#also the autism is cranked way up to a 9 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jankwritten · 1 year

Note

hi hello I saw hockey au in your tags and came as fast as I could. hand it over

OAIOSUdoiaSUDoiASUdoAISduAISODu Oh buddy it's my. PJO OMG Check Please crossover fic right. Consuming my life. The thing is it's like, over 600 pages but it's nowhere NEAR ready to see the light of day *i am hiding* but i will give a summary synopsis because oh my god i love it so fuCKING MUCH

Percy and Nico are on the Falcs alongside the canon OMGCP Falcs, and there are 2 sides to the story - Percy and Will's side, and Jason and Nico's side. Lately I've been focusing on Jason and Nico's side.

It's kind of just following them in their lives. Jason is the top prospect for the upcoming draft, Nico is the backup goalie for the Falcs who got drafted the year before (he's like, UNREALISTICALLY good because I wanted to make him Special oaiudsoaisudaoiuds) and they meet in a bar in Vegas after the Falcs get their asses kicked by the Aces. Jason, unsurprisingly, is friends with/mentored by Kent Parson, they met once after an Aces game and the rest is history. Jason and Nico are both like, trying to teach each other about hockey and falling in love but they're not boyfriends but they want to be but they can't and they're supporting each other even though Shit keeps Happening.

Will and Percy's side of the story is kind of similar, except Percy has been with the Falcs for a few years. I honestly need to rewrite their side because So Much has changed in my views of their characters and the characters involved with their side that it's just not accurate anymore. There are moments where it crosses over with Jason and Nico's side too which don't align anymore since I've edited it to death, but basically Will and Percy's side is like, meetcute moment turns into a weirdly coincidental second meeting which turns into an "are you stalking me?" third meeting kind of vibe (Will works for the Stars and Percy just doesn't pick up on the Stars being in town every time he bumps into Will LMAO). It deals a lot with Percy figuring some shit out about himself and his past and his emotional situation.

I'm half considering adding more of the actual demigods from PJO in as the other characters on the Falcs/Aces - right now I have OCs, because it seemed easier and gave me more room to play with, but also the idea of like. Frank being the Aces goalie is....very fun, even though I also HC that Swoops is the Aces goalie

All the ages are fucked with because I Wanted To - all the Falcs/Aces are like, as old as they would be in 2018/19, but then the PJO characters are ALL fucked up. Percy Annabeth and Will are all around the same age, Jason and Nico are 18, Hazel is 16ish, and then I haven't really used any other PJO characters (though Leo and Piper have made an appearance in a side story that is becoming more and more canon, they are also both 18-19 ish). Frank is also around Jason's age I think, but he was only ever mentioned in reference to Jason's backstory and never in the actual story (yet).

SO YEAH HOCKEY AU MY BIG PROJECT MY BABYGIRL MY EMOTIoNAL SUPPORT FIC I have written up a full Falcs roster of OCs and have made timelines of events and even created my own hockey team set in Maine specifically so if I ever wanted to make this into an original fiction piece one day I could.

#THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ASKING ABOUT IT HONESTLY i love this story with my whole heart and I WANT to start sharing it #i just cannot stop editing it ioausdoiausiodu #hockey au #pjo #omgcp #pjo/omgcp crossover #percy jackson #jason grace #nico di angelo #will solace #i am going to post hockey au to tumblr/ao3 one day though i swear it #i also cannot claim that the characters are....enTIRELY in character because they're like absolutely not the same people they were in pjo #like Nico still has some of his original PJO personality but he's also quieter in a different way #like not in an emo way but in an analytical kind of way #also the autism is cranked way up to a 9 #Will is WAY more southern Texan pretty boy and he's also trans because i said so #Jason is also trans in this and he didn't start off that way he gained that along the journey (thank mars for that one)#it adds a little more Spice to his fears about joining the NHL and also I Said So #i have so many more thoughts but my fingers are too cold to type more SOIuOAISUDAODU

29 notes · View notes

nokingsonlyfooles · 1 year

Text

Woo, Autism is Coming for Your Kids - I mean, oh-no

I was just going to say something cute and funny about the societal model of disability today, but I read the news - oh boy - and saw this:

Autism now more common among Black, Hispanic kids in US

Note that the headline is "more common" and when you actually click the article says, "diagnosed more frequently" which is not the same thing!

So let me unpack this for y'all, if you've got the time, and the stomach for a little light discrimination, eugenics, and abuse.

Do you watch or listen to Well, There's Your Problem? Well, you should, but I have the 9/11 episode in mind. You see, about halfway through that episode, the gang find out Ruth Bader Ginsburg just croaked, and Liam... Laughs. He just laughs, like Mark Hamill's Joker, for a disturbingly long time, cradling the desiccated corpse of American Justice in his arms. He can't stop. He doesn't want to stop. Because if he stops, he'll have to think about what's gonna happen.

That is the noise my soul is making as I consume this article, especially this part:

AHAHAHAHAHAHA *gasp* AHA-AHA-HAA... Ahhh... I have some thoughts.

First of all, EVERYONE is fuckin autistic. OK? You can trust me, I'm an internet stranger. I've diagnosed you, I've labeled your brain, and that ink don't come off. Get on the goddamn short bus with the rest of us, we have seatbelts and snacks. (Full disclosure, I rode the short bus for a few years, it's actually not that fun. Kinda loud, 'cos there are people on there who don't wanna be there and can only express this by crying, moaning, or otherwise melting down. And you're not allowed off.)

That weird, inconvenient thing you do that helps you feel a little bit better and get through your day? Do people look at you funny and want you to stop doing that? Fuckin autism! You're SICK! Get on the bus!

Do you need a little help sometimes with something other people can't easily see and diagnose for themselves - maybe something a little less obvious than missing a major limb? Is it inconvenient for others to give you that help? Fuckin autism! Get on the bus!

Do you need to disengage and destress and do some self-care at times when it's bothersome to other people, or when you're supposed to be cranking out capitalist value in the form of labour or academic achievement? Fuckin autism! I'll save you a seat! You like the window or the aisle? Stop stimming, it makes the underpaid teaching assistant nervous.

