#data points

[onlinemarketingcash4ublogspotcom]

The Art of Multitasking: Harnessing the Power of Critical Thinking in the Age of AI

ABOUT THE EPISODE: Gary Vaynerchuk explains!

In today's fast-paced world, the ability to juggle multiple tasks and synthesize diverse data points is more crucial than ever. This episode delves into the art of multitasking and critical thinking, exploring how these skills set individuals apart in an era where artificial intelligence is rapidly advancing.

Our discussion highlights the importance of looking beyond the singular focus, encouraging listeners to embrace a broader perspective by considering multiple factors simultaneously. This approach not only enhances decision-making but also uncovers opportunities that might otherwise remain hidden.

We also touch upon the contemporary emphasis on work-life balance and mental health, celebrating the positive shift towards a more thoughtful and balanced approach to work and personal well-being. Despite the passion for the grind, it's essential to recognize the value of maintaining this equilibrium.

[longlistshort]

Terry Winters' paintings for Point Cloud Pictures at Matthew Marks Gallery reference data collection methods and patterns from the natural world. The colorful and energetic works leave it up to the viewer to make their own associations.

From the gallery’s press release-

Winters’s work centers on abstraction as a catalyst for exploring the natural world. In his paintings, composition and color give new meaning to a wide range of technical references, which include advanced mathematical principles, musical notation, botany, and chemistry. In the artist’s own words: “I’m taking preexisting imagery and respecifying it through the painting process. Information is torqued with the objective of opening a fictive space or lyrical dimension.”

The title of the exhibition refers to the seven Point Cloud paintings on view, in which overlapping grids of ringed particles create complex, amorphous shapes. Borrowed from the field of three-dimensional modeling, a point cloud refers to a set of data points in space, often used to articulate objects or landscapes in digital models. “The forms can also suggest the collective behavior of animals, such as the murmuration of starlings and the schooling of fish,” Winters says. His paintings build an illusionistic sense of ever-expanding depth, as the varying size, shape, and angle of his painted data points lend a dynamism to his canvases. With the utmost attention to pigment, the paintings are built up in layers of oil, wax, and resin, further eliciting the energetic potential of their compositions.

Created through a parallel process, each painting on paper fills a large sheet from edge to edge. To make these works, Winters chose a paper size called a double elephant, which was first developed in 1826 to accommodate J.J. Audubon’s life-size depictions of birds. As Winters has described, “I’m interested in these givens, working within the parameters of that aspect ratio, and how that affects the building of the work.” Together, the works create a space that is both immediate and imaginary, what Winters has called a “vitalized geometry.”

This exhibition closes 6/29/24.

[reasonablydrawn]

Page 5

[atompowers]

🌞 3 Data Points Beaming Towards Positive Climate Progress: Sunny Climate News

[beemovieerotica]

there needs to be a study about people who participate in research studies repeatedly like this is my 6th medical/scientific trial and honestly at this point let's call it an addiction

[bixels]

As cameras becomes more normalized (Sarah Bernhardt encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use cameras because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by manufacturing companies. I paint not because I want a painting but because I love the process of painting. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

if i have to explain to you that using a camera to take a picture is not the same as using generative ai to generate an image then you are a fucking moron.

[chongoblog]

Your AI environmental articles talked almost exclusively about data centers which is also how the rest of the entire internet works. Do you want to get rid of that too?

Incredible that you managed to read through all of those articles in such a short time. It would be a shame if you missed something like this:

There are plenty of other reasons to be opposed to this AI stuff other than environmental factors, too, btw.

[petit-papillion]

Some great insights from Zach Brown (not to be confused with McLaren's Zac Brown) on the importance of tyre management and the strategy Ferrari had planned for the first stint at the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix...

[sundayinthcpark]

i keep seeing ppl complain about going from being fans of TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT and trying to watch TOS and how much a struggle that is for them without a connecting plot but can i bring up the opposite end. i started with TOS and i’m trying to watch TNG and girl they don’t do anything. i’m expecting a new monster of the week show but noooo instead we stay on the ship, use the holodecks like once a season, we’ve had exactly one funeral in three seasons, and aside from Q i’m not sure we’ve met a new species. i think i’ve seen phasers used once. what the fuck is this show.

