2D printers that can go wrong in another whole dimension)

scanners fall into many of the same problems printers have, but fewer people have scanners, and they're not as cost-optimized. But they are nearly as annoying.

This is also why you can make a printer better by cutting down on the number of moving elements: laser printers are better than inkjets, because they only need to move in one dimension, and their ink is a powder, not a liquid. and the best-behaved printers of all are thermal printers: no ink and the head doesn't move. That's why every receipt printer is a thermal printer, because they need that shit to work all the time so they can sell shit. And thermal is the most reliable way to do that.

But yeah, cost-optimization is also a big part of why printers are such finicky unreliable bastards: you don't want to pay much for them. Who is excited for all the printing they're gonna be doing? basically nobody. But people get forced to have a printer because they gotta print something, for school or work or the government or whatever. So they want the cheapest thing that'll work. They're not shopping on features and functionality and design, they want something that costs barely anything, and can fucking PRINT. anything else is an optional bonus.

And here's the thing: there's a fundamental limit of how much you can optimize an inkjet printer, and we got near to it in like the late 90s. Every printer since then has just been a tad smaller, a tad faster, and added some gimmicks like printing from WIFI or bluetooth instead of needing to plug in a cable.

And that's the worst place to be in, for a computer component. The "I don't care how fancy it is, just give me one that works" zone. This is why you can buy a keyboard for 20$ and a mouse for 10$ and they both work plenty fine for 90% of users. They're objectively shit compared to the ones in the 60-150$ range, but do they work? yep. So that's what people get.

Printers fell into that zone long, long ago, when people stopped getting excited about "desktop publishing". So with printers shoved into the "make them as cheap as possible" zone, they have gotten exponentially shittier. Can you cut costs by 5$ a printer by making them jam more often? good. make them only last a couple years to save a buck or two per unit? absolutely. Can you make the printer cost 10$ less and make that back on the proprietary ink cartridges? oh, they've been doing that since Billy Clinton was in office.

It's the same place floppy disks were in in about 2000. CD-burners were not yet cheap enough, USB flash drives didn't exist yet (but were coming), modems weren't fast enough yet to copy stuff over the internet, superfloppies hadn't taken over like some hoped, and memory cards were too expensive and not everyone had a drive for them. So we still needed floppy disks, but at the same time this was a technology that hadn't changed in nearly 20 years. So people were tired of paying out the nose for them... the only solution? cut corners. I have floppy disks from 1984 that read perfectly, but a shrinkwrapped box of disks from 1999 will have over half the disks failed. They cut corners on the material quality, the QA process, the cleaning cloth inside the disk, everything they could. And the disks were shit as a result.

So, printers are in that particular note of the death-spiral where they've reached the point of "no one likes or cares about this technology, but it's still required so it's gone to shit". That's why they are so annoying, so unreliable, so fucking crap.

So, here's the good news:

You can still buy a better printer, and it will work far better. Laser printers still exist, and LED printers work the same way but even cheaper. They're still more expensive than inkjets (especially if you need color), but if you have to print stuff, they're a godsend. Way more reliable.

This is not a stable equilibrium. Printers cannot limp along in this terrible state forever. You know why I brought up floppy disk there? (besides the fact I'm a giant floppy disk nerd) because floppy disks GOT REPLACED. Have you used one this decade? CD-Rs and USB drives and internet sharing came along and ate the lunch of floppy disks, so much so that it's been over a decade since any more have been made. The same will happen to (inkjet) printers, eventually. This kind of clearly-broken situation cannot hold. It'll push people to go paperless, for companies to build cheaper alternatives to take over from the inkjets, or someone will come up with a new, more reliable printer based on some new technology that's now cheap enough to use in printers. Yeah, it sucks right now, but it can't last.

So, in conclusion: Printers suck, but this is both an innate problem caused by them having to deal with so much fucking Real World, and a local minimum of reliability that we're currently stuck in. Eventually we'll get out of this valley on the graph and printers will bother people a lot less.

Random fun facts about printing of the past and their local minimums:

in the hot metal type era, not only would the whole printing process expose you to lead, the most common method of printing text was the linotype, which could go wrong in a very fun way: if the next for a line wasn't properly justified (filling out the whole row), it could "squirt", and lead would escape through gaps in the type matrix. This would result in molten lead squirting out of the machine, possibly onto the operator. Anecdotally, linotype operators would sometimes recognize each other on the street because of the telltale spots on their forearms where they had white splotches where no hair grew, because they got bad lead burns. This type of printing remained in use until the 80s.

Another fun type of now-retired printers are drum printers, a type of line printer. These work something like a typewriter or dot-matrix printer, except the elements extend across the entire width of the paper. So instead of printing a character at time by smacking it into the paper, the whole line got smacked nearly at once. The problem is that if the paper jammed and the printer continued to try to print, that line of the paper would be repeatedly struck at high speed, creating a lot of heat. This worry created the now-infamous Linux error: "lp0 on fire". This was displayed when the error signals from a parallel printer didn't make sense... and it was a real worry. A high speed printer could definitely set the paper on fire, though this was rare.

So... one thing to be grateful about current shitty inkjet printers: they are very unlikely to burn anything, especially you.

(because before they could do that they'd have to work, at least a little, first, and that's very unlikely)

[hug-your-face]

TLDR:

Usually, if something seems like an obviously super broken thing that no one is fixing, it actually is really hard to fix.

But it's still worth trying anyway.

Getting things done requires talking to and convincing people. Because we work in a democracy, that means that a critical mass of people have to agree to do things before they can get done.

That is also hard.

These points seem like total bullshit until one has the life experience that has accumulated around the time of one's 30s.

I think the single biggest lesson of my thirties has been "usually if something seems like an obviously super broken thing that no one is fixing, it actually is really hard to fix. but it's still worth trying anyway."

Seriously. Understand what's going on. Take stock of the actual barriers between you and your actual goals, not the automatic more measurable proxies for those goals we make up in our heads.

(For example, if our actual goal is "more children in loving households with at least two adults looking out for them and caring for them, fewer children living in homes where they are neglected or deprived," we sometimes talk about measuring "children in two-parent households."

But that's not the actual goal: it's the proxy we're using to approximate the actual goal in any given moment, because you can't directly measure real net child social support in the moment very effectively. We need to use proxy measures to help us find out how complex phenomena are linked, but it is crucial to remember that they are tools and not blueprints.)

And if something seems so simply broken and easy to fix "over there," consider that probably there is a snarl in the knot that you can't see, hiding part of the so-simple problem from view.

[rin-and-jade]

Welcome to the World! : A Starting Guide for Alters

This guide's purpose is to help either new formed/split, or those recently risen from dormancy, or the unregistered/unrecognized alters to get one step closer to functioning at the outside world!

It'll be one long rundown, click below to start right away, see you on the flip side.

From here on, what will be mentioned are things to assess some potential problems, questions, and self-discovery prompts. It is recommended to follow the flow of the guide, but if you necessarily need to skim to a certain section, this table of contents will help you:

table of contents

The beginning - Introduction

Things to look out for - potential problems to assess - Mobility - Gender & Species unalignment - World confusion

Starters - self discovery questions

How a system works - lite educative version

Closing - last notes + extra materials

The beginning

Nice to see you here, in the flip side! Now i know you have lots of questions on hand right now, and why you might be reading this as first thing's first; it's because i am here to help prepare yourself in many different aspects that cannot be learnt/figured out in such a short amount of time unless it is assisted with an experienced person.

