#i was only given access to software and stuff like that

[withered-rose-unbreakable-lotus]

I wanted to make a teaser with some words before the video starts but alas, even in 2025, free stock footage for video is ridiculous.

[nostalgebraist]

Anthropic's stated "AI timelines" seem wildly aggressive to me.

As far as I can tell, they are now saying that by 2028 – and possibly even by 2027, or late 2026 – something they call "powerful AI" will exist.

And by "powerful AI," they mean... this (source, emphasis mine):

In terms of pure intelligence, it is smarter than a Nobel Prize winner across most relevant fields – biology, programming, math, engineering, writing, etc. This means it can prove unsolved mathematical theorems, write extremely good novels, write difficult codebases from scratch, etc. In addition to just being a “smart thing you talk to”, it has all the “interfaces” available to a human working virtually, including text, audio, video, mouse and keyboard control, and internet access. It can engage in any actions, communications, or remote operations enabled by this interface, including taking actions on the internet, taking or giving directions to humans, ordering materials, directing experiments, watching videos, making videos, and so on. It does all of these tasks with, again, a skill exceeding that of the most capable humans in the world. It does not just passively answer questions; instead, it can be given tasks that take hours, days, or weeks to complete, and then goes off and does those tasks autonomously, in the way a smart employee would, asking for clarification as necessary. It does not have a physical embodiment (other than living on a computer screen), but it can control existing physical tools, robots, or laboratory equipment through a computer; in theory it could even design robots or equipment for itself to use. The resources used to train the model can be repurposed to run millions of instances of it (this matches projected cluster sizes by ~2027), and the model can absorb information and generate actions at roughly 10x-100x human speed. It may however be limited by the response time of the physical world or of software it interacts with. Each of these million copies can act independently on unrelated tasks, or if needed can all work together in the same way humans would collaborate, perhaps with different subpopulations fine-tuned to be especially good at particular tasks.

In the post I'm quoting, Amodei is coy about the timeline for this stuff, saying only that

I think it could come as early as 2026, though there are also ways it could take much longer. But for the purposes of this essay, I’d like to put these issues aside [...]

However, other official communications from Anthropic have been more specific. Most notable is their recent OSTP submission, which states (emphasis in original):

Based on current research trajectories, we anticipate that powerful AI systems could emerge as soon as late 2026 or 2027 [...] Powerful AI technology will be built during this Administration. [i.e. the current Trump administration -nost]

See also here, where Jack Clark says (my emphasis):

People underrate how significant and fast-moving AI progress is. We have this notion that in late 2026, or early 2027, powerful AI systems will be built that will have intellectual capabilities that match or exceed Nobel Prize winners. They’ll have the ability to navigate all of the interfaces… [Clark goes on, mentioning some of the other tenets of "powerful AI" as in other Anthropic communications -nost]

----

To be clear, extremely short timelines like these are not unique to Anthropic.

Miles Brundage (ex-OpenAI) says something similar, albeit less specific, in this post. And Daniel Kokotajlo (also ex-OpenAI) has held views like this for a long time now.

Even Sam Altman himself has said similar things (though in much, much vaguer terms, both on the content of the deliverable and the timeline).

Still, Anthropic's statements are unique in being

official positions of the company

extremely specific and ambitious about the details

extremely aggressive about the timing, even by the standards of "short timelines" AI prognosticators in the same social cluster

Re: ambition, note that the definition of "powerful AI" seems almost the opposite of what you'd come up with if you were trying to make a confident forecast of something.

Often people will talk about "AI capable of transforming the world economy" or something more like that, leaving room for the AI in question to do that in one of several ways, or to do so while still failing at some important things.

But instead, Anthropic's definition is a big conjunctive list of "it'll be able to do this and that and this other thing and...", and each individual capability is defined in the most aggressive possible way, too! Not just "good enough at science to be extremely useful for scientists," but "smarter than a Nobel Prize winner," across "most relevant fields" (whatever that means). And not just good at science but also able to "write extremely good novels" (note that we have a long way to go on that front, and I get the feeling that people at AI labs don't appreciate the extent of the gap [cf]). Not only can it use a computer interface, it can use every computer interface; not only can it use them competently, but it can do so better than the best humans in the world. And all of that is in the first two paragraphs – there's four more paragraphs I haven't even touched in this little summary!

Re: timing, they have even shorter timelines than Kokotajlo these days, which is remarkable since he's historically been considered "the guy with the really short timelines." (See here where Kokotajlo states a median prediction of 2028 for "AGI," by which he means something less impressive than "powerful AI"; he expects something close to the "powerful AI" vision ["ASI"] ~1 year or so after "AGI" arrives.)

----

I, uh, really do not think this is going to happen in "late 2026 or 2027."

Or even by the end of this presidential administration, for that matter.

I can imagine it happening within my lifetime – which is wild and scary and marvelous. But in 1.5 years?!

The confusing thing is, I am very familiar with the kinds of arguments that "short timelines" people make, and I still find the Anthropic's timelines hard to fathom.

Above, I mentioned that Anthropic has shorter timelines than Daniel Kokotajlo, who "merely" expects the same sort of thing in 2029 or so. This probably seems like hairsplitting – from the perspective of your average person not in these circles, both of these predictions look basically identical, "absurdly good godlike sci-fi AI coming absurdly soon." What difference does an extra year or two make, right?

But it's salient to me, because I've been reading Kokotajlo for years now, and I feel like I basically get understand his case. And people, including me, tend to push back on him in the "no, that's too soon" direction. I've read many many blog posts and discussions over the years about this sort of thing, I feel like I should have a handle on what the short-timelines case is.

But even if you accept all the arguments evinced over the years by Daniel "Short Timelines" Kokotajlo, even if you grant all the premises he assumes and some people don't – that still doesn't get you all the way to the Anthropic timeline!

To give a very brief, very inadequate summary, the standard "short timelines argument" right now is like:

Over the next few years we will see a "growth spurt" in the amount of computing power ("compute") used for the largest LLM training runs. This factor of production has been largely stagnant since GPT-4 in 2023, for various reasons, but new clusters are getting built and the metaphorical car will get moving again soon. (See here)

By convention, each "GPT number" uses ~100x as much training compute as the last one. GPT-3 used ~100x as much as GPT-2, and GPT-4 used ~100x as much as GPT-3 (i.e. ~10,000x as much as GPT-2).

We are just now starting to see "~10x GPT-4 compute" models (like Grok 3 and GPT-4.5). In the next few years we will get to "~100x GPT-4 compute" models, and by 2030 will will reach ~10,000x GPT-4 compute.

If you think intuitively about "how much GPT-4 improved upon GPT-3 (100x less) or GPT-2 (10,000x less)," you can maybe convince yourself that these near-future models will be super-smart in ways that are difficult to precisely state/imagine from our vantage point. (GPT-4 was way smarter than GPT-2; it's hard to know what "projecting that forward" would mean, concretely, but it sure does sound like something pretty special)

Meanwhile, all kinds of (arguably) complementary research is going on, like allowing models to "think" for longer amounts of time, giving them GUI interfaces, etc.

All that being said, there's still a big intuitive gap between "ChatGPT, but it's much smarter under the hood" and anything like "powerful AI." But...

...the LLMs are getting good enough that they can write pretty good code, and they're getting better over time. And depending on how you interpret the evidence, you may be able to convince yourself that they're also swiftly getting better at other tasks involved in AI development, like "research engineering." So maybe you don't need to get all the way yourself, you just need to build an AI that's a good enough AI developer that it improves your AIs faster than you can, and then those AIs are even better developers, etc. etc. (People in this social cluster are really keen on the importance of exponential growth, which is generally a good trait to have but IMO it shades into "we need to kick off exponential growth and it'll somehow do the rest because it's all-powerful" in this case.)

And like, I have various disagreements with this picture.

For one thing, the "10x" models we're getting now don't seem especially impressive – there has been a lot of debate over this of course, but reportedly these models were disappointing to their own developers, who expected scaling to work wonders (using the kind of intuitive reasoning mentioned above) and got less than they hoped for.

And (in light of that) I think it's double-counting to talk about the wonders of scaling and then talk about reasoning, computer GUI use, etc. as complementary accelerating factors – those things are just table stakes at this point, the models are already maxing out the tasks you had defined previously, you've gotta give them something new to do or else they'll just sit there wasting GPUs when a smaller model would have sufficed.

And I think we're already at a point where nuances of UX and "character writing" and so forth are more of a limiting factor than intelligence. It's not a lack of "intelligence" that gives us superficially dazzling but vapid "eyeball kick" prose, or voice assistants that are deeply uncomfortable to actually talk to, or (I claim) "AI agents" that get stuck in loops and confuse themselves, or any of that.

We are still stuck in the "Helpful, Harmless, Honest Assistant" chatbot paradigm – no one has seriously broke with it since that Anthropic introduced it in a paper in 2021 – and now that paradigm is showing its limits. ("Reasoning" was strapped onto this paradigm in a simple and fairly awkward way, the new "reasoning" models are still chatbots like this, no one is actually doing anything else.) And instead of "okay, let's invent something better," the plan seems to be "let's just scale up these assistant chatbots and try to get them to self-improve, and they'll figure it out." I won't try to explain why in this post (IYI I kind of tried to here) but I really doubt these helpful/harmless guys can bootstrap their way into winning all the Nobel Prizes.

----

All that stuff I just said – that's where I differ from the usual "short timelines" people, from Kokotajlo and co.

But OK, let's say that for the sake of argument, I'm wrong and they're right. It still seems like a pretty tough squeeze to get to "powerful AI" on time, doesn't it?

In the OSTP submission, Anthropic presents their latest release as evidence of their authority to speak on the topic:

In February 2025, we released Claude 3.7 Sonnet, which is by many performance benchmarks the most powerful and capable commercially-available AI system in the world.

I've used Claude 3.7 Sonnet quite a bit. It is indeed really good, by the standards of these sorts of things!

But it is, of course, very very far from "powerful AI." So like, what is the fine-grained timeline even supposed to look like? When do the many, many milestones get crossed? If they're going to have "powerful AI" in early 2027, where exactly are they in mid-2026? At end-of-year 2025?

If I assume that absolutely everything goes splendidly well with no unexpected obstacles – and remember, we are talking about automating all human intellectual labor and all tasks done by humans on computers, but sure, whatever – then maybe we get the really impressive next-gen models later this year or early next year... and maybe they're suddenly good at all the stuff that has been tough for LLMs thus far (the "10x" models already released show little sign of this but sure, whatever)... and then we finally get into the self-improvement loop in earnest, and then... what?

They figure out to squeeze even more performance out of the GPUs? They think of really smart experiments to run on the cluster? Where are they going to get all the missing information about how to do every single job on earth, the tacit knowledge, the stuff that's not in any web scrape anywhere but locked up in human minds and inaccessible private data stores? Is an experiment designed by a helpful-chatbot AI going to finally crack the problem of giving chatbots the taste to "write extremely good novels," when that taste is precisely what "helpful-chatbot AIs" lack?

I guess the boring answer is that this is all just hype – tech CEO acts like tech CEO, news at 11. (But I don't feel like that can be the full story here, somehow.)

And the scary answer is that there's some secret Anthropic private info that makes this all more plausible. (But I doubt that too – cf. Brundage's claim that there are no more secrets like that now, the short-timelines cards are all on the table.)

It just does not make sense to me. And (as you can probably tell) I find it very frustrating that these guys are out there talking about how human thought will basically be obsolete in a few years, and pontificating about how to find new sources of meaning in life and stuff, without actually laying out an argument that their vision – which would be the common concern of all of us, if it were indeed on the horizon – is actually likely to occur on the timescale they propose.

