#word paraphrasing tool

[paraphraseapps]

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[zerogpt24]

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[ai-sentence-rewriter]

Top 10 AI Paraphrasing Tools To Improve your Copywriting You Need to Try Now

One of the best ways to improve your writing skills is by using Free paraphrasing tool. With their advanced algorithms and natural language processing abilities, these tools can help you to rewrite text in a way that is more engaging, easier to understand, and error-free. By using these tools, you can gain insights into how to improve your writing, identify common mistakes, and enhance your overall writing style.

[inupibaldspot]

Pretty Glossy Lips

Pairing: Fushiguro Megumi x Reader

Note ₊˚⊹♡ : College AU where Kugisaki is oddly observant.

Kugisaki is bothered… her eyes keep darting back and forth, it’s as if that ‘thing’ is begging her to look at it.

She quickly shakes her head as her fingers go back to her keyboard as she types away and has her screen divided in three in front of her if she includes her iPad, all with a word doc, an ai tool and ai paraphraser.

“Argh— I feel like I won’t finish in time.” A voice beside her complains making her turn to face the owner of the voice. Beside he is a boy who has his pink hair disheveled, his face highlighted by the light of the bulb in the study room.

“Shut up, Itadori—!” Kugisaki starts shaking Itadori in fury as poor Itadori has his hands waving around as he tries to type in some letters. She hears another sigh as her eyes squint at the other voice. “You got a problem , Fushiguro huhh?”

But her eyes focus on Fushiguro’s lips.

She is wondering if her mind is getting too stressed out but she swears she thinks his lips today look slightly pinker with more gloss if that makes sense…also was that glitter—?!

“Don’t push your anger on me.” He says, eyes not leaving his phones as he types on the screen. “We had a month long period for this assignment. If you guys keep this up, you might not graduate college.” Fushiguro adds which makes Kugisaki flatter and go back to her assignments, eyes trailing to his lips one time.

Just then they hear a knock to the study room as a figure pops their head in. “Sorry I got late. My professor kept going on and on.” You say, with a sheepish smile taking a seat beside Fushiguro.

Kugisaki inwardly smiles as she noticed how quickly Fushiguro’s head seemed to turn as soon as he hears you voice and now you sit with him smiling and continuing on about your professor. The brown shorter haired girl shakes her head when she looks over to Fushiguro who seemed to try and act nonchalantly but no one can deny the blush on his face plus the constipated look.

You were a friend met through Itadori, you guys once got paired in a semester long project and somewhere in between that and now, you guys were as inseparable as one can be, in particular Fushiguro and you. Surprisingly the dark haired stone faced boy was quick to warm up to you; probably it was due to the aura you gave exuded.

You gave out warmth with your warm smile and bright attitude, which makes you stop and take in the way your gaze reflected the warm sun from outside.

Every smile.

Every lighthearted laugh.

It always felt genuine which made Kugisaki adore you to the brim of her heart, you were just so adorable—! But it seemed she wasn’t the only one.

“You guys got only 10 minutes.” You say as you peer over the table to take a peek at their progress, and mentally cringe due to the lack of said progress. “It’s okay! you guys can get it done.” You cheered which earns another subconscious smile from Fushiguro.

“Shit— I should not have played stardew with you Itadori!” Kugisaki grumbled, tugging a piece of hair behind her ear as she types away making, every second count. “It’s all your fault.”

“Eh?” Her statement makes the pink haired boy stop typing and pointing at himself in genuine confusion. “How is it my fault when you were the one inviting me to play?”

As Kugisaki turns to took away, she sees you and Fushiguro now sitting as tad bit closer to before with your shoulders slightly leaning into Fushiguro’s. Your eyes seem to wander nervously taking peeks at her and Itadori while Fushiguro poor figits with his pretty glossy lips pulled into something which is neither a frown or a smile, one hand on the table with a finger tapping away while the other under. Maybe playing with your fingers?

Who know, Kugisaki doesn’t for certain. But she can bet that Fushiguro is currently thinking about you while you’re sitting beside him from his dumb look.

Kugisaki shakes her head and keeps her nose to herself,as she begins typing but she swears it lasted just a millisecond second but she caught it.

In that split second her eyes watches you lean forward and places a kiss on his lips, making the boy stiffen up and pink when you thought Kugisaki and Itadori weren’t looking.

When she sees you about to turn to her and Itadori’s direction, she quickly pulls her eyes back on the screen acting normal. Shit. She thinks. What was that? They’re dating? Shit, why didn’t they tell us? Shit, Fushiguro I didn’t know you had that in you. She dapped him up in her mind. They could have atleast told us though…

Kugisaki uses ever every once of her strength to keep her hands on her keyboard to type away but then there was a sudden click in her brain, which put all the pieces in place. Fushiguro’s glossy lips were from you! Your lip gloss on his lips! Now she can’t stand it any longer as she pulls her hair in realization.

“Why didn’t you guys tell us you’re dating?!” Kugisaki gets up from her seat and points accusingly at the pair infront of her. This makes you let out a embarrassed and confused sound while Fushiguro becomes red—he was caught in broad daylight, as he scrowl at her. “Shut up, Kugisaki.”

“Ahh— I knew your lips were so pink and shiny, no wonder! You have someone kissing them that shade!” With each taunt spewing out of his friend’s mouth, he blushes a deeper tone.

“What? You guys are dating?” Itadori chirps in. “Shit, Kugisaki—! The countdown for the submission started! We only got a minutes left.”

“Submit it Itadori—!” Kugisaki’s attention solely on her laptop. “An incomplete assignment is better than late assignment!”

Reblogs, like and comment are appreciated! Love this work? Check out other here (ෆ˙ᵕ˙ෆ) ♡

[bambi-kinos]

“He encouraged Paul's revealed preference for enjoying feminization by putting him in the position of being John's girlfriend/wife, something John likely picked up on when Paul fed him toast as a teenager. Many of Paul's sexual habits and needs were shaped and fostered by John into something that complimented his own.”

This is such a good insight from your recent analysis and something I had sort of noticed about John and Paul but couldn’t pinpoint, which you’ve worded so wonderfully. I always thought it seemed as though John encouraged a more feminine/ domestic side to Paul which Paul might have been reluctant to express otherwise (due to Looking Like That), though I think Paul was actually very happy in more “feminine” roles. I wonder if John coaxed it out of him during their sexual encounters and then it manifested into their everyday dynamic.