Get out of the mainstream, lower your expectations (and your standards) and let us store you somewhere that's a little more convenient for all of us. It's not anyone's fault, there's just something wrong with you (OK, maybe that IS your fault, but it's not society's fault, that's the main thing). Just sit here quietly, accept it, and maybe you can have a juice box - if we can convince the government you're enough of a problem that we need more funding to deal with you. OK?

A spectrum does not consist only of the bright, obvious colours your eye picks up when we go out of our way to filter light through a prism. Some people are ultraviolet - so nonverbal and dissociated and disconnected from this broken world that their parents are using them like human Ouija boards to get the level of social interaction to which "normal" people feel they are entitled. And some people are infrared - they can navigate this broken world with little more than what it's willing to give them, call themselves "normal," and keep their discomfort internal. We teach those people they're not on the spectrum at all, and praise them to high heavens, so they'll see human beings in obvious pain who need help as lesser, "other," pitiable, and sick. Conveniently, it also makes them more likely to hide their pain instead of asking for help when they need it, so they don't become lesser, or "sick." Who wants to be sick?

So when I read that AP article, and my soul howls with crazed laughter, a small, optimistic part of me says: Yay. We're filtering more light through the prism, making prism access more fair, and starting to see just how many people would benefit from being treated with care and compassion - as individuals rather than cogs in a broken machine. Maybe, if we keep it up, we'll begin to understand that light isn't just those bright colours we can see when we press our thumb over the hose nozzle and break the spectrum into pieces. It's all "normal," it all has value, it's always been there, and it's not going away. It's not an aberration that needs correcting, it's just how the world works. Instead of "curing" it or ignoring it, let's work with it.

And the louder part of my brain, the part that is laughing with my soul, says: Oh, look! People noticed that gifted education is fucking racist, so the US education system has found a new way to medicalize being darker than a paper bag! They've turned up a few people who fit well enough on the short bus, so why would they stop there? Wow! Look at all these sick fucking brown people who are genetically disposed to autism! Oh, god, they're expensive. We don't need more! What if we establish some more immigration laws? Or maybe forcibly sterilize them!

Even the optimistic part of my brain can't help but notice the AP seems oddly disdainful of the fact that we've lowered the standards for "autism" from just the really inconvenient ones to children who would benefit from more time, flexibility, and attention. What? Are we gonna start adapting to the needs of children so they can learn and be happy instead of warehousing them all day in preparation for their eventual jobs and kicking out the ones who can't handle it? *rolls eyes* Gawd. Will the "woke"ness never cease?

Ron DeSantis defines "woke," as (I don't wanna look it up, I've cited enough things and I'm tired) something like "an awareness of systemic injustices." So, yeah, I hope the wokeness does not cease. And I hope we start meeting the needs of human beings who exist on this planet with the rest of us - with equity, equality, and no shame.

I just really doubt it's gonna shake out that way, and I can't stop laughing.

#autism #neurodiversity #neurodivergent #news #racisim #discrimination #us education #inclusivity #disability #medicalization #oh god no woke culture i'm so scared vote conservative and hold meee

4 notes · View notes

windwardstar · 5 years

Note

Hi, me again, uh,,, I realise you might not be able to answer this, I didn't go looking through your tags first, so I apologise If I waste your time. (And my usual source isn't taking asks.) Anyway, I was wondering if you could tell me more about hyposensitivity to touch? Some stim ideas and would it be problematic because my character (Alex) likes tight clothes, hugs and being touched?

Yeah, I think I can answer this, or at least get you started. Normally I’m hypersensitive to touch and it gets worse when I’m tired or stressed or dealing with my baseline levels for sensitivity raised for me. (Think of me being regularly at a 9-10 and then it getting cranked up to 11 for it being even more sensitive for me.)

But I do experience tactile hyposensitivity when I’m dissociating, which is PTSD and trauma related, but like, the whole experience happens often enough that I think I can at least steer you in the right direction.

First off, I’m actually really excited for you to be asking about hyposensitivity since I get a lot of asks over @autism-asks asking about hyposensitivity and if it’s even a thing. So by showing it as a thing in your autistic characters, hopefully those people will see it is a thing.

The things you say your character likes: tight clothes, hugs, and being touched. Those are all things we’d call sensory seeking behaviors. Meaning they give the tactile and pressure feedback that a lot of times your character is likely to be missing.

I know for me, my binder and weighted vest both provide proprioceptive feedback that really helps me feel calm. It gives me the tactile feedback I need to know my chest is breathing and it’s just so centering and calming. I don’t know how to describe the feeling but it is definitely one of those Autistic TM feels.

So all three of those things you mentioned, they’re totally good to go with and can be stims.

Other things I do when I need the tactile sensory feedback is rub things over my arms. Hairbrushes and soft bristle brushes (like fingernail brushes or tooth brushes) are some of my favorite things since they give that feedback but aren’t going to scrape at the skin and risk injuring myself. I do scratch and claw at my arms, which is a self-injurious stim which I am working on replacing, but it is a sensory seeking stim I do. Other things can involve wearing bracelets or watches that are heavy and/or clunky or just with fun textures.

Just running your fingers over the texture on different objects is also another way to stim with touch. Your character may have favorite materials or textures or may have ones they don’t like.

Your character is also likely to not notice as much when they bump into things so your character may have a lot of cuts, scrapes, and bruises on their arms and legs from running into things and they’re likely to not really know where all of them come from. (This is a thing for me a lot and it’s compounded by the fact I bruise easily due to other things). It’s also possible they’re going to be less sensitive to pain in general (although that can also mean that if they do feel strong pain they’re less able to cope with it).

I’d also look into sensory underload which isn’t talked about as much but can be just as much as a problem for hyposensitive people. I don’t really have much about that on this blog, but autism asks has some stuff about it in general and then @scriptautistic is a blog about writing autistic characters so they may have more specific resources about writing specific aspects of things.

If you have any more questions, feel free to send them my way and I’ll see what I can do.

#writing autistic characters #writing autism #sensory underload #sensory hyposensitivity #stimming #my writing advice #ayajune185 #ask

133 notes · View notes

ultratesterthings · 4 years

Text

Anti-vaxxers targeting parents of new babies on social media – report | Society | The Guardian

Half of all parents with small children have been exposed to misinformation about vaccines on social media, according to a new report that finds the most common reason not to vaccinate is the fear of side-effects.

