#i.e. the usual stuff like addiction

[thatlittleegyptologist]

On places like tiktok and youtube shorts I have seen an increase in AI generated videos. By far the most popular genre i have is history/ historical conspiracy. How do you feel about people essentially auto generating fake history?

I mean, how I feel largely doesn't matter because I'm no one.

The problem we have with the over proliferation of memes/AI/short form content is that it discourages the viewer to seek anything deeper and with more and more people relying on this content for news/facts/entertainment.

We already know the dangers of how social media gives tiny serotonin boosts, which keep us coming back for more (see: doom scrolling, and outrage baiting), so we get addicted to only seeing things in very short bursts. Long form content, which would likely discuss things with more nuance but doesn't give a person that serotonin, boost i.e. it's boring, so people abandon it for the short form and don't read anything longer that would likely contradict the short video they saw. They implicitly trust what they see to be true, and therefore will spout that until it becomes 'fact' because of course it is they saw it on TikTok right? (see the post I reblogged yesterday where someone said 'oh there's a third shaker in a historical condiment set and no one knows what it is' in a tiktok...and...it was immediately debunked but no one on tiktok is gonna know that because they've just scrolled away for their next serotonin hit).

This goes in hand with the trend over the last decade or so of actively saying derisive things about academics (from any background) that are usually dressed up in the guise of progressive language, but is more or less the anti-intellectual rhetoric we've seen from those who'd prefer you didn't listen to academics. You know the stuff 'academics are hiding X from us', 'academics don't want you to know this', 'academics hate X group of people'. This sort of behaviour allows those who can play on your ignorance to further manipulate you by discouraging you from seeking more information because you now no longer trust the exact people who could give you the right information. It's an Us vs Them mentality, which has proved so lucrative in partisan arguments. You see it here on Tumblr all the time in the 'if you like X show you're bad an irredeemable and you must be blocked, but if you agree with me you're good and righteous'. Or the way people will treat headcanons about history as fact. Someone, way back in 2011, headcanon'd Hatshepsut as trans because they were trans themselves and they liked how she used both pronouns. I remember that post well. Somehow it morphed into 'no she's definitely trans and all those Egyptologists who are like 'hang on wait what no that's not how that works?!' are in fact terrible people who are denying you the truth and are transphobes' (yes, this is a continual fight that several Egyptologists have here and no matter how we phrase it someone claims we're covering something up and it's Frustrating). But again it's the 'you either accept our way of thinking or you're a bad person' mindset. It's all facets of the same behaviour.

So how do I feel about it? Helpless. I can try and try to get people to listen, to maybe stop and think about things for a second before they just blindly parrot it until it becomes a 'fact' that I can no longer fight without someone insulting me. But the people making this content do not care about whether it's true or not they just want the views and I cannot fight against people who wish to lie to you for the superficial boost having thousands of views on a 20 second video gives them. It is exhausting. I can't stop them from doing it, so all I can do is be prepared to sit here and write another long cited post where I have to explain that the truth is far more complicated and nuanced than you will ever get in short form content.

[murphychips]

a treacherous descent into werewolf romance fiction

okay so. this story begins with me being on facebook, scrolling through videos, and getting these adverts at the end of EVERY video clip from these sites:

and i mean EVERY single one. and out of deranged curiosity i ended up clicking them and checking out their previews only to find maybe some of the more garbage i've ever had the displeasure of reading. each advert was different and each story varied, but all of them had dogshit quality.

eventually, i wondered who was making this stuff; MULTIPLE apps were being advertised to me under a bunch of different names, and all of them were centred around werewolves or mafia or billionaires. sometimes all three!

so i downloaded a couple of apps to see if i could identify an owner, but those all varied too! most don't even have websites; the app is the only thing they have. almost none of them have author names, or any way to identify the writer, and there's no way to submit to most of them. eventually, i chased up a few of these apps on reviews to find most appear to be stealing content from across the internet:

some of these are stolen from amazon, others are stolen from similar apps are cross-posted, others--as one comment says--appear to be scalping from wattpad (and likely AO3 and fanfic.net, although i'm currently trying to find examples).

HOWEVER

one app that crossed my phone was Letterlux, which does feature a submit page and appears to actually promote original work! the genres remain the same--werewolves, billionaires, mafia, etc--and so i was like alright. this appears to be a publishing outlet of SOME kind. what's the catch?

the catch is the abysmal fucking offerings:

the 'exclusive' contract here is if you do the whole 'submit a thing and they extend an offer', whereas non-exclusive is you just posting the thing. but look at the numbers! look how low they are! $450 if your story is above 200,000 words????????????????? and you have to post EVERY DAY for the update bonus; if you miss more than 4 days, you're out of the running. HOLY EXPLOITATION BATMAN. never mind that for the non-exclusive, you get a measly $250 for 200,000 words and NO update bonus. with the signing bonus of a whole $50, that's $300 for 200,000+ words: a whopping 0.0015 per word.

another app that appears to promote original work is Galatea, owned by inkitt; it appears legit in that it's been advertised by a bunch of different places, i.e. Writer's Digest, and has a fairly slick site, but reviews from users say it's a scam--a less predatory scam than usual, but still a scam.