If you haven't know what's going on up to this point, along with the kind of situation you're in, first off, you're a system.

Yes, thats right, system is a word for a collection of many parts within one body and you are also a part of it. This can mean you'll hear other kinds of accent inside head, and feeling + liking fully different things, as well as possessing different levels of certain skills and memory. More or less, this belongs to the qualities of a Complex Dissociative Disorder,, where there are types like DID, OSDD, Polyfragmented, etc.

This happens because of how dissociation can wall up barriers between other facets of yourself that stops some level of communication or complete it's integration when bad things happen in early years, leaving them mainly separated and self-autonomous; they're known as 'alters' but i personally love calling them as 'parts' or some might go with words like 'headmates' or 'facets' or even 'members'.

This isn't enough to explain the disorder itself, but i hope it suffices in explaining your situation! Feel free to check some extra system details if your gang has one, let's get to the next section.

Things to look out for

Just a quick warning and a reminder, if you are rather new or have not been actively out,, there is a high chance of having issues with limb coordination, control, and balancing. Other than that, the off-putting sensations you feel such as wrong type of species, height, gender, or even the world being foreign from how you perceive it can make things scary and overwhelming.

Fear not, as i also have the solutions for all these:

Handling poor mobility: First off, take a good moment to recognize your length of the arms, legs, learn the shape of your palm and fingers, and to every corners of your body. Start holding some simple objects like mugs or pens, remember how it feels to grab something with your fingers and gauge your grip strength, experimenting when you squeeze or loosen it. Then start interacting with the objects with both your hands, attempt to twirl it, or hold it in different positions and turns. You can also go for a test walk and sway all your joints to get a better picture of your movement range, practice makes perfect in easing your balance and momentum, it is normal to stub or be wobbly or clumsy at first, so take it easy okay?

To manage unalignment: It is hard to feel comfy if it is not the right height, especially for non-human aligned parts, so using props or any equipment or accessories can give you some sense of comfort (you can even walk on toes if you do need to feel a bit more tall, but don't over do this). Since fully eradicating this is impossible, doing anything in your power to lessen the discomfort is the best thing you can do,, there are also phantom limbs which basically means the extra body parts you identify with does not exist. This can be remedied by applying some gentle pressure to think that it is attached to your main body or use your imagination to satisfy that missing limb. for those not being aligned with the gender, if the body is feminine but you are masculine; try investing or search for a binder. If a binder is out of reach, wearing oversized, or baggy clothes, or hoodies will do the trick. And a boyish clothing style and short hair style if possible too. If its masculine in a feminine instead, using more girly oriented clothing style and do your nails, or any activities that affirms feminine aligned gender. I am very sure there are silicon chest pads but not in terms of where it is being sold at, so try to find them if it's available in your area. When neither and is androgynous instead, try searching for gender neutral clothes that are also neutral colored like grey/black/brown. There are many inspirations of this type of fashion so use the internet to gain inspirations on making your own androgyny look, you could even use make up to contour your shape of face. Now, for the ones who walk in hind-legs, get some platform heels/shoes/sandals/boots. You can find a flat one or the slanted one to match your needs. The idea is the slanted part of the shoe and the thick base gives an impression of canine/feline foot balance and for those who have hooves, respectively. (honestly, paw printed socks will do too, i hope) And to manage claws, or fangs, try using fake nail art of your color, or attach a fake vampire teeth guard, respectively. For symbolic means, you can even consume foods that are juicy and red, like meat cooked in medium,, or if you want the more vegan option: watermelons, or gummy that represents meat or grubs or just by being red to represent blood. Lastly, for the avians who have a pair of flaps--multiple wings, or in unusual spots (arm, face) can be eased by applying constant pressure points (any adhesive and items like tape, cotton, band aids, tissue, or plastic wrap) or a cloak/mantle/loose jacket or vest can give you that comfortable enshrouded sensation that comes with wings. Making flap sounds from cloth or any fabric will also give you a stable sense of input for having a 'functional' one, although phantom.

Getting used to the world Start learning how technology works--phone, laptop, kitchen tools, vehicle if any, and anything else that are often used. Make sure you practice enough to easily operate them, and learn how to use the internet and helpful plural apps or websites such as Lighthouse or start using Simply Plural. Try many foods to enhance culinary awareness, identify lots of other objects and the geography of your area to navigate and understand better. Touch many kinds of materials to train your sensory processes. You could also invest in watching shows and try a variety amount of activities to deepen your understanding of life. Explore different kinds of subject that you are particularly interested on, and lastly, never be afraid to do and try new things! This will guarantee you to seamlessly function with anything the world has to offer.

For starters - Self Discovery

Do you have a name?

do you what's your age?

What's your gender?

What are your pronouns?

Do you remember anything, and how much?

Do you seem to retain some past knowledge?

Can you describe what you look like? (Includes species)

Do you find the outside world familiar or foreign?

Can you state your bio name, family, or any important info?

Is it possible to describe yourself identity/vibe wise? (crucial part to tell apart fragments from splits and from holders that do not embody a personality)

What role could you fit as? (a host, protector, etc. Search for alter roles)

Do you like the outside world? Will you have a chance of being out more often? (to gauge how often one will front)

Have any likes and dislikes or preferences/hobbies?

For the bullet points you couldn't answer, take this as a sign to start searching! It will take some time, but you can ask help from anyone and even me when needed.

How a system works

A system works in communication (be it internal or external) and switches that also often have a specific trigger to call out someone else. Sometimes, though not a must, will have an innerworld that facilitates as a place for everyone to meet and interact.

These things are crucial for cooperation, because you'll definitely need that in order to navigate the world and adapt accordingly.

Communication

There are many kinds of communication styles, sometimes a mix of some or have all of the above,, whatever style you have, make sure to use it to the maximum. There are: via images, via abstract vibes, via emotions, or via direct (verbal) internal thoughts. Some do not have any internal communication, so external ones would be things such as keeping notes or write in a diary or any app for text editing.

Keep in mind that the clarity of communication fluctuates due to various factors, stress as one of them. So it is important to know that it will not work in a constant 100% at all times, use this awareness to strategize if, somehow, you have lost contact with the others.

Trigger & Switches

It is something that elicits a feeling that belongs to a part, which in return, can 'wake' or call one to co-con or front. There are negative and positive charged triggers, and i suggest you to explore what are your potential triggers.

The relationship with trigger and switches is, depending on how strong it is, can cause a switch to happen, where you will be swapped out by another one who got 'called' upon. This mechanism is for adapting to different kinds of situations, and these certain triggers are the key to ensuring the right part handle it's respective job as needed.

Switches can be very subtle, or slow, or obvious, or in a snap. This fully depends on how your system is made to handle problems on hand or when in stress, as sometimes it can cause rapid-switching, or the opposite, being stuck or locked in front. Sometimes, they also cause physical symptoms.

