Fearless, Effusive, Full of Grace

Instructions for how to download a Youtube video using VLC on Reddit

i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3

unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it

i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map

i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs

this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.

crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.

I turn to Ares.

Thanks to Tyler Miles Lockett who allowed me to draw inspiration from his ARES piece for page 2! Look at his etsy page it's SICK

When I first started watching The Clone Wars I got a little frustrated because the organization of the Republic Military was vague and confusing. I’m a details person, and I like to have things organized in my brain, so I looked and looked for something like a flowchart to explain how all the character ranks and units were connected to each other. I couldn’t locate anything comprehensive, and generally, if I can’t find something I want, I try to make it.

So here we are. I used a really intuitive site called Lucidchart to make these and it was super fun! I’m excited to finally share them, though I’m sure I’ll notice some mistake or other as soon as I hit “post.” ;)

I’ve done my best with this project but I’m not a Star Wars expert and have had to make judgment calls in some cases where there is conflicting or vague information. All information includes Canon and Legends/Expanded Universe material. I welcome sourced additions/corrections at [email protected] and will update the images periodically with any new information. The most recent upload date is in the notes in each image, so you’ll know if you have an outdated chart.

I’m posting some preview images below, but all the full-size images can be found HERE. They will show up small, but if you right-click on desktop or long-press on mobile, then select “Open image in new tab” the original size PNG files will come up.

Feel free to save/share these wherever. I just hope they are helpful for others and not too confusing! <3

+++

Grand Army of the Republic Hierarchy Flowchart

GAR Special Forces Hierarchy Flowchart

Republic Navy Hierarchy Flowchart

For people specifically interested in Obi-Wan and Cody’s 7th Sky Corps and 212th Attack Battalion, and Anakin’s 501st Legion, this last image is the section of the main GAR chart dealing with them:

Third Systems Army Hierarchy Flowchart

In writing groups I'm in it's grammar and spell check is for newbies and those wanting a crutch or a cheat code.

I'm going to be frank with you, anon. Those writing groups sound toxic as fuck and I'd recommend finding a better place to spend your time.

Grammar check and spell check are embedded in most word processing software and have been since the 1990s. People don't have to use them if they don't want to, of course, but there's nothing wrong with using them.

English spelling is famously a bastardization of French multiplied by German divided by Latin with fifty other languages thrown in for fun. And don't even get me started on the Great Vowel Shift.

All that to say, being bad at spelling is not a moral failing nor is it a sign of weak character. It's a fact of life for an overwhelming majority of people writing in English.

But also anon your friends sound like they have an "idea" of what a "writer" is, with an image of some word-saint (I'm laughing) that has never opened google to ask "what's another word for __?" in their life. They've yet to accept the reality that putting words on a page is what makes you a writer. Spell-check in writing programs is what makes you an editor without having to look up everything in a dictionary or thesaurus, because unfortunately, 99% of people don't have those memorized.

Now, that being said, there isn't anything wrong with wanting to improve your vocabulary or accuracy! It can speed things along if you tend to write on a deadline (self-imposed or otherwise). But! Shaming others for using spell-check, used in many different professions by professionals, not just creative people, definitely sounds like a weird as hell take invented on a middle school playground that has me simultaneously cringing and laughing at the ridiculousness of it.

Spell-check has historically simply been pattern-recognition to apply grammar rules and a dictionary (included in the program, usually) to flag misspellings. It is *usually* the same thing as opening a physical dictionary and thesaurus (which i assume, hopefully, they are doing as an alternative? Tell me they're not just waiting to see if one of them catches a misspelling and then having a shame circle about it). Microsoft Word actually has a place in its settings where you can check or uncheck what exact grammar rules it flags, and change what language dictionary it uses (useful for those writing between american and british english, also the reason some words get flagged despite both spellings being correct).

Now, if this is a weird spillover about ai in spell-check in the current age, there's still no reason to shame anyone over it. The real issue is that AI inclusion in the spell-check system seems to be actively be making it shittier, even flagging correctly spelled words, only to suggest misspellings. So if you don't have a good basis in spelling/grammar/a large vocabulary, it could catch you off guard or possibly make you even worse at any of those things through bad habits formed by outright incorrect information.

As for what to do if that's a concern for you, ellipsus (which is an online writing webside made to be an alternative to google docs) seems to have a fairly simple and useful spell-check that you can turn on and off at will. I haven't used either google docs or microsoft word in a while, but from my understanding, either will still flag most incorrect words and grammar rules, you may just have to double-check the "corrections" from another source (a dictionary or online/a beta friend who knows their grammar). I personally just don't want to support either of those programs right now, which is why I use ellipsus (ai-free and free to use, constantly getting new ways to support writers in fandom). I will admit that it isn't currently very ideal for more complex tasks like making charts, graphs, ect. if you use those in your process.

