go on twitter if u hate customization that much

No

Screenshot:

Cool, cool, I guess I'm using you, as an intersex transneufemmasc gender nonconforming person who experiences transmisogyny, because you're such a pick me that OTHER TRANSMASCS EXPERIENCING TRANSMISOGYNY IS ABOUT YOU. I guess every single gnc AND gender conforming non-passing transmasc talking about having experienced transmisogyny is actually just fucking tokenizing you personally.

Oh, and "I'm so transmisogyny exempt that I was transmisogynistically attacked but it was misdirected and didn't hurt me (I can't admit it hurt me. I'll be attacked by my own community if I admit it hurt me. I'm not allowed to have feelings about this or I'm one of the bad ones. Being a man and expressing being upset at marginalization is (trans) misogynistic) like??? Hello???

You're so terrified of being wounded that you're taking knives already in you and twisting them around and around and around!

Like at best, you personally managed to shrug it off because of having a good support system (extremely uncommon for all trans people but especially groups struggling with erasure), having other identity privilege (in which case congrats on ignoring the lived realities of more marginalized transmascs than you), or whatever.

At worst, you're actively suppressing trauma or similar which is not healthy and in fact often leads to harmful and toxic behavior like???

I want to feel for this person, because I truly understand where the urge to do this comes from. You get told over and over and over that you are a nonmarginalized ally in your own community and you don't want to hurt the people you care about so you shove down all the pain so far that it cuts off the nerve and you become numb to it and you present yourself as a good little sacrificial lamb privileged man who knows his place and grovel for scraps from a tiny vocal minority of a community who are petty bullies who never grew out of their pick-me and mean-gender phases.

(Note, I'm only specifically targeting patterns of behavior with that statement, which is gender-neutral on purpose. Trans people of all genders are guilty of this shit.)

And listen, I know I'm an outlier as an intersex person, as someone who is both transfem and transmasc, as someone who is ambiguous in every sense of the word. But just fucking. LISTEN to people. People are the most reliable narrators on their own experiences with marginalization! Transfems are not the authority on what non-transfems experience, just as transmascs are not the authority on what non+transmascs experience!

CRIPES, it's almost as if marginalized people don't hold the sole knowledge and authority even of bigotry that primarily targets them! It's almost as if bigotry isn't neat and clean and is in fact based in, idk, NOT respecting people's actual identities?! It's almost as if the person bleeding at the end of the day is the target and victim of any kind of bigotry?!

Fuck, man. I'm tired of this shit. The disabled community in general does it. The neurodivergent community does it. The autism community does it. The ADHD community does it. The personality disorder community does it. The mobility disability community does it. The chronic illness community does it. The cognitive/intellectual disability community does it. The plural community does it. The traumagenic community does it. The endogenic community does it. The dissociative disorder community does it. The general queer community and general trans community does it. The transfem community does it. The transmasc community does it. The nonbinary community does it. The ace community does it. The aro community does it. The lesbian community does it. The gay community does it. On and on and on and on and ON.

Your identity makes you an authority on your own lived experiences. Your time in a community, if you listen and learn, can often make you at least a reasonably reliable authority on broader experiences within that community - though only if the community itself is diverse in terms of other identities, and you are aware of the privileges and marginalizations you hold and how they are intersectional, and make an effort to make space for people who are comparatively marginalized to you.

And as this post demonstrates, there's a reason for that paragraph of caveats. You will always have more authority to say "this marginalized identity DOES struggle with this" than "this marginalized identity DOESN'T struggle with this". Because the thing, is, the former is saying "at least some of us face this". The latter is saying "none of us do, and if anyone says they do they're either lying or their experiences don't count and are not worth mentioning". If you say "none of us face this (or if any of us do it doesn't matter)", you're probably not fucking listening.

Having a marginalized identity also doesn't make you a reliable authority on what other identities do or don't experience, are or aren't harmed by, what they can and can't reclaim, the levels of violence and hate they face, the struggles that directly result from their identity (so, not just ones that come from external bigotry), and so on.

I dunno. I face danger from both transmisogyny and transandromisia daily. I have actual physical traits that are demonized or otherwise used to abuse me in common with both trans men and trans women. Most of these occurred without hormonal or surgical treatment; those that were made more prominent or occurred due to gender affirming care also straddle that line. I live in a barely red-violet area in an increasingly fascist state. I'm profoundly disabled and am unable to move, for more reasons than just money alone at this point. I'm sick and getting sicker because of abusive and ableist doctors. I have no energy left to fight. I may never be able to receive treatment for my most severe disabilities because my specific manifestation of the combination of MCAS, POTS, chronic pain, and likely ME/CFS eliminates MOST treatment options for those and my other disabilities. I'm also fat, am dealing with ongoing severe trauma from multiple sources, and am considered as "mad" and "stupid" (cognitive disabilities) as I am considered "crippled". I live far below the poverty line supporting myself and my partner on a single SSI income and a tiny stipend - one which still reduces my SNAP benefits to $23 per MONTH.

Like, I'm fighting the intersection of a half dozen different marginalizations. I'm out here LIVING the theory you're arguing about. I don't have time for people "well ackshually"-ing my real, ongoing trauma and oppression. I don't have the energy to hold understanding and compassion for people actively feeding into erasure of that!

Oh, and aside from intersex people, AMAB transmascs who face transmisogyny exist, asshole (@ the screenshot). Not that assigned gender actually is a reliable indicator of whether or not someone experiences transmisogyny either, but since people like them typically mean "AFAB trans person" when they say transmasc and "AMAB trans person" when they say transfem, it's worth noting. But that IS, btw, what people mean when they say tma/tme reduces people to their genitals. At least, their infant genitalia. Because sure, maybe a few people acknowledge that bottom surgery exists or tokenize intersex people to defend their use of it. But in common use, "tma" is only ever extended to people who are AMAB (or "AMAB-adjacent" if intersex, which itself is massively intersexist) and "trans enough" (which usually means being a womanhood or "femme enough", and only begrudgingly allows even transfem butches, let alone AMAB nonbinary people, into the term).

That's without even getting into how, even if some trans people MAY be LESS LIKELY to experience transmisogyny, none are truly ever "exempt". None of us sicko genderfreaks (in cis people's eyes) will ever be safe from transmisogyny for as long as it still exists.

I'm just. Exhausted, y'know?

I know this has been done before but here’s my headcanons for LU Chronic illness/Disability boys:

Legend(he/they): Hypermobile type Ehlers Danlos syndrome. Frequently dislocates joints and doesn’t see why the others make such a big deal about it, it happens all the time! Primarily suffers from widespread join pain, instability and chronic fatigue. Has as many different mobility aids as they have magical artifacts.

Time(he/him?): Early onset osteoarthritis and partially blind. All of the time travel and shifting forms was not kind to his joints, so the connective tissue was damaged and BOOM. Arthritis. The old man jokes are becoming less and less of a joke every day. Also experiences debilitating migraines.

Hyrule(they/he): Sensory Processing Disorder (often associated with autism but can be caused by other conditions). Their magic sensitivity can often cause overstimulation in their other senses, and they are very sensitive to light, sound, smell and touch. They are semi-verbal because even his own voice can overstimulate him sometimes, but they don’t know sign very well. Also has anemia.

Wild(genderfluid he/she/they): hypertrophic contractural scarring, partially deaf, semi-verbal because of vocal cord scarring. Also prosthetic arm(set after TOTK). She switches between sign and speaking, whichever is easiest for him that day. They have to perform daily stretches and apply scar lotion to be functional, but they aren’t very good at remembering to do so. Often blows out his voice because he gets excited, but can’t tell how loud he is speaking.

Four(plural they/them): Dissociative Identity Disorder(but not really because of magical reasons), damaged growth plates because of Minish magic. They have very similar symptoms to DID, but there are slight differences because it was caused magically and traumatically, not like in the real world. They sometimes struggle to walk correctly because their growth plates are damaged, causing their legs to be slightly different lengths. They wear adaptive shoes to correct this.

Sky(he/him): POTS(Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome), chronic fatigue. He struggles to breathe the denser air on the Surface, but he struggled with it on Skyloft as well. He has a chronically higher heart rate that causes dizziness and (rarely) passing out when moving from sitting to standing, after eating, and after adrenaline rushes. This causes his stamina to be fairly low, and also causes chronic fatigue.