System terms - Basics

Fronting - the alter who has full control of the body, and performing tasks. Co-front - the alter, who have awareness between the outside and inside world, as well as able to control the body though not as complete as the fronter. Co-conscious - the alter who have awareness of the outside world, and spectates, and does not have any direct control of the body. Passive influence - when an alter's specific traits or likes/dislikes leaked to others and/or at front, that changes the initial reaction to be more blended with the other one. E.g. A like fries, B is there and likes spicy sauces. So now, A is craving to eat the fries with something spicy, even if A has no interest when it comes to spiciness or sauce.

For closing

Practice makes perfect, this is everything you need to know to hone your knowledge before finally stepping outside with complete freedom, where you can start anywhere you'd like, and to resume your collective's path to functionality and well-being. It's okay if things didn't go well at first try, and remember to reach out to people who you could trust as it'll help you progress faster!

I am aware that this guide still have a lot of room for improvement, so any requests or feedback will be added here for future viewers! This guide will be subjected to constant updates with even more sections being discussed on, or added touch of details. I will also add on my own posts here to serve as additional knowledge that is related to this topic:

Types of amnesia

Are you a Shard, Fragment, or Alter

Types of subsystems

Front-stuck, and how to deal with it

Physical switches

Comorbidity

Being blurry

Starters to system foundations

How comorbidity affects plurals (ADHD & Autism)

Dealing with the sense of faking

The person who needs to give their back a break, - j

[akamitrani]

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· SINGULARITY ·

DS9 Solok x Fem!Reader

Warnings: Slow burn (eventual smut, I promise), vulcan x human, vulcan superiority complex (?), angst, a lot of tension.

Summary: Assigned to assist Captain Solok on a research project meant to prove Vulcan superiority, a human officer disrupts his views.

Chapter 2: Unwanted Distraction

It had been three days since your first briefing with Captain Solok, and you had quickly learned that his reputation was well-earned. Every task he assigned was a test – a test not just of your skills, but of your ability to withstand his scrutiny. His eyes never left you, and each decision you made seemed to be met with his sharp, calculating gaze.

The T’Kumbra's lab was pristine, and the work you were doing together was delicate: Data collection, analysis, hypothesis testing. All simple enough, yet every task was laced with an unspoken challenge: Can you keep up?

It was the third day, the day you thought might break you. You stood at a console, working to optimize a set of simulations for the project. The numbers didn’t add up in the way they should have and it frustrated you. The last thing you wanted was to fail in front of Solok.

You furrowed your brow and adjusted the variables again, your mind working through the problem.

From across the room, Solok's voice cut through the silence – "Lieutenant, you are miscalculating the inputs. Your attempt is insufficient."

You resisted the urge to roll your eyes – "I'm working through it, Captain. I just need to adju—"

"No." His voice was firm, cutting – "The human method is inefficient. Your reliance on trial and error is an example of your species' inability to apply logic effectively." – He stepped closer, his sharp eyes flicking over the screen – "The calculations are simple. Yet, I am forced to watch you struggle as though you were a child with a toy."

You clenched your jaw, trying to remain calm. You could feel the sting of his words, but you weren’t going to let it show – "Perhaps the problem is that you're too focused on finding my mistakes instead of the solution itself" you shot back, keeping your tone steady.

Solok paused, his gaze locking with yours for a moment. There was a brief flicker... something in his expression, almost imperceptible but it was enough to make you question if you'd imagined it.

He stepped back, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Perhaps." – He was quiet for a long moment – "However, I have reconsidered your participation in this… exercise."

You frowned, uncertainty creeping in. "What do you mean, Captain?"

"You are clearly struggling with the task" he said, his tone cold but with an edge that was harder to read than usual – "And I am unwilling to waste time on inefficiency."

You felt your pulse quicken at the thought of being dismissed yet again. You had been working so hard to prove him wrong, to show him that humans were capable of more than he thought.

"You're dismissing me from the task?" you asked, unable to keep the surprise from your voice.

"I am" Solok affirmed, his voice as calm and unyielding as ever – "It is not logical for you to continue when you are unable to meet the standards I have set. You may return to your quarters."

You blinked, stunned for a moment. "Just like that? You’re giving up on me again?"

Solok looked at you for a long moment, as if evaluating your reaction. Then, for the first time since you had met him, his expression softened... just barely, but enough for you to notice – "I am not giving up on you, Lieutenant. I am simply saving you from further… embarrassment."

His words stung more than they should have, but you refused to let them show – "Thank you for your consideration, Captain."

You turned to leave, your thoughts in turmoil. You had expected this kind of treatment – Solok's superiority complex had been obvious from the start, but his dismissal stung in a way you hadn’t anticipated. As you walked away, though, something unexpected happened.

For a brief moment, you felt a shift in the air. The tension in the room had changed.

You weren’t sure what it meant. But one thing was certain: Captain Solok’s logic had just been disrupted, even if he didn’t yet realize it.

You weren’t the type to take defeat lightly.

Being dismissed felt like an insult and you weren’t about to let Captain Solok have the satisfaction of thinking he had proven anything. If he wanted you to leave quietly, he clearly didn’t know you well enough.

Instead of sulking in your quarters, you reviewed the research, going over every piece of data, every calculation he had thrown at you. If you couldn’t prove your worth by his standards, then you would find another way.

As you walked back the corridor, heading toward the research lab with every intention of forcing your way back into the assignment, a sharp, rhythmic flicker of light caught your attention. The overhead panel a few meters ahead was blinking erratically, casting strange shadows against the walls.

That wasn’t normal.

You moved closer, the subtle hum of failing electronics ringing in your ears. The panel was emitting an odd whine, the kind that suggested something was on the verge of overloading. You frowned, stepping in to examine it. If left unchecked, it could cause a power surge or worse, a fire.

You crouched down, popping the panel open – only to freeze.

The entire interface was in Vulcan.

You exhaled through your nose. Of course it is.

Most Starfleet systems had a common interface, but this was purely Vulcan design, meaning none of the usual Federation failsafes would be present. You could call an engineer, but by the time they arrived, the situation could escalate.

No. You can handle this.

You studied the controls carefully, searching for patterns. Vulcan language was dense, logical – if you focused, you could work through it.

Slowly, you began isolating the problem, tracing the power flow. The issue was in the secondary conduits: A misalignment in the stabilizers. You could reroute the system, but one wrong move and you’d likely trigger an emergency shutdown across half the deck.

But you didn’t hesitate.

You adjusted the settings, fingers moving quickly over the unfamiliar script, your brain working in overdrive to decipher the logic behind the system. It was a puzzle, one you refused to lose to.

You were so focused that you didn’t notice the silent figure watching you.

Solok had left the bridge, intending to retreat to his private quarters for meditation. The day had been… unusual, to say the least, and he required time to clear his mind.

Or so he thought.

As he walked through the corridors, he spotted you... not in your quarters, as he had ordered, but kneeling before a damaged control panel, your expression set in determined concentration.

At first, his immediate reaction was disapproval. You had ignored his dismissal. You were meddling in something that was clearly beyond your expertise.

And yet…

He stopped walking, hands clasped behind his back as he observed.