TL;DR, if you write heterosexual steamy werewolf romance, your shit is likely making money for some company in whoknowsistan, who use microtransactions to make you pay for individual books. and i haven't even TALKED about how some of these apps have some of the most crazy IP protection i have ever seen, such as banning you for an hour if you screencap ANYTHING, and hiding recorded videos:

but despite all this, and this horrible rabbithole of novel apps i've fallen down, nothing compares to me having to read all this fiction and realising that we are ignorant to the quantities of sheer bad werewolf writing out there, so much so that i'm honestly tempted to post my own straight-bait just to see how far i can get. things that i've noticed:

all the female protagonists start off as abused or hated and are saved by some Alpha/Alpha King/Alpha Demon/idk man

sometimes the werewolf aspect is just an inner wolf who like. yells at you sometimes?

there's gamma rank werewolves?

there's DELTA rank werewolves?????????????

i honestly think i'm becoming addicted to finding out just how unhinged some of these stories get, but that is beside the point: in the end, for the love of god, don't be a dumbass and use these shady apps, and do NOT submit to places who won't even give you an entire penny per word. also, check your shit; it might have been scalped for someone else's profit. okay. ciao.

#what do i even tag this with tbh #just don't be a moron okay #sdfghjsdgfhjk #anyway back to reading awful werewolf stories on wattpad from the actual authors

[crypticjackal13]

Testing out these hc's and also NSFW. Don't like, don't read. What you do on the internet isn't my fault. (CW: mentions of trauma, food, drinking, and s3x)

My Ghost(Simon Riley) Headcanons

He's not addicted to his mask. The dialogue between him and Soap about it is funny as hell("bet you sleep with that thing" "soundly.") But like he probably takes his mask off once he's home alone and what not. Sometimes forgets to wash it but he keeps a reminder on his phone to do it at least once a week. Has a few extras with his stuff, and carries at least one baclava in his uniform's pocket just in case.

He's not super insecure. He's confident, he knows he's hot. I could see him being a bit self conscious about his scars, and he likely doesn't like anyone touching them. But other than that, he doesn't mind how he looks(like his body weight, his height, etc)

Doesn't smoke(or very rarely does it). But he does drink. It's very controlled, though, and he refuses to have any more than 3 drinks because he doesn't want to be irresponsible. Some nights he's actually likely to be the designated driver if the team heads to a pub.

Eats regularly. At least two good meals a day, and he's fairly mindful about what he's eating. Sometimes he doesn't have the time or resources to get like a bunch of veggies or whatever, so he does settle for fast food or junk food. He doesn't starve himself, he knows he won't be able to do his job efficiently if he does.

I think he's not cold and emotionless all the time. He likes jokes and witty banter!! He probably doesn't mind listening to someone ramble for a while!! It might take him a bit to warm up to someone on his own, but he might feel better if there's a mutual friend(i.e. Soap). But he isn't a robot all the time it just takes him a minute to adjust to a new person. (He does always have that lingering fear of betrayal, though. He wishes it wasn't there always nagging at the back of his mind.)

Did go through a lot of therapy. Both for his physical health(after being hung by his ribs and what not) and his mental health(for basically everything). He wouldn't have been considered fit to serve if he hadn't done it. (I also think this would make him the type to make jokes about his own trauma sometimes just for the hell of it)

NSFW. It takes a solid couple of weeks/months into a relationship for him to feel comfortable with sex. He doesn't mind kissing/hugging/holding hands/cuddling, but in terms of intimacy he needs to know that he's safe with someone to actually do that stuff.

He's very nice about it. Checks up on his partner multiple times throughout to make sure he's not doing anything to upset them. If he is, he immediately backs off.

Manhandles by accident. Tends to get lost in the moment and so he just kinda,,, moves his partner around. Quickly apologizes and chuckles and asks them if they're alright in this position.

He's a little kinky. Not a whole lot, but I imagine he'd be okay with things like easy bondage, light impact play, and maybe some stuff with toys if that's what his partner likes. If his partner wants to do something new he does hella research first. Also he may be more leaning dominant but he's not gonna be a hard Dom.

Tends to pass out right after the fact. To combat this he usually tries to keep some snacks, drinks, and wipes in the room in case his partner wants any. Of course he'll make it up to them in the morning--I think he's really good at making proper tea and coffee.

TL;DR I see way too much mischaracterization of him. He's a little guy and he deserves better. :)

#call of duty #call of duty mw2 #simon ghost riley #ghost #ghost mw2 #simon riley #simon riley headcanons #ghost headcanons #SORRY THIS ISNT MY TYPICAL LMK CONTENT IVE BEEN GOING THROUGH A HYPERFIXATION #anyways you can request more cod if you want

[sidewalkchemistry]

The Fine Line Between Self-Love & Punitive Discipline (Finding Food Freedom ☺️) | Holistic Leveling Up!

