#text-to-speech-enabled

[dartumbles]

Review: Tiopa Ki Lakota by D. Jordan Redhawk

Tiopa Ki Lakota by D. Jordan Redhawk My rating: 5 of 5 stars This was a beautiful love story. It was so unique seeing two women, a white, Irish woman, I think, and a Lakota two-spirit woman. The author takes you into both points of view during a time in American history when the whites were on the westward ho, conquering and killing as they moved. But here is what was happening to one particular…

[wingerb17]

Bad lighting?

Zoom blur?

Casual Friday~

We're live!

https://www.twitch.tv/WingerB17

Watch the VODs here

https://www.youtube.com/WingerB17

[8pxl]

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO BLUESKY

Hiya! Curious about joining bluesky but intimidated by all the features? Already on bluesky but want to learn more? Then welcome to my quick guide on getting started and navigating bluesky!~

What is Bluesky?

it’s a social media site that’s owned by no single person or company. it's aim is to bring back the early days of twitter before bots, elon musk or algorithms took over. Personally I find the site really cozy, wholesome, and engaging. my Bluesky account for example

What’s unique about Bluesky?

→ CUSTOMIZATION: ‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎your timeline is very easy to control. There’s tons of options, so be sure to go through each tab in your settings. some options include: turning off autoplay, changing the order in which threaded replies show, changing DM settings, content preferences and lots of visual app settings.

→ MODERATION LISTS: human made, mass blocklists. These are public lists of accounts that when you subscribe to you automatically block or mute everyone in that specific blocklist. A great way to avoid unwanted content, and interactions. ✦ Moderation lists I recommend will be below the cut

→ STARTER PACKS: recommendation lists on who to follow, made by users. You can even curate your own starter pack of recommendations! ✦ Starter pack recommendations will be below the cut

→ FEEDS: public timelines, basically. There are a lot of feeds you can join, or you can even create your own. I made a feed featuring just my pixel art so it doesn’t get cluttered with text posts or other photos in my media tab. ✦ I’ll post feeds I recommend below and link you to a tutorial on how to create your own feed

→ BLOCKING/MUTING: bluesky has a great blocking system. When you block someone they can no longer see, or interact with you. They also have a feature to make your blog inaccessible unless logged in. you can also mute specific people, delete post replies, and even detach your post from a reblog. You can also mute specific words, phrases, tags etc.

→ NSFW: bluesky allows NSFW content, including artwork, porn, lewds etc. They also have a great moderation page to avoid the content completely, censor the content, or show it if you’d wish. ✦ just go to settings > moderation > toggle on NSFW settings and it’ll let you heavily moderate.

→ LABELS: this is a really cool feature on the site, you can subscribe to certain pages that enable a lot of fun/useful labels that help you in different ways! (like pronoun tags, artist tags etc) ✦ Labels to browse will be posted below

→ COMMUNITIES: the vastly diverse communities really feel like the best parts of tumblr. since you can so heavily curate your experience, it can really feel like a calming oasis. Mine is mostly artists, and other creatives.

there’s also a large community of professional artists, art directors, authors, celebrities, and even the best shitposters from twitter. the app really is what you make of it but it’s thriving right now.

RECOMMENDATIONS & LINKS BELOW ⬎

→ MODERATION LISTS:

HATE SPEECH: NAZIS | MAGA | MAGAv2 | MAGAv3 | TRANSPHOBES & HOMOPHOBES | FAR RIGHT | FAR RIGHTv2 | FAR RIGHTv3 | ELON MUSK FANBOYS | ANTI-BLACK | ANTI-VAX

NFT/AI/CRYPTO: MASTERLIST | AI/NFT | AI/NFTv2 | AI FANBOYS | CRYPTO | NFTs

SPAM/SCAMMERS: SPAMBOTS | BOTS | CONTENT SCRAPERS | CONTENT FARMING

✦ to block or mute everyone in the blocklist at once, click subscribe in the top right corner:

→ STARTER PACKS:

ART: PIXEL ART | PIXEL ARTv2 | WOMEN OF PIXEL ART | BADASS DIGITAL ARTISTS | MAGIC THE GATHERING ARTIST | PAINTERS OF BLUESKY | INDIE COMIC CREATORS | LGBTQIA+ COMIC CREATORS | WEBCOMICS ULTIMATE COLLECTION

GENERAL: WOMEN OF BSKY | AUTHORS | LGBTQ NEWS

SHITPOSTERS: JUNIPER | JUNIPERv2 | MASTERLIST | SCIENCE SHITPOSTERS

✦ for more niche starter packs, use the search function. search your specific interest and ‘starter pack’ and you’ll find some!

