#powerpoint slide zoom

[consideratesea]

finally figured out what it is about the x files intro that gets me. that’s my 8th grade powerpoint special interest project

[noughticalcrossings]

Put thee not on Silent

[ID: A 4 panel comic made of digital paintings of a zoom meeting between the knights of the Round Table.

Sir Galahad, Queen Guinevere, Sir Gawain, Sir Lancelot, Sir Bedivere, have their own individual screens, and one screen shows a conference room with King Arthur, Sir Mordred, and others who are not named.

Both Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere have their cameras turned off, and microphones muted, the entire time.

Panel 1 shows King Arthur with a few of his knights, with Sir Mordred brooding beside him in shadows, and a hand reaching from offscreen to steal snacks from a bowl.

Sir Galahad has his microphone muted, and is in a forest, looking up and to the side. He has brown hair up above his head and very pale skin.

King Arthur asks, "Sir Gawain, canst thou see the PowerPoint slides?"

Panel 2 shows Sir Gawain, who has brown skin, black hair, green clothes, and heterochromia, with one green eye and one dark, replies, "Verily I cannot, I think it be a miasma of the sight."

Behind him for the background is a section from the Green Knight manuscript, showing faded lettering and a green knight on a green horse standing in front of someone with a large axe while a crowd of spectators watch from the sides.

Sir Galahad's screen is now slightly motion-blurred, showing a reddragon's open mouth in front of Sir Galahad's face.

Panel 3 shows Sir Bedivere, labeled Tech Support, who wears a blue shirt and a plumed knight's helm, looking exhaustedly into the camera, pushing his helmet visor up with one hand. He is lit by blue light and has bags under his eyes, asking: "Hast thou sharest the screen?"

His background is of a library. Sir Galahad's screen is now taken up by the motion-blurred side of the dragon that is attacking him.

Panel 4 shows Sir Gawain turned slightly to the side, looking derisively at the camera, saying: "Yea, but I cannot hear Sir Galahad."

The only thing left in Sir Galahad's screen is the motion-blurred, spade shaped tail tip of the dragon chasing him.

End ID.]

Description very kindly added by @describe-things

[dsknsk]

List of the hilarious things that KJH did during the stream:

starts the stream too early up to two times, ends it within 10 seconds afterwards

then starts the real stream with several mic checks ('ah a ahh aah') and a 480px cam + background that looks like he's in his mom's basement

(on the screen is a glorified powerpoint with him circling and writing words on it with a green pen)

accidentally zooms out and reveal powerpoint slides

basically vents to us using his glorified powerpoint

then switches out because apparently his vtuber model was supposed to be ON THE ENTIRE TIME

meaning we saw his face for like 44 minutes

spends some time getting the mouth flaps right on his vtuber model

again with 'ah aah ah ah'

stream dies midway

when he mentions that they're financially stable, and that they probably won't go bankrupt, he also says that if all else fails he'll just do mukbang and gaming streams

gives out 1000 Lunacy for the clunkiness of the stream

Ngl, this is better than those livestreams with bad English dubbing

[ouidasart]

big book omens sillies design post :)

Hello!!!! I wanted to make a big long post explaining my book omens designs and where they came from/how I evolved them over the years and Several people said they would want to see that!!!! And like kind of to show that anyone can do smth like this even if u start out not being able to draw Super Good. So I made this silly little behind the scenes PowerPoint yesterday that I hope you enjoy ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Thank u especially to the 8 or so people who commented on my post saying you wanted to see this, u are the true stars nd I love u mwah

some of the text is small even tho I tried my best so u may have to click on the slides and/or zoom to read em in good resolution and also forgive any typos my apolocheese lol

I enjoyed making this and just talkin so I might in the future adapt it into something actually useful and informative and practical on like,,,,,how to draw and develop ideas for a presentation at the next east coast good omens fan meetup 😮

[rottenpumpkin13]

You know how moms have photos of their kids that the kids find mortifying, their friends find hilarious and moms find endearing?

What photos does Lazard have of his idiots?

Blackmail Photos On Lazard's Phone

• Sephiroth and Angeal sweeping confetti from the floor after an office party but they're posing like American Gothic, with Sephiroth holding up the broom like the pitchfork.

• The same after party cleanup, this time it's Sephiroth and Angeal beating Genesis with their broomsticks because he wasn't helping.

• Zack holding out his burger, where Sephiroth is taking a bite.

• Sephiroth in the corner of the conference room using Genesis' balled up red coat as a pillow and his hair as an eye mask.

• The First Class trio covered in mud after a mission. Head to toe. They clearly look like they're being forced to stake the picture.

• Minutes later, a photo of Genesis and Sephiroth flinging mud at each other while Angeal yells at them.

• Angeal mid-fall as the chair he had been teetering on finally tipped back. Lazard had been warning him he would fall, but Angeal didn't listen.

• Sephiroth with a failed merchandise prototype that's a plushie of Genesis, but it doesn't have eyebrows. Sephiroth is holding it like a trophy.

• Zack changing a lightbulb on Angeal's shoulder. Sephiroth and Genesis thought the pose looked cool, so Genesis can be seen on Sephiroth's shoulders in the background, except he's falling so he's just a blur of red.

• A shame photo he took of Angeal sweeping up the dirt he tracked into the 49th floor after purchasing yet another office plant.

• A photo of Genesis taken at 4:15 AM, where he's wearing sunglasses and holding a cup of coffee. His coat is inside out.

• Sephiroth at lunch with ketchup all over his chest after the ketchup bottle nozzle broke and squirted everywhere. Zack's hand can be seen dipping a fry into Sephiroth's chest.

• An unflattering photo of Genesis mid-yawn. Angeal and Sephiroth are beside him, Angeal is holding up a piece of Sephiroth's hair so it looks like Genesis is about to eat it.

• Sephiroth having an existential crisis inside a giant cardboard box, except only his eyes are visible, reminiscent of a hippo partially underwater.

• Zack standing in front of a PowerPoint presentation where one slide is just the word "ASS" on screen. He's doing a thumbs up.

• A followup photo of Zack lowering his head in shame, "ASS" still visible on the PowerPoint behind him. Angeal and Sephiroth are arguing in the photo over wether or not Zack should be allowed to spell "ASS" on an official PowerPoint presentation.

