#india lockdown 3

[originallandlockedmariner]

2023

Pickleball. Generative AI. Lula takes office in Brazil, Amazon Rainforest throws a party. Prince Harry refusing to stop talking about his frozen penis no matter how many times society begged him to stop. UFOs are real. Viral cat dubbed ‘largest cat anyone has ever seen’ gets adopted. Pee-Wee’s big adventure ends. Musk & X. Turkey-Syria earthquake kills thousands. India surpasses China as ‘country squeezing in the most peeps’. Tucker Carlson ousted. Miss USA and her 30 lbs moon costume. Wildfires in Kelowna and Hawaii. Macron tinkers with retirement age of the French. Paltrow can’t ski. Big Red Boots. Bob Barker leaves us. Alabama mom delivers 2 babies from her 2 uteruses in 2 days. Charles III. Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces as the war drags on. Taylor Swift is Time’s Person of the Year. African ‘coup belt’. Flo-Jo dies in her sleep. Chinese spy balloon shot down. Hollywood writers strike. Human ‘nice mugshot’ Shitstain and his 91 indictments. Highest interest rates in 2 decades. The Bear’s Christmas episode. War in Gaza. Shinzo Abe is assassinated. Alex Murdaugh. Ocean Cleanup removes 25 000 lbs of trash from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Vase purchased for $3.99 sells for $100 000 at auction. Barbenheimer. A third of Pakistan is flooded. Lionel Messi is the GOAT. Travis Kelce. The Sphere opens in Las Vegas. Regulators seized Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, resulting in two of the three largest bank failures in U.S. history. “The Woman In Me”. WHO declares COVID ain’t a thing no more. Titan sub sinks, rich people die. Matthew Perry drowns. Dumbledore Dies (again). Massive sales of ‘Fuck Trudeau’ flags for jacked-up micro-dick trucks. Everything Everywhere All At Once. June-August was the hottest three-month period in recorded history across the Earth. Tina Turner dies. And the Beatles release a new song?! Wow… You got big shoes to fill 2024.

Archives for context:

2020

Kobe. Pandemic. Lockdown. Koalas on fire. Harry and Meg retire. Toilet paper hoarding. Alcoholism. Impeach the f*cker. Parasite. Bonnie Henry. Tiger King. Working from home. Sourdough bread. Harvey Weinstein guilty. Zoom overdose. Dip your body in sanitizer. 6 feet. Quarantine. OK Boomer. Home schooling (everyone passes). Murder hornets. Dolly Parton. Don’t hug, kiss or see anybody, especially your family. Chris Evans’ junk. TikTok. Glory holes. Face masks. CERB. West Coast wildfires. Stay home. Small Businesses lose, big box stores win. F*ck Bozos. ‘Dreams’ and cranberry juice. Close yoga studios, but thumbs up to your local gym. Speak moistly to me. George Floyd. BLM. F*ck Trump. Phase 2, 3 and Summer. RBG. Baby Yoda. Biden wins. Bond and Black Panther die. No more lockdown. Back to school and work. Just kidding... giddy up round 2. Giuliani leaks shit from his head. Resurgence of chess. UFOs are real. Restrictions. Dave Grohl admits defeat. Monolith. “F*ck... forgot my mask in the car”. No Christmas shenanigans allowed. Bubbles. Alex Trebek. Use the term ‘dumpster fire’ one too many times. Jupiter and Saturn form 'Christmas Star'. Happy New Year Bitches!!!! 2021... you better not sh*t the bed!!

2021

“We love you, you’re very special”. Failed coup attempt at the Capital. Twitter, FB and IG ban Donny. Hammerin’ Hank goes to the Field of Dreams. Bozo no longer richest man but still a twat. Leachman, Tyson, and Holbrook pass. The economy is worse than expected. Kim and Kanye split. Brood X cicadas. Dre has an aneurysm and nearly has his home broken into. Bridgerton. MyPillow CEO is a douche. Covid restrictions extended indefinitely. Captain Von Trapp dies. Proud Boys officially a Terrorist Organization. Richard Ramirez. Cancer takes Screech. Travel bans. Impeachment trial (again?… oh and this was barely February? WTF??!!) Suez Canal blockage. Myanmar protest. Kong dukes it out with Godzilla, while Raya watches. Olympics. Friends compare elective surgeries. F9. Canada Women’s Soccer Gold. Free Britney. Multiverses. Residential Schools in Canada unearth children’s bodies. Kate is Mare of Easttown. Cuomo resigns. Disney and Dwayne cruise together. Wildfires. Delta variants. Musk passes Bezos. Candyman x 5. Capt. Kirk goes to space. F*ck Kyle Rittenhouse. Astros didn’t win. Squid Game. Goodbye Bond. Dune is redone. Angelina is Eternal. Astroworld deaths. Meta. Omicron. Three Spidermen. Tornados in December? World Juniors cancelled. Pills against Covid. School opening delayed. And Betty White dies. 2022… my expectations are ridiculously low…

2022

Wow… eight billion people. Queen Elizabeth II passes away after ruling the Commonwealth before dirt was invented. The monkeypox. Russia plays the role of global a**hole. Wordle. Mother Nature rocks Afghanistan. Hover bike. Styles spits on Pine. Olivia Newton John, Kristie Alley, and Coolio leave us. Pele was traded to team Heaven. FTX implodes. Madonna and the 3-D model of her vagina. Pig gives his heart to a human. Beijing can brag that it is the first city ever to host both the Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics. Uvalde. $3 trillion Apple. Keith Raniere gets 120 years. The Whisky War ends with Canada and Denmark going halfsies. Mar-a-Lago. Nick Cannon brood hits a dozen. Shinzo Abe is assassinated. Inflation goes through the roof (if you can actually afford to put a roof over your head). Volodymyr Zelensky. European heat wave. Bennifer. Salman Rushdie is stabbed on stage, Dave Chappelle tackled, and Chris Rock is only slapped. Thích Nhất Hạnh. Heidi Klum goes full slug. Cuba knocked out by Ian. Liz Truss and 4.1 Scaramuccis. Taylor Swift breaks Ticketmaster. Human shitstain Elon Musk ignores helping mankind and buys Twitter instead. Riri becomes a mommy. NASA launches Artemis 1. Trump still a whiny little b*tch. Music lost Loretta Lynn, Christine McVie, and Meat Loaf. Democracy died at least three times. Pete Davidson continues to date hottest women on the planet (no one understands how?!) Microplastics in our blood. Alex Jones is a c*nt. So is DeSantis. Argentina wins the World Cup. Meghan and Harry. Eddie Munson rips Metallica in the Upside Down. tWitch. Roe vs Wade is overturned by the micro dick energy of the Supreme Court. CODA. James Corden shows he is a "tiny Cretin of a man". Amber (and the sh*t on the bed) Heard (round the world). Sebastian Bear-McClard proves he’s one of the f*cking dumbest men alive. Latin America's ‘pink tide’. Anti-Semitic rants by Ye. Bob Saget. A verified blue checkmark. Godmother of punk Vivienne dies. And, Tom Cruise feels the need for speed yet again. 2023… whatcha got for us?!? Nothing shocks me anymore.

