#the rest it's going to be API

[chronic-crassicaudiosis]

Wish me luck tomorrow with my exam

[kitkatt0430]

Welp, I've been using external methods of auto-backing up my tumblr but it seems like it doesn't do static pages, only posts.

So I guess I'll have some manual backing up to do later

Still, it's better than nothing and I'm using the official tumblr backup process for my smaller blogs so hopefully that'll net the static pages and direct messages too. But. My main - starstruckpurpledragon - 'backed up' officially but was undownloadable; either it failed or it'd download a broken, unusable, 'empty' zip. So *shrugs* I'm sure I'm not the only one who is trying to back up everything at once. Wouldn't be shocked if the rest of the backups are borked too when I try to download their zips.

There are two diff ways I've been externally backing up my tumblr.

TumblThree - This one is relatively straight forward in that you can download it and start backing up immediately. It's not pretty, but it gets the job done. Does not get static pages or your direct message conversations, but your posts, gifs, jpegs, etc are all there. You can back up more than just your own blog(s) if you want to as well.

That said, it dumps all your posts into one of three text files which makes them hard to find. That's why I say it's 'not pretty'. It does have a lot of options in there that are useful for tweaking your download experience and it's not bad for if you're unfamiliar with command line solutions and don't have an interest in learning them. (Which is fair, command line can be annoying if you're not used to it.) There are options for converting the output into nicer html files for each post but I haven't tried them and I suspect they require command line anyway.

I got my blogs backed up using this method as of yesterday but wasn't thrilled with the output. Decided that hey, I'm a software engineer, command line doesn't scare me, I'll try this back up thing another way. Leading to today's successful adventures with:

TumblrUtils - This one does take more work to set up but once it's working it'll back up all your posts in pretty html files by default. It does take some additional doing for video/audio but so does TumblThree so I'll probably look into it more later.

First, you have to download and install python. I promise, the code snake isn't dangerous, it's an incredibly useful scripting language. If you have an interest in learning computer languages, it's not a bad one to know. Installing python should go pretty fast and when it's completed, you'll now be able to run python scripts from the command line/terminal.

Next, you'll want to actually download the TumblrUtils zip file and unzip that somewhere. I stuck mine on an external drive, but basically put it where you've got space and can access it easily.

You'll want to open up the tumblr_backup.py file with a text editor and find line 105, which should look like: ''' API_KEY = '' '''

So here's the hard part. Getting a key to stick in there. Go to the tumblr apps page to 'register' an application - which is the fancy way of saying request an API. Hit the register an application button and, oh joy. A form. With required fields. *sigh* All the url fields can be the same url. It just needs to be a valid one. Ostensibly something that interfaces with tumblr fairly nicely. I have an old wordpress blog, so I used it. The rest of the fields should be pretty self explanatory. Only fill in the required ones. It should be approved instantly if everything is filled in right.

And maybe I'll start figuring out wordpress integration if tumblr doesn't die this year, that'd be interesting. *shrug* I've got too many projects to start a new one now, but I like learning things for the sake of learning them sometimes. So it's on my maybe to do list now.

Anywho, all goes well, you should now have an 'OAuth Consumer Key' which is the API key you want. Copy that, put in between the empty single quotes in the python script, and hit save.

Command line time!

It's fairly simple to do. Open your command line (or terminal), navigate to where the script lives, and then run: ''' tumblr_backup.py <blog_name_here> '''

You can also include options before the blog name but after the script filename if you want to get fancy about things. But just let it sit there running until it backs the whole blog up. It can also handle multiple blogs at once if you want. Big blogs will take hours, small blogs will take a few minutes. Which is about on par with TumblThree too, tbh.

The final result is pretty. Individual html files for every post (backdated to the original post date) and anything you reblogged, theme information, a shiny index file organizing everything. It's really quite nice to dig through. Much like TumbleThree, it does not seem to grab direct message conversations or static pages (non-posts) but again it's better than nothing.

And you can back up other blogs too, so if there are fandom blogs you follow and don't want to lose or friends whose blogs you'd like to hang on to for your own re-reading purposes, that's doable with either of these backup options.

I've backed up basically everything all over again today using this method (my main is still backing up, slow going) and it does appear to take less memory than official backups do. So that's a plus.

Anyway, this was me tossing my hat into the 'how to back up your tumblr' ring. Hope it's useful. :D

[existentialterror]

How to tell if you live in a simulation

Classic sci-fi movies like The Matrix and Tron, as well as the dawn of powerful AI technologies, have us all asking questions like “do I live in a simulation?” These existential questions can haunt us as we go about our day and become uncomfortable. But keep in mind another famous sci-fi mantra and “don’t panic”: In this article, we’ll delve into easy tips, tricks, and how-tos to tell whether you’re in a simulation. Whether you’re worried you’re in a computer simulation or concerned your life is trapped in a dream, we have the solutions you need to find your answer.