• A photo of Genesis laying on the couch in the break room, except it's zoomed in to see what's on his screen. Genesis is in the process of looking up "Sephiroth x Genesis fanfiction enemies to lovers slow burn" online.

• Zack, but his head is through a wall after he ran into it. Lazard actually took this photo to show upper management that they need to do some remodeling.

• Someone organized the letter magnets in the break room fridge to read "Fuck bitches get money" and Sephiroth is standing in front of it, doing a thumbs up.

• Angeal in the process of pouring a beer into a bowl of cereal instead of milk. What makes this photo funny is Zack sobbing in the background as he watches this.

• Genesis but he's just a red blur of motion mid-slip, the wet floor sign in full view.

• Cloud standing outside Genesis' office holding a cardboard sign that reads "PRAY FOR GENESIS. NOTHING HAPPENED TO HIM, HE'S JUST A CUNT."

• A shame photo he made Genesis, Angeal and Sephiroth take, where they're crossing out the "This department has gone 15 days without a Jenga-related fight."

• Another shame photo of Sephiroth who's sitting on the floor with his head in his hands, his fallen bowl of splattered ramen on the floor beside him.

• Genesis mid-mental breakdown, curled into a ball on the floor in his office, where they pranked him by filling it with cardboard cutouts of Sephiroth.

• Cloud Strife (in his infantry uniform) posing next to his employee of the month photo. Yes, this was on the SOLDIER floor.

[puppiesandnightlock]

Link: Why Bruce Should Not Have The Title of World's Greatest Detective Anymore, a presentation by Tim Drake

Summary: Bruce didn't know the Super Sons were dating somehow, and Tim compiled a list of evidence of a bunch of moment here he should have caught on, but did not.

Featuring Confused and Tired Dad Bruce, PowerPoint master Tim, Traumatized Dick, and an embarrassed Damian.

Super Sons Week Bonus Day: Family and Legacy (this one won by a landslide on the tumblr poll)

In Bruce’s defense, he was a father of six officially and about twelve emotionally. He had long ago resigned his title of World’s Greatest Detective to Tim, so honestly, could you blame him for not noticing that his youngest son had had company around more often? And come on, it was Jonathan Samuel Kent, the two were practically glued to each other even before recent developments. 

How recent, he wasn't sure. 

And now he had to sit through a folder Tim had given him, evidence compiled in an attempt to clear things up in his head. He plugged in the USB that fell out of it and it opened to a powerpoint.

Of course.

Angels and Demons, or otherwise known as B, how the fuck did you not know?

A presentation by Tim Drake 

Evidence #1: “Wrestling.”

The slide played a clip of surveillance feed from inside of the manor. Damian had Jon pinned to the ground, both panting and flushed. 

“What’s going on here?” Bruce turned the doorknob, poking his head through the door.

Damian scrambled off of the taller boy, schooling his features to a mask of indifference. 

Jon made no such efforts, choosing to starfish across the carpeted floor, a blank look on his face as he stared at the ceiling.

“Nothing, Father, we decided to make use of our time and spar. Jonathan needs practice.” 

Bruce eyed them suspiciously, pausing to take in the scene. Damian’s usual gel slicked hair was ruffled, and Jon’s curls were splayed out on the floor, some in his face.

Then again, his hair was always a bit unruly.

Their faces were flushed, and they had been breathing heavily when he came in.

The quick once over seemingly revealed nothing to him, although one could clearly see the still blown pupils of an expressionless Jon, and both boys’ kiss-bitten lips.

“Next time, spar in the cave, that’s what it's there for.” He walked out, shutting the door behind him.

The video feed played for a bit longer, Damian putting his face in his hands, a very un-Damian-like thing to do, and groaning.

“I cannot believe that actually worked.”

Tim had left a little note on the side of the video after it stopped playing. You have six kids, and one of them is one Richard John Grayson, how on earth did you fall for that?

Evidence #2: Dates

This opened to a video from a phone, someone walking into Damian’s room and filming his fussing with his appearance in the mirror.

“Whatcha doin’, baby bat?” Tim’s voice came from the other side of the camera.

“Fixing my hair, what does it look like, Drake?”

“Whoa, whoa, chill. I’m just curious, I haven't seen you put this much interest into your appearance since you had picture day.”

Damian scowled, more out of admittance that he was right then spite.

“Say what you will, Timothy.” He hesitated. “How do I look?”

“You’ll blow his socks off, Dames.” Tim said softly, a hand reaching out from behind the phone to straighten his jacket.

Damian inhaled deeply and carefully walked down the stairs. The doorbell rang, and as if filming a reality show, Tim followed dutifully behind. Jon stood, looking as nervous as he was, holding a small bunch of wild flowers that he immediately thrust into Damian’s face. 

“Oh my god-” was whispered from Tim as the camera zoomed in on Damian, a pink flush becoming slightly visible.

“I’m so sending this to Dick.”

Damian handed off the flowers to the nearest person, but not before threading a few into Jon’s curls.

“Where are you going?” Bruce came out from the dining room, files in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other.

Tim switched the camera over to him, zooming in on his tired appearance, then zooming out so he could see everyone.

“The movies, s-sir.” Jon stuttered.

Burce raised an eyebrow. “Jon, you’ve known me for years, you can drop the formalities.”

An undignified squeak came from the boy and Damian sighed, albeit affectionately.

“We will be going, Father.”

“Have a good time.” He waved them off, disappearing into the labyrinth that is Wayne Manor.

“That’s it?” Tim was heard screeching off screen. “He gave ME hell, gave my dates HELL, broke out the KRYPTONITE when Kon even LOOKED at me, and all you get is HAVE A GOOD TIME?”

“Sucks to suck.” Damian jeered, taking Jon by the hand and dragging him out the door.

Followed by it was several screenshots from a chat titled “Rockin’ Robins”, all of them sharing stories until someone pointed out that maybe Bruce didn't even know it was a date, which was accurate.

This note said There were flowers. Flowers.

Evidence #3: They were in A FUCKING CLOSET.

Bruce spat his coffee out at that, massaging his temples. This was getting to be way too much. He did not at all need to know about what had happened in the closet, especially because he remembered this particular one and frankly? It was embarrassing that he didn’t catch on then.

Bruce was walking down the hallway when he suddenly heard noises coming from the third floor janitor's closet.