→ FEEDS:

DISCOVER | WHATS TRENDING | MENTIONS | ART | TRENDING ART

THE GRAM: a timeline for exclusively image posts from those you follow. no textposts etc. ONLYPOST: similar to the gram, it shows a timeline of only those you follow. no reposts, just original posts. 📌: a way to bookmark posts. just reply with the pin emoji.

✦ there’s tons of others feeds as well! just use the feed tab and you can browse feeds or search for specific ones.

✦ TUTORIAL ON HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOM FEED FOR YOUR ART/POSTS

→ LABELS:

SKYWATCH: most popular label. Lots of useful labels!

AI Labels: identifies AI users, can also enable hiding the posters.

Pronouns: self explanatory but useful. can add a badge with your pronouns!

✦ you can search for additional label bots on bluesky!

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS:

✦ EXPIRIENCE ENHANCING TOOLS RECS ✦ CLEARSKY: TRACK BLOCKS AND BLOCKLISTS ✦ SKYFEED: CREATE CUSTOM FEEDS EASILY ✦ use the block function often. do not entertain trolls or hate speech. ✦ as well as starter packs, there’s also lists! lists can be used in the same way to create curated lists of accounts. it’s a good way to keep track of specific genres of posters you’re interested in, and finding new ones! ✦ hashtags: use them! they’re beneficial in boosting your post. you can even link hashtags in your bio making you easier to find. another method of making you more visible is if you post an ‘interest’ post! basically just type things you’re interested in and it’ll help people find you / vice versa ! ✦ update your profile first thing, like bio avi etc. make a small post so people know you're real. interact and engage! the communities there are so welcoming!

I think that covers abt everything i wanted to cover! Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading lol

[ruestheday]

one of the biggest lies the fandom will tell you is that alfred pennyworth is a good man.

he’s horrible. people just don’t realize he’s horrible because they’re all too focus on the superheros.

not many people in the fandom know this, but alfred literally has a daughter. her name is julia. why does no one know about julia? BECAUSE HE ABANDONED HER. it’s canon that he chose the waynes over his OWN CHILD. when she’s introduced in the comics she hates her dad because he abandoned her in england to raise a child that wasn’t even his.

the infamous jason “a good soldier” memorial? yeah, alfred did that. bruce wanted it taken down. alfred also left jason’s destroyed robin suit on display.

alfred is the reason tim is robin. dick and bruce are trapped by two-face and alfred just… gives tim a robin costume and sends him on his way. no formal training. no anything.

ever blame dick for damian becoming robin? wrong. it was alfred. dick was against it. alfred is the first one to give damian the robin costume, like he did to tim years before. dick did eventually choose damian as his robin, but that was while damian was ALREADY ROBIN. (he even tells tim that he doesn’t pick tim to be his robin because he considers tim to be an equal, not a sidekick, but i digress)

when bane breaks bruce’s back, alfred literally packs up and leaves. he travels. he just drops everything and goes to explore the world, until dick eventually hunts him back down.

it’s also a common theme that alfred couldn’t find the right balance between being a father figure and a butler, so he was constantly enabling bruce growing up (and still does) because technically bruce was his boss… even though he had custody of him.

edit: actually technically (in some runs) bruce’s uncle has custody of him but literally makes being absent an olympic sport But you get what i mean

edit two: fixed the spelling mistakes that text to speech tiktok made me aware of. u guys are fake for not telling me. anyways fuck ai content farm accs

[incorrectbatfam]

How do the kids give Bruce psychic damage?

Damian: Father, can I drive the Batmobile?

Bruce: No.

Damian: *draws him as a Minion*

———————

Steph: Now that I'm eighteen, I need to register to vote. Can you help me?

Bruce: Of course.

Bruce: *pulls up the website*

Bruce: Date of birth?

Steph: August 11th, 2006.

———————

Tim: Can I sneak into the League of Assassins? I want my spleen back.

Bruce: Absolutely not, and that's final.