It would be less frustrating if I were being asked to simply take it on faith, or explicitly on the basis of corporate secret knowledge. But no, the claim is not that, it's something more like "now, now, I know this must sound far-fetched to the layman, but if you really understand 'scaling laws' and 'exponential growth,' and you appreciate the way that pretraining will be scaled up soon, then it's simply obvious that –"

No! Fuck that! I've read the papers you're talking about, I know all the arguments you're handwaving-in-the-direction-of! It still doesn't add up!

[maliciouscottonball]

Like A Father

Platonic Yandere! König x GN!Reader

Wordcount: 3040

AN: Hey friends! I’ve been craving a cute(?) oneshot about König and it’s been running through my mind for ages. I’m supposed to be writing some final papers but I’m making the executive decision to ignore that. It’s self indulgent and I love it. I am but a mere gluttonous beast when it comes to writing.

TW: Yandere behaviors, drugging, kidnapping, delusional loser man behavior, somewhat realism, software engineering and tech stuff, reader in their 20’s, employment, the author’s severe daddy issues, very brief implication of the idea of SH

♡♡♡

You hadn’t wanted to work for a PMC but the pay was what the bills were demanding. You had your own office and could ignore your coworkers pretty easily. All you really did was keep the wifi on and the necessary websites running. It was a cushy gig and you had a surprising amount of free time. Your bosses praised your dedication to your job and you only rarely had to emerge from the comfort of your office for occasional meetings. The rest of your time was spent either playing cute little games on your phone, reading, or scrolling around through social media.

During your first meeting, you sat at the only empty seat near the head of the table. You were introduced, said your hellos, and just listened to the presentations and discussions going on. Any time someone asked your opinions on a subject, you politely deflected and said that you’d have to get better acquainted with the current systems and that the last person in your position left quite a bit to review. This was met with approving nods and appreciative words. You learned that the guy who did your job before you wasn’t great and that your coworkers were excited to be able to access the internet on a regular basis.

While the others droned on about the logistics of sending soldiers to wherever they were being sent, you took the opportunity to look around the room at your new bosses and coworkers. All of them were grizzled and at least middle aged. You could tell that they were all in the military for their respective countries before coming to work here and, quite frankly, you didn’t want to know the reasons why any of them left. You stood out like a sore thumb in comparison to their crisp uniforms and permanent scowls. Your face was youthful and you lacked the experience that they clearly had. You wore a button up and slacks that you specifically chose for comfort and the notebook you carried had small stickers decorating the cover. You seemed almost childish but it was clear from the notes you took that you were a fast learner.

You decided to take a closer look at the two men sitting next to you. On your right was the head of logistics. He was intimidating but not much more so than the rest of the group. He was frustrated that one of the company’s suppliers wouldn’t be available to drop off his preferred breakfast but quickly came up with a solution thanks to a suggestion from the head of housing.

On your left was a giant man that towered over everyone in the room. He was the head of one of the company president’s preferred teams. You could tell that his advice was highly valued by the rest of the men in the meeting. His face was scarred and his gaze was piercing and analytical when you looked up at him. You could feel him watching you as you quickly looked away and tried your best to listen to the rest of the meeting. You didn’t see the way that the corners of his mouth twitched up into almost a smile.

During your second meeting, you sat in the same spot. The man on your left scared you but what could you do? He had seniority and he only made eye contact. You gave him and the rest of the men in the meeting a polite nod and buried your face in your notes. You zoned out a bit while trying and failing to pay attention, wishing you had given an excuse about needing to recode something to meet quality standards or something else that the bosses would buy. You gave some small updates on what you had done, got your deserved positive feedback, and stayed silent for the rest of the meeting.

Your third meeting went similarly to the second and you made your way back to your office once it was done. You sat at your chair and opened your notebook to review your notes when a small sticker fell out from the page that your bookmark was on. You think hard for a moment about where it could’ve come from before reaching down to grab it. It was a small, pastel yellow giraffe in a cartoonish art style with a holographic glitter background. The first thing you felt was confusion. Where did it come from? Why was it in your notes? Then, you started getting curious. You did every reverse image search that you could think of but there was nothing. You used every applicable keyword imaginable but you still couldn’t find anything.

After a longer time than you’d care to admit, you found an artist with a style that matched the art on the sticker perfectly. It was strange. There was nothing on their website or social media that matched the art on the sticker. It had to have been a custom order that wasn’t posted about. Who would have done that? None of the men at the meeting seemed like the type to buy stickers, let alone hide them in someone else’s notebook.

The week came and went. You had put the sticker on your notebook and promptly forgot about it. It just joined the landscape of cute scenes and creatures on the front cover. During your fourth meeting, you failed to see the way that the scary man on your left’s eyes sparkled with pride at the new addition to your book. That week, you had to do your first in person repair. You went down to the basement and had to plug a cord back into the wifi router for the floor. It was surprisingly easy and almost looked like an intentional unplugging. You brushed it off, figuring that it was a simple mistake or accident.

When you got back to your office, there was another sticker on your keyboard. This time, there was a little note underneath it. You pick up the sticker and peer down at the note. The handwriting was scratchy but it’s clear that whoever wrote it did their best to make it legible.

For your hard work.

You look back at the sticker after a second and observe the details in the drawing. It’s a small octopus with the same style and pastel colors as the giraffe. It has the same background and it’s clear that the same person that made the first sticker made this one too. For a moment, you just stared at the sticker and the note. It would’ve been sweet if you hadn’t locked your office door before leaving and had to unlock it when you got back.

As the months go by, you settle into a comfortable rhythm punctuated by the startling nature of little presents. The notes left with them continued to be encouraging and kind, even as the gifts began to turn into daily occurrences and changed from just stickers to other presents as well. The presents ranged from individually packaged tea bags and small candies to more stickers and the occasional roll of washi tape to tiny stress relieving candles and keychains. You put the notes that were left with them in one of the drawers of your desk and they were beginning to pile up. You find yourself glancing at the notes every once in a while, wondering who they came from.

You’ve been doing very well.

I’m glad that you decided to work here.

I’m proud of you.

It took a while to become comfortable in your role in the company. It took even longer to be able to look the intimidating man from the meetings in the eye. You still didn’t talk much, even at the company parties. You weren’t friends with any of your coworkers but you got along with everyone perfectly fine. You weren’t exactly threatening and you kept everything running smoothly so there wasn’t much conflict.

At least, that’s why you thought you weren’t close with anyone there.

No one talked about the ominous figure that followed you wherever you went in HQ. No one thought to mention the bone chilling looks given to those who said inappropriate things about you or the fact that not even a two week’s notice was given by soldiers who had been with the company for years when they took a joke too far. They disappeared and everyone knew better than to talk about it. They just avoided you at worst and made pleasant comments on your work at best.

To you, the job was getting better and better. You didn’t have to talk to a soul on most days and you only had to sit there and listen for the most part during meetings. You didn’t have a single clue about what was going on and that was the way that König liked it. He got to take care of you and watch over you like a guardian angel. Like a father.

He made sure that you were safe. He made sure that work didn’t stress you out. He made sure that no one said anything unkind to you. He made sure that you had at least something small to look forward to every day. He could afford it. He didn’t have a husband or a wife to come home to. He didn’t have any of the kids that he had dreamed about having since he was a little boy. He remembered staring at the babies he saw with their families and desperately wanting one while he was in school. He remembered watching the men on his teams raise their children and being practically green with envy. He had resigned himself to never being able to raise a child until he was looking through the job applications for the open IT position.

He paused when he read your name and started looking through your resume. It was good and you seemed suited to the job. Then, he read your cover letter. You seemed to be trying your best to be confident and your words were sweet and sincere. He decided to take a closer look at who you were. He looked through all of your social media, both personal or professional, and his heart melted.

You were perfect in every way. You were supposed to be his and he had finally found you. He was finally going to be a father.

Exactly half a year after heavily recommending you to the president of the company, you were grabbing a snack at one of the regularly scheduled office parties. König felt his heart warm when he saw you grab a second cookie from the batch that he had specifically made to suit your taste. You had become much more friendly with him and it had made him very happy. You would greet him in the hallways when you saw him and asked him how his day was when you were early to meetings.

He was used to children being afraid of him and even though he knew that you were a grown adult, the irrational part of his brain made him feel like you were the equivalent of a toddler. He figured that it was how sweet your little eyes were and how small you were compared to him. He knew that he was a scary guy and he was exceptionally proud of you for being brave and talking to him. He couldn’t help but get worried when he saw you heating things up in the microwave or fiddling with electronics. He was very concerned that you could burn or electrocute yourself and it took every ounce of self control that he had to not take over for you and have you sit and wait where he knew you would be safe. His absolute adoration of you and his fear of you getting hurt had helped him to decide that you would finally be coming home with him today. It was like the company had thrown him an adoption party after having such a long and hard road to finally having a child.

He had made sure that you would have the foods that you liked at the party and he made sure to watch over your every reaction to see if you were enjoying yourself. He wanted you to be as happy as possible at all times. He had personally given you a can of your favorite soda to help make you even happier. He smiled to himself when he saw that you finished it off fairly quickly. He knew that waking up in your new room would be a hard change and he had done his best to prepare for it. He had read all of the top books on adopting an older child and on how to make a home feel welcoming. He had spent an obscene amount of money on making sure that your room was painted in the perfect shades and that your bedding was perfectly comfortable. He had even taken up quilting to make sure that your bedspread was exactly what you would like. He had fuzzy blankets and plushies at the ready for when you inevitably had a meltdown or threw a tantrum from the stress of the change. He made sure that the bathroom was stocked with everything you’d need to take care of your hair and skin and that the theme matched your bedroom.

The most important thing that he had made sure to do was to babyproof everything. There was nothing sharp or particularly breakable and everything that wasn’t soft was bolted down. He knew that you would get bored without any games to play so he had gotten old consoles from when he was a child so you could play all day while he was working. He had bolted those down too and made sure that you couldn’t harm him or yourself with anything that he gave you. He had also made sure to give you a desk filled with art and writing supplies, as well as shelves and shelves of books for you to read. He was looking forward to reading you stories from his childhood and seeing what books, toys, and games you would favor when you were finally home with him. He figured that it would be an adequate amount of entertainment until his new kid got settled in.

You were walking to the parking lot from the main building after the party when you started to feel woozy. You stumble a bit before starting to fall, only to suddenly be caught by someone. You feel yourself getting lifted up and look up to see those terrifying eyes that had scared you so much during that very first meeting. There’s something different in those eyes this time. He looks like a kid on Christmas and the last thing that you feel before slipping into unconsciousness is horror.

König chuckles and happily carries you to his car. He hums a song that his grandmother used to sing to him as he opens the door behind his car’s driver’s seat and sets you onto the plush seating. He buckles you in and then tucks a blanket over your lap and a plushie under your arm. He had made sure that the child locks were on, even though he knew that you wouldn’t be waking up any time soon. It was good practice for his new role as your one and only parent. He knew that being a single father would be hard but oh so rewarding and fulfilling. He gets into the driver’s seat and adjusts his mirror to look back at you. He starts the car and turns on some classical music to help you sleep a bit more peacefully. He carefully begins the journey home with you and seems incredibly pleased with himself. It was well worth the trouble of drugging the soda with the proper dose of medication for your body weight and then resealing it without losing any of the carbonation.

As you slowly wake up from your drug induced slumber, you can’t help but cuddle into what you think is your bed at home. The plushness of the mattress is absolutely perfect and your body feels soothed by the comfortable cotton sheets and the weight of the warm quilt. There’s a soft plushie in your arms that you don’t recognize but you’re so out of it that you don’t care. You’re warm and comfortable and something is making your mind feel so, so relaxed. After a few minutes of cuddling, you slowly open your eyes and blink sleepily.

