#why does A mean decrease in this pattern

[mephestopheles]

Hey crocheters, specifically newer pattern makers, but this goes for everyone. When creating a pattern, especially for the written portion, it is in your best interest to look up the terminology and shorthand used in most patterns. I understand that terminology is different in places (see UK vs US). However if you have to start your pattern off when an abbreviation list that looks absolutely like you just grabbed the alphabet and threw it at the screen, you will hear my screaming and cursing your name no matter where you live.

#i will find you and put walnuts in your shoes #and snip every third seam on all of your clothes #crochet #pattern writing #why does A mean decrease in this pattern #when DEC has been the accepted shorthand since the 50s #also its SC for single chain #and DC for double chain #and HDC for half doube crochet #NOT X #NOT F #NOT T #also also treble crochet exists in both Uk and US and mean two different things and T can probably be used as shorthand for a treble crochet #which means if someone sees T they will get the wrong impression #also W for three crochet in a single stitch? #either chart the fucking pattern or use the correct terminology #signed a very frustrated crocheter #I'm still trying to learn the differences between knitting terms ans crochet terms #i do not need a fucking rosetta stone for your made up bullshit #yes this not a problem #yes im still angry about it #eleven crochet patterns in one #and every single fucking one is like this #if this wss about saving space maybe i could understand #but it doesnt even save space each section is separated and each pattern uses this fucked up short hand #excuse me while I go FIX IT

[blindbeta]

Hi, I have a question about how screen readers handle all-caps words? Like if I wrote "Mom told you to come home NOW!" with the word "now" in all caps, how does the screen reader interpret that? Does it inform the user that this word is in all caps?

Screen-Readers and Capital Letters

As of April 2023, screen-readers don’t really include a reference to all caps, nor does a difference in tone occur. The words “now” [lowercase] and “now” [capitalized] are pronounced the same way. This means emphasis is best conveyed in other ways. Using your example, you could write an image description of your text with the following:

Text reading: “Mom told you to come home NOW” [Now is in all capital letters for emphasis].

This works for image descriptions, although it might feel less authentic in other situations. If you want to emphasize the word “now”, you could add a period before and after “now.” This means that now would be one sentence. The period makes the screen-reader pause slightly to indicate the end of a sentence.

“Mom told you to come home. Now.”

Additionally, screen-readers do differentiate between capital letters in hashtags or words that are written without spaces. For example increaseaccessibility [all lowercase] and IncreaseAccessibility [with each individual word starting with a capital letter] are pronounced differently. The lowercase one is harder to understand. It reads as a long, jumbled word. The second, written with capital letters at the start of each word, is pronounced with more clarity. This means accessibility increases with use of capital letters in some cases, although screen-readers still don’t provide any indication if an entire word is in all capital letters.

This webpage by Perkins Access explains how to write accessible hashtags in the following text:

“It’s important to capitalize the first letter of each word in your hashtag. Why? When the first letter of each word is capitalized, screen readers are much more likely to read the hashtag as intended vs. reading it as one, long and jumbled word. In addition to helping visually impaired screen reader users, capitalizing each word benefits anyone who may not be able to easily identify the patterns and relationships between words, such as someone with dyslexia or a cognitive disability. For example, #socialmediatips is not as easy to read as #SocialMediaTips.”

Lastly, here is a page on building accessible websites if you want to use capital letters.

In closing, I would like to share that using all caps, particularly for longer sentences, makes things harder to read for many people. While it is fine every once in a while, too much can decrease accessibility and reduce general readability for print readers.

#screen reader #accessibility #blind

[hephaestuscrew]

Thoughts on the patterns of who speaks the episode title phrases in Wolf 359

This analysis is based on the data I gathered in this spreadsheet and summarised with graphs in this post. Basically I've been looking at which character first says the episode title phrase (i.e. the exact words which form the name of that particular episode) in every episode of Wolf 359. Go and look at the spreadsheet if you want more context.

I think we can view the episode title phrases as often expressing the key problem or question of that episode. (I might talk about this in relation to individual examples another time.) Through this lens, the consideration of who speaks the title phrase is about which character gets to frame the key issue of the episode for the listener. This doesn't necessarily mean we are meant to share that character's view of the issue, but it's why I think there is some potentially significant analysis to be done on this topic. (See below the cut...)

The proportion of title phrases said by Eiffel reduces with each season. 69.2% of the Season 1 title phrases are (first) spoken by Eiffel, compared to 46.6% in Season 2, 22.2% in Season 3, and 20% in Season 4.

This is perhaps unsurprising. Eiffel is very much the main perspective character and the primary narrative voice at the start of the series. And, as someone with unusual speech patterns, he is excellent at coining a good memorable title phrase. However, while I'd argue that he never stops being the main protagonist, over the course of the series, the narrative focus broadens away from a singular emphasis on Eiffel's perspective. This perspective shift is reflected in episode titles being spoken by a greater range of characters.

I think the decreasing proportion of Eiffel title phrases also reflects the podcast's shift towards a generally more dramatic rather than comedic tone. While Eiffel is capable of being serious at times, I'd argue that his mode of speech is particularly well suited to generating amusing unusual turns of phrase that work well within a more comedic context (e.g. Succulent Rat-Killing Tar, What's Up Doc?, Bach to the Future). As the stakes become higher and the tone becomes less humorous, characters other than Eiffel, who are more often inclined to take things very seriously, are more likely to speak the title phrases.

There's also just the fact that as we get more characters involved in the action on the Hephaestus, the opportunity to speak the title phrase is spread between more characters.

Although Eiffel is by far and away the most common speaker of title phrases in Season 1, in the first three episodes of the whole show, we get all the characters of that season represented in the title phrases. Minkowski speaks the title phrase in the second episode and Hera does in the third episode - but probably quoting a phrase from Hilbert. This gives us a good early indication that, while Eiffel may be the focal point particularly in this season, this is going to be an ensemble show and all of these characters are going to be significant.

Hilbert's only title phrase is in Ep12 Deep Breaths, in the first stage of his mutiny, arguably the only point in the show where he appears to clearly have the upper hand while acting alone.

After the SI-5 are introduced at the beginning of Season 3, we get five Kepler or Jacobi title phrases in a row, which solidifies the SI-5's presence in the show. It also highlights the fact that the SI-5 have taken over the Hephaestus and are now (at least ostensibly) the ones determining the aims of the Hephaestus mission.

In addition, these patterns might be seen to reflect the shift in the show towards a more conflict-focused tone (related but not identical to the movement away from comedy). While Wolf 359 has always been a show full of conflict, the balance of this conflict shifts with the arrival of the SI-5. For the first team, our protagonists are facing a unified team of antagonists. The potential for violence feels higher, as do the stakes. This might explain why, while we only had one antagonist-spoken title phrase across Seasons 1 and 2 (Hilbert in Ep12 - Lovelace doesn't get a title phrase while she's serving as an antagonist), 44.4% of our Season 3 title phrases are first spoken by antagonists.

The only title phrase spoken by Maxwell is spoken by her in a recording that we hear after her death. This isn't even the only posthumous title phrase spoken from the past in Season 4 - we've got one from Commander Zhang of the Tiamat as well. It's an interesting kind of legacy, an interesting way to emphasize the questions characters leave behind after death, recalling similar themes to those explored in Ep46 Boléro.