Tentatively, he opened the door. The last thing he expected was for Jon and Damian to stumble out of it, school uniforms slightly unbuttoned and very rumpled. Jon’s glasses were crooked, and Damian’s tie was missing.

“F-Father!” Damian stuttered, attempting to smooth out his ruffled appearance. Jon silently handed him his tie, both boys flushing furiously under Bruce’s rather confused gaze.

“What were you doing in there? Aren’t you supposed to be on that field trip? Your class is still on the first floor.” 

“W-We were…uh-” Jon fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt, nudging Damian for help.

Suddenly, his gaze caught on something reflecting green in his son’s back pocket. His eyes narrowed and his face set into a firm expression.

“We will be talking about this at home. I’m disappointed in both of you, I thought we’d gone over this.” 

Damian’s face paled, before morphing into one of confusion. “What exactly are you talking about, Father?”

“Sneaking out for hero work.”

Both teens inwardly sobbed in relief as Damian said stiffly, “Yes, Father.”and Jon with a quaking “Sorry, Uncle Bruce.”

Satisfied in his parenting skills, Bruce continued towards his office.

If he watched the video Tim had put in from the surveillance feed of Wayne Enterprises, he could almost guarantee they would have both been sporting some rather suspicious brusings. 

Bruce stood up, he was going to need a drink to get through the rest of this. 

Unbeknownst to him, most of his kids were perched in the living room, wheezing at their father’s reactions.

Damian was rather displeased at all that was being shown, and his face was flushed red.

“Looks like baby bat isn’t so innocent.” Jason cackled.

“My precious sweet little boy, this is OBSCENE, they are BABIES!”

“Richard, I am nineteen years old.”

“BABIES.”

Tim closed the laptop as Bruce left the cave, leaning back. “It was sad, honestly, to compile all this information and realize Bruce didn't get any of it. I mean, how long has it been?”

“Three years.” Damian muttered.

“Three fucking years. It’s sad to see him go.” Duke said solemnly.

There was a moment of silence as they mourned the loss of their once perceptive father.

Then promptly burst into laughter.

@super-sons-week-2023

[mariacallous]

One phrase encapsulates the methodology of nonfiction master Robert Caro: Turn Every Page. The phrase is so associated with Caro that it’s the name of the recent documentary about him and of an exhibit of his archives at the New York Historical Society. To Caro it is imperative to put eyes on every line of every document relating to his subject, no matter how mind-numbing or inconvenient. He has learned that something that seems trivial can unlock a whole new understanding of an event, provide a path to an unknown source, or unravel a mystery of who was responsible for a crisis or an accomplishment. Over his career he has pored over literally millions of pages of documents: reports, transcripts, articles, legal briefs, letters (45 million in the LBJ Presidential Library alone!). Some seemed deadly dull, repetitive, or irrelevant. No matter—he’d plow through, paying full attention. Caro’s relentless page-turning has made his work iconic.

In the age of AI, however, there’s a new motto: There’s no need to turn pages at all! Not even the transcripts of your interviews. Oh, and you don’t have to pay attention at meetings, or even attend them. Nor do you need to read your mail or your colleagues’ memos. Just feed the raw material into a large language model and in an instant you’ll have a summary to scan. With OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude as our wingmen, summary reading is what now qualifies as preparedness.

LLMs love to summarize, or at least that’s what their creators set them about doing. Google now “auto-summarizes” your documents so you can “quickly parse the information that matters and prioritize where to focus.” AI will even summarize unread conversations in Google Chat! With Microsoft Copilot, if you so much as hover your cursor over an Excel spreadsheet, PDF, Word doc, or PowerPoint presentation, you’ll get it boiled down. That’s right—even the condensed bullet points of a slide deck can be cut down to the … more essential stuff? Meta also now summarizes the comments on popular posts. Zoom summarizes meetings and churns out a cheat sheet in real time. Transcription services like Otter now put summaries front and center, and the transcription itself in another tab.

Why the orgy of summarizing? At a time when we’re only beginning to figure out how to get value from LLMs, summaries are one of the most straightforward and immediately useful features available. Of course, they can contain errors or miss important points. Noted. The more serious risk is that relying too much on summaries will make us dumber.

Summaries, after all, are sketchy maps and not the territory itself. I’m reminded of the Woody Allen joke where he zipped through War and Peace in 20 minutes and concluded, “It’s about Russia.” I’m not saying that AI summaries are that vague. In fact, the reason they’re dangerous is that they’re good enough. They allow you to fake it, to proceed with some understanding of the subject. Just not a deep one.

As an example, let’s take AI-generated summaries of voice recordings, like what Otter does. As a journalist, I know that you lose something when you don’t do your own transcriptions. It’s incredibly time-consuming. But in the process you really know what your subject is saying, and not saying. You almost always find something you missed. A very close reading of a transcript might allow you to recover some of that. Having everything summarized, though, tempts you to look at only the passages of immediate interest—at the expense of unearthing treasures buried in the text.

Successful leaders have known all along the danger of such shortcuts. That’s why Jeff Bezos, when he was CEO of Amazon, banned PowerPoint from his meetings. He famously demanded that his underlings produce a meticulous memo that came to be known as a “6-pager.” Writing the 6-pager forced managers to think hard about what they were proposing, with every word critical to executing, or dooming, their pitch. The first part of a Bezos meeting is conducted in silence as everyone turns all 6 pages of the document. No summarizing allowed!

To be fair, I can entertain a counterargument to my discomfort with summaries. With no effort whatsoever, an LLM does read every page. So if you want to go beyond the summary, and you give it the proper prompts, an LLM can quickly locate the most obscure facts. Maybe one day these models will be sufficiently skilled to actually identify and surface those gems, customized to what you’re looking for. If that happens, though, we’d be even more reliant on them, and our own abilities might atrophy.

Long-term, summary mania might lead to an erosion of writing itself. If you know that no one will be reading the actual text of your emails, your documents, or your reports, why bother to take the time to dig up details that make compelling reading, or craft the prose to show your wit? You may as well outsource your writing to AI, which doesn’t mind at all if you ask it to churn out 100-page reports. No one will complain, because they’ll be using their own AI to condense the report to a bunch of bullet points. If all that happens, the collective work product of a civilization will have the quality of a third-generation Xerox.