This isn’t your room. This isn’t your bed.

You don’t recognize any of this.

You don’t remember how you got here and it’s starting to scare you.

Before you can truly start to panic, the bedroom door opens and someone enters. Your vision is hazy and you can’t see very well until they get closer but you can tell that they’re carrying something. The person squats down next to you and your eyes start to focus. The person is a man and he reaches out toward you, resting what you now recognize as a tray on his knee. He gently checks the temperature of your forehead with his knuckles before gently stroking the top of your head.

Wait.

You recognize him.

You recognize those eyes.

He smiles down at you lovingly and seems thrilled to bits that you’re finally here with him. He carefully stands up while lifting the tray, towering over you like the imaginary monster from a child’s closet. He sits on the edge of the bed next to you and gently sets the tray down on the nightstand. It’s covered with all of your very favorite breakfast foods and your preferred drinks to go with them. He continues to smile down at you like you hung the sun, moon, and stars in the sky.

“Good morning, little one! You’ve been sleeping for a long time. Papa made you some breakfast. I think you’ll like it very much.” He coos.

You look down again at the plushie in your arms. It looks exactly like the first giraffe sticker that was given to you by a stranger at work.

[ernmark]

I just stumbled across somebody saying how editing their own novel was too exhausting, and next time they'll run it through Grammerly instead.

For the love of writing, please do not trust AI to edit your work.

Listen. I get it. I am a writer, and I have worked as a professional editor. Writing is hard and editing is harder. There's a reason I did it for pay. Consequently, I also get that professional editors can be dearly expensive, and things like dyslexia can make it difficult to edit your own stuff.

Algorithms are not the solution to that.

Pay a newbie human editor. Trade favors with a friend. Beg an early birthday present from a sibling. I cannot stress enough how important it is that one of the editors be yourself, and at least one be somebody else.

Yourself, because you know what you intended to put on the page, and what is obviously counter to your intention.

The other person, because they're going to see the things that you can't notice. When you're reading your own writing, it's colored by what you expect to be on the page, and so your brain will frequently fill in missing words or make sense of things that don't actually parse well. They're also more likely to point out things that are outside your scope of knowledge.

Trust me, human editors are absolutely necessary for publishing.

If you convince yourself that you positively must run your work through an algorithm before submitting to an agent/publisher/self-pub site, do yourself and your readers a massive favor: get at least two sets of human eyeballs on your writing after the algorithm has done its work.

Because here's the thing:

AI draws from whatever data sets it's trained on, and those data sets famously aren't curated.

You cannot trust it to know whether that's an actual word or just a really common misspelling.

People break conventions of grammar to create a certain effect in the reader all the time. AI cannot be relied upon to know the difference between James Joyce and a bredlik and an actual coherent sentence, or which one is appropriate at any given part of the book.

AI picks up on patterns in its training data sets and imitates and magnifies those patterns-- especially bigotry, and particularly racism.

AI has also been known to lift entire passages wholesale. Listen to me: Plagiarism will end your career. And here's the awful thing-- if it's plagiarizing a source you aren't familiar with, there's a very good chance you wouldn't even know it's been done. This is another reason for other humans than yourself-- more people means a broader pool of knowledge and experience to draw from.

I know a writer who used this kind of software to help them find spelling mistakes, didn't realize that a setting had been turned on during an update, and had their entire work be turned into word salad-- and only found out when the editor at their publishing house called them on the phone and asked what the hell had happened to their latest book. And when I say 'their entire work', I'm not talking about their novel-- I'm talking about every single draft and document that the software had access to.

[tossawary]

I think SVSSS as a 2D cartoon would be the best moving medium for it imo.

I mean, personally, yeah, that's how I'd enjoy seeing it as well! My ideal slightly pretentiously artsy SVSSS screen adaptation would probably look only a little more detailed than linograph prints (2D or shaded 3D?) (someone hit me up in like two weeks to draw an example of what I mean, if I don't remember on my own, I don't have access to art stuff right now), very stylized and vibrantly colorful, because that's one of the art styles that I particularly enjoy.

I'm not a personally a fan of the 3D SVSSS show because I find the characters a little too doll-like and same-facey for my tastes? It's fine! It works! It's serviceable! It's just all, backgrounds included, a little... safe? I tend to like over-the-top bright colors and intricate details and impractically weird shapes and yet also coherent world production design in my fantasy, which is a lot to demand of any production, perhaps especially with animation productions, which are always squeezed for time and money.

(EDIT: I know the SVSSS show was under heavy constraints and the results are impressive considering their resources; it doesn't change the fact that I just don't like the art style and nevertheless find the results underwhelming. I don't like a lot of "realistic" modeling / rendering styles, not just "anime" ones, even if they are extremely technically impressive. Believe me when I say that I know the vast majority of the entertainment industry is overworked and underpaid and creatively restrained.)

Slightly tangential general note: I don't think 2D is inherently superior to 3D (EDIT: NOT trying to imply asker is saying this, just having some general thoughts), especially because, with the realities of production, each have their advantages. 2D has a lot of stylistic advantages still, but 3D shaders are catching up and doing some incredible things these days! More advanced puppet controls and particle effects and such are doing some beautiful things for 2D shows as well these days. A lot of stuff has been subtly mixed media as soon as 3D became possible. It is potentially possible (note: not saying any studio would actually greenlight this) to do an equally slightly weird and artistically stunning 3D SVSSS show, given the freedom to work. (Good boarding and writing is also sooooo important in both mediums, obviously, it's not just about the art design. You can get away with incredibly limited animation with good boarding, writing, and art design.)

Another slightly tangential ramble: both 2D and 3D have the potential for stiff animation and poor character acting, which also comes down to production limits and animator skills? (I often think of character animators as a type of actor!) There are a lot of 2D shows that I don't really like because I find the animation incredibly stiff, both puppet and handdrawn (there's great 2D puppet stuff out there these days), which pretty much always comes down to production limits (deadlines and budget and software, saving up their animation for the coolest scenes). One of my favorite things about Studio Ghibli films (which as features get a lot more space to focus on art compared to the demands and restraint of television) has always been the squash and stretch in otherwise relatively realistic action, making things like hugs look SO nice for example. But 3D stuff is getting better at that these days! The ways characters slumped into each other in "Nimona" for example was great. And it's just fascinating to look at the elasticity / stylized sculpt of expressions in "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish" compared to the technical limits of the models / rigs in "Shrek" or "Shrek 2".

Adding these side notes because I want to be clear about my respect for both 2D and 3D artistically! A lot of video games are doing cool stuff in 3D that looks very close to 2D with stylized shaders, which you can sometimes spot by the large or small rotations in character action / acting, which is difficult (and therefore often expensive) to do in 2D with all of those extra drawings / angle poses. Also, I think the current push towards funky shaders in 3D is so cool and it's hard not to gush about them!!!

[sanshofox]

Artists getting sad after the „who’s the artist, what’s your age“ trend thing on socials. They see many of them being a very young age with already good skills.

Here my try for words of comfort: consider the differences when you grew up and how the younger gens grew up. Nowadays there‘s easier access to tools, gadgets and knowledge with faster paced society.

With better developed internet you can find all kinds of references, tutorials, brushes and whatnot to help you developing your skills or to get a better understanding of how each skill works (if traditional, crafting, digital and more). And now you have all kinds of places to share your stuff on and be part of a community that share the same interest for art and even can give feedback. Artists now using the internet as a platform to earn money and showing their how-to’s. What I would have given as a kid and teen to have that through a „simple mouse click“.

I remember back then when not every household had internet and even if, it wasn’t stable nor fast. You only had a few sites to visit, that you knew were save to go on, and even less sites when it came to art. I remember one german art site and years later on deviantart (and both were in their very toxic era back then. Very closed off at times and tutorials being seen like a „do not reveal the secret to it“ magic trick kinda vibe).

It was hard to find out about stuff because we didn‘t have that global connectivity and marketing etc that exists now to discover things.

And also being „limited“ as a kid and teen on what you could use. Nothing that was right at hand was digital. So you couldn’t experiment with media types for example. So no vast library on tools that imitate all kinds of things, i.e. brushes in procreate. Everything needed to be made traditionally with what you had. I remember I had two of those how to draw anime artbooks (and back then it were two out of very few options actually), pencils and a few copics. You had to make the most of it.

Photoshop you had to use by mouse and was veeery costly (one software CD cost over 2k). I think wacom tablets weren’t a thing until my late teens?? 🤔

And please don’t take this as a rant, I am actually feeling rather nostalgic about it. Those how to draw anime books were hilarious when I think about them now haha. I think I still might have one?? 👀 And I still have those very first copic markers 🥰

It doesn’t matter how you started or what age you are comapred to others. That you keep on making art is what counts. Skill needs to be developed, but passion and creativity/imagination comes from yourself. Skill isn’t what keeps you on doing it, but the love for it is.

[naerwenia]

Part of you (Forever) part 2 - William Afton x Fem Reader

I lost the plot.

Rather than go on with the plot I had in mind, here's just dirty William Afton going a bit further again. Part 1 here, but you can read this as it's own thing.

Explicit, MDNI!

Includes a cartoony concussion, age gap, non-consensual stuff but no intercourse, and bold William Afton who comes in your panties inside his pants :) Michael Afton is there and very suspicious of his father. Also videotaping reader without consent and a mention of pee.

Seeing you eating his cupcakes and obliviously enjoying them made him think it was not that bad to make you eat his seed. You enjoyed it, thanked him with a smile every time, so who was he to deny it? But it was not enough, it never was, from the start Afton knew it would not suffice to just see you eating him and he tried to come up with new ways to get closer to you.

It was near the end of October that William Afton asked you if you would be interested in helping out during the Spooky Circus Event the pizzeria was having as a Halloween event. You were surprised he wanted you to be there, as you never really had told him about your work before, just what you were studying and a bit about your interests, but the way he asked made it sound like there was no one else to take the role of a storyteller. It didn’t sound too hard, just having three small storytimes with different age groups, giving them a fright while telling some stories, and the pizzeria would pay you actual salary. 

“You know I’m going to spend it here, cupcakes and coffee for the next few months?” you joked, teased him for his offer, but accepted it with a smile.

“Now I can officially give you the employee discount” William said back, glad he had you so readily available and unquestioningly agreeing with him, ready to spend some more time together, getting closer and earning your trust. He knew you were a nice girl, smiling and being kind in general, but he had to do more than just exchange a couple words a few times a week to actually get close to you, and this event was more than an excuse; it was a test.

Of course, your classmate Michael Afton wasn’t too happy hearing his dad had hired you to help during the Halloween event. It was not like William to include humans when those roles could be filled with animatronics, and storytelling was more than possible with the robots the pizzeria had. Also, more importantly, William was cheap, he would have more likely forced Michael to dress up and take the part of a circus clown than hire an actual actor for the role. It made no sense to Michael, and it worried him, more than his father’s usual eccentricities, and while you and him were not that close, Michael knew you as a gentle and kind person, someone who would be a great friend if he just let you close. 

Rather than ask you or William directly, Michael kept his suspicions to himself, but got closer to you, talking about the event and acted happy to have someone so reliable working there, even if just for one event. With his dad Michael made sure to be involved with the restaurant for the next couple of weeks, but all he was made to do was marketing, flyers, social media posts, going around putting up posters, nothing special.

However, more than once he came across software he did not recognize and files he could not access while working on the company computer his dad used as his personal computer. Michael made a mistake asking him about the software, as William angrily shouted it was none of the boy’s business and refused to let him use the laptop, telling him it would be better if Michael used his own computer for the tasks given to him or better yet, leave. No matter how much the two argued, this was the one time Michael bit his tongue and only focused on the tasks at hand, disregarding his father’s weird behaviour. 