Tim: *goes to the Batcomputer*

Tim: *types in www.archiveofourown.org*

Tim: *searches Bruce Wayne/Hal Jordan*

Tim: *picks an E-rated fic*

Tim: *enables text-to-speech*

Tim: *leaves*

———————

Bruce: Barbara, can you help Alfred with the seating arrangement for the gala?

Barbara: Yeah, just send me the guest list.

[at the gala]

Bruce: *sits down*

Oliver: *sits down next to him*

———————

Bruce: I'll cut the perp off with the Batmobile. Hood, since your bike's out of commission, you'll need to commandeer another vehicle.

Jason: Roger that.

[later]

Jason, over the comms: Perp is secured.

Bruce: Good. Bring him in.

Jason: *pulls up in the Jokermobile*

———————

Harper: I'm taking a history class to fulfill my general ed requirements. Can I interview you for an assignment?

Bruce: Sure, what's it on?

Harper: The 2008 recession.

———————

Dick and Bruce: *fighting*

Bruce: That's it, you're benched.

Dick: Newsflash, orphan boy: you can't do that. I'm twenty-seven years old, which means I'm at the prime you wish you were. You're nothing more than a mummified raisin withering away in your dark, dusty corner waiting for the day one of us puts you in the retirement home, leaving you to slowly die alone as you wonder why your kids don't call. And when you finally kick the bucket, the first thing your parents will do when they see you is point you to the revolving door of reincarnation so they no longer have to bear the shame of giving you life.

———————

[at a gala]

Bruce: This is my daughter.

Cass: Hi my name is Cassandra Wu-San Dementia Raven Wayne.

———————

Bruce, holding a box: Guess what I found in the attic? My flip phone, VHS tapes, and Nintendo 64 from college.

Duke: Cool, I didn't know you were into the Y2K aesthetic.

[strange-aeons]

hello mr. strange,

i watched your most recent video about omegaverse with some friends and felt the need to enjoy it on my own too, but alas, when i opened it on my own youtube (which is set in french as i suffer from being french) the title had been automatically translated. i payed no mind to that and started playing the video when my ears were attacked with some ai text to speech version of you video in french. while this was funny for the first five second i quickly switched back. i missed your unusual voice.

anyways i was wondering if that (i checked theres also a spanish ai dub available) was normal and wanted on your part, as a way to spread omegaverse propaganda to non english speakers.

have a good day.

As far as i can tell it's a new feature youtube just introduced. I didn't enable it and idk if there's a way to disable it??? I'll check that out before uploading my next video

[thebibliosphere]

I'm sorry screens are causing such issues for you recently. And that people's responses have been wildly unkind. I wanted to mention, if screens are the issue, have you considered using speech to text / text to speech software? There is a learning curve with any of these, but it would allow you to work on things with out needing to engage in the screen itself. Which seems to be a major barrier for you at the moment.

There are a number of built in tools depending on your platform that you could enable to use. If possible, use an attached microphone as built-in microphones can struggle due to the fan. If it's helpful, I'm happy to talk specific tools, but please ignore if this seems to be in the same vein as the 'just dim your screen' crew. Wishing you the best.

I’ve been using text to speech since about 2019 for a lot of what I do. My phone is actually reading this ask to me right now! Yay technology!

But I also suffer from vocal cord dysfunction so my voice often gives out a lot and it affects my breathing. So I have to be careful. (Possibly starting speech therapy soon to help with this so fingers crossed.🤞)

It’s also hard to edit on. Like I’ve got the punctuation down quite well while talking in real time. But when it comes to doing major edits I need my screen and a keyboard.

I’ll figure something out that works for me. I’m just not there yet while we’re still in the “putting out the fire” phase of what has been a prolonged neurological event with systemic wide consequences.

My brain needs time to heal from being in a constant migraine from May until August. So does the rest of me. I can’t work through this, not the way I used to. I have new limitations. And that’s okay.

It doesn’t feel like it right now. But it will be.

[fubblers]

Blind people get inundated with questions constantly on the internet of “how are you typing if you’re blind?!??!”

You can Google this information. It is readily available to you. Many blind YouTubers have made videos about this.

Here’s some basic info about blind people you should know:

Most blind people have some sight

Computers have high contrast modes built in for blind people with some sight

Totally blind people offen do use computers

Blind people can use screen readers to use a computer

Blind people can use touch screens on smart phones by enabling the accessibility settings

If you read any of that and thought “whoa how does that work?!” I really encourage you to go type it into YouTube and watch a video.

