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N.K. Jemisin's article 'Describing characters of color in writing'

Mary Anne Mohanraj's article on approaching characters of colour

Renee Harleston's article How to 'Write Characters of Color Without Using Stereotypes'

Working with Colour, a resource site for writers

the book Writing the Other by by Nisi Shawl and Cynthia Ward, which had a description that cut deep, because I've definitely fallen into this trap out of fear:

and then a video recommended by @sheprd (thank you!) about pitfalls in descriptive language

I haven't gotten my hands on Writing the Other yet (it's still in the mail!) but from reading my way through these articles and watching the Princess Weekes video, I now understand that 'white-ifying' a character you're worried about is a lazy and cowardly solution. so, if I do ever finish the book Eres loses Everything, I'll keep her as is, do my best to be thoughtful, and hire a sensitivity reader to pick out any blind spots.

Writing Diversely FAQ

Writing With Colour blog

A conversation between many writers on writing diverse characters

Four Tips to Help You Incorporate Diversity and Inclusion in Your Writing

Also From Microsoft’s own FAQ: "Note that Recall does not perform content moderation. It will not hide information such as passwords or financial account numbers. 🤡

Go into the power shell

then paste in:

reg add HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsCopilot /v "TurnOffWindowsCopilot" /t REG_DWORD /f /d 1

like this

Then restart. Also here is how to turn off the awful search suggestions:

These are *peak athletes*. All of them.

Literally. These are Olympic athletes.

Literally peak performance. Human bodies at peak performance. Love it.

I want to add that both women's gymnastics and women's track have gotten far more muscular since these photos were taken. And if you want to say that decreases performance, I DEFY you to watch Simone Biles or Sha'carri Richardson perform.

They literally only compete with themselves. They are on that level.

Or watch Ilona Maher absolutely dominate at rugby. Again, peak performance.

So. I am trying to make a conprehensive system that facilitates big games circa the big titles like DnD, PF, shadowrun, WoD etc. Right? Except specifically space cowboy/scifi themed. But i have also been putting a strong emphasis on narrative. I have been doing so with a hefty list of professions who's main abilities are essentially roleplay prompts.

I think i have been cooking the ultimate scifi alternative to the bard. Hear me out here. THE JOURNALIST.

In my system, there are stats and numbers akin to a crunchy rpg, but the core feature of every profession are their unique interactions they enable. Not only is there something that prompts roleplay scenarios built into each one(i.e. doctors will often actively be sought out by NPCs, forcing parties with a doctor into specific scenarios. Sometimes, pirates and raiders may even be trying to negotiate with - or kidnap - your doctor to treat their leader or loved ones,) but each profession has a few archetypes that twist the function of this mechanic while providing customizations to starting skills.

So. The Bard-to-Journalist pipeline? In the spacefaring space cowboy future, writers are valuable on the frontier for their connections and the way they share information. A journalist in the party can help the party tremendously from their jack of all trades skills from things they learned travelling and looking for stories. Struggling colonies would be eager to share their plight with a journalist, making them a powerful face for the party in many situations.

And the archetypes??? We have the Humanitarian, who has the goal of exposing injustice and helping others, where they come with some self defense skills and medical training, often instantly trusted by struggling locals. You have the Documentarian, who is dedicated to the accurate recording of history and diacovery, with bonuses to history and science skills, and are often instantly trusted by major political figures and leaders. You have the Novelist, who is very likely to be recognized as a celebrity eveywhere they go, and is the most true jack of all trades - they are simply thrill seekers looking to experience real life in the galaxies as much as possible, and are capable of developing their skills and attributes in literally anything they feel like learning, as their celebrity can provide valuable reputation to the party.

Lastly though? You have the Controversial Auteur. Whether your intentions good or bad, this archetype specializes in the inflammatory. Your hitpieces are vicious, trying to uncover corruption, speak truth to power, or influence shadowy forces with propoganda. They are not always inherently bad, and are often the ones responsible for giving the humanitarian and the documentarian leads. But doing so may piss off powerful people. Thus, your reputation with everyone you meet can be completely random, with equal odds ro be loced or hated wherever you go. Choosing this archetype also involves having a rival writer, a faction that will possibly try to kill you on sight... and at a random point during your campaign, someone bent on revenge WILL come to try and kill you or begin actively hunting you, and thus, this archetype has more combat training than the others.

