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A note to all creatives:

Right now, you have to be a team player. You cannot complain about AI being used to fuck over your industry and then turn around and use it on somebody else’s industry.

No AI book covers. No making funny little videos using deepfakes to make an actor say stuff they never did. No AI translation of your book. No AI audiobooks. No AI generated moodboards or fancasts or any of that shit. No feeding someone else’s unfinished work into Chat GPT “because you just want to know how it ends*” (what the fuck is wrong with you?). No playing around with AI generated 3D assets you can’t ascertain the origin of. None of it. And stop using AI filters on your selfies or ESPECIALLY using AI on somebody else’s photo or artwork.

We are at a crossroad and at a time of historically shitty conditions for working artists across ALL creative fields, and we gotta stick together. And you know what? Not only is standing up for other artists against exploitation and theft the morally correct thing to do, it’s also the professionally smartest thing to do, too. Because the corporations will fuck you over too, and then they do it’s your peers that will hold you up. And we have a long memory.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking “your peers” are only the people in your own industry. Writers can’t succeed without artists, editors, translators, etc making their books a reality. Illustrators depend on writers and editors for work. Video creators co-exist with voice actors and animators and people who do 3D rendering etc. If you piss off everyone else but the ones who do the exact same job you do, congratulations! You’ve just sunk your career.

Always remember: the artists who succeed in this career path, the ones who get hired or are sought after for commissions or collaboration, they aren’t the super talented “fuck you I got mine” types. They’re the one who show up to do the work and are easy to get along with.

And they especially are not scabs.

*that’s not even how it ends that’s a statistically likely and creatively boring way for it to end. Why would you even want to read that.

Longtail is such a funny name it’s like his mom looked at her newborn son and was just… “holy shit that’s a long kitten.” When he’s older she’ll tell him she named him that because she wishes he’ll live long and experience a lot when no it’s just because of her initial reaction.

cumplane au

So internet archive lost their lower court case. They're appealing, and have a good chance with the 2nd circuit, but they need help. Here's a link directly from one of their librarians for how you can help.

Internet Archive Blogs

The Fight Continues - Internet Archive Blogs

Today’s lower court decision in Hachette v. Internet Archive is a blow to all libraries and the communities we serve. This decision impacts

I love Mistystar so much. In a world filled with representation of Stereotypical Conservative Grandparent, Mistystar represents all those grandparents who are like. So close. They tell you all these stories of the Horrors they lived through and how that spurred their incredible political activism, and there's so much that the two of you agree on. They're a breath of fresh air at family gatherings because you know that if things turn to Politics, you won't be out here alone against all your conservative kin. But. She just can never take that extra step! She's Meemaw Fascist Murderer, but things like criticizing capitalism are off limits! And you just wish you could shake her and be like come on! You're constantly on the edge of this huge political epiphany, Meemaw! Come with me! And then. Some days. She comes home and is like "You know, my friend said something about [insert insane conservative talking point], and I think she might have a point" and you just want to scream! Meemaw NO! (G-d I hope this is a relatable experience)

It ABSOLUTELY is relatable lmaooo, I've been there in the trenches with you, Nonnie. It is such a unique kind of stress when you have an older family member like that just teeter-tottering on the edge of ONE extra step foward and they DONT TAKE IT

You can file the worst members of your family under "Objective: SURVIVE" and it gives you so much more of a shield against them. You expect dumb shit from Uncle Fungleblock, the Republican Elf, never to the point where it stops hurting, but to the point that you're prepared for the fight.

But nothing prepares you for Meemaw suddenly not having your back when you needed her, because she's genuinely considering that talking point from her friend.

So now you're using the Measured Meemaw Tone, trying to legitimately address her argument the way that sometimes soothing the horse can make it drink, while Fungleblock is casting Racism Fireball at you and you can FEEL his Slur Cooldown ticking away.

You think back to everything she's been through, how gutwrenching her stories are, the things she's experienced, violence and bigotry she's WITNESSED changing over the course of her own life... but on some level, it's as if she's stuck believing that progress is just about fighting The Bad People, or making an argument convincing enough that the good guys win fair and square, and she's gotten as old as she is because she has a support network that your allies may not.