There was something about the way you worked – your brow furrowed in thought, your hands moving deftly despite the clear unfamiliarity of the Vulcan system. He had expected hesitation, struggle. But instead, you adapted. You learned.

Fascinating.

Most humans, when faced with such an obstacle, would seek assistance, relying on external guidance rather than attempting to solve the issue themselves. But you… you were deciphering it as you went, trusting your instincts and reasoning in a way that, much to his own disbelief, he found… impressive.

More than impressive.

It was logical to assume that humans were inferior in their reasoning capabilities. He had built his entire argument on that premise. And yet, as he watched you work, utterly immersed in the task, Solok felt something entirely illogical stir within him.

He stepped forward – “Lieutenant.”

You startled slightly, your head snapping up. For a moment, you looked almost guilty, as if caught in some act of defiance. But you quickly masked it, straightening.

“Captain.”

His eyes flickered to the panel – “You are aware that this system operates on a Vulcan interface?”

You gave him a dry look – “Really? I hadn’t noticed.”

Solok’s brow lifted slightly at your sarcasm, but he ignored it – “And yet you have chosen to proceed without guidance.”

You exhaled – “I didn’t exactly have time to call an engineer. It was either fix it or risk a power surge” You gestured toward the interface – “I think I’ve stabilized it.”

Solok moved closer, his sharp eyes scanning the screen. A moment passed. Then another.

“You are correct.”

There was no disdain in his tone. No arrogance. Just simple, factual acknowledgment.

You blinked – “Wait, seriously?”

He turned his gaze back to you, and for a fraction of a second – just a fraction – you swore his expression softened.

“Your ability to analyze an unfamiliar system is… unexpected.” His voice was lower now, quieter.

You raised an eyebrow – “Unexpected… but not bad?”

Solok hesitated. And that was when you realized – he didn’t want to say it. Whatever words were forming in his mind, whatever conclusion he had reached, he was actively resisting it.

Finally, he exhaled through his nose, straightening his posture – “It is… adequate.”

You smirked – “That sounds dangerously close to a compliment, Captain.”

He looked at you then, really looked at you, his expression unreadable. And for the first time since you had met him, there was something in his gaze that wasn’t condescension, wasn’t superiority.

It was intrigue.

Before you could process it, Solok reached to close the panel at the same time you did.

Your hands brushed.

It was brief, fleeting, but undeniable. And in that instant, something in his demeanor changed.

His hand snapped back as if burned, and for a fraction of a second – so quick you almost missed it – his breath hitched. His usually impassive face shifted, his lips parting slightly, his gaze flickering down to where your hands had touched before quickly returning to your face.

He looked… flustered.

You raised an eyebrow, watching the conflict play across his features. “Are yo-”

“This is irrelevant” he interrupted, voice a touch too sharp, as if forcing himself back into control.

You smirked – “Uh-huh. Sure.”

Solok straightened, regaining his composure with visible effort – “Return to your quarters, Lieutenant.”

You tilted your head, arms crossing – “Not dismissing me from the project this time?”

He hesitated again. Then, with a look you couldn’t quite decipher, he simply said – “Not yet.”

And with that, he turned, walking away.

You watched him go, the ghost of that fleeting touch still lingering on your skin.

Whatever just happened—it wasn’t over. Not by a long shot.

COMMENTS AND REPOSTS ARE APPRECIATED

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[sweettjrose]

Quick question for you cuz you seem to know very well the little guy

Do you think Mickey has any bad sides? Bad qualities/Habits

Ooh! I was hoping someone would ask this question. It was sitting in my mind for a while. I love sharing my thoughts on this little guy.

I do think it is important to remember that when it comes to characters like Mickey it can be challenging to ascribe specific traits to him since there are so many interpretations with differing personalities. Mickey in the black and white shorts is different from Mickey in the Gottfredson comics who is different from Mickey in the Paul Rudish shorts and etc. So some traits may fit better for some versions than others.

I don't know if I can say I am the Mickey expert. But I do think about him a lot and if I came up a list of what I think are bad habits or flaws that he has, based on how is generally portrayed and my own personal interpretation, I would say:

Stubborn - To start off, I feel like a common flaw for Mickey is his stubbornness. Once he sets his mind on a certain idea or situation, he has a hard time being convinced of anything else. It can be really difficult to change his mind, though not impossible. I don't think it comes from a place of seeing himself as better than anyone though, but rather from his desire to hold fast to what he believes in. And in some cases, it can have beneficial results. Such as when he is investigating some kind of mystery he tends to drop everything else, unable to change focus until he finally solves it. This usually gives him the push to solve problems most people give up on. But unfortunately, it tends to result in him ignoring the world around him which can be frustrating at times, especially for Minnie. Sometimes I think Mickey even uses these situations as an excuse to push aside things he doesn't want to do and focus on something he would much rather do.

Untamed Curiosity - I feel like this is actually an offshoot of his earlier personality. He was much more mischievous in his earlier appearances, but that was somewhat tamed over the years. However, I do think one element that has remained is this mouse's curiosity for the unknown. It seems like Mickey can't help himself but stick his nose into things he probably shouldn't. Whether it is listening to a conversation, checking a locked room, testing out a weird machine, or even following an odd feeling. I also feel like his stubbornness doesn't really help as it seems like once a curiosity is in his focus, he can't let it go. Mickey rarely likes to cause problems, but if his curiosity overtakes him, he usually ends up being a troublemaker. Sometimes this usually leads to him catching a crook. But other times it results in a big mess that he would have to clean up. I do think though that his mischievousness isn't entirely gone and does pop up every once in a while. Especially when trying to get out of things he finds boring or doesn't want to be in. And sometimes he just wants to be a prankster and have fun with his friends and family. Which is funny until things get out of hand.

Overthinks - Mickey is very intelligent and can come up with pretty clever plans when trying to solve problems. Unfortunately, this comes with the side effect of him overcomplicating even simple situations. This is usually why Goofy is such a vital friend for Mickey. Mickey tends to come up with complex solutions while Goofy tends to show the easier option Mickey tends to overlook. I think part of this does come from Mickey being afraid of being wrong and making mistakes, so he tries his best to be as thorough as he can be, which unfortunately can lead to more mistakes.

Lack of Self-Protection - One positive about Mickey is that he cares about others and would stand up to protect them. But unfortunately, this doesn't always extend to himself. He is not a doormat but tends to lean more "Turn the other Cheek" approach when he is the only one getting bullied (unless things go too far or if others get involved). To be fair, it is important to know when to pick your battles, but this tends to lead into other areas as I feel like he doesn't really share his problems and tends to keep personal issues to himself. I personally see him as the kind of guy you really have to pry to get him to talk about what he is feeling as he would much rather bottle it up to not cause any trouble. I also feel like he rarely is one to ask for help and tends to try and solve it all on his own, especially if he is worried that others may get hurt. The issue is, he doesn't seem to worry about whether he would get hurt.

