listen, spell check, "transformers" is a word. an entire separate word from the car robots. it is not a proper noun, so it does not need to be capitalized. it is a term for a device that does a myriad of things, like transforming energy into something usable. I repeat, IT IS NOT A PROPER NOUN

this band is so cute and stunning and im so upset i can't enjoy them like i used to i just wanna but u cant it makes me so sad tifjfjgghh i wanna die

ETA: I wrote up a guide on clues that a foraging book was written by AI here!

[Original Tweet source here.]

[RANT AHEAD]

Okay, yeah. This is a very, very, very bad idea. I understand that there is a certain flavor of techbro who has ABSOLUTELY zero problem with this because "AI is the future, bro", and we're supposed to be reading their articles on how to use AI for side hustles and all that.

I get that ID apps have played into people's tendency to want quick and easy answers to everything (I'm not totally opposed to apps, but please read about how an app does not a Master Naturalist make.) But nature identification is serious stuff, ESPECIALLY when you are trying to identify whether something is safe to eat, handle, etc. You have to be absolutely, completely, 100000% sure of your ID, and then you ALSO have to absolutely verify that it is safely handled and consumed by humans.

As a foraging instructor, I cannot emphasize this enough. My classes, which are intended for a general audience, are very heavy on identification skills for this very reason. I have had (a small subsection of) students complain that I wasn't just spending 2-3 hours listing off bunches of edible plants and fungi, and honestly? They can complain all they want. I am doing MY due diligence to make very sure that the people who take my classes are prepared to go out and start identifying species and then figure out their edibility or lack thereof.

Because it isn't enough to be able to say "Oh, that's a dandelion, and I think this might be an oyster mushroom." It's also not enough to say "Well, such-and-such app says this is Queen Anne's lace and not poison hemlock." You HAVE to have incredibly keen observational skills. You HAVE to be patient enough to take thorough observations and run them through multiple forms of verification (field guides, websites, apps, other foragers/naturalists) to make sure you have a rock-solid identification. And then you ALSO have to be willing to read through multiple sources (NOT just Wikipedia) to determine whether that species is safely consumed by humans, and if so if it needs to be prepared in a particular way or if there are inedible/toxic parts that need to be removed.

AND--this phenomenon of AI-generated crapola emphasizes the fact that in addition to all of the above, you HAVE to have critical thinking skills when it comes to assessing your sources. Just because something is printed on a page doesn't mean it's true. You need to look at the quality of the information being presented. You need to look at the author's sources. You need to compare what this person is saying to other books and resources out there, and make sure there's a consensus.

You also need to look at the author themselves and make absolutely sure they are a real person. Find their website. Find their bio. Find their social media. Find any other manners in which they interact with the world, ESPECIALLY outside of the internet. Contact them. Ask questions. Don't be a jerk about it, because we're just people, but do at least make sure that a book you're interested in buying is by a real person. I guarantee you those of us who are serious about teaching this stuff and who are internet-savvy are going to make it very easy to find who we are (within reason), what we're doing, and why.

Because the OP in that Tweet is absolutely right--people are going to get seriously ill or dead if they try using AI-generated field guides. We have such a wealth of information, both on paper/pixels and in the brains of active, experienced foragers, that we can easily learn from the mistakes of people in the past who got poisoned, and avoid their fate. But it does mean that you MUST have the will and ability to be impeccably thorough in your research--and when in doubt, throw it out.

My inbox is always open. I'm easier caught via email than here, but I will answer. You can always ask me stuff about foraging, about nature identification, etc. And if there's a foraging instructor/author/etc. with a website, chances are they're also going to be more than willing to answer questions. I am happy to direct you to online groups on Facebook and elsewhere where you have a whole slew of people to compare notes with. I want people's foraging to be SAFE and FUN. And AI-generated books aren't the way to make that happen.

for people who remember this post and this post, i've done it!!

and here's mini jade with the same hat, he looks like he's wearing a mushroom helmet💕

oh and here's the finished cat hat haha

tagging people who might be interested hehe @somany-fandoms-solittle-time @azulashengrottospiano @siren-serenity @officialdaydreamer00 @dove-da-birb @identity-theft-101 @hheun @atsdlura @ceruleancattail @bookobsessed2259 @mermaidfanficlibrary @kirexa

Its 1am, so I am once again posting a wip/preview thing of a comic im physically fighting myself to just finish up

whole server hates this. i think it's a masterpiece. idk 😄

One thing I’ve been thinking about for the past couple days, but something I’m not the biggest fan of with Kingdom is how the majority of the Cookies of Darkness are played more for jokes than they are for serious. And thus in doing so, the CoD itself doesn’t feel like that much of a threat

Like yeah, I like seeing stuff with the CoD just doing silly stuff, and I don’t need them to be super dark and serious 100% of the time, but like, of the Cookies of Darkness, the only characters that are consistently treated like an actual threat are Dark Enchantress Cookie and Pomegranate Cookie, though even then sometimes she’s part of the gag. And sure, some of the characters in the main story may be treated like a threat, like Red Velvet (despite his one appearance) and Affogato, but then also you’ll have them in a boy band or chilling at the rock festival, totally incognito

And again, it’s not that I don’t enjoy this stuff, but it’s just, how am I supposed to take the Cookies of Darkness as a serious threat when you’re putting them in boy bands and school AUs? Especially when more often than not, it’s the jokey route they use with them?