Is the anti-vaccine movement putting lives at risk? Podcast

“We need to counteract health misinformation online and via social media,” said Shirley Cramer, the chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), which published the report.

“We call on the social media giants and the platforms to look at what they could do around this because it is a breeding ground for misleading information and negative messaging. There could be some really negative and dangerous consequences. They need to take some responsibility.”

“Anti-vaxx” groups target the parents of new babies via social media, posting stories claiming babies have died or been harmed by vaccination. A US group called Stop Mandatory Vaccination, run by Larry Cook, was censured by the UK’s advertising watchdog in November over a paid-for Facebook post, after a complaint by the mother of a young baby in the UK.

“Parents, not only can any vaccine given at any age kill your child, but if this unthinkable tragedy does occur, doctors will dismiss it as ‘sudden infant death syndrome’ (Sids),” ran the post, which showed a picture of a baby with his eyes closed with his apparent name and date of birth – and death. It urged readers to join the Facebook group.

In response to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), the anti-vaxx group said it “targeted users with an interest in parenting because they intended to cause parents some concern before choosing to vaccinate their children”.

The ASA ruled that the post was misleading advertising and likely to cause fear and distress, particularly to parents seeking factual information about the risks of vaccinating their children.

Cook did not comply with the ruling, the ASA told the Guardian, so it worked with Facebook to have the ad in question removed. But the regulator said its powers were limited.

“There may still be posts appearing on the Larry Cook Facebook page that would, however, fall outside our remit; the ASA can only take action to remove paid-for ads on Larry Cook’s Facebook page that encourage users towards making a financial donation to Larry Cook.”

A Facebook spokesperson said on Wednesday night: “We don’t want misleading content on Facebook and have made significant investments in recent years to stop misinformation from spreading and to promote high-quality journalism and news literacy.

“That said, we always try to strike a balance between allowing free speech and keeping people safe – which is why we don’t prevent people from saying something that is factually incorrect, particularly if they aren’t doing so intentionally.

“However we do take steps to ensure this kind of content is demoted in people’s news feeds to give it less chance of being seen and spread and – ultimately – to discourage those posting it.”

Immunisation levels against common, potentially lethal diseases in Europe have fallen under the influence of sceptics who disseminate their views through social media.

Measles cases in Europe are at a 20-year high and 72 children and vulnerable adults died of it last year. The EU health commissioner, Vytenis Andriukaitis, has warned against the peddling of “fake news” about vaccine safety.

How disgraced anti-vaxxer Andrew Wakefield was embraced by Trump's America

The RSPH report said parents generally supported vaccination in the UK but found “some worrying statistics”. Two in five parents of children under 18 said they were exposed to negative vaccine messages on social media or in online forums “often or sometimes”. That rose to half of parents whose children were under two and 47% whose children were under five.

Only one in 10 parents said they believed what they saw on social media. The report said: “This substantial exposure to negative vaccination messages may influence attitudes to vaccinations over time: repetition of messages is often mistaken for accuracy, a phenomenon known as the illusory truth effect.

“It has been found that even when people know a message is untrue, if it is repeated enough times, they will begin to believe it.”

The research, which included a survey of more than 2,600 parents as well as 2,000 other adults, found that there was a fairly low understanding of vaccines, with more than a quarter (28%) wrongly believing that a person can have too many.

The furore over the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine triggered in 1998 by the disgraced gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield, who claimed it could cause autism, was responsible for a huge drop in take-up, which has largely now recovered in the UK.

However, the research found that one in 10 parents had still not given their child the MMR. Most (70%) said they were afraid of potential side-effects. The discredited autism hypothesis still circulates widely on social media. One in five of all parents, including those who had their child vaccinated, believed the jab was likely to cause side-effects.

Uptake of the HPV (human papilloma virus) vaccine against cervical cancer is good, with more than 83% of girls in school year 9 getting a two-dose course in 2016-17. But it is not as good as uptake of other vaccines. Of the 2,600 parents surveyed, 180 had chosen not to have their child vaccinated and two-thirds of those cited side-effects.

Scare stories have been promoted by anti-vaxx campaigns, including through a YouTube video, claiming the vaccine had caused severe reactions in thousands of girls and hundreds of deaths.

Expert investigations in response to the scare, including a review by the European Medicines Agency, have confirmed that the vaccine is safe.

The Royal Society has also recommended that vaccinations should be available in a wider range of locations, including “pop-up” clinics in the high street, gym and workplaces for adult vaccines such as flu and shingles.

The Guardian view of crank arguments: such talk costs lives | Editorial

Cramer said social media companies should take responsibility for misinformation about vaccines in the same way that they are doing for mental health. She said: “We think they should clamp down on this spread of fake news and prioritise health information from reputable sources.”

In the RSPH survey, she added: “Four out of five adults agreed with us that social media platforms should take steps to limit fake news regarding vaccination. So the public are calling for this too.”

The research was sponsored by MSD, a company that makes vaccines. The RSPH said the firm “did not have editorial input and is not responsible for the content or opinions expressed.”

This content was originally published here.

0 notes

cosmosogler · 6 years

Text

hi guys it’s 10:30 i was looking at comics. i really like comics.

i woke up on time. i somehow ended up getting to the office actually late though? i’m not sure where the time went. maybe i spent too long making breakfast, i dunno.

i taught my class. one student told me she had been in one of my classmates’ sections the other week. i remember taylor told me about that. i kinda knew who it had been right away. not sure why she’s such a huge sammie fan. i told her i wanted to cut my hair but i’d leave it long enough for bows because bows are “kind of my look now i guess.” she said it was definitely my look.

i had one student who was real concerned about his grade. i felt like i’d been real unfair to him... i helped him out this week by looking through his lab report and making sure he had answered all the questions and i caught one mistake for him. i can’t just give him a 100, but... i understand that he’s putting in effort and i want to reward that but i also need to be fair to my other students and i ALSO need to hit a certain grade average or else people who earned an a are going to be assigned b.

