#network development

[theambitiouswoman]

100 Words You Can Incorporate Into Your Speech To Sound More Elegant ✨

(Common word - Alternate variation)

Beautiful - Exquisite

Happy - Ecstatic

Smart - Intelligent

Big - Enormous

Small - Petite

Good - Excellent

Bad - Deplorable

Nice - Gracious

Tired - Fatigued

Old - Ancient

Rich - Affluent

Poor - Impoverished

Happy - Joyful

Sad - Melancholic

Hot - Sweltering

Cold - Frigid

Busy - Prolific

Loud - Vociferous

Easy - Effortless

Difficult - Arduous

Fast - Swift

Slow - Languid

Brave - Valiant

Funny - Witty

Rich - Opulent

Poor - Indigent

Old - Vintage

New - Novel

Strong - Robust

Weak - Feeble

Pretty - Alluring

Ugly - Unattractive

Clean - Immaculate

Dirty - Sullied

Happy - Jubilant

Sad - Despondent

Young - Youthful

Old - Antiquated

Big - Colossal

Small - Minuscule

Fast - Rapid

Slow - Sluggish

Brave - Fearless

Funny - Hilarious

Clean - Pristine

Dirty - Filthy

Strong - Stalwart

Weak - Debilitated

Happy - Content

Sad - Poignant

Confusing - Perplexing

Typical - Quintessential

Many - Myriad

Everywhere - Ubiquitous

Contradictory - Paradoxical

Showy - Ostentatious

Insightful - Perspicacious

Arrogant - Supercilious

Obscure - Esoteric

Flatterer - Sycophant

Favorable - Auspicious

Joking - Facetious

Indescribable - Ineffable

Wordy - Verbose

Respected - Venerable

Worsen - Exacerbate

Short lived - Ephemeral

Help - Facilitate

Sneaky - Insidious

Confuse - Obfuscate

Begin - Commence

End - Terminate

Start - Inaugurate

Get - Obtain

Give - Bestow

Make - Fabricate

Break - Shatter

Fix - Rectify

Use - Utilize

Look - Gaze

Find - Discover

Tell - Narrate

Ask - Inquire

Leave - Depart

Buy - Procure

Show - Exhibit

Think - Contemplate

Put - Position

Need - Require

Stop - Halt

Talk - Communicate

Like - Adore

Help - Assist

Call - Summon

See - Perceive

Tell - Enunciate

Go - Traverse

Tell - Express

Have - Possess

Feel - Experience

[digitalfossils]

[bigfatbreak]

Never thought I’d see Gabriel being a semi-reasonable parent. Cool comic!

it's only because at that point he didn't have memories from the last timeline. the moment the old timeline memories boot in, gabe becomes an insufferable asshat lmao

[unpretty]

okay i definitely need to mute notifications about that post before people defending my coworker or complaining about The Cloud tempt me into revealing Too Much Information. i mean i've already revealed too much information quite frankly but so it goes.

[skyblue-skeleton]

So incredibly in love with the new fiona and cake show, as someone with a very boring dag job I feel seen

[still-trans-gwender]

Finally got around to watching Breaking Bad and just finished the fly episode. I don't understand why y'all hate this episode. It's mainly character stuff with Walt and Jesse. Also Walt going berserk over one fly feels in character for his silly ass.

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Circle Network News, Fall '82

[autoauthor]

@doveywovy's latest post [link] reminded me of (one of) my own mermaid AU(s) so I thought I'd write it up now. Absolutely adore their writing.

Tobirama is a mermaid kept in captivity.

He was rescued by Hashirama when he was very young, and has formed a sort of familial attachment. He is the only one Tobirama will not try to drown.

Tobirama's albinism as well as injuries sustained before capture means he's unable to be released into the wild. Thankfully Hashirama's friend, Madara has a marine facility Tobirama can be kept in.

One day, Madara's college-aged little brother comes to visit. Of course, he didn't tell anyone he was stopping by and took various "caution" signs as light suggestions. Leading to him peering over the edge of Tobirama's pool.

Of course he ends up pulled in.

Tobirama manages to drag him to the bottom of the water - using his greater mass to bring him under. With no one around, this may be his first actual human kill.

Izuna's instincts take over. Not his survival instincts or even fear - his instincts as a bratty and scrappy little brother used to being tackled and roughhoused with.

