#modern emb

[kerbrobro]

Also time for THIS

#man fuck modern internet youtube shit not letting this embed right

[knightofleo]

#ok #... #you know #on some level i honestly kind of find it fascinating #how the one site out of all modern social media that when you think about it #might really have one of the most broad and flexible range of functionalities available #text video sound pictures embeds all of it in equal measure in any sequence or combination you’d like #has managed to almost willfully niche itself so thoroughly into irrelevancy as this one has #i know niche-ing isn’t a verb but i’m making it one

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How lock-in hurts design

Berliners: Otherland has added a second date (Jan 28) for my book-talk after the first one sold out - book now!

If you've ever read about design, you've probably encountered the idea of "paving the desire path." A "desire path" is an erosion path created by people departing from the official walkway and taking their own route. The story goes that smart campus planners don't fight the desire paths laid down by students; they pave them, formalizing the route that their constituents have voted for with their feet.

Desire paths aren't always great (Wikipedia notes that "desire paths sometimes cut through sensitive habitats and exclusion zones, threatening wildlife and park security"), but in the context of design, a desire path is a way that users communicate with designers, creating a feedback loop between those two groups. The designers make a product, the users use it in ways that surprise the designer, and the designer integrates all that into a new revision of the product.

This method is widely heralded as a means of "co-innovating" between users and companies. Designers who practice the method are lauded for their humility, their willingness to learn from their users. Tech history is strewn with examples of successful paved desire-paths.

Take John Deere. While today the company is notorious for its war on its customers (via its opposition to right to repair), Deere was once a leader in co-innovation, dispatching roving field engineers to visit farms and learn how farmers had modified their tractors. The best of these modifications would then be worked into the next round of tractor designs, in a virtuous cycle:

https://securityledger.com/2019/03/opinion-my-grandfathers-john-deere-would-support-our-right-to-repair/

But this pattern is even more pronounced in the digital world, because it's much easier to update a digital service than it is to update all the tractors in the field, especially if that service is cloud-based, meaning you can modify the back-end everyone is instantly updated. The most celebrated example of this co-creation is Twitter, whose users created a host of its core features.

Retweets, for example, were a user creation. Users who saw something they liked on the service would type "RT" and paste the text and the link into a new tweet composition window. Same for quote-tweets: users copied the URL for a tweet and pasted it in below their own commentary. Twitter designers observed this user innovation and formalized it, turning it into part of Twitter's core feature-set.

Companies are obsessed with discovering digital desire paths. They pay fortunes for analytics software to produce maps of how their users interact with their services, run focus groups, even embed sneaky screen-recording software into their web-pages:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-dark-side-of-replay-sessions-that-record-your-every-move-online/

This relentless surveillance of users is pursued in the name of making things better for them: let us spy on you and we'll figure out where your pain-points and friction are coming from, and remove those. We all win!

But this impulse is a world apart from the humility and respect implied by co-innovation. The constant, nonconsensual observation of users has more to do with controlling users than learning from them.

That is, after all, the ethos of modern technology: the more control a company can exert over its users ,the more value it can transfer from those users to its shareholders. That's the key to enshittification, the ubiquitous platform decay that has degraded virtually all the technology we use, making it worse every day:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/19/twiddler/

When you are seeking to control users, the desire paths they create are all too frequently a means to wrestling control back from you. Take advertising: every time a service makes its ads more obnoxious and invasive, it creates an incentive for its users to search for "how do I install an ad-blocker":

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/07/adblocking-how-about-nah

More than half of all web-users have installed ad-blockers. It's the largest consumer boycott in human history:

https://doc.searls.com/2023/11/11/how-is-the-worlds-biggest-boycott-doing/

But zero app users have installed ad-blockers, because reverse-engineering an app requires that you bypass its encryption, triggering liability under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. This law provides for a $500,000 fine and a 5-year prison sentence for "circumvention" of access controls:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/12/youre-holding-it-wrong/#if-dishwashers-were-iphones

Beyond that, modifying an app creates liability under copyright, trademark, patent, trade secrets, noncompete, nondisclosure and so on. It's what Jay Freeman calls "felony contempt of business model":

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

This is why services are so horny to drive you to install their app rather using their websites: they are trying to get you to do something that, given your druthers, you would prefer not to do. They want to force you to exit through the gift shop, you want to carve a desire path straight to the parking lot. Apps let them mobilize the law to literally criminalize those desire paths.

An app is just a web-page wrapped in enough IP to make it a felony to block ads in it (or do anything else that wrestles value back from a company). Apps are web-pages where everything not forbidden is mandatory.

Seen in this light, an app is a way to wage war on desire paths, to abandon the cooperative model for co-innovation in favor of the adversarial model of user control and extraction.