at the end of the class the girl asked who my favorite student was (highly implying it should be her). i said i like each of them equally. she pushed me further so i grinned and said i couldn’t pick favorites, but i also couldn’t lie to her. she thought i was gonna compliment her but instead i said they are all my favorites. the girl at the table behind us smirked.

i WANT to give them all an a. but suzanne does that and she really had to crank up her grade thresholds, which i find really unfair to the students. it’s kind of unfair to force the class average to be a certain number even if the students are genuinely doing well. but i also understand that it’s to try to account for all of us having different teaching styles and skills and grading preferences. they basically turn us loose on these poor undergraduates with no training other than “we have done the lab ourselves.”

anyway after that i went to my appointment with the care area. we got my medical drop paperwork finalized and sent a last thing to my professor, who needs to sign off on my dropped course approval. and... annie told me it’s done, as much as i have control over at least. i have no more work to do on this “project.” i feel... too open-ended, i guess. it’s disorienting to work toward a goal and then actually reach it, and in a really timely manner too. annie complimented how well i’ve handled everything. i gave her a list of the steps i’ve taken to improve my situation and she asked some questions. i think i was mostly just talking though and then we spent like 15 minutes trying to fix her computer so she could send the email to my professor. i didn’t have to make a follow up appointment, but i let her know i’d call and schedule something if a problem came up with my tuition waiver or if my meeting with the individual therapist didn’t go well so we could get me set up with the counseling center for next semester.

then i biked over to the pharmacy and picked up my meds. i googled my therapist just to confirm the address and then hopped on a bus over to the other side of town! i had to bike up a big old hill and then i got to where google said her office would be.

it was a law firm. i checked that her name was correct. it was. the person at the desk there was extremely confused. i got sent next door to an in-house care specialist and that wasn’t right either. they sent me to the other side of the parking lot to the autism center. i asked them what was going on and the lady behind the counter there googled the therapist and found the same exact address i did.

i scrolled through my phone texts trying to figure out what the problem was and then i realized that the insurance web site had given a different address than google. her actual office is 17 blocks north of my apartment complex, which was on the other other side of town. i was gonna cry.

i hustled back down to the bus stop and caught the bus headed the other way. FORTUNATELY i had left for the office just over an hour early so i still had 15 minutes before i was gonna be late. i called karin and told her what had happened. i also learned how to put my bike on the front of the bus, which was an adventure and ended up with me getting whacked in the back of the head by my own handlebars. and also taking a tire to my shirt more than once. my good ice cream shirt that i had just given a stain treatment.

it looks like it’s fine but i was unhappy about the road dirt getting under my fingernails and everything.

it took a half hour to get across town and sprint-bike up the 17 blocks to her office. i don’t think i’ve biked that fast in my life and i even kept hitting red lights.

her name wasn’t on the office sign at the side of the road marking the address. i frowned. there were cats at the back door on the porch. they were nice enough but i didn’t have time to stop to pet them. i was 15 minutes late.

inside there was a bunch of the typical crystal healing stuff. i saw a flyer for “lymph drainage cleansing” or something like that. that put me on edge a little bit, considering the last therapist i had who was into that stuff back in march.

karin herself was eager to get down business though. i filled out a page of paperwork and got my insurance squared away. i ran through a list of current problems i was having (lack of energy, mostly, and having a hard time managing to get stuff done with what energy i do have) and what i was doing about them. she asked if there were any other ways i could streamline my homework/grading process and i didn’t have any ideas right then. i talked about my family a little bit and told her my mother and brother were coming to visit next wednesday. she said she’d really like to see me again before that happens so i’m seeing her again in a week. i like her well enough for now.

we only got to talk for a half hour but she let me fill out the majority of my paperwork after the appointment instead. the writing was so blurred and tiny that i had trouble figuring out what some of the questions were and had to cross out initial answers when i figured out what this or that word was. then i groaned because i realized my backpack and everything in it were still back at the office. so i biked the 30 blocks back to campus, sat around feeling exhausted, had a snack, and then came back home at around 7 (...?), which was way longer than i wanted to take. i was so tired, trying to get up the hill on the way home. even getting to the second stoplight was just... i was out of breath.

i notice that i can make way sharper left turns than right turns. i wonder what’s up with that.

when i got home i made myself some dinner, and made my pasta salad for the rest of the week, and changed out snoopy’s litter box. publix only sells the disposable ones so i got a replacement last weekend... while i was out by the trash chute i looked out over the courtyard. it was a little chilly. hard to remember i live in the middle of florida, with the cold nibbling at my arms. the tall buildings across the street looked surreal. the whole courtyard was so empty i had trouble remembering how many people live here. i caught someone using the elliptical in the gym through the window though so at least there was one human in my field of vision.

after that i watched one youtube video i had bookmarked earlier (out of the four- three are gonna be reasonably watchable, the last one is like an hour long and i don’t think i’ll be able to get to it for a long while), and the rest of the night was COMMENTARY!! AND COMICS!!!

(like an hour.)

i let my leisure time cut into my journal writing/bed time though. i just don’t feel like i have enough of it to really feel like i relaxed or took some time to myself every day. like a full time job is eight hours a day, five days a week. grad school has been 9-11 hours a day, 6 days a week. some weeks, six and a half days. and... i know that grad school is hard and i’m not supposed to have free time. but like... i need to rest, you know? my body and my brain are falling apart.

while i was at my office hour in the lab help session today jennica came in to hang out. i told her that i don’t know how they do it. how they get all the homework done even when they only start on the last possible day. she said they just don’t sleep. i said i don’t really have that option and she said “you’re a grad student, you don’t get sleep any more.”

i said “if i don’t sleep enough every night i literally will die.”

she thought i was joking so i told her if i don’t get enough sleep for too long i start seeing weird stuff that freaks me out and i hurt myself. she said oh. it was... part of why i wasn’t doing well at villanova my first two years of college. the second year it was more because of irregular sleep than lack of it. and, you know, everything else that was going wrong with my life.

