Hey everyone, I know it's going to be a busy day for a lot of people, but Google enrolled everyone over 18 into their AI program automatically.
If you have a google account, first go to gemini.google.com/extensions and turn everything off.
Then you need to go to myactivity.google.com/product/gemini and turn off all Gemini activity tracking. You do have to do them in that order to make sure it works.
Honestly, I'm not sure how long this will last, but this should keep Gemini off your projects for a bit.
I saw this over on bluesky and figured it would be good to spread on here. It only takes a few minutes to do.
Holy s***, almost forgot Kane Chronicles, Perry Johanson, Magnus Chase et. all. Riordan is a very good author to binge read. He's not perfect for being inclusive but he sure does try. Maybe too much. If you've only read Peter Johnson and Heroes of Olympus, you're missing out. I much prefer Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase, and Daughter of the Deep is very good.
Erm, trying to think of more fantasy for teens and young adults is hard. That's all I have for stuff you can binge read.
The House of Secrets trilogy and Spiderwick Chronicles are both good, Narnia is alright if you can endure the racism and hot devil analogues in your area.
The Power of Five series is quite good for something on the darker end, but there's an uncomfortable use of colonialist language in the second book and it's not the easiest to get through.
Tolkien's shorter stories; such as those in Tales From the Perilous Realm and his Letters from Father Christmas are very good.
As far as other things you can binge read, A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions are two separate stories from the same universe penned by Lemony Snicket.
Jeeves and Wooster is great, especially with the short stories. It massively improved my writing around the end of high school, though the humour not be for you.
I'd recommend not binge reading the Sherlock Holmes short stories because they can be quite a pain to get through. The full length ones are much better but regardless, Conan Doyle likes to get sidetracked and after forcing my way through the full volume of stories I can understand where his hate was coming from.
Just don't try Bond unless you're an edgy teen, preferably a boy. The George Smiley books by John le Carré are far better spy stories and they're not as well, they're not as outdated by even the standards of their own time period. From Russia with Love is pretty good but doesn't hold a candle to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Just a general recommendation, I never tried binge reading le Carré. Alex Rider by Anthony Horowitz is a decent Bond alternative for less edgy teenage boys.
The Hunger Games is still as relevant as ever. Read it. Then read the other two books by Suzanne Collins. She's a good writer.
Misc books I recommend include Moriarty by Anthony Horowitz, The History of Bees by Maja Lunde, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, Ash Mistry is great if you like Riordan and want a similar take with Indian belief (though I've only had the pleasure of reading the first book), Good Omens if you can get a pre-loved copy is mostly Pratchett and if you read enough Discworld you can tell who he wrote (I miss the four other horsemen of the apocalypse, why aren't they in the show).
Give narrative history a shot as a way to learn history, try the other work authors you like have made and sorry for the long ass post.
Have Watson bashing on Sherlock before Holmes even got addicted to opium:
Ya know what? Even before JK Rowling outed herself as a substandard primate, I wasn't a big fan. Harry Potter is the least bingeable fantasy series I've read.
Lord of the Rings? Perfect for binge reading.
Discworld? Streaming services envy the variety.
Harry Potter? Tonal whiplash like there's no tomorrow. Went from kids books to being for edgy teens that don't want to be embarrassed yet.
At least How to Train Your Dragon doesn't try to change demographic that quickly. It actually matures over the series and takes time to transition, instead of just switching to a different style out of nowhere.
Soz for the ramble in tags.
Thanks.
what abled ppl think is a massive problem for disabled folks: 13 year old on the internet faking something
what is actually a massive problem for disabled folks: "well you don't LOOK disabled, are you sure you're not faking? I'm not giving you accommodations until you PROVE you're not faking. Please give me, a stranger, your medical info and explain your condition to me in detail so I know you're not faking and only then will I respect or take you seriously"
So cool to see this on my dash.
‘The Grey Havens’ by Alan Lee
We really need a Moist von Lipwig to revitalize the public services in this city. Please, the public transit is in shambles. Someone get a twunk in a golden suit before we lose another bus route.
The mercenary badges, maybe? I know they're really easy to get; they're my only cosmetic so far, but I don't see them used much.
Or just the first one you see that makes you smile. Whatever works for you.
I shoukd try making a tf2 cosmetic with cardboard, but I don't know which one so I'll be looking
Edit: I've given up looking, feel free to give me an idea
I’m writing scenes which are good, and I don’t know where they are going to fit in the book. But it’s what I call ‘The Valley Filled With Clouds’ technique. You’re at the edge of the valley, and there is a church steeple, and there is a tree, and there is a rocky outcrop, but the rest of it is mist. But you know that because they exist, there must be ways of getting from one to the other that you cannot see. And so you start the journey. And when I write, I write a draft entirely for myself, just to walk the valley and find out what the book is going to be all about.
-- Terry Pratchett - A Slip Of The Keyboard: Collected Non-fiction
Sat on the edge of the table is a pristine blade...
Solar power is not renewable because the Sun is dead in prolly billions of years, so what do we do at that point, huh?? checkmate, infinite fracking is the solution
Scene from the beginning of The color of magic
This depends on if the person is encouraging it positively or negatively IMO.
Language is supposed to enable communication so introducing a language barrier with friends seems like a way to distance yourself from them.
I can see this easily going wrong, but it could be a great opportunity to share a passion.
she's a hero. she should dump her west brit "friends" and become friends with me instead