I wanted to take a moment today to talk about the modern scene of nutrition. Increasingly within it, a common theme is condemning abstinence, or restriction, in efforts to be in direct opposition to diet culture. Unfortunately, many nutritionists haven't yet realized how food freedom comes about - i.e. through distancing oneself from addictive & overprocessed "food stuffs" by your own self-loving choice to choose nourishment instead. It opens up your tastebuds and develops cravings for real whole foods. Thus, food becomes orgasmic & nourishing at once...It literally feels like you've been missing out your whole life on feeling so hydrated, satiated, and energized. The felt sense of connection and gratitude for Earth's bounty usually leaves little to no room for a troubled relationship with food (with the proper transitionary system especially).

Rejecting fast foods, refined sugars, junk food snacks, table salts, oils, animal products (which are inherently hormone-ridden), and other food formulations which create addictive habits can first look like a knuckle-gripping self-disciplinary method. Many get wary that it will cause or worsen disordered relationships with food. Rarely is an eye batted at the nutritionist who encourages eating junk foods and fast foods on a regular basis for a "balanced" mindset. The paradox is that animals who get a taste of these foods lose all sense of balance with food. Disordered relationships with food are only a reality because of non-real foods. There is nothing wrong with facing the reality that there are such things as unhealthy foods. Unhealthy food cravings and binges are only done on less-than-ideal foods. Such foods should never be seen as something-I-may-never-ever-have-again or a food-I-can-no-longer-eat. That will mess you up psychologically and increase the craving tenfold! Plus, it won't be interpreted by the body as a loving act to ignore those cravings. It will feel like punishment. Mindset shifts are necessary in healing one's relationship with food because some of what we considered foods alter our normal psychology. Instead, it's much healthier to think in terms of these-are-the-foods-that-are-perfect-for-me. By that, I mean, that many of the foods which we all know shouldn't be eaten on a regular basis cause us to act within the realm of our "lower selves," as you could say. They increase our impatience, anxiety, temper...they throw us out of balance (nothing is wrong with recognizing any morsel of impatience, anxiety, or anger within you. The issue is when it begins to unconsciously rule you). But yes, this is how we make self-loving choices at all. This is real discipline. You notice that a certain action will be much more worthwhile. And so, you choose it. And you delight in the journey that action takes you along. And that becomes your new normal. ~~~~ FOOD FREEDOM AFFIRMATIONS "I nourish myself on ripe, juicy fruits, satisfying greens, and warm herbal teas." "Junk foods are not suited for someone like me." "I treat myself with a rich rainbow of colors everyday." "I easily express the fullness of myself when I'm running on high quality fuel." ~~~~~ Transitioning to this stage (swapping your self-injurious habits for soul-nourishing ones) doesn't happen overnight, however. I have described a bit about how to progressively upgrade towards a more mindful and healing experience with your food. Some things can include: eating leafy greens or drinking a herbal tea (preferably unsweetened, strongly steeped, and a bitter herb) alongside the food you wish to let go of; wise usage of colon hydrotherapy (I recommend lemon & distilled water enemas in particular); eating fruit as your first meal of the day; eating at least 1 lb of leafy greens daily; finding healthier swaps; filling your feeds with inspiring accounts filled only with displays of real foods; preparing your meals at home (this is one of the most pivotal moves you can make!); having a green juice/smoothie daily; start with your favorite produce then branch out and try more; learning to select fresh, ripe fruits; healing mindset shifts & affirmations; trying & creating staple recipes that suit you on every level; etc!

#txt #mindsets #food centric herbalism #self healing #food freedom #nourishing foods #whole food plant based #herbalism #wfpb #ahimsa #yoga #nutrition #food addiction #plant based lifestyle #holistic leveling up #leveling up #that girl #green juice girl #slow living #soft living #mindfulness #self love #self care #higher self #ed recovery #clean eating #sidewalkchemistry

[somerunner]

Uhhhh more Cradle posts possibly. Cradle ask game

So I have a serious work-avoidance and screen addiction problem, like 8-10 hours a day. I also have an undergraduate thesis to write. I can get a little bit of work done every day, and can get more done if I am kept accountable. I can also get more done if I get the ball rolling by doing some unrelated task.

With that in mind, here’s an ask game! It’ll give me a reason to convince myself to actually work on those Cradleposts that I said I would make a few months ago. Send one or more numbers or the questions verbatim, and add your input (i.e. send an ask that’s like “1, Ziel’s arc” or “1: Thoughts on a character arc in Cradle. I’d like to hear your thoughts on Ziel”). You could also just send the number/question with no input, and I’ll write about whatever I feel like.

Thoughts on a character arc in Cradle

Thoughts on a Path

Thoughts on a one-appearance character

Thoughts on any other character

What’s the last idle theory I had about Cradle (basically, just “Thoughts”)

Write a short canon-compliant fanfic (i.e. a battle Yerin had, or Gesha actually enjoying her time in the Blackflame Empire while the kids train)

Write a short fanfic, not canon-compliant (i.e. Lindon gets visited by Zakariel and not Suriel, or Yerin gets Solo Leveling system powers. It could be literally anything)

Draw a crappy fanart (please have low expectations lol, I don’t know how to draw and will also draw the whole thing in like 2 minutes)

Funny post (i.e. funny hypotheticals like “I wonder if Reigan Shen was any good at DDR” or funny observations like “Biggest Lindon L: he never made a totally epic launcher construct out of the Dreadgods. Huge loss”)

Short crackfic (basically the same as above, but narrated)

Hypothetical situation (i.e. how would the gang fare vs. Goku, what kind of pasta would Eithan cook, which member of the group would be best at video games, etc.)

