Grim Ogre tricks

It's rude. You're making someone take their time to read something you couldn't bother to write. You're telling them they were so unimportant you couldn't be bothered to actually take the time to say something yourself. And frankly, you're lying about it while you're at it.

Currently, it's marking season for us in the UK. I have an exam board in four hours, in fact, which is where we all go over every profile of every student on our courses, see what results they've achieved, and work out their "decision" - if all is well, the decision is to let them continue the course, or the final degree grade calculated if they're in final year. If it hasn't gone well, the decision is about whether they get to rework the pieces that failed, resit exams, repeat the whole year, or be required to withdraw.

And, as has been the case for the last two years, the profiles are now littered with plagiarism investigations. Every one of those - every single one - will have come in as an assignment that the lecturer received, and started reading, and then with a sinking feeling thought "This isn't your work." Every one had to go to an academic misconduct hearing. Every one is an enormous draw on time and resources, including the emotional reserves of the lecturer.

And I know that's not the main issue! I know in the grand scheme of things, our feelings aren't the most important part of this equation! But as we're talking about rudeness, let me explain:

Firstly, the work itself. You begin reading, you see it's AI. Contractually, we have to read it anyway, and give feedback on why it's shit, and what makes it bad, and that is absolutely fucking soul destroying. Most students who use AI are doing so because they've managed to train their brains to find reading something boring abhorrent, and they want to skip that part; but a ChatGPT-generated report is bland, vague, and utterly devoid of any passion, insight or personality. In short, it's boring. You simply passed your boredom on to us.

Secondly, regardless of your personal feelings about the assignment, it at least had a purpose. It was there to stretch you, and make you think about the topic so you could learn about it, and to test that learning so we can all make sure you have actually learned what you need to. But the slop you handed in, that I now have to mark? What's the point? Literally what is the fucking point of me marking it? You didn't even write it. None of the feedback I'm obligated to give means anything to you. I'm marking ChatGPT, and it can't read.

Which means, not only is it fucking boring, it's actively pointless. Ask anyone in the world what a boring but pointless obligatory task does to your mood. Imagine that.

Thirdly, the misconduct hearing. Because listen, again, the lecturer's feelings here are, once again, not the main point. Students who cheat like this aren't doing so because life is hunky dory. They're stressed and overwhelmed and struggling, and they think they've found a magic way out, and so being pulled into a misconduct hearing - where the best they can hope for is to have to redo the whole piece for a capped mark, on top of all the rest of the work they have (functionally, a bonus assignment), and the worst is expulsion - is a mental breakdown-inducing experience. That, obviously, is the biggest issue.

But, the lecturers know all that, which means we know what we're triggering if we do report it. I cannot tell you how upsetting it is to receive a slop assignment, realise what it is, and then have to make the call to report it. I know damn well how upsetting that's going to be for you. I know how stressful and painful that's going to be. I know this might mean you're going to be thrown out of university. In some cases, I know it means you will be.

I know I could look the other way to spare you that

And oh, that gets tempting. When things are really bad for you, and I see you struggling, and this is your third strike; fuck me but it's tempting to pretend that I can't tell.

I cannot do that.

Which brings me to number four: the soul-bleachingly fucking horrible ordeal that is the misconduct hearing itself. Most people are non-confrontational; I'm no exception. I also simply do not enjoy a sobbing, panicking student sitting in front of me, telling me about how stressed and scared they are and how they're terrified they're going to fail. But that's how these things go.

Our most recent example is an international Masters student. I don't know the particulars for him; but I do know it's not uncommon in his part of the world for families to go into obscene debt, often to loan sharks, to send their kids to UK universities. Failure means more than just academia for him. Having to sit through him turning white and quietly begging us to give him another chance before he left in tears he tried to hide from us was, obviously, much worse for him than us; but it was honestly traumatic. Even now, two weeks later, I can't get it out of my head. There's nothing we can do; but, I feel guilty anyway. I could have looked the other way.

(It wouldn't have passed anyway. It was terrible. But at least he'd probably be allowed a resit - we're still waiting on the outcome of this one, but he may well be withdrawn)

To bring this back to the point of the post:

Traditionally, at least at my university in my day, the mark was split between essays or projects, and exams written in real time with no ability to consult other sources.

