#using a sketchy method

[secondbeatsongs]

I know this has been posted about before, but I’m dying over Blizzard’s new “diversity space tool”

this is actually the funniest and most tone-deaf thing I’ve seen in a while, and that’s really saying something, considering this is Blizzard!

it kinda explains it on the page I linked, but I guess the point of this is to see how far they're deviating from the basic "straight white male" character type. but here's the thing...what exactly do these numbers mean?

like...why is “Egyptian” a seven? what makes it have that number? who decided that "Egyptian" is exactly seven steps away from whatever they think the "default" is, when it comes to nationality? and why are we still treating diversity like this in 2022??

and while we're here, can I see the other options under “Cognitive Ability” please? I feel like the wording they use would really help me understand this better.

and “Physical Ability”, too! what are the other Blizzard-approved disabilities? I need to know this, for science!

oh, and let's not forget gender! if "Woman" is a 5, does that mean "Man" is a 0? and what would a 10 be? I desperately need to know what would be considered a 10.

actually, could they just send me a download of this tool? I really want to know my own personal Blizzard Diversity Score™. I feel like that would help me.

god, this is just like those “Check Your Privilege!” quizzes from 10 years ago. reducing complex ideas down into simple numbers that can't ever show the full picture.

#blizzard #overwatch #IDs in alt text #personal #this is hilarious to me #because like #could this tool be useful to check for situations where you're making too many characters into a stereotype? #sure #for blizzard I'm sure this tool is very helpful #as a friend of mine said #using a sketchy method #to create things that people want #but like...don't post about it?? #don't make a proud blog post showing exactly how you've judged specific races genders and abilities? #like my god #who decides #who decided that woman is 5 #who decided that arab is 7 #if you're going to make bad decisions #at least keep them private #for god's sake

[bmpmp3]

intaglio prints i did of my oc Dave for a class assignment like a year ago! a bit about Dave's feelings being a friendly but eternal, undying, and interdimensional sort of guy. being a little outside of the rest of the world's phase of reality, wanting to connect but knowing it can never last etc etc. was very fun!

#art #traditional art #printmaking #intaglio #done with like a vaguely photogravue-esque method: putting transparent film with drawings on a plate that has a photosensitive film over to #transferring the image via a uv light partial cure - removing the less cured parts (where the drawings lines were) #and then fully curing the film so its hard and can be used as a very low profile intaglio! #its very fun and fast - and thats why the drawings look so drawing-ly LOL they were pen drawings photocopied onto transparent paper #these were supposed to be like a sequential storytelling thing for the assignment where each plate was supposed to stand alone well #but i lost the plot half way through and made mine too intended to be layered so i understandably got docked a few marks for that LOL #BUT thats okay i learned a lot (1. remember the assignment instructions) and i still like these! #i should do more intaglio. i thought i hated it but then i realized the method for inking i was taught first was overkill #(i was taught to put way more ink than is needed and it took FOREVER to polish) but now that ive figured out easier methods #its really fun! and works well for someone like me who loves their sketchy lines

[its-sixxers]

thisclose to obtaining bg3 through means that involve black sails

i'll end up buying it eventually but it's sad to miss out :(

ah well

#i used to use [SKETCHY METHODS] a lot but now that i usually have the funds i like to pay properly #just don't have the funds lately #why games so expensive qq #why i so broke

[non0zec-art]

imagine the shade was like a hat (a silly one for sure- here I wanted to draw them with more detailed limbs. mainly inspired by a point on this post but also by some other forehead jokes i vaguely remember.)

#art #artists on tumblr #hfjone #airy hfjone #liam hfjone #and my commenting on the drawing process: #this is actually a bit of a mix with different things #for one the limb thing- though it is a bit more character specific i kinda like the idea of limbs a bit more based on their object material #though i might throw ideas of object-specific customizations and some more animal features into the mix because they seem fun :D #for lineart its kind of a compromise between wanting clean looking lines but also not having to go through the pains of ctrl + z... #...and just letting lines be sketchy but also cleaning them up where i wanted #while not exactly new the shading for the characters is based a bit on the shading method ive used before that i had forgotten completely #and i think i could be trying this method again more its a nice shading method and i think it looks nice here #and hey! a background #something ill admittedly need more practice with to get a better sense of characters interacting with their environment #plus landscape arts are quite pretty. id like to make at least one this year maybe. #i rambled on here long enough so ill be cutting it off here-! <:D

[rainbowsylvie]

Hey here’s some horses and other quadrupeds, many of which aren’t even important characters

Also trying to figure out a way to digitize my paper sketches in a way that still look sketchy but also not messy, I think this works

#random rainbow doodles #mlp: a different g5 #I don’t know if I’ve said this but all my drawings start as a paper sketch #there’s a lot I don’t post because I don’t wanna take the time to redraw it digitally #I hope that drawing them in a way that still looks sketchy but not indecipherable will get me to post more #the pencil brush really helps too #May still looks kinda weird though #gonna use this method for a thing I plan to put on the other blog too

[florenceisfalling]

yknow what i understand that some people WOULD actually relate to a fantasy about a disabled person asking to lose their disability - id love to lose mine - but i think its safe to say that a person who thinks jameson (local british man who speaks bsl) speaks asl should not be trusted w that kinda nuance on disability

#also sign is like a perfectly valid normal way to communicate and its easier thsn most methods #like i can imagine wanting to speak aloud so he can feel less ostracized and #etc etc #but i dont think ''he just wants to speak a language other than what hes been using all his life for no reason other than why not'' feels #really insignificant for someone literally going to this sketchy magic science thing. please give him depth #my ego posts #discourse #jameson jackson

[maikaartwork]

Artists, let’s talk about Instagram commission scammers

There’s been a huge rise in commission scammers recently, mostly on Instagram. A lot of new artists don’t know what to look out for, so I figured this might help people.