Also I encourage everyone to enable a screen reader on their smart phone for an hour and play around with it!

I am fully sighted but I used speech-to-text and a screen reader to do my job and use my phone. I get migraines from reading and screens due to my history of head trauma.

If you’re sighted but have a disability that affects focus, reading, looking at bright lights, etc….. check out a screen reader!

And if you ever have a question for a disabled person on tumblr… try googling it first, genuinely. I’m not even trying to be snarky or rude. A lot of disabled people have to answer the same basic question about their existence every day for their entire lives. Just Google it.

[xxblairexxss]

Pick me up (Part 1)

Pairing : Charles Leclerc x reader

Theme : Fluff

Charles got a call from Monaco prison and he wished you took it more seriously.

I had this in my draft for quite a while so I guess I should share it with you guys because I think it’s adorable!

✧.* tags! @i83andrew @cltrlne

“Is it recording?” You took a step back and accidentally hit your hind foot against the leg of the armchair. “Oh my god. Wait, let me sit first.” You plonked yourself on the mint coloured seat and brought your hair up to tie it into a messy bun.

The sound of a dial tone resounded from your phone. You had enabled the loud speaker once the call was connected to the number you had clicked. “I’m so nervous!” You covered your grin and whispered to the other phone that was propped up against your mirror and was recording, the time at the top end of the screen started calculating every seconds.

“Hello…?”

“Oh!” Your mouth formed an ‘O’ as you quickly pressed on the space button. “Hello, this is a collect call from the Remand Prison of Monaco for inmate Y/N Y/L/N.” Came on the text-to-speech voice from your laptop that you had set aside.

“What the heck?!” You heard Charles’s voice went louder into the phone as he cleared his throat after.

You clicked on a different tab and pressed on the spacebar key again. “Say yes if you would like to accept this call.”

“Yes, please.”

“Baby!” You cried out.

“Honey, what the fuck is going on?” You had a hard time to control your giggle hearing how tensed he was.

You sighed. “I–I don’t know!”

“What do you mean you don’t know?!”

“Can you come pick me up?” You faked a wept and quickly covered your mouth to bury your smile, as if he could see your face.

“How did you get arrested?” You could hear he was getting stressed and then came a soft sound of a door being closed. You were so sure he had segregated himself because his voice was louder this time.

You held your tongue, trying to make it looked as if you were having trouble to talk from heavy crying. “I told you I was going to go to Starbucks, right?”

“Yeah? And did you get possessed or something?”

“No! I found this cute mug and this old lady tried to steal it from my hand so I whacked her in the head.”

He breathed out and you knew he was trying to calm himself down so there was only silence in the air for a few seconds. “You….beat an old lady for a mug? Honey….” The tone of his voice changed from fretted to full of disappointment.

“She tried to steal it from me!” You replied, defending yourself.

“Didn’t give you a reason to smack her! What were you thinking? What— what am— are you okay, honey? Did they do anything to you?”

“No, but they made me wear this jail outfit. I don’t like it and it’s cold here.” You could barely took a breath when he replied to you straight away.

“The audacity of you to complain about that after you punched someone, Y/N. What am I supposed to do now? When can they release you? How many years?”

“They said you can come pick me up but you have to bring a pen because there’s some agreements you have to sign.” You answered. You had been silently giggling so you hoped the phone call didn’t pick up the sound of it.

“What agreement? Oh my god, how serious is this matter? What else should I bring?” He sounded like he was walking back and forth, probably from the agitation or he was indeed, looking for a pen.

“I don’t know! You need to come in 30 minutes or they won’t accept any appeal and you’ll have to wait for another month.” You pulled the phone away and winced when he howled in distress.

“Y/N! You should have told me earlier! Can you please take this seriously? We spent 10 minutes on the phone already. I’m coming.”

“Charles, wait!” He ended the call before you could say anything and convulsed with laughter, your body and shoulders shook from it. “I need to call him back before he literally go and pay the prison a visit. Bye!” You clicked on the red button on the screen of your phone and the video ended.