#Wolf 359 #w359 #There's probably more to say but I'll leave it there #Sorry to end it kind of abruptly #I haven't got an overall conclusion #I don't necessarily think these patterns are conscious decisions by the writers btw #but I think they can be significant anyway #I know I said I was going to put these thoughts in a reblog to the original post #but this is too long for that #and I want to be able to put it in the tag again #Please feel free to add on your thoughts on the spreadsheet or anything #The moment when the episode title phrase is said could be thought of as the 'roll credits' moment #Idk if the significance feels different because they don't say the episode title in introducing the episode #but generally you have to see it when pressing play on the episode so most listeners will probably be vaguely aware of the episode title #the empty man posteth #I'm worried that there might be mistakes in my maths but not enough to check it

[bedtimestoriesforbrokengirls]

Hi✨ I would like to ask your opinion on something. My dom and I have been together for year and a half, most of our relationship has been online cuz we are from different cities and he has been dealing with a family situation. The thing is sex and sex play is on and off depending on everything going on in his life and I'm pretty okay with that but I have picked a pattern of his and I don't think I like it.

I have seen that we have seasons, seasons we play hard and seasons we play less. When we play hard sometimes we do it for weeks or even months but then he suggest something that for me is a hard no, at least while we're apart (is always the same thing) and I always suggest that we can try it in the future and that I'm not completely close to that, just that while we're apart I don't feel completely confortable. When he says that normally he suggests it 2 o 3 times more in very subtle way during the course of the week until I stop to explote. Then he says he's never going to suggest it again and then the sex decreases until even if I ask for permission to touch myself he doesn't really care so I stop asking for permission at all. And the the cycle starts again.

Yesterday was the day that I exploited cuz the particular punishment he suggested and even more for the lack of attention he was giving. Today I tried to have a very mature conversation about everything, we even completed an excel about kink compatibility. I said my part, he said his and for me I only said that I needed him to know me better to break me to the point were it was still safe for both of us, that I needed trust, confidence and devotion from his side so I could be fully submissive. He said he understood, that he will not suggest that again NEVER (so the cycle is complete) and that he didn't like that I was telling him what and what not to do, and that he also didn't like that we had to plan everything.

I don't know, I don't want to get through the cycle again, I'm just confused and really don't know what to do.

FYI in the compatability test he has way more "hard no" than me, even in things I would really love to try but even with that, I would never push him.

So this time I don't know that to do, I don't know if I should encourage more difficult conversations and try to solve this and wait for him to return home for good. He's going to return in one month (his family situation is finally solved). Or just give up all together. I know I'm no perfect and he's not perfect either but he always tries his best, he does research for me to feel more confortable, he always cares for me and he's always super respectful and in full control of himself. He always is, apart from this particular kink. So I really don't know what to do.

Any suggestions? I know this is way too much to ask

If you haven’t given him an opportunity to see and consider the pattern you’ve uncovered, then I feel like you should go the “difficult conversations” route. I mean, there are many signs of incompatibility here, so I’m not confident that talking is going to fix anything… but you’ll feel better about the decision to give up if you’ve ticked all the communicative boxes.

With that said:

I don’t want to project my personality and approach on to your guy, which just isn’t fair to either of you. But I’ve gotta say, this whole “I wanna do X… oh. No? How about now…? Really? I’ll bet you couldn’t do it correctly anyway, but… wow, thought that would work. What if I wear a funny hat while we— still no, huh? Okay then, behold as I selflessly and permanently abandon this thoroughly rejected idea until the next time I’m horny” thing is some real Little League nonsense, and both of you should expect more of him.

Let’s put aside the badgering and coercive vibes that everyone else on Tumblr will point out. Instead, I want to know where his goddamned pride has gone, and why both of you are okay with it disappearing.

Why the fuck is he repeatedly trying to pressure you into anything? He is —in theory— the leader of this two-person expedition, and leaders don’t nag or pout. Instead of wasting time trying to pester you into compliance, he could be showing you why he deserves to hear you beg for it.

It’s not your job to be the kind of girl who always agrees; it’s his job to be the kind of man you’d never refuse.

#asks #advice

[rainbow--skies]

I don't talk about my food allergies much on here because them being the One Thing half my classmates knew about me growing up and the excessive paranoia my parents shoved on me about them genuinely makes me hate doing so, and I also don't really PERSONALLY consider my allergies a disability (but I have no problem with other people doing so).

However I have noticed that whenever they get included in disability posts on here, it's always by people without food allergies who have barely any idea what the fuck they're talking about. So many people (including people with allergies!) are SO uninformed about how they work and it's worrying so here's some stuff I wish more people knew:

An Epi-Pen does not cure you it helps with some of the symptoms so you can get to the fucking hospital. You still need to go to the fucking hospital.

Food allergies CAN kill you- many people's are not that severe but they CAN kill you. Take them seriously please

Your little "haha people with food allergies are the weakest link" jokes are harmful and offensive and part of why so many people don't take allergies seriously. Stop it. You're not funny. Find a better joke. So many mainstream TV shows even do this it's disheartening

Many people with food allergies also have eczema (I used to when I was younger) or asthma (I don't but I know people who have both), the comorbidities are very common, but not universal

Airborne allergies are not very common at all and usually do not cause severe reactions and it's weird to me that people act like this is common (it kind of feels like excuse to isolate people with food allergies when food is being served sometimes) but if someone has said they do not want to be near their allergen at all you should respect this you do not know what someone's symptoms are

Cross contamination is also something not everyone suffers from (some people have low level allergies) but many of us do (including me) and you should not get offended if someone doesn't accept food they can't see ingredients/health info for or homemade food for that reason

You can be allergic to any food to any degree- people seem to have this weird misconception that it's just peanuts, nuts, dairy, eggs, and other more publicized foods but that's not true at all

If it's possible, ask people what they would prefer as an accommodation when food is being served PLEASE. Some of us would rather eat before, some would rather bring food, some would rather alternative options be offered or restaurants they can eat at be chosen. Some are fine sitting near people eating stuff we can't, some would rather sit in a separate space, and some would rather if the food was just not eaten when they are present at all. Myself and many others that I know actually would rather sit next to someone eating something we can't because it doesn't actually affect us to be near them if we're careful enough not to touch it than to sit at separate "allergen free" tables and such because it's a socially isolating experience, but there are people who would feel more comfortable eating away from others and this is okay too.

Many of us are only allergic to one or two things, some are allergic to a ton

There are less common types of allergies that don't follow the typical pattern of food allergies- as an example I have some allergies that come from oral allergy syndrome, which basically means that my seasonal allergies to certain types of pollen makes me slightly allergic to some fruits and vegetables too

Food allergies can sometimes randomly develop in teenagers and adults, they are not always there from birth or early childhood like many people think (though it's incredibly common for them to start that early). There is not a guarantee you will never get one but your chances are higher if your family has a history of them. Sometimes they can go away or decrease in severity over time too, though, but that does NOT happen to everybody

Lactose intolerance and Celiac Disease are not food allergies! They are separate conditions with separate symptoms and needs! Please educate yourselves about those too and not assume they are synonymous with food allergies

#rainbow's mind 24/7 #important #allergies #food allergies #reblogs okay and actually appreciated btw

[agbpaints]

So today I don't so much want to talk about some unknown mech I dug out of the bowels of Sarna, I just want to gush about a classic.

Whenever I build a list for playing Classic Battletech, I usually tend to focus a lot on my mediums and heavies. I like mechs that get into the thick of it fast and brawl and joust. Jumping jack Thunderbolts, Grasshoppers, Wolverines, Wraiths, etc. Light mechs are important too- scouts and light support and knives to push into the backs of people too busy dealing with my fast battle line. But when I get to the 80+ ton bracket I always think to myself 'why am I looking for slow fire support? I already play An Assault Mech,' and then I strap myself back into my Awesome.