Corporate apologists like to claim that the proliferation of apps proves that users like them. Neoliberal economists love the idea that business as usual represents a "revealed preference." This is an intellectually unserious tautology: "you do this, so you must like it":

https://boingboing.net/2024/01/22/hp-ceo-says-customers-are-a-bad-investment-unless-they-can-be-made-to-buy-companys-drm-ink-cartridges.html

Calling an action where no alternatives are permissible a "preference" or a "choice" is a cheap trick – especially when considered against the "preferences" that reveal themselves when a real choice is possible. Take commercial surveillance: when Apple gave Ios users a choice about being spied on – a one-click opt of of app-based surveillance – 96% of users choice no spying:

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/96-of-us-users-opt-out-of-app-tracking-in-ios-14-5-analytics-find/

But then Apple started spying on those very same users that had opted out of spying by Facebook and other Apple competitors:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

Neoclassical economists aren't just obsessed with revealed preferences – they also love to bandy about the idea of "moral hazard": economic arrangements that tempt people to be dishonest. This is typically applied to the public ("consumers" in the contemptuous parlance of econospeak). But apps are pure moral hazard – for corporations. The ability to prohibit desire paths – and literally imprison rivals who help your users thwart those prohibitions – is too tempting for companies to resist.

The fact that the majority of web users block ads reveals a strong preference for not being spied on ("users just want relevant ads" is such an obvious lie that doesn't merit any serious discussion):

https://www.iccl.ie/news/82-of-the-irish-public-wants-big-techs-toxic-algorithms-switched-off/

Giant companies attained their scale by learning from their users, not by thwarting them. The person using technology always knows something about what they need to do and how they want to do it that the designers can never anticipate. This is especially true of people who are unlike those designers – people who live on the other side of the world, or the other side of the economic divide, or whose bodies don't work the way that the designers' bodies do:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

Apps – and other technologies that are locked down so their users can be locked in – are the height of technological arrogance. They embody a belief that users are to be told, not heard. If a user wants to do something that the designer didn't anticipate, that's the user's fault:

https://www.wired.com/2010/06/iphone-4-holding-it-wrong/

Corporate enthusiasm for prohibiting you from reconfiguring the tools you use to suit your needs is a declaration of the end of history. "Sure," John Deere execs say, "we once learned from farmers by observing how they modified their tractors. But today's farmers are so much stupider and we are so much smarter that we have nothing to learn from them anymore."

Spying on your users to control them is a poor substitute asking your users their permission to learn from them. Without technological self-determination, preferences can't be revealed. Without the right to seize the means of computation, the desire paths never emerge, leaving designers in the dark about what users really want.

Our policymakers swear loyalty to "innovation" but when corporations ask for the right to decide who can innovate and how, they fall all over themselves to create laws that let companies punish users for the crime of contempt of business-model.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

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/2024/01/24/everything-not-mandatory/#is-prohibited

Image: Belem (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Desire_path_%2819811581366%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #desire paths #design #drm #everything not mandatory is prohibited #apps #ip #innovation #user innovation #technological self-determination #john deere #twitter #felony contempt of business model

[mille-marteaux]

anyway my final suggestion is stop only having one point of contact with people. learn how to use IRC, possibly how to port forward. you can't embed links or whatever into pure text but anyone can host an IRC server for like seven friends to just chat in and have DMs and not have them be stored on a random cloud server.

you can host an IRC server on basically any computer and its fine. you can host it on a random dying laptop. a voice chat server would be slightly harder in that you need something more modern than windows 95 with 256mb ram but whatever.

just get ready to learn these things, and share how to do these things with friends. if you want to get away from the corporate social media scape then take it back yourself.

[phoenixyfriend]

Fashion Illustration/Description Reference Set

IMMEDIATE DISCLAIMER: I am not the artist, I just like putting reference lists together for strangers on the internet. Please go follow the artist on instagram.

IDK how many of you follow me for fashion things, but hey, if you do! I just found a really solid fashion illustrator called luongthilinh.illustrator on instagram (also has a youtube) who does some really, really good reference sets for different parts of a garment.

The colors, lineart, and format are all really clean and I think these are an amazing addition to online resources for artists and fashion designers who are just starting out (or only just started working in English) and need a visual key to be able to describe what they're working on.

I'm not going to embed any of the images because I... cannot read their page and so don't know if they're okay with that, but I'll link the posts! Most have names/labels in English, and I'll note when they don't. The posts contain additional images with numbered or labeled examples in actual photographs.

Collars 1 (necklines) - two of the names are in the description

Collars 2 (lapels and fold-over)

Bustiers and Corsets (dress bodices and boned upper garments) - unlabeled

Sleeves - I'll admit a handful of the names are unfamiliar, and I pay a lot of attention to sleeves, but most sleeves and sleeve names (like most fashion) has overlap and gray areas

Dress Silhouettes - my one quibble is that it conflates mermaid and trumpet but ngl it didn't commit the sin of fit-and-flare, and a lot of people combine the two anyway, so meh

Skirts

Trousers and Pants (contains shorts)

Jackets and Blazers 1 (primarily tailored garments) - several names lacking, but mostly labeled

Jackets and Blazers 2 - some overlap with the above, but significantly larger variety, plenty of non-tailored garments

Modern 'Standard' Undergarments (bras, bralettes, undies) - some labeled, some not

Corsets

Pleated Skirts

Peplums - no labels

Good luck, folks!

