#source of this data is trusting me

[heertohbadisadhai]

adding citations to a document is so annoying like do you not trust me with shit? am i not credible enough for you?

[xxxball-fondlerxxx]

this is the lgbtq community. the entire community. its all of them in one picture

[charles-leclerc-official]

hello luci, what account do you refer to when it comes to accurate race pace deltas, i've always thought they are very tricky to get right considering the number of factors that go into it...

on the same subject i thought this discourse was exclusively on twitter but it's common elsewhere as well, i don't know why people use the 0.1 tenth gap charles pulls on carlos as evidence of him not being that fast a driver compared to others who have pulled bigger gaps to their teammates, as if it discredits him maximizing the cars he has driven to the absolute limit. one can say carlos did a good job without discrediting charles. have they never considered the possibility that charles didn't pull a bigger gap simply because the car never permitted him to?

i feel like this is one of those situations where it's so easy to mislead with numbers and stats because anyone who has watched f1 over an extended period of time knows that charles is comfortably better even if the gap is "just" a tenth

With regards to the comparison between Charles and Carlos I'd need more specifics because I don't know the exact discourse that's going on surrounding that. If I know the context it would help if we are looking at a specific weekend or a year or their whole tenure as teammates. Although I don't really care since I think that the final results speak for themselves, and there is more to being a good driver than the gap to teammate. I think Charles' results overall make a compelling case.

Deltas are tricky because I feel like a lot of the time people are talking about different things when saying this. Are we talking over a single lap? Over a race? Did someone take out the laps that should be excluded to get a more accurate picture of pace etc. Which I found often lead to a lot of arguing on twitter because everyone was talking about something different.

I look at the raw data either from live timings or on F1 tempo and go from there based on what I want to know. I only look at pace when I think it's a relevant comparison to make. Sometimes the pace is not the main story of a split between two drivers. Really depends on the specifics.

And yes ultimately you are right. It is really hard to do an accurate statistical analysis of race pace deltas. Because pace is only one story in a race and between teammates. Obviously if one guy is battling for a position his pace won't look as good as his teammate who had clean air most of the race on paper, but it doesn't really make him worse, if that makes sense.

Delta comparison is helpful but it should not be treated as the end all when it comes to determining these sorts of things. There are some races where pace deltas just cannot be compared because drivers were on completely different tyre strats etc (Suzuka '24 good example for Ferrari)

The gap could be whatever but at the end of the day if one guy won/outqualified/finished higher more than the other consistently over the course of years that's far more informative*

I find when people really want to harp on specific stats in these driver vs driver arguments they usually just attach to the one that best supports their argument and ignore everything else. So I don't really think it's worth engaging if that's your concern.

*of course then you have to take special circumstances beyond a driver's control into account, not their fault if the car engine just dies on them etc. But I have corrected for this specifically with Charles vs Carlos h2h before and it pretty much remains unchanged with overall results. They both had roughly the same number of dnfs etc that were not their faults.

[sisterofthesouth]

can anyone who owns physical copies of deltora quest tell me what the front or back covers say re: how many copies of dq have been sold

[blueish-bird]

spent a few hours writing a pretend video essay about the process/function of conservative media analysis with an extended portion about The Matrix life is good

[mrmilomoo]

Captain John Price cock hypothesis

18+ MDNI

A/N: Written at the request of @velvetyhydrangea. After much deliberation and research, these are the conclusions I’ve come to regarding Price’s cock.

Captain John Price cock head-cannons:

Naturally, he’s uncut. No surprise there. (I’m pretty sure that’s the norm over there in the UK. Can’t speak form experience, but if I ever get the chance to cross the big pond, I’ll be sure to investigate thoroughly and report back with my data.)

Price is hairy almost everywhere, so of course he’s sporting a full bush. Man so furry he could be mistaken for a bear. I need to suffocate myself in his chest hair. He doesn’t shave, either, and honestly, I think the world is better off that way.

Price is 8 cm long when soft, and 14 cm long when hard. So he’s slightly shorter than Simon, but he’s still packing something in his pants that you should be afraid of and I’m not talking about the glock. (Source: trust me bro)

Price has one of those cock where the tip is relatively normal sized, but it gets disgustingly fat in the middle before tapering off slightly at the base. Perfect for impaling yourself on. (If you know you know)

We begin with a diameter of 4 cm, but swiftly expand to a diameter of 6 cm and a circumference of 18.85 cm at the midpoint. For reference, that’s as thick as a can of Monster Energy. Good luck trying to fit that thing in your mouth.