How they begin

Usually the scammer will write to you asking about a commission. Something deceptively cute - mostly I encounter asks about pet portraits, with one or two photos sent. They’ll probably try to sell you a sweet little story, like “It’s for my son’s birthday”. They will insist that they love your artwork and style, even though they don’t follow you or never liked a single piece of your art.

What to look out for:

Their profiles will either be private, empty, or filled with very generic stuff, dating at most a few years back.

Their language will be very simple, rushed or downright bad. They might use weird emojis that nobody ever uses. They will probably send impatient “??” when you don’t answer immediately. They’re in a crunch - lots of people to scam, you know. 

They’ll give you absolutely no guidelines. No hints on style, contents aside from (usually) the pet and often a name written on the artwork, no theme. Anything you draw will be perfect. Full artistic freedom. In reality they don’t really care for this part.

They’ll offer you a ridiculous amount of money. Usually 100 or 300 USD (EDIT: I know it might not be a lot for some work. What I mean here - way higher than your asking price, 100 and 300 are standard rates they give). They’ll often put in a phrase like “I am willing to compensate you financially” and “I want the best you can draw”, peppered with vague praise. It will most likely sound way too good to be true. That’s because it is.

Where the scam actually happens

If you agree, they will ask you for a payment method. They’ll try to get to this part as soon as possible. 

Usually, they’ll insist on PayPal. And not just any PayPal. They’ll always insist on sending you a transfer immediately. None of that PayPal Invoice stuff (although some do have methods for that, too). They’ll really, REALLY want to get your PayPal email address and name for the transfer - that’s what they’re after. If you insist on any other method, they’ll just circle back to the transfer “for easiest method”. If you do provide them with the info, most likely you’ll soon get a scam email. It most likely be a message with a link that will ultimately lead to bleeding you dry. Never, and I mean NEVER click on any emails or links you get from them. It’s like with any other scam emails you can ever get.

A few things can happen here:

They overpay you and ask for the difference to be wired back. Usually it will go to a different account and you’ll never see that money again. 

They’ll overpay you “for shipping costs” and ask you to forward the difference to their shipping company. Just like before, you’ll never see that money again.

The actual owner of the account (yes, they most likely use stolen accounts to wire from) will realize there’s been something sketchy going on and request a refund via official channels. Your account will be charged with fees and/or you get in trouble for fraudulent transactions. 

You will transfer the money from your PayPal credit to your bank account and they will make a shitstorm when they want their money back, making your life a living hell. They will call you a scammer, a thief, make wild claims, wearing you down and forcing you into wiring money “back” - aka to their final destination account. 

Never, EVER wire money to anyone. This is not how it’s supposed to go. Use PayPal Invoice for secure exchanges where the client needs to provide you with their email, not the other way around.

You can find more info on that method HERE.

What to do when you encounter a scammer:

Ask the right questions: inquire about the style, which artwork of yours they like, as much details as you can. They won’t supply you with any good answers.

Don’t let the rush of the exchange, their praise and the promise of insanely good money to get to you. That’s how they operate, that’s how they make you lose vigilance. 

Don’t engage them. As soon as you realize it might be a scam, block them. The sense of urgency they create with their rushed exchange, and pressure they put on you will sooner or later get to you and you might do something that you’ll regret later.

Never wire money to anyone. Never give out your personal data. Never provide your email, name, address or credit card info. 

Don’t be deceived by receiving a payment, if you somehow agree to go along with it. Just because it’s there now doesn’t mean it can’t be withdrawn. 

Here is a very standard example of such an exchange. I realized it’s a scam pretty fast and went along with it, because I wanted good screenshots for you guys, so I tried going very “by the book” with it. 

Please share this post, make it reach as many artists as possible. Let young or inexperienced artists know that this is going on. So many people have no idea that this is a thing. Let’s help each other out. If you think I missed any relevant info, do add it as an rb!

Also, if you know other scam methods that you think should be shared, consider rb-ing this post with them below. Having a master post of scam protection would AWESOME to have in the art community.

#art resources #artist help #artist advice #commission advice #scammers #instagram scam #please share with your fellow artists

[falmerbrook]

(Mild flashing/eyestrain warning for the second half! I'll post a slower version below that's less flashy and let's you see the details)

A short Morrowind animation for a MAP (Multi-Animator Project).

It was fun trying different methods of animation (no reference for Nerevar, rotoscoping a 3D model for the ring, and a video reference for the hand) and letting myself use a loose sketchy style!

YouTube Link

Version with the second half slowed down (link because Tumblr is dumb about having more than one video in a post):

#this is what that moon-and-star model was for #morrowind #tes #the elder scrolls #tes 3 morrowind #nerevar #nerevarine #vivec #sotha sil #almalexia #dagoth ur #voryn dagoth #animation #my animation #my art #mine #oc: stellar #used my own nerevarine because i wuv drawing him :) #im really proud of this one omg #i would appreciate if yall would check it out on yt too so the algorithm can be kind to it

[n0bluev]

redraw(ish) link

Um. Actually, ☝️, Geto is fun. (No offense but skill issue, Gojo. (☝️.))

___

Very random impromptu god gojo AU thingy ??? I got the idea 5 seconds before drawing this (: brain empty….!! big eyes !!!eyes… GOJO? Gojo has eyes…- "BIG" eyes……..,'God' coded? Lets go with that.) and only thought a little while drawing so theres not much lol

But uhm.; So gojo is a young god ™ (around 20yo, typical gojo.) but despite that, he’s been overpowering other gods who have been there for thousands of years since the moment he was born (breaking the balance of the world as he does) so thats fun -- gods are immortal but he "doesnt count" yet right? his existence is an insult to the rest of the world. ‘Elders dont like him’ (that goes both for old gods AND old worshipers.) [&lt;—aka ‼️OVERPOWERED YOUNGSTER OLD PEOPLE DONT LIKE ✅ (CHECK!) VERY GOJO!]