@daily-esprit-descalier

[wojosubahjaldinahiuthti]

this cutie @mfkingbiggown 🫂 tagged me so here we go...

1. Are you named after anyone?

nah, my parents got creative while naming me. my dad's name is ravi and ma's name starts with na, ravi+na = ravina

2. When was the last time you cried?

last thursday, probably gonna cry tomorrow or day after or on the weekend because next paper is physics

3. Do you have kids?

main khud adult ho jaon uske baad dekhte hain kids

4. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

arre every desi person is fluent in sarcasm, it's like a second tongue

plate tod di? shabash, baaki sab bhi tod de

5. Whats the first thing you notice about a person?

if they maintain eye contact with me, for me eye contact is very important because if you aren't gonna hold my gaze then for me it means that you aren't interested in talking. apart from that, i notice how people speak, like the dialect, the accent and everything.

6. Whats your eye colour?

brown as the coffee I drown in everyday

7. Scary movies or Happy endings?

both and neither, love watching scary movies dupehar mein jisse raat ko sapne na aaye, happy endings are adorable especially when im rooting for the couple but I have a different kind of love for tragedies and sad endings 😭✋🏼

8. Any special talents?

ambidextrous, i can write with both hands, left ki utni practice nahi but yeah you can read what i write with my left. also mad eyeliner wing skills, perfected them during lockdown

9. Where were you born?

oh ji main toh delhi, india se hoon

10. What are your hobbies?

love writing poetry, reading books, going for walks, drawing, listening to music

11. Have you any pets?

mummy ne kaha ki tum ho na pet, aur nahi chahiye humein, college mein le lena agar itna hi shauk hai bas maine kuch saaf soof nahi karna

12. What sports do you play/have played?

I play badminton, used to play it everyday during lockdown subah subah but ab school and coaching hai, I play basketball in school, tennis and table tennis bhi, and i'm a brown belt in karate

13. How tall are you?

5'5 I believe

14. Favourtie subject in school?

maths bro, I hated it back in 8th grade but fell in love in 9th, thodi love hate relationship chal rahi hai abhi aaj kal

15. Dream job?

probably a fashion designer or an astro physicist, bahut hi opposite jobs hain but bahut interesting hain, if i had bio i would've become an archaeologist studying dinosaurs no doubt

tagging @ultimategenius @lospolloshermanoshyderabad @milkissesbiscuit @thestreetsofloev @pr3ttyburd3n @the-sound-ofrain @justarandomhumanpassingby

[krishna-sangini]

My Journey to Keshav

My journey to Keshav began when I was probably 2 or 3 years old. The tales that my grandpa and my great-granny told me; of Krishna's baal leelas, the cheer haran, His raas leela, His journey to Mathura, the slaying of Kansa, and then becoming the protector of uncountable people... All these tales I marvelled at as a toddler have the credit of hooking me onto my Keshav for the very first time.

This was just the start... Of a beautiful journey that would ultimately become my destination.

The toddler me grew up into a kid. That’s when the cartoon ‘Krishna Balram’ came onto the scene. And yeah, that show is 100% credited with making me fall head-over-heels for the sibling pair. I mean, y’all would be lying if you said you didn’t absolutely fall in love with Krishna and Balram after watching that show! Like, come on! Those two boys are simply sweethearts! Then came the ‘Little Krishna’ movie series. Ouffffff! My heart was completely occupied by the Makhan Chor by then. 

But then I entered teenage! The best phase of human life. You know, the phase everyone goes through where Westernization is considered cool and spirituality is considered ‘boring’ and ‘conservative’. Yeeeah… I fell into that ditch too. I pushed Kanha into the backseat. I got absorbed in the world of being ‘cool’ by shunning my religion and putting on the mask of atheism.

(This is not a dig at people who are genuinely atheists. Y'all are free to have your own opinions,  and I respect yours even if mine are different.) 

During those 5-6 years, I forgot all about my absolute bestie. The one who had stayed with me through every nightmare and sunshine. Needless to say, my life was a torment those years. Serious shitty family issues and my then school can be credited for that.

But again, once you’re into Krishna, he'll always find a way to bring you back if you go astray. That’s exactly what my Keshav did to me.

2020 saw the advent of the COVID-19 virus in India, and a long and tiring lockdown followed. Just as people were beginning to get frustrated to death, the good old Mahabharat and Ramayana started airing again. That was the turning point for me. Seeing Nitish Bhardwaj’s excellent portrayal of my Keshav, I was hit with the nostalgic memories of my childhood that I shared with Kanha. It was then that the thought struck me, “If a human can look so freaking beautiful, how much more radiant and divine must Kanha have looked in real life!”

And that was it. I called for Keshav after so long. He was waiting for me, perhaps. Waiting for me to call Him with all my heart, without my pride’s obstruction. I did, and He responded right away. A couple of days later was when I had that magnificent dream where my Keshav showed me a glimpse of Himself for the very first.

(I have posted about that dream here too; the link is in my pinned post. If you’re curious, you can check it out! Also, please share your Krishna story too!)

And since then, there has been no coming back.

I am now compensating for those 5 years by falling in love with my Keshav harder with each passing day. Not that I mind it. Because I absolutely love it. Now that I look back, it had been Him all along. All those times I sat crying alone in my room cuz of the mess our family was in, Keshav was there right by my side, caressing me gently. I was just too haughty to realize it. Had it not been for Him, the wicket of my life would already have toppled years ago.

Sooo, this is my journey to my Keshav. The journey that still continues; it will continue till we meet finally on the ultimate day… This journey has mended me in so many ways. It has shown me a whole new side of myself. It has helped me realize myself better. And best of all, it has made me feel my Keshav more and made me love Him much more. And I’m so so glad that I had people in my life who led me to the beginning of this journey. For this too, I thank our Manmohan.

Sooo, yeah. That’s it. How has your journey to Krishna been so far? Feel free to share!

Radhe Radhe, sakhis and sakhas! Kanha will stop by in your dream tonight~ (Yeah, he told me so himself!)