Originally designed by Technicron Manufacturing in Merrick space furing the height of the Star League, the Awesome AWS-8Q was supposedly intended as a replacement for the aging Striker. The Striker itself is fairly forgettable product of early human mech design- it isn't much too write home about beyond being a janky bracket firing pile of direct fire weapons stapled onto a chassis with a questionably large engine and far too few heat sinks. I've got a feeling someone at Technicron thought the same when they looked at Stormvanger's offering.

Gone is the 320 power plant, replaced by a 240 rate fusion reactor that allows the Awesome to stride around at a stately top speed of 54 kph. All of that extra weight savings has been plowed into heat sinks to manage the Awesome's primary battery, 3 PPCs firing at unified ranges, something it does fairly well for its age with the ability to maintain a run while volleying in a 3-2-3 pattern with no decrease in performance. The Awesome is also incredibly thick skinned, carrying 97% of the potential armor its chassis weight allows, a fact that combines with its total lack of ammunition-bearing weapons to make an absolute zombie of a fire support unit- the only way to kill an 8Q is to core out the center torso or kill its pilot. That isn't to say it's without weakness- the low speed of the mech combined with the safety interlocks on the particle guns and the lack of any secondary weapons beyond a single head-mounted small laser means the Awesome is vulnerable to flanking attacks, especially whilst operating unsupported. Something for commanders to consider when fielding or facing. The 8Q is an absolute classic of a mech that continues to deliver well despite its age.

The Awesome has many variants (a few very good, a lot weird and LRM based because the purple parakeet spent most of the succession wars stapling every PPC they could get onto their Awesomes and still coming up short) but I'll just go over my own ride of choice. After an early and fairly mediocre modernization package in the 9M which mostly just made the Awesome more like the Striker (over-engined, under-sinked, and with a return to pointless ammo-bearing sidearms to threaten the precious 320 XL engine), Technicron delivered their own take on a 31st century Awesome in the form of the AWS-9Q in 3057. If the 8Q is a classic car, the 9Q is what happens when someone looks at that car and asks 'what if we super charged the hell out of it?' Unlike many other IS designs of the era, the 9Q is very deliberate with its use of lostech, simply cutting 9 heat sinks and replacing the rest with far more efficient double freezers. Those 9 extra tons play host to the mech's 4th PPC, an ECM suite, and the last available half ton of armor. As far as I'm concerned, the AWS-9Q is the zenith of Inner Sphere assault mech design prior to the adoption of clan tech and God's perfect direct fire support platform. Once it finds its hill, it will pump out PPC shots in a steady 4-4-3 pattern until the enemy removes it, and for a mear 1,875 bv or 7,456,050 c-bills, that's a damn good deal.

So, the next time you're building your inner sphere lists, consider the Awesome. It might not match the flashiness of the Clan assaults or the versatility of something like a Battlemaster, but it does beat them in terms of efficiently cranking out armor-stripping salvos until the enemy is scrap. And that's pretty awesome

#hobby #battletech #battlemech #mech talk #assault mech #awesome

[gardenvarietycrafts]

WIP Wednesday

One sock is done, and I couldn't be happier with that gradient! It's really making me excited to finish the second sock so I can actually wear these (though It's getting a bit warm here for wool socks). I feel like I've really gotten used to using the 9" circulars, so now I'm really flying through the start of the second sock.

No pattern, they're just vanilla socks with pinned short row toes and heels.

Yarn is Willow Duo Sox in color 3 Aegean. I originally got it for 2aat (since it comes with 2 balls of yarn to make matching socks) but I think I like my 9" circulars better.

The leafs have multiplied! I've been doing one or two a day to keep myself from getting tired of knitting leaves, while still making progress. I also looked up different ways for how to make leaf garland, and I think I'm going to connect these with a crochet chain (inserting the hook through the bottom of a leaf when I want to attach one, then making the next chain by pulling the yarn through both the leaf and the chain) and then slip stitch along the chain to make it sturdier.

Pattern I'm using is below the cut, and I'd love to see if anyone else makes some leaves or a leaf garland from them!

The Leafy Leaf cowl was frogged and put in time out. I dropped the center stitch in between a line of yarn overs and ended up losing stitches and couldn't figure out how to get them back without making that leaf's lace a lot more open, so I decided to restart it later. Or not! I wasn't in love with how it was working up, so if I find a better use for that yarn I'll use it there instead.

This does mean that I'm back down to one project with the ace hat having been finished as well. Which means I'm all clear to (re)start the burgundy cardigan! I'm using a different pattern than last time I started it, and looking at it, I think the sleeves will end up too big if I follow the decreases as written, so I am probably going to wing that section and just take super careful notes so I can repeat it for the second sleeve. We're aiming for an end product I love here, that's why I've restarted this one so much.

Leaf pattern:

CO 6 stitches using Judy's magic CO or your favorite cast on for knitting from the center out. Divide the stitches so you have 3 on each needle, then knit a round.

1. *k1, yo, k1, yo, k1* ×2 (5st/needle, 10st total)

2 (and all even rounds) knit around

3. *k2, yo, k1, yo, k2* ×2 (7st/needle)

5. *k3, yo, k1, yo, k3* ×2 (9st/needle)

6. *k4, yo, k1, yo, k4* ×2 (11st/needle)

7. *ssk, k7, k2tog* ×2 (9st/needle)

9. *ssk, k5, k2tog* ×2 (7st/needle)

11. *ssk, k3, k2tog* ×2 (5st/needle)

13. *ssk, k1, k2tog* ×2 (3st/needle)

15. cdd ×2, break yarn and pull through remaining 2 loops twice, then hide tail inside the leaf

#crafts #description in alt text #knitting #knitblr #trans #trans fiber artist #trans knitter #long post #sorry yall it's a long one this week! #no sunk cost fallacy here if im making the cardigan im making one ill wear #and if i don't like the pattern ill just frog it and restart it or make something else ill actually use with the yarn

[hnwd]

Here a fanchild Reaper x Ink, live m'y sweet baby now youre in the multiverse haha !

Physically Ether is not particularly tall, he is 1m69 tall, and has white and black bones mottled with spots or diamonds. On his forehead is a black diamond, his left eye has black eyelashes and black marks (three diamonds decreasing outwards) his right eye has white eyelashes and white marks). He does not have pupils with changing shapes, but his pupils are very colored in one to three colors, or even four, they can be of a single color at a time, the same or different, changing regularly in a fascinating spectacle. Ehter will mostly have his wings out, they are black and white, and their pattern changes according to his desire, we can therefore represent him freely with different wings of a mixture of black / white pattern, or a wing completely of one color and the other different, the two same ect ect, it’s up to you! (although Ether could make himself bigger, he doesn't do it because he feels in an unpleasant position in this case). He is also ambidextrous.

The name Ether, although it came from mutual agreement, came to each of the parents with different meanings that they hoped would influence the child's development. Ether for ink was both supposed to be a material medium filling space, a desire that his child never have the duality of wandering without a soul, but also in a darker sense of a story he had read , summarizing in his story that the Aether was synonymous with a stone of immortality in exchange for the blood of others. On Reaper's side, he accepted this name considering that it refers to the God Ether, god personifying the upper parts of the sky and its light.

Ether is not the first child of Ink and Reaper, they had a life long before with their respective partners, Reaper with Geno, then Geno becoming Error, Error with Ink then separation. However, Ether is the eldest child of this duo, he is rather neutral for children with the other partners.