Theres a worship system thing going on in this AU ; A lot of people are very religious and follow these gods and whatnot (but there are probably groups that reject this lifestyle, or that sought out taboo methods instead, staying away from places where strict laws rule) [hashtag insert worldbuilding] —— GETO (born same year as « gojo ») HAS BEEN BROUGHT UP IN THIS SYSTEM SINCE A RELATIVELY YOUNG AGE AND IS FULLY EDUCATED ABOUT THE MANNERS AND RITUALS HE SHOULD DO AND BLABLABLA. Theres a hierarchy in the church/cult thing so theres higher ups for him to dislike while politely kissing ass (amen). Idk what he thinks of the gods (it’s between him being a model worshiper that truly has faith in them & him secretly having something against them for some reason, only believing in his own gatekeep girlbossness or something¯\_(ツ)_/¯ )

EITHER WAY. he goes to meet gojo at some point. Probably because he has been asked to. Maybe the story is about (/or at least starts with) elders ™ deciding they want to find ways to control / restrain gojo (idk), leading to satosugu eventually teaming up to say fuck that.

Something something geto being « favoured by a god [gojo] » thus having a definite place in this world and gojo feeling like geto’s existence « grounds him » and gives him proper meaning in what to use his strength for and whatnot. Whatever (i doubt im going to write this so im not gonna elaborate lol sorry (i love me some character psychology but 💤💤)) Something something they are a destined cosmic pair your honour. Hashtag soulmates in every universe including this one HAh

Kind of an afterthought but: Gojo adopting megumi is definitely canon here too so 👍👍👍👍 (megumi is probably human but idk, as long as theyre wholesome im sold <3<3) SO LIKE, SOME PLOT HAS TO HAPPEN TO MAKE THEM FAMILY YKNOW - but deal with that yourself 😌(💤) (unless i come back to this idea with some deranged brainrot i didnt ask for + the will to create & share it✌️)

(Ps i decided gojo can change size so he can be human sized (oooo sneaky!), but ‼️‼️he can also be pocket size‼️‼️(i think thats the most important to note thank you v much), hes not stuck on giant mode yay :D)

___

Everythings so sketchy haha, BUT GETO YOUR HONOUR! ah…no earring on this screenshot tho mybad

#not rly rendered :/ got tired before i got there (might draw another similar thing later with more care tho) #eye thing -- but yeah id prefer a drawing where i went to the extreme (this isnt it) #I WANNA DO BIG BIG GODLY EYES YKNOW? *sighh* later #呪術廻戦 #jjk au #jjk #jjk fanart #satosugu #gojo #geto #satosugu fanart #stsg fanart #stsg #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen fanart #nhoblu narration #i guess pft #gojo satoru fanart #gojo satoru #geto suguru fanart #gojo fanart #geto fanart #geto suguru #ugh im never tagging all that again - never

[yarasa2k]

how i make color palettes of my ocs before i pick one, an art tutorial?

hello, whenever i made a new design for myself i found a way to make lots of color palettes and pick one! i see this method more in paintings and rendering but not much on character designs? here are some examples i used that on.

it helps me so much when i feel experimental with colors. here are what you need

a wip character design. sketchy or pixel art works better since the colors can have some anti aliasing issues

a program with gradient maps. i'm using clip studio paint but ik photoshop also has it. like i said this is used more on photos or paintings

and here's what you do!

draw your character. i'm making a new fursona for myself but anything should work.

2. decide on their markings/color placement in grayscale. i recommend doing grayscale so you can easily see the values. split your grays into however colors you want. i like doing 5-6 the most. i reccomend duplicating the color layer if you wanna try multiple palettes.

3. this part is program dependent but in csp's case go to edit > tonal correction > gradient map.

4. i made a few default 5 color gradient maps but if don't use gradients like me i reccomend making the graph like this so they become solid color. split the map into however many colors you used. i'll add a color to the red-orange one bc my character has 6 grays.

5. replace the colors by clicking below specified color. it all depends on your creativity and what you want. experiment til you like it.

6. fuck around, try stuff, put them together to see if you like any of em. i made 9 to see if i can focus on one of them and i actually ended up loving the bottom right. it really makes them shiny

7. (optional) if you like a palette you can further and play with colors while keeping the palette. you can use color balance (in the same menu as gradient map in csp) or layers to mess around, have fun!

also a color tip because people seem to compliment that a lot in my art: digital art has millions of colors! don't be afraid of using wacky tones unless you're going pantone. if you want to get something physical i recommend being open to alternative colors as they tend to be more limited. i know whoever is doing it will try their best to keep the colors close.

color theory is something i don't...care much about mostly because this is something i'm doing for fun. i'll consider it in professional work.

#artists on tumblr #digital art #ika's showtime #ikarnival #art tutorial #art tips #drawing tips #art resources #clip studio paint

[gabrielsbubblegumbitch]

asking for Velvette Dx and/or head canons if it's not too much hassle! Plz and ty!

tw // suicide

I would like to preface all my posts on headcanons related to psychology and mental illness with a disclaimer: diagnosing mental conditions, especially personality disorders, can be extremely challenging. It's a complicated process that relies heavily on a psychologist's interpretation of facts, making it susceptible to biases. Personality disorders cannot be diagnosed based on surface-level observations and are not just labels that we can assign to people like in the case of MBTI. Additionally, I am not a clinician with any expertise in diagnosing people. Therefore, the following post should not be taken as a reliable professional opinion. It's simply my interpretation of the internal mechanisms that may be responsible for the behavior of certain characters in my fan fiction. Furthermore, I want to make it clear that I have no intention of stigmatizing people with personality disorders by associating them with villains. A personality disorder does not determine someone's character or make them a bad person. Some characters may be evil because of the choices they make, not as a result of their mental conditions.

So, as I mentioned, I headcanon Velvette as having an Antisocial Personality Disorder. It is characterized by lack of sympathy or empathy for the rights of others, while simultaneously acting charming and interpersonally manipulative.

❤️ Throughout her childhood, Velvette lived exclusively with her father in the impoverished and sketchy part of the city. Her father worked a lot to earn them living but at the same time he drank a lot and while drunk tend to be aggressive. Also he surrounded himself with bad people. In my mind Velvette can deal with Vox and Val's shit so well because since she was little she was surrounded by unpredictable and violent men. At this point she couldn't be less scared of them.