One way to get better at spelling and increase your vocabulary is simply by reading more and writing down new words you come across. Getting them in the context of a story or sentence does wonders for remembering them. As for grammar, English is a beautiful, mystifying, hellish language that is also perpetually changing, and while you can learn many rules you will never know the fullest extent of them. Play around and figure out what your sentence structure/style is, and then find what rules apply to your style if you want. The caveat: if you use writing as a creative medium, there are literally no rules. You CAN just do whatever you want. Whether it's understandable is another thing, but so long as you have fun and can mostly explain it to those you show it too, go wild 🤣

All of that to say: if your writing group is shaming you for using spell-check, they are vastly underestimating the amount of work that goes into writing, fanfiction or original work or otherwise. Spell-check is simply one of those tools that made the manual task of PHYSICALLY opening a dictionary easier.

Um, actually, it already has one. Depending on your specs, it might look a little different but over all it looks kinda like this:

You can find it at the corner of your screen, which corner is dependent on your layout.

Climate change is a bitch and summer is coming. If you don’t already have an air conditioner and/or fans, NOW is the time to get them.

THINGS YOU SHOULD BE SHOPPING FOR NOW:

—clothes made of cotton or linen

—air conditioner

—fans

—frozen meals that can be cooked in the microwave

—potable bottled water; you want five days’ worth per person and pet in your household

—bottled fruit juices; it does not matter if these are sugar-added because you’ll want the electrolytes

—electrolyte drinks

—electrolyte pills (you can get these online, I get mine from Amazon)

—popsicle molds to use with fruit and juice

—ice cube trays

—nonperishable salty snacks like peanuts

—one charger brick per adult in case of rolling blackouts or power outages; charge these at the beginning of May, and drain them via use once a month if they’re not needed

YOUR TO-DO LIST:

—check your home’s HVAC system if you didn’t do it at the beginning of winter. Make sure all the filters are clean and replace them if needed

—check the seals on your sinks and bathtub in case you have to run water to handle shortages

—make and freeze meals you can cook in the microwave or simply defrost. Remember to select light summer fare, not hearty winter soups and gravies

—purchase and freeze lunch meats and cheeses you can defrost and use this summer for sandwiches when it’s hot

—assemble your check-in list: elderly, pregnant, disabled, and immunocompromised friends and relatives who may struggle to get things they need when the heat wave hits. Have this list posted and ready to go through daily once the heat gets high. DON’T JUST ASSUME YOU WILL REMEMBER. WRITE IT ALL DOWN.

—create a list of emergency contacts in case of fire, heat stroke, and other heat-related emergencies. This should include your local version of 911 (I think in most of Europe it’s 112, but don’t rely on me as an American, LOOK IT UP NOW before you need it), your doctor’s phone number, and two emergency contacts. Keep it in a place where it can be easily found if someone needs to make these calls on your behalf.

—ask your doctor for an additional prescription for any medications you take, and fill it now. Extreme heat can cause disruptions in the supply chain. Make sure you cycle these meds; that’s to say, always use your oldest bottle first so you don’t end up with expired meds in an emergency.

—stock your first-aid kit. If you don’t have one, now is a good time to make one.

—if you own a car, get your yearly maintenance done now. You don’t want to be dealing with an inoperable vehicle if you need to evacuate.

Using a random fic of mine as example..

The left example: ✅✅✅

The right example: ❌❌❌

Idk how many times I’ve read a good fic summary and been so excited to read before clicking on it and being met with an ugly wall of text. When I see a huge text brick with zero full line breaks my eyes blur and I just siiiigh bc either I click out immediately or I grin and bear it…it’s insufferable!

Also you can investigate the rich text option on the AO3 interface, but I don't actually use it

Make a copy and put it in your own GDrive. When you're ready to upload, paste all that shit into the doc and ask it to format the text for you. It handles everything I've thrown at it, including blockquotes and strikethroughs.

In your word processor, whether google docs or anything else, if you hold shift while you hit the enter key, you get a line break. This puts you on the next line but does not put a space between the paragraphs. Useful for poetry or lyrics, LOUSY for easy formatting of text.

If you simply hit enter but don't hold the shift button at the same time, you get a paragraph break.

Now, some sites will automatically turn line breaks into paragraph breaks, and some sites will not. Sometimes you get line breaks in notes sections being converted to paragraph breaks while line breaks in the story are not.

Sometimes to compensate, people will use two line breaks in place of one paragraph break. This is a Bad Habit to get into.

AO3 naturally puts a space after every paragraph break in the body of a story. It does not do that after line breaks. This is normal and expected behavior, because there is a style convention for online materials to have space between paragraphs (AND NO INDENTED FIRST LINE) because things are easiest to read that way, and online, page real estate isn't an issue.