Ether has a particular character, although he is extremely good at forming relationships, he generally considers himself detached from the crowd, even superior. This comes as much from his abilities as from his natural character, he loves chaos immensely, and appreciates creating and changing the destiny of others for his own amusement, a true free electron with a seductive smile he will rarely play fair against others. In reality he really likes games, board games, logic, although part of his joy comes from the fact that he wins easily by knowing the future, otherwise or he cannot, Ether will prove to be a a player terribly ready to face, with particularly keen logic and determination, we can recognize in his style of play, that of the gods of death and their Plans.

Ether is really chilly, to compensate for that ink created heated clothing for him that covers him completely, that's why Ether wears many layers of clothing, ironically, born on December 13 and loving winter he remains a eternally chilly lover of snowflakes.

Ether draws, although he doesn't have Ink's talent, he really likes drawing and painting, he loves colors and cute things, as much as sobriety and elegance.

Hermaphrodite, There is no preference on pronouns, nor on the fact of being bottom or top, he is a lover just as colorful and sparkling as Ink but also much more polite and gentleman than we think. These are more personal values than a real internet so you have to be careful not to misunderstand the signals it sends you. He has a favorite outfit, but otherwise he likes clothes of one kind or another and has done so since he was little.

Ether has several abilities, his main one which he developed from his birth was that of seeing the future, acts, actions, all this was disconcertingly easy, like a TV where he could move forward or change channels as he wanted. wish, his childhood was disconcertingly easy. Although this demigod does not have the ability to instill death with a simple touch, ether is a shape-shifter, in the most literal sense, being able to change his own bodily and magical structure to take another form, he does not use this power too much, quite simply because the pain he feels is truly terrible and exhausts him, he once described to his mother, Ink, that when he transformed he felt each of his bones break into pieces. middle of the song and his soul is torn in two before reforming into a new body. Aether's wings also come from this ability so he rarely puts them away. His last special ability is that of pact, as long as the person or person makes a pact with him, he can literally force people however he wants.

He also used this power against the gods of Reapertale, after learning that they mainly belittle the role of Reaper. There came a provocation to offer them the bars in a game and if that was the case they would all have to cede their role to Reaper, not having been taken seriously they accepted in an ironic way, pact validated, Ether blocked them in an infinite hour and forced them to play against yes recovering their power one by one, he nevertheless lost the tournament when Reaper arrived sensing that something was wrong, beating Ether he made him give back his powers and made him to apologize. This didn't influence their relationship, but it didn't help the relationship between the other gods either.

It can be considered in any camp whether neutral good bad, satars dances or Bads sanses

#undertale #aus #digital art #myart #azaquielhnwd #inksans #ink x reaper #inkdeath #reapersans #fanchild #ethersans

[elistodragonwings]

Yes, stories can normalize things, for better or worse. Knowing something is fake doesn’t mean our subconscious won’t learn and internalize what we’re seeing. After all, horror films wouldn’t have the ability to scare us if our minds on some level didn’t respond to fiction as though it were real. It’s hard to imagine we don’t also unintentionally take in biases and other negative values.

But that process does not exist in a vacuum. People don’t mindlessly and passively have values normalized like by some magic force. Context matters – how something is presented, not just if it exists, combined with a person’s experience and knowledge determines what does and doesn’t get normalized.

Banning everything that might be bad won’t stop things from getting normalized because society can’t control what any individual person gets from a story in the first place. What society can and should do is teach people how to engage critically with stories and with their own perception.

We call out stories that are sexist or racist or ultra-violent or overly-explicit, we call out patterns of bias across a genre, we call out commonly negative depictions, not to ban them but to bring them to people’s attention. To get people to think about what it means that we’re telling stories like this, to discourage people from passively consuming media, to encourage creators to think differently about what they’re making. Because yes, media can normalize things, but it also is a reflection of the already-normalized values and blind spots of the culture creating it; trying separate this chicken-and-egg situation is impossible.

Even if everyone could agree on what stories are or aren’t harmful, no stories can be perfect because creators are not perfect. If you do manage to sanitize everything to the most uncontroversial state, you’re left with nothing that challenges people to grow.

More than that, you can’t both ban something AND teach people to think critically about that thing they’re not supposed to see. Harmful things will always exist, but if people don’t know how to recognize or engage with them, they’re more likely to have it become normalized for them because they won’t know any better.

If you want to ban “bad” content rather than teach people how to analyze, then where’s the data? Where are the studies that say this top-down blanket approach is the best strategy? Where’s the research that shows that people who write violence are more likely to commit violence? Where’s the experts in social change and harm reduction that define what kinds of stories even are harmful? Or are you just looking for a shortcut, a simple authoritarian fix to a complicated social problem of why people do bad things? Because I promise you, no one is a pedophile or a rapist simply because they read about it in some books.

Stories can and are used to teach values. To TEACH values. To try to ban books and information in order to try to passively shape social values is completely backwards from how progress works. When a story truly no longer fits with contemporary values, it doesn’t need to be banned. It decreases in popularity on its own.

An example from my own life:

I loved the Dragonriders of Pern series in high school. Some were in my school library, some were in my regular library’s adult section, and some I bought. These books were written from 1969-early 2000s, and so unsurprisingly, some of the relationships depicted are, let’s say problematic. Some I recognized as not ok and some I did not. And yet none of those problematic depictions got normalized for me. What DID get normalized? The possibility of a society where gay men not only existed but had a respected place in society. Sure, looking back now, their depiction is…not great. But they were there and it was normal and fine. And that was important because nothing else did that for me until many years later.

Why did that stick and nothing else? Because I came to the series with progressive values, an open mind for different ways of thinking about people, a desire for stories that showed me something different, and an awareness that science fiction often is written as social commentary and imagining what could be. Someone who came to the books with different perspectives would have gotten something entirely different from it. Some might even find this too painful and harmful to read. Those are all legitimate reactions.

Should the series be banned for showing lack of consent? Gay stereotypes? The fact that gay men exist? That abortion in this world is simple and not a big deal? Because some people will find these books personally harmful or upsetting?

Or do we let the books exist, available, as we teach people to think about their values and how to analyze both stories and the world around them? As we let individuals decide for themselves what helps them and what hurts them?

#book bans #censorship #purity culture #critical thinking #education #social progress #elisto

[louderfade]

if you decorated your apartment/house/homespace to be beige/grey/off-white/basically a noncolor i automatically do not trust you. why are you afraid of colors. why do you want to live in a realty photograph or a hampton inn. i asked my sister why people do this (she's my go-to for explanations of normies bc she would've been one except she does drugs and was raised by me so got early immunity from full frontal lobe shut down) and she said "people find it calming" like wow really how strange. expressing zero personality/taste calms them down? that shit makes me feel like there could be a threat lurking near. it puts me on edge. it sets off alarms in my instinct center. i feel like a dog who senses an approaching animal has rabies. warning: some shit is deeply wrong with this organism and they pose a threat to your well being. flee without engaging. my grandparents are 90 and conservative and even they had a house with colors and patterns and art they enjoyed. millennial apartments terrify me. our boomer parents were hit or miss with their ticky-tacky suburban houses. some of those houses had a soul but many didn't. "hanging stuff on the walls decreases the property value" and other such statements that prove you're already dead. millennials seem worse though bc they do it to rentals bc they LIKE it. maybe those old women haircuts all the girls had in hs in the 2000s (this is my fav gen z criticism of us millennials bc so fucking true in hs i was like wtf are these middle aged hairstyles how did this become cool everyone looks 35) are responsible for this particular variety of brain damage. from now on i believe in this link. 32 year olds live in light grey horror boxes bc sporting 40 year old hairstyles at age 16 makes you permanently boring and unable to display any taste or personality. these are people who get uncomfortable looking at art or when a friend cries. these are the people who say "i'm sorry for your loss" to a grieving person instead of "life is cruel af my brother no answers come still we must try to survive do you need a fierce hug at this moment or not also i brought you a xanax" like a real human being would. the craziest thing i ever saw my mom do was pay to paint our foyer "eggshell" when the damn walls were already white. this is actual mental illness. not me screaming in the road about how the modern world makes no sense and all the food is microplastic poison. not a single child on earth says their favorite color is light grey or dark white. your soul is sick if beige calms you down. i diagnose you with a severe deficiency of humanity. you need to be hospitalized and forced to discuss philosophy and engage with music until you remember what is valuable about consciousness, which is beautiful as well as cruel, both a gift and curse but it's worth it. i'd rather be awake and have to go to the hospital sometimes when it becomes too much and i end up sobbing drunk in the yard than lobotomized to the point of trading my precious time on earth for money i then spend on beige curtains and a sign that says "caution: caffeinating" to hang in the kitchen proving i am a corpse whose bland heart forgot to stop beating. i mean they shoot horses don't they.