He elbows Tobirama right in the gills.

Then, he curls up at the bottom of the pool and extends his legs to launch himself towards the surface.

Izuna, grew up with a pool in his backyard, a lakeside vacation home, and trained hard enough to be captain of his university's swim team. Still, he would've never escaped if Tobirama hadn't become enraptured with his figure swimming towards the light with his loose hair trailing behind him.

Yeah, he's in love.

Izuna may be small, but he can fight, is beautiful, and is a much more graceful swimmer than the other humans.

Madara chews out Izuna for being so reckless, of course. And for the first part of his visit, they steer clear of even the room Tobirama's enclosure is in.

Eventually, Madara has to go check in. Tobirama's leaving large portions of food uneaten. He's also being downright loud - coming up to the surface of the water several times a day to cry out. Hashirama is starting to get worried.

Madara has some undefined veterinary experience so agrees to take a look, and Izuna trails behind him out of boredom. Which leads to Tobirama being even louder and actually going to the pool's edge when they arrive. He usually lurks under the surface when he sees Madara or anyone new.

Eventually everyone catches on that he's courting the younger Uchiha.

He tries giving Izuna portions of his food and also to convince him to get into the water. He even snaps at Hashirama if he thinks he's too close or being too friendly.

Madara warns that he's still a wild animal and it's no less dangerous. Izuna, who is again, a little shit, only wants to do it more now that he's been told not to. So he ends up slipping in for a dip.

Tobirama doesn't try to drown him again, but begins swimming around him - slowed due to his injury. Izuna decides that he'll practice some synchronized swimming (he was NOT paying attention when his brother described mer courting rituals). Tobirama is thrilled that his affections were returned. Someone has to let Izuna know that they're pretty much married in mer terms.

However, Izuna was only visiting for a few months while mers mate for life. He's also your typical carefree young-adult with a promising career. While Izuna is off doing sports anime shenanigans, Tobirama is refusing food and damaging his own scales.

On the flip-side, when he does visit, he does things like hand-feed Tobirama bites of his sushi and run his hands over his scales. They also still swim together (to Madara's dismay).

[eddiesprius]

🙏 trust the s9 renewal is coming. alongst other reasons, they are not going to launch 911 nashville without their flagship show still airing

[lover-of-mine]

And then we have the other side of BT fans that are saying Oliver was talking about Tommy with the slow burn, will they won’t they.

Like…… who wants to tell them it’s not a slow burn will they won’t they if they are already together. Which with how often they like to throw out the “Our ship is canon” defense you’d think they wouldn’t forget that 💀

I saw that and I legit stared at it for a bit. And it's funny because during the hiatus they were all "it's so great bt isn't a slowburn, it's so real, no unnecessary drama, they just got together" and now they are backtracking HARD. The ship already sailed. They are together. You can't make a slowburn out of someone who met on episode, was kissing the next, was getting invited to weddings the other. They can't be a slowburn. But now they are scrambling saying they're gonna break up because Tommy is rightfully weirded out by Buck and we will watch the slowburn in the form of Buck trying to win Tommy back. Like????? I wish I believed in anything as much as they believe bt is endgame because holy fuck, their hope is almost inspiring.

[serpentface]

Do psychotropic drugs and/or ritual play a role in any of the blightseed cultures? A pretty broad question, lol

Yeah that’s a very broad question, the answer is about as much as it tends to play roles in real history. Alcohol is pretty ubiquitous (outside of cultures that abstain from intoxicants) and used for a variety of purposes, opioids are commonly used in some parts for pain relief or recreational purposes, stimulants (usually in mild, natural forms) are used to provide extra energy, and hallucinogens are most commonly used as part of a larger religious framework (rather than for recreational purposes). Any more elaborate answer kinda has to be case by case in a certain culture or part of the setting.

I'll just take this as an opportunity to talk about the one established sect that pretty much REVOLVES around psychoactive use. This is the Scholarly Order of the Root, which is a sort of mystery religion + elite community of scholars who currently occupy the Ur-Tree and its forest in the far southern Lowlands (southeast of Imperial Wardin, on the same land mass).