#fashion #fashion references #phoenix refs #phoenix recs

[sagecodex]

I know I’m not the only one who struggles to find the right fonts for my projects. So I put together a list of places to find good, free, legal, fonts to use in all of our websites. This list may be short, but it’s curated to help you find the best fonts in the easiest way, and without having to worry about all the legalese.

If there are any free font resources you like to use that I’ve missed, let me know! 

Google Fonts

Google Fonts is a great resource, and the go-to font repository. They make it easy to select and install fonts on your website—just click the font you want and copy the code! There’s over 1,455 font families to choose from, plus some great resources on typography, guides on how to choose the best fonts, and more.

All Google fonts are 100% free for personal and commercial use. The most common license is the SIL Open Font License. Some fonts are under the Apache license or Ubuntu Font License. You can redistribute open source fonts according to those conditions.

Fontshare

Similar to Google Fonts, Fontshare is a free fonts service launched by the Indian Type Foundry (ITF). Their mission is accessibility, so every font they release and promote is open source. There are 100 font families to choose from, as well as curated font pairings to help you pick! Like Google Fonts, they make it easy to install, just pick the font(s) you like and copy the code.

All Fontshare fonts are 100% free for personal and commercial use. They are offered on two licenses: Closed Source, which are are governed by ITF’s Free Font License (FFL) , and Open Source, which  are governed by SIL Open Font License (OFL). You can read more about their licensing here.

The League of Moveable Type

The League is the world’s first open source type foundry. They have some great fonts, as well as a newsletter, a podcast, and some tools to help you learn typography! You’ll need to download and install all of their fonts on your own website, but many of their fonts are also found in the first to foundries as well for easier install.

All the fonts from The League of Moveable Type are free & open source, available to use commercially and subject to the Open Font License.

Indestructible Type*

While its library is small, it has some very unique, iconic fonts. The designer only makes high quality, versatile, modern fonts that are accessible to everyone. If you’re familiar with fonts, you probably already know some of their core styles, but there are a few unique styles we don’t see used enough!

These fonts are licensed under the SIL open font license and are free for commercial use.

Font Squirrel

A great resource with thousands of available fonts for free commercial use. They also have a great font identifier tool, plus a forum to talk about fonts and typography. You do need to download the fonts and upload them into your own site. 

Unlike the other sites in this list, do be careful when selecting your fonts. While they do mark their fonts with what they think their individual licenses allow, there is no guarantee. So be sure to read their individual licenses and read Font Squirrel’s FAQ before using!

Other Free Font Resources

There are other places you can find good, free, legal fonts to use, but they are less reliable and often offer fewer free versions to promote premium paid fonts. Just be sure to read the individual font licenses before you use them. So check out these sites if you’re willing to dig around and see what you can find: Dribbble, Behance, Pixel Surplus, Graphic Pear, Fontbundles.net, Wild Picks, Sunrise Digital, Fontfabric, Pixelify, Font Shop, FontHaus, FontSpace, and MyFonts.

How to embed webfonts

Some of the linked resources give you easy links to install their fonts—but others require you to download the font and embed it into your website. So here’s the w3 article to show you how!

Remember: always use fonts with an open commercial license, specifically for the web. Using demo fonts or fonts designated for personal use on your website is not only bad practice (and usually not web-optimized), it’s almost always illegal! Personal use means for use on your single desktop (like when typing in a word doc) or for the free invitations you made for your dog’s fourth birthday. Everything else (including embedding a webfont) is almost always commercial.

Note: It is not advised to use sites like Dafont, Fontriver, 1001 Fonts, etc. to find fonts for your projects. While they do have free fonts, they are almost exclusively demo versions of commercial fonts that you need to buy a license to use on the web. Please read the license for every font you download to keep yourself out of trouble.

#fonts #coding resources #coding resource #design resource #web design #jcink codes #i should just rename this series into sage shares resources #sage codes collection #resources

[salsasvault]

Like A Rolling Stone

Looking for an escape you flee, hop on a bus, and end up in a small town, dead in the middle of Texas. Despite the temporary respite, you can't outrun what follows you for forever.

John Price/Reader - results from this poll

There’s a lot to be said about the phrase “going where the wind takes you”. Some may take it as an act of spontaneity, some may not take it literally, but you apply it to all its worth.

You bought the first bus ticket at the station, not bothering to check where it’s to, rather leaving it up to fate to decide. And it’s wound you up here.

Everything that you deem important, packed in a duffel bag, slung over your shoulder as you check into a rundown motel, located in the small town you’ve found yourself in.

You're a long way from home, if you can even call it home. You’ve longed too much for a better place to give it that name.

Hence why you’re here, miles from the city, from him. Several states further from the Big Apple, land of dreams.

Texas.

You never gave the countryside much thought, the music, the culture, it was never on your radar.

So throwing yourself into the most Texan place you could imagine was sure to be interesting.

But that was exactly what you were looking for, something fresh, to chase the bitter taste of the city away. Of your life away.

And so you check in indefinitely, it helps that the motel is a pay-as-you-go, each night you have the option to check out, to run.

If the town doesn’t suit you there’s always another bus waiting for you.

-

The room proves to be reasonable, with a single bed, a bathroom, and a dresser with a decent-sized TV.