Takes on Too Much - I also feel like this connects to another flaw as he tends to take on too much and constantly puts himself in risky situations. Whenever a life-threatening situation comes up that could help everyone but is extremely dangerous, he is usually the first in line to do it. It feels like Mickey doesn't even consider his own safety or limitations at all. Sometimes it feels like he is overconfident in his abilities and just believes that he will be okay, which works until it doesn't. It also doesn't help that Mickey has a hard time saying "No", so even if he didn't want to do something or knows he is not capable of doing it, he would probably still do it, not wanting to disappoint anyone. He rarely thinks of himself. And seldom considers what would be best for him. Usually, his friends are the ones to think about his safety and needs.

Need to be Perfect - Though I feel like part of the reason Mickey takes on so much is his need to be the hero. He feels like he has to be a perfect, selfless, and brave role model who does everything without a single complaint. I feel like he overexerts himself because he is afraid of what happens if he doesn't. He is afraid of not being needed or wanted. He is usually the underdog, a small mouse in a world with characters twice his size, and if he isn't constantly proving himself people will leave him behind. I also feel like he has a hard time admitting to mistakes (which connects to his stubbornness) because he feels like he can't make mistakes, or that would show that he isn't as capable as people think. I also think this explains why he has more of a heated rivalry with Mortimer. Mortimer somehow taps into his insecurities in the ways others don't. I feel like Mickey is kind of jealous of Mortimer because he tends to be taken seriously (at first) while Mickey usually needs to earn it. I also kind of wonder if he is worried that if he starts messing up, Minnie and the others will leave him for someone like Mortimer, so he feels like he can't mess up. Ever.

Lack of Self Worth - Unfortunately this means that he is very reliant on others for his self-worth. Luckily Mickey is really good at making friends. But he tends to rely on the existence of his friends for his worth. I can imagine that if for some reason they all stopped existing, I don't think he would even know what to do with himself. While he doesn't need everyone to like him. He does need at least one person to like him to help ground him or I can see him going into a deep depression. I feel like he would really struggle with being alone for too long unless there was some hope of being able to be with his loved ones soon.

But yeah these are the bad qualities that I feel like Mickey generally has. There are probably more, especially ones more specific to certain interpretations, but these are the ones I was able to come up with. As nice as Mickey is, he isn't perfect and his insecurities, overthinking, stubbornness, and curious nature tend to get him in trouble. But fortunately, he is also just as capable of getting out of trouble.

I would honestly love to see other people thoughts on this as well.

[krisrisk]

The question "why are you too comfortable to move" is actually addressing the issue backwards. Saying "one shouldn't be so comfortable that one doesn't want to leave the house/couch" is simply the wrong statement. The real question is "why is moving your body in your environment not comfortable", and the answer to that is both highly individual and probably complex.

For example: I currently don't like to go for long walks because all the long walks I can get to don't have a possibility to sit down and take a break.

Another example: My dog doesn't like to go a specific way during the summer because it's a long, straight street with no shade the whole length and he is a shortlegged, black dog, who therefor is much more exposed to heat (the street is hotter than the air above and black fur basically acts as a heat absorber). So the answer to "why do i not take my dog with me all the time during summer" is because he is very much uncomfortable (and it's a potential health risk). The question "why is my dog uncomfortable in this situation" not only provides a specific answer, it also most likely shows a solution. "My dog is uncomfortable because it's too got for him" almost automatically leads to "how can i make it less hot for him" which leads to "how can i cool him" which leads to "ah, i need to give him the opportunity and tools to stay cool" <– which is very much a first step towards a solution.

"Why am I, a fat person, not doing more sports?" is a fairly simple question but it has more than one factor to it. 1) i can't find clothes that are comfortable (read: not making me look like sausage) and in my size 2) i need to be able to stop whenever i am done physically, so being stuck in between fields when I'm gone for a run is not really an option (see earlier: no benches or even big stones to sit on). 3) exposition. People fatshame others, especially when they're in places they "don't fit the narrative" (e.g. gym, restaurant, sports class, tennis field, etc.). When i was in Florida, our hotel had this tiny gym room which i would use every noon when the kids took a nap. Why? Because i was alone and not exposed to other people's criticism. Today another factor can't be ignored: 4) physical factors; i can only do certain moves due to the overweight. It's also much harder to move my body, and i need to look out more to not hurt myself. I also have adhd - meaning i don't get as much rewarded for doing things.

So the answer to "why don't I make more sports" is actually, when you read between the lines, because it's hard and because i'm ashamed. There isn't, as i pointed out, a simple solution for every problem, this included. But finding one would start at "how can i avoid being embarrassed" and "how can i make it fun enough to be rewarding".

What problem can you think of, that is usually dismissed by "you're just too comfortable"? And what solutions can you think of using the above proccess?

[allurenamin-moved]

i've held this off for quite some time and now my two cents are beginning to rust. but i really hope that, some day, we can all be creative again. and by "be creative", i really just mean writing the things that we truly want to write. there's nothing wrong with a written work being slightly similar to another (when written with pure intention, of course), nor is there anything wrong with not being able to write like shakespeare, because if that were the case, this community would be in shambles.

but i've noticed a pretty dull repetitiveness in popular fics, and it has now become increasingly obvious that majority of the posts dominating the tags were created for the sole purpose of being in that position. and i'm not saying that i blame anyone for that. everyone wants to be popular, no matter how much we deny it. but upon the recurring complaints of how nobody wants to read/write fluff anymore or how too many smutty stories these days lack plot and sensuality, there is a very obvious need to rectify those problems. and my suggestion is for everyone to start being creative again, as in write the things that are in our hearts, regardless of whether it's popular or not. because when you are passionate and genuine about something, a trope, genre or style (again, popular or not), believe me. it shows.

and i'm getting really sick and tired of people saying not to worry about notes as the final solution, because we all know that it fucking sucks when something that you've taken the time and care to make and share (rhyme unintended) gets thrown into the rough. you feel like you've wasted your time, and it frustrates you knowing that there is no way in hell you're going to get it back.

there was once a time on tumblr where, regardless of your follower count, regardless of how simple or complex your work was, regardless of how popular the trope was, almost every single fic had an equal chance of being noticed by masses. and that was only made possible by all of us allowing our fics to be noticeably unique in their own way.

so let's do that, please. let's not have shame in being unique.

[delicatelystrangepolice]

Apparently, me saying that Wille ran away from his problems was extremely controversial on tumblr.  I observed the reaction off-handedly (because I’m not up to long intellectual debates at this point) but nothing I saw really changed my mind. Every argument in the end asks me to bite into the idea that every problem Wille had was caused because he was a member of the Royal Family and getting away from this was a way to finally be free.

Okay. I thought in this fandom we didn’t like simple solutions to complex problems but I was wrong apparently.

I only commented on the fact that Wille’s issues were not addressed and it’s only one of the conflicts we were never given a solution to.

This reasoning also asks me to believe that Young Royals is a masterpiece and Lisa Ambjörn is a national treasure, to be protected at all costs. Sorry for thinking otherwise.

In the end, I feel disappointed because I thought I was watching a love story and now I have to accept the fact I was watching a political statement all along and… I just don’t like that.

[ahb-writes]

Writing Problem: The Ending Is Completely Anti-Climactic

Problem: The Ending Is Completely Anti-Climactic

Solution: Endings can be dramatic. Endings can be a little ambiguous. Endings can be bittersweet. Endings can be simple surprises. Endings can be unique and unresolved. Endings can reverse motives, reverse perspectives, or reverse fortunes. Endings can be complex webs that tie up every single loose end. Whatever the author's preference, endings shouldn't read as if the last 10 pages were cut off.