Add an Image ID to Cradle art (I’ve been meaning to do that for all the ones I’ve seen but it’s so much easier to just scroll)

Just a reminder, send a number or the full question, and then add what you’d like for the question to be answered about! I’ll only spend a few minutes on any of these unless I lose track of time, since the point is to get me out of a scrolling rut and get to work on college stuff.

Does this actually work to get me on task? Kinda! It’s better than uninterrupted scrolling, which is my usual state.

Oh, and if you want to send these asks about Will Wight’s other work, I can also answer those. I’ve read all his other stuff too.

#cradle series #cradle runnerpost #ask game #fandom runnerpost #cradle ask game

[ashtraythief]

hello

I'm addicted to the underneath verse, so much so that I must have read it more times than I can count.

it's so well written and I love everything about it, except the fear for Jensen’s life and for him loosing his jared.

now for the stupid part, I love bottom Jensen fics and I love obsessed and possessive jared, but I can't enjoy it because of the age difference.

i know, stupid.

so I do this thing in my head were I read it but keep reminding myself that they are the same age or Jensen is a little bit younger.

my stupid question which I hope you answer anyway if you can, is why did you keep their real age, what if jared had a complete dominance over Jensen, size as well as age too.

i felt a twinge in my heart when jared said to him "is it because of the age difference"?

when Jensen caught him having a good time with the twink 😡

also what do you think about the age thing in general, lije how do you prefer it to go, and why?

thank you for your beautiful writings ♥️

Thank you so much for your kind words about the underneath verse!

This is kind of a layered question, but I’m gonna do my best.

First, I have to say that while your kink is not my kink, no kink is stupid and you don’t have to apologize for it. It’s something you enjoy, for whatever reason, and that’s totally fine!

The whole age gap thing is for various reasons difficult for me and my opinion and the way I write it has changed over the years. I don't really want to go into that too much, but I'll try to answer your questions as best as possible.

The simple answer for the age difference in the underneath verse is that I kept it how it is in real life. Four years isn’t that much when you’re in your late twenties/early thirties, anyway, so it’s not an age gap that makes me go huh, age gap, that’s going to have an impact on the story. And I usually keep their age gap in whatever story I write unless the setup requires something else, i.e. if one of them is a supernatural creature like a vampire.

The in-universe answer is that I wanted Jensen to have realistic job experience. As far as my research went, the FBI generally requires a college degree or/and work experience. And then I wanted Jensen to have FBI work experience. He’s supposed to be very good at what he does and I think that’s something that comes with experience.

And then I just fitted Jared’s timeline to the age he’d have in relation to Jensen and it worked out pretty well. There was no reason why the plot wouldn't work with him at that age, so I had no reason to change it. Actually, I thought it worked out pretty well. It gave Jared enough time to become powerful but early enough that the FBI would go after so hard.

And as for the whole dominance angle, I think I disagree with your opinion that age automatically equates dominance or rather that dominance requires a greater age. (And that’s fine! Different strokes and all that.) While age can play a very significant factor in dominant behavior, it doesn’t have to. For me, age has nothing to do with dominance in the bedroom, certainly not when it's as small as four years. Age gaps can play a role when it comes to experience and confidence, but it doesn't influence whether you like to be dominant or submissive. I totally understand that the image can be appealing and your kink is your kink and it's valid, but it's not one I particularly share. I usually keep the Js rl age gap (tradition at this point? Idk) and it doesn't influence how I write them in bed or their relationship dynamic. If you've read more of my stuff, you know that I write them with all sorts of dynamics and I usually just keep it the rl age gap but I also wouldn't mind shrinking it.

(There are pairings tho where I'm more fixed in the dynamic I enjoy. JDM will always be a toppy bastard to me in bed 😅 but then that could also be JDM-specific and unrelated to his age).

For the underneath verse I also didn’t want Jared to have absolute dominance. In the underneath verse, there's a balance and while Jared is definitely sexually dominant, I'd argue that their power balance in their relationship actually tilts in Jensen's favor. If I had written Jared older than Jensen, I don't think it would have made much of a difference honestly. Jared might have been a little more level-headed, but then you don't grow out of anger issues if you don't work on them. Maybe he'd be more jaded and it would have taken him longer to fall for Jensen, but if Jared were say 38 instead of 28 when they met, it wouldn't have changed anything about their relationship.

As for Jared's question whether it's the age thing, that was a reflection of Jared's very heteronormative attitude towards relationships. I do think for Jared there's a correlation of young and submissive that he sought out on his hookup and the prized value of youth for beauty. Before Jensen, the guys he hooked up with were part of his image and he mirrored what the other powerful rich guys were doing who were all very straight. And these kind of powerful men surround themselves with young beautiful women because that's what's valued in our wonderful and not at all fucked up society. And so Jared did the same, just with guys. Considering how attracted he is to Jensen shows that he's not exclusively attracted to youth and that age doesn't matter all that much to him. I don’t think there was a single moment where Jared thought about Jensen’s age as a significant factor in any way. But he still knows how youth is valued in beauty so that’s why he asks Jensen that question. And I think when Jensen turns the question back on him, Jared immediately says that he doesn't care about that.

