[Tiste Simeon]

Friends, do you not realise that we are witnessing the glorious American Dream in action? For what could be greater than to die at your desk in pursuit of making money? Papa Elon knows this and wants you to share the joy!

(In case you're wondering, it felt dirty to write that, even in jest...)

This post has been edited by Tiste Simeon: 08 December 2022 - 04:35 AM

[Tsundoku]

Woo, unrestricted capitalism. Every Republican and libertarian's wet dream.

Bring back the workshops and debtor's prison!
The working age is far too high - let's drop it back to 6.
WHS? Pffffft - you're funny!
What is this "environment" of which you speak?
The working class are overpaid.

Ad nauseam ad infinitum.

This post has been edited by Tsundoku: 08 December 2022 - 07:01 AM

[Adjutant Stormy~]

I'm so much the last man standing at work I demanded a 20% raise and he gave it to me. I'm currently doing the work of four goddamned people.

Also hello again

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 amphibian, on 08 December 2022 - 02:00 AM, said:

The solution to "I have so much work that I have to sleep at the office" is to hire more people. Guess what donk decided to go the complete opposite of that and put pressure on the saps who stayed to put in more work than they're paid for.

Twitter employees could almost certainly do their work just as well from home: 'before Mr Musk's takeover, Twitter told employees they could work from home "forever" if they so wished because its remote-working measures during Covid lockdowns had been a success.

Last month Mr Musk said remote working would end.'

With photos of a few of the beds:

Elon Musk turns Twitter into 'hotel' for staff

Seems to be more about Musk's idea of 'being hardcore'---and his desire for personal control and (probably) publicity.


'Elon Musk obviously believes himself to be hardcore. In his now-infamous memo to Twitter employees, he urged the most hardcore among them to join him on his relentless campaign for dominance, which requires "working long hours at high intensity." [...] Hardness of core is a quality Musk prizes, perhaps above all others.






That's why this image is so embarrassing. All those guns and then … caffeine-free Diet Coke. [...] a self-described "hardcore" person who drinks caffeine-free Diet Coke is not, in any way, hardcore. He is a soft baby who can't handle the real stuff.

[...] So why, why would you drink the caffeine-free version of this wonderful product, which doesn’t taste as good and doesn’t deliver this miracle drug to your brain? [...] It’s as foolish as thinking that a car driving through a tunnel is a suitable replacement for a subway.

Most of all, why would you advertise this preference on a social media platform to your 119 million followers? I can think of only one reason: You are not hardcore. Unlike some of us—the truly hardcore—you are not so inured to the effects of an addictive drug that you can drink a can of Diet Coke after midnight and then immediately fall asleep. So, Elon, it doesn’t matter how many pictures of George Washington or video-game gun replicas you leave by your bed.'

Elon Musk bedside table: The Twitter owner has owned himself majorly with caffeine-free Diet Coke

[Adjutant Stormy~]

Caffeiene free diet coke is so softcore my granny stocked it in the family cabin: I have had the pleasure of cracking open one from the 1980s. Not uh ... great.

[Tiste Simeon]

Seems publishers are now using AI generated art to do their book covers, including for the next ICE novel.

Not impressed!

https://youtu.be/ACQZvQ_Qwwk

[worry]

Wow -- there's talk of the cover in the ded thread, and I thought it was just different art cels composited together. AI art has gone crazy recently though, and they're right that the more you zoom in the lousier this one looks. Someone in the comments says a self-publisher who can't afford commissioned art might have a reason for AI, but for a big publishing house there's no excuse, and I think I agree.

[worry]

Oh lol they cite the board.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 Tiste Simeon, on 12 December 2022 - 01:17 PM, said:

Seems publishers are now using AI generated art to do their book covers, including for the next ICE novel.

Not impressed!

https://youtu.be/ACQZvQ_Qwwk

The background's nice, and probably AI generated. But yeah, they should have hired an artist, at least to do touch-ups.

