#... they will no longer be able to speak.

[inkskinned]

the thing is there's like, a point of oversaturation for everything, and it's why so many things get dropped after a few minutes. and we act like millennials or gen z kids "have short attention spans" but... that's not quite it. it's more like - we did like it. you just ruined it.

capitalism sees product A having moderate success, and then everything has to come out with their "own version" of product A (which is often exactly the same). and they dump extreme amounts of money and environmental waste into each horrible simulacrum they trot out each season.

now it's not just tiktokkers making videos; it's that instagram and even fucking tumblr both think you want live feeds and video-first programming. and it helps them, because videos are easier to sneak native ads into. the books coming out all have to have 78 buzzwords in them for SEO, or otherwise they don't get published. they are making a live-action remake of moana. i haven't googled it, but there's probably another marvel or starwars something coming out, no matter when you're reading this post.

and we are like "hi, this clone of project A completely misses the point of the original. it is soulless and colorless and miserable." and the company nods and says "yes totally. here is a different clone, but special." and we look at clone 2 and we say "nope, this one is still flat and bad, y'all" and they're like "no, totally, we hear you," and then they make another clone but this time it's, like, a joyless prequel. and by the time they've successfully rolled out "clone 89", the market is incredibly oversaturated, and the consumer is blamed because the company isn't turning a profit.

and like - take even something digital like the tumblr "live streaming" function i just mentioned. that has to take up server space and some amount of carbon footprint; just so this brokenass blue hellsite can roll out a feature that literally none of its userbase actually wants. the thing that's the kicker here: even something that doesn't have a physical production plant still impacts the environment.

and it all just feels like it's rolling out of control because like, you watch companies pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into a remake of a remake of something nobody wants anymore and you're like, not able to afford eggs anymore. and you tell the company that really what you want is a good story about survival and they say "okay so you mean a YA white protagonist has some kind of 'spicy' love triangle" and you're like - hey man i think you're misunderstanding the point of storytelling but they've already printed 76 versions of "city of blood and magic" and "queen of diamond rule" and spent literally millions of dollars on the movie "Candy Crush Killer: Coming to Eat You".

it's like being stuck in a room with a clown that keeps telling the same joke over and over but it's worse every time. and that would be fine but he keeps fucking charging you 6.99. and you keep being like "no, i know it made me laugh the first time, but that's because it was different and new" and the clown is just aggressively sitting there saying "well! plenty of people like my jokes! the reason you're bored of this is because maybe there's something wrong with you!"

#this was much longer i had to cut it down for legibility #but i do want to say i am aware this post doesnt touch on human rights violations as a result of fast fashion #that is because it deserves its own post with a completely different tone #i am an environmental educator #so that's what i know the most about. it wouldn't be appropriate of me to mention off-hand the real and legitimate suffering #that people are going through #without doing my research and providing real ways to help #this is a vent post about a thing i'm watching happen; not a call to action. it would be INCREDIBLY demeaning #to all those affected by the fast fashion industry to pretend that a post like this could speak to their suffering #unfortunately one of the horrible things about latestage capitalism as an activist is that SO many things are linked to this #and i WANT to talk about all of them but it would be a book in its own right. in fact there ARE books about each level of this #and i encourage you to seek them out and read them!!! i am not an expert on that i am just a person on tumblr doing my favorite activity #(complaining) #and it's like - this is the individual versus the industry problem again right because im blaming myself #for being an expert on environmental disaster (which is fucking important) but not knowing EVERYTHING about fast fashion #i'm blaming myself for not covering the many layers of this incredibly complicated problem im pointing out #rather than being like. yeah so actually the fault here lies with the billion dollar industries actually. #my failure to be able to condense an incredibly immense problem that is BOOK-LENGTH into a single text post that i post for free #is not in ANY fucking way the same amount of harm as. you know. the ACTUAL COMPANIES doing this ACTUAL THING for ACTUAL MONEY. #anyway im gonna go donate money while i'm thinking about it. maybe you can too. we can both just agree - well i fuckin tried didn't i #which is more than their CEOs can say

[sugarcoatednightshade]

thinking about how Humans Are Space Orcs stories always talk about how indestructible humans are, our endurance, our ability to withstand common poisons, etc. and thats all well and good, its really fun to read, but it gets repetitive after a while because we aren't all like that.

And that got me thinking about why this trope is so common in the first place, and the conclusion I came to is actually kind of obvious if you think about it. Not everyone is allowed to go into space. This is true now, with the number of physical restrictions placed on astronauts (including height limits), but I imagine it's just as strict in some imaginary future where humans are first coming into contact with alien species. Because in that case there will definitely be military personnel alongside any possible diplomatic parties.