But knowing how to end a story is not an isolated challenge. To end a story properly and effectively, the author must know how the story begins, how its characters evolve, and how these dynamics transform over the course of narrative's varying points of tension and conflict. Recall, how does the story begin and why? How, specifically, do the characters evolve? And what compels them to do so? Where and how do the story's internal and external conflicts converge? Endings follow a few essential rules: endings require context, endings must be plausible, and endings must connect to the narrative's key elements.

Writing Resources:

Figuring Out Where to End a Story (Writing Questions Answered)

Writing Great Beginnings and Endings (Writing Questions Answered)

Feeling Overwhelmed by Plot Points (Writing Questions Answered)

What Is the Dénouement of a Story? Your Guide (With Tips) (Jericho Writers)

How to End a Story Perfectly (Jericho Writers)

Story Climax Examples: Writing Gripping Build-Ups (Now Novel)

How to End a Novel: Writing Strong Story Endings (Now Novel)

Tension vs. Conflict (Hint: They Aren't the Same Thing) (September C. Fawkes)

Utilizing 3 Types of Death (September C. Fawkes)

10 Signs Your Plot is Weak (and How to Fix it) (September C. Fawkes)

❯ ❯ Adapted from the writing masterpost series: 19 Things That Are Wrong With Your Novel (and How to Fix Them)

[horse-girl-anthy]

could Anthy have walked out of Ohtori from episode one?

essay under the cut.

my basic answer to this question is no, but there's a lot of complexity behind that no.

when Utena first encounters Anthy, she immediately thinks there's something wrong with her and tries to talk her out of the whole "Rose Bride" business. while Utena makes several crucial mistakes during this early stage of their relationship, her instinct isn't necessarily wrong. if you met someone who said their inherent position in life was to be a slave to the will of others, wouldn't you have some concerns?

by episode 23, Utena has begun to understand Anthy better, to feel the magnitude of her plight.

such moments have long since led me to the conclusion that Anthy couldn't leave Ohtori until the final episode. however, that doesn't mean that I knew what "not being able to leave" truly implied. here's the thoughts I've come up with.

in life, we all have times when we know what we should do to improve our circumstances, but we find that we simply cannot do it. the barrier to "not being able to do something" is not physical, not easily explainable. I'll give an example from my life. I spent a couple years as an alcoholic. obviously, there was a very simple solution to this problem: stop drinking. but I just couldn't do it. my life was pretty bad at the time, but I've gotten through other bad times without guzzling alcohol. during the course of my addiction, it looked like I wasn't making any progress. then one day I just stopped. people say you're an alcoholic for life, but I don't believe that. I know I'm done; it's over.

I've started to take Anthy's character as, in part, a grand metaphor for being in such a position. a simple action, one that you're physically capable of, would solve everything. but you can't do it. until one day you can.

that's not the whole answer to the Anthy question, of course. the show has a system, a social landscape, which has to be taken into account. there's the swords of hate, there's Akio. Anthy is truly oppressed, and so, even though she eventually reveals that she's capable of walking out, to give such an explanation is facile. I gave an example of a situation where I knew what I needed to do to get my life together; for Anthy, it's more of a case where she cannot even believe that her life could change. either leaving Ohtori doesn't occur to her, or she thinks it's impossible.

taking a more thematic approach, Anthy is a representation of the suppression of women. she's in an impossible situation; she constantly denies her own agency; she has been so badly hurt that she is afraid to be herself in any capacity. so the question of "could Anthy just have left Ohtori from the start?" could be rephrased as "can women just shake off their socialization?" Utena, who attempts to do just that, can't escape from it in the end either.

but the reason RGU is such a beloved story is because it is about liberation from gendered socialization, as well as other mental prisons. with this in mind, I think Anthy not being able to leave at the start was necessary for the narrative. it can't be easy for her to leave, or there's no story, and it won't feel real.

the process of liberation isn't easy either, or necessarily explicable. the show centers on the dueling game, a system which treats Anthy as an object, which encourages conflict and possession. the characters always seem to fail at their objectives. they never resolve their complexes--they only spend them out. Utena wins and wins, and although she is loving, she is not prying Anthy out of her coffin. Ikuhara once described the final arc as being full of stories that are wrong. there doesn't appear to be any light at the end of the tunnel.

right when you think Utena and Anthy have achieved solidarity, that they both want the same thing, Anthy reveals another of her faces, stabbing Utena in the back and acquiescing to her fate yet again. it's only then, after every single option has been eliminated, that the revolution can occur. strangely, the power of the final episode comes from the "empty movement" of the previous 38. all along, it looked like no progress was being made. Miki and Kozue break apart almost as soon as they've reached an understanding. Touga challenges Utena to another duel, despite knowing that that's what Akio wants. Nanami won't let go of the spotlight she so craves. Juri can do nothing but surrender. and yet.. and yet.

a lot of fans view Ohtori as a bad place, an evil place. certainly, evil happens there. Akio is at the helm, an embodiment of the sick childishness of an adult who refuses to grow up. but I don't know if Ohtori is evil. it provides the setting for the process of liberation to occur. staying there is the problem. but perhaps for Anthy, and for the other characters, Ohtori served as the shell--a thing of protection--which allowed them to reach adulthood and emerge into the world. the dueling game was all a grand play which gave them an outlet for their issues, a testing ground to be left behind when they were ready. through failure, they found out that what they really wanted was something beyond their imagination. they struggled and fought with one another, only to find out that underneath at all, there was love, unlooked for, rising from shared alienation.

let's put it one more way: Anthy could not leave Ohtori from the start, because she was still a child, no matter how jaded she was. she hid her child-self away long ago and then forgot it was there. when that child woke up, she found that she had a friend who wanted to go out into the real world with her. that was all she needed to become an adult, and so, at last, she left Ohtori for good, a whole person. in the words of Ikuhara:

The prince chose to sleep on, and the princess chose to wake up. At the top of that tall tower, the princess bid farewell to the prince. No - she wasn’t the princess any longer. She quit being “a person (thing) ruled by someone.” The victory bells rang, but there was no “tower (rule)” beyond them now. She’d learned where freedom lay. She crossed the threshold of that “Door of Revolution” which had always been closed for her before, and began walking. The “girls’ revolution” lay in the girl’s future.

[azhdakha]

These last weeks have brought out a lot to evaluate for me, observing, listening and learning. Sometimes drowning in the pain and horror.

I realize that I cannot fully support and join the pro-palestinian leftist community because of their cold-heartedness in normalizing cruelty as decolonization. The videos I have seen won't let me say "this is normal and justified". Yet, I understand that no rebellion is bloodless. You cannot label every Palestinian who grew up seeing suffering and suffering himself and then picked up a weapon to stand up against this oppression asl terrorist. Still, I hold the principle that there is a difference between giving a full permit to any violence and trying to be as humane as possible. I think as revolutionary leftists we should always understand this.