[mariacallous]

In the early weeks of 2023, as worry about ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools was ratcheting up dramatically in the public conversation, a tweet passed through the many interlocking corners of Book Twitter. “Imagine if every Book is converted into an Animated Book and made 10x more engaging,” it read. “AI will do this. Huge opportunity here to disrupt Kindle and Audible.”

The tweet’s author, Gaurav Munjal, cofounded Unacademy, which bills itself as “India’s largest learning platform”—and within the edtech context, where digitally animated books can be effective teaching tools, his suggestion might read a certain way. But to a broader audience, the sweeping proclamation that AI will make “every” book “10x more engaging” seemed absurd, a solution in search of a problem, and one predicated on the idea that people who choose to read narrative prose (instead of, say, watching a film or playing a game) were somehow bored or not engaged with their unanimated tomes. As those who shared the tweet observed, it seems like a lot of book industry “disruptors” just don’t like reading.

Munjal is one of many tech entrepreneurs to ping the book world’s radar—and raise its collective hackles—in recent months. Many were hawking AI “solutions” they promised would transform the act of writing, the most derided among them Sudowrite’s Story Engine (dubbed in a relatively ambivalent review by The Verge’s Adi Robertson as “the AI novel-writing tool everyone hates”). Story Engine raised frustrations by treating writers as an afterthought and, by its very existence, suggesting that the problems it was trying to bypass weren’t integral to the act of writing itself.

Last month, Justine Moore, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, provided a sort of bookend to Munjal’s “AI-animated books” proposal. “The three largest fanfic sites—[Archive of Our Own], Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad—get 3 billion-plus annual visits in the US alone,” she wrote. “Imagine how much bigger this market could be if you could chat with characters vs. reading static stories?” The thread was likely a reference to Character.ai, a startup that lets users chat with fictional heroes and villains; Andreessen Horowitz led a $150 million funding round for the company in March. The comment also came after the revelation that large language models (LLMs) may have scraped fanfiction writers’ work—which is largely written and shared for free—causing an (understandable) uproar in many fan communities.

Setting aside the fact that fandom role-playing has been a popular practice for decades, Moore’s statements felt like a distillation of tech’s tortured relationship with narrative prose. There are many kinds of fanfiction—including an entire subgenre in which “you” are a character in the story. But those are still stories, sentences deliberately written and arranged in a way that lets you lose yourself in an authored narrative. “Imagine having such a fundamental misunderstanding of the appeal of reading fanfiction—let alone reading fiction more broadly,” I wrote in response to her thread. What’s so wrong with people enjoying reading plain old words on a page?

The tech world has long been convinced that it understands the desires of readers better than they do themselves. For years, VCs have promised to upend books and the structures around their creation and consumption. Some came from within the publishing industry, but like their counterparts “disrupting” other sectors, including film and TV, many more did not. And for the most part, despite tech’s sometimes drastic (and often negative) effects on other industries, book- and reading-related startups failed to alter much at all. People are still buying books—in fact, they’re buying more than ever. Pandemic lockdowns brought a perhaps unsurprising boom in sales, and even though numbers slipped as restrictions lifted, print sales were still nearly 12 percent higher in 2022 than they were in 2019, and sales of audio books continue to increase dramatically year over year.

One reason books haven’t been particularly disruptable might be that many of the people looking to “fix” things couldn’t actually articulate what was broken—whether through their failure to see the real problems facing the industry (namely, Amazon’s stranglehold), or their insistence that books are not particularly enjoyable as a medium. “It’s that arrogance, to come into a community you know nothing about, that you might have studied as you study for an MBA, and think that you can revolutionize anything,” says writer and longtime book-industry observer Maris Kreizman. “There were so many false problems that tech guys created that we didn’t actually have.”

Take, for example, the long string of pitches for a “Netflix for books”—ideas that retrofitted Netflix’s original DVDs-by-mail model for a different medium under the presumption that readers would pay to borrow books when the public library was right there. Publisher’s Weekly keeps a database of book startups that now numbers more than 1,300; many of them are marked “Closed,” alongside a graveyard of broken URLs. There were plenty of practical ideas—targeting specific demographics or genres or pegged to more technical aspects, like metadata or production workflows. But many more proposed ways to alter books themselves—most of which made zero sense to people who actually enjoy reading.

“I don’t think they’re coming to that with a love of fiction or an understanding of why people read fiction,” Kreizman says. “If they were, they wouldn’t make these suggestions that nobody wants.”

The “10x more engaging” crowd has come in waves over the past two decades, washed ashore via broader tech trends, like social media, tablets, virtual reality, NFTs, and AI. These tech enthusiasts promised a vast, untapped market full of people just waiting for technology to make books more “fun” and delivered pronouncements with a grifting sort of energy that urged you to seize on the newest trend while it was hot—even as everyone could see that previous hyped ventures had not, in fact, utterly transformed the way people read. Interactive books could have sound effects or music that hits at certain story beats. NFTs could let readers “own” a character. AI could allow readers to endlessly generate their own books, or to eschew—to borrow one particular framing—“static stories” entirely and put themselves directly into a fictional world.

AI isn’t remotely a new player in the book world. Electronic literature artists and scholars have worked with various forms of virtual and artificial intelligence for decades, and National Novel Generation Month, a collaborative challenge modeled after NaNoWriMo, has been around since 2013. Even now, as much of the book world loudly rejects AI-powered writing tools, some authors are still experimenting, with a wide range of results. But these bespoke, usually one-off projects are a far cry from the tech industry’s proposals to revolutionize reading at scale—not least because the projects were never intended to replace traditional books.

“A lot of interactive storytelling has gone on for a very long time,” says Jeremy Douglass, an assistant professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, citing everything from his early career work on hypertext fiction to the class he’ll teach next year on the long history of the pop-up book to centuries-old marginalia like the footnote and the concordance. “These fields are almost always very old, they’re almost always talked about as if they’re brand-new, and there haven’t really been a lot of moments of inventing a new modality.”

To VC claims that AI will totally alter books, Douglass takes what he calls a “yes, and” stance. “What people are actually doing is creating a new medium. They’re not actually replacing the novel; they created a new thing that was like the novel but different, and the old forms carried on. I’m still listening to the radio, despite the film and game industries’ efforts.”

Tech entrepreneurs rarely pitch “yes, and” ideas. In their view, new technologies will improve on—and eventually supplant—what exists now. For all of his interest in the many forms of interactive fiction, Douglass doubts that most books would benefit from an AI treatment.

“There are extremely pleasurable aesthetic systems that aren’t intentional,” he says. “But how often when I’m reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X or The Joy of Cooking do I think, ‘If only a chatbot could augment this on the fly’? And it’s partly the fact that some communication is deeply intentional, and that’s part of the pleasure. It’s handcrafted, it’s specific, there’s a vision.”