It's part of John's Thing where he sees into people. No wonder he believed mind reading and ESP were real because John is incredibly good at reading people and divining their motives and intent.

I keep coming back to the toast anecdote because it's so revealing and also relatable. Feeding your boyfriend something while you try to convince him to do something he isn't sure about is very much a girlfriend tactic. I've done it myself and I bet other ladies have too. Paul instinctively knew how to maneuver John which is interesting in of itself but he also instinctively used feminine coded tactics. Contrast this to Pete Shotton who was just some guy and used the tools available to him to put John in his place: he would take swings at John and even threatened to crush his glasses at one point when John was taking a joke too far about a schoolboy crush Pete had when they were kids. John himself admired this about Pete and later said that he respected Pete immensely for standing toe to toe with him and not letting John roll him.

But Paul didn't do that. He used feminine coded tactics with John from the start, even with the guitar tuner and the conferring over strings and chords. He wasn't in your face and didn't try standing toe to toe with John, after the solo song performance of "Twenty Flight Rock" to establish his credentials he instead sat down with John and they talked. No big confrontation and no contest of wills. To quote Pete Shotton again "they circled each other like cats" so clearly there was mutual interest but Paul proved his worth by showing what an asset he was. He was never interested in blatant shows of authority. It's just such a completely different presentation than what was typical and expected from teen boys at the time...and John picked up on it.

Some of this is Paul being a more balanced person in general and also just more experienced with the reality of the world. Mary passed away and the chores of the house became more evenly split between Jim, Paul, and Mike while the aunts would visit often to take care of the heavier jobs. But it's also clear where John and Paul's personal divisions and interests lay. Paul could definitely be rambunctious and gross (like the newspaper shitting story...lmaoooo) so he did know how to be gross with the boys when he wanted to be. But there was such an intensely domestic side of him that he wanted to keep hidden from the rest of the world. It couldn't help peeking out from time to time. John remarked once that "Paul and I know each other in a lot of different ways that people don't know about" (paraphrasing) and this must have been one of the things John was referring to.

Paul valued and cherished domestic life and he doted on John when he could. I think back a lot to this excerpt from The Lyrics (hat tip to @dovetailjoints for picking up on it back in the day) about Johnny Gentle and Paul's realization that you can do anything on tour.

Like even just from this quote, the toast thing, Pau's domesticity fetish (and everything is sex for him so obviously it's kinky roleplay!) and then Paul's general behavior, you can tell something going on but then we got THIS JEWEL of a confirmation:

Paul liked being domestic and he liked taking care of John I just!!!! He wanted to be John's wife! He wanted to be Mrs. Lennon so fucking badly! God! And it must have gone exactly as you say, John encouraged it during their sex stuff and then Paul liked it so much that he did this.

[heavenlyyshecomes]

For the interested reader, diaries and notebooks can be placed in two categories: in the first the text is intended to be official, manifest, aimed at a readership. The notebook becomes a training ground for the outward self, and, as in the case of the nineteenth-century artist and diarist Marie Bashkirtseff, an open declaration, an unending monologue, addressed to an invisible but sympathetic ear. Still I’m fascinated by the other sort of diary, the working tool, the sort the writer-as-craftsperson keeps close at hand, of little apparent use to the outsider. Susan Sontag, who practised this art form for decades, said of her diary that it was ‘an instrument, a tool’ – I’m not sure this is entirely apt. Sontag’s notebooks (and the notebooks of other writers) are not just for the storage of ideas, like nuts in squirrels’ cheeks, to be consumed later. Nor are they filled with quick outlines of events, to be recollected when needed. Notebooks are an essential daily activity for a certain type of person, loose-woven mesh on which they hang their clinging faith in reality and its continuing nature. Such texts have only one reader in mind, but this reader is utterly implicated. Break open a notebook at any point and be reminded of your own reality, because a notebook is a series of proofs that life has continuity and history, and (this is most important) that any point in your own past is still within your reach. Sontag’s notebooks are filled with such proofs: lists of films she has seen, books she has read, words that have charmed her, the dried husks of completed endeavours – and these are largely limited to the notebooks; they almost never feed into her books or films or articles, they are neither the starting point, nor the underpinning for her public work. They are not intended as explanations for another reader (perhaps for the self, although they are scribbled down at such a lick that sometimes it’s hard to make out what is meant). Like a fridge, or as it was once called, an ice house, a place where the fast-corrupting memory-product can be stored, a space for witness accounts and affirmations, or the material and outward signs of immaterial and elusive relations, to paraphrase Goncharov.

—Maria Stepanova, In Memory of Memory, tr. Sasha Dugdale (emphasis mine)

[amarriageoftrueminds]

Hi. I'm somewhat confused about how the Winter Soldier's past is handled for Bucky in Thunderbolts. I mean, as part of his political campaign for Congress, his past had to be touched upon, and I think that's where Bucky's comment to Mel about if she claims to know him, she must know his history too comes from. And while I'm very glad that no one has rubbed Bucky's past in his face and openly criticized him for it (not even Val! that's saying a lot), I can't help but feel that Mel's “I know who you are” comments, and the other about whether "she's talking to Congressman Barnes or the Winter Soldier" feel like some sort of criticism. Because precisely, if like many others, Mel knows Bucky's past (besides the information that was given publicly by Bucky now being a public figure but also by the information OXE has on him) she should know that the Winter Soldier's name is not accompanied by positive connotations because of course it's tied to Hydra as their tool that was used to accomplish their purposes.

I've heard some people consider the fact that Bucky said that, unlike Mel, he didn't choose who he worked for, as groundbreaking, when in reality I think it's not much different than the way he has always acknowledged that he had no choice (the same thing he acknowledged as Steve in CW, and the same thing he said to Yori in TFATWS) but it's a line that is always accompanied by the unspoken words “but I did it”. Although I think compared to “Hydra was my people” from TFATWS that's a big improvement.

So while I think that, thankfully Bucky didn't face criticism and backlash for trying to make the Winter Soldier look like an innately bad/corrupt part of him, I think it's still handled with a certain wariness so to speak...

I would love to know your opinion. And sorry for the long ask xd

@buckydeservesthebest

Yh, I can't really speak on this much as I haven't seen the film, but characters continuing to refer to Bucky as the Winter Soldier is fucking annoying and inaccurate, and calling what he did 'working for' Hydra is still mischaracterizing it. (If that is a direct quote; but even if they used the phrase 'did for' or whatever, that's still missing the most crucial point.)