It’s part of the reason I don’t really see why we need all these Legendaries and Dragons and armies to fight Dark Enchantress, because 80% of the CoD are a bunch of silly little guys. I know realistically DE is powerful and has her Cake Army, hence why they need all that power, but that impression that they’re actually a threat doesn’t typically come to mind for me. But maybe that’s a me thing

And like, honestly I’d say Ovenbreak does it better when it comes to having the CoD seem like a threat. Sure I haven’t seen every event with them involved and I know they only show up like, once in a blue moon, but they usually cause actual problems, and if anything the fact that we see them so little makes them feel more significant, and like Dark Enchantress is more of a looming threat

I dunno, that’s just how I feel

i am mad at this tiktok trend of video essay recommendations, and not just because i have a very very intense special interest in video essays and youtube commentary. -___- guyssss, a video essay does not have to be scary or unsettling to be a GOOD video essay. all of yalls reccs are like, 20-something minute videos about "gadagoobies left toe: a creepypasta turned real" and tbh thats like, a sphere of video 'essay'. imma say it, and imma be a lil time-elitist here, but 20 minutes is a video, not a video essay. if youve chosen a topic, and said topic cannot fill more than like half an hour, consider me unimpressed in either your research skills or topic choice. not to mention, again, horror internet video essays are like fuckin, 1/10th of the video essays out there. show me breadtube video essays, movie video essays, whatever the hell Jenny Nicholson is doing, Ro Ramdin, Contrapoints??

do yall want me to show you my spreadsheet O___O ill show u my fuckin spreadsheet, theres so much more out there besides your half furry sprites talking about internet horror from 2011 for 23 minutes.

my reccs? literally anything by Ladyknightthebrave. she has very very in depth and emotional video essays about media, including a big focus on holocaust media as she is Jewish. her Jojo Rabbit/The Book Thief video makes me cry EVERY time, and i cry like ten times a year. ough, she has a video about Cowboy Bebop that focuses SO MUCH on the music! A video essay about a bad holocaust movie where she literally interviews holocaust expertsss! Her video on MASH made me go watch the whole thing, same with Stargate. and gods, her video about Fleabag blew me away. just pleeease go check ANY of her videos out.

Jenny Nicholson. you want random? she's got it. she has a video where she reviews every single Land of Time movie, and theres a LOT of those. She deep dives into the brony fandom. etc etc. i know she's popular but still, theres a reason for that.

Contrapoints. absolutely gorgeous video making about politics, self, etc. and she's queer as hell, amazing. I just can't describe the depth she puts into her videos.

FDSignifier. a huge part of breadtube (or leftist youtube) who makes a lottt of excellent video essays on black masculinity. Big, full videos, with a good perspective to see if you are a white viewer.

CJ the X just has a ton of excellent video essays as well. They are very intellectual.

Ro Ramdin, my gods, most of her videos are not what i would call video essays, but she tows the line. Emotional, funny, to the point, amazingly shot, and compassionate to the bone.

i probably have more but here's my point, branch out, dont put non-horror video essays down. we get it, you watch gore on liveleak and draw ur edgy fursona with scars all over them. (was that harsh? sorry, just uhhh please consider perspective and the culture of creepypasta/horror online being a cesspool of self harm via forcing ones self to watch upsetting things)

So Im feeling like... the book title Little Mushroom gave me as widely incorrect a first impression as Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun did...

(For context: I avoided reading 2ha at first because I feared it would be extremely fluffy. Im not into fluff. It was only once I saw how angsty and heavy and dark it was by friends who'd read it that I was like oh perhaps Ill give it a chance.)

(Also related: i suspect, because i keep misjudging certain titles as Too Fluffy for me, that Mistakenly Saving the Villain is probably deeply emotional and developed and angsty and I probably dont need to avoid it from fear itll be fluff city).

Anyway I got Little Mushroom a while ago because any time Peach Flower House releases print english copies of danmei I at least consider getting them, and Little Mushroom is sci fi so of course I fucking got it. ToT but i still fear just a tiny bit, oh man cute title, what if this is too cute for my tastes.

Well im glad my guess was wrong. Ive only started reading, but I love the opening and the writing style, i AM SUPER into sci fi right now (im reading star trek Fanfic Observations by janon and The Expanse series i am in DEEP to sci fi right now mindset wise), and im thrilled by the blurb on the back of Little Mushrooms and the potential im about to get into.