i think i burned myself out in high school really bad. like i thought i was young and springy and i didn’t NEED to sleep, i had so many other fun things to do!! internet people to talk to!!! stories to write!!!! i was lucky to get five hours of sleep most nights. i did that for like three years. most nights. things didn’t start getting spooky until my body straight up quit one morning and i almost passed out at our morning assembly. i had to go to the hospital for a few hours and get checked out and everything. the doctor told me i wasn’t drinking enough and that i had to take a whole day doing nothing but drinking tons of fruit juice and gatorade and water.

after that i carried a water bottle around everywhere. i still do. it helps me remember to stay hydrated.

but the sleeping problems persisted through undergrad. it gets kinda rough trying to rest at my parents’ house too. and it really did wear out my health for several years straight after those first few years of high school. but i’m doing way better now.

but apparently grad students don’t get to sleep i guess?

my anxiety really does stay under control way better when i get regular sleep though. eight hours is ideal, seven hours is... ok for maybe five days and then it gets bad. i don’t get much more out of nine hours than i do eight... and i need every extra hour of being awake i can get.

i dunno. one good thing today is that when i was resting at the office before trying to tackle the ride home, i was talking to luis about homework i guess. rebika keeps asking if i’ve finished the homework the day before it’s due and it’s like, rebika, i am still three weeks behind, please stop. i told her something like that finally, i said something like i’d get it done when i could and i was keeping the professors informed. she asked if she could do that too and i asked what steps she was taking to remedy her situation. she said none and taylor joked that that would be too responsible. he kinda glanced at me when he said that.

it’s just, it’s nice to get the feeling that my classmates have faith in me. that they believe i am working hard with the resources i have, even though i don’t feel that way. you can say you don’t care what other people think all you want, but it is a genuine relief to know that most of them know i’m doing my best and believe that. not having the silent judgment of my peers hanging over my head is a relief to me.

i can take rebika’s judgment. she doesn’t pay enough attention for her opinion to mean much to me, even if i care about her wellbeing. luis seems to be suffering from even more intense lethargy than i do but he just doesn’t sleep i guess. i don’t usually check in with his homework situation because it stresses me out to talk about it. he’s also just really good at physics and picks up homework concepts faster than i do.

he said his grades aren’t as good as i think they are. taylor’s aren’t either. he watches a lot of anime in the office. suzanne also said her grades aren’t as good as i probably think they are. we had a conversation about the american education system as compared to, say, europe’s. like ioannis just knows all this stuff already and he gets fantastic grades. some of us (like harrison) know some of the material from undergrad, but for people like me, from fricking arizona, even the beginning of these courses was essentially new. suzanne said that being an american physics undergraduate just does not put you at the level that phd students should be at. and when you have your phd you’re still not at the level you should be at, which is why postdocs end up happening for so long i guess.

anyway. i’ve been a little cagey with my friends about what i’ve been doing, spending so much time out of the office, but it’s good to know that they, sort of, understand, maybe indirectly. like they look at me and seem to see me working hard, even though i don’t feel like i am and i feel like i spend a lot of time slacking off. (an entire half hour!!! oh no!!!!!!!)

i can’t know what they REALLY think, of course, but their behavior and wording suggest they are supportive.

2 notes · View notes

paulisded · 6 years

Text

Live Ledge #314: Best Records of 2017

As I was putting together this year’s list of my favorite records I came across a article from a music journalist claiming that lists such as this are idiotic. Since it’s impossible to hear every single album that was released over the year, nobody has the needed knowledge to proclaim anything as the year’s best records.

Come on. This is ridiculous. Nobody is claiming to have the definitive look at the year in music. I’ve never read any music critic claim to have heard each and every record.

But that doesn’t mean these sorts of think pieces aren’t worthwhile. Every writer, fan, or publication has an area of expertise, and if they’re honest they’ll admit to their cultural shortcomings. Mine just happens to include pop, hip-hop, and bro-country. I know that the new Kendrick Lamar is probably the year’s greatest musical achievement, but it’s not my thing. At the same time, I don’t need to hear the latest records by the likes of Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift, or whatever Jonas Brother that still makes music. Why would I waste my time when I know I’m going to hate it?

The purpose of these lists aren’t for people to proclaim themselves as the world’s biggest music expert. They exist mainly because as fans we want people to discover records they may have overlooked. I look at dozens of these types of articles, from giant publications to local music nerds, hoping to discover something that I’ve missed. Inevitably, I find quite a few, and I hope that my yearly list does the same for others.

This is a good year for this type of exploration. It’s been the best year in music in quite some time. Oftentimes, finding 40 records worthy of inclusion is not easy. This year, I started with over 80 candidates, and it took quite a bit of soul-searching to cut it down to my usual length. It’s such a good year that artists that routinely reside near the top (The National, Spoon, Steve Earle) didn’t make the cut.

What is it about 2017? Why was this a fertile year for music? Given the state of the music industry these days, there really shouldn’t be such an abundance of fabulous tunes. My theory is that as the possibility of fame and fortune fades away we’re left with artists who just HAVE to create. It’s in their blood. A musician and/or songwriter is who they are, and they’ll carry on as long as they can.

What’s even more surprising to me is the number of great releases by veteran artists. So many of my favorites from years past came out with their best records in decades. Who would have predicted the return of The Jesus and Mary Chain? Or that Robyn Hitchcock would put out one of his best records? Or that Guided By Voices would release not one but two albums that weren’t full of half-assed, seemingly unfinished tracks?

So here are 40 records that I consider the best albums of the year, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on my picks. Let me know what records have turned your crank this year. Tracks from each of these albums were also aired on Live Ledge in a reverse, countdown format. Click here for Live Ledge #314, or nab it via iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, TuneIn, or many other online spots.

1. Bash & Pop, Anything Could Happen. Anybody that knows me well probably knew this would be my favorite record of year. Yet the return of Tommy Stinson’s first post-Replacements band is even better than I ever predicted. It’s every bit as good as the 1993 Bash & Pop debut. In fact, it may be even better, as the original was Stinson’s first serious stabs at songwriting. Almost 25 years later, Stinson’s skills as a tunesmith has deepened, and combined with the Faces-ish feel of his outstanding bandmates this would have been towards the of any year’s list.

2. The Courtneys, II. The best description I’ve read of this great Canadian trio is “fuzzy, slacker pop”. Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Yet that would be meaningless if it wasn’t combined with sugary, singalong melodies. There’s a bit of a Blake Babies influence, but I also hear elements of late 80’s post-Jesus and Mary Chain bands such as The Primitives.