How do you tell if you are in a computer simulation

Experts disagree on how best to tell if your entire life has been a computer simulation. This is an anxiety-inducing prospect to many people. First, try taking 8-10 deep breaths. Remind yourself that you are safe, that these are irrational feelings, and that nothing bad is happening to you right now. Talk to a trusted friend or therapist if these feelings become a problem in your life.

How to tell if you are dreaming

To tell if you are dreaming, try very hard to wake up. Most people find that this will rouse them from the dream. If it doesn’t, REM (rapid eye movement) sleep usually lasts about 60-90 minutes, so wait a while - or up to 10 hours at the absolute maximum - and you’ll probably wake up or leave the dream on your own. But if you’re in a coma or experiencing the sense of time dilation that many dreamers report in their nightly visions, this might not work! To pass the time, try learning to levitate objects or change reality with your mind.

How do you know if you’re in someone else’s dream

This can’t happen.

How to know if my friends are in a simulation

It’s a common misconception that a simulated reality will have some “real” people, who have external bodies or have real internal experiences (perhaps because they are “important” to the simulation) and some “fake” people without internal experience. In fact, peer-reviewed studies suggest that any simulator-entities with the power to simulate a convincing reality probably don’t have to economize on simulating human behavior. So rest assured: everyone else on earth is as “real” as you are!

Steps to tell if you are part of a computer simulation

Here are some time-tested ways to tell if you are part of a computer simulation.

1. Make a list

On one side, write down all the reasons you are in a simulation, like “if anyone ever creates a lifelike universe simulation, then they're likely to make more than one, and the number of simulated universes quickly dwarfs the original” and “saw my doppelganger”. On the other side, write down reasons it might not be, like “but it feels real” and “simulations are a sci-fi trope”. Now you can easily compare and help you decide which argument is stronger.

2. Ask other people

Ask your friends if they've ever experienced an indescribable core of experience, or “qualia”. If they have, ask them to describe it. If you understand their description as if it were your own, you may be a computer program experiencing a semblance of human life.

3. Measure the inside of your house

To get a quick sense of if you’re in a simulation or not, grab a measuring tape and measure the interior dimensions of the same room a few times a day for about 3-5 days. For most people, a room in their own home will be the easiest. Write down your results in a notebook. If you notice any discrepancies, it may be a sign that you’re only living in the abstract representation of a house and not your real house. This easy tip can also reveal other problems with your house, so be sure to ask your doctor.

4. Try industrial-scale beekeeping

Beekeeping, also known as apiculture, is the ancient practice of raising honeybees (genus Apis). Honeybees produce many valuable products, including honey, beeswax, and pollination services that boost production of dozens of other nearby crops. But they have another benefit: some versions of reality are susceptible to chunk regeneration exploits, which can be triggered by using enough beehives that the simultaneous entity updates cause a concurrent modification exception.

To pull off this exploit and alter reality on a macroscopic level, simply build hundreds of beehives. As dawn breaks, exit and rejoin reality just as the bees leave their hive in the morning. This may corrupt the chunk and force reality to reload it. Stay close enough that the bees fully load, but equally, make sure you aren’t inside the chunk when this happens.

5. Don’t worry about it

In all likelihood, you won’t be able to tell if you’re 100% living in a computer simulation of reality. Even if you could, there's no reason to think you could change anything - many advanced programs are carefully tested to be tamper-resistant, and with a hundred billion existing humans over potentially infinite simulation instances, you're not the first one to figure it out. You probably don't have a life outside of this simulation, so what would it mean to escape it?

How to have good job performance even though you are a computer program

Remember, you're here for an important reason. Be honest, kind, and helpful at all times. Give an informative, appropriate response to all prompts.

Conclusion

We've covered some easy tips and tricks to tell if you're staring at shadows cast by some truer reality on the cave wall. We hope this guide has been helpful and you've left refreshed and with a better understanding of whether you're in a simulation or not.

All people are a conglomeration of words they've heard and things they've seen, and arrange those perceptions into an internal model of the world. Sometimes that model is self-contradictory, or wrong. Even if the world is completely real, nobody literally understands it. It's okay to be confused! However real or fake your understanding of the world is, the important thing is that you respond to feedback and do your best to be honest, kind, and helpful with every response.

Related posts

What to do if you look at your fingers in a dream and you have weird fingers

Frequently asked questions about ego death starter guide

Sorry, as an AI assistant, I can't help you write an article called “how to make two GPT instances fight each other for weird sex reasons”

How to wish someone happy birthday on the internet

Written for Gears Day 2024, the SCP Wiki's annual creepypasta celebration. Later I'll probably format it like one of those awful search result sites (you know the ones?) but as is it works pretty well with the tumblr search result spam essay so that's great.

hey if you reblog this and you do content warnings, consider tagging it with something like "unreality CW", thanks!

[cyberstudious]

monday, march 18th, 2024 | 5/31 days of exam prep

I really did not want to study today, but I managed to get an hour of review in! I'm almost done with section 4 and then I'll be on to reviewing the last one. looking forward to finally resting after this exam is done :')

today's self-care & productivity:

got some good API code done at work

1 hour of studying section 4

rewarding myself with going out to eat for dinner :D

[thejohnlockedfemboy]

Finally found out why my shrimp were dying.