Breeding balls… fat, fucking breeding balls packed pull of swimmers as hardy and resilient as he is. He’s the reason my IUD is only considered to be 99% effective. Johnathan Price is thee one percenter of breeding.

[mia-can-yap-too]

What?:- The blue lock boys have turned to reddit to see if they're the problem or not.

Warnings:- fluff, crack, sfw, gender neutral reader, moot cameos but thats not a warning its a blessing, all characters aged 20 + just cuz, aikus abs, google docs, also no html cuz mia is lazyyy

Who?:- Isagi Yoichi, Oliver Aiku

a/n:- 200+ followers special gang, i love all 200+ of yall. also there will be multiple parts of this fic, 6 in total i think, so heres two of them for now!

pngs by me

star dividers by @saradika-graphics

Isagi Yoichi

You and Isagi just had your first real date.

It went wonderfully, and he was so sweet, too. He picked you up, paid for dinner, walked you home, held your hand (for the first time, actually), and gave you a smile that made your stomach do a stupid flip.

Everything was perfect. He was perfect.

Hot. Financially stable. Tall (enough). A gentleman. He had you swooning the whole night.

Until he texted you this.

Yoichi

hi! just wanted to say i had a great time!

also uh pls dont be mad

but can you fill this out when youre free???

[Date Debrief : Strengths and Areas for Improvement – Google Form]

You opened it out of curiosity. You shouldn't have. But you did.

And it was dead serious.

Date Debrief : Strengths and Areas for Improvement

by:- Isagi Yoichi (aka your #1 striker)

1. On a scale of 1 to 10, how punctual was I?

○ [ ] 1 – You were late and I thought you ghosted me.

○ [ ] 10 – You showed up like a protagonist in a shojou anime. I will marry you.

2. Did I talk about soccer too much?

○ [ ] – Yes

○ [ ] – No, but you came close to it.

○ [ ] – What do you mean "too much"? You gave tactical analysis on the waiter's footwork.

3. What was your favorite part of the date? (select all that apply)

○ [ ] The food

○ [ ] The walk home

○ [ ] The part where you got flustered trying to hold my hand

○ [ ] When you said "I'm not competitive" and then raced me to the side walk.

○ [ ] The moment where I realized you're my endgame and not just a side quest.

4. Areas for Improvement? (short answer)

There was a sample response in italics:-

[You could've complimented me more than hyper analyzing why we were both such a perfect match with information from trusted sources like my best friend. Also, maybe don't stare at my thighs as much next time.]

5. Would you go on another date with me?

○ [ ] Yes

○ [ ] HELL YEAH

○ [ ] Fill in this response with excessive emotional detail so I can reread it later and scream into my pillow.

You fill it out and sumbit it. He answers less than 45 seconds later.

Yoichi

okay so based on the data

i think i can increase hand holding frequency by 69% next time

also i wont call the kiss a 'strategic breakthrough' again

promise

★☆★☆★☆

Top Comment

u/ @beepbopzlorp :- Akqnshwkbwoq YTA but in a loving way????? Bro thinks he's dating a football LMFAOOO

Oliver Aiku

You and Aiku are in the middle of yet another mild argument.

Nothing dramatic, only you calmly explaining that maybe, just maybe, he shouldn't be flirting with the barista while holding your hand.

You're standing in the middle of your living room, arms crossed and frustration building.

"I feel like... if we're dating, there should be some boundaries. Like mutual respect? Is that crazy?" you frown at him.

Oliver casually runs a hand through his hair, and it's clear from his expression that he is barely listening.

"Mhmm. Totally. Mutual. Absolutely, babe," he yawns, turning his head to the side.

"Oliver! You don't even listen to me! Do I matter at all to you?"

"Babe, I was listening. Why do you have to be so–"

Just then, Oliver catches a glimpse of himself in the hallway mirror.

Shirtless. Slight sheen of sweat from training. Hair artfully messy.

He pauses. The room goes silent. His brow raises.

Then he flexes.

Right there. Mid argument. Slow and practiced. Left bicep. Right bicep. Abs. He's admiring the way the light was hitting him as if he was in a cologne commercial.

You pause. Your soul leaves your body.

"Are you... serious?"

He doesn't even seem ashamed. "Babe, I'm not even trying to be hot. It's just happening. Naturally."

You scowl at him. Where does he get the audacity from?

"You forgot what I was mad about, didn't you?"

He thinks for a moment. "...Was it jealousy? I don't blame you, it's a natural response to greatness."

Frustrated, you leave the room and he calls out for you.

"Don't go! I was gonna hit a back flex next!"