The visual inconsistencies are (at least) triply ironic: one, most people who notice them probably have training in traditional illusionistic realism; two, before machine learning one might have expected AI to excel at understanding physics and logical consistency, but no (not yet---though ML combined with mathematical physics seems promising); and thirdly (most importantly of all)... it's magic. And high.

And fits the brilliance of the title well... ah right there's a fourth dimension of hell!

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

'integrating AI with my existing illustration process[...]

[...] I was recently looking for a new "home" online to focus more specifically on talking shop, sharing work in progress, thumbnails, and trying to get back a bit to "social media circa 2009".

[...] Mastodon.art [... introduced] new policies about AI. As the Mod instructed me, their rules would demand almost everything I post and am likely to post in the future be put behind a content warning. They also put my entire account behind a ban that removed it from the public timeline. This is simply not tenable for an account that I intended to use to share my process and talk with other artists. [...]

[...] a growing number of Cons categorically banning AI (or attempting to, at any rate), and the kneejerk response seems to be spreading into the few places indie artists already have for their work to be seen. I've seen some really extreme, frankly patently absurd claims in this space lately, such as someone who seemed convinced that anyone who uses AI for illustration is, "a literal war criminal".

[...] Reality check: fellow indie artists who are using photoshop, AI and a stylus are not The Enemy.

I've co-illustrated graphic novels and comics without AI tools for many years, and I am now old enough to remember all too well the many years when "Photoshop artists aren't real artists" was all the rage. [...]

If you make bad art with a machine learning algorithm, it's still bad art. But it's not bad art because you used that tool. You can make a painting with menstrual blood, you can damn well make it with algorithms and a stylus. It's probably always been easy to make bad art and hard to make good, that's not changing either [...]

[...] the most vocal critics of this technology itself have spent little time actually working with it. It might behoove them to learn a bit about how some artists are using this technology, committing our "literal war crimes".

For this example, I'll use an idea that I'm tossing around for a Fallen Cycle comic, Quicknife (the working title), loosely based on a D&D character I've been playing around with. [...]

I'll share the stages I used to build a finished v1 character design sheet for the titular character.

[...] Our cat Talin, whose extreme cattitude is also one of several inspirations for the character, gave me the final piece. I caught a couple pictures of him being himself — a total freak, in other words — and ran some prompts that integrated those hybrid renders with his image.'

Arts and AI: "Literal War Crimes" & A Walkthrough Of My Current Illustration Process | by J Curcio | Nov, 2022 | Modern Mythology

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 12 December 2022 - 02:33 PM

[QuickTidal]

 Tiste Simeon, on 12 December 2022 - 01:17 PM, said:

Seems publishers are now using AI generated art to do their book covers, including for the next ICE novel.

Not impressed!

https://youtu.be/ACQZvQ_Qwwk

 worry, on 12 December 2022 - 01:28 PM, said:

Wow -- there's talk of the cover in the ded thread, and I thought it was just different art cels composited together. AI art has gone crazy recently though, and they're right that the more you zoom in the lousier this one looks. Someone in the comments says a self-publisher who can't afford commissioned art might have a reason for AI, but for a big publishing house there's no excuse, and I think I agree.

The fact that Penguin, a huge publisher with a massive bankroll, was like "Let's not use an actual artist this time"....and all I can hear is Clark's bosses wife in CHRISTMAS VACATION.... "Of all the cheap lousy ways to save a buck!"....and the policeman "That's pretty low Mister....if I had a rubber hose I'd beat you within an inch of your life"

Like what part of Late Stage Capitalism is this? Cause I hate it.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 QuickTidal, on 12 December 2022 - 04:05 PM, said:

 Tiste Simeon, on 12 December 2022 - 01:17 PM, said:

Seems publishers are now using AI generated art to do their book covers, including for the next ICE novel.