It wasn’t modern or sparking clean by any means, but the contrast to your previous scene proved to soothe your soul. Modern is overrated anyway.

You set your duffle down on the bed and glance at the time, 4:34 pm. You decide taking a nap is the best course of action.

Daylight burns and the late afternoon turns to dusk.

By the time you wake, it’s 7:34 and the sky is void of light, safe for the moon shining just outside your window.

Back home 7:34 pm meant the start of your extensive bedtime routine. But you're not home anymore.

You grab your phone and head out to the motel office, if anyone would know the ins and outs of town it’d be a local.

You get the name of the best bar in town, the one conveniently down the street. And so you set off to walk half a mile, to the illuminated cabin-like building in the distance, as the silence of the night surrounds you.

You’ve been to bars before, but nothing quite as charming as the one you find yourself in now, barstools made of what looks like hand-crafted woodwork, the entire bartop made the same, as are the tables and booths.

Everything in this town seems to hold a flame of nostalgia to it, a sense of well-loved wear, and you're sure if you were here a year ago you might’ve found it distasteful but you can’t help but admire it now.

You’re sat in the corner, nursing a drink in hand as you survey the room, you feel light, alone but not lonely.

Men with those stereotypical cowboy hats, and people dressed in boots you’d only ever see here. You'd feel out of place if it weren't for the fact no one seemed to bat an eye.

It wasn’t crowded, a few groups of people at the tables, you and another man at the bar.

Overlooking the bar, peering into the lives of the locals; who seem to be native to the town, you wonder what it would be like to grow up here, have a little part of the world to call your own.

A little envious but you felt at ease, a feeling you hadn't felt in the past six months you've spent trying to figure your life out, you wanted this feeling to wrap itself around you, encompass you, embed itself within you, undo the knots of the past 4 weeks.

Lost in the thought you didn't notice the only other man at the bar move until he clears his throat, somehow now on the stool next to you.

You’re more spaced out than you thought.

“You're new around here aren’t you?” His voice is gruff like he’s burnt his throat from years of smoking.

He’s dressed like everyone else here, a signature hat atop his head and a brown leather jacket.

His accent however separates him from the rest, it’s not the usual country accent you’re accustomed to around here, there’s an edge to it, almost British. He sounds like a man who’s stayed too long.

“That’s a real cliche thing to say.” You laugh, swirling your drink in your glass.

“But I bet you aren’t from around here either.” You finally meet his eyes.

“Been here long enough to feel like I am.” He sips on what looks to be straight whisky.

“And how long is that?” You counter.

“ ‘bout 16 years.” He takes a sip. Your eyes follow his throat as he swallows.

You hum in acknowledgment.

“And how ‘bout you?” He looks at you attentively. Like every word you spew, he’ll memorize.

“First day actually.” You laugh a little.

“So not as much experience as you.” You add on.

“You’re gettin’ there.” His eyes crinkle.

“Oh yeah-” You glance at your imaginary watch.

“Just a couple more minutes and I’ll be rivaling you.”

“Yeah? Guess we’ll have to go toe to toe on the bull right there.” He looks over in the direction of the large mechanical bull resisting in the corner.

It’s worn just like everything else, tearing at the seams. And it seems like you missed it when you scanned the area.

“How did I not see that?” You stand up, to get a better look. You're in somewhat awe, only having seen it on late-night sitcoms growing up.

“Does it work?” You inquire.

“I’d hope it does, but haven’t seen anyone use it in years.” He’s turned now in his chair, facing toward where you’re looking.

“Haven’t seen one of those before, have you.” It’s supposed to be a question, but sounds more like a statement. Like he’s already looked right through you, knows you.

“No, only seen ‘em on those cheesy sitcoms, they’re not too common where I’m from.” You’ve turned your head to look back at him, opting now to move back to your seat.

You take another sip of your drink.

He hums, his eyes seem like they pierce through you.

“And where’s that?”

“The big ol’ apple.” Your tone is flat, discontent. Even the thought makes your stomach turn with anxiety.

“Not a fan?” He questioned.

“No-well I mean the city’s great, it’s just-life y’know?” You stumble out.

“The people- things were great when I first moved, but the last couple months-” You exhale.

“I’m just here for a break.” You finally finish, you think that was too much of an overshare, but the way he looked at you felt like it wasn’t.

You're not sure you’ve ever met someone who conveyed so much emotion with a simple look. Maybe it’s a country thing.

“Most people would have gone to an island.” He makes sense, if someone wanted a vacation, they’d go somewhere relaxing, but this wasn’t quite a vacation.

“Don’t think I have the funds for that.” You out a huff of a laugh.

A crash sounds behind you, and you slightly flinch, head darting to look behind. Seems to be a fight of some kind, not unusual for a bar.

“S’just those muppets at it again, every night they find something to disagree about.” He says, still looking at you, observing you.

“Wouldn’t be a bar without a fight, guess that’s universal.” You take another sip, to wash away the anxiety that’s seemed to crawl its way up your throat.

You glance at your phone. 9:14 pm.

“I think it’s time I head back.” You look back up at him, your drink almost fully done.

It’d be better to get started on walking back before it gets too late, you still don’t know the town, and getting caught up with the wrong kind of people was something you wanted to especially avoid.