Twilight(he/him): RRMS(Relapse/Remission Multiple Sclerosis). This is caused magically by the Twilight curse eating away at his body’s nerves, but is kept mostly under control by his shadow crystal. Occasionally, he goes through relapses and experiences anything from tingling and numbness in a limb to temporary loss of vision in one or both eyes, balance issues, vertigo and slurred speech. These flares are almost always debilitating, but thankfully they only happen every couple of months and last from a few days to about a week.

Wind(he/him?): A little cliche, but he has a peg leg. He likes to tell outlandish stories about it getting bit off by a kraken or eaten by a cannibal, but the truth is that he got an infection, couldn’t treat it in time and had to amputate. This happened sometime after his quests had finished, and he’s still a little ashamed of the actual circumstances, so he doesn’t open up often.

(edit) I FORGOT WARRIORS

Warriors(he/him): Speaking Disfluency (Stutter). Often repeats sounds, such as “G-g-g-guys”, or extends sounds; “Llllllll-Iove you”. He grew up poor, so he was never able to get treatment for it, so he communicates using sign while Proxi translates verbally, though this isn’t as necessary with the Chain since most of them know sign.

How to sew “French” seams (in french they’re known as English seams, so…) by hand!

It’s actually really straightforward, at least to me. You sew each seam twice, which is extremely annoying, but other than that it’s not actually difficult.

Some basic guidelines you’ll want to keep in mind:

french seams are best for light-medium weight fabrics. With heavy fabrics you’re better off binding the seam allowances with thin ribbon.

not great for dramatic curves but soft curves can be managed with a narrow allowance.

you will be doing a lot of running stitches. Having a beading needle can be helpful for this because you’ll be able to take more stitches in one pass.

narrower final seams look prettier but are more fragile. fabrics prone to fraying (dupioni, charmeuse, linen, loose wovens, etc) need a wider seam allowance than fabrics that resist fraying (crepe de chine, cotton voile, knits). I recommend 10mm seam allowance for fabrics that don’t fray too much, and 12mm for ones that fray more (trust me, the 2mm makes a difference).

you can french seam knits! By hand! Keep in mind that you will want to use a blunt needle, like a small size tapestry needle, and you must use a backstitch for any seams that need to stretch parallel to the seam.

If you are seaming something that needs to be hemmed, i recommend doing the hemming first, before sewing panels together. If facing or binding the hem, you can do that before or after.

Start by laying your pieces right sides out, wrong sides together. Pin (or baste) along the seam line. For french seams, it does really help to cut pieces out with exact seam allowance so that you can simply align the cut edges.

Stitch parallel to the edge and seam line, a couple millimeters shy of dead center, closer to the edge than the final seam line. It may help to trace the secondary sewing line onto the fabric. Use a running stitch for this unless seaming knits or other stretch fabrics along a seam that needs to stretch in the direction of the seam. If the direction of stretch is primarily perpendicular to the seam, go ahead and use a running stitch. This line of stitching will almost never be subjected to strain, so a finely spaced running stitch is all you need. You can also use lower quality thread for this if you don’t have a lot of the nice stuff.

Press the seam allowance to one side, then the other. Really pull the layers away from each other to get the crease as close to the stitching as possible. Hold the two panels wrong sides out, right sides together, with the raw edges trapped between.

Starting from the hemmed edge, if there is one, anchor your thread in the seam allowance and whipstitch the hemmed edges together at the seam line.

Stitch along the marked seam line, which should fall outside of the raw edge. If you didn’t offset the first line of stitching enough, you may find this difficult and end up having raw edges poking through. You can use a fine running stitch for seams that won’t take strain, and a backstitch for seams that need more strength. You should use stronger, nicer thread for this as well. I like running stitch for this especially because that means i can use one length of thread for the entire length of the seam. Backstitch uses approximately triple the length of the seam + a tail, which becomes extremely unwieldy with long skirt seams, for example.

I end the line of seam stitching with a few backstitches.

Press the seam allowance to one side and marvel at how tidy they look. If the garment is mirrored, make sure the seam on the other side is ironed the other way.

Pictures below bc tumblr isn’t letting me rearrange them on mobile for some reason:

Last pic is showing a backstitched final seam. I only did that for the two side seams on the bodice because those are most likely to experience strain. All the skirt seams (6!!!) were running stitched.

In my experience, a french seam is one of the most comfortable seams to have against the skin. Ideal for shirts, fancy chemises, lingerie, etc.

I hope this explanation helped a bit! Truly the only thing you need to pay attention to is starting right sides out.

Go forth, make pretty slips and chemises!

Hi! Do you think there’s any room for Calkins-style story-based learning/encouraging a love for reading in the classroom, or should curriculums be purely focused on the evidence-based phonics instruction?

I'm gonna be honest, I really don't like Lucy Calkins. Her denial of the actual evidence supporting phonics-based reading programs has been incredibly detrimental to educational programs because her influence was so vast. It's only recently that she's recanted that stance or folded some phonics into her recommendations.

The truth is, with a few exceptions for precocious kids who have a natural bent for story-telling and reading, most kids aren't ready to be creative in this specific way when they're also learning to read. Many, many kids love to tell stories or make up stories or scenarios-- very few of them have any kind of recognizable story structure when they're in the 4-8 year old range. Putting that down on paper in a way that supports reading skills is ... way too much for most kids.

I'm on mobile and trying to collect/organize my thoughts, so I'll go through them with numbers to try to coherently cover the things I want to touch on. Keep in mind that I'm not a trained expert-- I'm just a life-long learner who has taught kids to read and worked with learning disabilities and neurodivergent kids, as well as NT kids.

1. Story is one of the first and earliest "academic" concepts it's beneficial to expose kids to. Kids benefit from being read to when they're very small and that benefit continues when they grow. Kids should be read to at their age level, above their age level, and for their interests. You foster a love for story by engaging with stories and the kid together. Even people who are never strong or comfortable readers can enjoy and love stories.

2. The mechanics of reading (phonics primarily, whole word for some kids depending on LDs) have very little to do with story when a kid is first reading. Pairing them often leads, in my experience, to frustration. Learning to read doesn't have to be BORING, but expecting story to "unlock" reading for a kid still working on sounds is...a bit out of order? Some kids "get" reading at some point, something CLICKS, and they find things they love to read. But for most kids, trying to retain "story" from one page to the next while they ALSO do the work of decoding sounds is a LOT.

3. Kids are SO creative, but being creative and having coherent creative output are two different things. Writing things down and reading and telling a story are all using different functions/pathways in the brain and it takes time to link those things. They need to be strong skills to work together. Asking a beginning reader to make up a new sentence about something and write it down is like telling an adult to sit and write the great american novel-- it's daunting. It's why so many kids who CAN verbally tell stories cry over homework that asks them to "describe" something. Kids in the 5-9 age set should almost always be given the option of dictating creative material to someone who can write it down for them, and even then, they need help. Their creativity at that age is a state of play, not usually a structured output. It's sort of like asking them to "demonstrate" creative playground play. A few kids will love to show off, many of them will act confused or self-conscious or freeze up.

4. I think love of story and love of reading are linked. I think they support each other. But driving reading education by using guess words and context and sight words to "unlock" story, or expecting a child's natural love of story to be part of some creative output that supports reading, are things that fail most kids. Early academic education is laying the foundation for all of these skills that should eventually work together. Reading is a skill. Writing, conceptually, is a skill. Physically writing with a pencil is a skill. Being able to tell back a story is a skill. They're all things that should be working alongside each other, but they use different parts of the brain and you can't help a kid make progress on one skill with an entirely different skill they aren't comfortable with yet.

Kids should be surrounded by story. They should get structured, specific sound education for reading. They should get to be creative. But you also have to know what their brains are doing and where they're growing to support that-- you can't ask them to work with tools they don't have yet. Teaching a kid to read and teaching them to love stories are two different things at that stage, and it leads to frustrated, struggling readers to treat them as the same thing.