Not impressed!

https://youtu.be/ACQZvQ_Qwwk

 worry, on 12 December 2022 - 01:28 PM, said:

Wow -- there's talk of the cover in the ded thread, and I thought it was just different art cels composited together. AI art has gone crazy recently though, and they're right that the more you zoom in the lousier this one looks. Someone in the comments says a self-publisher who can't afford commissioned art might have a reason for AI, but for a big publishing house there's no excuse, and I think I agree.

The fact that Penguin, a huge publisher with a massive bankroll, was like "Let's not use an actual artist this time"....and all I can hear is Clark's bosses wife in CHRISTMAS VACATION.... "Of all the cheap lousy ways to save a buck!"....and the policeman "That's pretty low Mister....if I had a rubber hose I'd beat you within an inch of your life"

Like what part of Late Stage Capitalism is this? Cause I hate it.

It still hasn't actually been confirmed (and that video's from back in October).

Could still turn out to be 'by' a human artist... though I do think AI was probably involved.

As the video mentions, Steve Stone (who did the previous Path of Ascendancy covers) has been posting his AI art on social media and it looks a lot better than this IMO.

The concept is nice though (with it not being immediately obvious that they're on a boat---surprise, it's another ship!)....

This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: 12 December 2022 - 06:21 PM

[QuickTidal]

Effed up situation.

My mom had 4 siblings, she was the eldest.

Of those siblings, the two youngest have been the most erratic with "near the poverty line/drugs/alcohol" type lives, one of whom is in that state because of a car accident in Australia decades ago that fucked her ability to work, and the other simply because he kind of landed like that.

The middle siblings are twins, my aunt who was closest to my mom and is probably my favourite member of my mom's family, and my uncle who is an affluent artist.

Of these people, my aunt mentioned above and her husband (who also look after my grandmother; she lives in a separate apartment in the basement of their home) has been the most present during all of this. She's been a good rock to lean on, and a best friend to my mom all her life.

The two youngest have not been AS present overall, but their circumstances meant it would be tough since my mom lived a good deal up north, but they did talk to her a lot in the last year.

The brother twin, the artist....yeah so he didn't come to see her after the diagnosis that I know of. He MAY have spoken to her on the phone. I'm not sure. Even the first time we thought we'd lose her about 6 months back he didn't come to see her when everyone else did. And certainly not when she did finally pass did he come or call her.

You know who DID come? The two youngest siblings, one of whom had to take two long train rides (most of a day), and have my sister pick her up and bring her to the hospital to get there, and my usually drunken uncle. He came. He sat with me as she passed. He was the only one who stayed in the room with me. He's done a bunch of stupid things in his life and I've never sat on an even keel with him about it....but he showed the fuck up. That's family.

So now when I make a post about my mom, or sharing a photo with her in it on my FB page my stupid artist uncle and his terrible wife will throw a heart-like on it and I want to SCREAM at them. I want to be like "She needed family around and you fucking bailed, how DARE you...."

I know this is probably my own grief lashing out, but seriously....I can't believe that the poor uncle who has an addiction problem showed up and sat with her as she lay dying and rubbed my back as I was bent over her in my grief...but the rich uncle? Yeah he couldn't not be fucking bothered.

[Tiste Simeon]

Family is a complex thing. You're doing the right thing by NOT reacting to anything on social media etc. To do so would cause further division and grief and you don't need that right now.

It may be that in the future you may need to confront him if you find yourself struggling with mental issues that you can trace back to this (tbh for your own sanity you may have to forgive them even if they don't admit to doing anything wrong!)

Anyway I'm hoping you find some peace in all this.