It was a week before the big event that you made it to the pizzeria to meet William to talk about the costume you should be wearing. You had few ideas, but Mr. Afton had insisted that he had it all covered. As you arrived, you first met Michael, staring at a computer, writing something.

“Hey, still here?” you asked, walking to him and leaning over his shoulder to see what he was doing. He let out a sigh as he moved a bit to the side to let you see the post he was writing. 

“Just trying to make sure people outside Hurricane know there’s a special event, maybe we get a kid or two more this year,” Michael said, too focused on the current task to properly greet you right away, but as soon as he was done and turning to smile and exchange a few words, William’s delighted voice came through, getting both of your attention. Your attention was now completely on William, smiling gently, with warmth Michael rarely saw anywhere in his home. It made him feel weird, how your kindness was repaid by his father, a smile he never gave to his son, and a guiding arm William put around you, pulling you further back of the place, past the flickering lights and dark corners. The touch, the conversation, the smile William had on for you, it all seemed so innocent, yet Michael had a bad feeling about it, and the way William pulled you closer was almost jealous, like he was pulling you away from his son.

In the closet you were presented with a dress made of frills and frills on top of bows and childish accessories, but it was cute, you could not deny it.

“I made Circus Baby but she never found a proper place in the band, nor was there interest in a whole circus themed restaurant. But maybe the dress fits you and you can take the character for the event, you know, if it fits,” William said, watching you eyeing the dress, touching the cheap fabric, clearly wondering if it would fit you. It would, William had made sure of it.

“Are you sure? I’m not sure it f-,” you asked, and tried to say something about the fit, but Wiliam cut you off.

“I’m sure it’s fine. If you could try it, I’ll wait outside,” he said with the voice of a kindly old man, maybe a grandpa guiding a child on the right path, as he stepped outside, the red light from the exit sign reflected off his glasses, shadows contorting his features into sinister mockeries of the facade he tried to put on.

William leaned on the wall, looking at the door on the closet, imagining how you would look undressing, listening to every small rustle and click that came through the door. He could almost see in his mind’s eye how you took the dress in your hands, looking over the details in it, and carefully laying it over a chair, then, after a small moment of hesitation, you would take off your own jacket and then dress, before quickly taking the fancy dress and pulling it over your head. Maybe it felt a bit itchy, maybe it was just perfect, maybe he had underestimated the size of your breast, but it might take a second or two for you to get it on, wiggling into it, but soon you would slowly open the door, and ask for William to help with the zipper on the back. A bit embarrassed most likely, but he was more than happy to help, even if he “had to” straighten the dress on you, innocently move the fabric on your chest so it would be on you the right way. But he knew he would not need to imagine for long, he would know soon.

You took your time, gently trying on the dress after being a bit intimidated to change in the closet, as there were changing rooms in the building too, but maybe William was just a bit forgetful or wanted you to have more privacy than you might have in the employee changing room. 

The dress was an interesting choice to say the least, almost like it was for a whole different style of an animatronic than the ones in the pizzeria, maybe more suitable attire for a fair worker. It was fun, colourful, and definitely eye-catching, maybe a bit too much when you noticed yourself in the mirror and saw how the fabric laid across your chest. You took a few steps back to see yourself fully in the mirror, smiling at the frills and layers of tulle that made the underskirt and let the bottom of the outfit bounce and sway like in a fairytale or a cartoon. To you, it all looked so not like you yet you felt cute, happy to see yourself as something more than a random girl just going through life.

“Are you ready?” William asked through the door.

“Yes,” you answered, still looking at the mirror, not even looking at the door yet, but as he opened the door, you turned around and BANG! The door smashed into your head and as you tried to keep your balance, a long ribbon came down, tangling under your shoe, sending you tumbling down and hitting your head on a shelf and then the floor. 

All William could hear was three loud bangs as you fell down in front of him, and suddenly any plans he had made fell with you to the floor. In seconds Michael ran to the door too and leaped to check on you, seeing if you were still breathing, and if you were bleeding. Rather than let his son take care of you right there, William got down on your level and started lifting you up.

“Go get water and call an ambulance, I’ll get her in the first aid room,” William grumbled to Michael, lifting you in his arms like it was nothing, surprising even Michael, but he complied, opening the doors in William’s way so he could get you to a bed and look after you.

As you were put on the bed, and William could hear the faint voice of Michael, his brain started working again as he was looking at your limp, slowly breathing body, chest rising lightly and coming down. The bare legs slightly open, but the layers of tulle were in front of the sweet view his eyes tried to find, but as he stared there, hoping to see under the skirt and taste you just a bit before fucking you, pushing himself inside you, feeling how he became part of you. All he wanted was to really let you feel how he would feel as a part of you, how good he would make you feel, not just words that might scare you away, but an experience you could not get with anyone else.

William had all of you on tape changing clothes inside the closet as a small security camera had been placed there, since it’s a warehouse and not something that could not be surveilled, just to get to know a bit more intimately, to know what to expect when he might finally have you naked in front of him. Without the tape he might just be too taken aback to know what to do, too amazed by your body, too far gone to take his time with you, so this was for the best. Unfortunately his eagerness had made you hurt yourself, but what a perfect hurt angel you were, sleeping peacefully while William watched you from the foot of your bed, a light shadow casting over you, swallowing you. 

As Michael’s voice grew almost silent, William felt emboldened to close the door, lock it, and get closer to you, dragging his fingers across your skin, from the ankle to up to the hem of the dress. Rather than stop there, he pushed his hand under, feeling up your legs, over the fabric covering you, under your hips and butt, and grabbing the underwear, as quickly as possible removing them from you. When he got them over your feet, he could see you coming back to consciousness, moving a bit, furrowing your brows and then sighing in pain. Pushing the panties inside his pocket would be a bit suspicious, the corner of the fabric might be pushed to view as he was moving around, so he pushed them inside his own underwear, under the pants, but as he adjusted the fabric under his touch, the levity of the situation fell on him like an unused animatronic; him, rubbing his dick with your underwear (even if not meaning to), while you were unconscious in front of him, trying to gather your senses.

Rather than stop what he was doing, he turned over, back to you, cock hard, he let his hand grab himself harder, wanking while you let out pained gasps, carelessly trying to cum as quickly as possible. It excited him, knowing how close you were to finding him masturbating, with his hand down his pants, your panties around his cock. 

“William..?” You asked in pain, confused, questioning in a high pitched voice, just like William wanted to hear you, and with one more motion, he came right there in front of you, but he was more than a skilled actor, he was a confidence artist, selling you his innocence while still leaking, soaking your panties with his seed.

In one swift motion, he turned around, unlocking the door behind himself before walking over to you, clearly worried. 

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt you like that, it was an accident!” William tried to explain, taking your hand in his. “You were out so long, Michael had to call an ambulance, they should be here soon. Dear, I am so sorry”.

All of his fussing over you made you feel uncomfortable, not wanting to be any trouble to the old man, who clearly looked dishevelled, almost pained, hands clammy, like he had been sweating. A sigh and half a word left your mouth before you felt like something was off, and looked up at William, a bit confused, and he turned his head a bit and coughed, a bit embarrassed for what he had to say next. 

“Umm, you had a small accident, so I had to clean you up a bit. I’m so sorry, dear, I just couldn’t leave you like that, and…” William got out of his mouth, and you were burning up from the first sentence, like all the blood in you just went to your cheeks, burning. How did this happen, how could you embarrass yourself in front of William Afton like this, fall, get knocked out, and piss yourself, all in one day? You brought your hands up to your face, dying right there, wanting to just turn invisible, but all the pain in your head and cheeks burning, you knew you were alive and sitting on a bed with an old man holding your hand. 

You both could hear the door slowly opening, a worried Michael Afton looking in, with a paramedic behind him. 

“Now, won’t you let them check you and we’ll get you home if it’s nothing serious, alright, dear?”

[glassfullofsass]

Taxes 2024: glass's quick and gritty guide to free filing those bitches

By god I hate doing my taxes but what I hate more is paying money for someone to do them for me.

Here's the thing. If taking your W2s and property taxes to someone with the training and paying them $70 makes you feel better. Do it. BUT if you're stubborn and bitchy, you CAN do it yourself and if you're reading this post I'm going to make the assumption that your AGI is less than $79000 and therefore you qualify for free file. (and if you don't know what an AGI is then yes, you qualify).

It's honestly going to be okay. We will get through it together.

This guide is not going to be thorough, and while I will try to answer questions if you ask them, I'm not an expert: my knowledge comes from filing my own taxes for the fourth (fifth?) year in a row using the free file program and going through a number of life changes that I have to reflect on my taxes.

The post includes a link and screenshots. I will describe the bare minimum information of the images in Alt Text, but will not fully transcribe the full text as all the images will be from the IRS website which has accessibility options.

Here we go:

I want you to go to this page and then chose the first big blue button (unless you want it all in Spanish, then click on Spanish and I'll pray for you that it's all the same process)

If you are a brave, brave soul then take the fillable forms and be free, my children. I cannot help you there.

BUT if you chose the guided software options it's going to take you to these options

You may chose to browse options on your own. This does feel somewhat choose-your-own-adventure and I'm not your mother or your boss. HOWEVER. I implore you to take the guidance as far as you can. Chose the big blue button that says "Find Your Trusted Partner(s)" (very polycurious, if I may say).

This survey is meant to be straightforward. There is a little blue questionmark that opens to explain the filing statuses very clearly and in detail. Chose the right status for you, then some other questions will show up. Answer the questions that come up (again, this general page should be info that is straightforward. most of us should be able to answer the general questions with just what's in our heads), then click next when the questions are done.

Now, you will need to know your income for this page, which probably mean you need your W2s or whatever other forms you might have that reflect/summarize your 2023 income. You don't need to get into extreme detail, you just need totals. Worked a couple of jobs and have W2s for all of them? Add "box 1" from each W2 together, select the first box under "Income" and type in your total in the fillable box that opens.

Further down this page is space for adjustments to your income, so stuff about student loans and health savings would be helpful, but again this survey isn't about the nitty gritty. Round numbers are fine.

Once you're done here, you'll click next and then it'll ask you about the Earned Income Tax Credit which is really just about if you have kids or not. Answer that question, click next and BOOM

This is the only free file partner that I qualify for this year (again, life changes), but in previous years I have used HRBlock and Tax Slayer. All three sites have been guided similarly to this survey and as easy to use as can be possible given the US tax system.

Thus ends my guided portion, as going to 1040(.)com will show you a great deal of my personal info, but I will give you a few more notes:

Throughout the year, collect your tax forms/important papers in a safe, secure place that YOU WILL NOT FORGET. (preferably a safe or at least a heavy fireproof security box).

Once you get to the tax website you're going to use, you will need all those papers.

Start your filing early. I like to start when I get my W2s.

For one, you'll get everything done and then in April when someone, stressed and anxious, asks if you remember that taxes are due, you can smugly say you filed ages ago. For another, if you do run into significant issues, you have lots of time to resolve them.

Don't necessarily file super early. Sometimes congress does stuff that affects taxes as late as March. It's easier and less stressful to edit your pending forms than it is to file a correction.

When you have all the information in, look up the local and national news and see if there's anything going on regarding taxes. This year there's talk about extending the child tax credit. I haven't kept up with that because it doesn't apply to me, but it might be important to you. If there's nothing happening that might affect you, go ahead and file.

If you have a question, ask! Even the free file services have a help section

I lied, one last snip. This is from 1040. They have an FAQ section, and it's not just about the site itself. I have submitted questions to all three services I've used and all of them have answered me.

