where the reblogs go

1670 + my favorite season 3 looks

“I saw that the camera could be a weapon against poverty, against racism, against all sorts of social wrongs. I knew at that point I had to have a camera.” – Gordon Parks

It's not that they're simply unaware of what they're like. They're unaware of the distinction between what people are like, and what people are like in their presence, and will only compare themselves to the latter. They simply assume that everyone always acts exactly as they do in their own personal presence, which is therefore normal.

Someone who's mean and rude and oblivious to how much their actions upset people will divide people into those who are too sensitive and will just randomly take offense at nothing on a regular basis, and the people who don't. They'll be proud of not being One Of Those People who are contantly on the verge of bursting into tears, because they don't register their own casual offhand remarks as something breathtakingly cruel to say, and don't notice that nobody treats them the same way they treat everyone else.

Someone who's infuriatingly incapable of following instructions, sticking to schedules or agreements, and has no sense of urgency about anything at all, will casually divide people into the ones who are always screaming about being late for something or nagging about how some rule is written and being mad about schedules agreements and contracts, and people who are chill and don't do that.

They won't see themselves as someone whose inability to stick to anything is infuriating, they'll see themselves as a person who's chill and isn't always getting randomly mad for no reason, like the people who are presumably fuming with rage 24/7.

Look for this thumbnail and sub to my youtube!

Characters from my comic series Confessions of a Small-town Priest

Father Eugene finds his quiet, closeted life thrown off balance when troublemaker Cliff starts attending church, with questionable motives. Eugene wants to bring the lost sheep back into the fold, even if he risks losing himself to temptation. Could the reward be worth the cost?

But im not finding it easier to talk about AI with the people in my life who use it. The evils are both enormous and complex. I cannot, on the spot and in casual conversation, recite the colonial and political history that led to entire towns in Chile being devastated by AI data centers. It is unseemly to bring up how many women have had miscarriages because of lack of access to drinking water worsened by data center usage in places like Uruguay. How racist surveillance of the public in South Africa has been used as training data for AI companies. How AI companies would not limit their use of drinking water even during Arizona's most severe drought in history. How this whole paragraph isn't even scratching the surface of what is evil about AI companies.

It's actually so much harder now to articulate my absolute hatred or to know how to approach these conversations.

EDIT: So far this year I've read, in order of quality/relevance:

Empire of AI by Karen Hao

More Everything Forever by Adam Becker

Enshittification by Cory Doctorow

More Than Words by John Warner

planning to read these next:

Data Empire by Roopika Risam; not sure how specifically AI-focused it will be

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism

Example: In response to an article about Sam Altman asking Congress to regulate AI, I saw a lot of comments like, "What, even HE doesn't think his own company can get its shit together?! He's that desperate for outside help?"

And that's not what's going on. Sam Altman talks to Congress because he's directing the conversation around AI concerns. He wants laws passed that make it harder for other companies, especially Chinese companies, to compete with OpenAI. He wants us all to be worried about theoretical future AI models triggering apocalyptic scifi scenarios because that kind of panic distracts us from tackling the problems that are actually happening now, like extreme surveillance, water shortages, destruction of land, and abuse of workers.

Bad for Business [Halstarion Sex worker/charity worker AU] is on itchio now! (finally)

This comic is an AU of characters from Baldurs Gate 3, though it reads well enough without knowledge of the game. Previously posted on social media, compiled into pdf format with some improvements and an extra epilogue page.

Featuring:

Astarion as a sex worker resigned to a life that he never chose.

Halsin as a charity worker who wants to help him stand on his own two feet. Contains: sex trafficking, physical and mental abuse, both mentioned and shown. Intended for adults, though not sexually explicit.

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Sex worker/Charity worker Halstarion AU ---

AU TAG

To read them in order:

[Part 1- Meeting]

[Part 2-Embellish]

[Part 3-Theory]

[Part 4- Number]

[Part 5- Bruise]

[Part 6- Scenic]

[Part 7- Nice Things]

[Part 8-Pizza]

[Part 9- Want]

[Part 10- Tuesday]