❤️ She endured relentless bullying during her school years due to her inability to afford stylish clothes and gadgets. This was particularly hurtful for her, given her deep passion for fashion. Velvette devoted all her free time to design stunning looks, harboring a fervent desire to be able to wear them.

❤️ Around 12, she figured that following rules was pointless, being in a disadvantaged position due to her family's poverty. The sole way to boost her social status, in her view, was to break those rules. This extended beyond minor offenses like stealing groceries; she engaged in more serious crimes, such as taking money, clothes, and jewelry from stores and individuals. She never felt any remorse for these actions; to her, they were merely a means to achieve her goals, regardless of the harm inflicted on others.

❤️ She never finished her education because sticking to school rules wasn't her forte. She had the smarts and charm to sidestep juvenile detention. Despite concerns from a few individuals, we all know how well the system deals with "troubled teens." Besides, her father wasn't bothered by psychologists' opinions as long as she was bringing in some cash.

❤️ As a young woman she used her charm to manipulate men and take advantage over them. While she contemplated sex work as an easy money-making avenue, she found men too repulsive to engage in it. Instead, her preferred method involved blackmail – she seduced married men, particularly the submissive ones drawn to her aggression and coldness. Through this, she gathered intelligence and skillfully weaponized it against them.

❤️ At some point, she blew up as this super popular influencer. It kicked off with her sharing cool, low-cost looks on the internet. People loved her sassy attitude and creative stuff. But as she got more famous, it stopped being about creativity and turned into a power trip. She built a cult-like following around herself and started abusing her power. Being openly mean worked in her favor online – people ate it up, especially when she got into online fights. No matter how wild it got, no one could successfully cancell her. Actually, I think Vox really admires her talent for stirring up drama. He pushed her several times to get on some reality show, thinking it'd make the ratings explode. But the darkest stuff Velvette pulled wasn't out there for everyone to see. It all went down in her DMs. She justified it as "finally getting justice from rich white brats," using her influence to get teens to pull off crimes and risky stuff. She even manipulated at least two depressed kids into taking their own lives. When shit hit the fan, and she knew prison was coming, she took it as one last chance to torment people. During a "live stream apology," she commmited suicide in front of thousands of people.

❤️ In the show, it's evident that she's downright rude. Not just to Carmilla and the other overlords, but also towards Vox and her own employees. The lack of sensitivity and respect for others, coupled with a strong sense of superiority and being extremely opinionated, are typical traits associated with Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD). My girl literally got song called Respectless.

❤️ She disregards any kind of authorities and when someone tries to impose their will onto her, she's going berserk.

❤️ She genuinely couldn't care less about what people think of her; she despises people that much. In fact, being hated now excites her because she knows she's untouchable and influential and it makes everyone even more angry.

❤️ She's extremely reckless, even if she knows it could hurt her – another trait associated with APD. While we observe Vox and Valentino able to behave when necessary, Velvette storms into overlords' meetings guns blazing and starts with insulting everyone, even though she aims to convince them to align with Vs.

❤️ She struggles to form genuine connections with other people. Still, she's got a soft spot for Vox and Val, sort of considering them her friends. At the same time, she sees them as just a couple of guys she can easily play to her advantage.

Vox hc | Valentino hc

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel velvette #velvette #vox hazbin hotel #valention hazbin hotel #vox #valentino #character analysis #headcanon #ask

[mando-fando]

The Other Man Pt. 2

Pairing: Miguel O’Hara x Wife!Reader

Words: 2.8k

Interdimensional travel is a tricky thing. Miguel discovered that when he was working the bugs out in his gadgets and researching everything he could about alternate universes.

The first anomaly appeared in Peter B Parker’s universe. It was long before the Spider Society existed. Just a 50’s style, cartoon Vulture that popped up in the middle of Peter B’s NYC. Miguel followed the Vulture and found himself with some assistance in returning the flapping bird to where he belonged.

Peter and Miguel hit it off right away. Soon, Peter B had his own watch and access to Lyla’s vast database. Miguel and Peter still didn’t know the extent of the damage that Kingpin’s collider had done to the multiverse; they were simply playing it by ear.

He stumbled across you almost accidentally. In your universe, Peter Parker was still a kid, a few years out from getting bitten by his spider. For the time being, your universe was relatively normal. So, Miguel didn’t really have a reason to watch you, your husband, and your daughter.

Overnight, it seemed, your lives were always playing in the background on his monitor. He watched you and became obsessed with the normalcy of it all. He took solace in knowing that there was a universe out there where a different Miguel woke up every day and did everything right.

Your universe became essentially a control group for Miguel. He began developing algorithms to predict when the next anomaly would show up, using your universe to feed the algorithm data.

He would have the algorithm predict what you’d make for dinner on a random day, what your husband would do at Alchemax, and what questions your daughter would ask in class.

After a few months, it was spot on.

He knew your family’s routine like the back of his hand, but he could never look back on your past. He could only watch what was happening in the present, and use the algorithm that he and Lyla developed to predict your future. Miguel only had educated guesses about where you and your husband met, how long you’d been together, and the idiosyncrasies of your family life.

One day, as he was watching you cook breakfast for your daughter, the computer alerted him to an unusual event that was set to follow the next day: your husband’s death. A panic went through Miguel for you and your daughter. Your life was perfect, there was no way that something so catastrophic could happen to you. He tweaked the model, assuring himself that there was a problem with the coding.

Time and time again, your husband’s death was predicted. He looked over at you and Gabriella on his monitor, and his heart sank. You two were going to undergo such a tragedy, and there was nothing he could do.

An irrational thought crossed Miguel’s mind. He studied your husband’s likeness, his clothes, his mannerisms for months. He could…could he?

Should he?

The next day, he donned a white, collared sweatshirt and some slacks, the same thing your husband put on before heading to work. Miguel watched all three monitors like a hawk: you, your husband, and your daughter’s respective daily routines.