3. Ty Segall, s/t. James Brown used to be called the “hardest working man in show business”, but he’s a slacker compared to what Segall accomplished in a given year. Besides his usual album and a handful of singles, he’s involved with at least a half dozen other bands, and is inevitably a contributor as a musician or producer on a ton of his friend’s records. This year’s main release is also among his best, as it flows in and out of a number of styles.

4. The Jesus and Mary Chain, Damage and Joy. It was a big enough surprise that the warring Reid brothers reunited for a tour in 2007, but few thought that would result in a new album by the groundbreaking 80’s noise-pop veterans. The fact that it took a decade for it to happen is probably a sign that not all wounds have healed over the years. Yet this album is a pure joy for any fans of the original run. Yeah, it rarely deviates from the patented J&MC formula, but if it works why fix it?

5. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, The Nashville Sound. Easily the most acclaimed Americana album of the year, and it deserves each and every accolade. Isbell is at the top of his game, as rousing anthems comfortably sit next to heart-wrenching looks at crumbling relationships and the difficulties of chasing the American dream.

6. Guided By Voices, August By Cake/How Do You Spell Heaven. Robert Pollard has always been one of rock’s most prolific songwriters, and is also quite possibly the worst at quality control. Each and every year has seen a handful of albums that are frustratingly dominated by half-baked song fragments. 2017 saw the release of his 100th and 101st albums, and both of them Pollard’s best efforts in well over a decade.

7. Juliana Hatfield, Pussycat. How can a record of bitter politics sound so sweet? Juliana Hatfield is not happy with what’s happening these days, but it’s somehow inspired her to write some of her catchiest songs ever.

8. Warm Soda, I Don’t Wanna Grow Up. Let’s get this out of the way. Matthew Melton found himself dropped from his label earlier this year for comments he and his musician wife said about immigration. Having said that, the final record by Warm Soda is easily the best power pop record of the year. Can one separate the music from the opinions of the person who creates the music? That’s definitely a major question these days, and I’m not sure that’s entirely fair.

9. Kevin Morby, City Music. One of my favorite new finds of this year. Formerly of Woods and The Babies (not the 70’s pop band), Morby’s fourth album has been described as a tribute to New York City. While there is a definite nod to the Ramones (“1234”), the record’s nods to the metropolitan experience works with almost any skyline.

10. The Feelies, In Between. Hoboken’s greatest band’s first album in six years actually feels like a sequel to 1986’s The Good Earth. Those same loud/quiet dynamics are again the focus, but not in the Pixies/Nirvana way. Instead the record’s best songs feature a gradual buildup that ultimately turns into a cacophonic roar.

11. Beaches, Second of Spring. Certain albums deserve to be played in full. This is one of those records, even if it’s a 17-track double album. Each and every song of the all-female Australian psych rockers’ third album perfectly fits with what precedes and follows it. Sonic landscapes of fuzzy instrumentals dissolve into catchy pop nuggets, which then spins into more experimental fare.

12. L.A. Witch, s/t. This fabulous new trio is pretty much impossible to pin down. There are elements of 60’s girl groups, but it’s mixed with surf, rockabilly, psych, and garage rock. It’s sort of like if The Runaways had a bigger record collection (and minus the dictatorship of Kim Fowley).

13. Matthew Ryan, Hustle Up Starlings. Only a handful of songwriters can create intense environments with (relatively) quiet sounds. Matthew Ryan is one of them, and it’s simply because he completely inhabits the identities of the subjects of his songs. Those subjects tend to be the forgotten members of society. The people who struggle to find work, let alone keep their jobs. The people with regrets over past mistakes. People who need their voices heard.

14. Danny Dodge, Baby Let Me Be Your Mess. I know next to nothing about Danny Dodge except that I love this record. Discovered via bandcamp, the only information I’ve been able to find is that he’s a veteran of various garage and glam bands in Portland. This album definitely has elements of those genres, but there’s also a does of sugary jangle pop.

15. Waxahatchee, Out in the Storm. I’m not going to lie. I’ve found most of Kate Crutchfield’s prior releases to be a bit hit and miss. However, her fourth album under the Waxahatchee name is great from beginning to end. Credit may have to go to producer John Agnello (Dinosaur Jr, Sonic Youth), who primarily recorded the band playing live in the studio.

16. John Moreland, Big Bad Luv. After the success of 2015’s mostly acoustic High on Tulsa, it would have been pretty easy for Moreland to just copy the sound and production of that record. Instead, he wisely expanded into a full-band sound that accentuates his hook-laden songs of heartbreak.

17. John Murry, A Short History of Decay. Murry has lived quite the life. A second cousin of William Faulkner, his childhood was marked by undiagnosed autism. He eventually turned to drugs, and was hospitalized for both psychological and drug issues. Music may have saved his life, but it also led to other issues too numerous to list here. His second solo album was recorded in five days with help from members of Cowboy Junkies, and his heartbreaking songs detail much of his life’s lower moments.

18. The Cairo Gang, Untouchable. Discovered due to his summer appearance in town, Cairo Gang leader Emmett Kelly is best known for his presence on the last two Ty Segall records along with various Bonnie “Prince” Billy releases. The fifth album under The Cairo Gang, produced by Segall, is truly a solo album, as Kelly plays that vast majority of instruments.

19. The Buttertones, Gravedigging. Another great bandcamp find, the debut release by this Los Angeles band is sort of like rock and roll history condensed into one full-length album. What other record combines surf, rockabilly, post-punk, garage, and psych with elements of The Clash and Cramps?

20. Meatbodies, Alice. I’m not going to lie. The name Meatbodies threw me off a bit. Yet once I heard this latest album by Chad Ubovich and crew I was itching for the rest of their discography. A little bit of research explained exactly why. Ubovich has spent time in Mikal Cronin’s band, and also plays in Fuzz with Ty Segall and Charles Moothart. Yep, it’s part of that L.A. orbit of musicians and bands.