They won't hold your hand through every step, but if you have a specific question, they'll do their best to answer it.

You can also do a general internet search! "what this form?" and "do i need to include XYZ on my taxes" are all things i've found the answers for by searching them on duckduckgo

HRBlock has a huge amount of accessible information that I've used often.

I'll wrap here by just saying - if you get frustrated, save your work and walk away.

I called my employer's HR to ask something, waited a couple days then started an email to them, and realized the answer as I was writing the email.

The earlier you start, the more time you have to figure things out. You can do it. Good luck.

[mentalisttraceur-software]

Could you elaborate on how software is applied philosophy?

Software work ends up using and empirically testing a lot of the thinking and conclusions that get serious discussion in philosophy, or that would look like philosophy if generalized beyond software.

---

My go-to example of this, probably not the best example but it's simple and accessible, is "Chesterton's Fence", which is basically the idea that we shouldn't change something unless we understand why it is (or was) good/useful.

Outside of software, some philosopher named Chesterton popularized this idea like a hundred years ago with an analogy about a fence, and it has been discussed enough that today it still has an established name from that. People debate and hair-split when it applies and what other values/heuristics should take precedence. You can even find people arguing whether it's a good heuristic at all or always wrong.

In software, getting any real work done depends on already having a practical, working solution to this problem space. When you need to change code but you feel that desire to understand more of it first, or you want to get more testing with a new change before rolling into production, that's your brain already having a whole philosophy paper's worth of ideas expanding on Chesterton's Fence. When is it safe or an acceptable trade-off to proceed without learning more? Precisely what edge cases do you need to look into or rule out? What tests can take the place of needing to know the consequences? What design of my implementation or API can eliminate the need for code guarding against special cases?

---

So that's just one example, but I think this generalizes pretty well.

A lot of philosophy boils down to: how think, what's true, what do? The study of correct thinking, what we can know and how, and what we ought to do. (Logic, epistemology, and ethics.)

And in software, we use all those skills. If our logic is bad, we make more mistakes. If our ability to know what we know and how to verify truth of our ideas is bad, we'll make more mistakes. If we have bad ideas about how to make decisions, or bad skills at reviewing ourselves for errors in thinking and knowledge, we'll have more inefficiencies in our processes/workflows and be slower to improve. Very few activities have as tight/short/fast of a feedback loop between how your think and what results you get.

---

There is a lot of overlap in the mental skills involved in sound philosophical thought and coming up with good software designs for a given problem. In as little as I can claim to have done both, I seem to need mostly the same mental skills for them.

---

A lot of decisions and trade-offs in software have ethics impacts. We get a lot of personal freedom within our code that will have real impacts on other people - edge cases frustratingly unhandled vs handled in an intuitive and helpful way; errors silently swallowed or harmfully ignored or cryptically unadorned vs considerately detected before destructive actions and informatively wrapped before being shown; code left opaque and complected vs helpfully tuned to guide understanding and written so as to minimize what needs to be known or changed to work with any given spot. All that adds up to affect people, sometimes very significantly, wasting hours of work or losing data.

Two examples of that in one. Just the other day I helped someone save a lot of stuff they had typed from a website that got stuck in some state where their text was unclickable+unselectabled and covered by an overlay. Losing all that text and having to retype it would've been severely unpleasant, mentally+emotionally costly, and probably would've ruined an evening for at least one person. I was only able to help because I am fluent with web browsers' dev tools, so I was able to find the text box in the HTML inspector. I doubt the devs of either the web app or the browser dev tools had this particular situation in mind, but these were predictable ethics impacts on both sides - and besides ethics in general being a subset of philosophy, the thought shapes that enable you to automatically predict entire categories of impacts like those are also a kind of philosophy.

---

When you design a class hierarchy in code, or a database schemas, or a REST API, or just come up with a way to factor some logic into separate functions... you're doing ontology. And while the philosopher ontologist sees no real consequences if they get it wrong, you will feel the difference between getting it right and getting it wrong as the difference between a force-multiplier and an awkward hindrance - edge-cases and boilerplate elegantly become naturally unnecessary and more things Just Work "for free" when the abstractions and factoring and data shape are right for the problem. You're decomposing things into concepts and identifying relationships between them, and you're testing if the thinking you use to do that is actually good at distilling what's functionally important to the problem space. (This is why "naming things" is one of the "truly hard problems in computer science" - naming things well sometimes entails all the work of coming up with an ontology that's good for thinking about what you're doing, which also must map concisely and intuitively to a language like English.)

---

Sorry for the lack of cohesion/connectedness, this is just what I could think of / remember off the top of my head today.

[e-kamski-cyberlifeceo]

// Ooc:

For everyone not keeping up I'm going to explain -17 to you

17 is just the floor in the cyberlife tower that kamski and some other programmers did more experimental stuff. When you get onto the floor it just looks like a few offices but behind that is the lab. It takes a high clearance specialized personnel id badge to even access it. (Unless you were personally authorized by kamski) It was originally known as the "specialized repair center."        The lab was officially closed in 2028 when cyberlife got new management. The reason nobody accessed it after was because kamski removed all clearance to the floor before he left. Kamski also wrongfully assumed that all of the experiments would have shut down after 10 years of not having any access to thirium that they needed to continue running.       To clarify if you think this sounds unrealistic or ooc I understand. However, consider that some of these creatures were created when kamski was in his early twenties. He was also given unlimited creative power and resources to create whatever could come to mind. With that in mind, of course he created some freaky stuff! I think anyone would have in those circumstances.          That is just the backstory. What actually happened is that d had an Error causing him to shoot Elijah out of anger. D later experienced some far worse errors, leading his social programming to slowly fail, and his stress levels to go haywire. D asked Elijah to fix the problem. He agreed, but in order to fix the issue he had to plug d into his computer system. The problem was that it required a special cord that Elijah made only to fit his systems and the one he had in his personal lab broke, so he needed a new one. The only place kamski was 100% sure he could find on was in his old lab on floor -17.           Elijah carefully instructed d to only go into the first office and look in the desk there. Shortly later Elijah informed d not to go past the office, and just let him know if they couldn't find it. By this time d had already wondered into the lab looking for the cable. D then encountered what Elijah named the "real life enderman" (kamski denys naming it because it's ridiculous) this creature is exactly what it's named after. It's terrifying and quiet, but lightning fast, and extremely hostile. D gets trapped, so Elijah send sixty in after them. Sixty then experiences some errors, and is unable to help d. Elijah then send connor in after them and gets a virus from the computers inside. Connor then takes them to his house.           Unfortunately all that trouble and they can't get the cord, so instead of doing the easy thing and asking kamski to get a different one. Sixty goes back in after it, and gets trapped. Meanwhile, d is slowly shutting down after maxed stress levels corrupt their software.          After all of that, someone named torii volunteers to go after 60, but kamski, not wanting to end the experiments and save lives sends nines in with them. As of right now that is where the story concludes.

       I'm very sorry if this has a bunch of plot holes, or just makes no sense. None of this was actually supposed to happen. It just sort of started so I had to kinda wing the storyline fairly quickly. It's also completely ridiculous.

[sineout]

I switched to Linux

Eight days ago I finally switched to Linux full time.

I've been a dabbler with Linux for near on 25 years, about as long as I've had access to a home computer. My first experiences of Linux came from Linux ISO's bundled on Computer Shopper magazine (and other similar styled magazines) demo discs; and about 5 years ago I started running Linux as a desktop on at least one computer fairly regularly. But I always used Windows on my main system.

As of eight days ago now, that is no longer the case. The only trace of Windows I will have now is if I ever have to run a virtual machine.

The reasons for the switch are many, but they boil down to three main reasons: 1. Issues with Windows itself; 2. Being tired of Microsoft's bullshit; and 3. No longer trusting Microsoft given the current political climate.

1. Issues with Windows. Windows is slow. I have a pretty powerful computer, it has a fast processor (a Ryzen 6800h), 32Gb of RAM, and two NVME SSDs. It therefore shouldn't take 30 seconds for an explorer window to open, just because I have the audacity to have an optical drive (at least I think that's the reason for the delay); it shouldn't take dozens of seconds for a folder of a hundred images to respond to me creating a new folder and then another dozen seconds after dragging some images into it; I shouldn't need to keep on disabling shit I don't want every time Windows wants to do an update, nor should I have shit installed on my system that I don't even know about until I visit my start menu. In short a lot of issues I have are, for the most part, pretty well known, and I'm tired of it.

2. Microsoft's Bullshit. You know what people really love. Being tracked. People really love AI being shoehorned into their computers. They also love their perfectly functional machines becoming unsupported in October this year (yeah just to remind you, Windows 10 support is ending October 2025). There are ways of mitigating a lot of this stuff. It's possible to disable the tracking and AI, and it's possible to build a Windows 11 bootable USB without the restrictions (and also with out the tracking and AI too). But I shouldn't have to do that. And honestly even doing that, there was always the nag in the back of my mind asking if I actually had closed all the doors.

Points 1 and 2 on their own, while compelling reasons for me to make the switch, were never quite enough for me to take that final step. The effort in actually committing was just a fraction more than staying. But point 3 pushed me over

3. Lack of Trust in Microsoft. The current political climate (aka President Elon and King Trumps new and hopefully (literally) short lived dynasty) is, uh, not ideal let's just say. Big companies are already folding on various inclusivity policies; even though the current Executive Orders are essentially just suggestions. They are for all intents, covering their arses in an effort to protect themselves from their new dictators. But that also means that any big company in America simply can't be trusted any more. Would Microsoft say no if they are ordered to give Elon and his goons a back door into anyone's computer?

I don't think, in reality Microsoft would actually do that, and I doubt they'd even be asked, as that'd be an own goal for Elon and Trump that I'd hope a lot of republicans would be upset by. But the possibility remains. I don't know, I realise this sounds a bit conspiracy theory; and it sort of is. But the simple fact is that with rising Fascism in the US among politics and business bowing to it, I can't ignore that possibility.

So, finally I switched.

I'm currently running Linux Mint 22.1, and honestly it's been a pretty painless experience. I knew already that basic stuff like web browsing is already a solved problem in Linux, so I knew I'd have no issues with that, but I've also got nearly all the software I used on Windows running too (I even compiled my first piece of software, MakeMKV, and it works). The only exception is Affinity Photo, but I can spin up a Windows VM for that until I can figure out how to run it in Bottles.

Would I recommend everyone switch to Linux. No I don't. As mentioned, I've been a dabbler in Linux for over 25 years, so I've long gotten used to it. I've also had a long time to prepare for it. For example with exception to Affinity and MakeMKV all the software I routinely use is Free and/or Open Source and thus already has native Linux versions. I also don't make money from working on my computer and I mostly play indie games that tend to have good Linux support too. In addition, I enjoy actively working to get my computer to do stuff; it actually feels a bit nostalgic for me to a time when I had a 486 computer with a stack of demo discs and playing the first few levels of Quake 2 at like 7 frames a second, and thinking it was awesome. Linux is by far not nearly that bad, but I feel like I'm actually using my computer, and not merely a device that lets me go on the internet and play games.

If you're all those things, then a switch to Linux might be something you should consider, and either way I'll probably be writing updates on a fairly frequent basis (I plan monthly), at least as long as I have something interesting to report.

[marketingprofitmedia]

CalendarPal AI Review – Unlimited Appointment Scheduling AI App

Welcome to my CalendarPal AI Review, I will cover its features, upgrades, price, demo, bonuses, benefits, and my own personal opinion. The Worlds First Appointment Scheduling AI App That Allows You To Schedule Online Meetings Appointments Calls And Events Like Calendly Within 60 Seconds!