I cannot say that I'm a zionist anymore. I thinj and genuinely want Jewish people around the world to have a safe home to live in without opression and discrimination with constantly hoping for the mercy of the landowners that are native and the majority of the place. But can a country be a safe home if it is built and exists on the non-stop blood, displacement and dehumanizing someone who happened to exist there before? Wouldn't such place be unsafe by default? I'm convinced that Jewish people deserve to have a home to call their own without constantly being involved in war and oppression, without someone constantly questioning their right to live there.

What's simple and what you always have to keep in mind - human suffering and death is not normal. Not excusable. Not justified. Bot collateral damage. Not revenge. Not retaliation. It's wrong. It's not allowed. Point blank.

But if we want to get to an actual solution, we shouldn't take into account all the factors and nuances, which requires complexity. We cannot ignore that a lot Jewish people came as refugees and aren't able to just "go back", that many of them were expulsed from Islamic countries. We cannot ignore that when it comes to the peace pacts, Palestinians we're promised to get a full control over the West Bank in 1995 by Oslo accords and by now it didn't happen. They still live in ghetto reservations and the majority of West Bank is under Israeli control while every day we see armed settlers or idf take away someone's house. We cannot ignore that terrorism doesn't come out of nowhere. Having a difficult childhood and a poor background doesn't save one from being accountable for a crime, but if you want to reduce crime rates in a society, you have to do something about the conditions people live in and don't be delusional that it's only their personal attitude that is a problem. Going back to the subject, we also cannot ignore that 7 millions of Jewish Israelis exist and we cannot just blatantly force them to go somewhere else. We have to take all into account. If want a free secular Palestine where all the citizens are equal, we have to think about how to transform the populations of two countries from their current state to the one we want.

As an anarchist I drive a conclusion: if your free Palestine requires killing and displacing Jews, fuck your free Palestine. If your safe Israel requires oppressing and genociding Palestinians, fuck your safe Israel. But don't get delusional and forget that it's Palestinians who have an x10 times bigger death toll, who are locked without food, water, shelter and medication, and its Israel that has disproportionately more power.

Support Palestinians. Show your authorities that their genocide will never be forgiven and forgotten. Show the society that there is never excuse to loose humanity. Support Israelis that are genuinely against the genocidal government, this is important to solve the issue(contact Israeli anarchists, socialists and leftists in general). Support Arabs and Jews in your place, don't let hate have an inch of it.

P. S. Please, follow @wearenotjustnumbers2 and read what they post.

[rpcburnbook]

we could have so many interesting and unique site ideas again if site culture shifted away from the site buzz with big boom of membership rushing to reserve the same pool of popular fcs —> 75% of site buzz people flaking away after shiny new toy syndrome wears off formula. if more sites started out with a solid member base, even a small one, who have been vetted by staff, who have proven that they want to write and engage with the plot and lore and are ready to do so, we’d see an end to this tired ‘fast fashion’ life cycle of the same site concepts in slightly different fonts over and over. // you realize there were plenty of site hoppers and 'fast fashion' sites back when people did this too, right?

just because you enjoy writing and genuinely are an active player does not mean you'll mesh with a group of new players, or that your characters have chemistry, or you can avoid cliques, or even that life doesn't throw an inconveniently timed curveball.

every time we have some blowhard come on here like "if only we did this then everything would be wonderful!" they need to think of the old adage, "for every complex problem, there's a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." it's particularly damning when it's something that has already been tried before, unsuccessfully.

~

[rotationalsymmetry]

I...read one of those "ok we're on the same side but that was one of the most horrifying things I've read in my life" things.

reality is complex. It's supposed to be complex. Sometimes it seems more complex than it has to be because you're missing something/something is being withheld. But "hey you should adopt this ideology because it makes everything seem so clear and simple" is REALLY BAD actually. Every conspiracy theory, every cult, every "all the world's problems boil down to (specific marginalized group", every "oh vaccines cause autism" bs thing, those spread because people find them simpler and more compelling than reality.

let's take the last one. Real autism is complicated and especially deciding it's better to accept that some people are autistic and nothing can or should be done about it -- some people are high support needs autistic and nothing can or should be done about it beyond giving them support -- isn't crisp and clean and doesn't feel good, especially if you're the person who's going to end up giving most of that support and will have to figure out how they're going to keep getting support after you're dead. "This could never happen to anyone again as long as we get rid of vaccines" feels good. It's simple, it's clear, it's easy to understand, and it (feels like a) righteous cause.

every problem has a solution that is simple, easy, and wrong.

And I'm not arguing directly back and idk maybe I'm going off this on entirely the wrong direction, I mean, there are some things that do in fact make way more sense under a leftist analysis than a mainstream to liberal one because mainstream society has Things You Don't Talk About, like colonialism, that intrinsically make some things not make sense.

but.

simpler, easier to understand, "it all makes sense now" should be seen as warning signs, not selling points. Fascism is simple and easy to understand. Radical feminism is simple and easy to understand. Simple and easy to understand isn't good. Not when it comes to understanding how the world works.

[josephkdavis]

Tried Every Major AI Model for Frontend Coding Only One Truly Delivered.

Let’s face it. As web developers, we’re all chasing the dream of faster, smarter, and more efficient coding. After all, the clock’s ticking, and there’s always more to build. Enter AI. You’ve probably heard all the buzz—AI tools that promise to help us write code faster, debug smarter, and even suggest better practices.

So, I did what any curious developer would do: I tested every major AI model for frontend coding. The verdict? Only one truly delivered. Spoiler alert: it wasn’t the one you might expect.

Let’s break it down.

The AI Hustle: The Tools I Tested GitHub Copilot – The AI-powered sidekick that lives inside Visual Studio Code, claiming to write code for you based on context.

ChatGPT – The famous conversational AI that answers all your questions and generates code snippets on demand.

Tabnine – The autocomplete tool that promises to help you code faster by suggesting relevant code as you type.

Kite – More of a Python fan favorite, but I thought I’d give it a shot for frontend tasks.

IntelliCode (Visual Studio) – Microsoft’s answer to AI code suggestions, integrated right into Visual Studio.

GitHub Copilot: Feels Like Magic—Until It’s Not At first, GitHub Copilot felt like something straight out of a developer’s dreams. You start typing, and bam—there it is: a perfectly crafted function, just like you wanted. For straightforward tasks like creating forms, loops, or boilerplate code? Copilot is on fire.

But… here’s the kicker:

The Caveat: When things got more complex—like building dynamic React components, handling state, or trying to integrate with APIs—Copilot just couldn’t keep up. It would suggest solutions that didn’t align with my project’s unique needs.

Code Quality: While the code worked, I often found myself rewriting it. It wasn’t exactly best practice material.

Don’t get me wrong—if you're cranking out basic pages or static HTML, Copilot is your friend. But for anything more nuanced? Not so much.

ChatGPT: Close, But Missing the Magic Touch I was honestly pretty pumped to try ChatGPT for frontend coding. It could explain things, generate code snippets, and even walk me through complex concepts. Plus, it was fast. But… as much as I loved it for learning and brainstorming, there were some glaring problems:

The “Old-School” Problem: Sometimes, ChatGPT would suggest outdated methods or libraries that were no longer considered best practice. So while it was fast, it wasn’t always on the cutting edge.