Night fell, and he watched your husband divert from his usual commute home to head to a panaderia in a sketchy part of town. He was getting some pan dulce for his daughter’s breakfast after hearing that she aced another spelling test.

It happened in an instant. A woman screamed, your husband’s sense of justice kicked in. Moments later, he lay in a pool of his own blood. A tie had been severed.

Miguel portaled in, almost without a second thought. He methodically emptied your husband’s pockets and donned his wedding band. A few hours later, Miguel walked in your front door as if nothing had happened. You jumped into his arms, and he felt himself fall for you in a heartbeat.

Guilt had wracked his brain every day since. He knew you were suspicious. He’d seen you watching him out of the corner of your eye. He saw the way you narrowed your eyes at him.

You started becoming cold towards him. You were less affectionate, less interested in his touch or kind words. Even if you couldn’t put your finger on it, you knew there was something amiss.

You were smart. You claimed that science wasn’t your strong suit, but Miguel saw you catch on to complicated subjects quickly when you helped Gabi with her homework or asked him about his day at work. A part of him thought that you might understand if he explained that he was from another dimension.

Today, you were being particularly cold towards him. You’d taken Gabi to your parents’ house for a weekend camping trip, and you were in the kitchen. It almost seemed like you were trying to find something to do so Miguel wouldn’t bother you.

The emotions he felt about the whole situation were so complex; he didn’t know how you’d react, and he couldn’t blame you. He’d stolen your husband’s life, essentially. Would you care that he only did it to save you and your daughter from devastation? Would you be able to love him the way he loved you?

Miguel walked into the kitchen and placed a gentle hand on your shoulder. You wrenched your body away from his grasp. “Don’t touch me.”

Miguel took a step back and put his hands up defensively. “Amor, I want to talk to you about something.”

You whipped around with an irate expression. “Do you finally have an explanation for how insane you’ve been acting?”

“I… I do, actually.” Miguel watched you lean your back against the counter and cross your arms. “It’s going to sound outlandish.”

“You could tell me that you’ve been abducted by fucking aliens, and I’d believe you. I’m sick of not knowing what’s going on with you!” You raised your voice at him.

“Okay. Before I begin, I want you to know that I didn’t do anything with malicious intent. The complete opposite, actually.” He tried to gauge your reaction and carried on. “I’m not the Miguel

O’Hara you married, but I think a part of you knows that already…”

You eyed him suspiciously, but kept silent.

“I’m from a different dimension. I was born in a city called Nueva York. I was a geneticist, just like your husband. But, when I was in my late 20s, I had an accident at Alchemax which changed the nature of my DNA. In my dimension, I’m a hero named Spiderman.”

You were surprisingly calm. You looked at him with a skeptical expression, but you wanted to hear more. You needed an explanation, any explanation, of what the hell was going on. You were pregnant, and that was all the proof you needed that you’d been sharing your bed with someone else.

“Why are you called ‘Spiderman?’” You asked.

Miguel continued to search your expression for fear or incredulousness. “The genetic sequence that my DNA was spliced with was half spider.”

A disgusted look flashed across your face.

“In my universe, there were quantum theorists and physicists who were on the verge of interdimensional travel. I took the research that they did and combined it with my own knowledge of biomechanics and created this,” Miguel pulled up his sleeve and showed you the bulky contraption on his wrist.

“As far as I know, I’m the first person to ever make an autonomous jump to another dimension. Once I had been to a few different universes, I started to research and document the differences. That’s when I stumbled across your family.

“I enjoyed knowing there was a version of myself out there that was happy. My life in my dimension was pretty miserable sometimes, but things were a little easier to swallow knowing that I was capable of humanity somewhere in the multiverse. I wanted your family to have the perfect life that you deserve.” He paused and looked away for a moment.

“There was a prediction from my model that your husband was going to die.”

Your eyebrows shot up in concern. “What?”

Miguel sighed, knowing how badly you were going to take the news. “He was going to get pan dulce across town after work. A woman was getting mugged, and he intervened. It cost him his life…”

You felt your heart break in your chest as you gasped. Suddenly, your legs collapsed from beneath you. Miguel caught you before you hit the floor.

Your husband. Your darling, lovely perfect husband was gone, and some monster had taken his place.

You couldn’t see past the tears that flooded your vision, and you couldn’t help yourself from pressing your face in the chest of the man who looked just like him.

“I know…” Miguel caressed your hair. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

Your love story had come to an end. Every shared glance, every evening doting over your daughter, every morning tangled in the sheets was gone. The pain was unlike anything you’d ever felt before.

Miguel carried your sobbing, screaming figure to the bed. He laid next to you as a tear slid down his own cheek. The screams that emanated from you were haunting; he still heard them in his nightmares to this day.

You wore yourself out so profoundly that you simply lost consciousness. Miguel’s mind swirled with doubt and guilt. He thought back to the moments he’d witnessed on his monitor between the two of you. He was never able to find a flaw in either of you, nor your daughter. Now, he’d thrown a huge wrench in everything. Maybe he’d made a mistake in taking your husband’s place.

You stirred in bed next to him a few hours later. Your face was puffy and your voice was hoarse, but you looked at him with rage. You leapt out of bed before Miguel was fully awake. Instinctually, he activated his suit. His talons and claws shone under the digital fabric.

You screamed again in fear and confusion. Miguel deactivated the suit, returning to the normal clothes he was wearing.

You slid down the wall, cradling your knees. Fear, exhaustion, confusion, and heartbreak clouded your mind.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you!” Miguel looked panicked. He took a step towards you cautiously.

“Why did you come here!?” You screamed at him.

“I- I don’t know. I couldn’t handle the idea of Gabriella being without a father.”

“You’re NOT her father!” You stood up and took a step towards him.