As for Robert Caro, he’s years past his deadline on the fifth volume of his epic LBJ saga. If LLMs had been around when he began telling the president’s story almost 50 years ago—and he had actually used them and not turned so many pages—the whole cycle probably would have been long completed. But not nearly as great.

[heliumspirals]

All New Void Weapons for Episode: Heresy, Reviewed and Discussed In-Depth

This will contain spoilers for weapons released in later acts, if they're visible in the API. This is from the perspective of an endgame challenge player, so I won't be entertaining much in the way of "neat fun rolls," since what's fun for me isn't necessarily what's fun for you and vice-versa. I'll mention them where especially noteworthy, especially if the weapon doesn't have any genuinely good rolls. This is going to be a series split up into one post for all six damage types, because of tumblr's length limitation.

ADMETUS-D

Admetus-D has access to some neat elemental synergy perks, but with a 150 RPM and a high zoom stat, you might encounter some clunk if you try to use this thing as your room clear. Withering Gaze is viable, but is objectively numerically better on other weapon types. If you want it on a primary, though, this is the best option. Your 3rd column is rife with ways to improve the responsiveness of the weapon, and I recommend Keep Away or Rapid Hit interchangeably. I've opted for Rapid Hit, as it synergizes directly with my 4th column recommendation. The recommendation in question is Precision Instrument; while other perks have potentially higher ceilings and higher floors, I prefer the consistency and ease-of-use you get from Prinstrument. This is where I want you to ignore everything I've said in my other entries about how the era of plinking majors from across the map is over. Recommended Use Case: Plinking majors from across the map.

AFTERLIGHT

Discord on a fusion is exciting, and I get the impression this is explicitly the roll they wanted you to use. The origin trait Willing Vessel interacts uniquely with Fusions and Combat Bows, granting improved charge time for dealing damage until the weapon is stowed. The "until the weapon is stowed" part is a tragedy, since we'll be abusing Discord, but it's still a free bonus for doing nothing. On the dev stream for Act II, they suggested running Ambitious Assassin with Reservoir Burst for a DPS option, but there's simply better things to do than use an Adaptive Fusion for DPS in the first place. Lead/Vorpal is also here, if you like starting your day with lightly toasted multigrain bread with nothing on it. Recommended Use Case: This is your "room go boom" fusion. No Chain Reaction like you'd find on VS Gravitic Arrest, but Reservoir Burst might genuinely be superior for the added damage bonus. Proc Discord to trigger Seven Seconds in Heaven.

ANAMNESIS

I know I said I won't highlight fun rolls, but you need to let me have this. If I'm interpreting these interactions correctly, Anamnesis is Purple Hush. I don't have exact numbers on Willing Vessel just yet, but Successful Warmup/Impulse Amplifier should put you somewhere in the .4 second reload, .2 second draw time range. I'll be heartbroken if these numbers are secretly capped. If you want a more orthodox roll, Archer's Tempo with either Sword Logic or Explosive Head will cook. There's also Dragonfly/Demoralize and Repulsor/Destabilizing Rounds. There's plenty of other bows that can do room clear, and plenty of other weapons that can do Repulsor/Destabilizing, but no other bows that can do what Anamnesis (hypothetically) can do. Recommended Use Case: Either put a lot of purple on your screen, or put a lot of arrows on the other guys.

CORRECTIVE MEASURE

Unreasonable gun. Kind of goofy. Deeply unnecessary. This is quite possibly the single most potent ad clear legendary in the game for sheer damage output, with Destabilizing Rounds/Killing Tally ensuring nothing can even look at you without turning purple and immediately dissolving like a powerpoint slide. Rewind Rounds/High Impact reserves could potentially be funny, Subsistence/One For All is there if you're Born In The Wrong Generation about Beyond Light, and the unique interaction of Elemental Honing and Firefly is very cool. Firefly triggers Solar damage, regardless of the alignment of the weapon that triggers it. Not terribly useful, but it's something to keep an eye out for on future weapons. Recommended Use Case: Shred through waves of enemies with Destabilizing Rounds and Killing Tally. The lack of a reload perk isn't really a problem, I promise you'll have the free time to reload once your mag is empty.

EXALTED TRUTH

MY BABY. MY SWEET BABY ANGEL. MY SACRED TREASURE. MY PURPLE SUNSHOT. With a stat package fitting of a Trials drop and an unbelievably juiced perk pool, it's not easy to go wrong with Exalted Truth. The Suros model and origin trait work with the statline to make this gun feel so slick and smooth to use that I'm always a little worried it might slip out of my hands when I fire it. Your PvE options in the first column are relatively limited, as it's mostly QoL and weapon feel perks, but the 3rd column has One for All, Demoralize, and Repulsor Brace to choose from. Repulsor is just a better Heal Clip, but I ran with Demoralize, as the Weaken being a debuff and not a weapon buff allows your Volatile to inherit the effects, whereas One for All will strictly benefit your weapon damage.

Recommended Use Case: Void synergy workhorse. Can be used subclass agnostic, but the Void perks aren't optional. I run this thing on my Solar Warlock all the time, damage is damage.

EYES UNVEILED

I don't know who Eyes Unveiled is for. Withering Gaze is at its strongest on Fusions, but Eyes Unveiled has a lower charge time than the superior Gravitic Arrest and Glacioclasm, while not having any significant damage contribution to make up for the inconvenience. The perk pool makes me think Bungie intended for this to be an ad clear option, which is legitimately baffling. I'd have a lot more to say on this weapon if Discord was in the 3rd column, but I understand why Bungie is hesitant to put Discord on power weapons.

Recommended Use Case: Farm for a pinnacle drop of this and infuse it into your crafted Taipan.

JOXER'S LONGSWORD

Heavy Burst Pulses have some of the best damage profiles against minor enemies, and we'll be taking advantage of that innate strength by foregoing real damage perks in favour of hard utility and wave clear. (Typing that felt familiar, have I already said that about a different weapon before? Real question.) As a playlist weapon, the Longsword gives you an absurdly deep perk pool, with a lot of enticing options like Demolitionist/Destabilizing Rounds or Shoot to Loot/Desperate Measures. Dragonfly/One for All can output a monstrous amount of damage with free perk triggers, but ultimately I think Weaken is more valuable, since your base damage is already high enough on a Heavy Burst. This is largely personal preference, though! I'm split 50/50 on it myself, and may need to write a follow-up post to this once I land a roll of both of these. Recommended Use Case: Midrange wave clear. Focus on eliminating the little guys that spawn with your real target, and take advantage of the long-range Weaken to use a strong Kinetic special to clean up. Try pairing it with Izanagi's Burden.