That isn’t to say that Douglass thinks there’s zero appetite for AI in literature—but it’s “probably a very small slice of the pie. So when you say ‘all books’? Almost certainly not. For the same reason that we’re not reading 100 percent pop-up books, or watching all of our books on YouTube, or anything else you can imagine. People are doing that too, but it’s extra.”

The exact size of that small pie slice remains to be seen, as does the general public’s appetite for instant novels, or chatting with characters, or hitting a button that will animate any book in your digital library. But those desires will likely need to come from readers themselves—not from the top down. “If you just give the tools to everybody, which is happening in spite of venture capital, as well as because of it, people will figure out what they want it for—and it’s usually not what the inventors and the investors think,” Douglass says. “It’s not even in their top-10 list of guesses, most of the time. It’s incredibly specific to the person and genre.”

The recent history of publishing has plenty of examples in which digital tools let people create things we couldn’t have predicted in the analog days: the massive range of extremely niche self-published romance, for example, or the structural variation and formal innovation within the almost entirely online world of fanfiction.

But when the tech industry approaches readers with ways to “fix” what isn’t broken, their proposals will always ring hollow—and right now, plain old reading still works for huge numbers of people, many of whom pick up books because they want to escape and not be the main character for a while. “That’s a good thing,” Kreizman says. And as AI true believers sweep through with promises that this technology will change everything, it helps to remember just how many disruptors have come and gone. “In the meantime, tech bros will still find VCs to wine and dine and spend more money on bullshit,” Kreizman predicts. But for the rest of us? We’ll just keep on reading.

[jalebi-weds-bluetooth]

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[burlveneer-music]

Kundan Lal - Power of Ra

Gathering a cult following amongst people like Den Sorte Skole or DJ Marcelle with his previous releases, he is now set to sail new shores. There is a sense of wanderlust as he opens his box of field recordings, collected on his many travels. From the buzzing streets of Alexandria, early sunday markets in Tafraoute or a crackling bonfire down by the banks of the river Ganges. Each track takes you places. Kundan's second album is a captivating blend of dubby beats, collages, and exotic instrumentation. Drawing from classic tools like the Roland 808, SC7 and the famous Space Echo, Kundan has created a unique and minimalistic sound that is sure to captivate listeners. At once nostalgic and experimental, "Power of Ra" is a must-listen for both electronic music purists and fans of adventurous soundscapes. Compelled to work from home on his computer during lockdown, Kundan dusted his pawnshop e-piano, downloaded some orchestral soundkits and started to digitize almost forgotten field recordings. The "Power of Ra“ came to him. It is hard to put your finger on his style or genre. You can feel Kundan Lal‘s DIY spirit in his production, carving his own ethnic genre. For enthusiasts of Roberto Musci or Muslimgauze, this avant-garde album is one for your collection. Keep your senses open and let the Power of Ra pass you to another world.  all field recordings made by Kunsaf Halil between 1999-2005 in: unknown city, Egypt (1)+(6) * Marrakesh, Morocco (2) * Alexandria, Egypt (3)+(8) * Varanasi, India (4) * Hampi, India (5) * Tafraoute, Morocco (9) sampled sound of Bedouin coffee grinder in Jordan desert recorded by Deben Bhattacharya (5)+(6)+(8) * word by Greta Thunberg (5) * voice cuts from the movie „Aas Paas“ (7) front photographed by Tomas Berger in Kathmandu artwork by Manekineko

[kamreadsandrecs]

By Elizabeth Minkel

In the early weeks of 2023, as worry about ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools was ratcheting up dramatically in the public conversation, a tweet passed through the many interlocking corners of Book Twitter. “Imagine if every Book is converted into an Animated Book and made 10x more engaging,” it read. “AI will do this. Huge opportunity here to disrupt Kindle and Audible.”

The tweet’s author, Gaurav Munjal, cofounded Unacademy, which bills itself as “India’s largest learning platform”—and within the edtech context, where digitally animated books can be effective teaching tools, his suggestion might read a certain way. But to a broader audience, the sweeping proclamation that AI will make “every” book “10x more engaging” seemed absurd, a solution in search of a problem, and one predicated on the idea that people who choose to read narrative prose (instead of, say, watching a film or playing a game) were somehow bored or not engaged with their unanimated tomes. As those who shared the tweet observed, it seems like a lot of book industry “disruptors” just don’t like reading.

Munjal is one of many tech entrepreneurs to ping the book world’s radar—and raise its collective hackles—in recent months. Many were hawking AI “solutions” they promised would transform the act of writing, the most derided among them Sudowrite’s Story Engine (dubbed in a relatively ambivalent review by The Verge’s Adi Robertson as “the AI novel-writing tool everyone hates”). Story Engine raised frustrations by treating writers as an afterthought and, by its very existence, suggesting that the problems it was trying to bypass weren’t integral to the act of writing itself.

Last month, Justine Moore, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, provided a sort of bookend to Munjal’s “AI-animated books” proposal. “The three largest fanfic sites—[Archive of Our Own], Fanfiction.net, and Wattpad—get 3 billion-plus annual visits in the US alone,” she wrote. “Imagine how much bigger this market could be if you could chat with characters vs. reading static stories?” The thread was likely a reference to Character.ai, a startup that lets users chat with fictional heroes and villains; Andreessen Horowitz led a $150 million funding round for the company in March. The comment also came after the revelation that large language models (LLMs) may have scraped fanfiction writers’ work—which is largely written and shared for free—causing an (understandable) uproar in many fan communities.

Setting aside the fact that fandom role-playing has been a popular practice for decades, Moore’s statements felt like a distillation of tech’s tortured relationship with narrative prose. There are many kinds of fanfiction—including an entire subgenre in which “you” are a character in the story. But those are still stories, sentences deliberately written and arranged in a way that lets you lose yourself in an authored narrative. “Imagine having such a fundamental misunderstanding of the appeal of reading fanfiction—let alone reading fiction more broadly,” I wrote in response to her thread. What’s so wrong with people enjoying reading plain old words on a page?

The tech world has long been convinced that it understands the desires of readers better than they do themselves. For years, VCs have promised to upend books and the structures around their creation and consumption. Some came from within the publishing industry, but like their counterparts “disrupting” other sectors, including film and TV, many more did not. And for the most part, despite tech’s sometimes drastic (and often negative) effects on other industries, book- and reading-related startups failed to alter much at all. People are still buying books—in fact, they’re buying more than ever. Pandemic lockdowns brought a perhaps unsurprising boom in sales, and even though numbers slipped as restrictions lifted, print sales were still nearly 12 percent higher in 2022 than they were in 2019, and sales of audio books continue to increase dramatically year over year.