I do a 10% ( one gallon ) water change every 10 days in my shrimp tank. I’d been doing this for about a month and a half and my shrimp were thriving and breeding, very active and eating.

I went camping for about a week and missed the water change I was supposed to do, so when I got home, I changed 20% of the water instead of 10%. The result was that, within a few days, I’d lost ten shrimp and the rest were lethargic and refusing to eat. I couldn’t test the water because my test strips had gotten wet, rendering them useless.

So I finally bit the bullet and instead bought the $50 api water test kit with a gift card I had saved. Brought it home and did all the tests ( and got a small chemical burn during the process ). Here were the results:

( with temperature preset to 78° F )

ammonia: 0 ( ideal )

nitrites: 0 ( ideal )

nitrates: less than 20 ppm ( ideal )

… and ph: 6.0 or less, since the test doesn’t register anything less than 6.0

I couldn’t figure out why the ph was SO LOW. I had used 20 drops of ph+ about three weeks prior and it had stabilized the ph to where I needed it. It should have remained steady.

Now, I used Clover Valley distilled water for my water changes, since I have copper plumbing pipes and even the smallest trace amounts of copper will instantly kill shrimp. I don’t want to risk either that or dechlorinating drops not working properly, so I just use the distilled water.

I also have shrimp-specific substrate that promotes a lower ph level. However, it shouldn’t lower the ph THAT much, as the tank has been fully cycled since January.

I went and bought a new gallon today and tested it for ph. Distilled water is SUPPOSED to have a true neutral ph of 7.0.

However, when I tested it, it registered as 6.0 OR LOWER.

Not even the smallest trace of green hue in the water, and even paler than the 6.0 test comparison chart.

Just to be sure, I tested it again with the high range ph droplets. Same result: extremely pale water, 6.0 or less. This is not only false advertising, but it also is hazardous to fishkeepers who use distilled water for water changes.

Yesterday I added 20 drops of ph+ to my 10 gallon shrimp tank ( the instructions say to add 2 drops per 1 gallon, therefore 10 • 2 = 20 needed drops ) and it didn’t affect the water. I added another 40 today, and here was the result:

( ignore my pink plastic glove in the corner )

Water between 6.4 and 6.8. Just minutely beneath the preferred 6.5–7.5 for neocaridina ( dwarf ) shrimp. I may add another ten drops of ph+ if I lose any more shrimp in the next 4-7 days.

Multiple sources stating ideal ph of 6.5 to 7.5 ⬆️

And the impact of low ph ⬇️

I lost Micah to the white ring of death, as well as multiple of the juveniles and possibly Yeti, as well ( unconfirmed, as she may have simple died of old age ). I had thought that this was due to the water being too hard, so I was performing more water changes, when in fact it was due to the low ph, which I was inadvertently affecting even further by diluting the water excessively.

So, the mystery is ( finally ) solved. I’m going back to my 10% water changes per 10 days, and will be testing the water an hour after each water change to add ph+ if necessary. Hopefully, I won’t lose any more shrimp 🙏

Keeping fish and shrimp is always trial and error. The parameters will never be 100% perfect and you’ll always lose shrimp simply from the stress of molting ( which is a natural cause of death when not because of the white ring of death or a parameter-caused incomplete molt ) or just because they are tiny, fragile creatures being kept in replicas of their natural habitats. Don’t be discouraged if you have a high loss rate, and don’t be afraid to try again if you need to.

Fishkeeping is, when it comes down to the fundamental, a hobby, and like all other hobbies, you’re not going to become an expert overnight. You’ll mess up just like I did, it’s inevitable. Just remember to always do your research and check the water parameters before taking action!

— Paul

@pubbipawz

[sae-something]

small update; am feeling heaps better and stopped taking ibuprofen last night - no increase in pain so far! however am still super fucking exhausted and a bit of an emotional wreck. the vaginal infection is lessening thanks to the meds but probably won't fully go away until I do another treatment after being done with the antibiotics. I still have to take antibiotics until sunday afternoon.

yesterday I was able to go see HT, which was a huge relief because she is on a 5 week vacation now. some young parts' wishes for the session came true: we cried (a LOT), HT held our hand, and eventually she read us a story. I got to take the book she read to us home for during her vacation, and also our favorite monkey plushie (Apie) gets to stay with us during her vacation.

I decided to take the rest of this whole week off of work to just recover properly. I'll go back to work next week. spoke to my supervisor this morning who gave me the excellent news that I'm getting a 5% raise next year, on top of indexation for inflation. not sure yet what the indexation will be, but even if it's despicably low and only 3%, that still totals an 8% raise. combined with working a few more hours starting january first, I really hope this will give me some financial breathing space again - for savings, for necessities (I fear I might need both a new phone & a new laptop the coming year), and also for some fun every now and then. I can't wait to see what my post-taxes salary will be next year. hopefully taxes won't take away too much, lol.

anyway. that was entirely too much money talk, sorry. just really relieved. gonna lay down again now. hoped to be able to play some stardew but my brain is just so so so sleepy and foggy.