#my sister bought a 3000 dollar grey couch bc some people have way too much money #but she also asked me to make art for her bathrooms and guest bedroom which is human behavior #i made the art and all those rooms have bright colors but her living room is grey and ugly #she's a strange case: half boring popular girl but half formed by my influence bc we're eight years apart and super close #music is the most important thing to her proving she is sane and she does psychedelic drugs to keep her mind healthy #girls without sisters have a harder time i firmly believe this. i would've liked having a brother i think #but sisters help you improve your self-awareness and develop your gender identity/personal way of being female #it's prolly the same with boys and brothers but men are a mystery somebody else can try to solve #personal #text #important facts #live laugh lobotomy

[300iqprower]

Hypothetical Rank Ups No. 78-81: James Moriarty

Special thanks to @switch for the massive helping hand they gave in both deciding which effects best fit the flavor I wanted to go for, as well as balancing said effects! Really can't stress enough how helpful it was to, ya know, have someone who actually regularly uses Moriarty weigh in on his balancing. Why didn't Grandpa come home for me :( he really is evil...

The Freeshooter EX -> 'EX'

Apply Ignore Invincible to self (1 turn). Apply Ignore DEF to self (1 turn). Increase own Critical Star Gather Rate (1 turn). Increase own NP Gain (3 turns). Gain Class Affinity advantage against [Ruler] class (5 turns). Gain Critical Stars. [NP Gain Up scales from 10-40%.]

In the first of many changes following a certain pattern, Moriarty gets anti-Ruler on a near permanent basis, being 5 turns on a 5 turn cooldown skill. This both gives him a much needed extra-class niche in the incredibly overcrowded role of ST Archer, and it fits his role in lore as a being antithetical to order and virtue. We're also giving a MASSIVE np gain buff to make up for his low natural gain and his Buster NP. Through the power of the Freikugeln and its ability to grant one's desires, Moriarty can channel a pseudo-golden rule much as he can use the bullets to grant crit stars. While not granting him battery immediately like it does crit stars, his triple arts deck and 4 hit arts cards mean the buff on its own clears a path for him the ability to gain that NP with ease. Paired with his existing massive battery, even with a buster NP looping becomes possible. The skills main tradeoff is that these two long term abilities designed for passive use are still attached to his most dynamic skill, with the star bomb/gather and ignore invincible/def remaining 1 turn in duration.

End of the Spider's Web A+++ -> ‘A+++’

(Can only be used with 10 critical stars or more.) Increase own NP Gauge. Applies [Evil Alignment] to other party members (5^ turns). Increases own NP Strength by 20% (3 times, 5 turns^). Depending on Crit Stars add the following effects: - (20+ Crit Stars) Decrease NP Strength for all [Good] enemies (1 turn). - (30+ Crit Stars) Inflict Nullify Buff to all enemies (1 turn; at skill level 8+ stacks with and takes priority over similar effects). [NP Strength Down scales from 30-70%.]

Have i ever mentioned we need more skills that have crit star based effects? Especially when it comes to servants who are known for their ability to plan ahead? We're also buffing the evil alignment duration, giving much more flexibility that is very much deserved. You'd really think a character meant to be the embodiment of "evil for heroism's sake" would be the defacto changer of good-to-evil. rather than have to worry about there being so much cooldown time. This extended duration boosts said uptime to a much more comfortable 5 out of 8/7/6 turns. Similarly, for flexibility's sake the NP buff is now 3 times across 5 turns, making it much easier with Moriarty's finicky deck to get good use out of the buff. While the buff itself isn't increased, his NP's defense down means that it still pairs incredibly well with repeated use.

Meanwhile, while we arent getting rid of the crit star requirement (see what I said about good planning being the point), we are adding more crit star effects. If you have 10, the effects remain the same. If you have 20, there's a [potentially] crippling NP debuff on all Good enemies. If you have 30 or more, even support NPs get crippled with a nullify buff stack that at higher levels has the unique ability to stack on top of other nullify buffs. Because both these debuffs are 1 turn though, they require you to weigh your options and timing of use between the need for that 50% battery and/or evil alignment, timing it just before an enemy servant tries to unleash their NP, and even having the crit stars to do any of those things in the first place. Truly a skill only a mastermind can make full use of.

Evil Charisma A -> Rogue's Gallerist A+

Increase ATK for all allies (3 turns). Further increase ATK for all [Evil] allies^ (3 turns). Increase Critical Star Drop Rate for all [Villain] allies (3 turns). Apply Target Focus to all other [Phantom Spirit] and [Villain] allies (1 turn) (2 turns at skill level 8+). [Star Drop Rate Up scales from 30-50%]

I get why Moriarty's charisma doesn't double up on himself, he's a professor and all that...but they made him a dedicated ST DPS servant and an archer at that, so yeah i'm giving him the double up. Definitely chalk this one up to the sort of thing I'd need to test more firsthand to know if it's really needed, something friend supports only let me do so much. In the meanwhile I'm just gonna take the approval of a certified Moriarty User as reason enough.

We're also introducing 2 new servant traits at once! Villains will get critical star drop increased for 3 turns by quite a bit. Even with his high hit counts thought, Moriarty's relatively low generation and triple arts deck means he's much more reliant on allies than himself for generating stars through normal attacks. Lastly to finally give him some hard survival, we're doing it in a fittingly schemer sort of way. Rather than shield himself, Moriarty gets others to do it for him, applying target focus to all his fellow villains and the phantom spirits he's taken command of, with the effect applied for an additional turn at its highest levels. While this may seem conditional, the sheer number of villainous figures in Chaldea's roster at this point means it's very easy to ensure at least one ally can take hits for Moriarty.

[Phantom Spirit allies include: Robin Hood, Gilles De Rais (Caster), Hans Christian Andersen, Summer Kiara, Sakaki Kojirou, Phantom of the Opera, Nursery Rhyme, Henry Jekyll, Edmond Dantes, Mephistopheles, James Moriarty, Hessian-Lobo, Yan Qing, Sherlock Holmes, Paul Bunyan, Antonio Salieri, Red Hare, Salome, Van Gogh, Ashiya Douman, Barghest, Baobhan Sith, Melusine, Oberon, Don Quixote, Huyan Zhuo, Huang Feihu, CinderEli.]