I hope that answers your question, nonnie!

TL, DR: While I can enjoy and have written fics where one character is possessive and dominant, for me that only works in specific kink scenarios. When it comes to plot fics where I flesh out a relationship, I enjoy a more even power balance (unless it's specifically a dystopia). I’ve written all kinds of kinky stuff for this fandom though, so my attitude toward this is always let your kink flag fly. We all have an id to feed and as long as we’re all polite and respectful about it and use the appropriate tags, everyone can have a good time. So feel free to imagine the Js of the same age or Jared older if that helps you enjoy this fic. Honestly, aging Jared up here really wouldn’t change much in my opinion (except, you know, Jared’s refractory period 😅) and it wouldn’t change their dynamic.

#anon ask

[x-neurotoxin-x]

What do you mean by the abusive type of trauma bonding?

What I see people refer to as trauma bonding isn't exactly what it is, or at least what the term refers to. It seemed to kinda cycle around social media spaces being kinda misused to mean "experiencing with and/or going through similar trauma as another person/other people and relating to and bonding with that person/those people on those experiences." I.e. two siblings growing up in an abusive home together and forming a bond centered around that dysfunction, or two friends having similar traumatic experiences like sa or domestic violence and relating and bonding over having similar experiences. Which is another thing entirely that can be healthy or unhealthy depending on things like boundaries and stuff but isn't inherently one or the other, kind of a grey area.

Actual Trauma Bonding refers to a dynamic which is almost always unhealthy and usually seen within abusive relationship (familial, romantic, or platonic.) The term was coined by Patrick J. Carnes, Ph. D., the founder of the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals, in 1997 and refers to a bond formed between an abuser and a victim that creates an unhealthy attachment style.

It's normally caused by emotional manipulation (such as gaslighting, love bombing, guilt tripping, and fishing for pity usually after abusive incidents) and tends to lead to codependency and a feeling of loyalty to the abuser. The one being abused might defend or justify the abuser's actions and behaviors, especially if the bond has been building for a while, and stay in the relationship because of their attachment to the other person and the waves the relationship can go through. Very similar to the cycle of abuse in a lot of domestic violence cases for example, trauma bonding tends to follow steps that cycle in a circle during the relationship. Usually it cycles through periods of cooldowns where things are semi normal and little to no abusive things are happening, there's usually love bombing in this stage, then it can shift into criticism and unhealthy/abusive behaviors which can happen either very quick and for short bursts or be more drawn out and build up, then it'll shift into a phase very similar to the honey moon phase with more love bombing and justification of what happened, then rinse and repeat.

Certain people are more vulnerable to forming trauma bonds, especially people who were abused, neglected, or abandoned in childhood and had little to no safe people in their lives (why I tend to hc Dabi with a lot of trauma bonds). Kids that experience a lot of rejection and abuse mixed in with "love" and approval will often associate love with abuse and grow up to internalize that stuff. So when they meet somebody that's similar to them and get to know them, they might deem that person a "safe" person and form a subconscious attachment to them and a desire for their approval, especially if they haven't had many safe or supportive people in their life. Then there's an incident that happens where they're hurt by that person they consider safe, and now they're let down and confused by the fact this safe person for them is now unsafe and broke their trust - now, trauma bonding is when the victim decides to listen to and accept justification, gaslighting, minimizing, and apologies from that other person and moves them back into the "safe" person position instead of establishing firm boundaries or cutting the person off depending on how serious the incident was. The victim might still hold anger and frustration towards the other person, but they'll subconsciously blame themself and justify what was done to them so they can keep that illusion of a safe person in their life, even if that person is really unsafe for them. From here, a cycle of abuse usually begins with cool down periods, abusive incidents, gaslighting and love bombing, then back to cool downs.

So, yeah, sorry to totally info dump there but i hope that answers your question.

#ask to tag

[vellaphoria]

hi hi! c: for the Get to know your fic writer! meme - 1, 17, 22, 56, and 67? (however many you'd like to answer!)

hiiiiii :D

thanks for the ask!! <3

Do you prefer writing one-shots or multi-chaptered fics?

It depends on what I'm going for! I think that broadly I'd prefer to write one-shots, but I'm very very bad at being concise in writing, so often they turn into multi-chapter fics without me noticing lol The fun thing about oneshots is that you can be Vague and leave people guessing about implication breadcrumbs left through the fic. But the fun thing about multi-chapter fics is that I do really love worldbuilding...

17. What do you do when writing becomes difficult? (maybe a lack of inspiration or writers block)

For a lack of inspiration, usually I have to step away from the project for a while. Trying to write while uninspired tends to do me more harm than good, and inspiration tends to find me at the most unexpected times. So chances are I'll be coming back to it pretty quickly, when the time is right.