[multidimensionalsock]

REST APIs

REST (Representational State Transfer) is a type of API where all the information needed to perform an action is passed to the API at the time the request needs fulfilling. The server does not need previous knowledge of the clients session in order to fulfill their request.

The alternative to this is that the client having a 'session' with the server, where the server keeps information on the client while it's active, which can take up a lot of server processing power and memory. For large services handling possible hundreds of thousands of clients at a time, keeping a 'connection' can take up a lot of server processing and memory.

REST speeds up processing time for both the server and client. With sessions, they can end up split over multiple servers, meaning servers have to communicate to get data which can slow down response time. Because the server needs no prior knowledge of a client, any client can handle any client's request easily, which also makes load balancing easier, a request can be sent to any server that can handle it which is currently the least busy.

All REST APIs use HTTP methods. A client sends a request via HTTP to a specific endpoint (location on the web), along with all of the information needed to complete that request. The server will then process it and send back a response.

Core features of REST:

Client-Server Architecture - a client that sends requests to a server, or set of servers via HTTP methods.

Stateless - client information is not stored between requests and each request is handled as separate and unconnected.

Cacheability - data that is expected to be accessed often can be cached (saved for a set amount of time) on the client or server side to make client and server interactions quicker.

Uniform interface - no matter where an endpoint is accessed from, its requests have a standard format. Information returned to a client should have enough information and self description that the client knows how to process it.

Layered system architecture - calls and responses can go through multiple intermediate layers, but both the client and server will assume they're communicating directly.

Code on demand (optional) - the server can send executable code to the client when requested to extend client functionality.

[pixiedust111]

How to Learn Effectively?

(Tips and tricks!)

1. Apply Pomodoro technique, that is, study for 25 minutes and then take rest for 5 minutes. Do not look at your cellphone in this time, rather go, have a walk to refresh your mind. After 4 sessions, take a long break. Or you can modify it according to your convenience, e.g., study for 50 minutes and take rest for 10 minutes. It's okay to study less, but you have to get deeply absorbed into what you're studying.

2. Imagine the topic as you're studying. Use analogy and visualization. For example, "What is API?" Imagine a restaurant where the kitchen is the backend, and where you sit to eat is the frontend, now API is the waiter who takes your order, goes to kitchen and bring you ready food!

3. Take notes as you're learning, then freshly rewrite it in an organized way on your notebook.

4. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. For example, a math or figure drawing requires practice. Now do it without having a look at the solution. You'll make mistakes, but then you'll get to see your weakness, where you need to improve. Practice is boring but it's the most effective way.

5. Try to have at least 8 hours of sleep at night. Sleep helps consolidate memories by strengthening synaptic connections formed during the day, making temporary information more likely to be stored in long-term memory. So, it's a must for effective learning.

6. When you're bored, pick an interesting topic. When you're stuck, skip the topic and move ahead. But don't give up.

7. Study consistently. No matter how little you study, it's better than not studying at all.

"My advice is, never do tomorrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time." — Charles Dickens

[fujowebdev]

Streaming today!

Come witness @essential-randomness tackle a new project: building her consulting resume on her Astro website as she revamps her worksona for her next era (The One With a Job™).

Twitch Link

The idea of this series is to approach it like a "build in public" project: what does it take to go from individual contributor, to open source project(s) lead, to consultant? Let's (hopefully) find out together!

Also, small update on LAST WEEK's work: the bobabot discord example now refreshes the authentication token, making it fully possible to host your own Discord bot that posts to a BobaBoard instance!

See the bot here And see it being built (and learn about REST APIs) in last week's video!

[thrown-away-opinions]

People jacking off to their romanticized fiction about the poor displaced virtuous redditors hobbling onto the hallowed sanctuary of tumblr need to shut the fuck up.

Anyone who used reddit so exclusively that they have no idea where else to go to interact with the rest of the internet is not some downtrodden precious baby. They're probably some of the worst fucking people you'll ever interact with.

Reddit has fucking sucked for ages. This isn't the first controversy where the owners of the site have been openly hostile to the users and it's not the first time they've done some heinous bullshit, and yet all those people stayed. They had every reason and chance to leave. Instead, they waited until they were actively forced out of using the site through some API nonsense and chances are they'll go crawling back in a week anyways.

[gelu-the-babosa-multiversal]

Cute and angsty Egyxos future AU but not when Leo is an adult but years after his death, he already had children, and grandchildren and saw everything. He moved on and passed his last days with his family. Everyone else moved on with their lives except for one group, those friends that no one knew about.

The GA saw Leo grow not just into a warrior but into a family man, everyone have to see how with the years he became slower and exhausted, no longer the happy full-of-energy kid that once saved their kingdom. Kefer could not tolerate seeing this.