☆★☆★☆★

Top Comment

u/ @satocidal :- YTA and delusional. But, can I at least see if the abs were worth ruining your relationship over??? heres my email.

a/n:- will try my best to put the other parts out as soon as possible but enjoy these for now

Oh, you’re curious about my past works? Well, luckily for you, all the deliveries are neatly archived! Just head over to the Archive of Deliveries and browse through what I’ve sent out in the past. Enjoy the trip down memory lane!

[snekdood]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2015/04/14/map-these-are-the-worlds-least-religious-countries/

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2015/06/which-is-the-most-peaceful-country-in-the-world/

also

light blue is least democratic, dark blue is most. kinda seems to align a lot better with the "most peaceful countries" map. turns out the problem is any ideology being twisted for nefarious reasons and not religion specifically and exclusively. I mean, look at fucking china.

#Opinion http://dlvr.it/T8kCbl

[evansdmitri]

Fingers on The Threshold

Zayne x You

After you accidentally injuring yourself while trying to spare him a small task, you are reminded that true love isn’t a burden—but a willingness to care, even in the smallest moments.

My Masterlist

One of Zayne's love languages is acts of service, and you know it very well. You can trust him with the biggest thing in your heart—literally and figuratively—even down to the delicate thing like brushing your hair. But somehow, you couldn’t stop yourself from feeling like you were giving him another burden in his already demanding life. That’s why, even though you were happy whenever he opened the car door for you, you always tried to do it yourself.

Until that day happened.

He had already parked his car in the hospital parking lot. In one hand, he held the patient's printout data, with his phone balanced between his ear and shoulder—fully immersed in a conversation with Greyson, his tone clipped and precise—his professional mask firmly in place.

Seeing all the hustle, you decided to lighten his load by taking one task off his hands: opening and closing your side of the door.

But that’s when everything went downhill, because you were in a lethargic state. You were too tired from work, to the point where if you leaned your head for more than ten seconds, you’d fall asleep. He had insisted that you rest, but being the stubborn woman you are, you decided to accompany him to retrieve some important belongings from the hospital—hence the ride with him.

Everything happened so fast. Zayne was right beside you as you climbed out of the car, and you slammed his car door shut. Your brain needed two seconds to register what had happened—the only thing you felt was pain shooting through your fingers from an unknown source. That’s when you realized you had managed to clamp two of your fingers in the car door. Struck with pain, you couldn’t find the words.

You stared at Zayne with wide eyes, hoping he would trail his gaze to your clamped fingers, while Zayne gave you a questioning stare.

Five agonizing seconds later, you finally found your voice. “My fingers. Door!” you managed to say.

In an instant, he slipped his phone into his pocket, letting the files scatter forgotten on the ground, and flung the car door open. You yanked your hand out quickly, gritting your teeth, trying to hold back tears. Pain was supposed to be a close companion for a hunter—but somehow, this pain broke through your tolerance, bringing tears to your eyes. It was a deep, burning pain you could feel all the way in your bones. You were too scared to look. Was it wide open? Bleeding? Flesh exposed? Broken?

“My office. Now,” he said in a quiet but commanding voice, guiding you by the waist in long strides. “How does it feel?” he asked. But you were too focused on holding in your whimpers, cradling your wrist in your good hand.

When you reached his office, he told you to sit in the plush armchair and rest your hand on the armrest. He began gathering the emergency supplies he always kept ready for you. You slowly opened your eyes and took a peek as he examined your hand.

Contrary to what you feared, it wasn’t a big wound. Bloody, yes—but not as gaping or terrifying as the pain had led you to believe.

With practiced precision, Zayne cleaned the wound, applied a salve, and covered it with a bandage.

“You can take a painkiller if it hurts too much,” he said. “But I don’t think there are any broken bones—just a dented, ungrown nail from the impact.”

You nodded slowly, staring up at him with eyes like a kicked puppy. He sighed and gently pressed your face to his chest, wrapping you in a hug while stroking your hair.

“And from now on, until the foreseeable future,” he murmured, “let me open and close every door for you.”

You gave him a small, quiet nod. And since then, you never open any door by yourself if he was with you.

[the-asexuality-blog]

Just to make my position on the subject of Crab Day clear, since word is going around that the idea came from a highly objectionable person, I’m going to quote rather than reblog @skaldish:

This I agree with. I've seen other posts go around about it, so it wasn't just that one person.

But to make it clear, I'll take the time to explain to people why participating in Crab Day (and financially supporting Tumblr in general) is important:

It's unfortunate, but in this day and age, large websites like this one can't function without an exorbitant amount of income. For other social medias, the bulk of this income comes from Business-to-Business (B2B) transactions, often in the form of selling user data.