And I imagine that all interactions aliens have ever had up until this point have been with trained personnel. Even basic military troops conform to this standard, to some degree. So aliens meet us and they're shocked and horrified to discover that we have no obvious weaknesses, we're all either crazy smart or crazy strong (still always a little crazy, academia and war will do that to you), and not only that but we like, literally all the same height so there's no way to tell any of us apart.

And Humans Are Death Worlders stories spread throughout the galaxy. Years or decades or centuries of interspecies suspicion and hostilities preventing any alien from setting foot/claw/limb/appendage/etc. on Earth until slowly more beings are allowed to come through. And not just diplomats who keep to government buildings, but tourists. Exchange students. Temporary visitors granted permission to go wherever they please, so they go out in search of 'real terran culture' and what do they find?

Humans with innate heart defects that prevent them from drinking caffeine. Humans with chronic pain and chronic fatigue who lack the boundless endurance humans are supposedly famous for. Humans too tall or too short or too fat to be allowed into space. Humans who are so scared of the world they need to take pills just to function. Humans with IBS who can't stand spicy foods, capsaicin really is poison to them. Lactose intolerance and celiac disease, my god all the autoimmune disorders out there, humans who struggle to function because their own bodies fight them. Humans who bruise easily and take too long to heal. Humans who sustained one too many concussions and now struggle to talk and read and write. Humans who've had strokes. Humans who were born unable to talk or hear or speak, and humans who through some accident lost that ability later.

Aliens visit Earth, and do you know what they find? Humanity, in all its wholeness.

#humans are space orcs #humans in space #earth is a deathworld #earth is space australia #tagging this so that ppl can find it even though the space shit i write about always feels like its in direct opposition to all the pop tag #also my biggest pet peeve in all of writing - all writing. everywhere. not just in fanfic but books and tv and movies too - is when people #write off an injury by saying something like 'oh nothing bad just a couple of scratches some bruising and a minor concussion' like girl WHA #MiNOr ConCuSSioN is such an oxymoron and I hate it so fucking much. like i dont care how minor it was thats still brain damage. #especially when the same character does this more than once. like im sorry ms. but uh. you can no longer read. or talk eloquently. sorry #evidence: my brother has had two 'minor' concussions and now cannot read write or speak without tremendous effort. And like its totally #ruined my ability to watch action shows/movies because now i just sit there and count how many concussions there characters are getting #after a certain point it becomes totally impossible to believe that these guys are able to function. (still fun to watch tho im not a hater

[xhanisai]

I can’t believe I have to say this again.

But like.

Do not leave comments that bash on the actual show whilst ‘complimenting’ my fanworks. It does not make me happy at all IN FACT I really HATE it when people do that. 

I create stuff for this fandom because I adore the show with all its flaws and everything. I grew up with the show and I adore the characters so much. So when I receive comments or tags saying stuff like “Ugh if only the writers knew how to write like that” or “You should be in charge of canon cos canon is shit lol”, it just fucks up my mood and it makes me feel grossed out. 

There are millions of things out there to write or say to other people about their work without having to bring down canon and what the actual professionals have worked on.

Keep your gripes about the show off my work.

#miraculous ladybug #miraculous ladybug and chat noir #ml fandom salt #i've been getting too many of this crap for years and some of them just get too personal #like for example in one of my AUs for fun i had marinette be able to speak chinese in a different dialect #and i had someone who praised me for it BUT bashed on the show for making marinette clueless about mandarin #which kinda pissed me off cos like #i have chinese in me but don't speak any of the languages there so does that mean i'm invalid too? lol #and in one of my recent writing i had someone lament that they wished i was writing for the show #like okay i know you mean it in a good way and you're not directly bashing the show #but the reason i can get away with creating and characterising the way i do is because i am working on them all ALONE #with no zag or money or producers getting in the way #and the stuff i create is always aimed to an audience that #is at least 15 years old #anyways if i keep going the tags will be longer than the river thames #my point is #keep your gripes private or off of other people's work #i wanna hear about what you LIKE about what i've created #not what the show has failed to do for you and whining about it

[lanayrutower]

this keeps me up at night btw.