[Villain allies include: Saber Alter, Altera, Emiya, Gilgamesh, Elisabeth Bathory, Blackbeard, Medea, Caster Gilles, Shakespeare, Mephistopheles, Hassan of the Cursed Arm, Carmilla, Lancelot, Vlad III (Extra), Caligula, Jack the Ripper, Hyde, Amakusa Shirou, Cu Alter, Jalter, Angra Mainyu, EMIYA (Assassin), Shuten-Douji, Ibaraki-Douji, Ozymandias, Lartoria, Enkidu, Gorgon, MHXA, James Moriarty, Emiya Alter, Hessian-Lobo, Meltryllis, Passionlip, Kingprotea, BB, Summer BB, Kiara Sessyoin, Scherezade, Wu Zeitan, Columbus, Yagyu Munenori, Mecha Eli MKII, Circe, Abigail, Semiramis, Anastasia, Avicebron, Ivan, Scathach-Skadi, Xiang Yu, Qin Shi Huang, Yu Mei Ren, Kama, Arjuna Alter, Maou Nobu, Spishtar (1st form or Costume only), Dioscuri, Caeneus, Van Gogh, Ashiya Douman, Ibuki-Douji, Vritra, Taira no Kagekiyo, Morgan, Barghest, Baobhan, Oberon (3rd ascension), Jacques de Molay, Kriemhild, Xu Fu, Moriarty (Ruler), Koyanskaya (all), Sen no Rikyu, Archetype Earth, Super Bunyan (3rd ascension), Kirei Kotomine.]

"Heroic" Spirits, everybody

The Dynamics of an Asteroid A+ -> A++

Deals damage to a single enemy.^ Deals 160% extra Special Attack damage to a single [Star] Attribute enemy. <Overcharge> Decreases DEF for a single enemy (3 turns).^ [Activates First] [DEF down scaling increased to 20/30/40/50/60%.]

Okay okay I think it's obvious what the theme here is by now. Actually it was probably obvious the moment I brought up Ruler-advantage but now it definitely couldn't be more obvious where there's only a dozen or so star attribute servants. Oh and uh... Apologies to Jeanne for getting caught in the Holmesian-Crossfire. Who knew there were multiple Lawful-Good Ruler Star servants-

So, all in all, Moriarty should be in a good place. He should be, but he sorta isn't for reasons beyond his control. With servants like Tametomo, Edgyia, Kintoki, Orion, and many others cluttering the same niche he has for DPS, he also has to match up unfavorably with the likes of Douman and color-based supports in his other niche. All in all he's too conditional without enough reward compared to his peers for filling those conditions. That's why rather than directly buff him, I mainly relied on keeping those conditions in place but making his support much more fulfilling, and against "certain" enemies making his DPS unmatched. All in all we have a servant who is MUCH more useful to the masters willing to think as far ahead as the criminal mastermind himself.

#artist: echo (circa) #artist: a1b1n0623 #fgo #fate grand order #hypothetical rank ups #fgo meta #fgo moriarty #archer of shinjuku #ok so next is the Cia post - then the imaginary scramble write up - then i'll be all caught up on immediate obligations #after that comes a certain native american caster.... #please come home this april(?) grandad......

[puppyexpressions]

Why Does My Dog Sleep So Much

If you find your dog is often asleep during the day, don't fret—while it's normal for dogs to sleep through the night, many dogs also spend much of the day asleep. Most dogs will sleep around 10 to 14 hours in a given 24-hour period, but some may sleep as much as 20 hours. If excessive sleeping has become an issue with your pup, it might be time to get down to the bottom of it.

Changes in sleeping patterns can be a result of aging or disease, which is why you should keep a close eye on your dog's sleep cycle.1 Here's how to encourage activity in your dog to keep them awake during the day, plus how to know when to seek help.

Why Dogs Sleep So Much

Studies suggest that many dogs sleep an average of at least 11 hours in a 24-hour cycle. Additionally, they take many resting periods with the smallest portion of the day devoted to activity.2

Most dogs will sleep more when they are relaxed and there isn't a good motivation for them to be active. Since they don’t have smartphones, jobs, or homework, sleeping is a way for them to pass the day, especially if they are home alone and bored. Many dogs will end up spending about 12 to 14 hours of their days and nights asleep, but they may sleep more. How much your dog sleeps will depend on a variety of factors:

Very young puppies and older dogs will likely spend more of their time asleep.

Overweight and sick dogs may also sleep more than healthy dogs.

Certain breeds are predisposed towards sleeping more (ask someone who’s owned a slow-moving basset hound versus a high-energy border collie).

Of course, hours and hours of snoozing can also be a sign of a health problem. Many diseases and age-related problems can come with a change in sleeping patterns

In most cases, a dog that sleeps for 12 to 14 hours per day is no cause for concern. That’s normal! But owners should be aware that excess sleep can also be a sign of potential problems, especially if you notice a sudden change in the amount your dog is sleeping. It's best to talk to your vet when you have these concerns.

How to Make Your Dog’s Day More Exciting

Since most dogs don’t go to work or school, it’s common for them to be bored if they are alone for long stretches of the day. Pair a long, lonely day with the hours that their human is asleep, and that’s a long time for your dog to spend sleeping every day! If it feels like your dog is sleeping his days away, consider what else he’s got to do with his time.

Enrichment

The best way to help your dog stay awake and active during the day is to provide lots of interesting toys, games, and activities. For example, puzzle toys can be a great way to keep your pup busy and active during the day. You can also hide kibble or treats inside of a towel or an egg carton (as long as your dog is not one to eat towels). Check on your dog using a dog camera to see if she’s playing with the puzzle toys or ignoring them.

Exercise

You can also spice up your dog’s day with midday dog walks and more prolonged bouts of exercise in the morning and evening. Some dogs may also enjoy a doggy daycare setting where they can play with other dogs all day long.

If you notice that your dog is sleeping even when there are exciting things to do, or if your dog is no longer engaging with things that he used to do, it could mean that something else is going on. Speak with your veterinarian for advice on next steps.

When to Get Help

Generally, it’s pretty standard for your dog to spend a portion of the day asleep or resting. That said, too much sleep can be a sign of a problem with your dog’s health.

There are a few tell-tale signs that your dog may be sleeping too much:

Changes to sleep patterns

Sleeping even when there’s “something better to do,” especially if that thing would usually grab their attention

Sleep interferes with eating or drinking

It’s hard to rouse your dog from sleep

Limping or unwilling to walk, run, or jump

Increase or decrease in eating, urination, or defecation

Vomiting or diarrhea

Coughing, wheezing, or difficulty breathing

The increase in sleep comes with other behavior problems

Disorientation, confusion, getting 'lost' at home, staring at walls or corners

Increased aggression or fearfulness

Pacing and other signs of anxiety

Some of these signs might have developed slowly over time, especially in older dogs. It is always important to mention it to your vet as there may be ways to make your dog more comfortable in their golden years.

Your vet will likely have a lot of questions and may need to run some tests. Dogs that are sleeping more or reluctant to get up may be suffering from aches or pains like arthritis or more acute injuries, endocrine disorders such as hypothyroidism or diabetes, or have other medical conditions related to heart disease, neurological problems, or other conditions.3 Getting a thorough workup from your vet, which will include a complete physical exam, blood work, and possibly other tests, can help uncover the cause and get your pup feeling her best again.

Try to keep track of your dog’s sleep patterns and any other symptoms. Make sure she’s a healthy weight and that she has plenty to do during the day to enrich her alone time. If she’s still sleeping an unusual amount, it might be time to see the vet.

FAQ

Is it normal for a dog to sleep 20 hours a day?

It can be normal for some dogs to sleep as much as 20 hours a day, especially if they are very young, older, or simply bored. However, if your dog is suddenly sleeping more than usual, you should call your veterinarian.

Do dogs like sleeping with humans?

Dogs are social animals and usually enjoy sleeping near their people. Some dogs enjoy cuddling in the bed, but others prefer their own space. They often still want to sleep in the same room as their people.