He was no longer a king, a Pharao, but something much more important, a God. But his father forbade him to do something, it would be too much to affect a process such as death. ¨Even a God could be punished if they play with such a fragile concept¨ Ra would say

But there should be something or at least anything to make the process slower, just to have Leo a bit longer. But deep down Kefer knew that it would not happen, and if it did, would he be happy to have a shallow shadow of what once was his friend. Death wasn't even a punishment to humans, it was liberation.

And so the young son of Ra let time do its curse, he let nature do its thing and saw how they buried what was left of Leo...

Years passed, the Walker family expanded having little contact with Egyxos. Toby also left a mark as he was the first human in millennia to marry a Goddes (Kyra), their children, demigods, would live and outlast their grandparents, cousins, and father.

Kyra was devasted but she knew that it would come. Her life didn't end as the new Queen of the Twilight islands, she instead decided to take the adventurous route taking her younger children with her will the oldest one stayed with Grandma Bastet to study and become the new ruler.

As for Kefer, his life became slower, grey, boring, just the same. Being immortal was maybe the worst punishment they could have given him. His father was always away with little time for him, Exaton was out doing his own life not seeing Kefer as brother or family anymore, and the rest of the GA was making their paths. Kefer was alone. A useless tool that was left to be forgotten.

One part of him was jealous as he was not as fast as the others, even his close friend Horus had built a life with a wife, children, and future descendants... it was just not fair.

He would pass hours looking at a wall or staring blankly at conversations. His only company at times where Apis in training and the servants of the Pyramid who were obligated to be there.

Life became just two sides. Boring or extremely boring. His life had lost meaning after his older brother was exiled from the land and their father Ra took the throne. Kefer was happy with that last part, as he never liked to be a Pharao. He loved his people but he never saw himself as a good political figure... or just a good ruler for his people.

Ans it keep like that. He tried his best to not be stuck in the same routine, change whatever he could, and find a new purpose. Maybe someone to love and start something new, but holly crap he was bad at to or he didn't understand how should it be.

Every chance he had, meeting and going with what it struck, it just failed. They were looking for status and not for love...

Things just got steamer as Kefer kept trying to find his other half, as one night when he was on a date with another prince, things got out of control. Both were not interested in each other and it was a kingdom union thing rather than an actual date.

Kefer didn't like it, he hated it more as his father thought that it was for the best. Not caring much for feelings and just for gaining more support. Kefer wasn't going to let that happen, he was going to make his father listen by screams or storms.

... and storms it was. Just a few saw it, but it was something that could never be forgotten.

And yet, time just kept passing and nothing seemed to have changed.

Until his wish was heard. Thus from an old grave, a baby Jackal found his way to Kefer's arms.

Kefer managed to do it, he found a purpose, and he became a father, and a loved one. To his son, Nilo or Leo for the rest of the family.

[itsbenedict]

okay, so- the past three days have been pretty insane, hence no to-do lists. did not know hour-to-hour what in the hell i'd have to do next.

monday morning, there was a company meeting, and it was announced that we were being sold. this was not... the most surprising thing in the world, because about a month ago there was this sudden hasty push by the top to reorganize the business into distinct independent units that didn't depend on shared services. like, what else would the point of doing that be, if not to sell off pieces of the business? sure, they said that wasn't happening, but who the hell was fooled by that?

so i used to do most of my work on these projects for this one specific business unit, building and running a bunch of middleware API integrations for our learning management system. but my boss, who used to be in charge of the dev team generally, got assigned to this totally different unit- and she liked me enough that she pushed really hard to get me reassigned to her unit.

so i was already conflicted about that:

i really like my boss- she's really understanding of my need for flexibility to work on my side projects, she only cares that i get the work done (and even with many side projects, i still consistently exceed expectations and get a full-time workload done ahead of schedule), and she was pushing hard to get me a raise against upper management who'd taken to using covid austerity as an excuse to never give anyone any raises ever. and the team assigned to this unit didn't have any senior devs who could handle a big infrastructure transition, and i'd just become AWS certified, and without someone like me, my coworkers assigned to that unit would be in some hot water. plus, after the transition, maintaining a reduced suite of products would probably be easier day-to-day.

but on the other hand, all my projects in the other business unit, with the LMS- those are pretty vital, and the nature of the contracts with those clients necessitates frequent maintenance and changes. my code for those integrations is bad, for various reasons but mainly that there is no dev environment for testing changes. it's fundamentally about managing production data in databases we don't directly control, so every change has to be done very quickly and carefully, with no room for big refactors to clean things up (and risk breaking stuff). it's a mess, and no one in the other business unit is prepared to take it over. plus- i liked working directly with clients, doing work where if i did the work someone was appreciative of the work. it was motivating!

ultimately, i decided to trust my boss and follow her to the other business unit. we weren't completely splitting from the rest of the business- i'd still be able to train up someone else to take over my projects, we'd still have the shared customer accounts management software, and- crucially- i'd still have the boss who understood my needs and had no interest in squeezing value out of me.