For writers block, I usually bring the issue to my beta reader and we talk through it and brainstorm. Getting a second opinion is really helpful! Especially when the other person can see things that you've missed because you were the one writing it. So, shout out to my beta reader for being excellent (and also for enabling me lol) <3

22. Are there certain types of writing you won’t do? (style, pov, genre, tropes, etc)

There are! But for different reasons. Style: I think that epistolary style can be done very well, but I'm not super good at it and have no particular desire to expand my writing skill set in that direction. POV: Likewise, first person and second person pov can be well done (harder with second person, imo), but they're not for me. I could probably write third person omniscient, but I much prefer third person limited because playing with perception and who knows what (and when) is really fun for me! The downside is that sometimes people reading my fic are like. Why didn't the POV character know this thing that they couldn't possibly have known at the time in the plot?? So I think that some people don't understand that third person omniscient and limited pov's are different things Genre: I'm really really really really not a fan of slice of life, as a genre. Or coffee shop AUs. Any genre where narrative conflict is deemphasized is a genre that I'm not super interested in reading or writing Tropes: I won't write AOB because I'm squicked out by the biological determinism and recreation of heterosexual gender dynamics in queer relationshps. Like, I know there are subversions that don't do that, but the majority of it plays it straight, so it's not for me. I also won't write pregnancy of any sort or child acquisition because the first squicks me out and the latter makes me uncomfortable. For DC-specific tropes, I won't write joker junior because the concept makes me sad. I've also been leaning away from a lot of the fanon tropes (i.e. stuff like Tim having a coffee addiction) because while they're fun as jokes, the way that some people are treating them as canon annoys me. Long answer is long lol

56. What’s something about your writing that you pride yourself on?

I like to think that I write pretty compelling relationship dynamics. Or at least I write them in the way that I want to read them, so. That's all that really matters to me at the end of the day <3

67. Do you prefer prompts and challenges, or completely independent ideas?

I prefer prompts and challenges since I get to interpret them broadly! Chances are that by they end, they've become completely independent ideas anyway XD

(questions are from this prompt list)

#jagn answers #ask games #gerryrigged #:D

[emmashouldbewriting]

Don’t American food companies put corn syrup in everything? Corn is heavily subsidised by the government so they put it in everything…. I heard even the bread at the supermarket is sweet, like I see videos online and why is the bread so perfectly white with no holes??

Not entirely true. Yes, everything here in the US is sweeter but it's not always corn syrup. It's sugar, butter, and all kinds of artificial sweeteners, which includes corn syrup. It's a "by-product" of how commercialized and mass-produced our food is. Sweeteners are added to our food to make it taste better because the commercialized systems that produce our food overprocesses the food, which removes the actual taste from the food. Corn syrup in particular is used as a preservative that keeps packaged food (i.e. the stuff from the factories that most Americans eat because it's cheaper than real fresh food) "fresh" for longer. So everything is sweeter because it's literally being preserved to be shelf-stable for months, if not years.

One of the reasons we do this is because of food accessibility. People will sometimes go for weeks between grocery shops - either they don't live close enough to a grocery store to go frequently (e.g. the daily or several times a week like the average European does) or the price of "clean" food is so high that it's unaffordable. So we default to these pre-packaged super sweet foods because of how much more accessible it is over farm-to-table ingredients/foods. Which in turn gives us this sugar addiction that makes healthy eating movements incredibly difficult. For instance, Michelle Obama and Jamie Oliver's healthy school meals initiatives failed partly because of cost but also mainly because the kids didn't like the food - the new healthy meals weren't sweet enough, compared to "old" meals and other foods, to appeal to the kids.

Thank you for this! US food is so, so sweet comparatively, it's wild.

I do have to ask though - do you include the UK in the 'Europeans several supermarket' visit thing? Because us Brits usually go once a week then to our local corner shop to grab anything extra like milk. We don't typically do a grocery shop more than once a week unless we plan for it. However whenever we've been in Greece this definitely applies, we've always stayed in small villages and gone every few days!

But I agree with you overall. We sell our excess eggs at the end of our driveway and were worried about raising our prices this year to account for the raise in feed for our ducks/chickens... our poor girls can't lay them fast enough right now. But we won't raise our prices because good, healthy food should be more accessible than it is.

[byneddiedingo]