#dog sleeping #dog behavior #dog health

[hellotemporaryuniverse]

Ugh

anyway, this is what the lauded AI internet looks like these days https://animalsdoingstuff.com/do-reptiles-sneeze/ TLDR at the bottom

The only thing correct about this is the "Sneezing Mechanism for Mammals" part.

-FIRST CLAIM: Reptiles do not have lungs and create using air sacs in an open-tracheal closed loop system (there's like three contradictions here in the same sentence, which was what clued me into the AI bs) ANSWER: FALSE Reptiles do in fact have lungs, even if they are less complex than mammals

-SECOND CLAIM: Reptiles do not have a diaphragm ANSWER: FALSE Most reptiles (excluding crocs and gators) do not have a diaphragm, true, but some of them have membranes that separate their body cavities, and they increase or decrease body cavity volumes using the muscles of the chest wall to create the pressure they need to breathe

-THIRD CLAIM: Reptile nostrils are used for olfaction and do not connect to the respiratory system ANSWER: FALSE Reptile nostrils are part of the respiratory system. (This one is kind of a duh, if you have watched reptiles for any amount of time you would know they can breathe with their mouths closed)

-FOURTH CLAIM: Reptiles do not have mucous membranes in the nose ANSWER: ? To be fair I couldn't find any info on this besides a forum post that mentioned tracheal mucus in reptiles, so I can't say for sure, but at this point, I think it's safe to say this article's claim is bs. (If anyone knows the answer lmk)

-FIFTH CLAIM: Reptiles do not have the muscles necessary to sneeze ANSWER: FALSE I already talked about how reptiles use body cavity pressures to breathe, so I think those muscles can produce a sneeze as well.

-FINAL CLAIM: Reptiles cannot sneeze ANSWER: FALSE Reptiles. Can. Sneeze.

Rant: This is why AI is bull.shit. It presents its misinformation as real and in doing so erodes the quality of the internet. If I hadn't recognized this as being suspicious, if I hadn't already known a bit of info about reptiles, I might have taken this article as true. It only took one more search to disprove it using a more reputable source and then a couple more to be sure I had the info I needed. To be fair, the internet was already rife with misinformation, and you already needed to be careful about the sites you find your info on, but the fact that it is so blatant now? That so many sites just churn out AI-created articles to get views without caring about the actual content of those articles? AI is dangerous because people take the shit that it puts out as true, when all the AI does is regurgitate words in a patterned response. It doesn't know what those words mean. It doesn't know how to check sources and disseminate information. And then people out there take what it says as gospel. This was the second response in my search engine TLDR; do your research, check your sources, make sure they're reputable, and don't trust AI's bs

#ai #rant post #all i wanted to do was look up if lizards can sneeze why is that so hard #and then i got so angry i spent three hours making this post

[morlock-holmes]

So I have a question about your Bowling Alone discussion: why do you find it hard to arrange a game night? In my experience it's because everyone I'd do it with is already busy a lot of the time! You seem to be saying that everyone is lonely but also unwilling to do fun things for... Some reason?

Okay, Anon, fine, you goaded me into doing actual work instead of just half-remembering things. I hope you’re happy.

The following quotes and screenshots are taken from Bowling Alone chapter 6: Informal Social Connections:

“The bad news is that we are [connecting with each other] less and less every year. Consider some of the startling evidence of change over the last quarter century. In the mid- to late 1970s, according to the DDB Needham Life Style archive, the average American entertained friends at home about fourteen to fifteen times a year. By the late 1990s that figure had fallen to eight times a year, a decline of 45 percent in barely two decades. An entirely independent series of surveys from the Roper Social and Political Trends archive confirms both going out to see friends and having them over to our home declined from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s (See figure 18 for details.) Yet a third archive (that of Yankelovich Partners) reports a decline of nearly one-third between 1985-86 and 1998-99 in the readiness of the average American to make new Friends.”

Then we are referred to Footnote 15, Page 458, which says

“15. The top half of figure 18 is based on DDB Needham Life Style data; the bottom half is based on Roper Social and Political Trends data. Because sampling and wording differ between these two archives, the two halves of figure 18 are not directly comparable, but the fact that two such different archives show similar declines in social visiting is all the more significant. DDB Needham Life Stye surveys also show that dinner parties (given or attended) declined from 7.1 per year in the mid-1970s to 3.7 in the late 1990s. Yankelovich Partners Inc. report that that agreement that “I have very little room in my life for new friends these days” rose from 23 percent in 1985-86 to 32 percent in 1998-99… Mediamark Research annual surveys show a drop of one-fifth between the early 1980s and the late 1990s in the frequency of “entertaining friends or relatives at home.” Finally, eight times between 1938 and 1990 Gallup pollsters asked about one’s “favorite way of spending an evening.” Over the whole period “dancing” and “playing cards and games” dropped sharply, and after the 1970s “visiting with friends” and “dining out” also dropped. “Watching TV” and “home with family” rose over this period, suggesting a cocooning pattern consistent with the Roper and DDB Needham data. On the other hand, because of changes in wording, I am less confident about the Gallup trends. (See George Gallup Jr., The Gallup Poll: Public Opinion [Wilmington, Del.: Scholarly Resources Inc., 1986] 104, 130.) According to the General Social Survey, the frequency of spending a social evening with “friends who live outside the neightborhood” more than once a month rose from 40 percent in 1974-76 to 44 percent in 1994-96. Of the six national survey archives that I have discovered with trend data on friendship over the last several decades, this is the only series that does not show significant decline. (Unlike other measures of friendship, this GSS metric is also inexplicably more common among men than women.) See also Robert J. Sampson, “Local Friendship Ties and Community Attachment in Mass Society: A Multilevel Systemic Model,” American Sociological Review 53 (October 1988): 776-779; Fischer, To Dwell Among Friends; Claude S. Fischer, Robert M. Jackson, et al., Networks and Places: Social Relations in the Urban Setting (New York: Free Press, 1977)."

Bolding mine.

Putnam, in Bowling Alone, doesn't address the niche hobby of RPG game playing, but as you can see some of the data he looked at was collected in a way that would be expected to measure time spent on games in general.

There's a left-wing and particularly rat-adj narrative where "atomization" is good, because it represents the triumph of chosen pursuits and chosen friendships over coercive groups such as the church.

But the data Putnam collected shows a decline even in purely voluntary social pursuits. He doesn't see massive increases in the prevalence of dinners with friends, time spent in gaming groups, etc, but rather a decrease in the prevalence of these pursuits.

And I get frustrated because the response is just blanket denial. @self-loving-vampire has sort of responded with "I feel like I do this a lot, which means that there can't be a downward trend."

It's like if I said, I don't know, cable subscription rates were down and a bunch of people said, "But I still have cable!"

Like... Who cares? I didn't say that nobody has cable, I said that rates were declining.

And denial doesn't come with different polling data, it's just a blanket denial. There must be a constant upwards trend in positive, voluntary social engagement because...

I really don't know why; I have yet to be offered any reason why the positive things that "Atomization" is supposed to bring must be actually increasing, there's simply this emphatic, committed declaration that it must be so.

It must be true that found families and voluntary connections have been getting stronger and more prevalent over the last half-century.

Why though? Why must it be true and how would you explain data which seems to suggest exactly the opposite? If we value these kinds of voluntary, found connection for their emotional and material benefits, then shouldn't we want to look at actual data about whether they are really increasing in prevalence and power? Shouldn't we be concerned about data that says that they aren't?

#bowling alone #discourse #friendship #atomization

[saintkevorkian]

The best way to regard socionics is not as a test of the consistency or fallibility of others, but as a test of its own reliability as theory.