LOTUS-EATER

i think i huave covid Lotus-Eater finally rounds out our Rocket-Assisted Frame roster with one of the best sidearms yet. While Tinasha's Mastery and Aberrant Action lean more towards utility, Lotus-Eater is formally a primary weapon. It has access to strong utility perks in Shoot to Loot/Withering Gaze, but there are more reliable options for both of these. I have my eyes on the classic void combo here, as the Destabilizing Rounds changes make Repulsor Brace a direct upgrade to Heal Clip. Adrenaline Junkie is enticing for Void Warlocks, being one of your strongest options for Contraverse synergy. I won't be able to settle on just owning one of these. Recommended Use Case: This is your primary weapon in a double special setup. A strong Kinetic exotic like Witherhoard, Arbalest (once we're out of a barrier sidearm episode) or Izanagi will cover your burst damage weakness, and still leave an opening for something like Eager Edge for convenience. I'll be using this in Rite of The Nine later this episode for sure.

THE TITLE

Losing out on Attrition Orbs from last year is unfortunate, but the new Destabilizing Rounds makes this less of a hit than it would have been otherwise. Classy Contender makes this a relatively strong option on the likes of Briarbinds Warlocks, Gyrfalcon Hunters, and Overshield Titans. Our 3rd column leans towards weapon feel and PvP for the most part, but Repulsor Brace is in a very good spot right now. I promise I'll have more exciting things to say for our next weapon, I can only phrase "Repulsor Brace is Better Heal Clip and the rework makes Destabilizing Rounds no longer bait" in so many different ways. If you only take one thing away from this let it be "Repulsor Brace is just Better Heal Clip." Recommended Use Case: Poor base stats are pretty demanding, to the point where I'd maybe recommend using one of those PvP perks for lower-end content rolls. Juice reload where you can, as your base reload is upwards of two seconds long. Ouch.

UNVOICED

Unvoiced is simply dominant. The situations it can be applied in are relatively sparse, but whenever that situation presents itself you can expect to see Unvoiced putting up an unrivaled performance. With Redirection and Bait and Switch both active, you'll be seeing double damage on every shot from an already high burst damage archetype. If this perk combo shows up on something any less restrictive than a slug shotgun I will be upset. Unvoiced is ammo-inefficient due to the need to set up Redirection, but Special Finisher renders this a non-issue. Recommended Use Case: Yes. The times it'll shine are few and far between, and at the moment it's being kept muzzled by Lord of Wolves being easier to get and use for a better performance, but keep an eye on this freak of nature.

[crashdavis]

can you explain the michael psychosomatic kittens curse to me please it's been bothering me for upwards of a week

it would be an honor. it's kind of a long story but luckily I'm at work.

1. I was drawing pictures of Mike and Peter on zoom with my bestest friend Cal and I was drawing their beautiful 70s long hair as I am wont to do. A thought occurred in my head that the color of their hairs together would make a beautiful tortoiseshell cat. This prompted me to say aloud: "They would have beautiful kittens." Which of course raised questions. I wasn't even really thinking about kitten pregnancy at this point I was just thinking about their hair. But kitten pregnancy sprung forth none the less.

2. The household has been on kind of a Phyllis kick lately because I have a 73 slide long PowerPoint on the Monkees that I have been workshopping into a sort of combination stand up comedy/performance art piece. Our second focus group (the cast of rocky horror) said that they liked it but wanted more interpersonal drama. So I added Peter and Davy's fight and a "wife timeline" so we've been thinking about Monkee wives and I recently read Mike's book and Phyllis I think we can all agree is one of the most interesting and under-examined people in the whole Monkee cluster fuck.

3. So Mike is pregnant with Kittens. Because he and Peter would have beautiful kittens. And we all agree that being pregnant would be a good thing for Mike Nesmith. On a physical level it would suit him but also from a sort of pseudo feminist perspective where he is forced to take on the burden of """"womanhood"""" we feel it could help to facilitate understanding to what he's putting these women through.

4. So it becomes sort of body horror, where he is forced to confront the physical and emotional labor that he has been foisting on Phyllis and then neglecting her but in becoming pregnant he understands her and their relationship blossoms. We decide that Phyllis sort of has a mental break and convinces herself that she's going to trick Mike into thinking he's pregnant so that he understands just for a moment what she's going through. We try to come up with ways you could try to convince a man he is pregnant (this is difficult).

5. We realize we have lost the kitten plot. But Riley (who has been here the whole time because we share a room but I didn't want to introduce to many characters into this) has been taking a class on monsters and the monstrous and there is this medieval medical belief called "the maternal imagination" which is basically the idea that if you are pregnant and get scared by a mouse your baby will be born mouselike. Or if you are looking at a picture of a man who is not your husband while you conceive a baby the baby will look like the man in the picture, not it's actual father. It's a very interesting sort of belief.

6. So we decide that Mike stumbles upon a sick kitten one day and brings it home and is positively doting. Phyllis and his real life children remain secondary. He's about work and this fucking kitten. And so of course it becomes the object of Phyllis’s ire. And she hates that right? Because it's a sick and tiny kitten. And really she should hate Mike (but she cannot hate Mike this is a fundamental truth of her character). But she decides that she can make him understand. By making him think he's pregnant. And she goes to bed that night and has a dream that she gives birth to kittens.

7. Of course this is totally delusional he's never going to think he's pregnant but weirdly, he starts to ... act pregnant? In ways that she would have absolutely no control over. He's got that glow and he's gaining weight and most of all he's happy and is spending a lot more time at home hanging around. And she starts to get all doting excited husband on him. And their relationship is a lot more tenable now that their roles have subtly shifted. Because she is the responsible one right? But previously she'd have to defer to him and he had to perform this masculine patriarch role and neither of them are brave enough to challenge it but they both feel wrong fulfilling those roles. This is just right. But it's also very fucking wrong. Because Mike is pregnant??? And it's getting pretty undeniable. It is also clear that whatever is in there is not a baby. Phyllis has had babies and this is four little squirmy things. And so eventually Mike has kittens and it is not clarified how physically this happens but it does and it fixes him.