[mindblowingscience]

Researchers have developed a new method for intercepting neural signals from the brain of a person with paralysis and translating them into audible speech—all in near real-time. The result is a brain-computer interface (BCI) system similar to an advanced version of Google Translate, but instead of converting one language to another, it deciphers neural data and transforms it into spoken sentences.  Recent advancements in machine learning have enabled researchers to train AI voice synthesizers using recordings of the individual’s own voice, making the generated speech more natural and personalized. Patients with paralysis have already used BCI to improve physical motor control function by controlling computer mice and prosthetic limbs. This particular system addresses a more specific subsection of patients who have also lost their capacity to speak. In testing, the paralyzed patient was able to silently read full text sentences, which were then converted into speech by the AI voice with a delay of less than 80 milliseconds. Results of the study were published this week in the journal Nature Neuroscience by a team of researchers from the University of California, Berkeley and the University of California, San Francisco. 

Continue Reading.

[askablindperson]

In what way does alt text serve as an accessibility tool for blind people? Do you use text to speech? I'm having trouble imagining that. I suppose I'm in general not understanding how a blind person might use Tumblr, but I'm particularly interested in the function of alt text.

In short, yes. We use text to speech (among other access technology like braille displays) very frequently to navigate online spaces. Text to speech software specifically designed for blind people are called screen readers, and when use on computers, they enable us to navigate the entire interface using the keyboard instead of the mouse And hear everything on screen, as long as those things are accessible. The same applies for touchscreens on smart phones and tablets, just instead of using keyboard commands, it alters the way touch affect the screen so we hear what we touch before anything actually gets activated. That part is hard to explain via text, but you should be able to find many videos online of blind people demonstrating how they use their phones.

As you may be able to guess, images are not exactly going to be accessible for text to speech software. Blindness screen readers are getting better and better at incorporating OCR (optical character recognition) software to help pick up text in images, and rudimentary AI driven Image descriptions, but they are still nowhere near enough for us to get an accurate understanding of what is in an image the majority of the time without a human made description.

Now I’m not exactly a programmer so the terminology I use might get kind of wonky here, but when you use the alt text feature, the text you write as an image description effectively gets sort of embedded onto the image itself. That way, when a screen reader lands on that image, Instead of having to employ artificial intelligences to make mediocre guesses, it will read out exactly the text you wrote in the alt text section.

Not only that, but the majority of blind people are not completely blind, and usually still have at least some amount of residual vision. So there are many blind people who may not have access to a screen reader, but who may struggle to visually interpret what is in an image without being able to click the alt text button and read a description. Plus, it benefits folks with visual processing disorders as well, where their visual acuity might be fine, but their brain’s ability to interpret what they are seeing is not. Being able to click the alt text icon in the corner of an image and read a text description Can help that person better interpret what they are seeing in the image, too.

Granted, in most cases, typing out an image description in the body of the post instead of in the alt text section often works just as well, so that is also an option. But there are many other posts in my image descriptions tag that go over the pros and cons of that, so I won’t digress into it here.

Utilizing alt text or any kind of image description on all of your social media posts that contain images is single-handedly one of the simplest and most effective things you can do to directly help blind people, even if you don’t know any blind people, and even if you think no blind people would be following you. There are more of us than you might think, and we have just as many varied interests and hobbies and beliefs as everyone else, so where there are people, there will also be blind people. We don’t only hang out in spaces to talk exclusively about blindness, we also hang out in fashion Facebook groups and tech subreddits and political Twitter hashtags and gaming related discord servers and on and on and on. Even if you don’t think a blind person would follow you, You can’t know that for sure, and adding image descriptions is one of the most effective ways to accommodate us even if you don’t know we’re there.

I hope this helps give you a clearer understanding of just how important alt text and image descriptions as a whole are for blind accessibility, and how we make use of those tools when they are available.

[dartumbles]

Review: Kat Drummond Ten Book Box Set by Nicholas Woode-Smith

Kat Drummond Ten Book Box Set by Nicholas Woode-Smith My rating: 4 of 5 stars This series took me a while to read. A South African monster slayer, post-apocalypse, still in college in a time when monsters now roam. Kat Drummond is a ghost-inhabited student just trying to get by. She can be sassy, but mostly a new adult full of the normal insecurities we all have in our late teens and early…

[wingerb17]

Shy and quiet day.

https://www.twitch.tv/WingerB17

Catch up on streams here.

https://www.youtube.com/WingerB17

[starrycassi]

