Is this generated or just really bad compression? Details are very hazy and smudgy.

I find myself studying the minutiae of an account's posts to try to determine.. Is that a bot w/ gen-AI/straight-up-stolen pics & generated text, or just someone who:
has a weird personality,
is really bad at using social media,
uses too many shitty filters,
struggles with certain details in art?

one of the most insane aspects of all of this is that "a wide ranging government crackddown after a handful of newspaper cranks said insane things based on misunderstood cherrypicked papers" is considered illegitimate in every field of endeavor except this one

Me, trying to do a web search that specifically excludes the term "AI"
Search engine: WHAT'S THAT, YOU WANT NOTHING BUT LINKS TO AI?

“It’s a couple of things that work beautifully in concert. First: no music. Audiences are so sophisticated, but what they’re not accustomed to is not being told how to feel,” Wyle says. “You take all that out and it forces a level of engagement where you’re now looking for clues within the frame of the screen, which forces you to look up from your phone. And I think that is extremely engaging, especially to young viewers who aren’t accustomed to being asked to participate in a nonpassive way in the viewing experience.

“Second point, shooting it with almost exclusively 50-millimeter or 65-millimeter lenses, which is the most comparable to the human eye—and only shooting from the point of view of a human being that’s present in this space. There are no cameras on gurney wheels going in the hallway. There’s no cameras on the ceiling looking down from a God point of view. You are limited to the perspective of a participant. You can look away, but you can’t leave, and it becomes an endurance test for you to stay on your feet as long as we’re on our feet. Which [brings me to my] third point: real time. Real time has an aggregate sense of tension that you don’t get in any other form of storytelling. What happened before is happening now, and these two things are going to add up to the next thing. And if we throw more ingredients into this cooker and keep ratcheting it up, it’s going to pop.”

Wyle makes eye contact for his next point, delivering it with a Robby-esque matter-of-factness. “Fourth point: The election went the other way,” he says with a shrug. “We could have been a really good show with a lot of nice things to say in a perfectly normal Kamala Harris universe. And instead we became almost a beacon of hope and humanity in an alternative universe. But in the midst of that, fifth point—this is essentially competence porn. You’re watching really smart, dedicated people do what only they know how to do at a level that you don’t know how to do it, and you’re so fucking glad that they’re there doing it, and compartmentalizing their own stuff to put your broken pieces back together. You’re so reassured by knowing that there are people out there that laugh and joke and have the ability to lock in like that.”

this is fucking unreal stuff from Noah Wyle on the magic of The Pitt. www.gq.com/story/noah-w...

My post on LinkedIn: "Almost every post I see on my feed on this site is about generative AI. I have never used AI to write code, and I hope I never will. My entire purpose as a software engineer is to solve problems by writing and debugging code. I'm good at it. If there's a problem I don't know how to solve, I will research it until I understand it. And I will write every line of code myself, knowing how it all works, so that if subsequent bugs or changes to the design arise, I will know exactly where to look to make adjustments. A few years ago, I realized I needed to emulate a certain function from a web app in a local Python script for parity to fix a very subtle but very critical bug in a game. The web app was written in TypeScript (a language I wasn't familiar with), and the person who wrote the web app was no longer available to contact. So I dove into the TypeScript code, figured out what it was doing, and rewrote it in Python. And sure, rewriting a single function into another language is probably the sort of thing an AI would be good at doing. But that was the easy part. Understanding that this was even a problem that needed to be solved in the first place is something that only a real human being would notice, and it required a ton of audiovisual context that I would have no idea how to even begin to describe to an AI. You need real people to solve real problems."

LinkedIn is a pretty terrible site but sure I'll bring my slightly hostile anti-AI takes over there why not. The worst that can happen is that I don't get considered for a job I'd hate to do anyway.

*master shake voice*

posting is forbidden

Also considering doing some kind of "performance" art (setting up a thing outside in clear view of the street and doing art about it that I might then offer for sale along with a video of it's creation {because fuck AI}).

It's an idea at least.

No Wrongful Execution for Tony Carruthers Tony Carruthers was convicted without physical evidence, based solely on testimony from informants. Now, Tony is scheduled for execution on May 21st by Tennessee after being forced to represent himself at trial. Join us in calling for fingerprint and DNA testing before a possibly innocent man is put to death.

Tennessee is trying to execute Tony Carruthers without testing fingerprints and DNA evidence that could prove he’s innocent.

Sign our petition and tell the state of Tennessee to test the forensic evidence before Tony is put to death.

-squints-
Hang on a minute....

(This map is very clever)

My next goal is to get my website back into working order & to make a post about my trip to Iceland last year.
This might be asking a lot, depending on how I go about it, so let's say I'll give myself to the end of May. That'll get me to do some writing & website coding, & go through some pictures.

I've been doing a lot of lurking here in the past year or so. Mostly just liking/reposting things & not adding much of my own. My website has been half-broken since switching to a new hosting provider. Haven't done a creative project in over a year (if you don't include a hastily drawn protest sign)

Been in therapy & working on things & have just recently decided to do another sober year. I have a problematic relationship with alcohol - a few of you have gotten to see me in a particularly bad state mixed with depression & anxiety. My thanks & apologies to you for dealing with me then.

(Though sometimes that's all a person has energy for. Give space for yourself to be a messy human, but keep encouraging yourself to get back up & carry on.
I've added a new sticky note to my monitor that says "Choose to be a body in motion")

Something I've realized about myself is that I keep my act together better when I set a goal for myself. It helps push my sights out ahead of me to follow a path.. more than just narrowly focusing at the ground, putting one foot in front of the other...

See also, the thread from the previous time I watched (2023) and had fun taking screen shots.
bsky.app/profile/jekl...

On March 22, I went to the No Kings protest in my town and then held a movie/food night and watched V for Vendetta with friends and loved ones. Even though I've seen it so many times, I've avoided watching it again since the election. I know I wasn't the only one crying that night.

Ask your doctor today if you have bixonimania. And if he says yes, get a new doctor

This is a long way of saying that maybe most people will diminish in the face of that, and if that was your goal, okay, but why.

But the bigger point is, sometimes people aren't going to be afraid of you, and if you engage aggressively and then get met in that space, you're not a victim.

The Chappell Roan harassment campaign is plain old misogyny The artist faces online backlash not for any wrongdoing but because she's a woman.

The normalization and justification of Roan’s harassment is part of a pattern—one that ultimately normalizes, and justifies, parallel treatment of much less powerful women.

We have until Friday to support these or they might not get made! We're so close!!!

Your Glasses Got Worse On Purpose How an Italian orphan built a $27 billion monopoly that controls the brands, the stores, the lenses, and the insurance.

More things to be angry about
www.worseonpurpose.com/p/your-glass...

Your Backpack Got Worse on Purpose: www.worseonpurpose.com/p/your-backp...

this is why the reddit BuyItForLife community exists, and also, it’s really annoying that I now have to do a ton of involved research to avoid buying crap whenever I need new boots or an appliance.

a dark teal bandana with large swooping welcome swallows and ropes in white, and anchors, clouds, and stars in light teal.

Oop, it's bandana week! I designed a cosmic new bandana feat. Welcome Swallows and twilight nautical vibes...sail through the stars with these little aviators!

100% cotton, three-print design, available now AND my very sold out designs are all back in stock (details below)
pepperraccoon.com

#splashdown

This... They're calling that a bad thing???
(rhetorical)

bsky.app/profile/jekl...

I'll let this video I have saved to my hard drive speak for itself.

Keep going and don't be afraid to fail.