He didn't work for them, he was enslaved by them. They may as well be paraphrasing that Thor: Ragnarok line. 'Oh, he wasn't a slave, he was a 'prisoner with a 'job.'

Not much better than calling Hydra 'his people,' IMO!

And the Winter Soldier being framed as a part of Bucky, a corrupt part, is a stupid retcon from TFATWS' writers who want to victim-blame/villainize him and were too lazy to watch the movies. Absolute bollocks.

(That line should be 'Congressman Barnes or Bucky Barnes', because those are the only two fuckn options. Although CACW also has Steve saying similar stupid shit; you could already see them beginning to turn on Bucky, even then!)

I've said it elsewhere, but the Soldier is not a part of Bucky; it's the absence of Bucky. No personality, no memories, no capacity to have morals because of said lack. It's a blank void that can be ordered to act in anyway you want. (Which you'd think they'd pick up on in a film that has Bob in it, but oh well!)

The Soldier was an automaton with a good man trapped inside; the source of that metallic scream which made CATWS's soundtrack (why else would he be screaming, if this was always a part of him? wouldn't it be a metallic laugh, instead? if this was a part of him, why wouldn't he retain his personality? It's important not to mix comics and MCU here!)

It was not some Evil sub-personality that was always alive inside Bucky and just waiting to come out under the right stressors.

To use a fantasy analogy...

You could say that Bucky is not a werewolf; but the Winter Soldier is a zombie.

That's it. The Winter Soldier is the zombie of Bucky Barnes.

Imagine Hydra had Steve bitten by a zombie and turned into a zombie, Hydra made him do some zombie stuff, but then he got cured and turned back to normal.

Now, you might look at Zombie!Steve and say 'that's Steve,' but you wouldn't look at completely sane and normal Cured!Steve and say 'he's a Zombie.'

But we've got this situation where Bucky has been cured of his zombiedom and got his mind back and everything, to the point where he can even become an elected official (!)

And yet characters are still coming up to him like 'omg am am I talking to Bucky Barnes or ...The Zombie??' 👀

Bitch do you see him eating brains? Is he stumbling around and visibly rotting? No?? Then stfu then! 🤬

[five-thousand-loaves-of-bread]

my issue with right now AAC advocacy, nonspeaking (autistic) advocacy (from individual advocate, to organization like communication first and assistive ware) (mainly outside tumblr), can all be summarize by their one phrase:

“presume competence.”

“wait, what wrong with that? isn’t it good? don’t they follow that?”

half yes. idea is good, hope everyone follow it, must: all disabled people should be give tool & help to learn, all diagnoses, all amount of struggle.

yes, “even” that person diagnose with severe autism & profound ID, who never speak or look like show sign of understand any language, who scream and make noise and run away all time, who give self & other many injury and broke bone and concussion.

but. me problem not with idea. have problem with, use two big complicate word as basic key important idea for movement: a movement for those who hard speech & communication.

this group, naturally mean have many people (more than “average” amount), who hard communicate, hard communicate big words, hard remember big words, hard understand big words.

“then just change name or explain idea, why say it summarize problem with entire movement?”

on tumblr, AAC user community, semi- & nonverbal/nonspeaking community, see lot people who not just struggle with mouth say word, but also with communicate hard. although less, and most borderline or mild, but do have a few people with ID who talk about ID. people with many layer disability, more affected. in fact, in some corner, we loud & seen here in community.

but. outside tumblr—like twitter, where majority AAC & nonspeaking advocacy get most hear, often influence even new AAC apps and AAC company and non profit and (US) law and (US) government groups. but also different organizations, and real life. so basically, people with bigger real life influence. this opposite.

it many life-long nonspeaking autistics with severe motor apraxia, who brain body disconnect cause mouth not able move make noise in way brain want. often diagnose with severe ID back when not able communicate, but now able full communicate, now realize have high IQ, use long sentence, complicate grammar, big words, who can “write right.” many who not be teach communicate or read, but able learn how read write, by self.

—who not speak because motor struggle, but “mind intact” (their word not mine), no fundamental expressive receptive language understand issue (edit: outsude not mouth speak), no intellectual cognitive issue?

they nonspeaking. they AAC user, or speller. yes, they deserve be in community. must be heard. people must realize this form of nonspeaking possible and many people like this. AAC nonspeaking community without them is still leave out people.

but. right now problem is: both them and allies, treat this form nonspeaking as only way be nonspeaking. all nonspeaking people like this. and what this group want (like be call nonspeaking and nonverbal wrong), need apply to all people who not able speak, because they seen as entirety nonspeaking community.

“all nonspeaking (autistic) people like this”—many times imply by never ever mention other “not speak” experience, but sometime even direct say (paraphrase). where my “not speak” friends who have expressive receptive language issues, who trouble communicate even with AAC, who don’t understand other and self communicate at all, who “mind not intact” (whatever that means), who ID not misdiagnose but is actual severe profound ID, who can’t learn AAC can’t ever functional communicate ever?

what about people who “not speak” not just because “motor but everything else fine,” but “motor AND expressive receptive language AND/OR intellectual”? people who don’t have all your abilities?

we not remembered. we not exist. we not talk about.

and this “ignore,” can be see in all area of their advocacy and movement.

the policing “no severe no functioning labels no levels no nonverbal ever they all bad no excuse”: all my friends who call own self by any of that been direct attack harmed many many times by people who say this, so no, there no “personal identify okay” exception. this silence us. anytime we mention how we dare call self, all what we actual say ignored, actual message ignored, and become argue over terms call us ableist, and lock us out block us crowd attack us harrass us—us with communication issues who words hard first place, and who often have big emotional regulate struggle.

harass us lock us out enough. of course we silent, of course we no longer write in community. of course “community” no have us, no one see us. no one know we exist.

the big words. complicate sentences. complicate ideas. everything confuse. overwhelm even parents without intellectual & communication struggles who want learn to help child. not to mention us, who “not speak” include receptive language issues and intellectual disability.

write enough big words. write enough complicate stuff. write enough confuse hard follow stuff. of course we who can’t understand that get frustrate. and stop read. stop be in community.

have ability write professional enough, write approximate closest to nondisabled people enough. not have ID. all advantages that make people listen you more, take you more seriously. but this advantage, or fact this even is advantage that some not have, they not recognize.

whether mean to or not. became “am nonspeaking and proud, but at least have high IQ mind intact and can write ‘normal,’ so still have worth still deserve listen to because still have those redeeming abilities.” —what about those us who don’t?