#mipha #botw #loz breath of the wild #TWICE??? SHE DID IT TWICE??????? AND WE'RE JUST GONNA MOVE PAST THAT????????? literally NO one else has been said to be able to do this #and like. hm. is it. is it... love?? #like you know how zelda and her powers are implied to work the same. they focus on protecting the one(s) they love & their powers activate #(i know people theorise that mipha was going to tell zelda her power works when she thinks about link but i've always thought she was going #to say that it works when she thinks about saving the person under her care. because it doesnt really make sense to me that her healing #would work for other people if she was only focused on saving link you know? so i've always thought it was just 'saving the people i love') #and zelda is technically able to do this with link after he wakes up and he's the only person her powers woke for #so does this work maybe like an inverse or an extension of how their powers usually work? like instead of it just being their love for the #other person it's the other person/people's love or reciprocated love for them. zelda & link are implied to have really only had each other #but mipha. mipha had a family and a whole kingdom. she was connected to nearly all of them when she passed and both these events #are said to have taken place shortly after she fell. in the dlc she asks link to pass on a message to sidon for her implying that she #can no longer speak to him as she once could. perhaps that's just her power waning over time but if you think about it in the context #of how the domain is slowly losing people who knew her and those who remain only remember her for what she did for them rather than who #she truly was then could she have stopped being able to connect with them because there was no one left who loved her as they once did. #loved her for who she was. #was she in vah ruta reaching out for her father and brother and realising slowly that they were forgetting her #... 'do not cry. just remember' huh. #freya talks loz #so consumed by mipha thoughts i forgot my own tag

[awkward-teabag]

I have to wonder how many people celebrating AI translation also complain about "broken English" and how obvious it is something was Google translated from another language without a fluent English speaker involved to properly clean up the translation/grammar.

Because I bet it's a lot.

I know why execs are all for it—AI is the new buzzword and it lets them cut jobs thus "save" money and not have to worry about pesky labour laws when one employs humans—but everyone else?

There was some outcry when Crunchyroll fired many of their translators in favour of AI translation (with some people to "clean up the AI's work") but I can't help but think that was in part because it was Japanese-to-English and personally affected them. Same when Duolingo fired many of their translators in favour of LLM translation. Meanwhile companies are firing staff when it's English to another language and there's this idea that that's fine or not as big a deal because English is "easy" to translate and/or because people don't think of how it will impact people in non-English countries.

Also it doesn't affect native English speakers so it doesn't get much headway in the news cycle or online anyway because so much of the dominant media is from English-speaking countries and English-speakers dominate social media.

But different languages have different grammar structures that LLMs don't do, and I grew up on "jokes" about people speaking in "broken English" and mocking people who use the wrong word when it was clearly a literal translation but the meaning was obvious long before LLMs were a thing, too. In fact, the specific way a character spoke broken English has been a way to denote their native tongue for decades, usually in a racist way.

Then Google translate came out and "Google-translated English" became an insult for people and criticism of companies because it was clearly wonky to native speakers. Even now, LLMs—which are heavily trained on English compared to other languages—don't have a natural output so native English speakers can clock LLM-generated text if it's longer than a sentence or two.

But, for whatever reason, it's not seen as a problem when it goes the other way because fuck non-English readers or people who want to read in their native tongue I guess.

#and it's not like no people were doing translations so wonky translations were better than nothing #it's actual translators being fired for a subpar replacement #and anyone who keeps their job suddenly being responsible for cleaning up llm output rather than what they trained in #(which can take just as much time or longer than doing the translation by hand from scratch) #(if you want it done right anyway) #hell to this day i hear people complain about written translations of indigenous words and how they 'aren't english enough' #even though they're using the ipa and use a system white english people came up with in the first place #and you can easily look up the proper pronunciation and hear it spoken #but there's such a double-standard where it's expected that other languages cater to english/english speakers #but that grace and accommodation doesn't go the other way #and it's the failing of non-english speakers when an english translation is broken #you see it whenever monolingual english speakers travel to other countries and utterly refuse to learn the language #but if someone doesn't speak in unaccented (to them) english fluently in their home country the person 'isn't trying hard enough' #this is just the new version of that where non-english speakers are supposed to do more work and put up with subpar translations #even as a native english speaker/writer i get a (much) lesser version of this because i write with canadian spelling #and some people get pissed if their internet experience is disrupted by 'ou' instead of 'o' or '-re' instead of '-er' #because dialects and regional phrasing/spelling is a thing #human translators can (or should) be able to account for it but llms are not smart enough to do so #and that's not even getting into slang and how llms don't account for it #or how llms can put slurs into translations because it doesn't do nuance or context and doesn't know the language #if you ever complained about buying something from another country that came with machine-translated instructions #you should be pissed at companies cutting english-to-[language] staff in favour of glorified google translate #because the companies are effectively saying they're fine with non-native speakers getting a wonky/broken version