Do you still utilize the services of Calendly to set your calls and meetings? You must be aware that it is highly lucrative to run your own calls and meetings in the given business. However, the problem here is in freeness and technicality of handling your own calls and setting up meetings. In addition, you must subscribe monthly to any app that you support. But imagine if there is a possibility to avoid all those troubles? All of this could perhaps be done through automation by exploiting the potential of artificial intelligence. And to your mind it is impossible, do you think so, my friend? Today only, my good friend Ganesh introduced a new device in the market called CalendarPal AI. The first ever AI application for appointment setting and online booking, On full autopilot, all the work is done for you.

What Is CalendarPal AI?

CalendarPal AI is an artificial intelligent-based scheduling tool for appointment scheduling and management. It is a tool that is used in order to carry tasks that consume a lot of time and reduce the time taken in choice of the best schedule. CalendarPal AI has several features such as automated scheduling, intelligent reminder, customizable booking page and team collaboration to meet the needs of every busy individuals and business establishments. With the help of AI activated recommendations and suggestions the users can make effective decisions and stay productive.

CalendarPal AI Review: Overview

Product Creator: Ganesh Saha

Product Name: CalendarPal AI

Launch Date: 2024-Sep-26

Launch Time: 11:00 EDT

Front-End Price: $17 (One-time payment)

Official Website: Click Here To Visit Official Salespage

Product Type: Tools And Software

Support: Effective Response

Discount: Get The Best Discount Right Here!

Recommended: Highly Recommended

Bonuses: YES, Huge Bonuses

Skill Level Required: All Levels

Discount Coupon: Use Code “CALENDARADMIN” To Get 30% OFF!

Refund: YES, 180 Days Money-Back Guarantee

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CalendarPal AI Review: About Authors

Ganesh Saha is the brains behind this invention. With his know-how in technology and starting businesses, Ganesh gathered a team of experts to make CalendarPal AI, the top AI Software for making great CalendarPal AI and sketch characters. With Ganesh leading the way, CalendarPal AI lets anyone create their own stuff in no time.

Also, you can see some of his other creations like AI PixelSite, GraphicX Ai, VisualHub AI, OverLap AI, AI Doodles, AI CartoonBook, CookMate AI, Mailmaxpro, Plexity Ai, WebinarStudio, Ai Force, MailBard Al, Ai Designs, AISites, PrimeAi, VRStudio 2.0, Text Ai, OnyxMail, PrimeBook, PrimeMovie, SiteDetective, and many others.

CalendarPal AI Review: Fantastic Key Features

Automated scheduling: Enables users to share their availability and allow others to book appointments or meetings at their convenience.

Integrations: It integrates with popular calendar platforms like Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCloud.

Customizable availability: Users can set specific availability windows for different types of meetings or events.

Reminder notifications: Sends reminders to both organizers and participants before scheduled meetings.

Time zone detection: Automatically detects and adjusts for different time zones to avoid scheduling conflicts.

Customizable booking pages: Users can customize the appearance and content of their booking pages.

Analytics and reporting: Provides insights into scheduling trends and activity.

Group event scheduling: Enables users to set up and schedule group events or workshops.

Multiple meeting types: Supports scheduling of one-on-one meetings, round-robin meetings, and more.

Team scheduling: Collaborate with team members to coordinate availability and schedule group meetings.

Customizable reminders: Set up reminders to reduce no-shows and ensure all participants are informed.

Buffer time: Add buffer time between meetings to avoid back-to-back scheduling.

Round-robin scheduling: Distribute meeting requests across team members automatically.

Multiple event types: Create different types of events with varying durations and settings.

Web conferencing integrations: Seamlessly connect with virtual meeting platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams.

Embeddable scheduling links: Easily embed scheduling links on websites or email signatures for convenient access.

Multi-language support: Provides support for multiple languages to cater to a diverse user base.

Advanced customization: Customize branding, colours, and logos to align with your brand identity.

GDPR compliance: Ensures data protection and compliance with privacy regulations.

API access: Integrate with other tools and systems through API access.

Multiple time zone support: Display availability in different time zones for seamless scheduling across regions.

Calendar syncing: Syncs with popular calendar applications like Google Calendar, Outlook, and Apple Calendar.

Booking page customization: Customize booking pages with images, descriptions, and branding elements.

Group event scheduling: Facilitates scheduling group events with multiple participants at once.

User roles and permissions: Assign different roles and permissions to team members for effective collaboration.

Email notifications: Receive notifications for new booking requests, rescheduled meetings, and cancellations.

Recurring event support: Set up recurring meetings with options for daily, weekly, or custom frequency.

Time slot limits: Set limits on the number of bookings per time slot to manage availability.

Bulk scheduling: Schedule multiple meetings or events simultaneously for efficiency.

Availability preferences: Customize availability settings based on preferred days, times, and durations.

Participant questions: Collect important information from participants by adding custom questions to booking forms.

Team calendar views: View team members’ availability and schedules in a consolidated calendar view.

Custom appointment types: Create unique appointment types with specific settings and requirements.

Event buffers: Automatically add buffer time before and after meetings to allow for preparation and follow-up.

Calendar blocking: Block off specific time slots for personal appointments or tasks.

Meeting links and details: Share meeting links and details automatically with participants upon confirmation.

Custom email notifications: Customize email notifications sent to participants with personalized messages.

User-friendly interface: Intuitive and user-friendly interface for easy navigation and scheduling.

Accessibility features: Provides accessible features for users with disabilities to ensure inclusivity.

Guest limits: Control the number of guests or participants allowed to book a meeting.

Profile management: Manage user profiles, settings, and preferences for personalized scheduling experiences.

Interactive dashboard: Access a dashboard with an overview of upcoming meetings, bookings, and analytics.

No Technical Skills Required

24*7 Premium Support To Solve All Your Issues On-Time

Commercial Licence Included

CalendarPal AI Review: How Does It Work?

You Are 3-Clicks Away From Fully Automating Your Online Booking & Appointments

Step #1: Login

Login To CalendarPal AI Dashboard.

Step #2: Create & Set Up

Create & Set Up a Booking Page That Allows Anyone To Schedule & Book Online Meetings, Appointments, Events, and Call With You.

Step #3: Share

Share the Booking Page Link With Others and Get Paid.

<<>> GET INSTANT ACCESS TO ”CalendarPal AI” NOW <<>>

CalendarPal AI Review: Benefits of CalendarPal AI

This Is The Only AI Online-Appointment Booking App In The Market

Zero Upfront Cost Or Experience Needed

With A Click  Integrate With Google Calendar & Google Meet With No Technical Setup

1-Click Embed Your Booking Form To ANY Website You Want

Book And Manage Online Calls, Meetings, Sales Calls, And More With The Power Of AI

Automate Your Entire Booking System With The Help Of AI

The Only Booking App That Integrates With Email Marketing & Send Automated Emails

Comes With A Free Commercial License To Allow You To Sell It As A Service

Cancel All Your Expensive appointment-setting apps

Use Your Custom Branding With No Restrictions

Easily Integrate Your Favorite Tracking Software

Get Up And Running Within 2 Minutes

30 Days Money-Back Guarantee

CalendarPal AI Review: Who Should Use It?

Digital Marketing Agencies

Restaurants and Hospitality

Real Estate

Affiliate Marketers

E-com Store Owners

Event Organizers

Job Seekers

Networking and Sales Professionals

Educational Institutions

Healthcare

Tech Startups

Travel and Tourism

Entertainment and Media

Retail

Small Businesses

Cryptocurrency and Finance

Social Media Influencers

Government and Public Services

And Anyone Else

CalendarPal AI Review: OTO’s And Pricing

Add My Bundle Coupon Code “CALENDARADMIN″ – For 30% Off Any Funnel OTO Below

Front End Price: CalendarPal AI ($17)

OTO1: Premium Edition ($37)

OTO2: MAX Edition ($67)

OTO3: Chat Edition ($37)

OTO4: Done-For-You Edition ($97)

OTO5: Traffic Edition ($37)

OTO6: Assistant Edition ($47)

OTO7: Agency Edition ($97-$197)

OTO8: Reseller ($197)

OTO9: Whitelabel Edition ($297)

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My Own Customized Exclusive VIP Bonus Bundle

***How To Claim These Bonuses***

Step #1:

Complete your purchase of the CalendarPal AI: My Special Unique Bonus Bundle will be visible on your access page as an Affiliate Bonus Button on WarriorPlus immediately after purchase. And before ending my honest CalendarPal AI Review, I told you that I would give you my very own unique PFTSES formula for Free.

Step #2:

Send the proof of purchase to my e-mail “maketingprofitmedia@gmail.com” (Then I’ll manually Deliver it for you in 24 HOURS).

CalendarPal AI Free Premium Bonuses

Bonus #1: YouTube Ads Secrets

YouTube is one of the most under-utilized platforms by many digital marketers. Despite many statistics clearly showing the profitability of video marketing, even many of the web’s pre-eminent digital marketers are shy to get involved. Why is this? Simple: many marketers who are working from home lack the resources, the know-how, or the confidence to get involved with video marketing. But you know what? That’s exactly why you need to get involved and why you need to learn to use this critical tool.

Bonus #2: List Building Kickstart

Watch These Videos and Learn How Building an Email List Properly Can Net You Easy Triple Digit Paydays! If you want to make so much money online, building an email list of subscribers is necessary. You see, you may already have heard these words before, ‘the money is on the list’.

Bonus #3: High Paying Clients

High-paying clients are those who are willing to pay you double, triple, or even 50 times more than average customers. In this video course, you will learn what it takes to close high-paying clients. One of the most important things to do is change your belief and here you can find the way to do it.

Bonus #4: 10 Ways to Create The Perfect Online Video

Videos have become popular media for communicating with the masses. The present popularity of videos is due to the widespread use of camcorders and mobile phones as well as the convenience of sharing videos on the internet. In the marketing world, videos have become essential marketing tools. Creating compelling videos is mandatory for any person who seeks to use this tool for marketing, educating, and disseminating information among others.

Bonus #5: 20 Profitable Online Business Ideas

Discover 20 Online Business Ideas You Can Start Today So You Can Have The Freedom To Work Anywhere! Without an idea, there is no chance to start your own online business. With tons of entrepreneurs out there, this first step is one of the hardest challenges, where you might find yourself wandering around the web to get your creative juices flowing.

Bonus #6: Cloud Storage Guide

Cloud storage has been around for a while but not everyone is using it. When cloud storage first became available users were concerned about how safe and secure their data would be. As time went on cloud storage companies have shown that they are a reliable and safe way to store your business and/or your data.

Bonus #7: Site Speed Secret

Everybody hates slow websites. So, why haven’t you done anything about your slow site? Don’t you realize that it’s putting people off from visiting your site and checking out everything that you have to offer? It doesn’t matter if you’ve got a well-designed site or a life-changing product.

Bonus #8: 100k Dollar Traffic Blueprint

Traffic generation is the lifeblood of your online business! Without traffic, you can’t get sales or leads. If you can master traffic, then you can control your destiny. Follow this complete and comprehensive traffic course for proven traffic methods!

Bonus #9: 100k Adsense Blueprint

The Time-Tested, Proven Course for Building a 6-Figure Internet Business Adsense $100k Blueprint! Adsense $100k Blueprint turns Adsense upside-down, and “Conventional Wisdom” on its head. After all, if you’ve been following ‘conventional wisdom’ and are still reading this, it probably didn’t work for you, and you probably haven’t made the kind of money you’re looking for.

Bonus #10: Free Commercial License Upgrade

With Commercial License You can provide online appointment booking service to hungry buyers for Top Dollar.