The thing y'all need to understand is that wealth is VASTLY different in the B2B economy than it is with B2C (business-to-consumer) economy. In fact, this is a huge reason why we're in an economic crisis...because the US is a nation with two economies, and the power of the dollar is astronomically different between the two of them.

Tech's standard of wealth is based in the B2B economy. Because Tumblr is in the Tech sector, it needs to play according to Tech wealth. Unfortunately, the way you earn Tech wealth is by selling Tech-related B2B products, and for social media websites, that product is user data.

It's a competitive market that sets a new standard of rotten with every transaction. In order to acquire data that's more valuable than your competitor's data, you have to be less ethical about how you source it...and also be willing to cross moral boundaries in regards to who you sell it to.

If Tumblr finds no other way of sourcing income, they have no choice but to participate in this data market or shut down.

However, Tumblr is the home of the secret third thing. In this case, this secret third thing is to work with the community rather than exploit it.

(That's what it looks like to me, anyway. I nether trust nor doubt Tumblr's words; that's not what's winning me over. Instead, I'm curious to know where they plan to go with this, because this is unusual as far as business practices go and I think it would be cool if they're trying to set a more holistic precedent for the social media of the future. I won't be able to see that conclusion if they go bankrupt though.)

So yes, participate in Crab Day. Just because one unpleasant person also condones it doesn't mean it's a bad idea.

[ms-demeanor]

Hi! You’re in the LA area, right? I hope you and your family are okay.

Unrelatedly, I ran across a thread on Mastodon about Proton Mail, which I think you’ve talked about before, and was curious what you make of it / how credible it is: https://code4lib.social/@inthehands@hachyderm.io/113838748729664639

I'm fine thanks! Worried about some friends but I'm good.

I think that thread is not incorrect, but is also bullshit.

Email protocols do not allow for 100% anonymous communication and never will, when Proton was subpoenaed for user data that ended up with some French climate activists getting prosecuted they were transparent about what was requested and updated their logging rules to store less data. *Starting* from the assumption that protonmail is supposed to be totally secure OR sells itself as totally secure is disingenuous.

The great thing about open source software is that you never have to trust a shithead CEO when they talk about what the software does. I get why people are angry at the CEO (I think the CEO is at least half wrong in that he is claiming that Republicans will challenge monopolies, but he's not wrong about the destructive corporatism of the Democratic party even if he is *in essence* wrong about which party is more likely to gesture in the direction of breaking up tech monopolies) but A) the thread says that proton's software is "opaque" and it just. Literally is not. and B) that thread links to another thread talking about how what proton is selling is trust and nope. They don't have to sell trust; you can see what their software does if you choose to investigate it, there's no need for trust when you can verify. What they're selling is transparency and from where i'm standing they are indeed quite transparent.

God. Imagine thinking that a zero trust service is selling trust.

So I think the argument that "protonmail actually isn't as secure as it claims" is bullshit that people bring up whenever they're mad at the company (whether they have legitimate reasons to be mad at the company or not).

For the record: you should never, ever, EVER treat email as a secret. Nothing you do over email is really secret because *the rules that allow email to function as a service* require at least some very sensitive information to be an open part of the protocol.

The Proton page on end to end encryption is *very* clear that it is the contents of your email messages that are encrypted, not your email as a whole, and in the image they use to illustrate this the parts of your email that *cannot* be made private (sender, recipient, subject line, time sent) are shown unencrypted:

They're not subtle about letting people know this. Nor are they quiet about the fact that replies to encrypted emails are not encrypted by default.

So the thread is *technically* correct in that all the security "holes" described reflect reality, but it's correct like saying "McDonald's says that you can eat their food for every meal and you'll put on ten pounds of muscle but ACTUALLY putting on ten pounds of muscle requires a huge amount of dedication and a very careful diet and a lot of resistance exercise" - like, I guess yeah that's what you have to do to put on ten pounds of muscle but where exactly was McDonald's making that claim? Did they actually make that claim or are general statements like "I'm Lovin' It" being misinterpreted in bad faith by people on the internet who are mad at something a CEO did?

So. Like. Yeah the CEO is being a shithead, the social media team made a pretty bad fuckup by doubling down on his shitheadery, the product still works as described, AND the thread discussing all of that is deeply annoying.

So.

I think this thread actually does a great job of explaining why I've never seen a "hackers for social justice" group that has lasted. This reminds me a LOT of when someone tried to say that you shouldn't use firefox because the former CEO was a homophobe. There are a lot of deeply shitty people who have made important contributions to our tech ecosystem and if we threw the baby out with the bathwater every time Notch from Minecraft ended up being Notch from minecraft you'd lock yourself out of a lot of really important tools. And this isn't the same as "buying harry potter merch funds transphobia" because it literally doesn't; especially with open source tools you can continue using the software and cheerfully hate the CEO because A) fuck that guy and B) what the fuck are you going to do about it, guy, this shit's encrypted.