[theophagie]

I gave him a crown :)

[bumblingbabooshka]

Tuvok is not as autistic coded in-narrative compared to what I've seen of Spock or T'Pol where they're othered heavily by those around them and have themes and arcs about struggling/striving to fit in BUT I do think he provides the vital autistic representation of not really angsting about your differences from other people because you're too busy and unaware and then even when you ARE made aware you mostly just think 'glad that's not me'. I think it's vital to have that sort of totally unbothered rep. I love that Tuvok is completely satisfied and proud of being Vulcan, doesn't long to experience emotion or struggle with a desire to express himself in a way his crewmates will understand, to be closer to them. I love that he has a long time and close friend that respects who he is and doesn't try to change him and that how close they are isn't framed as being in spite of his Vulcan nature. I love that being Vulcan isn't framed as a hindrance to him, like a roadblock to living a full and rich life. He has a wife and four kids and is a devoted husband and father. He's getting into gay horror scenarios. Tuvok was born on autism planet and he's thriving.

[descendant-of-truth]

So I beat Re:Coded for the first time the other day after previously knowing its story from the movie and novel versions, so you know what that means. It's time for more Data Sora Thoughts(TM)

Plenty has been said about how he serves as an interesting comparison to the original Sora, which makes sense as that's kind of the point of him existing. You're supposed to take notice of how he's different, despite all their similarities. He's kind of an idealized version of Sora, which makes sense as he's the Sora that Jiminy wrote. Jiminy doesn't know the depths of Sora's insecurities or his flaws, so Data Sora is almost unnaturally good-willed and pleasant.

But what stood out to me while playing it for myself is how much the game is just... not supposed to be about him, and how much it still is despite that.

Nothing exemplifies this more clearly than his journey through Castle Oblivion. The whole reason he's even there is to be tested, to see if "Sora" is ready to take ownership of all the pain that's inside him. But they're not testing Data Sora, the person, they're testing what they think is just a representation of the original Sora.

So, when Data Sora resolves himself to face the pain head-on and not run away from it, even learning that it can help him connect to people, no one thinks this is unique to him. They just go, "great! that means Sora's ready, too!" with absolutely zero awareness of the fact that they can't really treat him like this now that he has his own heart.

Which, is kind of insane?? Data Sora is provided a consistent level of support and guidance that even the original Sora didn't get, he develops a heart of his own because of how effectively he was nurtured by his friends, and yet. None of them have ever seen him as HIS OWN person. Even Data Riku, who introduces himself as "zeroes and ones that look like somebody you know," is incapable of separating himself and Sora from their originals.

Data Sora is surrounded by people affirming his personhood while in the same breath denying his individuality. It's an interesting position to be in, to say the least.

That said, the characters may think the test is all about the original Sora, but narratively? It's absolutely about Data Sora, too.

You know how he was surprisingly at peace with the fact that the journal resetting meant that he'd lose his memories? He seemed pretty content with the knowledge that his friends would be able to remember their journey for him, even if he got a little choked up about saying goodbye. It's easy to think, while seeing it for the first time, that because he's already accepted everything with a smile, that his character arc is over by then.

Yeah, Data Roxas comes into the story swinging with "hey, idiot, you have no idea how much forgetting your friends is going to hurt you in the long run. Why don't you do that a couple more times and then maybe you'll get the idea"

Because it's true, I really don't think Data Sora was prepared for the pain of amnesia in the slightest. He has this habit of going along with whatever anyone says without much thought, so when Data Riku told him that everything had to be reset, I think he was just kinda like. well darn. guess I can't do anything about that

(This is the same guy that went "I'm good with that" when he considered that doing what Mickey says will just blast him off into the unknown repeatedly, so it checks out)

I love that the game refuses to end where you'd expect it to, and instead forces Data Sora to reckon with the pain of what was just unfairly taken from him. It treats him with just as much respect as it does with every other character in the series, and gives his feelings the weight they deserve.