[Macros]

Tistes' fairly on the mark, airing your grievances with them on social media definitely won't help (not saying your would scream at them, taking the hyperbole a bit)

Even confronting him about it directly so soon and while the grief is so raw would probably end poorly for all involved. If you do want to say something to them about it, write it down.
Come back to that in a week and read it from distance, then do that again

[Mezla PigDog]

I have family members who gush all their feelings on social media and they slap their hearts or sad faces on other peoples stuff. But they say nothing of any emotional depth in person and absolutely do not show up when the shit hits the fan. It's weird and it's an absolute cop out. I just feel sorry for them - like, if that's the only way they can show their feelings then their life is poorer for it, not yours.

[Azath Vitr (D'ivers]

 QuickTidal, on 12 December 2022 - 08:18 PM, said:

Effed up situation.

My mom had 4 siblings, she was the eldest.

Of those siblings, the two youngest have been the most erratic with "near the poverty line/drugs/alcohol" type lives, one of whom is in that state because of a car accident in Australia decades ago that fucked her ability to work, and the other simply because he kind of landed like that.

The middle siblings are twins, my aunt who was closest to my mom and is probably my favourite member of my mom's family, and my uncle who is an affluent artist.

Of these people, my aunt mentioned above and her husband (who also look after my grandmother; she lives in a separate apartment in the basement of their home) has been the most present during all of this. She's been a good rock to lean on, and a best friend to my mom all her life.

The two youngest have not been AS present overall, but their circumstances meant it would be tough since my mom lived a good deal up north, but they did talk to her a lot in the last year.

The brother twin, the artist....yeah so he didn't come to see her after the diagnosis that I know of. He MAY have spoken to her on the phone. I'm not sure. Even the first time we thought we'd lose her about 6 months back he didn't come to see her when everyone else did. And certainly not when she did finally pass did he come or call her.

You know who DID come? The two youngest siblings, one of whom had to take two long train rides (most of a day), and have my sister pick her up and bring her to the hospital to get there, and my usually drunken uncle. He came. He sat with me as she passed. He was the only one who stayed in the room with me. He's done a bunch of stupid things in his life and I've never sat on an even keel with him about it....but he showed the fuck up. That's family.

So now when I make a post about my mom, or sharing a photo with her in it on my FB page my stupid artist uncle and his terrible wife will throw a heart-like on it and I want to SCREAM at them. I want to be like "She needed family around and you fucking bailed, how DARE you...."

I know this is probably my own grief lashing out, but seriously....I can't believe that the poor uncle who has an addiction problem showed up and sat with her as she lay dying and rubbed my back as I was bent over her in my grief...but the rich uncle? Yeah he couldn't not be fucking bothered.

If it's any consolation... AI's coming for his jorb!

(Probably best not to try to flood the market with AI trained to imitate his 'work'... in any way that's traceable back to you, at least....)

[QuickTidal]

Thanks all. Yeah, I'm not going to say anything I don't think. I expect the might come to the celebration of life we are having in the new year, so we will see how I feel at that point.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

There was a vaguely similar sort of thing between my dad and his siblings when my grandma died a few years ago - varying levels of bitterness and resentment to do with who had looked after her, who had visited her and my late grandpa when he was still alive (or in the case of one aunt and uncle, who had very much not visited at all in thirty years) and that sort of thing. Throw in a penchant within the family to not talk and go over decades old grievances at each new misstep and you can imagine how toxic it all became.

I can only echo what others have said - some distance is definitely wise before you speak to them, should you choose to do so. I also think writing down your thoughts/feelings about them is a great exercise as it can help it to stop whirring round your head.

As an aside, I hope the celebration of life is everything you hope for regardless of their behaviour.

[QuickTidal]

 TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 13 December 2022 - 02:46 PM, said:

As an aside, I hope the celebration of life is everything you hope for regardless of their behaviour.

Thanks, yeah we have a clergy person coming to speak (my mom was somewhat religious) a few words, but I've set aside something to read myself.

My mom taught me to love stories and reading. She read to me all my youth. She's the reason I love books.

So I thought it was only right that I read something. I chose Bilbo's 'I Sit Beside the Fire and Think' from FOTR. I hope she likes it.