“I’ll walk you out.” He still has about half of his drink left, but he goes to stand nonetheless.

“Oh no you don’t have to-” You start, not wanting to inconvenience him, he reads straight through you.

“Nonsense, come on.” You get up after him

You both walk together, comfortable space between you. When you reach outside you turn toward him.

Stars are the only source of light aside from the sparse dim-litted streetlights, his face half illuminated in the light.

“Thanks for walking me out.” You briefly look down, unable to maintain his gaze. People here seem to love unwavering eye contact, and you find his for some reason especially hard.

“It’s not a problem.” He dips his head down, and you laugh, something you’d only see in movies.

He smiles, and you give one in return, leaving it at that you make your way back to your motel.

When you hit your bed, practically collapsing on it, sleep comes to you surprisingly easily, and you sleep better than you’ve had in weeks.

#john price x reader #captain john price x reader #john price x you #john price #cod mw2 #like a rolling stone

[sky-scribbles]

Playlist for my Aeor longfic

I failed to figure out how to do a fancy spotify embed like the kids do but uh. Here's the playlist for Gravity!

I listened to this while planning and writing, and there are even a few shout-outs to the songs in the fic... Songs are arranged chronologically, so you should be able to hear the story happening, hopefully :'D

Further yelling about song choices under the cut!

A Matter of Time - This one is... sort of the fic's opening titles in my head? I wanted to start out with an instrumental, to capture the vibes of the months before the fic opens - Essek and Caleb apart, thinking about the T-Dock, and each other. Wondering. Waiting.

Horse to Water - Essek in Chapter 1, knowing his life as the Shadowhand is ending, waiting for Caleb to come and take him away to whatever comes next. (I'm normally very picky about not putting songs that reference modern day stuff on fantasy playlists but this one's vibes were too perfect)

Dear Fellow Traveller - Two wizards heading into Aeor together.

Conquest of Spaces - A song for Aeor. A dark, beautiful city, the remains of a people who lived by greed and power. (And two wizards in the ruins, trying to draw closer to each other.)

Neptune - This is mostly for Essek's breakdown in chapter 5, as he worries he'll never break out of his Shadowhand manipulation, wanting to be closer to Caleb and not knowing what that would even look like. And it's a little for Caleb in chapter 6, too, grappling with his feelings for Essek and his fears that they'll ultimately be bad for each other.

Please Don't Say You Love Me - ... and as they move past those fears, this song is for them tentatively acknowledging what they might be to each other. Not yet. But maybe soon.

Woodwork - This is for the chapters 6-9 span, as they learn more about Brashaar's plan. The pressure of a crisis has an odd way of making them realise just how deep their trust and care for each other runs.

Two Evils - Since we're at the point where Brashaar shows up, she gets a song now! This is pretty much her internal monologue during her confrontation with the wizards (though she really should have paid attention to 'if you're not careful, you will lose her' in reference to Quaera...)

Winter - Travelling northward, and yearning. Wishing they had more time.

Mind - A song for a young Quaera, slowly forming a personality, wondering about who she is and how her identity forms...

The Tower - ... and having their own breakdown.

What Could Have Been - I love me a good villainous breakdown, and this is a song for Brashaar's. This is how I imagine she feels during the final confrontation, raging against the gods, against Caleb and Essek, against Quaera after they turn from her. Not quite able to let go of what she thinks Aeor could have been. What, in her eyes, the world is meant to be. (As a bonus, I think the second verse sounds a bit like a retort to her from Quaera...)

Everybody Wants to Rule the World - This is such a fun cinematic cover, and I can't tell you how many times I've imagined a mental AMV of the final battle with Brashaar set to it :'D

Ori, Embracing the Light - I wanted an instrumental here too, because... Essek is dead, Caleb is in shutdown, and Essek and Quaera are communing with the Luxon, a being that doesn't really speak with words. Also, 'embracing the light' is exactly what Quaera does at this point.

Would That I - I know we all use this as Caleb's 'learning to live and love again' song... and I am no exception. This is for him after the T-Dock, finally fully acknowledging his grief, and his love for Essek.

First Day of my Life - Just two wizards realising that they have a future, and agreeing to slowly work at what's between them.

Ready to Call This Love - This one speaks for itself, honestly.

Five - Both of the wizards in the final chapter, but especially Essek realising how isolated he's been from the world, and letting it all in so he can feel it. (Also, studying the universe is a love language - )

Gravity - Gravity is a metaphor for love!!!!

#please know that restricting myself to just four sleeping at last songs #is Enormous restraint for me #anyway uh have some songs and rambling #shadowgast #gravity and all that's born within #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #critical role

[petpenname]

✨haiya✨

New to writing but not to the fandom hope you’ll accept me :3

My current WIPs:

Red Wine Supernova

Summary: modern college au, dealer!ellie x introvert!reader, slow burn with some sad elements. Inspired by Red Wine Supernova by Chapel Roan ❣️

Parts: ???? So far I have 2 :3

Sneak Peak:

“As the smoke billows from your lips you gaze up at the star Ellie pointed out. Finally feeling better after coming out of the stuffy and sweaty party. There’s a beat of silence between the two of your before something catches you off guard. You freeze as sharp teeth embed into the side of your neck and auburn hair tickles your collar bone.