Lev!!! you cannot just post that masterpiece and dip. I cannot breathe. I'm grinning like a fucking baffon in my room and thank god it's sunday or else I sure would've call in sick. I'm not kidding. I have no self control and I would've read this at my workplace and God, I don't want to picture me squirming in my seat with a 60yr old woman sitting 2 feet away.

the way you write, smut or not, you include these tiny little details that people wouldn't notice, not even in real life, not even during that particular moment of ecstacy and somehow make it even more smuttier(?). it's never in and out with a grunt here and growl there with your works. it's a whole fucking experience and I have to have a mini freak out and mentally prepare myself before I read any of your work. your single fic is better than many published books I've read.

God, I would love to sit inside your brain and intercept every single one of your tho(ugh)t processes, analyze why you decided to put one particular word over another and such (also I was picturing Price on all fours until you mentioned that he was on his back. what's your thought process there?).

anyway, I'll rb your fic after I have an another proper meltdown so that I can get access to some coherent thoughts and the ability to string words together.

p.s:(I would very much like to deck that one editor that told me fanfic is not real writing and shove this masterpiece down their throat)

p.p.s: I get anxious when I send ask without anon ( don't know why) but I really wanted to send that pic cause that's what it looked like when you posted it.

p.p.p.s: (this is the last one promise) were you listening to purity ring when you wrote it? why that song? sorry for the long ass ask.

OMGGGGGGG for some reason, this does not show up on tumblr mobile - which is what I primarily use unless I'm posting a fic! So I am so so so sorry it took so long for me to reply!!

And AHHHHHH!! This is too much for me, honestly! You're way too nice about the rampant filth I write!!!! I had so many emotions reading this that I can't even begin to process ANY of them!! THANK YOU!!!

As for some of the questions posed:

With Price, I tried to be as true to his character (or the way I perceive his character) as I could be when I wrote this. I know it's just smut, and pegging smut at that!, but I like realism in whatever I read and since I usually write stuff that I like, I needed to include it. It had to make sense to me. I don't think Price would do this with just anyone, but if he mentioned it - he wants it. He was fairly confident through the whole thing, whereas MC was freaking out. I liked the contrast between their characters.

I don't think he'd be inclined to be on his knees for the first time. It would be something he needs to build up to before he gives up that aspect of himself. This was already quite a heavy experience, and so. It just made sense to me that he'd be on his back, with MC over him so he can watch their expressions, and take in the experience as it flickers over their face.

It's also infinitely more intimate, which is what - in Price's head - was the goal?? Like, it was a hot moment, but it was also fostering more trust, and taking a deeper plunge into their relationship. It delves into this a bit more at the end when MC finally has a moment to step away from "JESUS I AM "BALLS" DEEP INSIDE CAP PRICE RIGHT NOW" and look at things with a wider perspective.

It also gives him a modicum of control as well. Which, I think is the basal aspect of his character.

That's quite wordy for what this fic is, OMG. That's sort of what I volleyed back and forth in my head before writing this one.

And I was listening to Purity Ring!!! I rediscovered them through Letterkenny and this song is quite intense to me. The lyrics are just so PERFECT. All of my fics have connecting songs to them that either set the tone when I was writing or explore a different facet of what I want to convey through the lyrics. Usually, it's just atmosphere, but for Fineshrine - it was both!

Ahh, I get so nervous when stuff gets so wordy!!!!! Sorry for the spiel!

This was such a lovely message, and I am so gutted I only found it now. Thank you so much! It genuinely baffles me when people take an interest in my thoughts behind the smut, but this absolutely made my entire week. I will not stop thinking about this - I just know it. AHHHHHH. You're way too sweet!!!!

Today I'm Gonna Play: Love and Deepspace

I came across this video a couple months ago of a really high poly guy and thought it was CGI made by someone talented. Turns out it was an upcoming otome game for mobile?! I replaced my phone recently so this was a good time to look forward to trying something with high-end graphics for this platform.

My experience with Otome games isn't much. I've played those dating sims that a few friends were very into back in school on DeviantArt, notably by Zeiva and Pacthesis. This was my entry to the Visual Novel (VN) genre, but I didn't understand the appeal of of liking 2D guys. Fast forward and I've also played a couple otome VNs on mobile and dabbled slightly on PC and even though I find a few interesting love interests based on appearance and personality, I STILL didn't get the appeal, until I finally played Mystic Messenger two years ago and got my heart shattered and was rejected by my love interest lol. This idea of having a social messaging format with calls for a mobile game is one of the most creative things I've seen for both the VN genre as a whole as well as the mobile platform. I don't know if any other VNs have done something like this before.

What Love and Deepspace does, is basically take that same format and iterate upon it with its worldbuilding. But it doesn't stop there. The real selling points of this game is that it uses very high quality 3D models akin to Final Fantasy CGs and also have real-time action combat. This seemed like a combo I never thought would exist, but I'm sure as hell glad to see it. Apart from chatting and calls using your own created avatar, it includes other features such as micro blogs which are Twitter-esque, so you can like and comment on the other characters' posts, and sometimes make your own. There are interaction features with the love interest, by being able to touch him, ask him things, and even things like listening to heartbeats or blowing on him using your mic?? It's another level of immersiveness! Minigames also exist which add to the story, such as claw machines (which are actually not to rigged compared to real life), playing cards, taking photos, and mini stories or audio that you can obtain from gacha.

The gacha aspect is not related to obtaining your love interest like in other gachas, but rather it's unlocking additional content about them, such as the mini stories. These stories tend to look like casual hangouts or even romantic dates. I'm not sure if there are any intimate scenes or not so far.

The story is not bad, I'm intruiged by the lore and the overall world as I like futuristic settings. There's a lot of info dump in documents and such that you typically see in gachas or RPGs, but this is one of the few times where I actually read through them. And surprisingly, the protagonist (you) is actually a lot more competent than expected!

The only issue I have is that the way the story is presented makes the characters look like they don't know each other yet and are distant, which is fine. But the romance parts you unlock through gacha or other features of the game seem more affectionate so it feels quite disjointed. It makes me feel confused on how I can piece these moments together.

Another nitpick although minor is that the daily stamina that you can obtain through login times don't seem to sync up in local time, so I'm assuming it's based on China's time zone instead. I've mostly been on this game during the evenings which make me miss both of them. It's a bit of a weird decision for international players.

I've also seen comments online about the lack of a male character or other gender options. I also agree that this would be nice to have. But I also acknowledge that this game is primarily aimed towards women (therefore an otome game), and since it's a Chinese game, I'm not sure if they would allow any type of BL in it. This could cause a bit of disinterest for international players. The only option I can see is to provide a larger variety of options for the current female avatar (which is also a complaint even amongst women playing the game), which could also have the avatar look a little more masculine presenting, etc. This could be a slight workaround towards any censorship laws while also allowing for more diversity. Plus technically speaking, the advantage of shorter hair or buzz cuts etc. would also mean less complex hair rigging (like with long hair) so it may be easier to animate and handle.

Overall, this game has huge potential that could transform romance/otome games for mobile like Mystic Messenger if all goes well. This will be another mobile game I'll keep playing!

Favorite iOS Safari Extensions

On iOS (iPhones and iPads), Safari is the undisputed leader of the browsers, primarily because Apple puts very tight restrictions on other browser apps that makes it very difficult for them to offer the same features that Safari does.

Thankfully, you can install extensions to tweak Safari's behavior and customize websites, as long as your device is running iOS 15 or higher. Here are the Safari Extensions I use on a daily basis. Most are free (or at least have a free version), and all work on both iPhones and iPads.

For desktop computers, you can also check out my recommendations for Firefox addons)

Last updated Jan 2024 (added UnTrap and Vinegar)

Index:

AdGuard

Noir

uBlacklist

Userscripts

Sink It for Reddit

UnTrap

Vinegar

AdGuard

This addon is free if you just want to use the built in adblocking lists. For a small yearly fee, you can pay for "Pro" features, which allows you to add any custom adblocking list to the app, as well as providing a local VPN that can block ads and trackers inside any app on your phone. I use the Safari adblocking lists 24/7 because they are so helpful, but the VPN can drain your battery faster than normal, so I only turn that on when I am using an app with a lot of ads, like Apple News or a mobile game. Between AdGuard and the two YouTube-customizing extensions below, I haven’t seen an ad on YouTube in Safari in months.