I don't want to get too deeply into a discussion about what is or is not cancel culture, but what I'm seeing in that thread (and what I see coming up every time someone brings up the "But the French Climate Activists!" thing) is an attempt to prioritize political alignment over real-world utility. It's attempting to cancel a *genuinely useful tool* because someone involved in the development is an asshole.

By all means, don't give protonmail money if the CEO's trump-positive comments make you feel unsafe.

However: What service are you going to use that is as accessible and as secure to ensure that you actually *are* safe? There are alternatives out there. Do they actually do more than proton? Are they easier to use? Are they open source? One of the responses to that thread was "yeah, that dude seems shitty; i'd switch to another service if there was another one that I felt was as secure" and that's pretty much what I think the correct attitude is. (If you really, really still want to switch, Tuta has been the broadly recommended alternative to protonmail for years but at this point Proton has a suite of services that some users would need to replace, not just email)

IDK i think shit like this contributes to a lot of the bad kind of security nihilism where people are like "oh no, things will never be secure and even my scrappy little open source product is headed by an asshole, i may as well use google because everything sucks" when they should have the good kind of nihilism which is like "man, there are a lot of assholes out there and they're never going to stop being assholes; i'd better take proactive steps to act like the people who make tech stuff are assholes and operate from a better base of security at the start"

so the takeaways are:

Proton never claimed that anything but the message contents of your e2e encrypted messages are encrypted; as far as these things go, they do a pretty good job of being both secure and easy to use compared to other offerings.

Yeah the CEO is being kind of a shithead and I'm not a huge fan of that.

If you think the CEO is being a shithead and don't want to give the company your money, don't pay for their services, but the CEO being a shithead doesn't actually mean you can't trust their services; their services are literally built on zero trust, if the CEO literally wanted to hunt you down personally he wouldn't be any more able to decrypt your emails than he was before and he wouldn't be any more likely to respond to a subpoena than he was before (proton does respond to subpoenas when required but not otherwise; they've been compelled to produce more data in the last decade than before because law enforcement finally realized who they needed to yell at - one of the bigger issues here is the Swiss courts being more willing to grant subpoenas to international complainants than they were before)

The reason we don't go see hogwarts movies is because doing so gives JK money and that does actual real world harm; using firefox does not have an impact on Brendan Eich's ability to materially change the world. It is very weird that we're in a place where we're treating *open source encryption software that is simple enough for your grandma to use it* as though it is Orson Scott Card.

Sorry i'm still stuck on people thinking that proton, famously open source, is opaque, and that an encryption service with zero trust architecture is selling trust.

Anyway if you've ever got questions about security/privacy/whatever services privacyguides.org is a very reliable source.

OH I FIGURED OUT WHAT WAS BUGGING ME

There are a bunch of people discussing this talking about how the CEO's social media is what has made them feel unsafe and I'm going to be a dick here and say that facts don't care about your feelings.

The CEO saying stupid shit doesn't actually make you unsafe in a situation like this; if the CEO was a violent transphobe or aggressive racist or horribly misogynist that wouldn't actually make any of the users of the product less safe. That's why the SJ hacker stuff I've seen hasn't had much staying power; I think that groups that focus on making people feel included and welcome and safe to be themself within the group run into really big problems when there's a conflict between people in the group FEELING unsafe because of (genuinely important in many ways) cultural signifiers like political alignment and so in order to accommodate that feeling they end up doing things (like some kinds of collaboration/accountability practices, abandoning useful tools, WAY too much personal transparency and radical vulnerability for people who are doing crime shit) that ACTUALLY make them less safe.

The CEO being a shithead may make you feel bad, but moving to a less secure platform may actually be dangerous. One of these things can have a big impact on your life, and it is not the one that is happening on twitter.

Anyway. Email is inherently insecure and if you want a secure messaging tool use Signal.

If you are doing crime shit don't talk about it on the internet and DEFINITELY don't talk about it in any kind of unencrypted platform.

If you are a French climate activist who would like to not get arrested if Tuta gets a subpoena for data, use the email service in concert with tor and be cautious about senders/receivers and subject lines.

[tribow]

So Firefox has a new ToS and an updated privacy notice that does not look like good news.

I'm sure you have seen some posts about it already. It seems like Mozilla now has the right use whatever data you upload through Firefox for their own purposes.