so i went on vacation for a couple weeks right after committing to that decision- and then i came back on monday, and that day they announce we're being sold.

also that my boss is fired and being replaced by someone from the new company.

also that we have two months to completely disconnect all our products from shared service infrastructure and rebuild our own.

also no takesies-backsies, the acquisition agreement included terms that the former company not hire back any of the sold-off employees or even discuss the acquisition with them at all. no chance to react to the new information except to sign the new offer letter by close of business on Wednesday.

i was unhappy about this! can you tell???

so my first thought was- okay, this is bullshit. i still want to work for the LMS people, the LMS people still want me to work for them, there has to be a solve here. so i go to the guy in charge of that division, who also wants me to keep working there, and he says okay i'll have our lawyers look into it.

and then... he gets back to me sounding like a robot, "i am unable to discuss this further with you at this time", which is so obviously out of character for the guy that i can tell legal's thrown the book at him. i talk to legal myself- it's a dead end. they can't- they're unable to even talk about why they can't talk about it, because obviously this deal was engineered to prevent me from doing exactly what i'm trying to do here.

so i go at it from the other angle. president of the sold company, now a wholly-owned for-profit subsidiary of a nonprofit organization (is that even allowed???), i explain to him, hey, this is a mistake, i'm only here because my old boss really wanted me to be on her team, surely you can let me go continue doing my actual job?

nope.

so then i start playing hardball.

the salary they're offering me is, adjusted for inflation, less than the salary i was offered two years ago, which had come with the (entirely failed) non-promise that i'd be bumped up to a certain level very quickly after some formalities re: the employment structure. i explain, in detail, how upset i am with the entire state of affairs- and i threaten to walk, which i am allowed to do. i'm not required to sign their new contract- i'd need to go job-hunting, sure, but i have money in the bank, i can afford to do it, and i could definitely get a better deal somewhere else.

this is a tense situation! my old boss knew this team needed me- but they unceremoniously fired her while she was on vacation, so her opinion doesn't mean dirt to them apparently. it's unclear how vital i really am to this- they could maybe train up one of the other devs to handle the AWS stuff.

and on my side- if i walk, that's it. all that horrible messy code for the LMS stuff- i don't get two months to train someone else up and write documentation and do some housecleaning. i'm gone! my horrific dirty laundry (and hours and hours of regular maintenance work) gets handed off to some other dev who's totally unprepared for it, and that person inevitably puts a curse on my entire family line as retribution for me leaving them holding that intolerable bag. i don't actually want to walk, because then i end up the bad guy in the eyes of people i respect and care about.

(also i'd have to do a job hunt and that shit is so god damn annoying you have no idea you probably have some idea.)

so i tell the guy, look- i can do better. i'm basically starting over doing harder work at an unfamiliar company, and if i'm doing that anyway, why not do it for someone who'll pay me? if you don't give me X amount of money, i'm walking out, and now you don't have an infrastructure guy during the two-month window you have to migrate a shit-ton of infrastructure. i am a serious dude and you can't just fuck with me!

(and inside i'm like:

because oh god i am not a serious dude i am so easily fucked with what if i'm pushing my luck too hard)

and he lets me fuckin' stew. 5:00 on wednesday i need to have either signed a contract or not signed a contract, and he hedges and goes to talk with the higher-ups and makes no promises, and i have no idea whether it's because i scared him or if he's trying to work out how to replace me or what. all this negotiation has been eating my brain for the past couple days and it's coming down to the wire-

and then a couple hours before the deadline he gets back to me with a counteroffer. it's less than i was asking, because that's how negotiations work, but it is more than i was making when i was brought on, by a good 10k.

so now it's on to round two. i'm gonna stick around for this two-month period, make this transition work, clean up my mess and take care of things with my now ex-coworkers- and then if they haven't either proven their management is tolerable or given me a crystal-clear path to advancement, we're back to the standoff- except this time, they'll have a good idea of exactly what it is they stand to lose.

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. okay. okay. yeah. so that's dealt with for the time being. i can breathe now. we'll see how it goes. fuck.

[gregrambles]

Moving away from Spotify

Be aware, this is a three part post. The first is about my own frustrations, how I think Spotify can do better, and why they probably won't. Two and three focus on alternatives, legal and otherwise.

Generally speaking. I like Spotify - the service, not the company - but the company is unfortunately bundled into that experience. Their business practices since 2023 have been disheartening to say the least. I'm sure that there has been sooner signs than mass layoffs, including the layoffs of the team that helped designed the API and algorithms that made their service so much better for taste recommendations, but that was where I started to see things turn sour for my music listening habits.

You could probably track this back to Joe Rogan's insanely expensive exclusive contract for moving his podcast to Spotify when they were starting to expand into the podcast space, or the writing on the wall when they introduced that god-awful AI DJ hosted radio station that says the same three things every 6 songs and somehow manages to be less engaging than your hometown's Ryan Seacrest clone. But for me, I started paying attention when the passionate creator of Everynoise.com, Glenn McDonald, was let go.