Noir

Adds a dark mode to any website. It's using heuristics (fancy guessing) to figure out which website colors need to be changed so that it's properly darking, so sometimes it can make mistakes. In that case, it has a built in way to send a bug report to the developer, who is pretty responsive in my experience. You can also turn it off for specific sites right from inside Safari.

uBlacklist

This addon hides search engine results with specific domains. Example: you can hide images results from AI generator sites, OR if you search for tech support advice and one of those stupid auto-generated sites filled with SEO garbage but no actual information keeps popping up, you can use this addon to hide everything from that website, right from the Google/DuckDuckGo/other search results.

Userscripts

Allows you to install userscripts and stylesheets that customize website behavior or appearance. The addon can check for updates of your userscripts and uses iCloud to synchronize them across devices too, which is really nice. The userscripts I use are:

Bypass Paywalls Clean (removes news website paywalls)

Amazon Sponsored Products Removal (self-explanatory)

Redirect Fandom to BreezeWiki (bypasses ad-filled fandom.com domains for indie wikis or an ad-free proxy site. The link documents 2 userscripts with slightly different behavior; use whichever you prefer).

Sink It for Reddit

I switched to using Reddit in the browser only after the whole API/third party apps fiasco. AdGuard blocks the ads in the web interface, but there were still a lot of annoyances because Reddit constantly bombarded you with prompts/popups trying to get you to switch to their app so they could track you and sell you ads. Sink It for Reddit removes all of those popups and lets you customize the behavior of the Reddit website too (tapping a post can open it in a new tab, back to top buttons for long posts, and video downloads, among other things). Constantly being updated too, which is nice to see.

UnTrap (USD $1.99)

This extension cleans up the YouTube interface in the browser. You can hide Shorts, Explore, Trending, and multiple flavors of Suggestions (videos, playlists, etc.). It also has a content filter you can use to ensure you never see certain channels or even specific videos by ID, username, or keyword/regex. There are over 50 options you can tweak for the video playback page alone, so if you’re looking to remove an annoyance from YouTube in Safari on iOS, this is the addon for you. Note however that this is the first extension I’ve recommended that does NOT have a free version.

Vinegar (USD $1.99)

This extension replaces YouTube’s custom video player with a standard HTML5 one. This means that YT videos will play back using the standard iOS video player interface, including all of the accompanying benefits: better interface, Picture in Picture/popout videos work, videos continue playing in the background even if you leave Safari, etc.. I was even able to start a YouTube video in Safari, lock my phone, and then continue playing the video and hear the audio over my car’s speakers via CarPlay. These are all normally locked features reserved for YouTube Premium subscribers. You can also set a default quality that it will use so YouTube won’t use “auto” and set you to 360p just because you’re using a phone.

✨ 💝 💌 💫

Hiiiii so first apologies for taking so long to answer this. I'm primarily a mobile user but writing this much on my phone when I want it to actually be readable (and not the garbage tags I put on things) is a TaskTM, so I waited until I could go on my laptop to do the rest of these :)

✨What's a fic you've posted you wish you could breathe life into again and have people talking about it? (or simply a fic you wish got more credit)

Probably my most recent one shot honestly lol, My Heart Has Joined The Thousand. I probably am a bit spoiled from writing ongoing chapter fics more than anything else, so those tend to gain readership as you go and you get more comments per chapter etc. But I expected this fic to get more attention than it did? lol. No harm done of course.

💝what is a fic that got a different response than you were expecting?

Hmmmm 🤔this is tough because I want to say all of them to some degree 😅 usually in the way that I'll occasionally get comments that confuse me so much as to how someone could misinterpret my writing SO BADLY lmao.

But on a more positive note, my one shot Asymmetric Replies has gotten a lot more attention and kudos than I ever expected for a short fic with little drama and just some minor sibling bonding.

💌share something with us about an up-and-coming work (WIP) that has you excited!

oooh for once I actually have something in the works thats more than outline.

If he let her, Stephanie would spiral back into guilt. It would slither its slimy fingers back into her chest and leave her agonizing over what if she was telling the truth? And what if Stephanie just ruined everything by jumping to conclusions? And then she would get defensive against her own self judgement and defend her reaction, citing all the reasons to believe her mom was lying. And she’d work herself right back up into a ranting fury--that would abruply lose steam and give way, like it just had. 

And then the cycle would repeat. 

Jason had reasoned himself and his volatile emotions in circles enough times to recognize the signs. Right then he could see Stephanie’s hands shaking, and the way her shoulders curled in high and tight. He could still feel the chill of her fingers in his. 

She didn’t say when this conversation with her mom had happened but he was willing to bet that Stephanie had been arguing with herself in this same repeated cycle for more than just a little while before she decided to show up at his place and skip patrol. She’d come all the way over here in the rain, probably on her motorcycle, judging by the degree of dampness on her clothes.

What he knew was that she was cold, probably running on nothing but adrenaline, and stuck in the guilt-fury loop that Jason knew from experience wouldn’t end until she dropped from exhaustion or someone intervened. 

“Steph,” He said, voice a little stronger this time. He stepped after her into the living room and she turned to face him, expression wary, like she thought he was about to start lecturing her.

“This isn’t your fault, ok?” She blinked at him, face going through a miriad of expressions but never settling on one before she opened her mouth.

💫what is your favorite kind of comment/feedback?

Ah I think I answered this perviously but I just love long ranty comments analyzing the characters and their deeper motivations and feelings. <3

ask game

An Apple A Day

I’ve told the story a dozen times. OK, probably more like three or four dozen. But it is worth retelling, if only to set the stage. Besides, if you have never had me for a class before, this story is new to you.

I recall the early 2007 announcement from Apple about a revolutionary new phone. The iPhone would change our lives, they said. It offered a phone, iPod, and camera all in one. Of course, there were a few other features, but the App Store was not yet created. This was primarily a three-trick pony.

And I ballyhooed it roundly. Why did I need to spend that kind of money ($599, if you can believe that!). I already owned a phone, iPod, and camera. So I quickly dismissed the notion as just a flight of Steve Jobs’ fantasy.

A year later I came crawling to the Apple Store begging forgiveness. Silly me. Why carry three devices when one superior one would suffice? Because it was the future, that’s why. The only problem is that the legions of us who bought in relatively early, and everyone since then, including competing phones, have become ringside spectators to a paradigm shift that included us downloading our brains (well, not quite) to these devices, as well as sacrificing personal privacy.

Make that massive amounts of privacy. These things are computers, and unless we turn them off or switch to Airplane Mode, they are keeping an eye on us, and sending information somewhere. We even said it was OK when we checked all those Terms Of Service boxes without reading a word.

Apple as well as Facebook and Google have increasingly come under the magnifying glass of scrutiny. Between the devices themselves and the apps loaded on to them, there’s a treasure trove of data being collected, transmitted, stored, and sometimes sold. Apple in particular has taken heat for the amount of data it collects from users.

While Apple has earned some high praise for trying to be forthcoming and transparent about the data it collects, it has still drawn the ire of some European nations, where privacy is more of an expectation than it is in the US. The problem is that, and Apple admits this, the phone and its applications simply do not work as well if we do not opt-in for data collection. That’s kind of like having to strip down at the doctor’s office for an X-ray.

Perhaps the most concerning aspect, at least to some, is Apple’s ability to personalize advertising. Of course, Facebook and Google do it, too. But when you make the device in the first place, you’ve got a home court advantage, as well as the power to limit what third-party apps can do.

So how does this ad personalization work, and why is Apple interested in advertising anyway? The answer is pretty straightforward. Apple has long been a hardware and software company, but has recently evolved into the entertainment business as well, along with advertising. After all, it commands many hours of eyeball time from users each day, and it would be foolish to miss an opportunity.

Personalization works by examining available demographic data, interests and activities, mobility (meaning where you go), and how you use your phone, meaning apps, websites, and searches. Some information is explicitly provided, while other info is deduced. The result is a very accurate user profile, which they swear will never be associated with your name, nor sold as such. We thus see ads that are placed with laser-like precision, which I rather like. It’s better than seeing ads for things I would never buy.