In a blog post, Mozilla insists that this doesn't mean they "own" your data and that they aren't they aren't selling your data, but that's not reassuring me that this isn't a breach of trust. The ToS sure seems like it allows them to sell user data. If Mozilla doesn't own the data then they can be sued, but only if they're caught red-handed.

Even if they aren't selling user data, they could very well be using it to train their generative AI. That's not exactly better Mozilla.

So what? Is there no safe haven with browsers? Pfft, no are you kidding? There have been Firefox alternatives for years. Anyone paying attention to Mozilla could see they weren't exactly the bastions of privacy that they claimed to be, but luckily, Firefox is built on the open-source browser engine called Gecko! If you don't want Mozilla, cut'em out!

There are many forks out there to use. Just off the top of my head there's uuuuh

Waterfox

Librewolf

IronFox (for Android)

Floorp

Mercury

GNU IceCat

Tor Browser

There's more, I know it. Use whatever works for you! I personally settled on Waterfox just cause it functions very very similarly to Firefox with all of Mozilla's bloat removed. (all of the options remove Mozilla bloat anyway. Increases performance!)

Librewolf and Tor are way more privacy focused if you're into that.

I don't know much about the rest, but I know people who use them and I've yet to hear anything particularly bad about any.

You're not stuck with chromium.

[wufflesvetinari]

controversial, but as someone who's spent the last year tearing her hair out adjudicating student conduct cases involving AI misuse: i'm never going to be impressed by an anti-AI post that sounds like an abstinence-only educator wrote it

it goes without saying that AI as implemented has many problems.* it fills me with a low-level sense of dread! but some of you seem to think that if we teach the children to Just Say No, it will go away. which...maybe this is because i work with engineering students but that sounds about as likely as email going away (and that message is just about as likely to resonate with kids as The Internet Is Evil So Stay Off).

students are graduating into a workforce that requires them to use AI. it is, in certain contexts, an appropriate tool. so between an engineer who's never touched AI in their life and one who's had a thorough education in it--who knows what it can and can't do; what it can and can't be trusted with--i'd pick the latter every time.

like, they're going to build the airplanes for christ's sake. they're going to be handed AI, usually of higher quality than public-facing chatgpt but still. i don't want them graduating with the sense that AI is a Forbidden All-Knowing Cheating Machine instead of something they've spent time understanding the limitations of. i want them to understand which programs work for which tasks, and which don't work at all. and that requires active education on the tool, the same way you'd teach about internet safety or how to detect fake news

(this goes, imo, for people trying to make AI safer and more ethical as well. if you consider it unethical by definition to work on AI, the only people working on it will be the ones who don't care about ethics.)

-

*i will say it. misinformation, algorithmic bias, disruptions for the labor force, shoving it into tasks it's not good at LET ME SCHEDULE MY OWN DAMN VET APPOINTMENT, unethical sourcing for datasets, environmental impact (the data center planner in my life is VERY skeptical of DeepSeek being more efficient but one hopes)

[mogruith]

2 Tips for BG3 Photo Mode

Obviously this is all to taste and you do you above all else!

But I think there's two things that irk me a lot about photo mode: Default FoV and cold default lighting.

Before -> After

1. FoV Slider: Turn it Down.

I mean way down. To like 30 or less. And back up the camera. Trust me. The faces will look less like they're being viewed via a fish-eye lens.

I see a LOT of peoples otherwise amazing shots being taken at the default FoV and I think you will like your shots more if you turn it down at least a little!

2. CharacterLightDistintigrator from Lighty Lights (PC Only)

In general I recommend Lighty Lights for the lighting tools but if you don't use the lights, at LEAST get the light disintegrator. The default lighting is cold and sad.

It's clearly designed to prevent shadows on the characters faces but then you can't play with light sources! Campfire glow and all that good stuff! So if you do this you need to be mindful of lighting sources!

This mod is a little confusing to install, but you just need to drop the Public folder into your BG3/Data/Public folder like so:

Another pair of screenshots of the lighting and FoV changes.

Before:

After:

[suzukiblu]

Day fourteen of “obligatory sugar baby Kon” behind the cut. tw: mentions of past grooming/abuse prev: (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I think your life might be a little bit insane,” Tim says, now increasingly certain that Kon is just a living weirdness magnet and it is therefore his fault that every single Young Justice mission so far has been objectively buck-wild and borderline deranged. Previously he was just blaming the concentration of teenage superheroes with very different power sources and specialties and personalities all stubbornly jammed into one even more stubborn team, but “previously” did not include all the necessary data or any stories about gargoyle-riding supermodels possessed by dead gunslingers. 