Writing Maskless Mark joining the teen team is so funny. His whole relationship with eve is that "a twink! And a redhead!" Except for the one time where he tries to kill her. She had a crush for absolutely all of 0.5 seconds before this man opened his mouth. They're somehow best friends via bonding over their daddy issues while actively enabling each other to get worse. Nolan is in Mark's ear telling him about how an "alliance" with her would be great for the genetical future of their offspring while Mark is simultaneously texting her to ask for boys advice. He almost has a heart attack when she gets rid of the costume's skirt, fawning over how "she should be a bit more covered". She looks him dead in the eye and goes "Your suit is so clingy that it looks painted on. Leave a girl alone"

Like I enjoyed the idea of Eve being hated in Maskless Mark's universe but the idea of her just becoming his second in command is so much funnier. Nolan works wonders on her head after the whole "You murdered my whole family?" Speech and now Mark is like, "Well, I don't want to date her- we can adopt her. I'm a way" and Debbie is quietly resigned. Yeah why not she always wanted to go dress shopping with SOMEONE and Mark is, unfortunately for her, not a fashion gay unless prompted to act like one by one of his friends. Might as well

Which is how the: "How to take over the world? Let's just adopt the next generation of supers! They're all either orphans of wish to be!" Strategy is born. Thanks Eve.

[mariacallous]

The number of people who read for fun appears to be steadily dropping. Fifty percent of UK adults say they don’t read regularly (up from 42 percent in 2015) and almost one in four young people aged 16 to 24 say they’ve never been readers, according to research by The Reading Agency.

But what are the implications? Will people’s preference for video over text affect our brains or our evolution as a species? What kind of brain structure do good readers actually have? My new study, published in NeuroImage, has found out.

I analyzed open source data from more than 1,000 participants to discover that readers of varying abilities had distinct traits in brain anatomy.

The structure of two regions in the left hemisphere, which are crucial for language, were different in people who were good at reading.

One was the anterior part of the temporal lobe. The left temporal pole helps associate and categorize different types of meaningful information. To assemble the meaning of a word such as leg, this brain region associates the visual, sensory and motor information conveying how legs look, feel and move.

The other was Heschl’s gyrus, a fold on the upper temporal lobe which hosts the auditory cortex (the cortex is the outermost layer of the brain). Better reading ability was linked to a larger anterior part of the temporal lobe in the left hemisphere compared to the right. It makes sense that having a larger brain area dedicated to meaning makes it easier to understand words and, therefore, to read.

What might seem less intuitive is that the auditory cortex would be related to reading. Isn’t reading mainly a visual skill? Not only. To pair letters with speech sounds, we first need to be aware of the sounds of the language. This phonological awareness is a well-established precursor to children’s reading development.

A thinner left Heschl’s gyrus has previously been related to dyslexia, which involves severe reading difficulties. My research shows that this variation in cortical thickness does not draw a simple dividing line between people with or without dyslexia. Instead, it spans the larger population, in which a thicker auditory cortex correlates with more adept reading.

Why Size Matters

Is thicker always better? When it comes to cortical structure, no, not necessarily. We know the auditory cortex has more myelin in the left hemisphere of most people. Myelin is a fatty substance that acts as an insulator for nerve fibers. It increases neural communication speed and can also insulate columns of brain cells from each other. Neural columns are believed to function as small processing units.

Their increased isolation and rapid communication in the left hemisphere can be thought to enable the fast, categorical processing necessary for language. We need to know if a speaker uses the category d or t when saying dear or tear rather than detecting the exact point where the vocal folds start vibrating.

According to the “balloon model” of cortical growth, the larger amount of myelin squeezes out left-hemispheric cortical areas, making them flatter but more extended. So while the left auditory cortex may be thicker in good readers, it is still thinner (but much more extended) than the corresponding right cortex.

This hypothesis was corroborated in the recent research. The left hemisphere had generally larger but thinner cortical areas with a higher degree of myelin.

So is thinner better, then? Again, the answer is no, not necessarily. Complex abilities that require integrating information tend to benefit from a thicker cortex. The anterior temporal lobe with its complex way of integrating information is indeed the thickest structure of all cortical areas. An underlying mechanism might be the existence of more overlapping, interacting neurons which process information more holistically.

Phonology is a highly complex skill, where different sound and motor features are integrated into speech sounds. It appears to correlate with a thicker cortex in an area near the left Heschl’s gyrus. While it is unclear to what extent phonology is processed in Heschl’s gyrus, the fact that phoneticians often have multiple left Heschl’s gyri suggests it is linked to speech sounds.