Sorry. I know this is pretty much batshit insane but it is the story.

[cryingoverpixelmen]

I want to attempt to make an open world sandbox type Dungeons and Dragons/Role Play game but I am the style of person that needs extensive planning and notes and stuff.

So I want to like map out the world and what’s going on in it in like a Prezi powerpoint? Like the type where you click on part of it and it zooms in to reveal another ‘slide’ in the slideshow and can keep zooming in infinitely??

But I am struggling to find how to do what I am trying to do on some sort of program or website I don’t have to pay for.

[koskela-knights]

Alan Wake 2 Hunger Games Day 1 & 2

I put the Alan Wake 2 characters into that HG simulator and turned the results into a beautiful powerpoint slide.

Click on the image to zoom in + better quality

The Districts

To be continued...

[lilysblogofshadows]

Ostara Ritual for E-Coven

This ritual is adapted from "Witchcraft: A Beginner's Guide" by Teresa Moorey and is designed to be done over a live meeting software such as Discord Voice Channels, Google Meetings, or Zoom. It was originally created for The Coven of the Moon and Stars for celebration on March 20th, 2025 6:00 PM CST.

Coven leaders may want to log on 15 minutes early to ensure they have all their shared prayers/songs/etc. on a slideshow software (i.e. PowerPoint) for screen sharing or in the meeting room text chat. The things this ritual designer recommends to have up are going to be bolded and italicized. Though, a PowerPoint slide for the entire ritual would certainly not hurt. I've uploaded my own. I also recommend finding some musical ambiance for the egg painting ritual and fellowship time which can be found on YouTube.

Before Coming

Create an e-calendar invite with the date and time and note this in the invite.

Materials Needed:

Eggs*, Egg Paints, Fresh Flowers (optional for decoration), Ostara Food/Drink for Toasting and Grounding.

*Eggs may be real (harbdoiled, the more ethically raised the better), plastic, or crafted. With the price of eggs as of writing this along with Avian Influenza and many witches practicing Veganism, Real Eggs may not be available for all coven members.

Intentions:

The theme of these intentions is projects and growth. What would you like to work on in summer?

Other:

Know the south side of the room you plan to do ritual in.

Pre-Ritual

Make sure share screen and video is working. Ensure all coven members have their materials and are aware of the south side of the room and their intentions. If at ALL possible, it is best to already be facing south and enable camera so we can see each other.

Make sure everyone knows each others names and preferred pronouns. Coven leader introduces themselves first.

My personal Preface to Coven Members before beginning:

I recommend of course doing the whole ritual, but if at any point you do not feel comfortable participating YOU DONT HAVE TO AT ALL. Witchcraft is all about your personal practice. Do not do something you don't want to do, but I do encourage you regardless to come out of your comfort zone. This may make your magic stronger.

Ritual Start

Reading

Coven leader reads from Witchcraft: A Beginner's Guide, pg. 88-89 description of Eostar.

At the end of March, spring is really on the way, despite the nip that lingers in the air. Primroses and cowslips are blossoming. Day and night are of equal length, but light is gaining. In the greenwood, the young God is growing to manhood, and with Him grow the green shoots and buds. The Goddess as Maiden delights in Her youth and beauty. Energy and promise are everywhere, but each of the equinoxes is a delicate time , of questioning and finding direction. Our theme is "Resurgence" - we take a deep breath and decide where we will concentrate our efforts. An old story tells of the World Egg hatched by the Sun, and the egg is our symbol now. What are we going to "hatch" in the coming summer?

Icebreaker

Coven leader introduces an Icebreaker in the from of the hymn "Lord of the Dance." They may explain to skeptical members that while this is a Christian song, it is recommended by Pagan and Witch Teresa Moorey for Ostara and very appropriately captures the energy and vibrations of the season. Instead of the the Christian God of Jesus, we will sing this hymn in honor of the Sun God who is in his Green Youth. Coven members may need some encouraging to sing, but remind them getting loose helps magic flow better. Even a little dancing at the desk is recommended!

Coven leader will start by singing the refrain solo to demonstrate to the members. Then, they will sing again the refrain together. Ensure this refrain is pasted in the meeting's text chat or shared on the screen so the coven members can see it.

Dance, dance, wherever you may be, I am the Lord of the dance, said he, And I'll lead you all, wherever you may be, And I'll lead you all in the dance, said he.

Coven leader can then play this video where The Dubliners sing this hymn fantastically using a SCREEN SHARE feature. Leader can sing the verses while entire Coven sings refrain together.

These are the Verses the Dubliners use:

I danced in the morning when the world was begun, And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun, And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth: At Bethlehem I had my birth. I danced on the Sabbath and I cured the lame: The holy people said it was a shame. They whipped and they stripped and they hung me on high, And they left me there on a cross to die: I danced on a Friday when the sky turned black; It's hard to dance with the devil on your back. They buried my body and they thought I'd gone; But I am the dance, and I still go on: They cut me down and I leapt up high; I am the life that'll never, never die. I'll live in you if you'll live in me: I am the Lord of the dance, said he.

Magic Circle

Coven members will then cast their magic circles however they may like. When each person is done they may let the group know verbally or by signaling a "Thumbs Up" emoji reaction if available.

Ritual

Intentions

Coven leader says:

Welcome the sun with upstretched arms. As we continue this ritual discussing our projects and areas of growth, imagine the suns rays getting stronger as you perform each part of the ritual.

Intention setting now begins. Each member will say their intentions popcorn style. If they wish to keep their intentions private, they may say "my intention."

The Leader starts by saying:

At this time of light and warmth I pledge myself to [intention/project]

When all are finished, pray this prayer together. Ensure all coven members have access to this prayer either by screen sharing or pasting it into the group meeting text chat.

Like the bright Sun pouring on to the land, I banish all that is negative Hail to the power of the Sun Growing strong to drive out the darkness Hail to the beauty of the Maiden As she dances on the green meadow! I welcome fresh new life into the land and into my life.

Egg Painting

It is now time to paint our eggs! One egg for each major intention. As we decorate them, you can use symbols of your intentions you would like to grow on the egg. For example, if you wished for love you can draw a heart on your egg. Coven members can discuss and live narrate their painting of their eggs together or can work quietly.