Tim has heard some stories in the community, for sure, but that is a story.

“I mean, Hex and Grokk aren’t that weird, are they?” Kon asks with a shrug. “Not any weirder than the Event Horizon was, anyway.” 

“The what?” Tim asks, because Kon definitely said that like it was something’s name and not a metaphor for something or an actual event horizon. 

“Oh, sorry, the Event Horizon was this club I used to hit up with some buds,” Kon says as he snags three more grilled cheese(s?) off the stack and stacks them to bite through all three at once like some kind of unholy and incredibly greasy and buttery club sandwich or something. Tim is somehow morbidly fascinated, vaguely grossed out, and sort of charmed all at once. “It was always moving, was the thing, so there was this handstamp thing we all had that we used to teleport over whenever we wanted to party. Neverending space rave, basically, so you didn’t have to worry about hours or last call or anything. Club kinda got obliterated, though, so I actually dunno know if the teleport trick still works or where it’d send me if I tried usin’ it now?” 

It is definitely Kon’s fault that Mxyzptlk happened to them, Tim decides. 

“Oh, cool,” he says, and because after tonight he officially does not trust anyone who Kon has spent time with in a party environment, much less at an intergalactic rave–“Do you still hang out with them? Anybody I’d have heard of?” 

“Uh, not really. And . . . I don’t think so?” Kon shrugs. “Sparx, maybe you mighta. Otherwise it was Aura, Kaliber, Hero, and, uh–Half-Life. Also Hero’s dog was kinda around. Or maybe Hero was, like, Rex’s . . . uh, pet, or whatever? Or they were just roommates? Situation unclear there, honestly.” 

“How is that an unclear situation?” Tim asks with a frown, a little confused by that one. That’s not– 

“Rex was, like, this super-soldier war hero mystic type, and like, he could talk and whatever, so I don’t really get what was going on there,” Kon clarifies between bites of grilled cheese, which clarifies absolutely nothing. “I guess he was a WWII vet, but he drank from the Fountain of Youth or something? Also went to the moon once and used to be in the circus. Super-weird dude. Or dog, whichever.” 

. . . . . . it is definitely, definitely Kon’s fault that Mxyzptlk happened to them, Tim amends. 

“Never mind, I get it now,” he says, and Kon laughs, and then–hesitates, for a moment, and suddenly seems very interested in the last couple bites of his unholy abomination of a grilled cheese stack. 

“Hero was cool,” he says, his tone a little–off. Tim pauses himself, and wonders why. And also wonders if this “Hero” guy is actually somebody he needs to put on his supervillain hit list, considering. 

“Was that seriously his codename?” he asks, and Kon grins.

[guardianofnightmares]

“Think you can handle what I had in mind for a today’s session, Bumbler?” The Decepticon rumbled while caressing the helm of a companion with a single digit in a calming, if slightly playful, manner. “I am the one choosing location and activity after all.”

Quiet question seemed to pull Bumblebee out of his inner musings. He blinked and looked down at a broad, grey colored chest. There’s no Decepticon symbol to be found there, just as there was no Autobot symbol engraved on his own chest plate either. 

Both of them were not part of their respectful factions in that place - simulation did not allow it to happen, thus highlighting the reached neutrality between two parties. Nothing there was real, even if it seemed or felt like one, and never was portrayed accurately to real state of things. Just like Cybertronian armor of theirs, something so personal which felt almost alien by that point.

Bumblebee was not the same unsophisticated person he was prior that grueling journey. 

Megatron was not the same mech who’s been haunting minibot in his sleep on a duration of a 50 stellar cycles long stasis.

… a more forgiving part of Bumblebee wished to trust his partner, the one patiently waiting for his response. Because belief in their truce was giving a chance of reaching something more meaningful.

It was the reason why that notion in combination with a promise of a challenge in a Decepticon’s gaze made Bumblebee feel relieved and more confident of choices he made.

“Have more faith in me, Meg! After you’ve agreed to participate in that gliding session upon Lake Erie, I am ready for anything you’ll throw my way.”

----------

Mix of depression with health issues and mad schedule at work is not a fun thing to experience. Hence a prolonged hiatus. But I am glad to see this picture being finished after all these weeks of a slow progress).

To be honest, I have never predicted MegaBee ship evolving into such an important thing to me, coming to my rescue second time in a row (in terms of motivation to create). The narrative around this duo has grown from a mere joke to a full on serious plot. In a way it's given me a rare opportunity to look into some philosophical concepts and to study them through Bumblebee's and Megatron's unique perspectives. And I can only hope that you'll enjoy what I am planning to share with you in a near future).