Still, they know it is you, even if your identity is supposedly shrouded. Some people are rightfully creeped out about that prospect.

I have had this debate before with students (in a civil way, of course). As for me, I do not mind all of Apple’s activities, nor those of other third-party apps. I willfully gave up that privacy when I bought the device (actually, six of them now), as well as installed apps. The device and apps work together to give me a robust user experience. I have said many times that our phones are lifestyle devices first and foremost, and how we use them is up to us. But in the process, we cede information. It’s not a matter of having nothing to hide. This is about having a device that greatly enhances my life

That’s another way of saying that ship sailed long ago. If you were onboard, then you know the arrangement. If you don’t like it, you can always try to jump, but that may not work in your best interests either. YMMV.

Yes, it can be scary how much data is collected, and it is easy to feel that Orwell’s 1984 has become reality. But it is also up to us to decide how we are going to live in that new environment.

Dr “Sell Me Something Good“ Gerlich

Audio Blog

Alright I’ll bite :) for the emoji game: 🥺🛠 💖 🧠 ✅ For the character headcanon, dealers choice!

Oooh awesome thank you thank you!! These got long so apologies in advance XD

(emoji fanfic writer asks are here for anyone curious!)

🥺 (pleading face emoji) - Is there a certain type of moment or common interaction between your characters that never fails to put you in your feels?

Oh god SO many. I am basically in my feels about characters all the time, hahaha! I have lots of feels about small, casual moments of tenderness, especially between characters who might not find that sort of thing as easy. Characters expressing their love for each other, no matter how small the moment (a quiet I love you, the brush of lips against knuckles, hair tucked behind an ear) also give me many feels. Another (and one that tends to happen commonly for me lol, I really like exploring grief) is when characters experience moments of grief, in the many ways it can show up - I get equally deep in my feels if someone comforts them, or if they have to suffer through it alone, but for different reasons XD

🛠 (tools emoji) What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

I primarily use Microsoft Word, both in desktop and mobile form - it's the program I am most familiar with, and I like the formatting on it. I'm also a gremlin who writes many, many things straight into discord channels jskskss (keysmash). I am in two fandom specific servers that I like to ask for prompts from, and I tend to write those directly into discord.

For fics that I'm co-writing, I use Google Docs, because it's easiest for sharing a file that we can both access. However, beyond it's sharing capacity, I kind of hate it, so I don't use it outside of that XD

💖(sparkling heart emoji) What made you start writing?

I already shared what made me start writing in general in this ask (TLDR: I fell deep into a new fandom, wanted to read something that didn't exist, decided to write it myself. Combined with the need for a new hobby and a supportive discord, I kept writing!), so instead I will tell you about what made me start writing OFMD fic XD

Basically kind of the same thing as for why I started writing in general, actually? I wanted to see more Jim whump fics, and I fell deep, deep in love with Jim and OFMD in general. Originally I was only going to write the Old West AU I've got kicking around (because old west is what I'm most familiar with, my other fandom is a cowboy setting), and then I just... got a thousand plot bunnies, as tends to happen, and now here we are.

🧠 (brain emoji) - Pick a character, and I'll tell you my favorite headcanon for them. Dealer's choice!

Dealer's choice means Jim Jimenez right now XD

Hmmmm, picking a favourite headcanon for them is hard - but I think one of the ones that I really adore is that Jim eventually starts to see Frenchie as a brother. Like, definitely a speculative headcanon, but in fics where they have time together on the ship I love the idea of Jim calling him hermano, and them just being wonderful shenanigans siblings. I wanna see it!!! But also I love writing it!!

Another one that I have is that Jim finds it a lot easier expressing their love and using pet names in Spanish - something about it being a language that's closer to their heart, and closer to the tenderness of their past.

✅ (white check mark emoji) - What's something that appears in your fics over and over and over again, even if you don't mean to?

Weirdly enough, broken wrists??? I have written 3 fics now which feature a wrist getting broken which, in the grand scheme of things, isn't that much but it's still weird that it's happened 3 times hahah.

Also hair washing scenes. Love me a good soft hair washing scene!!!! The soft domesticity of it all!!!! The tenderness!!! I have yet to write a Jim-focused hair washing scene and I don't know why, but you can bet it's going to happen!!!!

Thank you so much for the ask!!!

Updated | Best FREE dating sites and apps for 2023

Ask someone what their best dating site is, and the answer will be as different as the person.  Why? Because some people are looking for hookups, some are looking for love, and some are looking for something in between. So what are the best dating sites? We’ve broken them down by category so that no matter what you’re looking for, you’ll find it in this list of the best sites to use in 2023. It's never been easy to find a partner, and challenges from COVID-19 have made dating even more complicated. Luckily, even if you're not getting out as much as you used to, online dating sites and mobile dating apps can help you make connections that lead to a long-term relationship (or even a fun fling!). Yes, the internet is a wonderful thing. But where to start? There are lots of good dating websites and apps, whether you're looking to meet new people, try casual dating, find others with similar interests or finally find your ideal match for a long-term relationship. I took into consideration everything from each online dating service's dating pool to whether it provides daily matches to whether it's a free dating app or a paid service. A new person that fits your exact dating profile is sure to be out there! Best for serious relationships – Eharmony Best for university-educated singles – Elite Singles Best hookup site – AdultFriendFinder Best for busy professionals – Itsjustlunch.com Best over 50 site – SilverSingles Best casual dating app – Bumble Best new dating app – Hinge Best sugar dating site – Seeking The best dating site for Jewish people – JDate Best married dating site – Ashley Madison Best catholic dating site – Catholic Match Best international site – Zoosk Best subreddit for dating – Reddit R4R Best free dating site – OkCupid Best Asian online dating in the US – AsianDate.com Best for help with dates – Match.com Best over 50 dating site in the UK – OurTime Best site for Christians – Christian Mingle Best for brief encounters – Tinder Best for African American dates – BlackPeopleMeet Best LGBTQA+ women dating app – HER Best for intellectuals dating – CoffeeMeetsBagel Best for gay hookups – Grindr Best for Canadian dates – Plenty of Fish Best luxury dating service – The League 1. Eharmony – Best for Finding a Serious Relationship

Eharmony has brought together millions of couples—in fact, 438 users get married to someone they met on the website every single day. The data backs this up: a 2018 study named eharmony as the site most likely to lead to a happy relationship. On the site, you’ll answer extensive survey questions. This “Compatibility Matching System” uses more than twenty years of research to then present you with online dating options. This selective, data-driven approach makes eharmony a good choice if you’re looking for a serious relationship. You can read our full eHarmony review here.  2. Elite Singles – 85% of Members Are University Educated

Elite Singles has a highly educated membership, so it’s a good choice if you’re looking for good conversations: 85% of its members have above-average education, while 90% are over 30, adding life experience into the mix. The site uses an algorithm based on your answers to a questionnaire to match you with other singles. It’s primarily used by those looking for long-term relationships, including internationally – it operates in 25 countries. 3. Itsjustlunch.com – Best for Busy Professionals

It’s Just Lunch sets you up with a matchmaker when you sign up. In a phone call with them, you’ll answer questions about yourself and your goals for romance. These matchmakers then find you a single match at a time, sharing only first names. They’ll arrange the time and place with your match (this can be for lunch, drinks, or brunch – depending on your schedule), and you just need to show up. Afterward, you’ll give feedback to your matchmaker to get better dates in the future. One benefit of the service is that it doesn’t waste your time. The people you date are hand-selected by a person who understands what you’re looking for, and the short dates are a good way to meet in person without spending too long with bad fits. 4. SilverSingles – Best Over 50 Dating Website

Among the dating sites for people over 50, SilverSingles has been around for 19 years. The service verifies each profile by hand, ensuring that its users are authentic and safe. Based on a personality questionnaire and what’s important to you, you’ll receive matches based on your location, plans, goals, and personality. You can use SilverSingles on their site or via their app. Basic memberships are free. 5. Bumble – Best Casual Dating App