In print, to distinguish between paragraphs, there are NOT generally extra spaces between them in prose, just indented first lines. This saves paper and preserves readability. You DO need to indent first lines when you are laying out large blocks of text for print. But extra spacing should be preserved for scene breaks, for example.

IF you get in the habit of using paragraph breaks in your word processor, and only one per paragraph, it will help in two ways.

AO3 will correctly insert a small space between each paragraph.

You won't accidentally double-space your stuff and end up with giant gaps.

If someone makes a printed book out of something you write, it will save them hassles in the layout stage because we can tell a word processor or layout program or website to handle text differently without needing the body of the text to change to get the end result we want.

I ask my students every week to write 10 observations of the actual world. It’s very hard for them.

Ms. Tippett:

Really?

Ms. Howe:

They really find it hard.

Ms. Tippett:

What do you mean? What is the assignment? 10 observations of their actual world?

Ms. Howe:

Just tell me what you saw this morning like in two lines. I saw a water glass on a brown tablecloth, and the light came through it in three places. No metaphor. And to resist metaphor is very difficult because you have to actually endure the thing itself, which hurts us for some reason.

Ms. Tippett:

It does.

Ms. Howe:

It hurts us.

Ms. Tippett:

You naming something.

Ms. Howe:

We want to say, “It was like this; it was like that.” We want to look away. And to be with a glass of water or to be with anything — and then they say, “Well, there’s nothing important enough.” And that’s whole thing. It’s the point.

Ms. Howe:

It’s the this, right?

Ms. Howe:

Right, the this, whatever. And then they say, “Oh, I saw a lot of people who really want” — and, “No, no, no. No abstractions, no interpretations.” But then this amazing thing happens, Krista. The fourth week or so, they come in and clinkety, clank, clank, clank, onto the table pours all this stuff. And it so thrilling. I mean, it is thrilling. Everybody can feel it. Everyone is just like, “Wow.” The slice of apple, and then that gleam of the knife, and the sound of the trashcan closing, and the maple tree outside, and the blue jay. I mean, it almost comes clanking into the room. And it’s just amazing.

Ms. Tippett:

In some basic level, what they’ve done is just engage with their senses.

Ms. Howe:

Yeah, and have been present out of their minds and just noticing what’s around them, which is — we don’t do. And again, not to compare it to anything. They’re not allowed. And that’s very hard for them. And then on the fifth or sixth week, I say, “OK, use metaphors.” And they don’t want to. They don’t know how. They’re like, “Why would I? Why would I compare that to anything when it’s itself?” Exactly. Good question.

So then you think, why the necessity of a metaphor? Why do you have to use a metaphor now? Not just to do it to avoid it, but to do it to make it more there. And it’s very interesting.

It happened in a train, near noon in the middle of July in the south of France. Which for those familiar should tell you something about how hot it was. For those unfamiliar it's pretty damn hot particularly for people like yours truly who do not take heat well.

The train was packed, which did not help the heat. I had eaten but a handful of nuts in the morning, which was a bad decision. I didn't have a seat, which isn't necessarily an issue. Usually.

But the heat and the lack of food (mostly the heat) made a bad combination. The lightheadedness fell on me like an anvil. Sudden. Heavy. I felt nauseous which was truly the worst part because is there a worse place to puke than in a packed train? I didn't think so and I still don't.

People noticed. I don't know if it was the swaying or maybe I had gone visibly pale but three different people got up to give me their seat. Or four. I don't know, but it was a lot. The rules of politeness and manners don't apply when you're afraid you're gonna puke so I very gratefully took a seat.

A woman gave me a chocolate biscuit, she said she kept this sort of thing in her bag always because her son has diabetes. Two people offered me water but I had my own which I did drink. Two other people offered me more food. A man offered me vitamins. I hesitated and he gave me the package so I could check for myself it wasn't, like, drugs. I am mildly ashamed to say that I did not hesitate for reasons of a stranger giving me medicine but because I thought the orange-flavored vitamins might not mix super well with the chocolate biscuit I was eating. For my defense, sensory issues can be bad and I already wasn't feeling well. But I did learn my lesson about trusting strangers with medicine. This one was trustworthy, but still. Man who gave me vitamins, kudos to you for making sure I knew it wasn't drugs.

People asked me if I knew what was wrong. Two older people gently chastised me for not eating enough in this weather. Several asked where I as getting off and were visibly relieved when I said my stop was soon. They kept subtly checking on me trough the train ride and several people waved goodbye when I got off.

All those strangers coming together without a second's hesitation when I felt unwell. When you think about it, that's, like, a low bar. Obviously if someone visibly wasn't feeling well I would try to help. But the way they all moved together and didn't wait for someone else to offer a seat or food or water. The way they kept checking on me. That's what I want to be like.