One reason books haven’t been particularly disruptable might be that many of the people looking to “fix” things couldn’t actually articulate what was broken—whether through their failure to see the real problems facing the industry (namely, Amazon’s stranglehold), or their insistence that books are not particularly enjoyable as a medium. “It’s that arrogance, to come into a community you know nothing about, that you might have studied as you study for an MBA, and think that you can revolutionize anything,” says writer and longtime book-industry observer Maris Kreizman. “There were so many false problems that tech guys created that we didn’t actually have.”

Take, for example, the long string of pitches for a “Netflix for books”—ideas that retrofitted Netflix’s original DVDs-by-mail model for a different medium under the presumption that readers would pay to borrow books when the public library was right there. Publisher’s Weekly keeps a database of book startups that now numbers more than 1,300; many of them are marked “Closed,” alongside a graveyard of broken URLs. There were plenty of practical ideas—targeting specific demographics or genres or pegged to more technical aspects, like metadata or production workflows. But many more proposed ways to alter books themselves—most of which made zero sense to people who actually enjoy reading.

“I don’t think they’re coming to that with a love of fiction or an understanding of why people read fiction,” Kreizman says. “If they were, they wouldn’t make these suggestions that nobody wants.”

The “10x more engaging” crowd has come in waves over the past two decades, washed ashore via broader tech trends, like social media, tablets, virtual reality, NFTs, and AI. These tech enthusiasts promised a vast, untapped market full of people just waiting for technology to make books more “fun” and delivered pronouncements with a grifting sort of energy that urged you to seize on the newest trend while it was hot—even as everyone could see that previous hyped ventures had not, in fact, utterly transformed the way people read. Interactive books could have sound effects or music that hits at certain story beats. NFTs could let readers “own” a character. AI could allow readers to endlessly generate their own books, or to eschew—to borrow one particular framing—“static stories” entirely and put themselves directly into a fictional world.

AI isn’t remotely a new player in the book world. Electronic literature artists and scholars have worked with various forms of virtual and artificial intelligence for decades, and National Novel Generation Month, a collaborative challenge modeled after NaNoWriMo, has been around since 2013. Even now, as much of the book world loudly rejects AI-powered writing tools, some authors are still experimenting, with a wide range of results. But these bespoke, usually one-off projects are a far cry from the tech industry’s proposals to revolutionize reading at scale—not least because the projects were never intended to replace traditional books.

“A lot of interactive storytelling has gone on for a very long time,” says Jeremy Douglass, an assistant professor of English at the University of California, Santa Barbara, citing everything from his early career work on hypertext fiction to the class he’ll teach next year on the long history of the pop-up book to centuries-old marginalia like the footnote and the concordance. “These fields are almost always very old, they’re almost always talked about as if they’re brand-new, and there haven’t really been a lot of moments of inventing a new modality.”

To VC claims that AI will totally alter books, Douglass takes what he calls a “yes, and” stance. “What people are actually doing is creating a new medium. They’re not actually replacing the novel; they created a new thing that was like the novel but different, and the old forms carried on. I’m still listening to the radio, despite the film and game industries’ efforts.”

Tech entrepreneurs rarely pitch “yes, and” ideas. In their view, new technologies will improve on—and eventually supplant—what exists now. For all of his interest in the many forms of interactive fiction, Douglass doubts that most books would benefit from an AI treatment.

“There are extremely pleasurable aesthetic systems that aren’t intentional,” he says. “But how often when I’m reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X or The Joy of Cooking do I think, ‘If only a chatbot could augment this on the fly’? And it’s partly the fact that some communication is deeply intentional, and that’s part of the pleasure. It’s handcrafted, it’s specific, there’s a vision.”

That isn’t to say that Douglass thinks there’s zero appetite for AI in literature—but it’s “probably a very small slice of the pie. So when you say ‘all books’? Almost certainly not. For the same reason that we’re not reading 100 percent pop-up books, or watching all of our books on YouTube, or anything else you can imagine. People are doing that too, but it’s extra.”

The exact size of that small pie slice remains to be seen, as does the general public’s appetite for instant novels, or chatting with characters, or hitting a button that will animate any book in your digital library. But those desires will likely need to come from readers themselves—not from the top down. “If you just give the tools to everybody, which is happening in spite of venture capital, as well as because of it, people will figure out what they want it for—and it’s usually not what the inventors and the investors think,” Douglass says. “It’s not even in their top-10 list of guesses, most of the time. It’s incredibly specific to the person and genre.”

The recent history of publishing has plenty of examples in which digital tools let people create things we couldn’t have predicted in the analog days: the massive range of extremely niche self-published romance, for example, or the structural variation and formal innovation within the almost entirely online world of fanfiction.

But when the tech industry approaches readers with ways to “fix” what isn’t broken, their proposals will always ring hollow—and right now, plain old reading still works for huge numbers of people, many of whom pick up books because they want to escape and not be the main character for a while. “That’s a good thing,” Kreizman says. And as AI true believers sweep through with promises that this technology will change everything, it helps to remember just how many disruptors have come and gone. “In the meantime, tech bros will still find VCs to wine and dine and spend more money on bullshit,” Kreizman predicts. But for the rest of us? We’ll just keep on reading.

[astrophilic-soul]

Tag Game To Better Know You! Send this to people you’d like to know better!

Thank you so much for the tag @betty-bourgeoisie , @fumblingmusings and @koolkat9 !!💜💜💜

What book are you currently reading?

The Penguin History of Early India from Origins to AD 1300 by Romila Thapar! I’ve become a bit more interested in my culture recently so I figured I would buy this book in order to start with some ancient history. It’s been interesting!

I started the book very recently so I havn’t gotten too far yet lol, but it’s super interesting! It talks about the perspectives of Indian history in the beginning (which I love so much!) and then dives into Indian civilization,society, culture and all that.

What’s your favorite movie you saw in theatres this year?

I don’t really to the movies too often unless my family takes me with them lol, uhh…I guess it would have to be a movie that’s in my language lol.. Ponniyin Selvan, it’s a story that takes place in an ancient empire in Southern India :)

What do you usually wear?

This is so embarrassing, but just like- normal clothes: jeans and a t-shirt. But if I’m feeling less lazy than usual? Maybe a slight crop top, dress or something special lol

How tall are you?

5’1 ft (154.94 cm) 🫠

What’s your Star Sign? Do you share a birthday with a celebrity or a historical event?

Taurus. Norway’s independence day and Racial Segregation in the US ended :) I don’t think I share a birthday with any celebrity lol

Do you go by your name or a nick-name?