Bumble is unique among the apps because it lets women make the first move. Men can’t contact women until the woman has already reached out. The app connects well with social media, including Facebook, Spotify, and Instagram, so you can show different facets of your personality. You can also verify your profile so you can filter other users by who is verified as well. Bumble’s best for casual hookups because the platform insists on quick contact. Once you match, you have 24 hours to make contact with that person, or the match disappears. The same is true for messages, which expire after 24 hours if one person doesn’t write back. For those pressed for time, Bumble offers one free “Extend” for matches and messages each day. 6. Hinge – Best New Dating App

Relaunched in 2016, Hinge is the #1 primarily mobile dating app mentioned in the New York Times wedding section. Their algorithm gets good reviews: 75% of Hinge users want to go on a second date once they’ve gone out with their matches. The app improves your matches as you give feedback after dates. Hinge’s platform is unique because once you match, the app prompts you to like or comment on a specific part of the other person’s profile. This lack of generic messages makes Hinge an interesting new addition. 7. AFF – Best Hookup Site

This hookup app isn’t for people who want long-term relationships. It gives you two main options: flirt (on the app) or hookup. A sex-positive app, Adult Friend Finder is well known for brief encounters. However, it also features a variety of ways to connect: messaging, video (“online dates“), live streams, group chats. AFF is also good for hookups because of its quick registration process. Unlike other sites, which may include long questionnaires, AFF features a 30-second registration process that will let you start browsing almost right away.  8. Seeking – Best Sugar Dating Site

This website connects younger people (“Sugar Babies”) with older, wealthier people (“Sugar Daddies/Mommas”). With over 20 million users, the site features 8 million Sugar Babies and 2 million Sugar Daddies/Mommas. It allows these users to connect “without false pretenses,” each person stating their terms before connecting. If you’re a young person looking for relationships with older people (or vice-versa), this site has users who are looking for the same types of encounters, eliminating the need for lengthy sifting through profiles and awkward conversations.  It’s also one of the few sites with a large ratio of women to men. 9. JDate – The Best Dating Site for Jewish People

JDate is one app for Jewish singles. Founded in 1997, JDate is now available around the world, letting you connect with Jewish users in five different languages (English, Hebrew, French, German, and Spanish). For those looking for a Jewish match with people who share your faith, JDate provides the widest selection of users. In fact, JDate is responsible for 52% of the Jewish marriages that started online. With both free or premium subscriptions to JDate (at $59.99 per month), you can message anyone. Customer care reviews each profile, ensuring authentic users. 10. Catholic Match – Best Catholic Dating Site

One of several services for Christians, Catholic Match, helps you find love with a member of the Catholic faith specifically. With more than 1 million users, Catholic Match promotes “faith-focused dating.” In other words, its users are primarily seeking long-term relationships with other Catholics. Memberships cost $29.95 per month, but they come with a guarantee. If you meet certain qualifications during the first six months, the site guarantees your next six months free. Endorsed by various Catholic leaders, Catholic Match has more than 20 years of experience bringing Catholics together. 11. Zoosk – Best Free International Dating Site

The best site for dating international people, Zoosk features 40,000,000 singles worldwide. These users send 3 million messages daily in 25 different languages. Available in over 80 countries, Zoosk is a truly global platform. Established for more than 14 years, Zoosk uses “Behavioral Matchmaking technology” to match its users with compatible singles. Free to try, a Zoosk subscription then costs $29.99 per month. 12. Reddit R4R – Best Subreddit for Dating (Online Personal Ads)

R4R is a subreddit where people connect. “R4R” stands for “Redditor for Redditor,” and the site does not have a matching system. Instead, this is one of the best online places to post personals. These personals vary widely depending on what users are looking for. This can be anything from activity partners to groups, dating, hangouts, soulmates, and other relationships. Because it is a subreddit, R4R only has post and messaging features. However, it also has fewer rules and restrictions than apps (though it does have some related to age, privacy, legality, and conduct). For example, NSFW posts are allowed, but they must be tagged so that other users can avoid them if they desire.  Reddit is also a good place for advice specific to your situation and dating advice in general. Check out the subreddits OnlineDating, r/DatingOverThirty,  r/dating_advice. r/relationships, r/dating, r/DatingApps, r/ForeverAloneDating, r/RelationshipsOver35, or r/CatholicDating. 13. OkCupid – Best Free Dating Site

With a lot of dating apps, you get what you pay for. OkCupid is the best free service because of its detailed profiles: you can find out much more about users before you connect, leading to better matches. Available both on the desktop site and as an app, OKCupid offers literally thousands of profile questions, so you can find a match for what’s important to you. Offering 22 gender and 13 orientation options, OkCupid is also inclusive. 14. Ashley Madison – Best Married Dating Site

A dating site for affairs, Ashley Madison connects users for discreet encounters. Unlike other apps, the site is not linked to other social media profiles, so you’re less likely to connect or be seen by people you already know. It’s among the best date sites for married users, as both people understand the situation. Ashley Madison also offers traveling features for those visiting other cities. This lets you contact users in that area ahead of time, setting up dates for when you arrive.

Best Online Dating Apps: 2021 Runners-Up

15. AsianDate.com – Best Asian Online Dating in the US AsianDate connects people from around the world with Asian singles. With more than ten years of experience, the site’s staff verifies each member to ensure authenticity. Once you are verified, you can chat, call, or send letters or presents. 16. Match.com – Best for Help with Dates

One of the oldest dating sites, Match.com, began in 1995. It features detailed profiles, get-togethers for members, and a virtual dating coach to help members do anything from break the ice to come up with date ideas.   17. OurTime – Best 50+ Dating Site In the UK A site for 50+ singles, ourtime.com offers options not only for those seeking marriage and long-term relationships but also for those looking for friendship and platonic relationships. The site features email and flirting capabilities, allowing you to see who has viewed your profile. 18. Christian Mingle – Best Dating Site for Christians

With over 15 million Christian singles, this Christian dating site helps users looking for a “God-centered relationship.” Their members are primarily focused on finding serious relationships. The site offers a free trial, after which they charge $49.99 per month. 19. BlackPeopleMeet – Best for African American Dates For more than 18 years, BlackPeopleMeet has provided a platform for African American singles looking for love. The site’s 100,000+ users can exchange flirts or emails, as well as see who has viewed their profiles. 20. Tinder – Best Free App for Casual Dating

This dating app has a reputation that likely precedes it. With quick registration, Tinder is easy to use for hookups, though a large number of users means that many are also looking for relationships. 21. CoffeeMeetsBagel – Best for Intellectuals Dating 96% of users on Coffee Meets Bagel has a Bachelor’s degree, while over a third have a Master’s. The extensive profiles also make this a good site for intellectuals, as you can see who shares interests with you in many different areas. 22. HER – Best LGBTQA+ Women Dating App

HER is a dating app exclusively for LGBTQA+ women, created by queer women. Their 4 million users get access to in-person events, communities within the app, and app moderators to ensure they have a good experience. 23. Grindr – Best for LGBTQA+ Hookups With mostly male users, Grindr focuses on the gay, bi, trans, and queer communities. The app changed how gay dating sites and apps work with its location-based services. Now the most popular gay mobile app, Grindr, allows you to sort users by distance based on GPS position. 24. Plenty of Fish – Best Free Site for Canadian Dates

This Canadian site is offered in nine languages, ensuring you can connect with users from around the world. Founded in 2003, the site provides detailed profiles for its large pool of members. 25. The League – Best Luxury Dating App The League provides connections with singles in select cities. The site provides members with 3 “prospects” every day and lets you video chat with them for dating online. It also allows you to connect your profile to LinkedIn and Facebook to block connections, ensuring your privacy.

Best Dating Sites: FAQs

Why Use Online Dating Sites?