“what that do with term ‘presume competence’?”

presume competence key idea, root of movement & advocacy.

presume competence, big words, not everyone who struggle speak can say/speak/write/communicate these two words. not all can remember. not all understand. some, will never ever able communicate or understand these two exact words ever in life, even with best support most help.

key slogan of movement, inaccessible to group of people you claim advocate for. same group people you also ignore pretend not exist erase in your advocacy.

this how deep this exclusion and inaccessibility issue run in nonspeaking advocacy.

down to its roots.

[this about nonspeaking movement (especially outside tumblr) and people who do this exclusion + inaccessibility. this not say term nonspeaking bad or all individual nonspeaking person bad.]

[writersbloxx]

Hi!!! So i need a little help please, english isn't my first language and I'm experimenting with english writing for the first time, I'm struggling with grammar and ppl have suggested me to use grammarly, would that be ethical? Is there an alternative that is ethical?

Hi Anon!

For more basic grammar checks, the use of grammarly is generally acceptable. If this is a question of academic integrity, it really does depend on the assignment/professor because grammarly is still AI powered with content generation. If it's for your personal projects, grammarly claims to adapt to your writing style, but over-reliance on this tool could lead to plagiarism.

Some more traditional tools that don't rely as heavily on generative AI are the built-in grammar checks in Microsoft Word or Google Docs. It also never hurts to have your work proofread by a native English speaker.

All online grammar checks use AI. However, it's easy to navigate responsible use of it. Just avoid making them your primary tool and relying too much on their paraphrasing options. Also be sure to treat their corrections as suggestions, reviewing them carefully to be sure they fit into the context of your writing.

Happy writing!

[duckprintspress]

Sorry for being a little in the dark, but can you explain what happened with NaNoWriMo? Or at least point me towards some resources pls?

Hey anon!

Never apologize for that. Life is so fucking busy, no one can be apprised of everything going on all the time. Our brains would break even trying. Anyway, multiple things have happened with NaNoWriMo, but for the current debacle, the best answer is probably to read their own words as appended in a reblog to my original post about how to delete.

The TL:DR is, to paraphrase NaNo's own words (after they got a sponsorship from ProWritingAid, an "AI" company), they support using "AI" as part of NaNoWriMo, accusing people who disagree of being ableist and classist.

Having read both their statements, they at least imply that they mean "AI" such as grammar checkers, rather than generative "AI," but they don't actually clarify and it's at best ambiguous if they include generative LLM as being allowed and reasonable. When people got upset with them, they doubled down, saying things like "not everyone can afford an editor," which as someone who personally couldn't afford an editor and so taught myself to edit at a professional level over ten years, I'll own I find a fucking insane and insulting take. A lot of us worked our asses off to learn these skills, and it's not classist to suggest that other people...can learn too. But also...like...if I was certain they only meant grammar checkers, I might be a bit more forgiving (I mean, I use Word's grammar checker, though it's often wrong), but which LLM usages they're actually defending isn't clarified and they jump right to defending their position by tarring people who disagree with them as -isms, and that's some kinda bs argument right there.

To be clear, I think policies banning people from using LLMs in events like NaNoWriMo or on platforms like AO3 is an exercise in futility. Bans are unenforceable, and attempts to moderate will turn into harassment tools. The line between "work written by someone who isn't proficient yet" and "LLM" isn't clear, and policing that line would consume huge amounts of moderating effort for basically no benefit. IMO, for places like AO3 the best bet is simply transparency, as in, people using LLMs should fucking tag it.

To be clear secondarily, putting my "I own a small Press" hat, if someone sends us something verifiably LLM-generated, they will be permanently banned, but honestly, even something I can't verify as LLM-generated, like. Won't be good writing. It might be technically precise but an LLM can't generate a coherent story because it can't think or remember. It's just a word-probability engine. We've never had an LLM-generated submission to the best of my knowledge, but if we did, well. Ban hammer.

Anyway. Sorry. I got off topic. The point is, NaNo basically said we were all ableist and classist because we want people to write (even if they write badly!) for the...write a novel challenge.

And this made a lot of people very angry.

[talenlee]

Dev Pile 2025-06 — Starter Kit

Making dev piles is a new experience for the blog in that they are explicitly deliberately timely. Where most of the work on this blog is thrown weeks, sometimes months in advance if it doesn’t fit neatly in a single spot, I am trying to make sure I write any given Dev Pile article covering the ‘week before’ the article goes up. This is a new kind of work for me, and it’s necessitated working ahead.

The week this article is being ‘written in’ is the week after Cancon. I had a plan for this week: I was going to spend the week writing an article developing the game dev I did, at cancon, in the dull periods at the table between the sales. Thing is, this year, that did not happen – Cancon was pretty much completely constant, so much so that the first day I didn’t even notice I never pulled out my notebook and what notes did get taken during the whole event were surface, or sketching out some minor ideas.

Therefore instead of a single intense focus here, this is going to be something of a hello and hey, here’s how to get started article about game making, tools, and prototyping.

Who Can Make Games?

You can make games. I can make games. Anyone who wants to can make games. The access you have to industrial scale production equipment to make the game you’re designing into something that looks like conventional product is a little more attainable than you may think, thanks to modern tools.

The core of you making games is this: Can you explain a set of rules to another player that let them understand how to play the game?

Great, then you’ve made a game. The next step is working out how to make that game the kind of game you want it to be. And to paraphrase what Adam Savage once said, the difference between doing game development and screwing around is just writing things down.

Tools

First things first, if you have a tool you like for any of the stated purposes, then you should use the tool you like. The tools I describe here should all be free, but that can make them less convenient in ways you may not like.

To write rulebooks, I use LibreOffice. This is a text editor in the same vein as Pages and Word, and much like Google Docs. We’ve pretty much solved ‘writing in a document for a computer user to read’ as a format, and that format has been kinda the same for thirty years. Notably, a formal editor like this lets you do tables and give texts formatting entries like heading styles, which means you don’t have to work to translate that stuff to a website like a wordpress content management system. Under the hood, these two things know how to talk to one another.

Notepad is a valuable tool as well for when you need ‘scrap’ text – no formatting, just some numbers or the like, but literally anything will do here.