[frostios]

From here on out if i wanna know about ppls ocs im just gonna make a post here asking ppl to tell me about them 💚

#chitter chatter #followers/non followers never speak on my behalf btw #all this to say that after friday the poll blog is donezo it is no longer the thing i wanted it to be and thats whatever #im glad to have been able to experience all the cool ocs like that anyways it was fun #and seeing my friends growing their ocs and genuinely being happy with them is what makes me smile #and hope the ones i dont follow felt the same way at least a little bit #i'll also get around to finishing the round 1 matchup arts eventually

[alchemiccolored]

#hyperspecific poll #had to edit this on desktop bc my phone no longer lets me edit drafts smh #1- it was for my little pony versions of my friends/acquaintances #2- her name is two letters off from mine. and her middle name is our sister's middle name. #3- learned it in pre-algebra and it fuckin rocks. highly recommend #4- texture :( #5- thaaaaats beetlejuice! speaking of which im a couple weeks away from my 1 year anniversary #6- vermont. my parents got busy after i was born + didnt take me. my older sister got to see it though #7- all of my biological grandparents + my stepmom's mom #8- his name's tom and he's doing great! hes totally blind so we had to force-feed him but now he eats if you touch a mealworm to his lips. #9- thanks keith. i still love virtual riot and pegboard nerds and grant and WRLD and #10- THEYRE SO PRETTY!!! to be fair i think i prefer piano and organ for being able to play chords and stuff but in a group french horn is A

[brother-emperors]

Hello! I'm making my way through your Caligula reading list of whom there will never be enough books on and I was wondering if you have a link or pdf version of the Roman Emperor Gaius 'Caligula' and his Hellenistic Aspirations and Rhetorics of Assassination that you would mind sharing?

so Emperor Gaius Caligula and his Hellenistic Aspirations is actually one that I bought years ago and while I do have it as a pdf, it's password locked and I haven't gotten around to getting rid of that bc I currently Do Not Having A Laptop That Can Run Programs For Very Long. Alas!

the second one is a text that can be found in Suetonius the Biographer: Studies in Roman Lives, Tristan Power (ed.), Roy K Gibson (ed.). Normally I'd say message me off anon and I'll email it over, but. the aforementioned laptop issue. it makes this impossible for me right now. however, there are alternative methods for getting a hold of that one.

#if one does their best impression of a pirate. so to speak #sorry i can't be of more help! i am at the mercy of my bank account and bills and generally. life. eventually i'll be able to replace #my laptop. but it'll be awhile longer #these are one of the few pdfs i dont have backed up online somewhere and since i do not have a usb-usb c adaptor. ALAS #ask tag

[genius-built-donatello]

…

This may be the worst shared symptom so far.

[He only sits up, rubbing his eyes. His head is still swimming.]

@corporal-darner

#genius speaks [original post] #Oh that’s embarrassing. I could’ve been asleep for far longer if S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. wasn’t able to recognise the issue.

[themoonking]

people who think that tcw "fixed" the prequels need to actually examine the pt vs tcw for a while because. first of all girl what was there to fix? second of all how is tcw an improvement? what was changed for tcw that wasn't worse than the prequels?

obi wan was made to be a huge flirt who hits on everyone he meets which was not even a little bit supported by the pt and also was given a love interest for no other reason than to fridge her for his manpain (and also, apparently, to make him more “relatable”??? barf). plus the entire rako hardeen arc, in which obi wan is just a fucking horrible person who doesn’t care about his friends, i guess.

padme went from a strong and central character who was brave, powerful, and involved to being shoved to the side in favor of dave filoni's pet character and completely defanged. she’s ignored to the point where "prequel" (read: tcw) fans will say "the pt trio 🥰" and not even include her despite her being a main fucking character

anakin went from being a complex yet compelling character who genuinely loved padme, who was deeply compassionate for the most part, and who also was allowed to show emotions to being an controlling misogynistic asshole who's in mustafar mode at all times and doesn't have any emotions except for rage, lust, smugness, and embarrassment (because these are obviously the only emotions that men are capable of experiencing). i don't think he cries once in the series, which is wildly out of character on its own.