CalendarPal AI Review: Money Back Guarantee

We Will Pay You To Fail With CalendarPal AI Our 30 Days Iron Clad Money Back Guarantee

CalendarPal AI is a proven app. I trust it. So I will put my money where my mouth is. In the odd event that you fail to utilize CalendarPal AI for any reason. We demand that you send us an email. It’s simple: if you don’t earn money, we don’t want it. We produce more than enough using CalendarPal AI.

<<>> GET INSTANT ACCESS TO ”CalendarPal AI” NOW <<>>

CalendarPal AI Review: Pros and Cons

Pros:

Efficiency: Automates scheduling tasks, saving time and reducing conflicts.

Client Experience: Customizable booking pages and user-friendly interface.

Team Collaboration: Facilitates effective teamwork and communication.

Data-Driven Insights: Provides valuable analytics for informed decision-making.

Scalability: Suitable for individuals and businesses of all sizes.

Cons:

You need internet for using this product.

No issues reported, it works perfectly!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)

Q. Do I need any experience to get started?

None, all you need is just internet connection. And you’re good to go

Q. Is there any monthly cost?

Depends, if you act now, NONE.  But if you wait, you might end up paying $997/mo It’s up to you.

Q. How long does it take to make money?

Our average member made their first sale the same day they got access to CalendarPal AI.

Q. Do I need to purchase anything else for it to work?

No, CalendarPal AI is the complete thing. You get everything you need to make it work. Nothing is left behind.

Q. What if I failed?

While that is unlikely, we removed all the risk for you. If you tried CalendarPal AI and failed, we will refund you every cent you paid

Q. How can I get started?

Awesome, I like your excitement, all you have to do is click any of the buy buttons on the page and secure your copy of CalendarPal AI at a one-time fee.

CalendarPal AI Review: My Recommendation

CalendarPal AI is a smart scheduling software that can dramatically enhance your performance and increase your schedule’s quality. The features such as AI, booking page customization, compatibility with tools can be seen as essential for personal and business use. Nevertheless, there are definitely very important factors that one has to pay close attention to in order to arrive at the right decision that will suit best with one’s needs and of course budget. Therefore, you have a kind of template to compare the pros and cons and decide whether you should use CalendarPal AI to help you.

<<>> GET INSTANT ACCESS TO ”CalendarPal AI” NOW <<>>

Check Out My Previous Reviews: KinderBooks AI Review, CLICK n’BANK AI Review, MusicPal Review, Traffit Review, PLR Cash Review, and ADASuite Review.

Thank for reading my CalendarPal AI Review till the end. Hope it will help you to make purchase decision perfectly.

Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available information and is not intended as an endorsement or promotion of CalendarPal AI. Users should conduct their own research and due diligence before making any purchasing decisions.

Note: This is a paid software, but the one-time fee is $ 17.

[silent-hill-2-official]

Apologies for necro-posting, but I looked through the notes and while people have given you some pros and cons, no one actually walked you through getting it up and running, and I might as well give my best shot at helping someone evacuate from windows 11, so here is the Jack Joy's Explanation and Guide to Linux. Chapter 0: The Pitch for the Penguin.

Linux is all about freedom. While Windows and MacOS are Walled Gardens that are slowly stripping away control from their users and extracting more and more from you, the person who is using a non-linux OS, Linux does not do that shit. Free and Open Source Software is the name of the game in Linux, as that is what is mostly being developed in that space by an army of volunteers passionate about keeping the PC personal. That comes with some caveats though. A lot of the software you use is proprietary, and while some of that is still available on Linux, most of it is not. Some you'll expect. Some you wouldn't think is even proprietary and will surprise you when you lose access to it. The Linux community has done it's best to provide solutions for a lot of these, and you will find that a lot of what you want to use has some alternative in linux, but some things will just be fucked. You trade convenience for control.

Chapter 0.5: When you are a King very few choices are simple

If the Pitch convinced you, then congrats, you now have one of the hardest decisions to make as a Linux User. What Distribution of Linux are we using? Distributions (or Distro's for short) are all different OS' who run on the Linux Kernel, the thing that gives your machine thought and makes it possible to run the hit video game Team Fortress 2 (2007). There are a lot of distributions of linux, all of which do weird things with it, but my personal Picks are as follows.

Linux Mint

Linux Mint is the gold standard for stupid simple linux distro. It just works*, it comes with a DE(desktop Enviroment) that is reminiscent of windows 7 so adjustment should be minimal and overall, is very uncomplicated. Is a bit bland tho. *(things still break sometimes).

Ubuntu

Ubuntu meanwhile you probably already heard of. Think of it as the MacOS of Linux. It has the most company support, it's DE called GNOME is very MacOS like in it's design language, incredibly stable, but also very poor in customization. If something says tested on linux, a lot of the time, it means tested on Ubuntu.

EndeavourOS

EndeavourOS is my linux distribution of choice. It's based off of Arch Linux, which is what powers the Steamdeck with SteamOS, and as such has a lot of nifty Arch linux niceties, like the Arch User Repository, and KDE Plasma as it's DE. It tries to combine being user friendly while letting you tinker with everything, it is on the cutting edge of linux, but that also means that stuff CAN break more often.

These are just my picks. Some other notable beginner friendly Linux Distros that might pique your interest could be Pop_Os, Manjaro, Elementary OS and probably a bunch of others that I forgot or don't even know exist until someone will complain at me for forgetting after writing this guide. Choice my friend. You have a lot of it, and so think about what you want from your PC and go with the distro that seems to be best suited for your usecase, whether it be as a game machine or to just use firefox and libreoffice.

Chapter 1: Performing OS Replacement Therapy on your PC

So, you know what Linux Distro you are gonna use, you know you are ready to do this, so how are we doing this? Pretty simple in all honesty. We only need:

A Flash drive (USB preferred, SD or micro SD card readers can get FUNKY)

Balena Etcher

The ISO of the flavor of Linux you want to use

Some knowledge of how to navigate your computers BIOS

And preferably a secondary boot device (IE, a second SSD in your PC)

Plug your USB into your PC, and with Balena Etcher flash your ISO onto it. If you got another USB to spare, it is a good idea to flash an image of Windows 7 onto it. Think of that second USB stick as a "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" type of safety precaution. We don't wanna have to use it, but it's good to have just in case. Reboot your PC with your Linux flashed USB stick in, and get into your BIOS. There you are going to pull that USB stick up the boot loader until it goes before windows. If that is somehow not an option, you might have to fuck around with your PC as there might be some secure boot shennanigans going on. Consult DuckDuckGo about your specific Computer, someone already figured it out if there is a hiccup. If you were able to pull up your USB up the boot order, exit the BIOS and hopefully things should be happening. To confirm look at the screen and if it does something new (and potentially scary looking) instead of the normal windows boot sequence, it is probably doing good. After a while you should be spat back out into a "Live Enviroment" version of your OS. This version of the OS exists only for this boot, and is pulled from your USB stick. There should be an installer inside of that live enviroment version of your OS, after which it is mostly smooth sailing. Follow the Installer, but pay REAL GOOD ATTENTION to what it is sayin when it asks you where it wants to be installed, as it will create a partition somewhere on your PC. If you have a PC with an SSD that isn't being used by windows, I recommend giving it that as you'll just be able to give that entire drive to Linux without problem. If you don't have an extra SSD, you will have to cleave a chunk from the one drive you have from windows. You can just give it 50% of the drive if you want to be conservative and still retain the ability to go back to windows. But should you feel particularly pissed/want to make sure you have no escape back to windows without having to reinstall it via that second USB stick, then torch the damn thing. Once the Installer is done it will either ask you to reboot your PC or just do it itself. After which point if everything went right, you will complete your first boot of Linux and end up in the actual version of the OS you installed. If you made it there, congratulations, and welcome to Linux. You might want to update the first time you boot, but after that, feel free to poke around to see what you have installed. Get Acquainted with your new Desktop, use some of the artisanal software that is FOS, if you are feeling spicey, run some commands in the terminal (as long as you know what they do. please do not run sudo rm -rf / because you saw it on a funny linux meme, that will uninstall your entire OS.) I hope this Guide has been helpful ^w^.

Hey. Gonna gamble here. Can someone explain to me the pros and cons of Linux as a whole and tell me maybe -possibly- how one might go about getting something set up

[skinsort]

Selling Skins

My last post contained a lot of thoughts on skinning, the attitude towards coders in the rpc, and what we're actually paying for when we buy a skin. I kind of left it off with a so what, and a promise to talk more about my approach going forward. My thoughts on that are below.

Having made a completely original skin, and realizing how much time and effort it requires if I'm not doing derivative work every time, I also realized that doing customs makes no sense for me. There's no universe where that works out to be a reasonable use of my time- not just because the compensation is so far out of line with what I would normally charge for my skillset, but because I also wouldn't even be working on things I was necessarily interested in. I'm willing to discount my work to help the community in general- but only if I'm not treating it like an actual job, with clients telling me what to do and dictating the creative direction of my skinning. I don't want to deal with all that.

That said, there's some reasonable talk about what multisales and their value once they've been sold dozens of times. I think there's a sweet spot to be found there with limited multisales. Doing it that way allows a coder to make a reasonable amount of money in return for their time and skill, while also making sure that anyone who buys their skin won't be using it in an oversaturated field, full of other versions of the same thing. My plan moving forwards is to choose designs and new approaches which are interesting to me, fun for me to code, and likely different structurally each time. I probably won't be working off a base very often. I will be striving in every skin to deliver something which is (to me) a near-professional level of work- with responsive, intuitive accessible, performant designs. Because of this, I'll be pricing higher than most multisales. Most skins I see look very aesthetic at large screensizes, and simply don't function well in any other way. I can't code like that, it's simply not in my bones. So, given that, I will probably charge around $100 for a full skin, selling it up to ten times depending on the amount of time I spent on creating it. I will always fix any bugs which are found in a skin of mine, and I'll do a first time install for free. I think that's a situation which is most fair to everyone involved. There's a certain amount of uniqueness for the purchaser which doesn't require an exorbitant amount of money to commission me. I get to work on things I actually like and enjoy coding. I can hold myself to a standard I'm happy with in the work without drastically undervaluing myself or asking any one person to compensate me for that standard. Admins can actually afford a skin which rises to an high level on stuff that usually gets ignored. And if the way I code doesn't appeal, so be it, there's no butting heads over aesthetic preferences. I'll probably catch some flak for talking about my work this way, or pricing it along these lines, to which I can only shrug. I've worked in software development for a long time now on top of my education. I know what my time is worth, and I know how much I'm already giving away for free doing it this way. This is the structure I can feel good about, and I hope that as I start to release skins the people who purchase them feel like they got what they hoped and expected they would. If that doesn't seem to be the case I'll reevaluate- but honestly if I can't find a happy medium between using my time well and delivering a good product, I'll probably go back to just coding new skins as needed for myself. Anyway, those are my thoughts on how I'd like to balance providing a service and preserving my sanity as I start to skin for the rpc. I hope that makes a reasonable amount of sense to people, and I look forward to bring things live in the new year!

[blackmailscam]

You have an outstanding payment.

Hello there!

Unfortunately, there are some bad news for you.

Around several months ago I have obtained access to your devices that you were using to browse internet.

Subsequently, I have proceeded with tracking down internet activities of yours.

Below, is the sequence of past events:

In the past, I have bought access from hackers to numerous email accounts (today, that is a very straightforward task that can be done online).

Clearly, I have effortlessly logged in to email account of yours (<email address).

Here is the proof I hacked this email. Your password at the time when I got access to your email: <hacked password from https://haveibeenpwned.com/>

A week after that, I have managed to install Trojan virus to Operating Systems of all your devices that are used for email access.

Actually, that was quite simple (because you were clicking the links in inbox emails).