“I know…”

“I’m pregnant.” The words spilled from your mouth before you had a chance to think. “That’s how I knew. That you’re not him, I mean.” You were rambling. “My husband had a vasectomy. When the test came back positive, I had proof…”

A wave of nausea hit you as you realized the man you slept with wasn’t your husband. You ran to the bathroom and Miguel followed.

He was speechless. He held your hair back as you gripped the sides of the toilet, and he rubbed your back as his mind raced.

He was thrust into uncharted territory. How would a baby with parents from two different dimensions fare? How would you fare? He couldn’t even begin to comprehend the ramifications of his stupid actions.

Miguel had seen you and your husband’s intimate moments before. He had always wondered why Gabi never had a sibling, but he made the assumption that you had some sort of contraceptive. The idea that your husband had a vasectomy never even crossed his mind.

You sat up from the toilet and wiped your mouth with the back of your hand. Miguel stood up quickly to grab you a washcloth.

“Aren’t you going to say something?” You asked as your chest heaved. You could feel a migraine beginning to set in.

“I need to go back to my lab and run some tests.” The lack of emotion in his voice cut you.

You remembered your husband’s reaction to your first pregnancy, how he lit up so brightly at the news. To the man in front of you, your pregnancy seemed to be a liability and nothing more.

You glared at him as you took the washcloth. You pressed it to your forehead. A long moment of silence passed.

He reached out slowly and touched your cheek. “I’m sorry…”

“People die all the time, you know.” You said flatly. “You make it sound like my husband’s death was predetermined. If that’s what fate had in store for him, and for us, then that’s the way it was meant to be…”

You stood up and looked at yourself in the mirror. Miguel stood, too, and watched you. “Gabi and I would’ve figured it out. We would’ve gotten through it together.”

“I know you would’ve. You’re an incredible mother.” You watched him stare at you in the reflection. He was looking at you with sympathy and love. You felt your heart flutter. Guilt followed immediately after. The rollercoaster of emotions was exhausting.

“Go figure out what the fuck is going to happen to me.” You turned to look at him. “We need to know sooner rather than later. I could use some space from you, too. I’m still upset.” You crossed your arms and looked away from him.

He took your comments in stride and gave you another look of sympathy. He activated his suit and tapped away at the device on his wrist.

You covered your ears as a loud mess of colors and lights tore a hole open in your room. Miguel was gone in an instant.

Miguel tore through the portal and stepped into his lab in the building that would eventually become the Spider Society.

“Lyla,” he called as he walked over to his computer.

“Look who’s back? How’s married life treatin’ ya?” She asked sarcastically.

“Contact Peter and prepare the lab. We need to run some tests.”

Hours later, Miguel and Peter were driving themselves mad trying to find a circumstance where tissue from two different dimensions remained stable. The results were grim, time after time.

“Miguel, this is-” Peter began.

“Don’t even say it.” Miguel growled. Peter had never heard him take that tone before.

Every possible multi-dimensional combination ended in decay.

The facts stared back at Miguel, and he had to face reality. He pinched the bridge of his nose when his computer alerted him to an anomaly in your universe. Then, another. And another.

Hundreds of bizarre events were occuring in your universe. The tides stopped, gravity changed, and worst of all, things and people all over the world were glitching.

A massive hole opened underneath your version of Brooklyn.

Miguel and Peter suited up and ran in.

“Go find your wife and daughter, I’ll see what I can find out!” Peter called. Miguel nodded and ran at a breakneck speed towards your home.

He found you on the ground, half concious.

“Amor,” he called. He held you in his arms, and he knew he was too late.

“Miguel,” you tried to smile, but you glitched in his arms and groaned out in pain.

He picked you up and began to run towards the campground where Gabi was.

It felt like every cell of your body was on fire. You stared up at him, and a part of you knew that he had something to do with your universe tearing at the seams. Slowly, you were slipping out of his grasp like sand.

Miguel kept his gaze trained on you. He had no idea how he was going to fix this.

“Find her. Save her.” Those were your last words. Miguel blinked and you were gone.

Shock overcame him. He found himself on all fours hurdling towards your daughter. He heard her in the distance, and swooped her up before swinging the opposite way.

He saw Peter in the distance and ran from the white emptiness that began consuming the city.

If he could save Gabriella, it might have been worth it.

He ran, pushing his superspeed to the limit as Gabi screamed in his arms.

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” He tried to reassure her as he tucked her into his chest. He saw people in front of him simply vanish, and fear gripped his heart like a vice.

If he could get away from the crowd for just a minute, he could portal away with your daughter.

He continued running, seeing an opening in the distance.

“Papa!” Gabi cried. He looked down, and she was gone. He stopped dead in his tracks. To him, there was nothing left worth saving. The whiteness enveloped him, and soon, Miguel and Peter stood in a vast, empty nothing.

“Miguel, we have to go. We don’t know what’s going to happen.” Peter tugged on his arm.

The words fell on deaf ears. Miguel was still staring down at his empty grasp, wondering where his daughter had gone.

Peter dragged him through the portal.

Time was a blur for awhile after that. Lyla analyzed every scrap of data, Peter recruited more spider-people, and the canon was discovered.

Miguel swore to never let it happen again.

#miguel o'hara #atsv miguel #spiderman 2099 #miguel o'hara x reader #miguel spiderman #miguel spiderverse #miguel x reader #spiderman 2099 spiderverse #across the spiderverse

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Monopolizing turds

Update 31 May 2023: an earlier edition of this article identified the price of Rebyota as $20,000; this was the rumored price prior to Rebyota’s release in December  2022, when Stephen Skolnick wrote the article I referenced. When Rebyota was actually released in 2023, the average wholesale price (AWP) was $10,800. Thanks to Benjamin Jolley for catching this error, and to Stephen Skolnick for getting to the bottom of it.