how is any of that “fixing” anything?? and everyone in the sw fandom stans tcw so hard that even if someone’s talking/writing about the events of the actual prequels, the shitty tcw characterization creeps its way in

also obikins don’t interact this post ain’t for you

#also tcw didn’t ‘fix’ anidala because they went from being two people who deeply passionate and genuinely loved EACH OTHER #to being two people who cannot fucking stand each other (+ the aforementioned “controlling misogynistic asshole” bit) #im supposed to believe that tcw padme and tcw anakin voluntarily entered into a relationship and straight up GOT MARRIED #and later have the sex required to have children in the first place #when i can't even imagine them being able to bear being in the same room as each other for more than five minutes #any longer and they'd immediately break into a completely pointless argument #anti the clone wars #anti tcw #star wars #i speak #hateposting #also no hate to ahsoka tano (maybe a little hate to ahsoka tano) but filoni CLEARLY cared more for his oc do not steal #than he did for literally any pre established prequel character

[stardustvanfleet]

good morning babes & gresties….. jake lane how are we holding up because i for one. am FUCKING SICK

#HOW COULD HE DO THIS…………. #HANDS CHEST NECKLACES???????? #AGHHCHXNSKSMFNGN #thank god i only have a four hour shift today i wouldn’t be able to focus a damn second longer #jake #li speaks

[brown-little-robin]

I'VE CONNECTED THE DOTS I'VE CONNECTED THEM

#new story idea COOKING #I've decided that my current creative writing phase is: come up with way more story ideas than what I can possibly write #to forcibly rid myself of the fear of not being able to write all the stories I come up with well enough—by making that fear a reality #because fear is about the unknown. it makes me freeze #if I make my fear a reality it is no longer a fear it is a reality #I WON'T be able to write all the stories I come up with well enough! I won't even be able to write them ALL #so what?! so what!! I will have story ideas aplenty to choose from when it comes time that I sit down to write them #Robin speaks

[benkeibear]

Oh how the tables have turned 😂🫶

The b-tch at work who bullies me works under me now. I'm her supervisor and have to approve of EVERYTHING she does bc she's new in my department.

The giggles. The loud ass laughs I'm letting out here

#rhy speaks ♡ #no longer able to ask me if I'm coming from the red light district #i wore a turtleneck #calls to get my new car towed away #talks about me in the hall all the time #i hear things about me I never knew of lol

[lakeinstillness]

thinking a lot about entry 73 where brian takes off his mask and walks through the city like a normal person. running out of meds and on his way to tims house. years of hiding and never saying things outright and still having to pretend like youre a person who can interact with the people.

#snarling animal imagery. are you a human or do you feel like youre surrounded on all sides. walls closing in. #sorry to write micro poetry in the tags. but not really. #people talk about jay dehumanizing himself to become a passive observer. theres something about becoming so obsessed with a mission #that you become it. youre no longer yourself. entirely in the rising action of the story rushing to the conclusion. #this is to say how do you go out and interact with people even minimally pretending to be a person when all your emotions #are so tied up in this anger. and youve only been able to express this indirectly. spoken in strange ways. let out in unhealthy methods. #speaking as someone who deals with mental illness. #marble hornets #I dont think this will turn up in the tag. but sure. Ill put it there. #I think hes tired. #I know I am.

[memen18-m5r3]

kitty cat

#she gets to be included in the sabbat parade #speaking of which. first things first i got three out of four designs down #also coming up with full backstories since before that i had kind of a vague idea #probably have to rewrite bing and larry description on the characters page. so it's. a bit less vague #thinking if i should add the other two to the page. they're not AS significant to the general plot but #i'd wager they carry more importance than a background chara. tough choices ig we'll see #busy busy busy bee #also chapter 6 is looking to be slightly longer than previous ones so. probably won't be able to finish the draft this month #so we'll settle on the big sabbat post for october

[spacedlexi]

day 5. the bots are starting to make fan accounts

#ive been watching them for a few hours now and im getting more that look the same so im PRETTY SURE theyre bots #theyre writing bios now with their fandoms listed.......... #its like 'hi! im [name]! and im in [fandoms]!' pretty copy paste but with random fandoms listed #this is psychological warfare at this point #like how am i supposed to be able to 100% know #it speaks #ok yeah ive been getting more of them theyre all acting identically but im still keeping an eye on them #for science reasons #also woke up to 200 bot follows overnight so that was fun to deal with this morning #I CANT TAKE THIS ANYMORE THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! #afraid if i send some complaint to tumblr theyll just nuke my blog like they nuked all the tags that had bots in them #i dont know how much longer i can keep up the fight for #ALSO they are all brand new blogs so i doubt theres a mass wave of new owl house fans joining tumblr all at the same time