Of course, the way the test is set up is... kind of cruel. It bludgeons him over the head with the pain he just went through repeatedly until he figures out exactly how it works and what he's going to do about it. And it's like this because it wasn't set up with a real person in mind; Data Sora's supposed to be acting like a first draft for something the original Sora's going to do later.

But he can't. Because they're different people.

So when you get down to it, he arguably doesn't really fulfill his purpose? He gets everyone the answers they need, sure, but he proves absolutely nothing about Sora. And not just because he became his own person, but because the premise of the test was flawed from the start. Jiminy's perception of Sora is meaningless in the face of the real thing, so it was never going to have accurate results no matter what they did.

It's a story that's undeniably relevant to both Soras, but I still hope we'll get to see Data Sora again so we can finally address how everyone in-game expects them to be like each other. It's a mindset that affects both of them in different ways; Sora has this impossible ideal to live up to, and Data Sora - despite being that ideal - is forever just "another version" of someone else.

And they haven't even met each other. When is that going to happen

[patchesjam]

Dtblr Census: The Results 

 

Hello all and welcome back to the DTBLR census of 2024/25. Happy Late New Year all! There are 5 parts to these results: Read as much or as little as you wish and thank you all for taking part.

Part 1: Popular and Unpopular CCs

Part 2: A Comparison with June 2023

Part 3: A Look at DTBLR in the Mirror

Part 4 : A communist perspective on the 1%

Part 5: The Average Dtblr Member

[asgardian--angels]

mage viktor discourse again on twitter and all i can say in my little corner over here once again is, I don't know why the entire fandom takes it as canon that mage Viktor failed to save every world he manipulated.

Canon does not provide evidence of this. This is fanon speculation. It's a fine headcanon to have, but everyone talks about it like it's canon when it isn't. Canon is ambiguous about the outcome of the timelines mage Viktor altered. The little nods we are given point, in my opinion, towards the opposite conclusion, that he successfully averted destruction.

I've written meta on this before but in summary:

1) 'In all timelines, in all possibilities' is worded precisely, it's not 'out of all timelines'; the implication is that every time, Jayce brings Viktor back from the brink, not just in our timeline. 'Only you' doesn't refer to our timeline's Jayce, it refers to all Jayces. Jayce always brings him home. If Viktor continuously put the fate of each timeline in Jayce's hands and Jayce failed over and over, I don't think he'd say those words. And the way he says them matters. His words are tinged with wonder, not sorrow. As if over and over again, he is shown that Jayce saves him, and it continues to amaze him. He doesn't sound defeated, like this is the next in a long line of Jayces he's sending off to die. The feeling is that Viktor's faith in Jayce has not been misplaced.

2) If mage Viktor doomed every timeline, there would be hundreds (or more) mage Viktors. All running around manipulating timelines. I highly doubt the writers wanted to get into that kind of sticky situation. The tragedy of mage Viktor is that he is singular. Alone. Burdened with the responsibility of the multiverse. The emotional gut punch of his fate is ruined if other timelines led to the same outcome, and from a practical standpoint, having multiple reality-bending omniscient mages would rip apart the fabric of the arcane.

There are other points, such as there being only one corrupted Mercury Hammer and our Jayce is the only one to receive it, and the fact that if mage Viktor is as omniscient as he is implied to be, he could easily step back into other timelines and correct course, because it's highly unlikely he could sit still and watch things go down in flames. But these things can be argued elsewhere.

While I love conversations about mage Viktor's motives and selfishness vs altruism, the writers & artbook have expressed that Jayce and Viktor care greatly about Runeterra and want to fix their mistakes to save it, and that their reconciliation is symbolic of Piltover and Zaun coming together as well. Yes, they make disastrous decisions towards each other, making choices for the other or without the other, which has negative consequences for their relationship and for Runeterra - but I think fandom pushes their selfishness even past what's canon sometimes, as if their entire goal hadn't always been to selflessly help the world around them. Their final reconciliation is about bridging the gap that grew between them - the pain and grief and secrets, betraying themselves and each other - to mutually choose each other openly and honestly. Part of the beauty of their story, as expressed by the creators, is that in their final moments, they chose each other and took responsibility for their actions by sacrificing themselves to end what they started, together - and that choosing each other saved the world. TPTB have stated this - that Jayce and Viktor are the glue holding civilization together, and when they come back to each other, they can restore balance. It's when they're apart, when they hurt each other and miscommunicate, when they abandon their commitment to each other and their dream, that the greater world suffers. Their strife is mirrored in the story-world at large.