Almost inevitably any given game design I have will need a spreadsheet. Sometimes a spreadsheet lets me present a skeleton of a game, with say, a sheet of 52 entries that just indicate the information on a card’s face. That means I use LibreCalc, but I only started using that seven months ago, when I learned about the IFS function. The version of Excel I was using from 2007 didn’t have this ‘new’ functionality, and I found that very useful. You may ask: How often do you need ‘IFS’ in game development and the answer is never. There are definitely thihngs I can use spreadsheets for, but these functions are not super necessary.

To do visual editing I use GIMP, pronounced ‘noo-imp,’ because gimp is a silly word to use in everyday conversation and it has worn its welcome out in my tongue. GIMP is a program that takes some getting used to, but the heart of what it is is a powerful photoshop-level program that puts almost everything it has directly under your control, including warp tools, healing tools, stamp tools and other simple filters. I will usually use GIMP to generate a template file or example for how a card should look, and then, when I want to put those cards into a file to make a pdf for printing, I turn to…

Scribus! Scribus is my layout and DTP program that I avoid using in every situation I can. I dislike Scribus interface a lot, and as a result, I route around it – I try to make sure that if I’m doing something in a design that Scribus ‘could’ do, I will ensure that Scribus is the only thing that can do it, and if something else can do it, I’ll do it that way. This is a combination of familiarity and convenience: Scribus is by no means a bad program, I’m sure, but I don’t like using it and it feels very easy to break things, which means when I do use it, I’m probably using it ‘wrong,’ and a Scribus expert would want to correct my technique.

For making simple slideshow videos, where I just show a thing, talk about it, and move on, I use the program OBS, which you can use for rules tutorials or explainers. OBS has its own ability to do slides – which you can make in a slideshow program like Google Slides or powerpoint or Prezi if you like – and then you talk over it, advancing the slides in OBS. It’s a very powerful, very flexible tool, but I can understand if it’s a bit overwhelming to start with.

If you want to record audio for your game, which is a cool thing to do, I use Audacity. It’s a simple audio program if you’re just using it for its basic functions, but it can be great if (for example) you want to record audio diaries of your creation process.

Also, mixed in with this is, cardboard, paper, scissors and glue. Playing cards need a standardised form so you can make a ‘blank’ deck of cards by taking an ordinary deck of cards and putting large, white, laundry stickers on each face, ‘wiping’ it so you can write what you want on the face.

Art Though?

I use free art where I can. There’s a lot of art assets, paid and free over on itch.io, which you can definitely use to make your game work look more interesting than base. And of course…

Bandaid tearing off time,

There are free image generators that you can use if you are comfortable with that. My advice is that you should only ever use generators for ‘zero value’ forms of media; that is, nothing you intend to sell and nothing you intend to use as identifying for yourself; don’t use a generator for a logo for your identity or brand, for example, because that’s uncopyrightable and then someone can just copy it. Even if they don’t, the fact they can undermines the copyright value of designing your own logo and title.

But yeah, image generators are available online. When I need an image for an example, the one I recommend using is dezgo, because it doesn’t require a login, doesn’t require you to pay money, and all it asks of you is time to let it finish working. You’re not going to get timely bulk media out of it, but that means, in my mind, that any artwork it generates is going to be worth scrutinising and editing to make it more appropriate to your needs. This is part of a greater conversation, but for now, the important thing is that if you’re going to use generative tools you need to make sure you recognise what they’re bad at and what they’re bad for.

Getting Started?

Alright, you have some tools to make what you have in mind more possible. What I recommend you do, and I will delve more into this later in the week, is make a prototype, and then, once you have the prototype, look at it seriously.

You’re going to have to get your head around the question what do I like without asking the followup question why at first. What is it about your prototype that satisfies you? What would you change if you could? Why isn’t it satisfying to you, what about it makes you concerned. Are there things you haven’t thought about because of biases you have? Is it a game you can’t play with one hand?

The point is the prototype marks the point you start finding out. You don’t need a perfect game to prototype – indeed, I have a lot of very ugly games as prototypes and I think those ugly prototypes work really well as a place to start working out what to do next.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[paraphraseapps]

The demand for unique, high-quality content is at an all-time high right now. So, naturally, the competition has gotten tough as well. If you have found yourself in the digital content writing competition, or you are a student who wants to create a great assignment or a research paper, you might feel pressurized to stand out from the rest. And then there’s the issue of time – if you don’t have enough time, you might not be able to create satisfactory content.

[zerogpt24]

Rephrasing: Revolutionize Your Writing with Reworder Tools

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Rephrase words and rephrasing paragraphs are the keystones of effective communication. Whether you're a student working on an essay, a professional crafting a business proposal, or a blogger striving to engage your audience, the ability to rewrite text with clarity and impact is invaluable. However, mastering this skill can be challenging and time-consuming.

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But what sets a reworder apart from traditional editing techniques? Unlike manual rephrasing, which often leads to repetitive or awkward phrasing, rewording tools leverage advanced algorithms to generate natural-sounding alternatives. By analyzing the context and semantics of your text, these tools can intelligently Rephrases paragraphs while preserving the original meaning and tone. The result? Polished, professional writing that captivates and convinces your audience.

Moreover, rewording tools offer unparalleled versatility, allowing you to tailor your content to suit any audience or purpose. Whether you're aiming for a formal tone in a business report or a more casual voice in a blog post, the reworder can adapt to your unique style and preferences. With just a few clicks, you can rephrase paragraphs to convey authority, warmth, humor, or any other desired effect. Say goodbye to generic, one-size-fits-all writing – with a reworder, every word feels tailor-made for your audience.

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Of course, like any tool, rephrasing software is most effective when used judiciously and in conjunction with human judgment. While rewording tools excel at generating alternatives, they are not infallible and may occasionally produce results that require further refinement. As such, it's important to approach rephrasing with a critical eye, carefully reviewing and editing the output to ensure accuracy and coherence.

In conclusion, rephrasing tools represent a paradigm shift in the way we approach writing. By harnessing the power of automation and artificial intelligence, these tools empower writers to express themselves with clarity, precision, and impact. Whether you're a seasoned professional or a novice wordsmith, the reworder is your key to unlocking the full potential of your writing. So why wait? Embrace the future of writing today and revolutionize your craft with rephrasing tools.

[star-arcana]

Would Kieran drink the Strong Sphere Kool-Aid? (SPOILERS FOR SV DLC's AND HORIZONS)

Hello guys and here is Star-Arcana, this time we discuss something that recently came up in some discussions about Kieran and the idea that he would use the Strong Spheres (a.k.a Laquium Spheres) to make his Pokémon stronger!