Is she…Biting you?!”

#ellie x reader #ellie tlou #ellie williams #ellie williams x reader #ellie williams smut

[germanpostwarmodern]

Between 2009 and 2011 Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, himself a former student of the master, published what is the most comprehensive account of Frank Lloyd’s Wright work: a three-volume collection of all of FLW’s works and projects with some 1,500 pages of crisp reproductions of his drawings, plans and sketches as well as countless photographs of every single built project. In 2015 a condensed and scaled-down edition of this magnum opus was published by its original publisher Taschen with still more than 500 pages showcasing FLW’s most important works. Again the book includes a wealth of drawings and plans from the Taliesin Archives which demonstrate Wright’s incredible drawing talent as well as his most significant contribution to modern architecture: the ability to embed his architecture in site, landscape and therefore nature. This organic understanding of architecture still fascinates today, especially when studying his plans and drawings.

In view of its content and price point the present volume is a must-have for anyone interested in Frank Lloyd Wright and keen to know why he is considered one of the 20th century’s most important architects.

#frank lloyd wright #monograph #architecture #usa #architecture book #taschen #architectural history #book

[soylent-crocodile]

Pokemon-Inspired Spells (Part 1)

Pokemon was my very first special interest, and although I find myself drifting away from the modern games it will always have a special place in my heart!

As such, here are three of the most interesting spells I've made that are inspired by pokemon moves.

(art by dktom94 on reddit)

Aeroblast

School: Evocation (Air) Level: Sorcerer/Wizard 7 Elemental School: Air 7 Casting Time: 1 standard action Components: V, S Range: 100ft Target: A number of creatures equal to up to ½ your caster level within a 100ft cone emanating from your mouth. Saving Throw: No Spell Resistance: Yes

You blast from your throat a powerful yet precise stream of razor-sharp wind that shreds through your opponents, striking them with precision while avoiding your allies. For each target within the cone, make a ranged touch attack. On a successful attack, deal 1d6 slashing damage per level (maximum 20d6). The critical threat range of this spell is 18-20.

Sacred Fire

School: Evocation (Good, Fire) Level: Cleric/ Oracle 7 Casting Time: 1 standard action Components: V, S, Material (see text) Range: Medium (100ft+10ft/level) Target: A single living creature or corpse Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: Fortitude half and partial (see text) Spell Resistance: Yes

You bathe the target in holy phoenix fire. The effects of this spell vary based on the creature’s alignment and status; Evil living creature- If the target is evil, they take 1d6 damage per level (maximum 20d6) that is half fire and half sacred. Creatures dealt damage this way are permanently marred by flames, taking a -6 penalty to strength and charisma. A successful fortitude save halves the damage and prevents the marring. This marring can be restored by Restoration or a similar effect. Neutral living creature- If the target is neither good nor evil, they take 1d6 fire damage for every 2 levels you have (maximum 10d6) and take 2 strength damage. A successful fortitude save halves the damage and negates the strength damage. Good living creature- If the target is a living good creature, they gain 1d6 hp per level (maximum 20d6) and remove the fatigued, exhausted, shaken, panicked, and cowering conditions.  Good corpse- If the target is the intact body of a good-aligned creature that has been dead for no more than 1 day, the spell has an additional material cost of rare phoenix feather worth 5,000gp. The creature is brought back to life, as with the spell Raise Dead. Nongood corpse- If the target is the intact body of a non-good creature, the corpse is destroyed, leaving no remains to resurrect or reanimate.

Stealth Rock

School: Conjuration (Earth) Level: Animist/Druid 4, Shaman 4, Sorcerer/Wizard 4 Elemental School: Earth 4 Casting Time: 1 standard action Components: V, S, M (A pinch of grit taken from a creature with the Earth subtype) Range: Long (400ft+40ft/level) Effect: a 40ft line of buried stone that, when a creature passes over them, strikes out and attacks. Duration: 1 hour/level Saving Throw: No Spell Resistance: No

You embed sharp pointed stones in a 40ft line within earth or similar soil. The line may curve or form a circle. When a creature passes over that line, including airspace up to 120ft above it, the stones slip from the ground and attack them, making a ranged attack (in the case of creatures in the air) or a melee attack (in the case of creatures on the ground) against that creature, using your character level as its BAB and your casting stat as its dexterity of strength bonus, whichever would be appropriate for the attack. These stats are decided at the moment of casting. Creatures hit by the stones take 4d8 damage that is half bludgeoning and half piercing.  The stones have a collective amount of HP equal to 5 points per caster level and a hardness of 10; once the requisite damage is dealt to them, all stones are rendered non-functional. The spells Stone Shape, Soften Earth and Stone, and Stone to Flesh also render the stones non-functional, although the caster must succeed on a caster level check with DC equal to 10+your caster level at time of casting. Stealth rock can be detected with a perception check with DC equal to the spell DC+4. This spell can be made permanent by the spell Permanency by a caster of level 11 or higher and by spending 7,500gp.