Clearly, brain structure can tell us a lot about reading skills. Importantly, though, the brain is malleable—it changes when we learn a new skill or practice an already acquired one.

For instance, young adults who studied language intensively increased their cortical thickness in language areas. Similarly, reading is likely to shape the structure of the left Heschl’s gyrus and temporal pole. So, if you want to keep your Heschl’s thick and thriving, pick up a good book and start reading.

Finally, it’s worth considering what might happen to us as a species if skills like reading become less prioritized. Our capacity to interpret the world around us and understand the minds of others would surely diminish. In other words, that cozy moment with a book in your armchair isn’t just personal—it’s a service to humanity.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

The Texting Styles of SGE Characters

I found this in my drafts. I can't remember if this was inspired by something, but have at it. I'm open to suggestions or requests for other characters not yet listed, especially if anything seems out of character.

⸻

Sophie: Texts cinematically and a e s t h e t i c a l l y . Sometimes writes a select word in all caps to be strategically dramatic as well, mainly because most texting apps don't allow for emphatic italics. Sometimes uses emojis. 💃🏼 Expounds on things with flair, like her usual, in-person monologuing. Sometimes does cutesy things, but can be disingenuous. Spams Agatha with long, vent-worthy blocks of text whenever anything goes wrong. Intentionally obscures of the subject of her discourse temporarily, to amp up drama and keep tensions running high. (Almost the opposite of Rhian II in terms of withholding information and clarity. She can use misinterpretation to her advantage.)

Agatha: Texts how she speaks. Uses abbreviations like bc and lmao. Simple and straightforward. Uses “This reminded me of you” in reference to the grotesque or for humor purposes.

Tedros: Often uses text-to-speech dictation and also makes voice notes because he thinks everyone loves hearing him talk and because autocorrect absolutely mutilates his non-standardized 14c/Arthurian spellings. Uses memes incorrectly. Also: “This reminded me of you” but unironically.

Rhian I: Alternates between two texting styles: crisp professionalism and proper grammar and punctuation or preteen girl with a crush and an abundance of emojis. Waxes poetic occasionally. Leaves himself voice memos or texts to-do lists to his own number. Uses air drop (even though it's insecure) to send School-wide messages.

Rafal: Never spares a second thought coming up with a proper greeting unless it's Sophie. Alternatively, he has “do not disturb” perpetually turned on for everyone but Rhian. Texts "too formally," like an old man, with proper grammar and punctuation. Texts like people email as he uses paragraph breaks. He did not realize he could swipe to see dates, so he just manually writes out the date for every conversation for his own reference. No one has bothered to inform him. He signs off with "RM" every time and later finds out he can create an automatic text message signature as he would do for emails and enables it. It saves time. Has autocorrect turned off. To communicate anything quickly to students, sometimes, he just drops a curt message in the subject line of an email and leaves the body of the email blank. Blocks people with seemingly no provocation. Rereads the texts from James or Sophie in secret when they are gone to remember their words verbatim and then deletes the evidence.

Rhian II: Also has autocorrect turned off. Never sends walls of incoherent text. Intentionally makes his texts digestible and quotable. Texts how one might speak, with short, cumulative thoughts. By taking care to directly name subjects, he ensures that everything he texts will make sense and reflect well on himself, even if screenshotted and taken out of context/leaked. Occasionally makes strategic but understandable or reasonably realistic typos to appear like he's a common, everyman type of fellow. Always "corrects" himself afterwards. Texts unknown numbers at random for the express purpose of campaigning.

Japeth: Cold sends links with no context. Gets himself blocked because he seems shady. If he ever sends voicemails, they're just of creepy silence since he intends to threaten/intimidate without actually being caught or leaving proof of his writing style/voice.

Aric: Monosyllabic replies usually or just "ok."

August Sader: Leaves everyone on “read.” Calls them instead, obviously.

Peter Pan: Keyboard smashes.

Midas: Takes ages to respond, but always does, and leaves people on “read” in the meantime. Otherwise, sometimes responds with headlines or Wikipedia articles as a sarcastic joke format.

Hort: Spam messages, like, 42 times in a row…

Kiko: Sends flowery ~Good Morning~ memes and uses emojis created from letters and punctuation marks.

Merlin: Literally doesn't own a phone. Probably lives off the grid. Idk, let’s say he uses smoke signals. /j

Nimue: Does have a phone, but has no contacts.