The more people keep making essays and projects worthless as a means to assess their learning, the more universities will be forced to test their students using exams, not essays. Which most students absolutely hate.

“silly ghosts” painted by me

I missed doing traditional art!!

I have been reflecting lately on the standards of 'professionalism' that people expect from indie creators, and realising that really, no matter how you try and dress it up, it's not actually reasonable to expect any human to be able to sustain being viscerally hated by that many people at once. That level of vitriol and dislike is difficult for anyone to handle. The only solution for creators is to basically withdraw from where they have unfiltered access to fan reactions, and have someone else moderate all that for them to limit their direct access.

There's a lot of talk about whether or not it's reasonable to hold them to this standard and that standard, of course, and what should get a free pass and what should not, yet when it comes down to it, I think the most important thing to remember is very simple: it's never acceptable to pile on and send hate and insults and threats.

I have a long way to go, but I’m nearly done with the major arcana.

Here are some of my favorites:

I set myself a design challenge (as I often do). I wanted to limit the color palette and the brush styles to create a very consistent look.

And since each card focuses on black cats, it forces me to think deeply about symbolism and design to make sure the meaning of each card is clear and each design is unique.

But there’s still a lot of variety coming through. It’s not all class, or all silliness - just like cats

I have a forearm tattoo of the cats in this one ☝️

I’m so happy with how both of these two managed to feel dark, but adorable at the same time.

And then there’s this one absolute diva:

Most of these used my own feline friends for reference.

Much more to come soon!

these bills are about CENSORSHIP AND MASS SURVEILLANCE. “protecting the children” is a conservative smokescreen and by repeating that narrative, even in contradiction, you are reinforcing it. do not give these far right wingnuts an ounce of credibility. I know you know the words censorship and surveillance.

courtesy of past failures of legislation, it’s increasingly difficult to keep kids away from the dangerous parts of the internet, even in spaces that are supposed to be child safe. do not insult people for struggling to navigate the internet.

kids need opportunities to exist outside of their parents, and the internet is one of the last safe havens left in countries rotting under the weight of industrialization. children are already the most oppressed class in the world. do not encourage parents to invade their kids’ privacy.

again, and I cannot stress this enough, these bills are about CENSORSHIP AND MASS SURVEILLANCE. the goal of these laws is to allow governments to monitor and manipulate huge swathes of the human population. the goal of these laws is to weed out political dissenters and destroy access to information that contradicts propaganda. I do not believe it's a coincidence that this is happening now, in the wake of mass disillusionment with Israel.

Some articles on this:

Colour Tips by yuming_art

Next time you’re watching any news show or political coverage see how many of these you can spot:

Quick rundown of each propaganda technique:

• Glittering Generalities: Using vague, emotionally appealing words (like “freedom” or “justice”) that sound good but lack specific meaning.

• Transfer: Associating a person, idea, or product with something already respected or disliked (like using a flag, religion, or celebrity image) to carry over those feelings.

• Name-Calling: Attaching negative labels to an opponent or idea to create fear or distrust without real evidence.

• Card-Stacking: Presenting only positive information for one side and leaving out or distorting the negatives.

• Testimonial: Having a famous or respected person endorse an idea, product, or cause.

• Plain Folks: Presenting the speaker as an “ordinary” person to seem relatable and trustworthy.

Feathursday Keas

The Kea (Nestor notabilis) is a large South Island, New Zealand parrot in the Strigopidae family, which also includes the Kākā and our favorite flightless bird, the Kākāpō. Keas are omnivorous, and because some Kea individuals were thought to prey on sheep, they were bounty-hunted in the 20th century, reducing their population from hundreds of thousands to between 3000 and 7000. Today Keas are classified as endangered.

This wood engraving of "Nestor-parrots" is by Karl Jahrmargt (b. 1842) from an illustration by the noted German wildlife artist Gustav Mützel (1839-1893), as published in Animate Creation by the English natural history popularizer J. G. Wood (1827-1889), published in New York in three volumes by Selmar Hess in 1885.

Our copy of Animate Creation is a revised edition, adapted to American zoology by the American physician and zoologist Joseph B. Holder, of an earlier British publication by Wood first published in London by George Routledge as The Illustrated Natural History in 1853.

View more posts from this publication.

View more posts on parrots!

View more Feathursday posts.