When each person is done they may let the group know verbally or by signaling a "Thumbs Up" emoji reaction if available.

Closing

Toast

It's time for a toast! Encourage coven members to get their drinks ready and Coven leader may propose a toast if she likes. Any coven member may also propose a toast.

The starting toast I recommend is this:

I propose a toast to the God and the Godess and to [Coven Name]. May this spring fill us with abundant life and joy!

Say "So Mote it Be!" (instead of Here, Here)

Magic Circle

Everyone then closes their magic circle. When each person is done they may let the group know verbally or by signaling a "Thumbs Up" emoji reaction if available.

Dismissal/Grounding/Fellowship

The Leader then Says:

Go in Peace, the Ritual has Ended. Blessed Ostara to All! So Mote it Be!

Coven leader now invites any who wish to remain to eat and drink and share in fellowship with their coven members. Anybody who is leaving is reminded to ground themselves before they go about their day.

[bidaubadeadieu]

By "on a computer" I mean that the majority of your working hours you spend working on a computer. Your job functions might be accounting, data analysis, research, writing, digital art, programming. You might spend time using Excel or Zoom.

By "physical" I mean that your job requires you to use your body at a physical location. Your job functions might be driving a vehicle, stocking shelves, using machinery, preparing food, cleaning houses, childcare. This could include anything that keeps you on your feet for at least a few hours every day, but also a job like sitting at an information desk at a museum handing out maps and giving directions to visitors.

I have not included an infinite nuance answer on purpose. Obviously many jobs are split, like a teacher who goes to work at a school and stands in front of a class but spends a lot of time grading or preparing PowerPoint slides on a computer. Just use your best judgment and what feels right.

Students: if you do not work for pay at least 10 hours per week, please select unemployed.

Note 1: this poll is not just asking whether you work in-person. If you go into an office 5 days per week but most of your time is spent working on a computer at your office, choose computer.

Note 2: this poll is not asking you whether your labor is "high-skilled". There is no unskilled labor. Both categories (computer and physical) contain some jobs that require advanced degrees and some jobs that do not require advanced degrees.

[oensible]

sweating and shakign and crying as microsoft powerpoint on the browser power-points-and-laughs at me. i try to zoom in or out just a little bit on my huge slide-poster and my computer coughs weakly at me. graphic design is my passion. graphic design is my passion. graphic design is my

[neocatharsis]

Doyoung of K-pop boyband NCT opens up to NME about the pop-rock sound of his debut album 'Youth', working with bandmate Taeyong and more

NCT’s Doyoung nears 30, he’s been thinking of the ocean. Specifically, what it looks like from afar. That’s why the Korean title of the singer’s first solo album, ‘Youth’, includes the word ‘포말’, or sea foam. Seen too close, the cresting tide is chaotic, even violent; but, step back, and there’s beauty in that battle on the swirling waves. It’s an apt metaphor for a look back on a chapter of your life, taken from a slight remove – where the rough current fades into mere memory.

‘Youth’ is coloured by time and the perspective that it’s given Doyoung. “I made a conscious effort to really show who I am as a person,” he says of the album over a late night Zoom with NME. “I had to ask myself, ‘What is the story that I have to share? What do I want to represent at this stage in my life?’ I thought about it for a while and the word ‘youth’ came to me.”

The concept of youth is a familiar bedfellow for the K-pop artist transitioning into early adulthood, yet in the blue hour of his late twenties, Doyoung’s got a little more wisdom to shade between those lines. In his own words, the spirit of ‘Youth’ is more “spring night” than “spring morning”: electric guitar riffs may lift his voice up like the warm breeze, but the wistful lyrics are that welcoming spring sun gently sliding away. It’s the story of youth, as told from the end.

Once he had the idea for the album, it was like a faucet had been opened; things just flowed out. Before, his raw lyrical sketches had been rejected by the company, but, on ‘Youth’, Doyoung claims two writing credits (warm salve ‘From Little Wave’ and ‘Beginning’, an overture which brims with tender emotion), a fact he chalks up to a fresh honesty in their storytelling. This go-around, he found it was easier to tap into his “genuine experiences and sincere feelings”, and that growth was clear to SM Entertainment’s staff – especially after Doyoung tirelessly revised the album opener.

Our brief video call takes place a couple of hours after the official release of ‘Youth’. While speaking, and while listening to the interpreter relay his thoughts, Doyoung schools his face into the composure of a calm lake; he’s thoughtful, considered. Here is someone who’s had time to think through what he wants to say, though he just can’t help but make a few more last minute revisions. “I think it’s natural for there to be a difference in quality,” he says, pausing a beat, then edits himself: “Is that the right word?”

By contrast, there’s one word he definitively, and continuously, circles back to throughout our conversation: “naturally”. It’s how he describes the passage of time, but it’s also how he describes writing and recording. To hear him tell it, you would think everything simply clicked into place. The reality is, it takes a lot of effort to sound as effortless as Doyoung: in making the album, he crafted PowerPoint slides with his ideas, passed a birthday in the recording booth and spent hours on single lines. His hands are in every part of ‘Youth’, top to bottom.

Doyoung has said sub-group NCT 127’s music isn’t always his personal cup of tea, but releases from K-pop groups tend to be by committee; compromise is a necessity. On ‘Youth’, however, “the working process was certainly different without that group discussion or input of the other members”, Doyoung says. More control and responsibility, he adds, “pushed me to really focus on myself, my thoughts, and follow where the music was leading me”.

The frontman of a high-school band prior to becoming an idol trainee, Doyoung has long loved the sentimental soft rock and pop stylings of Korean bands like Hoppipolla, Daybreak and Day6. To recreate their magic, he asked SM’s A&R team to enlist mainly Korean talent for the album – breaking from the global pool they typically tap on. That began with Lucy bassist Cho Wonsang (“an artist-composer I’ve always admired”) sending Doyoung the demo for single ��Little Light’, while other credits include prolific SM Entertainment producer Kenzie and composer Seo Dong Hwan, a collaborator of IU and AKMU’s Lee Suhyun.

Another of Doyoung’s close confidants during the process will be familiar to fans: NCT 127 groupmate and leader Taeyong. The two idols have debuted together twice: once with NCT U in April 2016, and again three months later as a part of NCT 127. Both introductory songs – hip-hop-trap hybrid ‘The 7th Sense’ and the blaring, rap-led ‘Fire Truck’ – have since been proclaimed as ahead of their time, chaotic disruptors of K-pop’s bias toward bubbly boy groups in the mid-2010s. But, at the time, the NCT units struggled to make inroads with the general public.