Ah, both I guess. I go by my name in public but use my nickname family wise because that just feels right.(My name’s hard to pronounce so…sorry for anyone I’ve inconvenienced irl lol)

Did you grow up to become what you wanted to be when you were a child?

Not yet lol, but one day I hope

Are you in a relationship? If not, who is your crush if you have one?

No, and I guess I’ve had a semi crush on like 3 people in my life lol. I do have one currently but it’s unlikely so whatever.

What’s something you’re good at vs. something you’re bad at?

I’m good at history but horrible at math

Dogs or cats?

Cats

What’s something you would like to create content for?

I wish I had more time to create content in general but if I could create more content for anything? Alt History or Time Travel Hetalia :/ I love world building and trying to figure out what would happen but never have the time or motivation :(

If you draw/write, or create in any way, what’s your favourite picture/favourite line/favourite etc. from something you created this year?

I write and I guess I loved writing A Date! It’s the only thing I actually finished this year though so…

But if I was talking about WIPs as well? Probably Blood Soaked Soil or Forgotten Winds if I ever get to finishing it 🫠

What’s something you’re currently obsessed with?

Wednesday, but I haven’t really finished it yet

What’s something you were excited about that turned out to be disappointing this year?

I guess my visit to India. I haven’t went since lockdown and the visit was shorter than I wanted it to be (I got my US citizenship though so it was worth it lol)

What’s a hidden talent of yours?

Having some what of a green thumb! I actually grew a plant and it survived and is currently growing new leaves so I’m taking that as a win lol

Are you religious?    

Nah, but I enjoy learning about Hinduism! Hinduism has a ton of mythology, it’s very interesting to learn about/hear and I love visiting temples! So I guess technically? I absolutely hate praying and doing all that religious stuff tho lol

What’s something you wish to have at this moment?

The ability to not procrastinate

Tags:

@tianshiisdead @luciality @ifindus @ladycolumbia-liberty @fireandiceland and if you want to :)

[kithtaehyung]

Heyyyyy! I'm not sure if you've already heard this song (it's Hindi, i hope that's okay), it's pretty old. It came out during the first lockdown here in India (that's 2020) and all of us were so grateful to him for making this beautiful song. Also WARNING ⚠️ You might ugly cry (it slaps hard), so please click out if it triggers you in any way <3

This is… this is so heartwarming😭 The concept, his voice, everything! I’ve never seen this but what a beautiful way to share his talents omg🥹

[castingdirect]

6 OnlyFans Models Who Dated Professional Footballers

Several famous footballers over the years have dated several famous names in adult entertainment! Check out the 6 OnlyFans models who dated professional footballers in the past. Several footballers have dated women that have launched OnlyFans accounts, including Manchester United legend Teddy Sheringham and former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant. In recent years, it has become increasingly popular for top athletes to launch accounts on adult content site OnlyFans in order to increase their earnings. As well as those athletes who have become OnlyFans creators, a number of high-profile footballers have dated OnlyFans models in the past. Those include former Liverpool winger Jermaine Pennant and Manchester United legend Teddy Sheringham, both having former partners who have OnlyFans accounts. RITA JOHAL Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez was married to Rita Johal for four years between 2015 and 2019, and the couple have two children together. Two years after their split, The Sun reported that Johal had joined OnlyFans in February 2021 after claiming she had been ‘fined for being too hot’ after breaking lockdown rules. Johal promoted her adult content to her 471,000 followers after launching the account, with subscriptions reportedly priced at £11.60-a-month including access to ‘exclusive music.’ ALICE GOODWIN Jermaine Pennant has had a tumultuous love life off the field, even by footballers’ standards, with a lengthy list of former partners and girlfriends. Among those is ex-wife and glamour model Alice Goodwin, who he married in 2014. However, the couple split in 2020 after nine years together. Former Babestation star Goodwin has racked up over 351,000 likes on her OnlyFans profile, where fans can sample her content for free for the first 30 days. Pennant and Goodwin’s relationship came under pressure during the former’s appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in 2018. On the show Pennant became close with fellow OnlyFans star and Page 3 model Chloe Ayling whilst on the show, with the pair even sharing a kiss during their time as housemates. INDIA REYNOLDS After finishing third on the 2019 series of Love Island, model India Reynolds was forced to deny claims she had cheated on basketball star Ovie Soko with former England defender Kieran Gibbs. Gibbs and Reynolds had both attended an event in Portugal, where it had been alleged that the pair had shared a kiss. However, Reynolds later told the Daily Mail that her relationship with the Inter Miami full back was purely platonic. As well as boasting 977,000 followers on Instagram, Reynolds also allows her fans to get their hands on her exclusive content through her OnlyFans profile, which has just under 38,000 likes. DANIELLE LLOYD Prolific WAG Danielle Lloyd has been linked with a number of high-profile Premier League footballers in the last two decades, including Jermaine Defoe, Jamie O’Hara and United legend Teddy Sheringham. The former Miss Great Britain dated Sheringham between 2006 and 2007 before being dumped after her appearances on Celebrity Big Brother. She then had a brief relationship with another former Portsmouth striker when she dated Defoe, who had reportedly once been engaged to a friend of Lloyd. Lloyd continued her love affair of former Pompey players when she married O’Hara, with whom she has three children. The couple split in 2014 after two years of marriage and Lloyd has since remarried. Lloyd joined OnlyFans in 2020 and has admitted she doesn’t care about what other parents think of her racy snaps. NATALIA ZOPPA Despite his romance with childhood sweetheart Sasha Attwood, Jack Grealish allegedly attempted to score with Love Island star and OnlyFans model Natalia Zoppa last year – claimed by her then-partner. The City and England winger was supposedly caught sliding into the reality star’s DMs with a waving hand emoji, with her then-boyfriend making the message public in a TikTok video. He wrote: ‘As if today couldn’t get any weirder, the best player in the Premier League tried to chat up my missus.’ Grealish never confirmed whether it was him who sent the message. Zoppa appeared on the 2020 winter series of Love Island and has since found fame on OnlyFans, where she has 87,500 likes. NATHALIE ANDREANI Back in October 2021, OnlyFans star Nathalie Andreani claimed that an unnamed member of the French national team had offered her £43,000 for a night together. 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Whether you have a top tip, a story to share, wish to feature in an article, or wish to anonymously contact us in relation to any matter, either shared within this article or within the website, please get in touch. Email broadcastingtheworld@gmail.com or alternatively, people are welcome to leave comments, and can contact us using our contact form on our website, or any of our social networks where we feature. WHERE YOU CAN FIND US You can find Casting Direct on: #Facebook, #Twitter, #Instagram, #Reddit, #Quora, #Medium, #Tumblr, #Blog.it, #Pinterest, #YouTube, #Vimeo, #OnlyFans, #FanCentro, #JustForFans and our website www.casting-direct.com ✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨✨ Read the full article

[amitypunjab]

4 unique features that make Amity the Best College For B.com hons In Punjab

Commerce students have a bright future because of the high-paying career options that they have after their graduation. From sales to business development, these students learn so much that they can opt for any job. If you are a student who is looking for b.com honours colleges in Mohali Punjab then you should definitely consider Amity University as your college choice. In this article, we will discuss the 6 unique features that make Amity the best choice for commerce students interested in pursuing B.com hons as their career choice.