Context? What’s That?: ChatGPT is fantastic at answering questions, but it’s like that friend who has one really good idea and sticks to it. If you’re trying to build something specific, like a responsive navbar with flexbox and media queries, it often needed a bit of extra clarification from me.

Here’s the thing: ChatGPT can absolutely help with quick fixes or answering questions about web development. But when I needed it to generate more complex, customized code? It wasn’t perfect.

Tabnine: Fast, But Feels Like Auto-Pilot Tabnine was the next tool I dove into. It’s designed to speed up your workflow by predicting what you want to write and giving you the perfect code snippet. When it worked, it was like a breath of fresh air.

The Speed Factor: For simple functions or repetitive CSS rules, Tabnine sped up my workflow dramatically.

The Problem: But the minute I started getting into custom JavaScript components or more involved frontend logic, Tabnine became… well, a bit too generic. It felt like I was getting the same suggestions over and over. The more unique or specific the task, the more irrelevant the suggestions became.

So yeah, Tabnine is great when you’re doing basic stuff. But when you need it to adapt to your project’s unique context? Not so much.

Kite: More Python, Less Frontend Now, Kite is a popular AI assistant for Python developers. But hey, why not try it for frontend, right?

Turns out, that was a bad idea.

Wrong Fit for the Job: Kite’s suggestions were often off-track when it came to JavaScript, React, or even CSS. It’s not that it was a bad tool; it’s just not built for the frontend world.

Learning Curve: The lack of deep web development intelligence meant that Kite often gave me Python-flavored suggestions that weren’t very helpful.

If you're coding in Python, Kite’s your jam. But for frontend tasks? It felt like I was trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

IntelliCode (Visual Studio): A Little Too C#-Centric IntelliCode is another tool that’s integrated into Visual Studio. It’s solid—if you’re a C# developer. But I was working with JavaScript and React. Here’s how it went down:

Solid, But Static: IntelliCode tried to help, but it mostly focused on C# coding patterns. When it did suggest something for JavaScript, it felt like it was trying to adapt to a framework it didn’t really understand.

Not Frontend-Friendly: The AI behind IntelliCode just didn’t seem to “get” the way frontend development works, especially with React or complex HTML/CSS layouts.

If you’re in the Microsoft ecosystem, IntelliCode will help, but it won’t make you a frontend wizard.

And the Winner Is… ChatGPT (With a Twist) Here’s the plot twist: ChatGPT came out on top.

But before you roll your eyes, let me explain.

Here’s Why ChatGPT Works:

It’s Flexible: ChatGPT adapts to your needs. Whether I needed help with React state management, CSS animations, or even troubleshooting a weird bug, ChatGPT could jump in and help.

It Explains, Don’t Just Autocomplete: The real beauty of ChatGPT is that it doesn’t just give you code—it explains it. I could ask it to explain the difference between useEffect and useLayoutEffect, and it would break it down for me.

Context-Aware: While it still has room to improve, ChatGPT is surprisingly good at understanding your project’s flow, especially if you’re clear about what you need.

Pro Tip: Don’t rely on ChatGPT to write your code from start to finish. Treat it like a coding assistant—ask for help when you’re stuck or need a quick answer, then tweak the code to make it your own.

Final Thoughts: AI Isn’t Here to Replace Developers (Yet) It’s clear that AI tools aren’t perfect—yet. GitHub Copilot speeds up basic coding, Tabnine is great for fast suggestions, and IntelliCode can help if you’re in the Microsoft world. But for frontend development, ChatGPT emerged as the true game-changer.

The secret? ChatGPT is not just a code generator—it’s a powerful assistant that can teach you, help you troubleshoot, and give you contextual advice. It can’t replace your creativity or problem-solving skills, but it can certainly amplify them.

So, what’s the takeaway here? If you’re serious about AI tools for frontend development, ChatGPT is your best bet. Embrace it, and let it be the sidekick you always wished for.

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Speak Clearly with Artificial English: How It Works

In India, millions of people want to speak English confidently. But traditional English is hard. It has silent letters, confusing spellings, and words that sound different from how they are written. That’s where Artificial English comes in.

Artificial English is a new way to learn and speak English. It uses simple rules, no silent letters, and phonetic spelling (spell like you speak). In this blog, we will explain what Artificial English is, how it works, and why it helps you speak clearly.

What Is Artificial English?

Artificial English is a simplified version of English. It removes all the confusing parts, like

Silent letters (like the 'k' in knife)

Different spellings for the same sounds (like “photo” and “ferry”)

Hard-to-read words (like “colonel,” which sounds like “kernel”)

Instead, Artificial English uses phonetic spelling, where each word is written as it sounds. For example: Traditional English Artificial English EnoughEnufKnowNoReceive ReceivePsychology Saykolaji

This way, even beginners can read, write, and speak English with confidence.

Why Is English So Confusing?

English is a mix of many languages like Latin, French, and German. That’s why:

One sound can have many spellings (e.g., f in phone or fun)

One spelling can sound different (e.g., ough in though, through, rough)

Words may have silent letters (e.g., debt, island, wrist)

For Indian learners, this makes English very difficult. You may know the word but still pronounce it wrongly.

Artificial English solves this problem by making spelling and pronunciation match.

How Artificial English Helps You Speak Clearly

1. Simple Spellings

In Artificial English, every letter has one sound. You don’t have to guess. You read it the way you see it.

Example:

Traditional: Doubt

Artificial English: Daut

You don’t waste time learning exceptions.

2. Easy Pronunciation

Artificial English uses phonetic writing. If you can read Hindi or any Indian language, this system will feel familiar. You speak what you see—just like Hindi varna-mala.

Example:

Traditional: Choir (pronounced “koyer”)

Artificial English: Koyer

3. Perfect for Beginners

If you are just starting to learn English, Artificial English gives you confidence. You can begin speaking from day one without fear of mistakes.

No need to remember silent letters

No need to memorize complex spelling rules

No fear of wrong pronunciation

4. Great for Daily Use

Artificial English is perfect for:

Daily conversation

WhatsApp and SMS texting

Notes and reminders

Voice typing and speech apps

It’s like learning "Easy English" for real life.

Who Can Use Artificial English?

Artificial English is for everyone:

Students who are starting English classes

Working professionals who want to improve their spoken English

Parents who want to teach English at home

Seniors who find English hard to read or pronounce

Even advanced learners can use Artificial English to speak more clearly and confidently.

Is Artificial English Real English?

Yes, it is based on real English. But it is simplified for learners. It is a stepping stone to fluent English. Once you are confident, you can easily move to traditional English.

Think of it like training wheels on a bicycle. It helps you balance before you ride freely.

Start Speaking Clearly Today

If English feels confusing, don’t worry. Artificial English is here to help. It is simple, clear, and easy to use. You don’t need to be an expert. You only need the right tool to begin.

So start today. Try speaking and writing in Artificial English. You'll feel more confident and sound more clear.

Final Words

English doesn’t have to be hard. With Artificial English, anyone can speak clearly, write easily, and learn faster. This system removes the confusion and brings confidence. Whether you are a student, a teacher, or just someone who wants to speak better, Artificial English is your smart solution.