When Taeyong released his solo project in 2023, during an era of K-pop minimalism, the dirty bass and all-around eccentricities raised eyebrows – but it spoke to who Taeyong is as an artist, which makes him fit to advise on turning a blind eye to trends. “We talked through what it means to put together and release a solo album, and what challenges I could expect in the process,” Doyoung says. “I think Taeyong hyung definitely offered me more cautionary, realistic advice on what to expect.”

Because once the sound for ‘Youth’ was in place, the pressure was on. Sans the expected hallmarks of K-pop releases like sticky pop hooks and choreography, the quality of the music had to speak for itself. A docuseries about the creation of ‘Youth’ shows Doyoung tempering his hopes: What if, he asks, no one listens? Yet the slow burn rise of NCT has imparted patience and persistence to him. “Nice music will be loved eventually,” he concluded. “So if people don’t like the song [‘Little Light’] immediately, I have this feeling, one day it will be loved.”

In going after that timelessness, ‘Youth’ finds itself obsessed with time’s steady march. Cozy coffee shop tune ‘Time Machine’, written by NCT bandmate Mark and featuring Girls’ Generation’s Taeyeon, is a duet between lovers who accept that, were they to turn back the years, everything would turn out the same. A past self takes shape over his shoulder on the atmospheric banger ‘Lost in California’, while on the tender ballad ‘Rewind’, where Doyoung’s crystalline vocals are in top form, it’s someone else just out of reach: “When I reminisce about that day / The world quietly flows backwards / Your figure as you looked back / At the disappearing end of the street.”

Given the context, it makes sense that time would be on Doyoung’s mind: At the tail end of winter, NCT 127 performed together as a full group for the last time (that is, for a while). “With Taeyong hyung enlisting for his military service, there came a point where all of us had to think about when we would next tour as the complete team,” Doyoung says. Ever a sensitive soul, he ended a couple of concerts in tears. “Because of that uncertainty, I couldn’t help but feel more sentimental,” he adds.

Part of the sadness – for fans and members – was a feeling that NCT 127 had left some global success on the table, thanks to COVID-19. Just as the members were gaining momentum stateside with English singles and a promised US tour, a stop sign was firmly planted at their feet. “When looking back on our nine years,” Doyoung said during one of his send-offs, “there might be people who feel regret, who feel that we didn’t succeed, who wonder how it would be if the timing was better”. But that’s never been the way he sees it.

“I think achieving success really depends on how you define it,” Doyoung says now. “To me, a successful artist is someone who is able to share their approach to music, their artistry and be recognised for their unique style by their audience. It’s that moment where a listener can say, ‘This artist, this group, makes this kind of music.’ By my definition, I think I can safely say that NCT 127 has reached a level of success.”

And as for himself? “When I was younger, thinking about what life had in store for me, the idea that I wanted to become a singer really grounded me,” Doyoung says. “My dream of becoming an artist who will be remembered for a long time gave me the direction for how I wanted to live my life.”

He feels an immense pride for that inner child, “for committing to a life of music, for working towards that dream”, without a guarantee of success – especially now, after it’s been realised. “I am hoping I can be recognised for my own style and tone, that I can make a name with my approach,” he continues. “That’s how I would define success for myself.” It’s spoken like someone who knows there’s only so much he can control; the rest, as always, is up to time.

© NME

[ere-the-sun-rises]

Controversial Opinion

Microsoft Office is superior to Google's features. Hands down.

Point 1: Email

Okay, so here Google does actually win one. Gmail is better than Outlook not because it's a better service but because it's not trying so hard. Outlook is over-functional, in a way that says someone is justifying having a paycheck by adding features that no one wants or uses.

Point 2: Word Processor

Microsoft Word beats Gdocs to death in a back alley. Gdocs sucks so much ass it's not even funny. Word is the perfect program - clear parameters, nicely in-depth features and controls that allow for precise formatting. It doesn't lag no matter how long the doc is and it has more fonts than people on planet earth. You can easily save the doc as a PDF and it prints without issue. Gdocs has to beg for mercy and can barely manage to save to desktop without completely fucking up what little formatting you can manage. Plus, did you know that Gdocs doesn't save your work as a proper text file, but as image plates of each page? God, Docs sucks so much.

Point 3: Spreadsheets

GSheets is a joke. Its mother thinks its a failure and its siblings only hang out with it because they feel bad. Excel is intimidating, but for a reason - it knows what it's doing and is damn good at it. Nothing is beyond it. Nothing.

Point 4: Presentations

GSlides is screaming, crying, throwing up when Powerpoint walks into the room. Can you imagine? Intuitive slide management, no lag after ten slides, detailed formatting and being able to save and transfer without breaking both of its legs.

Point 5: Online Storage

OneDrive not only has more space, it has more sophisticated organization too. It saves stuff like your desktop would - in files, preserved formatting. It can also host online-only documents or just be a cloud backup. Drive wishes it could be so elegant instead of a dumpster.

Point 6: Meeting Platform

Teams is an unholy middle-management monstrosity made from a bargain with whatever eldritch being is in control of frustrating UI, but who tf has ever heard of Duo? Did you even know Google has a knock-off Zoom? I hate Teams, but if I had to be stucm in an elevator with the three of them, Teams is the only one I'd trust to reliably host a call for help. With a free Halo background, no less (Halo's artwork is so pretty you guys).

Point 7: Cost

Okay, Microsoft takes the L here again. I don't mind paying for stuff, but I resent subscriptions. Just fucking let me buy the program outright, you shitlords. But then again, Google is free for a reason.

I'm not a Microsoft shill or fan here, just a frustrated and irritated TA who's had people attempt to use Google's hideous products in their presence when the university provides Office to its students for free. The disrespect, honestly.

Dishonourable mention: Apple Pages.

You don't even have an excuse. Microsoft made Office for Apple and you know damn well that no dropbox accepts Pages files because they suck. Get that shit out of here.

P.S. I can tell when you're an Apple user too, because you never change the default font (San Francisco) to one any PC would have (like Arial, Calibri or Times New Roman).