So she never really will truly protect you from Fungleblock himself as long as he behaves just enough. She helps but she isn't your hero. And she'll still keep falling into bigoted traps, because she never will crack that nut and realize the difference between racist stereotypes and material conditions.

Love, pride, and disappointment. How do you hold them all at once? You just let them swirl as they please.

In my experience, at least, lmao. But hey, my own personal Fungleblock threw himself out of Thanksgiving with a tantrum so. Life is good B)

Tumblr is thinking of implementing an algorithm instead of the current following feed to ‘help smaller creators get in front of people’ and I’m like that’s what putting tags on your posts is for?

I’ve curated my following feed over YEARS and I don’t want it all of a sudden junked up with shit I’m not interested in because of some fucking algorithm. If smaller creators want to be seen, then they should put stuff in the tags. Putting random people’s shit all over my feed is not going to make me want to engage with it.

The reason why so many people like this website is because you are in control of tailoring your experience on here. But what that requires is some work— you can’t just come on here and expect it to be immediately altered to you personally. That being said, an algorithm that just throws shit at you that it thinks you’ll like is not the answer. At the end of the day it’s going to actually make it harder for people to tailor their experience on here, which will make the site worse.

Is there beef with the Holstein cows and you or what was that joke lol

It's kind of wild It's just never come up on this blog before, but I HATE holsteins. Bottom 10 cow breeds for me. I hate how they're so common they account for the majority of milk produced. I hate that they're the "default" cow to the point where some don't even know cattle HAVE other colors. I hate their tiny horns (IF THEY EVEN HAVE THAT. LOSER ASS HORNLESS COW) and their painfully massive udders.

Legit I'm trying so hard to not launch into a No Mouth Must Scream style AM speech-- shoot my hand slipped.

(AM speech about why i dont like holsteins below the cut)

For starters, I have to give a brief lesson on what these terms mean; the "Holstein" is the American strain of the "Frisian" breed. Frisians are an ancient breed from Frisia, in the north of what we now consider the Netherlands. Crosses between the breeds are "Holstein-Frisians."

(There’s even more to this but im keeping it as simple as possible. Also one of my friends is Frisian and she is probably going to kill me for describing it like that.)

Historically, livestock was adapted to the environment they lived in. Frisians were bred by the Frisii people for hundreds of years in extremely grass-rich, lush, flat environments. The "polders" of the northern parts of the Netherlands. They're huge and eat a LOT of food.

Traditional Frisians were developed to produce as much meat and milk from a single individual as possible, without compromising the health of the cattle with constant inbreeding to get quick gains. We are talking about a breed that is over 2000 years old. They had the perfect environment to make The Ultimate Food Cow and by god they did it. I can respect that.

So, take that, drag it across an ocean to a place that does NOT have polders, and add the rapid enshittification of capitalism to it. BAM you've got a fucking holstein.

There is ONE goal for "improving" the holstein. Make More Milk. As long as the black and white milkbag leaks enough, nothing else matters. Health? Fertility? Feed ratio? Ability to not die of infection? WHO CARES. MILK LINE GO UP.

Over 90% of holsteins are inbred to start with, because Milk Line Go Up. To the tune of having an average COI of 8%-- where extreme negative effects (think Hapsburgs) start to crop up around 10%

Holstein bulls are aggressive bastards (many dairy bulls are), so no one wants to keep intact males in their herds, meaning most cows are artificially inseminated

Not being limited by the natural lifespan of a living bull means that the same stud can keep having direct offspring for decades after his death

Toystory the bull had 500,000 calves before he died, and hit over 1 million offspring in 2015. That's ONE animal and to put this in perspective, there are 9 million holsteins in the US.

DON'T WORRY IT GETS WORSE

Not only can 99% of holsteins be traced back to just two bulls-- 99% of male holsteins share one of two exact Y chromosomes with those two bulls.

The gene pool is so small that it's equivalent to about 60 individuals. Warrior Cat allegiances are larger than that. That's barely bigger than modern ThunderClan.