The Ur-Tree is the obligatory Huge Fucking Fantasy Tree (and its surrounding forest). It’s a mass of vegetation about a mile tall and almost as old as Plant Life Itself, its upper branches are primeval plants, which become more modern the nearer they get to the ground (and each 'level' holds tiny ecosystems, some containing descendants of LONG-extinct arthropods/other small animals). Its lowest branches and the surrounding forest are contemporary plant life, and all is connected and protected by an incomparably MASSIVE fungal mycelium network (which is itself a living god).

A lot of the Scholars' more secretive practices revolve around experimentation with substance use with the goal of expanding the Mind and transcending the body to fully connect to the Dreamlands, and they have a supply chain of traders and mercenaries called Rootrunners who traffic substances into the Lowlands. Most of their psychoactive use is in a very intentional capacity and not just like, for fun, but a LOT of them are just straight up addicted to cocaine (in the form of alchemically refined bruljenum, which is used for practical purposes of its stimulant effect during long hours of work).

All known psychoactives are desirable for experimentation (particularly hallucinogens), with each having properties that either allow expansion of the Mind, transcendence of the body, or outright divine communion. Their effects are logged in great detail and interpreted to form the basis of the Scholars' understanding of the natural world and reality itself.

The most important substance is Ur-Root, which is root matter from subterranean levels of the Ur-Tree that have both their own intrinsic psychoactive substances and a very, very high concentration of living god mycelium. The tree root contains DMT and the mycelium has its own wholly unique effects (being an actual living god). They alchemically refine it into a purer, more potent form, and use it to expand beyond the body and directly commune with the Giants, a group of entities they have identified as the only true gods.

An Ur-Root trip starts off with minor visual distortion, which turns into shifting fractals that slowly obscure the vision. Eventually the senses are entirely taken over by a 'tunnel' of rapidly shifting fractals and geometries. In a complete trip, the experiencer gets a sense that they have been pushed through a membrane and entered another realm, finding themselves in a distinct experiential Space.

At this point they may encounter entities which communicate to them in a language impossible to describe but wholly understood. These beings are understood to be the Giants, or at least aspects of the Giants that mortals are capable of comprehending (they often take familiar tutelary forms of the Mantis or the Snake, or appear resembling the same type of sophont that the experiencer is, all composed of ever-shifting geometries). The experiencer often feels a sense of unconditional and endless love from these beings, though the Giants may be more hostile and may appear in the form of the Trickster (usually a cultural figure regarded as malicious, be it an animal or otherwise) in a bad trip.

(^Up until this point, this has mostly just been a DMT 'breakthrough' experience ft. 'machine elves' and the like).

They are then removed from this space and returned to something that feels like the real world, but is nearly unrecognizable. They have a sense of rapidly moving through time, and will usually see 'the spires' towards the beginning, which just so happen to look like this:

(source + some context via Implication- the spires are exactly what this art is depicting)

The experiencer continues to move across an unfathomable amount of time, occasionally 'seeing' other such flashes of unfamiliar landscapes and creatures, and yet also being devoid of all their senses, the 'seeing' is pure, unfiltered experience. There is a sense of interconnectedness with all life, and that one has become the forest (or even Life) itself. The sense of time is wildly distorted, the trip lasts only about 5 minutes but feels like an eternity and is understood as literal hundreds of millions of years.

The experiencer has usually lost any remaining sense of Self and individual consciousness during this phase (in which case this time distortion is usually a neutral or even peaceful experience), but some retain a fraction of their identity, and find themselves trapped and conscious while experiencing what feels like eternity (which can be LIFE-CHANGINGLY distressing, even after the fact).

(^This latter part of the trip is the effects of the Ur-Tree fungus).

The trip ends with a sense of rushing through the ground and back up into one's body, at which point they will abruptly return to their senses and consciousness. The details are then immediately retrieved via interview and recorded in immense detail. The whole experience is understood as having been full comprehension of the Dreamlands, communion with the Giants, and then a tour through the act of creation.

This is done as part of the initiatory practice into the inner mystery-religion of the scholars, and as needed for study by high scholar-priests. It is not taken lightly, both as it is absolute communion with the gods and reality, and in that it can be a very, very difficult experience. People who have gone through this often walk away with a permanently shifted perspective, often in a positive and/or comforting way- a sense of interconnectedness with all life, a peace with the concept of death, seeing less of a point in individual ego and the concept of Self, and comfort in the sense of divine love they (may have) experienced. This heavily influences the philosophy of the Scholars and has had effects by proxy in the religious worldviews of the region.