#feats spells and items #any setting #soylent original #pokemon

[takerfoxx]

I've never really watched Dr. Who, but I've always been distantly fond of it as this really weird imaginative thing that somehow managed to embed itself into pop culture and just stick around being a big deal for basically ever. And what tickles me the most about it is that it hails from a bygone era of science fiction and looks like it. It predates Buck Rogers, it predates Star Trek, it predates Star Wars, it predates Lost in Space, it predates all of them, and yet it's even more culturally relevant than ever.

But as a result of that, all of those really, really old-fashioned alien designs are just...still around. Daleks. Cybermen. All of them wouldn't look out of place in your standard sci-fi fare of the day but are now almost comically retro, but still have to be treated 100% seriously whenever they pop back up in the modern show despite, you know, looking like that.

And honestly? I think that's wonderful. Like, that's how you make that cheesy stuff work, by embracing it. Just keep keeping on, you funky little niche sci-fi property that managed to evolve into one of the biggest mainstream franchises of all time.

#dr who #daleks #cybermen #no sarcasm i genuinely think it's awesome

[sevendeadlyheadcanons]

The Seven Deadly Dungeons and Dragons Dice headcanons

These headcanons were really well loved and enjoyed and i’m so glad my comeback was so well received!!! Thank you so much for all the support!!! I have gone onto google images and found what dice I think everyone would use

I hope you enjoy!

Meliodas

He has this dice and has had it for years. All of the white paint has chipped off and he refuses to buy a new one because this one has given him so many lucky rolls.

Diane

She payed a pretty penny to get some dice made out of crystal because she loves the earth!!! I believe in a modern AU she would be quite spiritual! She also believes the crystal will manifest luck and give her good rolls.

Ban

His dice are acrylic and yellowed from old age and he doesn’t really care for aesthetics or appearances so he just uses them still. At some point Meliodas gifts him some brand new cursed dice that look like this. They both have joint custody over the spaghetti dice.

King

Like Diane, he loves nature and the colour green so he bought dice that reflect that. He probably gets his dice from small businesses on etsy. No matter how lovely his dice are though he gets the worst rolls in the whole group and is bullied for them.

Gowther

Pulls out dice with an obnoxious amount of glitter in them because ✨sparkle✨ he loves glitter and sequins and will choose any opportunity to flaunt this. Diane is probably like “ew microplastics” or something and he’s just like more glitter. more glitter. more gli-

Merlin

She makes her own dice and sells them on etsy! She will make dice to lend to people but won’t give them to them unless they pay her (girlboss) she has mastered the liquid core dice and also embeds some dice with dried flowers. The image is of her favourite dice

Escanor

He got metal dice from a convention! Like King, he loves supporting small businesses and his favourite part of comic cons are seeing independent businesses and buying things like leather dice mats, dice bags etc!

Elizabeth

She has so many dice, a new set for a new role. My partner thinks she’d be like laura bailey and have dice jail for the dice that roll bad. She’d have them in all cute colours, with different glitters. She is absolutely Merlin’s top customer

#i hope you’re all having a lovely day!!! #nanatsu no taizai #the seven deadly sins #meliodas nnt #ban nnt #diane nnt #elizabeth nnt #escanor nnt #gowther nnt #king nnt #merlin nnt

[sunsetlovelydreams]

Writing Tasklist

This is just a personal list where I organize my writing, with the hope that it will keep me challenged and motivated.

Fics I want to finish this year (2024):

The Vows Be Ours (ASOIAF/GOT)

As bards would later claim they’d foretold, the first wight was sighted at the Wall on the day Jon Snow was born at the Tower of Joy.

The horns rang thrice for the first time in thousands of years, and when the watchers stopped gawking at the creature of bone and ice that screeched up at them, they shot arrows until there was no place on its body to embed more. It was only after they’d wasted three barrels of boiling water and a handful of spears that the message came from wise Maester Aemon to drop a torch on its head. The fire took it long before Ned Stark found the strength to rise from his sister’s deathbed with her child and march away into the sands of Dorne, leaving behind him three corpses in white that would haunt him for years to come.

Currently: almost 8,300 words

Half-a-million Golden Dragons (ASOIAF/GOT)

A modern AU where Brienne accidentally buys Jaime at a bachelor auction. Except, Jaime thinks Brienne bought him because his father offered her money. This misunderstanding dogs their steps in the quest to have a date worthy of half-a-million golden dragons.

Written for the amazing @angelowl-fics

Currently: almost 16,350 words

What Brings Tomorrow (AOT)

Uprising arc AU where the Scouting Legion is defeated and Levi is captured in the clearing at the end of Episode 4. One year later, humanity's memories within the Walls have been wiped again, but Erwin has more gambles left to him in his quest to free humanity - even if he doesn't know it yet.

Currently posted on Ao3: almost 63,000 words

THIS FIC WILL NOT RECEIVE FURTHER UPDATES UNTIL I HAVE IT ALL WRITTEN DOWN.

I am you, but you're not me (ASOIAF/GOT)

Brienne had not expected, that night when she'd raised her candle to her mirror, to see a god's face reflected back at her. Except Jaime Lannister is not a god at all, and in bonding with him, Brienne struggles between honor and love.