Sites for dates give you the chance to encounter far more potential matches than you would in everyday life. Whether you have a small social circle, are looking to expand your connections, or simply have needs that aren’t being met in your community, using these sites can widen your world. Furthermore, using a site or an app to meet a romantic partner allows you to be more selective. If it’s important to you to have a partner with similar interests, many apps allow you to select for this. Finally, it’s common to use these sites to find love: around 2/5 of Americans meet their long-term partners on date sites. Are Apps for Dating Safe? Apps are only as safe as their users. Stay careful. Being careful on apps means engaging with verified users; some apps have members of their staff verify members by hand, giving you more safety. However, it’s still crucial to follow safety guidelines when you date someone you met online. How to Stay Safe While Online Dating? Never give out your personal information to someone you have met online, particularly before you meet in person. This includes your last name, employer, address, and even your neighborhood. When you meet someone you have met online, ensure that your first few dates take place in public locations. This could be a café, a restaurant, a movie theater, or anywhere else where others are around. Avoid secluded places such as parks, and never invite someone you don’t know to your home. Finally, check in with a friend before your date to let them know where you’ll be and when you anticipate coming home. Let them know when you arrive back home. For extra security, ask them to call or text during the date to verify you are all right. How Do I Decide Which Dating Site Is Right for Me? Are you looking for something long-term or casual? First, consider what you are looking to gain from a new relationship.  If you’re hoping to find something serious, you should definitely steer clear of hookup apps and sites like Tinder or Ashley Madison. On the other hand, if a no-strings-attached fling is what you’re searching for, a dating site like eHarmony that boasts a high marriage success rate won’t be the one for you.  Where are you located? It’s Read the full article

I made a quick page about myself, primarily so my age is listed somewhere but here it is for anyone on mobile.

— basics

name) matt age) 29 going on 30 birthday) nov 22 gender) transmasc pronouns) he/him/his orientation) gay location) maple syrup land

— three facts

I am engaged to my partner of 6 years and we’re writing a series together :) 

I have 3 cats; Dooder(like snickerdoodle), Bean and Coconut (if you want i will absolutely show pictures of them)

I am a procrastiwriter and use rp to avoid editing chapters

— experience

I have been rping since i was 12 years old, so about 18 years now. Started on facebook, then moved to skype, aim, discord and tumblr. I’ve done fandom characters and OCs, though for the past several years i’ve been focusing on just my original characters and working on my novel. 

— favorite genres

I am a big sucker for enemies to lovers, heavy angst of any kind, star crossed lovers, and reincarnation aus. Lately i’ve been getting into dnd verses for characters because i’m getting back into dnd itself and those are fun.

— plots vs memes

Both! Some of my favorite interactions have been memes and some top threads started as memes! Plus i get we’re all busy people and sometimes it’s fun to just throw muses into dumb scenarios via memes.

— long or short replies

Both. i don’t always have the energy for lengthy replies or there’s just not a lot my characters could or would do in situations so i can’t do long ones. 

— best time to write

I find i write my best either very early in the day or late at night. When it’s quiet, just myself or very few people. 

— one thing i will never write

A straight character lmao. No but honestly there’s nothing i won’t really write.. Maybe a hyper religious obnoxious character because i’d find no fun in it.

— one thing i will always write

Angst. I love to suffer :’) 

— other muses i write that aren’t on here

I have around 100 muses, not counting retired ones i don’t use at all anymore. But there are a select few that i write most frequently; Yori, Synner, Rhys, Skye, Parker and Lockette and Six (these two are part of the series my partner and I are writing), but my mood for my characters changes all the time and sometimes i don’t write the main group for a while.

— other places i write

Discord! I write all the time on discord, and I play any of my other muses on there. Pleeeease if you want to check out my other muses i’d be thrilled to rp over there as well. I prefer using a server to rp in for organization purposes but i’m happy to make and maintain them. 

Honestly even if it’s not to rp but just talk, i’m always on discord so feel free to add me. Princekin #2286

Chatbots vs Smart Virtual Assistants — Understanding the Difference

Do you know about Tequila’s Patron, the most famous bot tender? Wait! Have I spelled it right? Should that not be ‘bartender’? No, it is right and it is ‘bot tender’. Patron is the AI-powered chatbot, the virtual bartender of Bacardi.

Gone are the days when chatbots were used only for support by financial sectors and service companies. Today chatbots are everywhere. Just to give a not-so-required, but formal introduction, chatbots are that small trendy icon that blinks on the right bottom of any website or app.

The Evolution of Chatbots

Today’s chatbots have come a long way. They are no longer the traditional chatbots that were rule-based and answered only a set of pre-defined or pre-configured questions. Chatbots are now enabled by Conversational Artificial Intelligence (CAI), Natural Language Processing (NLP), Natural Language Understanding (NLU), and Machine Learning (ML). These technologies are making chatbots sophisticated enough to understand the ‘intent’ behind user queries and successfully simulate human-like conversations.

Today, AI-powered Chatbots can handle simple and complex tasks such as providing information, answering FAQs, sending instant acknowledgments, collecting user information, etc. They are capable of replying to customer questions about a product and assisting customers in gaining the necessary knowledge and information.

Smart Virtual Assistants

Does it sound like the capabilities of chatbots are now blurring into smart virtual assistant activities? The answer is both yes and no. Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, and IBM’s Watson are some of the known names of smart virtual assistants (SVA).

SVAs perform the tasks of a personal assistant such as managing schedules, handling travel needs, booking appointments, and sending reminders about events. SVA’s are implemented with a strong focus on the end-user and are programmed to take inputs and perform tasks through verbal and text commands. Virtual Assistants can understand normal human speech powered by Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) enabling them to predict the user’s intent.

SVAs are capable of learning user preferences and habits over time, constantly evolving and getting smarter. They can understand natural language, recognize faces, identify objects, and their biggest USP is their ability to communicate with other networked smart devices and software. They are generally embedded in handheld devices such as mobile or tablets or available as separate devices.

Virtual Assistants for Businesses

Businesses can now provide their customers with more personalized experiences by conducting more natural and intelligent conversations thanks to conversational AI. End-to-end user journeys can be transformed and automated with the aid of artificial intelligence owing to its ability to understand natural language, active learning, chat flow management, and data mining.

Virtual assistants never sleep, and they are constantly learning. New intents, entities, synonyms, phrasal slang, and methods for resolving simple to sophisticated end-user requests are constantly found, learned, and implemented in near real-time with the help of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs). With the most recent developments in cognitive computing, ANNs are used to identify, categorize, and predict based on the analysis. Backed with Conversational AI they can engage with end-users in complex, multi-topic, long conversations. And all of this is done while providing end users with a seamless, understandable, and immersive experience that mimics human agents.

Apart from precisely understanding the end-user intent(s) and providing personalized and accurate answers, they can also trigger and complete tasks and multi-domains processes, and even escalate when and as needed to human agents.

Chatbots vs Virtual Assistants

Chatbots and Virtual Assistants (VA) are a result of the digital innovation happening in the AI space. Primarily, both Chatbots and Virtual Assistants are based on Conversational AI platforms with varying levels of sophistication. Despite sharing similar technical underpinnings, chatbots and virtual assistants have different functionalities.

Here are some of the differences between Chatbot and Smart Virtual Assistant

1. Functionality

The core functionality of chatbots is to assist businesses and customers, mostly with customer support service and sales and marketing. Having said that, the main functionality is improving customer engagement. Right from providing instant responses and hand-holding customers through the entire user journey, chatbots help businesses offer better customer experiences.

Virtual assistants perform the tasks for an individual as a personal assistant or secretary. Taking notes, reading aloud text or email messages, looking up phone numbers, scheduling, making phone calls, and alerting the user of upcoming appointments are all included in this. It also helps with reading out instructions or recipes, giving updates about the weather, and engaging the user in a casual or jovial conversation. It takes a much bigger role in a business environment. It works as an aggregator for a multitude of chatbots. They can find answers to the questions independently by scouring the web.

2. User Interface

Chatbots are deployed on websites, support service portals, as well as on messaging channels such as WhatsApp, Instant, and Facebook Messenger. In-app chat widgets and mobile applications can both use chatbots to help customers.

Virtual assistants are parts of handheld devices like mobile phones and tablets. Devices such as Apple’s Siri, Google Home, and Echo by Amazon have their corresponding virtual assistants built in. These devices primarily function on voice commands, though text commands can also be provided.

3. Cost

Configuring and managing chatbots has become very easy and less complex. With a proper business case in place, configuring chatbots just takes a few clicks. The cost of chatbots increases proportionally with the need for advanced technology and sophistication.

The cost of implementing SVAs is comparatively high as it is backed by superior technologies. The ROI on SVA investment is comparatively higher as it can handle complex and sophisticated tasks with ease.