It’s been ten years — to the day! — since I first started writing about the bizarre, amazing world of turd transplants, in which a sick person receives a microbiotic infusion in the form of some processed poop from a healthy person:

https://web.archive.org/web/20130608030455/http://blogs.plos.org/publichealth/2013/05/29/why-diy-fecal-transplants-are-a-thing-and-the-fda-is-only-part-of-the-reason/

Gut biomes are one of those understudied, poorly understood medical areas that are both very promising and also full of sketchy medical claims from “supplement” companies, influencers, quacks and grifters. But in the decade since I first started tracking turd transplants (formally called “Fecal Microbiota Transplants” or FMTs), a growing body of sound science has emerged on the subject.

One thing that’s increasingly undeniable is that the composition of your microbial nation is related in significant ways to both your physical and mental health. What’s more, as antibiotic resistant “super bugs” proliferate, FMTs are becoming increasingly central to treating dangerous gut infections that otherwise stand a high chance of killing you.

“Eat Shit and Prosper” is Stephen Skolnick’s delightfully named newsletter about poop and health science. Skolnick is a physicist by training, but has a long history of collaboration with Openbiome, a nonprofit that coordinates between doctors, patients and donors to provide safe FMTs:

https://stephenskolnick.substack.com/

In an edition of Eat Shit from last December, Skolnick recounts the amazing history and dismaying future of FMTs. In 2013, the FDA announced it would regulate FMTs as “Investigational New Drugs,” which could only be administered as part of a registered clinical trial:

https://stephenskolnick.substack.com/p/a-monopoly-on-poop

At that point, FMTs were already in widespread use by docs to treat otherwise untreatable cases of Clostridioides difficile (C. diff), an antibiotic resistant bacterial infection that literally makes you shit yourself to death. These doctors were in no position to run registered clinical trials, which meant that they would have to stop using the most effective therapy they had for a potentially lethal infection.

Doctors and patients kicked up a fuss, and the FDA walked back its guidance, announcing that it would exercise “discretion” in enforcing its Investigational New Drug rule, giving a pass to docs who were treating C. diff with FMTs:

https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2013/07/18/2013-17223/guidance-for-industry-enforcement-policy-regarding-investigational-new-drug-requirements-for-use-of

That’s where things have stood for the past decade or so. The “discretion” rule means that patients could still get FMTs, but their insurance wouldn’t cover it. But even if you had cash to pay for an FMT, your doc probably wouldn’t administer it for anything except a C. diff infection, despite the promising signs that FMT can help treat other conditions, and despite the generally safe nature of FMTs.

If your doc did give you an FMT, chances are good that they sourced their poop from Openbiome. Openbiome recruits very healthy people, gets them to poop in a bag, then processes the poop — removing nonbacterial solids, testing it for pathogens, freezing it, portioning it, and sending it to docs. All this is done at cost, and it’s not cheap: $1–2k/treatment, mostly due to cold-chain logistics (the poop is shipped at -80C).

Despite the cost, and despite the limitations on treatment, the Openbiome method has proved very reliable. Indeed, FMTs as a whole are pretty darned safe, with the most common side-effects being transient gas and bloating. In the past decade, there’ve been a total of six “adverse effects” associated with Openbiome’s 5,000+ procedures, all in severely immunocompromised people, and none conclusively linked to the treatment:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016508522003511/pdf

A decade into this system, the FDA has taken the next step forward — only it’s actually a step backwards.

During this intervening decade, a pharma company called Ferring has conducted clinical trials on FMTs and received approval for an FMT product called Rebyota. The process for making Rebyota is effectively identical to the process used by Openbiome: collect poop, remove solids, test for pathogens, add glycerol, freeze and ship.

The main difference between Rebyota and Openbiome’s poop is price. While Openbiome charges $1–2k per treatment, Rebyota charges $10,800

That’s some expensive shit!

Fine. Getting Rebyota through clinical trials means that insurers might start covering it, and perhaps some patients will prefer brand-name poop to open-source poop. But as part of the FDA’s approval of Rebyota, the agency also rescinded its “discretionary enforcement” guidance, making it illegal for docs to source their poop from Openbiome:

https://www.fda.gov/regulatory-information/search-fda-guidance-documents/enforcement-policy-regarding-investigational-new-drug-requirements-use-fecal-microbiota

For Ferring, this is a monopoly on shit, one that lets them charge patients $10.8k for poop that costs $1–2k to process. The FDA does not claim that this is being done in the name of safety. Instead, an FDA official told Skonick that the goal was to “incentivize innovation without creating an access crisis.”

That is, the FDA changed its guidance and put nonprofit stool banks out of business because it wants to incentivize pharma companies to perform expensive clinical trials, and it believes that these companies won’t pay for trials if they have to compete with the likes of Openbiome, which would make it impossible to charge 900% markups on poop.

Trials are important! Evidence-based medicine is important! But Ferring’s clinical trials didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know. FMTs were already the best therapy we had for C. diff. Testing Rebyota against a placebo didn’t tell us anything new — unlike testing Rebyota against the existing therapies, e.g. product from open stool banks.

Such a trial might have given rise to a very different regulatory outcome, because the cure rate reported by Rebyota is much lower than the cure rate from Openbiome’s own interventions:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40265-022-01797-x

That is, using the $1k poop from Openbiome seems to be much more effective than using the $10.8k poop from Ferring. But Openbiome, a nonprofit, hasn’t been able to perform the kind of rigorous — and expensive — clinical trial that Ferring funded.

This points to a significant problem with the FDA’s model. The agency wants good clinical data for the medicines it regulates, as it should, It presumes that the only way to get that data is through granting commercial exclusivity to a for-profit, which ends up costing patients vast sums, and locking many patients out altogether.

This creates all kinds of new dangers. 150,000 people/year in the US contract Recurrent Clostridium difficile Infection (RCdI). FMT increases the cure rate by 20% relative to antibiotics alone. That means that if everyone with RCdI gets a poop transplant, 30,000 extra people will get better. That’s a big number!

For well insured people, Rebyota probably represents a cash-savings — if your insurance covers the $10,800 procedure, you might pay $500 out of pocket, which is far less than the $1–2K you’d pay to get an Openbiome poop transplant. But if you’re uninsured or underinsured, the FDA’s new enforcement rules mean that you’re now on the hook for $10,800.