Some say that he was obsessed with power and would do anything that would ensure his victory over the player and given his treatment towards Terapagos and the whole school of BB, he wouldn't even care if his Pokémon were hurt during his dark phase. Others posit that this is a bridge way too far for him to cross and that he wouldn't go as far as harm Pokémon like that, since he is someone shown to care a lot about his Pokémon. Well before I give my opinion, I explain what Strong Sphere do:

Strong spheres, also known as Laquium spheres, are a tool that is made of Laqiuim, a pink substance that has the effect of enhancing a Pokémon's power by forcibly drawing out their hidden potential. It comes as a Strong Sphere in the form of a gaseous aggregate state with Pink colors. basically a small gas tank that artificially makes Pokémon super strong, but also super violent and causes them to even attack their own teamates and friends. It also causes them to feel excruciating pain, as the surge of power is too much for them. According to our favourite Nurse and former Rising Voltackler, Mollie, it speeds up the process in which cells regenerate to a fast, but dangerous degree. Meaning the rejuvination of cells that restores your body is empowered. With Plants, it causes them to wither, as they are too weak to withstand that process of what I call Laqiuim poisining. Humans on the other hand are just made immortal and stay young, with Gibeon and Lucius having survived for 100 years because of it. Pokémon just get stronger and angrier. The only Pokémon capable of resisting it's effects are Terapagos as a species, since terastal energy is opposed to Laquium, meaning Pagogo, Liko's Terapagos, is ultimately immune to this. Others are Pokémon that are really strong like Lucius Six Heroes, especially Black Rayquaza. However when a Pokémon is weak, or weakened or willingly takes in Laquium, these are the ones most suseptible to it and cannot resist it's dangerous effect. The story paints the usage of this substance as evil, really evil. As Lucius and Amethio made it clear, the true power of a Pokémon is shown through their bonds, emotions and thoughts it shares with their trainers and ultimately through trusting each other, humans and Pokémon can grow, and don't need to use drugs. Laquium is treated therefore as a dangerous shortcut to power and thematically inappropiate to use, especially with the side effects of harming Pokémon who used it. We see this with Coral and Sidian having used a strong sphere to make Glalie and Garganacl more powerful, which causes the former to freeze itself in pain and the latter to start cracking and hurting. Dash's Swanna has during a testing of this sphere been exposed to Laquium gas and became strong enough to one shot a Electrovire with a Water Gun empowered by Laquium. The moves by Pokémon under the effect of Laquium even turns Pink, as you see below here:

But that Pokémon got also exhausted after it uses the sphere's powers...the side effects of this longterm are unknown, but in the paraphrased words of a wise bozo: Nothing good comes out of this!

They are the Pokémon equivalent of steroids...Pokéroids!

Would Kieran take such a thing just to get stronger? I don't think it's the case:

Kieran's ambitions of power

Kieran's whole arc is to prove that he can be strong and independant like Ogerpon, and then like the player, only to realize that he cannot be like the player, whom he admires both soo much. His whole schtick is to prove how powerful he is by himself and that he can do stuff by himself. This is why I don't think he would morally allow himself to take such a sphere, because he wants to be strong with his own merit, his own skill, strenght, power, all by his own accord and with his own accomplishments with his own rewards being born from himself. An outside force that would make him artificially stronger is beneath him, and no, I don't count held items and Tera Orbs as outside force, as they are used as tools in the games with not the same negative theming that Laquium got, since nearly everyone uses items in that game. Back to Kieran's wish for power: He really wants to be strong by himself; we see this with how he really hates being treated by his sister as someone always needing protection, which many would argue, including me is the underlying reason as to why he wants to be so strong in the first place. With that in mind, he clearly is too prideful to use something like this, as he showed a lot of pride in his hard work to get strong, even after he lost. So he is pretty much a believer in the long road to power, and wouldn't rely on Pokéroids just to get the upper hand. If that were the case, he would have used such methods in his champion league battle, like Herba Mystica to make his Pokémon artificially stronger and taller to titan levels, just to beat them. Kieran would know such a victory is hollow and wouldn't be satisfying. In short, Kieran is way too proud for such a method to use like this. Carmine said it herself best: Kieran might not look like it, but he got an ego". In this case, it's a strenght!

but there is one instance where he used a shortcut!

Terapagos: The Sole Exception!? Would he now take Laquium???

Terapagos, a legendary Pokémon with awesome power, was caught by Kieran via a Master Ball he got after becoming champion of Blueberry Academy. e backstriked that Pokémon while it was having eyes for the player, catching it without it's consent. He then used it immiediately after in battle without any proper training and bonding, and he still lost, largely because he wasn't at sync with it, and had no real bond with it. All Terapagos was to him, is being a means to an end! He was dissapointed in it's power, even questioning during battle energically if it's the treasure of Area Zero, his overall dissapointment is not done in the Paul way of "You're pathetic". More in the way of "I thought it would make me stronger, just having this mon", while the latter isn't nice either, it shows no aggressive view towards this Pokémon and just sadness that he couldn't win with it. When at it's lowest, he was offered a chance for more power by the most obsessive and careless professor of them all, Briar, who wants desperately to prove her ancestors work correct by finding the Terapagos depicted in the Scarlet/Violet Book. She suggests Terastalization to make Terapagos more powerful, as maybe some Terastal Energy can make this mon more powerful, which he does.

And then, booom, it went beserk, maybe due to being fed up with Kieran's lack of care of it. It also nearly killed Kieran, had not the player's Koraidon/Miraidon saved it in time. Carmine, who was there, then aids the player in stopping Terapagos's rampage, whereas Kieran fell into despair and stand there in shock of what just happened.

After his sister was beaten, and the player being in a pinch, they gave Kieran some pep talk to make him snap out of his spiral of despair, and he helps them stop Terapagos and it was then caught by the player, with Kieran regretting his old ways, realizing the folly of his actions and trying to do better from here, moving on.