Naturally my first assumption was that she was judging me for my food order (maybe calzones are too easy compared to other pizzas and she felt under-challenged as a pizza chef?), but then I looked at my calzone and the more I looked at it, the more I felt like it might have been a failed attempt at a cat calzone.

(I didn't ask for a cat calzone, just a calzone.)

If I had immediately identified it as a cat calzone I would have of course said something about it, such as "Aww that's so cute! You made it in the shape of a cat!! Thank you!" — but it was too late. I hesitated too long, and it was just failed enough that I wasn't sure it was meant to be a cat.

I think this poor woman knew her cat calzone was a failure and I wouldn't be able to recognise her effort for what it was, hence the bitterness in her eyes when she brought it to me.

I asked my friend if my pizza looked like a cat to her, and she said "Are you saying this because of the olives? I think they were just placed randomly."

no, I think they were meant to be eyes, and a cat nose. And those are the ears. Wait, I'll turn it in your direction so you can see

Friend: "It's just a pointy calzone... Maybe you should ask the chef if she meant to make it a cat?"

If I tried to make a cat calzone and the recipient of this gift went like 'hey, sorry, is this weird-looking thing meant to be cat?' I would sell my pizza restaurant and drown myself in the river.

After considering this, my friend said we could brainstorm a better phrasing—but then we ended up agreeing that since the chef didn't go 'haha sorry I tried to make a cat and failed!!' when she brought my pizza, the options were a) she didn't try to make a cat; b) she feels humiliated by her failure, and either way it's better to say nothing.

But I felt deeply curious about this unresolved mystery, so this week when I went back to the pizzeria I asked for a calzone again.

The options were now: a) the chef brings me a better, recognisable cat calzone and I immediately remark upon it and she's happy and we erase the failed cat calzone from the historical record and never mention it ever;

or b) the chef brings me a normal calzone, which suggests that the vague cat shape from last time was accidental and just another instance of chronic cat pareidolia.

(I refused to consider option c) The chef brings me another failed, hardly-recognisable cat. She just doesn't seem like the kind of person who would let that happen to her twice.)

Here's the photo of the failed cat calzone from last time, which, according to my friend, just looks like a pointy calzone with randomly-placed olives and not a deliberate attempt to make a cat:

And here's what the chef brought me this time:

THAT'S A CAT.

I knew it!!!!

And it looks so sad!! This cat calzone looks like it will burst into olive oil tears if you once again fail to identify it as the cat that it is

But I didn't; I was so ready this time. I went "A cat!!!!! It's so cute!" and the chef went like yes!!! I tried to make one last time but it looked weird :(

I said I was pretty sure it was a cat last time and apologised for not bringing it up and she said no, it's my responsibility to make it a decent cat. She also said she was glad I'd come back and ordered another calzone because she was really bothered ("vraiment embêtée") by that first failed attempt, and wondering if I'd noticed an attempt was made (and failed)

This is frustrating.

I love the comparison, but I hate how they are comparing.

They are acting like she is using optics to give herself an advantage. But the device she is wearing is just for comfort and essentially does the same thing as closing one eye and squinting the other.

The little thing over the left eye is basically like an eye patch.

And the thing over her right eye is a mechanical iris, like in a camera lens, but it is NOT a lens.

Different lighting environments are going to be brighter or darker and you may have to squint more or less to let in the same amount of light into your eye. Squinting allows the shooter to get the sharpest possible vision in order to shoot a bullseye the size of a 12-point Times New Roman period.

But if you have to squint for hours for practice and in competition, this can strain your face muscles and become uncomfortable. So this iris basically squints for you.

It's more like wearing comfortable shoes so your feet do not hurt than a lens magnifying the target and giving an advantage.

Both athletes have access to these items. One felt more comfortable without them. The other didn't feel like getting a muscle cramp from squinting all day.

Either would have shot the same if they had or had not used these devices.

Just a funny difference in gear preference.

The gold medal winner in the women's air pistol finals was adorable and a bit overshadowed.

Oh Ye-jin, who is only 19, won gold and set an Olympic record with her final score.

Kim Yeji is her mentor and seems very supportive of her.

Also, Oh Ye-jin added a little heart to the barrel blocking thingie.

I mean, it's like she got lost at summer camp and just wandered into the Olympics to win gold.

And then the commentator said the bullseye was literally the size of a period—smaller than the actual pellets they are shooting. And that the entire target was the size of a coin.