4 Unique features that make Amity the first choice

1. Ranking 

Top 10 emerging commerce colleges

Amity University was placed among the top 10 emerging commerce colleges in India today. This means that it is one of the most credible universities for newcomers to receive education from.

No. 1 private commerce college in North India

India Today a leading news channel awarded Amity University as the top private commerce college in North India. This speaks volumes of the quality education the university offers to its students.

Top 3% of universities globally

Not only in India but globally the university is famous for its world-class education. Every year thousands of students from all over the world come to this university to pursue higher education.

Producing the most employable graduates

Every year the university witnesses top companies offering jobs to the students. Almost 90-100% of students get placed in companies from technical backgrounds.

57th Among All Government and Private Universities in India

Amity University has added one more flag to its hat by being ranked under 100 universities. 

2. Placements 

Amity University has a remarkable history of providing 36000 jobs to the students. In the past years university alone provided top placements to around 8000 students from various branches. Above 500 companies have participated in the placement drive of the university. Even during the lockdown the university successfully provided placements to more than 1400 students.

3. Infrastructure 

Amity University has everything that one requires for all-around development. The university has several sports clubs and academies such as Amity Football Clubs Chess Academy Riding & Polo Academy. It has a separate on-campus hostel facility for both boys and girls with 24/7 electricity and high security. The campus also has hi-tech labs and smart classrooms. 

4. Teaching staff

Amity one of the best b.com honours colleges in Mohali Punjab has teachers who are themselves the product of top universities globally. Teachers not only focus on theoretical learning but also on practical learning.

Career prospects after the completion of the course 

Commerce graduates have many career options to select from such as finance, accounting, marketing, and management.  Students will get opportunities in many corporate firms, financial institutions, government agencies, and non-profit organizations. Some notable careers include:

Business Consulting Firms

Accounting Firms

Professional accountant

Tax Practitioner

Auditor

Banking & Insurance

Policy Planning

International Business/ Foreign Trade

Budget Analyst/Planning

Inventory Control and Management

Treasury & Forex

Merchant Banking and Investment Banking

Higher education in India/abroad

Pursue an advanced professional certification course

PhD programme in reputed universities/ research institutions

Conclusion

Students have the opportunity to pursue b.com hons in Punjab University, Amity University or any other university but the important points mentioned above should be kept in mind for making a sound decision. Admissions open!

Source: https://sites.google.com/view/top-college-bcom-hons-mohali/home

[scott1984fp]

Good,

Down With Political Elites/Political Classes, CONservatism, Zionism, Religious Extremists, Terrorists, Dictators & Dictatorships, All Worldwide Royal Families, Billionaires, Stocks/Shares Unlimited Pyramid Schemes, CONservatism Elites Establishment Historical Political Parties Foundation Ideologies, Imperialism, Colonializes, Criminals, Toxic Right/Far Right,

Remove Them All NOW, Before Traditional World 3 & Trade Wars Go Past Ukraine, Gazza, & Likely Taiwan Invasions By China & Alliances,

Stop Congo , Sudan, Wars & Genocides For Colbalt, Lithium, Mercury, & Other Toxic Minerals For Nukes, Missiles, Smartphones, Cameras, & More :(

TOP BRICS 🔝🎩 3 KEYPLAYERS RUSSIA, CHINA, INDIA, NOW OWN/GUARD 37 AFRICAN & SOUTH AFRICAN COLBALT MINES GUARDED BY CHINESE DICTATORSHIP,

RUSSIA & CHINA BOUGHT LARGEST GOLD & SILVER RESERVES IN HISTORY,

COVID 19 LOCKDOWNS WORLD & DELAYS UKRAINE WAR/INVASION, GAZZA SLAUGHTERING FOR WORLDS LARGEST GROUND GAS FOUND IN GAZZA 2018-2019 & LICENCES GIVEN BY ISRAELI STATE TOO BP IN 2019,

THESE GROUPS RULE WORLD & SET-UP OUR EDUCATION & MORE,

THEY ALWAYS WORK TOGETHER & DIVIDE 99.99% & DESTABILISING WORLD, CAUSING POVERTY & GREED, & IMBALANCES IN WORLD 🌎🌍 :(

[riteshmisraworld]

4 Years back, we had a National Lockdown amidst the terrible COVID-19 Pandemic. Random thoughts.

Swans are white in colour. Hence a black swan is something extremely rare. In history, black swan events have happened very rarely and are characterised by severity of consequences. COVID-19 was one such black swan event (hopefully) which devastated the world. The total number of deaths were more than 3 million globally and India had more than 3 Lakh deaths as well. Why am I saying hopefully?…

[mariacallous]

US Plans 200% Tariff on Russia Aluminum as Soon as This Week

The US is preparing to slap a 200% tariff on Russian-made aluminum as soon as this week to keep pressure on Moscow as the one-year anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine nears, according to people familiar with the situation. 

President Joe Biden has yet to give the official go-ahead, and there have been concerns in the administration about collateral damage on US industries, including aerospace and automobiles, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing internal deliberations. 

The move, which has been contemplated for months, is also aimed at Russia, the world’s second-largest aluminum producer, because Moscow has been dumping supplies on the US market and harming American companies. The timing of the decision could slip past this week, one of the people said. 

The White House National Security Council didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

The escalation of pressure on Moscow comes after Washington unleashed unprecedented levels of sanctions to punish and isolate President Vladimir Putin’s government, including freezing its central bank assets globally, targeting its banking, technology and defense sectors and sanctioning individuals linked to Putin.

The move against aluminum also continues efforts by the US and European Union to blunt Russia’s role as global commodities powerhouse. The EU has banned imports of Russian oil, gas and fuels in an attempt to cut its reliance on Moscow. The impact of that move, however, has been mitigated by a redrawing of the global oil trade map, with most crude supplies going now to China and India at lower prices.