Robert Mitchum and Jean Simmons in Angel Face (Otto Preminger, 1953) Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jean Simmons, Mona Freeman, Herbert Marshall, Leon Ames, Barbara O'Neil. Screenplay: Frank S. Nugent, Oscar Millard, based on a story by Chester Erskine. Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr. Art direction: Carroll Clark, Albert S. D’Agostino. Film editing: Frederic Knudtson. Music: Dimitri Tiomkin.  Otto Preminger was about to take on the Production Code when he made Angel Face: His next film was The Moon Is Blue (1953), a rather tepid little romantic comedy that offended the Code enforcers because its heroine, though relentlessly virginal, demonstrated an awareness of and interest in extramarital sex that was one of the Code's taboos. With the backing of United Artists, Preminger went ahead and made the film, releasing it without the Code's imprimatur. The result was a succès de scandale, a hit far beyond any actual merits of the film, after it was condemned by the Catholic Legion of Decency and by some local censorship boards. Two years later, Preminger and United Artists would follow the same procedure with The Man With the Golden Arm (1952), a film about drug addiction that also flouted some of the Code's prohibitions. Preminger's stand is usually cited among the landmarks leading to the end of film industry censorship. I mention all this because I was struck by how Preminger also ignores the Code's conventional morality in Angel Face, which makes it clear that Frank Jessup (Robert Mitchum) has been sleeping with his girlfriend, Mary Wilton (Mona Freeman) -- among other things, he reveals that he knows what she wears to bed, and when he goes to see her, she's in her slip getting ready to go out and doesn't bother coyly pulling on the usual bathrobe. The thing is, Mary is the film's "nice girl," the character meant to be the foil to the film's murderous Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons). But Diane doesn't smoke or drink, and Mary does. Some of the reason for Preminger's blurring of the lines between the usual Hollywood ideas of good and bad in these characters probably stems from a desire to build suspense, keeping us from being entirely sure that Diane is the one who turned on the gas in her stepmother's room or if she really is guilty of the murder for which she stands trial. But I suspect that it has more to do with Preminger's desire to pull his characters out of the usual pigeonholes of Hollywood melodrama, to make them plausible, enigmatic human beings. To some extent he's fighting the script, adapted by Frank S. Nugent and Oscar Millard (with some uncredited help by Ben Hecht) from a story by Chester Erskine, which on the face of it is the usual stuff about a conniving woman who loves her daddy too much and who stands to gain from her stepmother's death, ensnaring an unsuspecting man along the way. Mitchum's sleepy-eyed raffishness could have been used to make him the usual tough-guy collaborator of a femme fatale, like Fred MacMurray's Walter Neff in Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944) or John Garfield's Frank Chambers in The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnett, 1946), but it's not a knock on those two great noirs to say that Preminger does something more subtle with Mitchum's Frank Jessup: He's an accomplice and a victim only by accident, letting his hormones put him in harm's (i.e., Diane's) way, and struggling ineffectually, even a little tragically, not to be dragged down by her. Angel Face is not as well-known as those other films, but with its solid performances, its effective and unobtrusive score by Dimitri Tiomkin, and its knockout of an ending, it deserves to be. 

#Angel Face #Otto Preminger #Robert Mitchum #Jean Simmons

[deerydear]

The Effects of Computer Programming on the Brain

Posted on January 8, 2012

Disclaimer: No illegal drugs were consumed in the research of this article.

Pavlov's Leaky Dog

I should have used the term Dopamine in the title of this article, but it would have been less intriguing, no? Anyhow, generally speaking, Dopamine is a substance occurring naturally in the brain that assists in the experience of human pleasure. Cocaine has such a dramatic effect on the brain because it causes a build-up of Dopamine which then leads to elevated levels of pleasure. But, you're smart, you probably already knew all that.

Like cocaine use, we can develop a Dopamine release from various kinds of behaviors. Computer programming is one such behavior. Consider this: you might imagine that a person would not want to spend hours on end staring at a computer screen, skipping meals, losing track of time, only using a text editor, making small changes to a text file, observing small results, over and over again - in other words, the experience of computer programming. Those who enjoy, or, dare I say, are addicted to computer programming - they spend their time in a trance, going through the motions, waiting for the moment when they have solved a problem and their code does what it was intended to do, akin to the pleasure a person might get from solving puzzles for leisure. To make things worse (from an addiction stand point) it's hard to know when the puzzle will be properly solved, so a degree of nervous anticipation builds up before each verification and when the puzzle is finally solved, there is a mild or often intense feeling of pleasure. Which then shortly subsides as the programmer then repeats the cycle, onto the next puzzle, onto the next fix.

Programmers may even display a degree of heightened irritability if a puzzle takes too long to solve, and a degree of reluctance to take on trivial tasks that are not suitably challenging; i.e., when the strain of the work involved outweighs the pleasure payout. This might just be a measure to separate the addicts from the team players: their willingness to do the "boring stuff" that gets the project done vs. their zeal for the "hard stuff" that makes it interesting. Obviously, few people like to do the "boring stuff" involved in any endeavor, but to the programming addict, it's almost unbearable.

Great Programmers: Sometimes Addicts

To get good at programming, or arguably any non-trivial challenging skill, you have to spend a lot of time doing it. Hundreds of hours, perhaps even thousands. There is an innate pleasure associated with learning. Some people experience it more than others. Programming is unique in a sense, in terms of how many opportunities it can present to solve a puzzle and how unpredictable puzzle resolution can be. I am not a neurologist, nor have I conducted any formal studies, but anecdotally and empirically, I've noticed that many great programmers may have become great because they experienced a pleasure incentive that got them so addicted to the activity, that they spent so much time doing it, that they just inevitably became quite good at it. Part of how they got so great is that they continually needed ever more complex and challenging puzzles to solve so they could go through the incentive cycle again and again as a person does not get the same (or any) pleasure experience from learning something they already know or solving a puzzle they have already solved.

The Dark Side: Going Off Script

As anyone who is an addict or has lived with one knows, an addict's main priority is getting their fix - not: taking the kids out to play and certainly not getting a programming project completed. I once worked with a brilliant programmer who I believe was so addicted, that he would create challenges where there were none to make his work more interesting - I think this made the work bearable for him. Usually, he could not complete a project, because once all the interesting stuff was done, he simply could not motivate himself to keep on working on it. Clearly this was extreme and unhealthy.