Would now Kieran with this kind of crime be willing to take Laquium, if he is so callous with Pokémon? No, because all of this was to obtain a strong Pokémon, which is something with innate power already, and not some substance that increases strenght artificially. All what he did with Terapagos was never to hurt this Pokémon. While disregarding it's wants, he never made the Pokémon purposely suffer and all it resulted in was a defeat like any ordinary Pokémon battle, and not the life and death situation that Laquium would create. When he terastalized this Pokémon, he also had no idea that it would cause such a disastar and instead of being more aggressive or shifting blame, he blames himself for all of this and is in disbelief. This isn't someone who wishes to harm Pokémon just to get stronger. While he was a champion, he was more of a competitive jerk, rather than some hooligan beating up other Pokémon and trainers, even with harsh rules that made many quit the BB league in whcih Kieran was president off, no where was it stated that the Pokémon were made to suffer needlessly, it was just difficult, and not in the Paul or AJ way, or we would have been showing this. While he did use a cheap way to get Terapagos, he never choose one that would conciously harm a Pokémon and when that happened, he made no excuses and accepted his failings, as any good trainer should.

This leads to my final point!

Kieran's views on Pokémon

Kieran loves Pokémon, actually!!! despite selfishly demanding that he and the player battle over who gets to be Ogerpon's trainer and partner, he realized his mistakes and accepted that the player is the right partner for Ogerpon, and while he did go crazy due to failing to be her partner, he never wanted to harm Ogerpon really afterwards. Only in battle will he attack her, and called her Ogre in shock, but the moment is also there to show how mean the player is, by taunting him with the Pokémon he couldn't optain. This was to be a call-out for the player to use Ogerpon like that against him and there to show how tactless they are being, having the nerve to bring her into battle. Even then, unlike what many say, he doesn't really prioritize her as target due to game's coding, but merely because most of his Pokémon have super effective moves against many forms of Ogerpon, which is why. Grass isn't the best defensive type after all, even with the many type combinations. He attacks other Pokémon all the same.

Terapagos I already covered, so I go over his other Pokémon!

Kieran has underwent a training regimen that saw him puke from too much training and cutting back on sleep and eating, just to get stronger. So if he would put such gruelling training onto himself, his Pokémon must surely endure the same? well no, because we know this from Kieran himself, looking back not so foundly of his time as BB champ. Kieran is depicted as someone really apologetic and really didn't minced his words with how badly he treated others, so if he really did something with his mons that would cause them such pain, he would have stated that. And I think the devs didn't wanted to give the impression that he would do something like this to his Pokémon, because he isn't meant to be seen as the next Pokémon wielder, but the first Kieran.

In his dialogue with Arven, the latter expresses his love for his ace, Mabosstiff, whom he has since it's prevolution, Maschiff, and calls it his favourite. Kieran meanwhile has no favourite and lists his many beloved Pokémon, to which Arven concludes that he loves them all equally, which is fine...awww!!!

Even Nemona, someone who knows what battling truly is, finds Kieran's path to championhood not nearly as dark as many make it out to be:

Taken from the post Mochi Mayham dialogue, Nemona praised Kieran's rise to power, but he felt he did it wrong with the way he did that and mentioned the stuff I made clear in the paragraph above, namely neglecting sleep and eating. Nemona praised his dedication and views this as a sign of his love to them, to go through such lenghts to be this strong, which wouldn't be compatable with any view using this to proof that he abuses them. This scene doesn't work as evidence, since this is here to show that Kieran shouldn't have viewed his past actions so negatively. So this means that Kieran never had a cold view towards Pokémon by themselves nor did he favored one Pokémon over the other sentimentally. Which leads to this conclusion:

KIERAN WOULD NEVER DRINK LAQIUIM KOOL-AID (his game counterpart that is)

Kieran is first and foremost someone who really loves Pokémon and wouldn't want to do something that would harm him. He did made mistakes and acted selfishly, but never to a point where he would seriously injure them nor has the narrative ever given that implication and view to be taken as fact, since they showed evidence to the contrary and would have just shown cruelty towards them, if this was the intended view.

I feel like this is an overly negative view on Kieran's character to percieve him this evil, but the anime adaptation could give us a darker Kieran that would go through such lenghts, but that also would require either a darker view on his character, which would also makes this more of an anime characterization, similairly with Cynthia enabling Paul's cruelty, despite her game counterpart not condoning such stuff.

Kieran would only take such a substance without any knowledge on it's negative side effects, but knowing what it does, even when deranged...that would cross for him too many bridges!

This also reminds me a bit of a debate about Kieran being willingly to side with Pechurant, if he was given power by it in return for servitute, which Cyril and Rowan Writes debunked as wrong here!

Check them out:

So that's it, Kieran is a winner, and winners don't do drugs!

See ya next time!

[emeraldhazeart]

Oh hey thank you for following XD I am curious since you like tmnt 03 and Leo is your favorite I was wondering what’s your opinion on Raph how do you feel about him?

Hiya. Thank you so much for your ask 💚

Oh stars, I love all the 03 boys! Every one of them is just perfect, as far as I'm concerned. They will always be the version of the turtles, for me. 😅

This got long, so I've put it below a Read more 😅

I must admit, though, I didn't really vibe with Raph when I was growing up. You're right: Leo is my favourite, but in terms of personality, I'm much more like Donnie. So, I found it difficult to connect with the brash, "count on [him] to throw the first punch" Raphael.

That said, I've really grown to appreciate Raph as I've gotten older. Fanfic is always a powerful empathising tool for putting you into the mind of a character you might not have otherwise gelled with, and there are so many fantastic explorations of his character out there!

In addition, I guess my own worldview has evolved as I've grown wiser. So now, I'm much better able to see his hot headed temperament and gruff exterior for what they really are: Ralph's own unique way of expressing his love for his family.

I love how he's the Red Oni to Leo's Blue. I love how they're two sides of the same coin. I love how they each take up the mantle of the Responsible One™️ when the other is going through it. I love how there's no denying they love each other as brothers, even when they're at each other's throat.

I love how considerate he is of Donnie. I love how they've got this unique bond where they can come together and talk machines as equals. I can definitely see why they're often portrayed as twins in fanon.

I love how clearly the push and pull between him and Mikey is a way they show they care about each other. I love how ready Raph is to give Mikey outlets, even if he hides it beneath a frustrated growl and a slap on the back of the head.

I love how he seeks out Splinter for guidance in the rare moments when he's lost. I love how you can tell his Dad means so much to him, even if Raph will only ever say so through actions rather than words.

I love how Raph is always the first to jump to any of his brothers' aid. I love how it's clear that, even though he may talk tough, at the end of the day, his family is the most important thing in the world to him, and he's not afraid to show it. I love how his Number 1 priority is always and forever to his family.

(I know that seems a bit redundant - they'd all put their family first. But I feel like Raph is perhaps the only one that would choose to save his brother's over the rest of the world.