There’s no indication so far that the EU is planning a similar move on Russian aluminum. 

US Market

Russia, the world’s largest aluminum producer after China, has been a significant source of material for the US market. Most of it is value-added items, rather than in bulk product, with US buyers ranging from building and construction to automotive.

Such a steep tariff would effectively end US imports of the metal from Russia. While the country has traditionally accounted for 10% of total US aluminum imports, the amount has dropped to just more than 3%, according to US trade data.

The tariff option would be less severe than actions considered last year by the administration, including an outright ban or sanctions on Russia’s sole producer of the metal, United Co. Rusal International PJSC. Such a move risked wider market disruptions, by making Russian supplies essentially toxic for buyers globally. 

Rusal shares in Moscow were trading down as much as 3% on Monday after the news. The company declined to comment.

As the White House has weighed action on Russian aluminum, buyers in the US had been discussing the potential of alternate supply in the event of a ban, tariff or sanction. Industry participants in recent months have also tried to game plan where Russian metal would go if it was suddenly blocked out of the US market, as well as Europe, with many speculating that it could be transshipped via China or other countries and reexported, obscuring its origins.

Industry Support

Aluminum prices dropped about 15% last year amid worries of a slowing global economy and the ongoing pandemic lockdowns in China, the world’s largest consumer. 

Aluminum futures traded on the London Metal Exchange on Monday briefly erased gains and rose as much as 0.6% on news of the tariffs, before declining 1.7% to $2,526.50 a metric ton as of 3:25 p.m. London time.

The Aluminum Association, a trade group that represents the industry in the US, said in a statement Monday that “the aluminum industry stands in support of any and all efforts deemed necessary by the US government and its NATO allies” to address Russia’s invasion. “This is a global security and humanitarian disaster that goes far beyond the interests of any single industry.”

US imports of Russian aluminum had dropped to near zero in October as the administration weighed a ban, worrying domestic buyers who didn’t want to be stuck with the material. Imports rebounded to 11,600 tons in November before easing back to 9,700 tons in January.

[kspp]

(3+1) Day Workweek

I have a dream that we all should work four days or less. It isn’t a distant dream; it is coming soon. Just a few changes in the industry, laws, working habits, culture, financial implications, maybe the government, and lastly, more automation so that they do my work and I can relax. Is that even possible??? and my speech at the Procrastinators Association, along with the quiet afternoon nap, evaporated just like that with the call of a colleague.

It’s time we focus on a (3+1) day workweek, where we can work three days in-person and the remaining flexible day to work from home (WFH) as needed. The overall thought of machines helping us automate tasks since the Industrial Revolution 1.0 was to reduce our burden and get more free time. While functions are being automated and the Industrial Revolution is evolving towards 4.0, we are working more than before. Is it because we like to work more? Or, is it because we’ve set such standards? Most public sector and private sector organizations in India officially work in the range of 40-50 hours, while the actual work goes beyond that. In some sectors, it is indistinguishable between work and non-work hours.

Automating and streamlining tasks is a daily task personally and professionally. Some of the gadgets which we use today (to call, text, listen to music, take photos, record videos, see time, and more) are being done by a single device itself. Rather than use it and get more time for our own self, we are self-absorbed by it, where we have devoted more time to it. The same goes for our work. During my short stint at a global finance organization, I streamlined a particular process to save 8+ hours each week for our team, which had a ripple effect on other teams on the same and higher level. Ironically, rather than having these 8+ hours being reflected as “free time”, it was instead consumed by taking another process to streamline.

Maybe it’s the work, and we like to work. Not really. My stay in the U.S. showed me strict boundaries between work and personal life, where no work gets discussed over the weekend. Professors don’t reply to emails, companies don’t answer calls, and work spill over to weekends is unusual, this has changed due to the work from home during the lockdown but is now gradually reverting to the same standards as before March 2020. Some could say I was stretching it but afternoon naps are the norm in some European countries. Although comprehensive research is not yet available, certain studies showed a nap time of fewer than 30 minutes enhanced productivity.

While some may argue that this is possible only in some sectors, we need to make a beginning.

So does fewer workdays also means less pay the answer for that could be ‘laissez faire’ where the market decides it. Also, lesser work time allows people to focus and complete tasks with dedication. As Irma Kurtz said, “givers have to set limits because takers rarely do” If provided, some works can take 3 days or even 30 days to complete. Working for fewer days keeps us in constant time-check to complete tasks on time. Also, not to waste time on meetings which consume the collective and individual time of everyone. 5 minutes wasted in a meeting of 12 people is 1 hour wasted for all.

What do people do with more time? To spend time for themselves, their family, community, passions, hobbies, etc. A luxury that only a few are having right now. Maybe it expands industries like tourism or creates new industries on ways to indulge in a 3-day break. Capitalism is creative and self-motivated to expand in this arena. This would be on the top of the agenda for my next meeting with the Procrastinators Association (if anyone even turns up).

P.S. – Inspired to write by reading the article “People are working longer hours during the pandemic” from The Economist

[burlveneer-music]

Speedometer - Lockdown Sessions - Ukraine Crisis Appeal - looking for info on their forthcoming Funk Sessions albums, I came across this EP they put out a year ago

Given the horrific scenes that we see daily coming from Ukraine, we have decided to donate all the money we receive from sales of the Lockdown Sessions tracks (whether purchased as a package or individually) to the British Red Cross Ukraine Crisis Appeal - donate.redcross.org.uk/appeal/ukraine-crisis-appeal This collection of 3 recordings were arranged remotely by the band whilst the whole world was in Covid-19 lockdown. The idea of musicians performing remotely via zoom became the norm quickly for many and for Speedometer we felt we wanted to develop a more global sound to these tunes particularly as travel was no longer an option. Each of the compositions brings our core funk sound but blended with influences from around the world from New Orleans, Turkey to India. 1. KASHMIR – composed by Leigh Gracie – Brass arr. Dave Land 2. SATCHMO’S STOMP - GUMBA YA YA composed by Leigh Gracie – Brass arr. Dave Land 3. TURKISH DELIGHT - composed by Dave Land Leigh Gracie - Guitar Chris Starmer - Drums Richard Hindes – Bass James Junior – Vocals / rap Matt Wilding – Percussion Matt Hodges – Keybords / Hammond Simon Jarrett - Tenor Sax Dave Land – Trumpet & Flugel Special Guest Musicians Stephen Wilcock - Baritone Sax and Flute on KASHMIR Mark Brenner - Sitar on KASHMIR Steve Green – Drums on TURKISH DELIGHT John Elliott – Sousaphone on SATCHMO’S STOMP Neil Robinson - Drums on SATCHMO’S STOMP