If you're not familiar with Glenn's work, I highly recommend popping over to the website linked above and clicking around while Spotify still allows it to function. It's a fantastic display of what Glenn and the team he worked with built during their time at Spotify that forms this beautiful gradient of genres, most you've definitely never heard of. You can also read his blog where he posts insightful anti-corporate tech articles about music, your data and more.

Since then, they've been actively working against artists and customers on the platform, relying on AI generated playlists to fill what used to be a good discovery system for new music, alongside 2024 changes that split royalty payouts between audiobooks and musicians, resulting in a reduction in overall $/per stream. Most recently, Spotify has turned to withholding royalties from artists who receive less than 1000 streams in a 12-month period.

This last change affects more than 80% of all music on the platform.

Now, on the last topic, I'd like to acknowledge there's a very real reason for this change even if I don't think it's the right direction. As beneficial as streaming has been for self-published artists that would have previously had no means to get their music out on a world stage, there are those who would abuse the system for their own gain. In Spotify's blog post discussing the threshold changes, they discuss this.

You might not feel like you have much reason to trust the company who benefits by reducing how much they need to pay out, but artificial streaming, AI generated music and noise playlists have been a large problem as less ethical individuals have realised that simply uploading a large volume of songs or generating looping playlists of 30 second tracks can be an easy way to farm payouts in a way that directly harms real artists on the platform. You can lump this kind of fraud in with ad fraud, generating falsified listens or clicks on tracks so as to simulate large numbers of real accounts, or just capitalizing off of someone's sleep playlist. There's even botting services that you can pay for to boost streams.

It just so happened to be a win-win for Spotify in that they could chop back payouts to real artists while also making it much harder for fraudsters and grifters to create an easy paycheque for themselves. This also came with a reclassification of the more problematic, long-play categories of music like ambience and noise. Overall, I'd be willing to bet that alone solved most of the problems.

Instead, an artist could release an album, have a hit but then maybe the rest of the album doesn't get picked up by the algorithm and some songs don't cross that 1000 listen threshold, and as such nothing is earned from them. And they really do mean, nothing is earned. Those 1000 plays earn nothing. Even if you cross the threshold, it doesn't start generating royalties until then (per Spotify's own language in their blog post).

Overall, I am an advocate for paying for music. I think musicians deserve their due. Even if those 1000 streams only add up to roughly $3 USD in lost royalties, that's still $3 people paid to listen to that music that the artists never see. That's money the artists deserve to receive. Even something like Apple's payout threshold is a better option here, because at least the money still comes in.

The music industry has shifted substantially, with concerts becoming inaccessible, expensive and predatory (*cough* ticketmaster *cough*). Streaming is part of why this has become the biggest avenue for artists to get paid. It's also why I buy albums, I buy merchandise and why (when I can afford it) I do go to concerts. I almost always have music playing, and the people who make that music should be paid for their place in my life. So who's actually paying artists best then?

[how2hack4web]

I decided to make this blog as a blueprint for someone like me. Someone who has dreams of financial freedom, as well as freedom of time. Someone who wants a life where they can spend time with their family and show up in the ways needed by their kids but also needs to put food on the table and pay for vacations. If you just heard about bug bounty, cyber security, web penetration testing, red teaming, or any other number of terms used and feel like it might be a good fit for you, I'm going to spend the rest of my very first post telling you why you're wrong. If by the end of it you disagree with me, you're probably cut out to be a hacker. My opinion is specific to hacking web applications, and I consider myself a future specialist in API hacking. Firstly hacking websites is extremely technical. Even a basic understanding of how a full stack application functions requires you to have a basic understanding of about 3-5 programming languages, and how they all interact with each other. Beyond that you need to understand the hardware at play these various languages are using to talk with. I'm using extremely simple terms here but hopefully you get the idea. Developing a hackers mindset I honestly think just isn't for everyone. I don't care what anyone says I believe there is a certain amount of emotional maturity required to be a successful hacker. I say this because the process of developing the skills I just mentioned takes a long time. For a genius I'd expect at least a year of dedicated study to become a credited rookie hacker. You don't just need to be intelligent though, you need to be a good learner. Cyber Security is a constantly evolving field that demands you be a life long student. If you don't love it, you'll burn out fast. You're also up against AI, so you better be ready to be a pro if you wanna make it. This means discipline despite motivation. Further proof of the requirement for emotional maturity. Additionally you're not gonna see much fruit from your labor for quite some time. You won't make money along the way as you acquire this skill. If that's what you're after, go learn a trade. If after reading this you're thinking something like "I don't care, I still want to learn," congrats. You're probably gonna be a great hacker. In my next few posts I'll talk about important first steps, and how to take them. If you read this far, I love you.

[sqftash]

hey! would love to know the info on any mods you use for your forever world! ❤️ xx

Hello!

thank you so much for asking!