"Massive lack of genetic diversity" does not begin to capture the existential dread of this situation. Mark my words, WATCH, when the Bird Flu finally mutates a strain that rips through a mammalian population, it's gonna be in the USA and it's going to be through our dairy cattle.

This is not prophecy or me laying a curse on the land, this is the natural consequence of basing the stability of US milk production on the equivalent of 9 million clones of two classrooms worth of individuals, and then packing them in close quarters

And we don't have to wait for doomsday for the impacts to be apparent on the cattle themelves

Holstein fertility has also dropped by half since the 1960s when the intensive inbreeding really kicked into high gear

Because their whole body is dedicating all of their resources to milk production, they have a notoriously "bony" frame.

Show judges, however, like this because they think that's a very "feminine" look for a 1600 pound ruminant. Very normal thing to think.

Like. I don't know if i can communicate this to people who don't look at cows a lot (it's not quite as obviously dramatic as a pug skull) but here is a comparison of an "ideal" show holstein and an "unselected" holstein from a herd that's been established as a sort of "control group" for what they looked like back in the 1960s;

The way that the artery on the "modern" cow's belly runs to the udder like a big pink worm freaks me out the most ngl

The udder also bulges out from between the back legs

The show cow is so thin

And then compare these both to a Holstein-Frisian cross who leans more on the Frisian side;

Proper weight, developed legs. Its biggest "problem" is actually just the udder shape-- deep udders, which "hang" low like that, aren't optimal for milk-focused breeds because the higher away from the ground the less chance there is of infection. In that department, the "unselected" holstein clearly outclasses the holstein-frisian.

But it probably won't be surprising to hear that the "show holstein," with its massive, swollen udder, is SUPER prone to infections such as mastitis.

But it is also just more prone to getting sick generally

And, to keep up with these insane demands, holsteins need a TON of food. You aren't going to just turn these things out into a pasture and be done with it. Even its ancestor the Frisian needed premium Dutch polder grass to be such a good cow-- crank that up to 11 with these Monuments to Humanity's Hubrice

The Texas Longhorn developed in semi-feral conditions and can eat a bush to become the best thing in a 10 mile radius. The Scottish Highland was iron-forged in upland moors with a steady diet of turf and rain.

Meanwhile if a Holstein has less than 5 homemade meals a day without poland spring bottled water it will die to death.

And the WORST part? You have to use these if you want to make money in dairy farming. It's WAAY too expensive to just run a suboptimal farm. Their milk isn't great, but they sure do make a lot of it.

...so Holsteins and Holstein-Frisians (and other "super efficient" breeds) have absolutely decimated heritage cattle. The American Milking Devon is a deep reddish brown with gorgeous horns and low maintenance; rare. Randall Linebacks are painted with lines of white speckles down the back and can be used for any purpose; critically endangered. The Niata was a pug-faced cow who could fight jaguars; extinct.

And THAT'S what makes me hate them most of all. I LOVE cows, but whenever I see a reference to one, it's a holstein. It's always boring black and white splotches with big pink udders. They're practically synonymous with "cow" when their homogeniety is actually hiding much cooler breeds from you.

Did you know cows can be tiger-striped?

And that England has its own type of longhorn?

Or that cow horns can twist upwards like an antelope?

And that they can have REALLY LONG ears?

And that they can be blue?

And that's not even getting into some of the cows that have gotten a small crumb of attention lately, such as Highlands, Ankole-Watusi, and Texas Longhorns. There's so many cool cows out there! And they're all really different from holsteins! MOST of them are also a lot healthier and produce tastier milk and meat!

TL;DR yeah i don't like holsteins and I like sniping at them. For reasons both legit and petty.

OMG the backstory behind the whole boop thing is amazing.

the god of undead miracles

"if sirin was to be released today you'd blame elysia for her purple-white-gold color scheme" if you somehow missed her colours not being pastel with dominating white then maybe I'll remind you that she's a far older character than elysia, reaching even ggz.

but if the concept of her character as a whole was to be released just now - you're right, she'd very likely be included in having her color scheme blamed on elysia! because her design is still very distinct from the designs released nowadays and if she was to be released among other pastel-white-gold battlesuits now I'm pretty sure they'd fuck her up