Or: Cersei convinces Jaime to bind his soul to her through a mirror so they can always communicate when she marries Prince Rhaegar. Except, the spell is meant for soulmates, and while the twins think they are each others', fate is not of the same opinion.

Currently: almost 7,650 words

Champion, Hero, Friend (Heroes of Olympus)

Vignettes of Frank Zhang's friendship with Jason Grace throughout the years until the day that should have been the son of Zeus' death - and the after.

Currently: almost 3,000 words

#writing #fanfic #ao3

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Cory Franklin

Saira recently said that she was “genuinely terrified for Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, South Asian and black patients” because of the number of “Zionists” among American doctors and nurses. Shockingly, some people construed those remarks as being antisemitic. You know how touchy those people can be.

Saira might have had some trouble were it not for another woman who leapt to her defense. And this woman is a bona fide physician with some street cred.

Dr. Rupa Marya, is an associate professor of medicine at University of California San Francisco. According to her UCSF profile, she was recognized in 2021 with the Women Leaders in Medicine Award by the American Medical Student Association. A reviewer for the American Medical Association’s Organizational Strategic Plan to Embed Racial Justice and Advance Health Equity, Rupa was appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom to the Healthy California for All Commission, to create a model for universal healthcare in California. The kind of can-do person who has her finger on the pulse of modern medicine.

(Siena College, in upstate New York, recently named Dr. Marya a featured speaker for a March lecture series. On its website, Siena said it was “proud to welcome” Rupa to speak March 13 on the topic of “Decolonizing Medicine: Transforming our World Through Medicine, Activism, and Music.”)

And true to fashion, Rupa recognizes where the real problem is. In support of Saira Rao, Rupa wrote, “The presence of Zionism in US medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity. Zionism is supremacist … how does their outlook/position impact priorities in US medicine? … people who hold any supremacist position are not going to be doctors who advance health equity. They are part of and support structures that obstruct it. This may be an important reason why, in spite of 20 years of investment into health equity, we’ve closed no gaps in health disparities.”

See? Hitler and Stalin got it right – the ones keeping medicine down are those Jews and their medicine. All those problems in health care you hear about? Yep, Jews. (As someone pointed out, Saira and Rupa could save everyone a lot of time by cutting to the chase – forget about the “Zionist” stuff and just say “Jews.”)

#jewish doctors #doctors #zionists #rupa marya #dr rupa marya #saira rao #devil's spawn #the devil's spawn

[mikey-soft]

What songs do you associate ur resigns with? Are they different than the canon cast? I hope you don't mind if I keep asking I'm excited <333

wait omg dont even worried my favorite thing to do on earth is to answer questions im lovin it GVWBHJNS ohhhoggh.... song.s.. i looove music and i love association hold on oh my lrod !!! this is gonna be a huge post !!! oopsie !!!! also, note: alastor. is. obviously my favorite. and i do have a little playlist for him which i will post right after this

vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv charlie -- my idea of heaven, annette hanshaw

i think this one is such a given ... it s so obvious .......but so true

vaggie -- why, lily allen (not on spotify :()

UGHH TGHE YEARNING IN THIS SONG its gentle and soft and slow and it juxtaposes vaggies "fronting" personality soo nicely UGH angel -- perhaps, perhaps, perhaps , desi arnaz

heavy on huskerdust but thats okay because i loooove this song . sweet and loving and oh so passionate and AHH !!!! angel deserves to be lovey dovey

husk -- sir duke, stevie wonder

definitely a bit headcanon-y on this one,,! but i wanted to give husk a hobby he's real passionate about and i just had to give him music.... a bartender cant work with a shitty playlist!! and i just cant NOT associate him with mr wonder if im being honest

alastor (favorite character syndrome) -- feeling good, nina simone

i could put so many songs here but i chose feeling good because alastor feels good!!!!! i love this song so so much and i think he would too!! cant go wrong with nina simone

niffty -- it's a good day, peggy lee

oh joyus day for our darling niffty !! this song is such a delight and i can imagine her humming to it while she works...,, it is a good day!!! shes so right !!!!!! SHE GETS TWO!!!!! candy, atarashii gakko

无意识に私食べちゃった !!!!!!!!!!! I LOVE THIS SONG !! its so silly and a little nonsense and i thinkk if she ever got into modern music she would like ag :3 sir pentious -- twist the knife, that handsome demon

this one is a little silly.... but my past associations with this song made me give it to pent <3 i just think it fits my version of him!

vox -- don't say yes until i finish talking, SMASH

okay this is kind of a given but its not my fault christian borle has one character type (im kidding this is a joke mostly i love him) BUT ITS JUST VERY VOX !!! and also the rest of my associations are very radiosilence WHOOPS

rosie -- the end of the world, skeeter davis

i love her dearly and i can imagine she adores longing songs like these!!!! theres not much else to it..... just something i feel in my bones or something

these are all just ones i've thought of before!!! so clearly its not Every Single character !

#mikeysoftanswers #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel redesign #hazbin hotel rewrite #hazbin hotel headcanons #charlie #vaggie #angel dust #husk #alastor #niffty #sir pentious #vox #rosie