The FDA did carve out a loophole: if your doc or their hospital are willing to prepare the poop transplant themselves, they can administer that. On the one hand, preparing a poop transplant isn’t that hard — some people do them at home, on their own:

https://web.archive.org/web/20211015060558/https://thepowerofpoop.com/epatients/fecal-transplant-instructions/

But on the other hand, there’s been exactly one death conclusively linked to FMT, and it was from one of these hospital-prepared transplants (the patient had just had a marrow transplant for cancer that wiped out their immune system, and the donor had a novel pathogen that the hospital failed to test for).

So the FDA has created a situation where, if you can’t afford a $10,800 proprietary formulation, your only option is to convince your doc or hospital to prepare their own poop transplant, which will cost less than the $10.8k for Rebyota, but more than the $1–2k from Openbiome, which has all kinds of economies of scale. And if you do manage it, you’ll be getting a procedure that has a much worse safety track-record than the Openbiome process that the FDA just killed.

The FDA has an important role to play here, but as with so many policy questions, how the FDA plays that role depends on things that are far upstream from the agency and its decisions. The choice to fund medical trials through the promise of exclusivity — and with it, extremely high margins — puts the FDA in the position of choosing winners in the marketplace: Ferring wins, Openbiome loses.

Ironically, this is the thing that exclusivity is supposed to prevent. By using profit to incentivize medical research, the FDA is supposed to be recruiting the Invisible Hand as its partner in regulation. But exclusivity is incompatible with the idea of medicine as a public good. The tens (hundreds) of millions that Americans will pay for $10.8k poop transplants from Ferring will add up to far more than it would cost to underwrite clinical trials for an open process like Openbiome’s.

The result: both Americans’ wallets and Americans’ guts suffer.

Catch me on tour with Red Team Blues in Hay-on-Wye, Oxford, Manchester, Nottingham, London, and Berlin!

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/29/oh-shit/#rebyota

[Image ID: A poop emoji wearing a top hat and a monocle, posed against a backdrop of e coli bacteria seen through a high-resolution microscope.]

#pluralistic #stool bank #eat shit and live #pharma #fda #regulatory capture #fecal transplants #microbiomes #rebyota #openbiome #c diff #fmt #fecal microbiota transplant

[butchdykenormallen]

so, new spotify update.

(pt : so, new spotify update.)

[id 1/ a screenshot of spotify on a grey background. text reads, in bold, "There's a monthly limit on lyrics". text under in grey reads, "Every time you tap "Show lyrics", it will count towards your limit. To get full access to lyrics, switch to Spotify Premium." A button in green reads, "Show lyrics", and under it, another button reads "Dismiss." /end id]

[id 2/ a screenshot of spotify on a slate grey background. Text reads above, "Lyrics preview". more text under, in bold, reads, "I've earned myself a reputation / That my bark is much worse than my bite / But I keep snapping at Goliath's hands / With all of my tiny might / There are no stones at my disposal". at the last line, it fades, and a box reads, "You've hit your lyrics limit for this month." a button under in white reads, "Learn more." /end id]

(screenshots courtesy of @thatweirdqueer , my boyfriend <3)

my boyfriend came across this message after clicking show lyrics once. they're forcing a limit on looking up lyrics to a song in their own app, and we need to talk about it.

at this point, spotify premium has been so forced onto us, that spotify is practically not even a free app. if you skip one too many songs, you have to listen to five or more ads. the dislike and like features they've implemented do nothing. everyday i boot up spotify, it flashes a larger than life ad with a button so small i can barely see it, just to dismiss myself. it tracks if you've bought premium to market these ads to you to guilt you into getting it back. you can't even download songs from it without premium. it's a barely functioning free app with everything locked behind a paywall.

if you want good lyrics for free, without having to pay a corporation for them, id recommend azlyrics, lyrictranslate, and searching the music artists channel. azlyrics doesn't have every song, which is a guaranteed, but its extremely easy to navigate, doesn't have many ads, and lays its lyrics out in a manner thats extremely easy to read. lyricstranslate has lyrics translated from many different languages, and can even translate songs into other languages on a whim. its run by people who can translate them, and is free to modify if you find a mistake. searching up the song on the artists channel (NOT the youtube owned topic) can help wield results as to what the lyrics are. one such example of this is femtanyl, who writes all of their lyrics in the descriptions of their videos.

adding onto this, if you'd like to download videos for free, whether it be mp4 or mp3, id recommend searching youtube to mp3 in an incognito tab! (id recommend this because some sites send you to rather sketchy websites sadly. they are efficient, you just have to ensure what you download is what you want. plus, it keeps it out of your search history if you share a browser with someone!) its easy, just copy the link of the video you want and paste it into the box. then, choose what file format you want it to be downloaded in, click convert, and now you have your own file downloaded for free. i've used this method for years now, and it hasn't failed me.

in conclusion, FUCK capitalism, DELETE spotify, and USE ALTERNATIVES.

-badger

#fuck capitalism #fuck spotify #fuck THIS #long post #important #loser_txt.png

[excessive-moisture]

Hey, I'm very sorry for how out of nowhere this question is and you're welcome not to answer it because I know it's random but -

I've seen some of your animations using audio. How do you get the audio for them? Every method I've seen looks sketchy as hell

Mine is too! I think i've probably downloaded a trojan software but i've had it for a while now so i guess the damage has probably been done!

Aside from using my sketchy as hell virus software I sometimes also just use OBS and record the desktop audio as I play the video on youtube :D this obviously kills the quality a bit but if the audio quality isn't particularly important to you then this method works.

#ask

[owlyjules]

I feel weird asking it but anyways. Would you be ok with me printing one of your paintings for my wall? I'd really really like to buy it from you but every payment method is literally banned for me right now.

I know it may sound sketchy and it may be a lot to ask but I really like your art and it inspires me a lot.

Its ok! If its just for your wall and personal use I am ok with it!

(And if one day you feel like it you can always buy one from me.:))

#the ghosts are asking