All smart things are quite straightforward. (>_<)

The software of mine allows me to access to all controllers in your devices, such as video camera, microphone and keyboard.

I have managed to download all your personal data, as well as web browsing history and photos to my servers.

I can access all messengers of yours, as well as emails, social networks, contacts list and even chat history.

My virus unceasingly refreshes its signatures (since it is driver-based), and hereby stays invisible for your antivirus.

So, by now you should already understand the reason why I remained unnoticed until this very moment...

While collecting your information, I have found out that you are also a huge fan of websites for adults.

You truly enjoy checking out porn websites and watching dirty videos, while having a lot of kinky fun.

I have recorded several kinky scenes of yours and montaged some videos, where you reach orgasms while passionately masturbating.

If you still doubt my serious intentions, it only takes couple mouse clicks to share your videos with your friends, relatives and even colleagues.

It is also not a problem for me to allow those vids for access of public as well.

I truly believe, you would not want this to occur, understanding how special are the videos you love watching, (you are clearly aware of that) all that stuff can result in a real disaster for you.

Let's resolve it like this:

All you need is $1450 USD transfer to my account (bitcoin equivalent based on exchange rate during your transfer), and after the transaction is successful, I will proceed to delete all that kinky stuff without delay.

Afterwards, we can pretend that we have never met before. In addition, I assure you that all the harmful software will be deleted from all your devices. Be sure, I keep my promises.

That is quite a fair deal with a low price, bearing in mind that I have spent a lot of effort to go through your profile and traffic for a long period.

If you are unaware how to buy and send bitcoins - it can be easily fixed by searching all related information online.

Below is bitcoin wallet of mine: 14UTJBbtUsKxPtkf8WvGwWBpB4D6MmGqAk

You are given not more than 48 hours after you have opened this email (2 days to be precise).

Below is the list of actions that you should not attempt doing:

> Do not attempt to reply my email (the email in your inbox was created by me together with return address).

> Do not attempt to call police or any other security services. Moreover, don't even think to share this with friends of yours. Once I find that out (make no doubt about it, I can do that effortlessly, bearing in mind that I have full control over all your systems) - the video of yours will become available to public immediately.

> Do not attempt to search for me - there is completely no point in that. All cryptocurrency transactions remain anonymous at all times.

> Do not attempt reinstalling the OS on devices of yours or get rid of them. It is meaningless too, because all your videos are already available at remote servers.

Below is the list of things you don't need to be concerned about:

> That I will not receive the money you transferred.

- Don't you worry, I can still track it, after the transaction is successfully completed, because I still monitor all your activities (trojan virus of mine includes a remote-control option, just like TeamViewer).

> That I still will make your videos available to public after your money transfer is complete.

- Believe me, it is meaningless for me to keep on making your life complicated. If I indeed wanted to make it happen, it would happen long time ago!

Everything will be carried out based on fairness!

Before I forget...moving forward try not to get involved in this kind of situations anymore!

An advice from me - regularly change all the passwords to your accounts.

[thenamesblurrito]

ask dumps hitting double digits 😳

hooooo boy number ten!! okay today we got: what self repair looks like, transformable furniture, medical supplies, mythological creatures, multiple bodies, TFP’s Nemesis, a Final Fantasy reference, teething kiddos, and cosmetic alterations

yknow that’s a good question i thought i had talked about this before but it appears not. for scrapes and scratches, i always picture a rough grey “scab” of nanites, sort of like a weld mark but grittier, as the repair nanites form a protective layer over what they’re rebuilding, which eventually flakes away and paint nanites grow over the spot. individual nanites are too small to see with the naked optic, but a fuzzy or cloudy area on the optic that can’t be blinked or polished away would absolutely be distracting, maybe moreso than a clean cut!

yes! and sort of no? there’s a lot of multi-purpose foldable or transformable furniture, appliances, tools, even rooms sometimes. the technology exists and it’s very useful! but along with the size and frametype segregation that’s built into architecture, size and frametype specified furniture is restricted to heavily trafficked public use buildings that cater to all classes, or fancy areas that have guests from everywhere. otherwise, you’re generally only going to find specific furniture for specific frames. if you’re a different size or frametype, too bad!

this is yet another way the JAAT is ahead of the game, all of its furniture and living spaces are accessible for as many frametypes as possible, and with more specialized settings to be brought out when someone needs something different. the kids are thrilled when they settle into their dorms and discover hey, this chair will unfold taller for a minibot and shorter for a size 4 so they can be at equal height at the table, and the back will recede so wings won’t be obstructed

ha i didn’t think about herbal remedy type stuff for mecha, that’s clever actually. this is sort of related to the sixth ask here

medical care generally comes in two distinct but intrinsically linked halves: physical and digital. like how computer issues are thought of as either a hardware or software problem, mecha need both hardware and software running well to be healthy. on the digital side, there are ‘booster shots’ like datapackets on one-use interface jacks, or temporary fixtures to run scripts while the nervous circuitry is updating or recovering. on the physical side, it’s a lot of metalworking and mechanical tools. plasters and plastic covers, buffers, welders, etc. think the kind of stuff you’d see TFP Knock-out use, or Ratchet. proper medical supplies are sanitary, specific, and medical providers will usually check both hardware and software to see that whatever is being done is going well for both physical and digital systems

for homemade junker stuff specifically, you can basically pick up anything that’s clean and can be attached and use it as a patch of sorts, but it won’t integrate with the frame and you need to be careful to keep it clean so you don’t give yourself a rust infection. datacables might mitigate the unresponsiveness of this kind of extremely basic prosthetic, but they’re never going to have the sensory feedback of an actual frame, and are extremely unlikely to allow transformation. Terminus is a good example, he had to make his own prosthetic pede when he ended up on the streets. medicinally, there are some cyberflora with good health benefits, like logginkeys having seeds that can be eaten as basic debugging pills, but the problem is junkers may have zero access to any cyberflora in their given area if it doesn’t already grow there. stealing or rummaging through the trash might be a better option at that point

well uh, not skeletons i guess, because they... don’t have skeletons. there’s the Necrobot, who is real, there’s the giant alloygator cryptid, who is also real, there’s legends of demons, ghosts, Primal elements, and of course all the various gods, demigods, and other forms of Prime or Prime-adjacent beings from ancient history, along with their alleged God War. they certainly have stories of the undead in various forms, especially around inhospitable places like the Rad Zone in Ultrix or the Forbidden Zone in Iacon. places like the Mithric Sea have stories of creatures like kelpies or sirens, indistinct and calling out to travelers to just come deeper for a bit, just a little farther, there’s something to see here, and the victim doesn’t realize they’ve been lured into fatal mercury exposure until they fall apart. the Sea of Ages has opposite figures, blessed children forged from the seas outside of any hotspot, or great hidden spirits of energon and sentio metallico that hear prayers and grant wishes at just the right time. there’s some mythologized accounts of real, extinct cyberfauna, like the giant flying whales of Cybertron, and some stories that might not be related to extinct cyberfauna at all, like stories of moving, living cities and great organic skeletons buried in the deep layers of the planet

and of course there’s all kinds of legendary, religious, or folkloric figures from all of history. think like anything ranging from Odysseus to Johnny Appleseed to Enkidu to King Arthur. people with fantastical, impossible abilities, or wild journeys, or impossible feats of skill and strength and accomplishment. some of them may be real historical figures like the Knights of Cybertron, some may be completely made up, and some may have a small basis in reality but are otherwise mythologized. of course, nobody expects people like the Autobots and Decepticons to show up and suddenly start making those stories look plausible

also i take back the no skeletons thing, because i’ve been reminded of something that absolutely fits (thank you stone!). Eukaris is a planet with a cyberformed organic ecology, and as such there’s cyberfauna and flora right alongside organic animals and plants that have adapted to live together. this planet definitely has legends of strange beastformers called Fossilizers, forged out of the corpses of organic animals and transforming from skeletons to living mecha. bizarre and terrifying for a mechanical species!

mmmmmmmm actually i need to check my relic list, wherever the heck it’s gone

can’t find my list ._. the one from that mythology post is outdated, i’ll just have to make a new one. anyway. yes, probably! i like this idea a lot. it would definitely depend on the individual receiving the relic, since not everyone has the same powerset even when using the same relic. this is probably a good candidate for a different manifestation of the Enigma’s powers, maybe the Onyx Triptych or the Arsenal Force. an Allspark shard might do this too. i can’t promise this will actually happen but i think it’s definitely plausible, i’ll have to see if i can work it in somewhere

i forgot what this meant and was trying to remember and all i could come up with was some kind of anti-dating app

so im going to assume you mean MECH’s Project Chimera? maybe? i don’t recall anything named Nemesis Protocol specifically and nothing turns up on the wiki under that term. drones and automatons in SNAP can get pretty advanced, but they are crucially not alive by biological or spiritual standards for Cybertronians. you could probably build a drone that looks very similar to a person and program it very well, but it would take some really good luck to keep up the charade for long when interacting with other people. it’s also basically impossible to fake a spark, and you can’t transplant/extract living sparks either, so all it would take is a cursory medical examination. i also use different design elements for drones vs people to make them visually distinct, their optics and the layout of their fingers being the most obvious

so a fake drone version of Optimus Prime is possible, but not super convincing, which is why the Nemesis Prime that shows up in SNAP will have a different origin :3

OH THIS IS THE MEME GIF OF THE GUY SMILING INTO AN EXPLOSION THIS IS WHERE THATS FROM??? ASFHGFRRFE

so i will be honest i barely understood what was going on in this video and i also have no idea what the Fate you’re referring to means (surprise! Final Fantasy is also something i know nothing about!!) but the concept of a fatal finishing move is absolutely possible. Hellscream, Optimus, and Rodimus especially since they’re the immortal ones. Elita 4, Elita 5, Thunderblast, and Cyclonus also could probably take out a massive area with a self-destructive burst. but the whole magical binding circle thing in the video... i don’t actually think so? that’s not really how these relics work

however. as for bodily laser-beam just bursting straight through an enemy at speed, Cheetor can do that. get him an enemy with a chest cavity big enough to pass through and he’ll run literally straight through them and probably take out their spark chamber on the way

so mecha don’t actually start out with individual dentae. sparklings already have dental shelves or plates in place from forging, so they don’t need to nom on things as teeth grow in. same for folks with grinder mouths, it’s already fully formed and functional. that does not however mean that sparklings won’t absolutely chew on anything and everything just as a matter of exploration. depends on the kid of course, some will fit anything in their mouths and some refuse to let even fuel get near their face if it’s unfamiliar

i forgot about that movie wth that was such a good movie

i know i’ve mentioned this before. somewhere. ugh. most of the time the more drastic frame alterations will be function related, so something to improve your alt mode, or what have you. smaller cosmetic alterations can be anything from new paintjobs (eventually worn off as the natural hardcoding of the frame replaces the other paint color, like dyeing hair), to engraved or programmed tattoos, to modifying kibble shape to be sleeker or bulkier or something. permanent decals are kind of like piercing equivalents. drones are a good idea, i didn’t think of those. they’d have to stay away from transformation seams so they don’t get caught

i have reedmecha written in my notes as a type of cyberfauna but i haven’t expanded on that yet

i think while the Robots villain concept is possible, it’s just highly improbable. sure, there have been folks obsessed with the living metal of a frame (like Cannibaron) but also, why would you go through all the trouble of rounding up and murdering mecha, sorting through their corpses to separate out each material, processing that into something usable, and then selling it? they live on a planet made of metal, they really don’t need to kill each other for it. even the government largely ignores junkers instead of rounding them up all at once, because it’s really too much work for a problem that ultimately takes care of itself when they starve