4. Complexity

Chatbots can be rule-based, ML-powered, or contextual. This means that they can operate on varying levels of complexity. They can be created using a decision tree, widget-controlled interactions, and a predefined or scripted set of responses. ML-powered chatbots work by continuously learning over time to comprehend user inputs and requests. Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and natural language processing (NLP) algorithms are used by contextual or AI chatbots to continuously learn and remember the context to tailor dialogues.

Intelligent virtual assistants rely on artificial emotional intelligence to understand natural language commands better and learn from situations. Additionally, they can connect to search engines like Google and gather information from them. They comprehend not just the language used by the user, but also the context in which the user communicates. They may learn from previous encounters, which contributes to their unpredictability. This allows them to enjoy a long-term intimate relationship. They can also be designed to perform far more complex jobs.

5. Intelligence

Chatbots can answer only those queries that they have been programmed for and can fail if the queries are even slightly different than the ones they are fed. Chatbots cannot hold lengthy and coherent interactions. If the interaction breaks, they lose the context of the discourse. Because of the limitations in their programming, chatbots are not very proficient in processing languages.

Virtual Assistant Chatbots have an enhanced ability to interact. They are skilled at processing language and can comprehend the meaning behind the commands. They can detect the user’s emotions and mood as well. Unlike Chatbots, SVAs can have a long conversation even after breaking the flow. Virtual Assistants can handle complicated jobs such as locating directions and making dinner reservations.

6. Conversation

Unless they are contextual, the majority of chatbots can only respond to questions that have been programmed into them. They can have brief, straightforward conversations. They deconstruct dialogue into smaller chunks, giving the software an organized and simple-to-understand style that enables constant context relay.

Virtual assistants can sustain lengthy conversations and comprehend the semantics of human speech. They are cognizant of human slang, empathy, and language-based expressions of human emotions.

7. Usage

Virtual assistants are mainly user-focused, whereas chatbots are mostly business-based solutions. Chatbots help companies provide their consumers, as well as their sales and marketing teams, with the best possible experience and engagement.

Virtual agents or assistants are equipped to help both commercial or personal operations. They function similarly to personal assistants capable of doing specific and difficult duties round the clock.

They are programmed to perform an endless range of tasks. For instance, they can be utilized to perform eCommerce tasks such as comparing products and selecting the best option based on predetermined criteria. They can provide financial market alerts and breaking news, and can even control various equipment's in a room.

8. Design

Models that provide a framework for how to create responses are used to build chatbots. Chatbots are designed using a variety of models, mostly utilized ones are selective and predictive models. The appropriate models are chosen to develop them based on the application and domain.

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) enable virtual assistants to continuously learn from historical data. ANNs are used to identify, categorize, forecast, and analyze user inputs so that they can produce correct responses to the user’s queries.

Build Your Conversational Assistant

While both are products of conversational artificial intelligence and have similarities in their foundations, they address different needs and are deployed differently. purpleSlate’s Parrot is a state-of-the-art conversational AI platform that configures and deploys chatbots and smart virtual assistants fortified with the required levels of sophistication as per your business requirements, all in just a few clicks. Get in touch with us to build your conversational assistant today.

This post was originally published in: https://www.purpleslate.com/chatbots-vs-smart-virtual-assistants-understanding-the-difference/

Barbie's First Doll With Down Syndrome Is Finally Here - and It's About Time

Children's toys just got more inclusive, as Mattel announced the launch of its first-ever Barbie doll with Down syndrome. "As the most diverse doll line on the market, Barbie plays an important role in a child's early experiences, and we are dedicated to doing our part to counter social stigma through play," Mattel Executive Vice President Lisa McKnight said in a press release. "Our goal is to enable all children to see themselves in Barbie, while also encouraging children to play with dolls who do not look like themselves." This step toward inclusivity is long overdue given that the first Barbie was launched in 1959 and about 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome in the US each year, per the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. But it's nice to see the toy aisles finally getting more diverse. This doll is a part of Barbie's Fashionista line of over 175 dolls with different body types, skin tones, varying abilities, eye colors, hair textures, and more. Image Source: Mattel Mattel worked with the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) to create its doll with Down syndrome, having medical experts weigh in on everything from the doll's face to the accessories. This doll has been sculpted with a shorter frame, a longer torso, a rounder face shape, a flat nasal bridge, and almond-shaped eyes to better represent characteristics of those with Down syndrome. Additionally, the doll's palms include a single line, a trait often associated with Down syndrome, per the press release. The doll is also wearing orthotics, a mobility tool that some children with Down syndrome children use to support their feet and ankles. "NDSS provided a box of orthotics to serve as real-life inspiration," the press release said. Even the doll's clothes are specially made with the condition in mind. The puff-sleeve dress is primarily yellow and blue and features butterflies throughout, which are symbols and colors associated with Down syndrome awareness. The pink pendant necklace the doll wears has three upward-facing chevrons, representing the three copies of the 21st chromosome, the genetic anomaly that results in Down syndrome characteristics. Fans are already responding to the news with joy, celebrating Barbie's latest inclusive addition. "I am crying right now, I never imagined they'd make a doll with leg braces, just like me! I had a cousin with Down Syndrome she passed away years ago but she would have loved this!" one user wrote. "This means so much for our community, who for the first time, can play with a Barbie doll that looks like them," NDSS CEO and President Kandi Pickard said in the statement. "This Barbie serves as a reminder that we should never underestimate the power of representation. It is a huge step forward for inclusion and a moment that we are celebrating." View this post on Instagram A post shared by MATTEL (@mattel) The Barbie with Down syndrome ($11), along with the rest of the 2023 Fashionistas line of inclusive dolls, is available online now and will be in major retail stores starting this summer. Related: Glee's Lauren Potter Has a Message For Hollywood on Hiring People With Down Syndrome: "You Won't Be Disappointed" https://www.popsugar.com/family/first-barbie-doll-with-down-syndrome-49153373?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

skeuomorphism

Skeumorphism is a design practice in which an item is intentionally designed to resemble another object that serves the same purpose or resembles an earlier incarnation of that same object.

A digital example of this practice in work in through most computer interfaces, more specifically Apple’s UI. It can be argued that Apple normalised and popularised skeuomorphism in software and UI design as they’re one of the earliest computer companies to implement it into their softwares design, this can be seen through hourglasses representing loading or waiting time on a program, the mouse cursor being an arrow to point at what you are seeing but a hand to grab files and other items, how a mobile phone makes a shutter sound when taking a photo when no shutter is present and a rubbish bin to represent deleted items on your desktop. This is a clever and understandable design element to implement into their early UI, as due to early computer and internet users never using the software before, making the digital elements and tools resemble real life counterparts to show how their functions are similar, it made learning and memorising the functions of each tool easier for those starting out, making the new seem familiar.

However, after the introduction of iOS 7 in 2013, skeuomorphism was largely forgotten in Apples UI design and instead should be primarily focused on minimalism in simple shapes and colours. This makes a fair bit of sense, as by that time users had already gotten accustomed to what each icon and tool on their software did, so skeuomorphism used to explain what each tool did was unnecessary. This simplistic interface is the standard for most UI from then, but skeuomorphism is still commonly seen in independent software and apps as to introduce new users to its tools and how they function.

Examples of skeuomorphism in physical design can be seen in maple syrup jugs and tomato ketchup bottles. Maple syrup jugs commonly have a small impractical handle, this isn’t suitable for purpose but is instead a skeuomorphic design choice to mimic how maple syrup jugs used to be huge and unwieldily, requiring a handle to hold them. With tomato shaped ketchup bottles, they obviously mimic tomatoes, as to show that the bottle contains ketchup through depicting itself as an main ingredient of the sauce.

In my personal opinion, I believe skeuomorphism is a really clever, effective and fun design practice as it allows experimentation in how to depict things by using more widely known interpretations of its purpose. It also allows earlier object designs to live on in memory way after they fade out of general use (eg floppy discs, rotary phones, etc).

I believe that skeuomorphism can be used in many unique ways as to make general interfaces and objects more charming and kitchy but appealing. I would like to interpret skeuomorphism into my work and to experiment with the subject more as I believe it’s an interesting design technique which can be explored into further in fun gimmicky ways.