Leo would be bound by honour to do the Right Thing, Mikey's compassion wouldn't let him save his brothers over an innocent, and Donnie would be forced to choose the most logical option. None of them would like it, but they'd all feel compelled to act for The Greater Good, even if it meant sacrificing their family.

But Raph? I honestly can't see him making any other choice but his brothers. Sure, he'd lay down his life for them in a heartbeat, but to paraphrase the words of Amy Rose in Sonic 06, if Raph had to choose between the world or his brothers, he'd choose his brothers.

And I don't mean that in a negative way. It's an impossible Trolley Problem choice, and there are no right answers. I don't think Raph is any less noble for making the "selfish" choice. If anything, I respect him more because he would make that choice, and he'd defend it to the end.)

Wow, that got long, sorry 😅 I didn't realise I had that much to say about Raph. Then again, that's the beauty of the 03 turtles for you: they're such goldmines of exploration and characterisation 💚

[pigsongpearls]

The Pig in Mesopotamian Culture

The oldest known written language is Sumerian, which emerged in Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) around 3100 BCE. It is a language isolate, meaning it has no known relatives. Sumerian was used for administrative, religious, and literary purposes and is preserved on clay tablets written in cuneiform script.

The Sumerian Word for "Pig"

In Sumerian, the word for pig was:

šah (pronounced roughly as shah)

There are also compound terms and variants:

šah.gan₂ – possibly a term for a domestic pig or a pen-raised pig

šah.kù – literally "fat pig" or "pig of choice" (with kù meaning "bright, pure, noble, or fattened")

These variations show how central pigs were to food culture, economy, and even religious offerings in ancient Mesopotamia.

🪔 Cuneiform for "šah" (Pig)

In Sumerian cuneiform, the word "šah" (𒊬) is written as:

𒊬

This is a single sign, pronounced šah. It appears in lexical lists and administrative records, especially in temple inventories, offerings, and livestock tallies.

Cuneiform signs were originally pictographic and stylized over time, so 𒊬 may have once been a stylized depiction of the animal itself, although its shape became abstracted through the centuries.

🐖 Cultural Context of Pigs in Sumer

Domesticated Use: Pigs were kept for food, especially for fat and meat. They appear in records alongside sheep, goats, and cattle. They weren't seen as ritually unclean—unlike in some later Near Eastern traditions—but they also weren't as valued as sheep or oxen.

Sacrificial Animals: Pigs were occasionally sacrificed, though less frequently than sheep or bulls. Their use in offerings often depended on regional or cultic preferences.

In Texts and Myths: While pigs don’t have the symbolic richness of bulls or lions in Sumerian myth, they do appear in:

Fables and proverbs, often as metaphors for gluttony or baseness.

Lexical lists training scribes to name animals and associate them with gods or daily uses.

Compound Names: The word "šah" was used in combination to specify types or qualities:

šah.kù – “fat pig,” possibly denoting a pig raised for special meals.

šah.gan₂ – “enclosed pig” or “pen pig,” from gan₂, meaning an enclosure.

🐗 Clay Pig Figurine from Ur The clay figure of boar is one of the significant works remaining from Neolithic period (10000-2200 BC). This Artefact was discovered in Kermanshah of Iran. Excavated from the ancient city of Ur, this terracotta figurine depicts a pig and dates back to the early third millennium BCE. Measuring approximately 5.2 cm in height, it reflects the domesticated animals present in Sumerian society and may have served as a toy, offering, or household object.

Sumerian Proverbs and Fables

Sumerian proverbs and fables offer rich glimpses into early human views of animals, including the pig (šah). These texts are part of the oldest body of literature we have, dating back to the Early Dynastic and Old Babylonian periods (~2500–1700 BCE), and were used in scribal education as moral instruction or entertainment.

Here are a few notable examples where pigs (šah) appear:

🐖 1. The Fable of the Pickaxe and the Plow

This Sumerian debate poem (known as a "disputation") personifies tools. While pigs don't appear as characters, a pig is used metaphorically to describe behavior:

“The pig, his mouth never dries — he roots and eats, he wallows and grunts.” (paraphrased from context)

Here, the pig symbolizes insatiable appetite and earthiness, often contrasting with more “noble” or cultivated qualities. It's a subtle nod to the pig’s association with mud and consumption, and likely reflects urban Sumerian attitudes toward rural or unrefined behavior.

🐽 2. Sumerian Proverb: “The pig does not know when its last day comes.”

šah šu du₁₁-ga-am šu nu-kúr-ru “The pig that speaks sweetly does not keep its hand from digging (or cannot change its ways).”

This has been interpreted variously as:

A moral about flattery not changing one's nature

A warning that polite speech can mask base instincts

The pig here is seen as irreformable — even when it behaves nicely, it’s still bound to its instincts. It echoes later fables like Aesop’s, where animals symbolize unchangeable human traits.

🧠 3. Sumerian Proverb: “The pig is not taught wisdom.”

šah im-ma-an-la₂-a šà-ga im-ma-an-tuku-a “Even if you teach the pig to read, it does not gain understanding.”

A blunt proverb about futility, suggesting that some beings — possibly some people — cannot be elevated by education or refinement. Again, the pig stands for stubborn ignorance or intractable nature.

💭 Interpretation and Symbolism

While pigs in Sumer weren’t demonized, they often embodied:

Gluttony

Filthiness

Unteachable or instinct-driven nature

This may reflect their actual behaviors — rooting in mud, grunting, insatiable feeding — which made them symbols of the body and its needs, as opposed to divine or orderly rationality.

In a modern reading, we could reinterpret this not as condemnation, but as an embodied realism: the pig is true to its nature, which contrasts with human attempts at social polish or pretense.

🐖 Mesopotamian Red Stone Pig-Shaped Amulet: This small amulet, carved from red stone, represents a stylized pig with a pierced hole, suggesting it was worn as a pendant. Such amulets were likely used for protective or symbolic purposes in daily life.

🐷 Mesopotamian Black Stone Statuette of a Pig: Crafted from black stone, this small statuette portrays a pig in a stylized manner. Such artifacts were possibly used as amulets or decorative items, reflecting the significance of pigs in the region's culture and economy.

🐽 Pig-Shaped Seal from the Near East: This limestone seal, carved in the shape of a stylized pig, dates back to the 4th millennium BCE. It features incised patterns on its flat underside, used to stamp ownership or authenticate goods. The seal also has a perforation, indicating it was worn as a pendant. Such seals highlight the role of pigs in administrative and economic activities.