Mage Viktor is framed as a solitary penitent figure, damned to an eternity of atoning for his mistakes. He paid the ultimate price and now is forced to live his personal nightmare of exactly what he was trying to avoid for himself with the glorious evolution. The narrative clues we're given point more in the direction that he saves timelines rather than dooms them. If Viktor's actions kept killing Jayce, the very boy he couldn't bear to not save each time, it would undermine these narrative choices. Yes, Viktor couldn't stand to live in a world where he never meets Jayce, so he ensures it keeps happening. But in that same breath, he couldn't bear to see a world where his actions continue to destroy Jayce and destroy Runeterra. His entire arc in s2 is born of his selfless desire to help humanity, help individual people. He would not lightly destroy entire worlds. That's his original grief multiplied a thousandfold, and narratively it would lessen the impact of the one, true loss he did suffer, his own Jayce. It wouldn't make sense for him to be alright with damning other timelines to suffer the same catastrophic tragedy that created him. I mean, maybe I'm delusional here, but is that not the entire point? Because that's what I took away when I watched the show.

As I said, I love discussions about mage Viktor, as there's a lot to play with. All I wish is that the fandom at large would not just assume or accept the Mage Viktor Dooms Every Timeline idea as canon, when there is nothing in the actual canon that confirms this. Maybe people need to just, go back and rewatch the actual episode, to recall how mage Viktor is presented to us, and what it's implied we're supposed to take away from his scenes, and separate that from the layers of headcanon the fandom has constructed.

[hellyrossum]

i've seen multiple posts recently that said something along the lines of "crazy how the new version of helena she created by severing herself hated her almost immediately upon being born" and. i don't think that's true, actually. in fact, one of the things that struck me on my rewatch of season 1 leading up to season 2's release was how long helly holds out hope for both her outie and the people around her to realize how fucked up this whole situation is; hope that if they're made to realize it, they'll do the right thing.

i think about her asking mark after the ball game, "so how're you gonna figure out if petey's okay?", like it was a given that he would try something. i think about her telling milchick as he bandages her arm an episode later, preparing her for the break room, "look, you seem like a smart person. don't you see how fucked up this is?"

and i think about the action she took that landed her there. how desperate she was to get that message to her outie, hoping that if she saw that desperation, she would let her go.

i think about the registration request that spurred it. how helly's response to learning it was denied wasn't "oh. she doesn't care". it was "my outie wouldn't do that". (because helly isn't the kind of person who would do that. right?)

i even think about how, when she recorded her ultimatum for her outie, she didn't keep the paper cutter in her lap, the blade looming over her fingers. she put it aside. because the threat wasn't for her outie, not really. she just wanted to talk to her.

helly was born skeptical-bordering-on-cynical ("are we livestock?") and rebellious, yes. but she wasn't a full doomer about her situation from the beginning; if she was, she wouldn't have bothered assaulting the conference room door, demanding they let her out. all of her early lashing out wasn't her shouting in an empty room for its own sake, resigned to the fact that no one would hear her. no; she was hoping, with every scream, that someone would. some part of her, even with all the things that then happened over the first half of the season to grind her down, believed she could reach them, appeal to their humanity, make them understand, make them see her as a person.

and she wanted to believe she could do the same for her own self. she wanted to believe in her outie, the person she was out there. she wanted to believe she was a good person, just... unaware. and she held on to that hope, despite all the mounting evidence... until helena looked her straight in the eyes and told her she was wrong to. until she proved that she was never ignorant, just cruel.

helly is the part of helena that believes she deserves better. helena showed that part of herself nothing but cruelty. and so helly turned that cruelty on her in turn.

[thankstothe]