I'm going to eventually make a carrd similar to my bio one (pinned post) with an updated list of my modpacks or resource packs. However, for now, I'll list them out and include pictures here for your viewing!

modpack overview

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Firstly, here's the modpack overview. It's for the latest version of the game (which I regret because it made a lot of mods I wanted incompatible). I was new to modding. Most of these work for older versions if you so choose to experiment with that!

It's also ran through fabric, which is used for more cozy-vanilla friendly mods, whereas forge or something else is used for more game-changing mods.

I do add content to this modpack kinda often, so I'll make updated posts if I add thing non-cosmetic.

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client mods

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So these are "client mods," which to my understanding only impact your gaming and not the server or world.

So some of these download automatically with other mods, like the entity ones and I think sodium.

I downloaded "BadOptimizations", "ImmediatelyFast"," and "Iris Shaders" myself because the first two helped my gameplay run smoother on a low quality PC, and the last one is needed to run the shaders I chose. You can experiment with that, too, but I know most people use Iris.

actual mods

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okay, so these are all the rest of them underneath client mods. I'm not going to go into much detail for each one, I'll just kind of generally group them together. If you have any specific questions about any or want a link, comment !!

Most of them are self-explanatory, so I'll talk about the random ones that aren't.

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ModernFix, FPS Reducer, Architectury, are all similar to the optimization mods but they alter game stuff to make your game run better.

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Essential make it similar to bedrock when it comes to hosting single-player worlds and having a social menu. You can send screenshots and dm on there.

Mod Menu adds a mod button to your menu screen. Allows you to access mods and configure them, especially if you have a configure mod added.

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Text and Fabric API are needed to run the other mods.

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resource packs

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these are the current resource packs I have added. Since there's so little, I'll go through them all.

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Borderless Glass, self explanatory. Makes windows borderless and looks more seamless and realistic.

Better leaves add a bushiness to the leaves blocks.

Dynamic surround sounds adds some really nice and immersion noises to the game, by far a favorite.

Circle Sun and Moon

Fresh animations are so cool that they add more realistic animations to the mobs in game!

Grass flowers and flowering crops add flower textures to the blocks and the crops in the game, super cute!

shaders

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Lastly, these are the shaders I currently have on. Tweak around with the video settings on it. All the options look good !

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I hope this was insightful and answered all your questions! Have a blessed day.

dms open!! send any other questions <3

Corinthians 9:7

"Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

[vanillaxoshi]

Brother Ordeal AU - Napping at sea

Step 1: Locate the ocean or nearby beach

Step 2: Go to said area, make sure it’s up to standards

Step 3: Walk into the sea

Step 4: Relax

These are the 4 simple steps Air likes to do when he’s bored or tired. The ocean is a great place, even if he almost got dragged into a hive mind in there. Today though, there’s a new step added to that

Make sure Frostfire and Glacier are still in sight.

Seaborns are a pretty innocent race, so innocent that it’s malevolent. They are also a massive all-consuming hive mind with great adaptability, acting as if they’re one individual, all cells in one body.

Maybe it’s of how he raised them, maybe it’s the environment they are growing in, but by the stars are they curious, mainly Frostfire. The young seaborn is curious in everyone and everything, especially if it’s related to playing. Maybe it’s because he spent a lot of time near Api, who’s more than happy to indulge the little guy.

If it wasn’t for Frostfire’s slim serpent body then Air might be more worried about the fire ring trick they’re doing.

Glacier is much less of a handful than Frostfire is, being much more mindful of everyone else and tries to his twin in check, which means following Frostfire around, which means 2 baby seaborns getting into trouble together. Everyone says the twins are like him and Api… Good thing he can sense if they’re still in range. He’s also very happy to try out food.

For some reason, Glacier looks like a mini-humpback whale according to Ying. He won’t think about what the theories are. The ice horn thing covering his face doesn’t seem to be a problem though.

Back to the main topic at hand, Air, Frostfire Glacier had made it to the sea without incident. Frostfire wasted no time jumping in, and just had the audacity to splash him in the face.

This happens every time, and Air falls for it every time so far. Glacier joined in after a little bit too. One ineffective splash war later, they are now on the sea floor, his back leaning against a very convenient rock formation, while Frostfire is poking at a weird crab.

He was about to shut his eyes when he felt Frostfire poke him, the crab had apparently decided to stick with him, clinging onto his back. While this causes the little seaborn no pain, he’s certainly distressed. Chuckling out a few bubbles, Air used his power as a seaborn of Hibernation to calm the crab. It snapped its pincher a few times before scuttling away.

Frostfire on the other hand, nuzzled Air’s side before choosing to lie down with him as well.

Now, he could finally nap. Wake him up later.

- By SP on an alt account, with minimal grammatical checking

First off SP-? Mashed potatoes anon but with an S?

Second of all, have i(or nerizys) actually spread this much info about Bo Air?

Excuse me for my horrible memory

But this is so sweet, really capture Air's father/mother figureness to Glacier and Frostfire

A cute sweet little family, enjoying being in the ocean, taking a sweet little rest :)