Certain aspects of socionics may prove difficult for any critical mind to incorporate. Yet the core premises are surprisingly acceptable:

[P1] Individuals develop ways of thinking which can be diverged from, yet most thoughts are patterned. Pattern formation happens relatively early in child development and modalities vary between individuals. [R1] --Yes, this is not only supported by empirical evidence but adheres to principles of energetics, namely that an inefficient system, particularly this 're-examining the wheel' which becomes necessary in philosophical pursuits [and can lead to marvellous Rube Goldberg machines], does not spontaneously emerge.

[P2] Few types will be generated, and these will be related to broader social functions. [R2]--I've used this metaphor before: similar to wagons travelling over thick clay, most wheels will not create new ruts, but follow those tracks already made through the clay. Once 'in the groove' if you will, the system would have to travel uphill at least momentarily to leave the rut, and is unlikely to do so unless it becomes necessary to change course, for reasons of energetics described in R1. As more wheel-ruts are cut through the clay, diverting the wagon so it follows its own track becomes increasingly difficult -- as it's odds-on, unless the wheels are simply trying to carve an independent path instead of primarily trying to move forwards (again defying principles of energetics) that they will intersect with an existing rut at some point, after which they must accelerate against gravity to stop following the pre-formed trajectory. So at the top of the hill (childhood) one would see a chaos of criss-crossed grooves, but as one descended the declivity (youth and adulthood) the lines would probably decrease in number. Now having designed a physical system I wish to prove it with simulation... Can someone who isn't me please explain human pack mentality & why precisely this metaphor of wagon-ruts is so apt

[P3] Despite adhering to tested behavioural and cognitive patterns most of the time, human minds contain an inextinguishable modicum of natural variance, such that all individuals could to a certain degree act 'not themselves' [R3] Humans can act in ways which seem random, not always due to error/ poor reasoning. In systems theory, the flexible system is more robust As this provision simply widens the set, there doesn't appear to be any reasoning such that P3 makes the other two premises less likely. In the R2 metaphor, this would mean, despite the relative paucity of wagon-ruts, there would be a few sketchy lines where a single path diverged from the group. This does create a bit of a problem for socionics, because, if we call the set of archetypes (deep ruts) 'n', then at the trickier parts in the slope, the set will have a variable amount added, n+m. For real nonnegative 'm', n+m > n.

[P4] Once general patterns are established and shared between many individuals, relationships will also emerge between patterns. [R4] Incontestible that relationships will emerge, but it's not clear that relationships form between patterns as opposed to individuals. To wit, the means by which a person who typically employs a specific thought pattern should necessarily recognise, like, or appreciate similar thought patterns c.f. others in its category must be explained. (To illustrate using latin not greek alphabet, person in category A who appreciates category X does not guarantee another person in category A should appreciate category X. Interpersonal dynamics are overdetermined... or are they? Are modalities themselves compatible, or does personal history generate a stronger impetus to connection?

Finally, outliers affect analyses of all real human categories. If you met a true maverick, an original thinker--the real McCoy etc., do you suppose that person's brain would be bound by conventional rules? It seems unlikely.

In the wagon-rut metaphor, the maverick describes the trajectory of a rocket-powered wagon.

[C1] Therefore, {socionics: broadly or widely inclusive} is far more likely than {socionics: exhaustive}.

#socionics

[bossmanbrandbeardbalm]

How to Use Beard Ball

Bossman’s Beard Balm thickens, strengthens, protects, and hydrates your beard all whereas maintaining it under control throughout the day. When you’re on this page, meaning you’re preparing for the final step in the 4 stage beard care process. The scent you choose right here will stick to you all through the rest of the day, particularly in the event you’ve matched it up with the identical scent in the other three stages. You possibly can match the scent with Beard Jelly and Pomade for consistency or mix and match to make your personal combination.

One factor we know for certain though is that while you toss our relaxing beard balm in your beard, you’ll be ready for regardless of the day throws at you. Our all pure elements and package options guarantee there’s a method for any boss and his beard to get exactly what they’re looking for. Add Bossman’s Stress-free Beard Balm to you cart and your beard will probably be glad you did. We assure it or your money back, no questions asked.

Growing a fuller, thicker beard will not be a simple process for many men. The truth is, most men wrestle with having either a patchy mustache or itchy beard and so before they're in a position to develop out a thicker beard, they consequence to shaving or trimming too early. This, mixed with an unbalanced eating regimen, can lead to a patchy beard that appears frail and weak.In this put up we're going to cowl all the pieces you have to learn about growing either a thicker beard or thicker mustache. Earlier than going into all the explanation why some men can grow a thicker mustache or darker beard than others and recommendations on how you can develop a thicker beard naturally, let's outline the qualities of an amazing beard.

Most males battle with the thickness of their beard progress - and one offender for that is genetics. Some males simply have larger testosterone ranges and might grow a full beard easier than others (though at the cost of upper hair loss). Meanwhile, decrease testosterone ranges may end up in a patchy mustache or a weak beard. That being stated, that does not imply you must just surrender or get a beard transplant. Happily for you, you are able to do a whole lot of issues to have the voluminous and flowing thick beard growth you so desire.

Facial hair is an essential aspect of human appearance, primarily in males. It encompasses varied sorts and patterns of hair growth on the face, together with beards, mustaches, goatees, and sideburns. There are quite a few factors that contribute to the thickness and density of facial hair, which might vary considerably amongst individuals. Genetics plays a vital function in figuring out the thickness and growth pattern of facial hair. In case your shut members of the family have thick beards, it is seemingly that you will inherit comparable traits. Nevertheless, genetics just isn't the only real determinant of rising facial hair, as other elements can even affect your beard's thickness.

Hormones, notably testosterone, significantly affect facial hair growth. Males with higher levels of testosterone typically experience thicker and extra sturdy beard growth. Conversely, those with lower testosterone ranges could have thinner or less dense facial hair. You will need to note that the hormone's focus alone does not guarantee a thick beard, as individual sensitivity to testosterone also plays a task in selling hair growth.

Age is one other issue that can have an effect on beard thickness. Facial hair generally begins to develop throughout puberty and continues to mature in the following years. As men get older, thinner hairs on their beards could change into thicker and more coarse. However, age-related hormonal changes could finally lead to a discount in facial hair density.

Nutrition is a vital part of wholesome hair growth, together with facial hair. A nicely-balanced Relaxing Beard Balm food plan, wealthy in vitamins and minerals, can promote hair progress and improve hair quality. Specifically, vitamins A, B, C, D, and E, in addition to zinc, biotin, and protein, are recognized to contribute to healthy facial hair follicles and development. Luckily, this is among the easiest areas to fix simply by taking supplements that help beard growth.

Life-style habits additionally play a part in your beard length and thickness. Common exercise may help improve testosterone ranges and enhance blood circulation, each of which might enhance facial hair growth. Additionally, ample sleep and stress administration are crucial for maintaining total well being and selling wholesome beard hair progress by preventing testosterone ranges from dropping.

Correct skincare and grooming habits can encourage a thicker beard. Protecting your facial pores and skin clear and properly-moisturized can promote circulation, exfoliate lifeless pores and skin cells, and unclog pores, creating a super setting for beard hair growth. Utilizing beard oils, balms, and different grooming merchandise like beard conditioners will help nourish and shield your beard, leading to healthier, thicker facial hair. Facial hair thickness is influenced by a mixture of genetic, hormonal, age-related, dietary, skincare, and lifestyle factors. Understanding these components can help individuals better handle their facial hair and work in the direction of achieving their desired full beard hair density.

#Youtube