They'd have to set up a macro lens next to every target for you to see them.

Pretty much every shot lands within the 3 inner circles. And if you hit the 3rd circle your shot is basically garbage. Like you'd see the shooters grimace and do an angry little foot stomp if they hit it there.

Like, if you get a 7 you might as well go home.

And the best shot possible is a 10.9—which would be hitting as close to the bullseye as can be measured.

This was Oh Ye-jin's final gold medal winning shot.

A 10.6!

It's absolutely bonkers how precise these shooters are.

I mean... look at this period...

.

Now imagine trying to shoot it from 30 feet away.

I've been resource gathering for YEARS so now I am going to share my dragons hoard

Floorplanner. Design and furnish a house for you to use for having a consistent background in your comic or anything! Free, you need an account, easy to use, and you can save multiple houses.

Comparing Heights. Input the heights of characters to see what the different is between them. Great for keeping consistency. Free.

Magma. Draw online with friends in real time. Great for practice or hanging out. Free, paid plan available, account preferred.

Smithsonian Open Access. Loads of free images. Free.

SketchDaily. Lots of pose references, massive library, is set on a timer so you can practice quick figure drawing. Free.

SculptGL. A sculpting tool which I am yet to master, but you should be able to make whatever 3d object you like with it. free.

Pexels. Free stock images. And the search engine is actually pretty good at pulling up what you want.

Figurosity. Great pose references, diverse body types, lots of "how to draw" videos directly on the site, the models are 3d and you can rotate the angle, but you can't make custom poses or edit body proportions. Free, account option, paid plans available.

Line of Action. More drawing references, this one also has a focus on expressions, hands/feet, animals, landscapes. Free.

Animal Photo. You pose a 3d skull model and select an animal species, and they give you a bunch of photo references for that animal at that angle. Super handy. Free.

What I mean is that it's ridiculous to think that decolonization inherently means mass suffering and relocation, that's what colonization does. Decolonization is recognizing the crimes of colonization, but more importantly, material, political and social steps to give power and self-determination to the exploited native people who were victims of colonialism and imperialism.

i was going to make a background, yk, like an office or something like that but i’m the worst at doing backgrounds, I KNOW i gotta practice and that, but i didn’t wanted to ruin this… at least i made a table 🧍

anyways, if possible, i would like peoples opinion, is there to much colors? to much detail? i feel like there is… idk, i have mix feelings for Zuko’s clothing

24 hours 6 minutes and 6 seconds 😀

For 4,000 years, gardeners in arid regions have used clay pots to water their plants. You can also use this ancient irrigation method in your garden

In the Link above

What Is an Olla Pot?

Who Invented the Olla Pot?

How To Use an Olla Pot

Where Can You Use Olla Pots?

Where To Buy an Olla Pot?

Make Your Own Olla Pot

“Olla pots originated from North Africa and China more than 4,000 years ago,” she says, “and the technique has spread throughout arid regions of the world.”

Olla pots are mentioned in the Fan Sheng-chih Shu, the world’s first agricultural text that dates back 2,000 years to ancient China. But the text doesn’t use that name. The Romans established the term “olla,” referring to a rounded pot normally used for cooking and carrying water.

right!!! i am literally always saying this. like it’s sooo weird how lok does not understand what it means to be mixed in any meaningful capacity. neither with the kataangs nor with mako and bolin, they’re each just largely tied to the element they bend with no consideration given to the other half of their heritage. bumi doesn’t consider himself an air nomad until he magically gains airbending, despite his father literally being the only air nomad currently in existence. instead of trying to preserve his familial heritage, he completely undermines all of aang and katara’s cultural values and joins the fucking military. kya doesn’t seem to give a shit about air nomad culture either, seeing as she doesn’t even know guru laghima’s name (and he’s the wisest air nomad who ever lived!). despite apparently being an independent free spirit who values her freedom, she seems 100% affiliated with her mother’s heritage, because waterbender. even though the values of community and tradition kind of conflict with her whole “you can’t tie me down” attitude, so. um. and they never once explore how the value of, for example, hunting as an important cultural tradition in the water tribes may conflict with the value of vegetarianism and doing no harm to any living organism. these are interesting tensions that could have been explored!! but instead, tenzin is merely an air nomad who takes after his father both culturally and physically, kya is a waterbender who takes after her mother, and bumi is a…..cosmopolitan, and nobody likes him.