21. Hurray For the Riff Raff, The Navigator. This record could have easily made the top ten, as the first half is about as exquisite as one could expect. Most of the second side doesn’t live up to that standard, though, so while it contains one of the year’s most inclusive record. Inclusive? Yes, leader Alynda Segarra combines various elements of Latina styles with classic American doo wop, folk, gospel and Motown sounds.

22. Alex G, Rocket. Alexander Giannascoli started off as a bedroom singer/songwriter who somehow got the attention of Frank Ocean. This led to his guitarwork appearing on a recent Ocean album, which has given him a weird notoriety that has very little to do with the lavish dream pop-ish sounds of his latest album.

23. Together Pangea, Bulls and Roosters. I first discovered this great band thanks to Tommy Stinson, who recorded their 2015 EP, The Phage. Their sound is firmly established in garage rock, but a bit quirkier than most bands of this type.

24. CFM, Dichotomy Desaturated. Here we go again. CFM is Charles Francis Moothart, who we’ve already noted is Ty Segall’s drummer. He’s also toured in Mikal Cronin’s band, is the guitarist/vocalist with Segall in Fuzz, and also participates in other Segall side projects. CFM is his band, though, and this second album is a great companion to that self-titled Segall album at the top of this list.

25. Old 97’s, Graveyard Whistling. After a few albums where the alt-country veterans took some mini-detours, this year’s model harkens back to the mid-90’s revved-up country roots. Leader Rhett Miller is still a master at turning a clever phrase, and the rest of the band has not lost a step.

26. Courtney Barnett & Kurt Vile, Lotta See Lice. This is something I’d love to see more often. Two critically acclaimed songwriters befriend each other on the festival circuit, and decide to collaborate on an album. Each of them brings some new tunes, and they both sing a song written by the other. Plus they cover a Belly song, and another tune written by Barnett’s girlfriend, Jen Cloher.

27. John Wesley Harding, Wesley Stace’s John Wesley Harding. Let’s get everything straight. The artist known as John Wesley Harding was born Wesley Stace. He uses his birthname on his novels, and has also put out a few records under that name. This year’s album, his best in decades, attempts to clear up the confusion over his name. His writing is still full of wit and snark, and who can’t love an artist who makes fun of the music industry? It’s also worth noting that his band on this album is The Jayhawks, who do a masterful job at staying out of his way but adding whatever elements are needed.

28. Flat Worms, s/t. Flat Worms would be considered a supergroup in some circles, as everybody in the band has played with artists such as Thee Oh Sees, Ty Segall, Kevin Morby, and Dream Boys. Regardless of where they’re from, this collaboration doesn’t rely on the usual sounds that generally come out of the Segall/Cronin/Thee Oh Sees circle of friends. Instead, this is a bit of a tribute to the heavier postpunk bands of the past. There’s a bit of Wire, later Buzzcocks, and even some pre-grunge Seattle in their sound.

29. Wand, Plum. You know what I love about this band? First off, they’re prolific, as this is their fourth album in three years. They’re also a band that’s constantly changing, as none of their albums sound the same. Plum may be the best of the bunch. It’s certainly their most varied, which makes it next to impossible to describe as it flows in and out of various subgenres.

30. Dream Syndicate, How Did I Find Myself Here? Here’s another band I never expected to see release new music. And I certainly would have never predicted that anything they did record would be so great. Their first new studio album since 1988 is similar to the new Feelies record in that it’s like there hasn’t been any time between releases. It’s a perfect companion to their neo-psychedelic classics The Days of Wine and Roses and Medicine Show.

31. Palehound, A Place I’ll Always Go. Palehound leader Ellen Kempner recently lost her grandmother and best friend, and poured all of her grief into her second album. While that may sound depressing, it’s tempered by the fuzzy, alt-rock guitar rock that fans of Waxahatchee should love.

32. Son Volt, Notes of Blue. It’s been quite some time since anybody but the biggest Jay Farrar fans paid any attention to Son Volt. Weirdly, it took a recent obsession with Skip James and Mississippi Fred McDowell that led to a record that’s reminiscent of the band’s classic early records.

33. Robyn Hitchcock, s/t. Again, a veteran artist puts out his best album in decades. For his 21st album, Hitchcock actually gives a few nods to his Soft Boys power pop days, and that energy permeates through the entire album.

34. Ne-Hi, Offers. Chicago’s place in indie rock circles has certainly grown in recent years, thanks to the likes of Twin Peaks, Whitney, and our very own The Kickback. As they told me in an interview before playing Total Drag earlier this year, Ne-Hi originally formed to record a soundtrack for a friend’s film, and it worked so well they decided to become a “real” band. After a debut recorded in a basement, they hit an actual studio for this record, but the resulting still feels like the result of a marathon jam session.

35. Micah Schnabel, Your New Norman Rockwell. Two Cow Garage is one of our country’s most underrated musical jewels that took Americana and gave it a Replacements-ish edge. This record may be a solo record, but it’s really a more stripped-down version of a typical Two Cow Garage album. Which means, of course, that it’s brilliant.

36. Daddy Issues, Deep Dream. This list doesn’t have enough snotty all-girl punk rock, even though it’s been a great year for bands such as this. As my friend Gorman Bechard says, they’re so good that they can even make a Don Henley cover (“Boys of Summer”) sound great.

37. POW!, Crack an Egg. This is a record that one needs to hear on vinyl. The first time I heard this was a digital version, and it was way too dominated by their propulsive synths. The vinyl version, though, obviously still has this despised (by me) instrument prominently in the mix, but the analog version is highlighted by the deeper, fuller sounds of the entire band.

38. Damaged Bug, Bunker Fun. John Dwyer is another artist who obviously had little to no free time this year. Besides running a busy, successful indie label that’s well-represented on this list, Dwyer released records under the names Oh Sees and OCS. (Thee Oh Sees name was retired after two 2016 releases.) He also had time for his solo side project that relies more on electronics than his other bands. His third release under this name is a bit heavier, a bit funkier, and heavier on prog elements than his main band.

39. Greg Ashley, Pictures of Saint Paul Street. Although a veteran of Texas garage-punk bands, along with a number of solo records, this record was my first hearing of this interesting songwriter. From the very first song, I heard a bit of Flowers-era Stones, mid-period Kinks, a pinch of Dylan, and even a touch of Lou Reed and Leonard Cohen. Ashley’s songs may primarily deal with despairing, hopeless characters living on the fringes of society, but he manages to turn them into messengers of righteous anger.