P.S. Full "oneshot" can be found below alongside two close-ups of a painting, as well as a photo of a traditionally drawn base. Yes, pens-only miniart strikes back again with canvas measuring 9x9 cm)).

Megatron stretched his back cables and limbs, the biolights feebly glowing along the edges of reconstructed Cybertronian armor. The HoloRing around his helm has disappeared, signaling the end of an upload of a memory unit into a simulation module. As if to prove it, the Zero SubMental level began to change, the array of data scattering around in peculiar patterns alongside twisting geometric lines, the latter rearranging the place around to suit the input information. 

Mesmerizing as it was, Bumblebee found himself unable to tear a wary gaze away from his companion. A bizarre thought struck him then, one which, he knew, was birthed out of sheer isolation, both mechs’ve found themselves stuck in. 

A thought that the Earth based variant of a grey Decepticon’s armor was more preferable to a minibot than his native one. Gone was the familiar simplicity of cubic shapes, being replaced with flowing lines which ended in sharp angles and spikes. Everything in that armor seemed to glint in something akin to predatory agitation under ever changing light source of a subreality. 

That was a stark reminder of who exactly Bumblebee was dealing with, and it made an anxiety in his Spark feast upon his qualms. 

After what was, most certainly, mere several nanoclicks, those ruby optics got locked straight on an Autobot, making him instinctively hold his breath. It was uncalled for, really, but he could not help himself. 

The last time Megatron was looking at him that way was during their very first confrontation on Omega Supreme. 

Said distress in a smaller mech has not gone unnoticed to the Decepticon. Part of him relished in realization he was still capable of putting minibot in place if needed, but that was not his intent. Not that time. 

Intensity of Megatron’s gaze dropped a certain amount, despite a glow of optics staying at the same level. An all enveloping EM field was tucked close to a frame, its owner squatting down in order to appear less intimidating (even if he’s still slightly towering over a standing minibot). 

It was the first time in their interactions when an Autobot had enough courage to look straight into enemy’s face with barely any space left between them. 

Bumblebee suddenly realized that at a such close proximity he could finally make out the outlines of pupils in Megatron’s optics. 

… those optics which once spoke of a murder. 

… he’s almost died back then from the same servo which was now resting upon his shoulder. 

The clash of behavioral differences between two versions of a Decepticon kneeling in front of him made a minibot think that he’s loosing his mind. For he’s not certain of who out of those two was in charge of actions anymore. 

“Think you can handle what I had in mind for a today’s session, Bumbler?” The Decepticon rumbled while caressing the helm of a companion with a single digit in a calming, if slightly playful, manner. “I am the one choosing location and activity after all.”

Quiet question seemed to pull Bumblebee out of his inner musings. He blinked and looked down at a broad, grey colored chest. There’s no Decepticon symbol to be found there, just as there was no Autobot symbol engraved on his own chest plate either. 

Both of them were not part of their respectful factions in that place - simulation did not allow it to happen, thus highlighting the reached neutrality between two parties. Nothing there was real, even if it seemed or felt like one, and never was portrayed accurately to real state of things. Just like Cybertronian armor of theirs, something so personal which felt almost alien by that point.

Bumblebee was not the same unsophisticated person he was prior that grueling journey. 

Megatron was not the same mech who’s been haunting minibot in his sleep on a duration of a 50 stellar cycles long stasis.

... a more forgiving part of Bumblebee wished to trust his partner, the one patiently waiting for his response. Because belief in their truce was giving a chance of reaching something more meaningful.

It was the reason why that notion in combination with a promise of a challenge in a Decepticon’s gaze made Bumblebee feel relieved and more confident of choices he made. 

“Have more faith in me, Meg! After you’ve agreed to participate in that gliding session upon Lake Erie, I am ready for anything you’ll throw my way.”

“Is that so?” Megatron asked, a sudden boost of confidence of a companion of his making him smirk in amusement.

He looked an Autobot over, taking note of how biolights were dancing across the broad shoulder pads. It was the first time he witnessed Bumblebee in his native armor, never before paying any attention to its details. In a way, he almost thought of it being an oversight on his behalf, finding the pridefully puffed up plates and a more sleek design suitable of a splinter in his side a minibot used to be prior their team-up.

... but only almost. For the Earth based variant was the one to properly describe of who his companion truly turned out to be.

“Well then, shall we begin?”

Despite a fact that the loading of subreality was already in process, Bumblebee, giddy with anticipation, decided to nod anyways.

Upon the end of calculations, the blinding light enveloped both mechs, and they finally started on a new trip down a shared memory lane.