The author blurb mentioned Shisi wrote C Language Cultivation. My head spinned.

I have belated realized ive actually been a fan of this author a WHILE. Ive been reading C Language Cultivation in chinese for like the past year, and the authors novel The Cats Rose is one I was eyeing to buy for a while. I cant believe I didnt connect that the writer of C Language Cultivation also wrote Little Mushroom. I suspect I probably would love all this authors books at this rate.

Duolingo really calling me out here

"I'm the only one who knows how to close a cabinet" "I'm the only one who knows how to change the toilet paper" yeah well I'm the only one who knows how to close a pen. we all have our strengths and mine protects my art supplies.

After reaching the second to last volume in the Devilman manga. HOLY SHIT CRYBABY DOESN'T GET DEVILMAN AT ALL! I consider Crybaby one of those "so bad that its good" types of media but after reading the original source material and comparing it to Crybaby yeah Crybaby is MID. I will give this though and its a common thing I've seen a lot of people say about Crybaby shows Akira's relationship with his parent and the fight with Jinmen has more of a impact here than in the other adaptations I've seen (the OVAs, live action garbage, 1970s anime, and the manga) but other than that (and Miko getting more screentime and being a main part of the cast) Crybaby really is just YEAH THIS ANIME IS EXTREME!!!! NO KIDS ALLOWED THERES EXTREME!1!!!1!! VIOLENCE, BLOOD, BOOB, AND VAGNEE!!! Oh wait we forgot to put in the anti-war message oh uh yeah just throw it in for the final episodes. Also Akira is really fucking horny for no reason at all and Ryo is JUST A ROBOT (OH MUH GAWD JUST LIKE THE COMMENTARY YOUTUBER!!!!) actually on the topic of that RYO HAS A TWITTER IN CRYBABY. This video perfectly describes how I feel about that god I really hate Crybaby Ryo sorry to the people who love him but there's better versions of Ryo out there

Ahem.

AHEM. Ok to actually get into the root of Crybaby Ryo's problems its one that everyone knows by now and its that he literally feels nothing, ERM BUT AT THE END OF EPISODE 10- Yeah but I can't feel bad for him cuz he brought this onto himself. He's the one who started the war with humans and demons in the first place and even before then he's just there being cold and calculating even when Akira attempts to bond with him he really doesn't care at all, the montage of Ryo and Akira as kids is something I don't know how to feel about it when its just baby Ryo trying to kill animals and being unhinged while baby Akira cries for him I really don't. ERM BUT RYO WAS CONCERNED FOR AKIRA WHEN HE TRIED TO FORM THE ARMY OF DEVILMAN- Only in the manga, not in Crybaby in Crybaby Ryo just gives his unhinged villain speech to Akira and then THE MOST ON THE NOSE HINTS AT RYO BEING SATAN. Fast forward to the ending of the final episode where he actually confesses his love to Akira, again I don't know how to feel towards this because he did it to himself. There is so much more I have to say about Crybaby being a mid adaptation of Devilman but this post is already long enough with me ranting about Crybaby Ryo so I'll probably write more about Crybaby not fully understanding Devilman when I'm actually done reading the manga.

Daisy n Peach doodles :]

submission for @feefal 's Funguary challenge

Its a cystolepiota!

So I made it a lil wanderer guy with eczema

(Note: i love drippy, flaky, or otherwise wacky mushrooms)

fíadh byrne; a sim for @froggytraits​​

clumsy, childish, loves the outdoors; freelance botanist 

feminine structure, she/they, like a fairycore grunge style (it’s okay if you can’t fit exact to this style tho!!) colour scheme: green and pink and no specific occult but if u can, pls make her look like a plantsim <3 personality shy, curious¿ clumsy, you can decide the traits i don’t mind!!  as for backstories i’m not very good at them but.. ig maybe something like she was a forest nymph/plantsim and now she’s trying to live “human” life and it’s very confusing for her (i hope that makes sense, i’m sorry if it sounds dumb >-< )

gaaaadddddd i love her so much... i spent like two hours just taking pics in game bc im just so enamored by them fkjghkfdhgj i think she’s a mix of flowers and fungi - particularly mushrooms - hence the mycelium on their body (totally not a reference to hit danmei novel little mushroom haha what)! her antlers come from her being able to communicate with animals in the forest :-) some of her closest friends are deer...anyway i rly hope u like her! i might have to steal them from u tbh like.. heart eyes

this sim is a public dl; if u would like to request a sim urself just go here (currently closed)

dl | mediafire

extra pic bc yall deserve to see this LOOK AT HER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

which mychael are you?

truck freak

crazy ass

Ужасы за пределами человеческого понимания.

Steve!