I regret to inform you that Discord's new Terms of Service includes an arbitration clause. You can find it here https://discord.com/terms/#16. This clause includes an opt-out, which I have transcribed here:
You can decline this agreement to arbitrate by emailing an opt-out notice to
[email protected] within 30 days of April 15, 2024 or when you first register your Discord account, whichever is later; otherwise, you shall be bound to arbitrate disputes in accordance with the terms of these paragraphs. If you opt out of these arbitration provisions, Discord also will not be bound by them.
These clauses are underhanded ways that corporations seek to deprive you of your right to participate in class-action lawsuits and your right to a jury trial. (This does only apply to us users ,other people still spread the word though )
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you! the person reading this! please tell me one good thing that happened to you today
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Please tell me other people can relate Iām having a crisis
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reminder that coming up with some fake little dudes and creating intricate storylines in your head is a completely free and fun way to pass the time and the government can't stop you
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People used to comment on web comics.
People used to comment on fanfiction.
People used to comment on fanart.
People used to comment on OCs.
I hate "content" culture.
I hate "consuming content" and scrolling immediately to the next thing.
People used to be excited about the art that other people created.
People used to want to share that excitement with creators.
I hate this future.
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Please make a post about the story of the RMS Carpathia, because it's something that's almost beyond belief and more people should know about it.
Carpathia received Titanicās distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.
(Californianās exact position at the time isā¦controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanicās distress rockets. Itās uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)
Carpathiaās Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanicās aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.
All of Carpathiaās lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.
I donāt know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.
Carpathia had threeĀ dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awakeāprepping a ship for disaster relief isnāt quietāand all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.
And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.
Hereās the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining roomsāwhich, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when sheād done that, he asked her to go faster.
I need you to understand that you simply canāt push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only recklessāitās difficult to maneuverābut it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They canāt do it. It canāt be done.
Carpathiaās absolute do-or-die, the-engines-canāt-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.
No one would have asked this of them. It wasnāt expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a respondibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.
They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world.
This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanicās last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could.
In total, 705 people of Titanicās original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors.
At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.
I think the least we can do is remember them for it.
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nasa: we're going to shoot three rockets directly at the sun during the total eclipse. for study and research purposes.
me: oh cool
nasa: we have named the rockets apep. this stands for atmospheric perturbations [in the] eclipse path.
me: oh cool
nasa: apep is also the ancient egyptian deity of chaos and darkness, who ceaselessly seeks to extinguish the sun. we launch these rockets directly at the sun in the name of apep.
me: oh... cool?
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*cries about combs*
ChengQing papercraft commission for @theleakypen! I loveā¦ themā¦.. aaaaaaaaa
Just! The what-ifs! The mutual fierce dedication to their families and to their intrinsically opposing duties! The recognition of that in each other! The respect therein! Their eyes meeting in silent acknowledgment that this unspoken Thing could have existed between them (she took the comb!!!) but not in this world (she gives it back!!!!!!). I just. Iāve been in this fandom for like a year and a half and Iām still going feral over it
Anyway, I tried to pour some of that into this piece! Got some Extreme Hand-Holding and Intense Yearning Gazes for yāall.Ā
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Iād like to live through a week thatās not a whole new verse of āWe Didnāt Start the Fire.ā
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DeviantArt used to be the place I put new poses up three times a week. It was the best place to get consistent updates of new poses from me.
BUT NOW! I have a self-hosted gallery on AdorkaStock.com š„° It's a WIP (and there's a lot of work to do) but I like having my poses on my own site. š
You can sign up for my newsletter and get an email digest of new poses each week or once a month so you don't have to always remember to go check for what's new.
My long term goal is to have this gallery completely replace my DA archive.
Reasons for this move include:
- DA's enthusiastic support for AI
- DA removing categories making it nearly impossible to search for CC licensed images
- not being beholden to DA's future random TOS and API changes
Your support helps with this goal. ā„
Ways to support:
- Share my work with other artists!