Details of this experience are closely guarded, and initiates are given absolutely no prior knowledge and expectations for their trip. This is seen as a necessity- their naivety will allow for a true, unfiltered experience, and can be used to gauge whether they should or should not be accepted. Those that have a distinctly bad trip upon initiation may be assumed to have been 'rejected' by the giants and thus denied full priesthood, though this largely depends on How they interpret their distressing trip- those who identify this as a test and harsh lesson in a journey to enlightenment may be accepted (as this is how fully initiated scholar-priests interpret and handle their bad trips).

This inner priesthood is only a small fraction of the Scholarly Order, and its greater function is as a hub of education and repository of knowledge, and Scholar-trained doctors can provide some of the best medical care available in the setting ('best medical care in this setting' only means so much but it's pretty solid, relatively speaking). Only a chosen few Scholars ever get to commune with the Ur-Root, and most of the divine secrets revealed in the process are kept hidden (though they indirectly influence the politics and worldview of the entire order).

[theambitiouswoman]

How To Improve Your Social Skills 💬🥂📱✨

Pay close attention when others are speaking. Show that you're engaged in what they are saying, maintain eye contact, and providing verbal cues like "I see" or "interesting." Ask questions.

Good eye contact shows interest in the conversation. But avoid staring excessively in a frozen state, as it can make others uncomfortable.

A warm smile and open body language can make others feel more comfortable around you.

Work on your conversational skills, including starting and ending conversations, asking open ended questions, and finding common topics of interest.

Try to understand and empathize with the feelings and perspectives of others. This helps create trust.

Small talk is essential for building rapport. Practice starting conversations with light, non controversial topics and gradually steer them toward more meaningful subjects.

Confidence is key to effective social interaction. Work on building your self esteem and self confidence through self affirmations and positive self talk.

If you experience social anxiety, try deep breathing exercises or, visualization. Try to focus your attention on something. I used to have a lot of social anxiety so I would hold a drink in my hand to keep me centered and focused.

Familiarize yourself with cultural and social norms to ensure you're behaving appropriately in different situations so you don't look out of place or rude.

Social skills are like any other skills; they improve with practice. Start with friends or in less intimidating social settings to build your confidence.

Pay attention to nonverbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice. These signals often convey more than words.

Avoid dominating conversations. Give others the chance to speak and actively listen when it's their turn.

Show respect for others by using polite language, saying "please" and "thank you," and being considerate of their feelings and opinions.

Having a broad range of interests and knowledge can give you more to talk about and connect with others over. Learn, learn, learn.

Ask friends for feedback on your social skills. They can help pin point areas you can improve upon.

Join clubs, groups, or activities that relate to your interests. This helps you meet new people and practice social skills in a comfortable setting.

Observe individuals with strong social skills and learn from their interactions. Note how they engage with others and start to incorporate some of their techniques.

[thepersonalwords]

Sometimes we meet folks who appear rather plain, yet when they speak from a heart of service, love, compassion, and wisdom, they instantly become respected favorites.

Susan C. Young, The Art of Being: 8 Ways to Optimize Your Presence & Essence for Positive Impact

[stayatsam]

going to a professional development networking event tomorrow 🤮

[maxwellatoms]

B&M-related question: the characters' designs from the pilot look pretty different from the designs of the rest of the episodes. Why did you and the team decide to change them?

That was a direct result of having zero development time. CN told me that the pilot wouldn't be a part of the series run and that if I won the big pick, that's when we'd get into development.

To my recollection, I never got any development time that I didn't take for myself in the odd hours between eating dinner and playing Morrwind.

I've actually never started a production that has had all of its ducks in a row. There's always been a "Whoops! We accidentally gave you six too many half-hours so your story arc is dead" or a "Did we not mention that we blew half the budget before you got here?"

I'm still intensely jealous of shows like Tron: Uprising and Animaniacs that have these (relatively) cush schedules and budgets, but those types of shows are deals with devils I know I can't handle.

Still, it must be amazing to look out over the neatly organized rows of troops with the knowledge that there's a sound plan in your mind before you wake up to all of the blood and screaming.