From a business perspective, addicted programmers are in themselves a kind of temptation to employers. They can do amazing things that others can not do and often in a much in shorter time span. They have no problem working for long hours and are intrinsically motivated to work. However, they can also be very dangerous, specifically because they frequently go off-script. They have their own agenda where they create challenges where there otherwise may not have needed to exist or they work on some minor tangential aspect of a project for hours on end, leaving the project plan behind to program what they feel that they need to, not what the project itself needs.

Remedies

If you are or a programmer you know is someone who may be suffering from what I can only really describe as coding addiction, the solution may be to find healthier rewards. Personally, I am sure that I fall into a trap of addictive computer programming binges at times. What I find most helpful is to focus on the end result: client satisfaction and high quality user experience. Also, having a good mechanism to track progress on projects can help a team realize when they have veered off track and what they can do to get back on track. Generally speaking, any activity that helps a person build personal will and discipline will help them overcome their habits and urges and get back on a more healthy and integrated track: team work, keeping their word and getting things done.

Read a variety of commentary in response to this article.

#psychology #addiction #not my writing

[mechanakin]

(Small thing about Anakin: I’m playing him as Autistic and ADHD because I’m me and I can, plus he clearly is. I’m just building that out more for my portrayal. He fidgets. A lot. And if he can’t fidget with his hands, he’s fidgeting with the Force(I.e. levitating small objects like wrenches and spanners and spinning them around like fidget spinners, pushing and pulling small things, etc.) This usually happens either when he’s bored and being forced to sit still, or when he’s working through a problem that frustrates him. If he’s stimming while nervous, that usually involves foot tapping, crossing his arms, fidgeting with the hems of his sleeves, avoiding eye contact, and/or tapping fingers. He hates gritty, grainy, rough textures (like sand), and cannot stand bland and/or mushy food. It has to be hella spicy, salty, or savory. He’ll tolerate sweet stuff as long as it isn’t just pure sugar, hates sweet-sour with a burning passion, and loves salty-sour/briney (like pickles). He would probably be addicted to caf (coffee) if he could find away to cut out the bitterness without making it incredibly sweet. There’s probably more, but this is all I can think of right now.)

#🔧 out of grease 🔧 ooc talk #about ani #pardon the rant I just had to get this out

[mindweasels]

phases

PHASE 1

overwhelming sense that my brain and body are different from other humans in a way that they don't understand and (mostly) feel threatened/exhausted by

an internal monologue that seems divorced from my emotions or environment in any immediate way, and frequently conveys words and phrases that I don't agree with

moments of suicidal ideation, usually spurred on by this internal monologue making a case for why I should kill myself

lots of circular dialectical thoughts in my head. i.e. "humans are bad," "they're not all bad," "name one that isn't bad," "x isn't bad," "x harmed you in the following ways," "nothing is all good or bad really," "only humans think things are good or bad. That's why humans are bad." (that's an extremely simplified example. often they get into some 400 level philosophy stuff.)

increased feelings of sexual arousal and sexual attraction to socially inappropriate targets

PHASE 2

Feelings of worthlessness, rejection, shame.

Extreme physical pain and exhuastion.

Constant inner monologue saying "you should kill yourself. I want to kill myself," over and over. No longer divorced from my emotions.

Insomnia.

Crying. Amplified emotions.

Paranoid thoughts do arise but are still easily dismissed.

PHASE 3

Vision problems. Possible seizures?

No insomnia or crying (except during menstruation)

A distinct sense that there are two separate people sharing my body

Unbelievable non-stop horniness

There's a kind of euphoria. A bliss. Everything is meaningful all the time. I'm in love. It's like sex, 24/7.

A sort of pain in my abdomen, like yearning. More, more, infinitely more.

PHASE 4

Forgetfulness and disorientation

Non-stop euphoria. Never want it to end.

PHASE 5

Obsessive thoughts. Anxiety about whether I'm going crazy and whether I have "trauma." This: my whole life everyone - even my parents - put me in the "safe to fuck, but not safe to love" box. And I'm furious and hurt about that. When I first got close to Cristina, it seemed safe, because she's aromantic and an internet stranger, so… if she rejected me romantically, it could not possibly be my fault. Then she fell for Corinna. She gave Corinna everything I wanted. It could not be more clear that she was ready to fall in love, was looking for it in fandom spaces, and chose NOT ME. It hurt me in ways I never really came back from.

It's not safe for me to be romantically rejected, but its also not something 100% in my control. I don't know why people keep me at a distance. Maybe if I knew I could fix it. It seems like people enjoy falling in love with people who are withdrawn and mysterious, who don't talk much about themselves or their feelings. But that's not fun, is it? Being seen is so addictive.

PHASE 6

Disconnectedness from the concept of romantic love. Obsessive thoughts about power dynamics, trust, and transactions in relationships.

Socialization feels less purposeful and more like an error made in desperation. It is frequently followed by paranoia that I fucked up by reaching out or getting close to someone (because I have opened myself up to abuse or rejection.)

Greater feelings of delight and intimacy in physical objects, animals, etc.. ("Madame Lafleur")

PHASE 7

Forgetting the first five phases. Putting them out of my mind, until once again I crash into them when dealing with social rejection, loneliness, or shame.