- Support me on Patreon for just $1/mo
- Shop my Kofi store for pose ref packs and merch
Get all my links at my Link Hub. š„°
Thanks so much for your support and happy drawing!
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Posting an SVSSS outline for a fic that I will sadly never have the time to write in the hopes that maybe it'll inspire someone out there. <3
Summary: Due to a system error, SY transmigrates into SQQ five years after Binghe fell into the Abyss. With no system, no support from his martial brothers, and no telling when the blackened protagonist will come to get his revenge, SY must find a way to survive.
Original LBH/SQQ|SY, background LBM/SQQ|SY
SY wakes up to hear the system going into a blue screen (power source missing, external power source corrupted), and finds himself in the world of PIDW as SQQ. After speaking with his martial brothers, he discovers itās been 5 years since the immortal conference where Binghe fell into the abyss.Ā
SY knows that this means that his return is imminent, but canāt help feeling like heās gotten the short end of the stick- why send him to a role where he could have made a difference if heād had more time? On top of that, the peak leaders donāt believe him when he tries to warn them that everyone is in danger, and he is subsequently put under house arrest for rest after his severe qi deviation.
A young disciple from Mu-shidiās peak is tasked with helping his recovery, tending to his needs while he has to meditate and re-ground himself. SY quickly learns that the boy is not going to let him leave, but is willing to listen and help him talk out his fears/what he might be able to do to save the sect and cultivation world at large.
After a few months of seclusion in the bamboo house, SY has figured out how to act enough like SJ to be permitted to go on short trips to the foot of the mountain as part of his recovery./to help settle his nerves. While in town, SY thinks he sees LBH, which throws him into a panic. The disciple takes him back to the peak with the assurance that there is nothing to fear, but suggests that maybe he would feel better if they traveled somewhere remote for an actual vacation.
After listing off a few places like small towns and hot springs where SQQ knows LBH found wives, he settles on a small town SY has never heard of and should probably be safe, but then he feels guilty about essentially abandoning the peak inhabitants to their fate and fleeing. The disciple says that he can make sure that the peak remains safe, but in turn SY has to agree to do what heās told. SY reluctantly agrees, knowing the disciple is just humoring him.
By the time SY finally agrees to leave, itās too late; LBH arrives at the bamboo house and is ready to fight, but then the disciple steps in and soundly forces LBH to make a withdrawal. The disciple then reveals himself to be Luo Bingge, and demands that SY return with him. SY freaks out to the point of qi deviation and blacks out.
When he wakes up, heās in the bamboo house and everything is quiet. For a moment he thinks itās all a bad dream, and then the door to the bedroom opens up and itās another SQQ. This SQQ turns out to be another version of SY from another reality, and somehow he ended up married to a softer version of the protagonist. SQQ says that Bingge brought him here to ālearn how to love him.ā
SY and SQQ talk for a bit about transmigration, coming to terms with being gay, and talking about the trauma of being unable to grieve for their last life. SQQ offers sanctuary, saying that LBM had beaten LBG before and they can keep him safe. SY ultimately decides to go with LBG since theyād been together for months and the disciple never hurt him and definitely saved him from a fate worse than death. And besides, he always thought LBH deserved better, so why not him?Ā
SQQ wishes him luck and gives him a talisman from his system to get in touch if he ever changes his mind, and LBG takes him back to his world to learn how to love him.Ā
SY and LBG have a beauty and the beast montage and the harem starts getting dispersed, but SY is still having panic attacks that send him into qi deviations, dreaming about what almost happened back in the first PIDW world. He thinks that Binghe is hunting him down, even more angry than before since heās been denied his revenge AND he got beaten by an imposter.
LBG swears he will protect him; <more stuff happens and SY is slowly coming to terms with the fact that he might actually be gay for Binghe, lol>
Showdown of Other LBH vs LBG, shit starts to go down and SY tries to use the token from the other SQQ to get LBM to help; ends up doing a system reset and he wakes up in the bamboo house with YQG sitting by his side, anxious about the qi deviation. The dream is already beginning to fade as he asks after LBH, who is apparently still in the woodshed where he left himā¦.
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