40. David Nance, Negative Boogie. Describing this lo-fi Omaha musician is next to impossible, as he’s anything and everything. There’s a bit of Crazy Horse at their one-take coked up best, quite a bit of Pere Ubu-weirdness, and maybe a bit of the Velvets and The Chills, and even a touch of 70’s outlaw country. Yet it somehow works, even when he throws in a surprise shambolic cover of Merle Haggard’s “Silver Wings”.

0 notes

newstwitter-blog · 7 years

Text

New Post has been published on News Twitter

New Post has been published on http://www.news-twitter.com/2017/02/10/bbc-can-this-radio-detect-your-mood-and-play-songs-to-match-9/

BBC: Can this radio detect your mood and play songs to match?

Image copyright Uniform

Image caption Solo, the “emotional radio”, tries to read your mood from your expression

Would we get on better with clever machines if they understood what mood we were in?

Many roboticists and computer engineers seem to think so, because they’re always trying to make their creations more human.

Take Solo, the “emotional radio”, for example. A wall-mounted device that resembles a large clock, it features a liquid crystal display at its centre. When you approach it, the pictogram face shows a neutral expression.

But it then takes a photo of your face, a rod or antenna on the side cranks into life, and the LCD display indicates that it’s thinking.

“When it’s doing this, it’s analysing different features of your face and deciding how happy, sad or angry you are,” explains Mike Shorter, senior creative technologist at the Liverpool-based design and innovation company, Uniform, Solo’s creator.

“It will then start to reflect your mood through music.”

Image copyright Getty Images

Image caption Outkast perform Hey Ya! at the 2004 MTV video awards: music for a happy mood?

If Solo thinks you look happy, it will play you an upbeat number like Hey Ya! by Outkast. A more downbeat expression may turn up Everybody Hurts by REM.

Your reward for being angry could be a dose of Motorhead.

As well as playing music to suit your mood, Solo’s makers envisage their smart radio being able to alter your mood.

For more on this listen to the BBC Tech Tent radio show at 15.06 GMT

Say you’ve been driving for a long time, it could recognise signs of tiredness on your face and play upbeat music to pep you up.

The study of how to make computers and machines more empathetic is known as affective computing, and examples of supposedly emotionally intelligent gadgets have been springing up around the world.

Image copyright Softbank Robotics

Image caption Pepper the robot’s creators think giving it emotional empathy will make it more effective

Japan’s Softbank Robotics has been plugging its Nao and Pepper robots for a while now.

The 1.2m (4ft) tall cute humanoid, Pepper, developed jointly with French robotics firm Aldebaran, has been deployed in hospitals, shopping centres, banks and train stations.

While toddler-sized Nao (59cm) has been used in schools to help kids with autism and paediatric units of hospitals.

Image copyright Softbank Robotics

Image caption The 59cm tall Nao robot is being used in schools and hospitals

Softbank is also behind the “emotion engine” within the Honda NeuV (pronounced new-vee), an automated electric concept car unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

This AI-driven technology – combining biometric sensors as well as cameras – will try to detect drivers’ emotions and learn from the type of actions that result from them.

So angry drivers who are driving rashly and erratically, for example, might be encouraged to calm down. The AI might even reduce the car’s power temporarily, or switch to autonomous mode, until you’ve cooled off.

This “network assistant” will check on the driver’s emotional well-being – making music recommendations based on mood, changing the lighting scheme, and even triggering mood-enhancing scents.

Image copyright Honda

Image caption Honda’s NeuV electric concept car could react to – and influence – your emotional state

Boston-based Affectiva has developed “emotion recognition software” called Affdex that monitors the minute changes in our facial expressions when we’re watching adverts, TV programmes or films.

The AI software has learned from studying nearly four million faces – and their changing expressions – from more than 75 countries.

Companies such as Sony are using the software to test how audiences respond to film trailers, and advertising agencies such as Millward Brown are using it to measure responses to their TV ads.

Affectiva, which emerged from Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, is similar to Emotient, another company teaching computers how to recognise expression and emotion. It was bought by Apple last year.

Misreading the situation?

But while emotion-reading tech might be all the rage at the moment, does it actually work?

David Lane, professor of autonomous systems engineering at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, points out that mistakes made by affective computing applications could have serious consequences.

“There’s lots of research in this field with robots sensitive to gesture, tone of voice, eye expressions and so on, but one of the issues is getting it right,” he says.

“If Siri or some other voice-activated assistant on your phone fails to give you the football results, you have alternatives, but if a critical, affective computing function fails, that will cause serious frustration at the very least.

“Put simply, if it doesn’t work, people will switch off.”

Image copyright Affectiva

Image caption Affectiva’s machine-learning software discerns human emotions from facial expressions

Christian Madsbjerg, a founding partner of “human science” consultancy Red Associates, is concerned that affective applications are “built to Western, Japanese or Chinese models, and emotions are different in other cultures”.

He also points out that our bodies, and their physical context, are crucial to our moods and reactions.

“An emotional response to a given commercial in the warm, dark room of the focus group may have no relation to the way that same commercial is perceived at home or on a subway platform,” he argues.

A violinist soloing at Carnegie Hall at a high point in her career may be feeling exultant, but her face won’t show it, he says, because she’s concentrating so hard. A robot would struggle to interpret her “frozen” facial expression, he maintains.

Solo’s creators admit that the radio doesn’t always read emotions correctly.

And even Pepper the robot gets it wrong sometimes.

“After a few late nights and being in a somewhat grumpy mood, Pepper added 10 to 12 years on to my age when she evaluated it,” says Carl Clement, a founder of Emotion Robotics, a UK-based partner with Softbank in Europe.

Solo, the emotional radio, might just manage a wry smile at that. And possibly play Frank Sinatra’s Young at Heart?

Follow Matthew Wall, Technology of Business editor, on Twitter and Facebook

Click here for more Technology of Business features

This post has been harvested from the source link, and News-Twitter has no responsibility on its content. Source link

0 notes