Brenden Sparks

Pssst, help me reach queer book clubs about Hearth Witch!

My nekocon booth, shared with pocketflowers art!

All set up at nekocon! Come visit me and @pocketflowers.bsky.social!!

fumblinginthedark.blog

Finally figured out what to put there.

YouTube video by CSU Online Course Services Module 4 Overview Alumni

I still don't know what alumni have to do with this series.

I've read enough of the Menswear Guy's fashion breakdowns that I feel I can tell this is AI because even bad machine tailoring would be still better than this weirdly wrinkled and cut shirt.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w4X...

YouTube video by CSU Online Course Services Module 3 Overview Alumni

Ah, more "Alumni" in Module 3.

Each of these weirdly generated simulacrums of people move and talk in a way that is so deep in the uncanny valley that there's no sunlight visible.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZp3...

YouTube video by CSU Online Course Services Module 2 Overview Alumni

I just found the next video. It's absolutely worse.

An ethnically ambiguous woman in generic blue medical scrubs speaks in heavily-accented English, wearing a stethoscope crafted by H.R. Giger.

The title of the video is "Module 2 Overview Alumni". Huh?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mJ-...

The initial AI "learning resources" that were created by the CSU for staff and faculty were so bad that it would be funny if it wasn't depressing.

Generated text on generated slides with generated voiceover.

The current offering is almost worse: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffqk...

Remember how just a few years ago during the worst of the pandemic when we saw how the govt can actually do big things and saw that our collective health & well-being are intertwined, and then corporations got mad that they lost a modicum of power and helped fund a backlash of amnesia and fascism?

Absolutely.

Long shot, but does anyone have recommendations on scholarship on The Sims (also robust journalism/criticism appreciated)

Student projects go in fascinating directions, y’all.

If you do anything related to software, please read this:

I thought you were just practicing your Australian accent.

YouTube video by B. Dave Walters You Only Turn 18 Once

🎂The beacons are lit: Please signal boost🎂
My oldest is turning 18, and I would REALLY like to spoil her for her birthday!
So, I have launched an all-new program, The 1 Day Quickstart Collection, and I'm running a raffle to play D&D or Vampire with me!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWfR...

GAME WRITERS - ever had your game title get changed to something you disliked?
I was miffed at the change to The Lonesome Guild - we were made to use it in-game, so I decided to lampshade it by having one character who was bad at naming things come up with it, & another one totally bag on the name.

Screenshot of text: unfuck google drive by shooting gemini Hey folks! Google is fucking you via sneaky enshittification again! Want the shit in your google drive to load instantly again, instead of taking for-fucking-ever? Open your gdrive (web OR app) Settings > Manage Apps Gemini was checked "use as default" (and i sure the fuck didn't set it that way, this was a silent push) Nuke that, and suddenly, folders that took up to a minute to populate and sort do so in a fraction of a second.

friend shared this, immediately updated my settings

photo of paulina borsook

1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).

But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that

This is fascinating. I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Growing up, I always thought the conceit of society turning against scientists and doctors in stories like the "V" miniseries was far-fetched.

instead of reacting in terror or rage at Trump tearing down the east wing - sit back and reflect on why you're so terrified or angry.

cause i bet you, beneath all of that, is actually grief. it's your cognitive dissonance catching up to the propaganda and the lies you've been fed about America.

Catan: Event Cards Replaces the dice in Catan with a 36-card deck of numbered events.

There's a special Catan deck of 36 cards with die results and extra bonus events. boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/20...

There's a "reshuffle" card that you add in somewhere near the bottom to re-introduce a customizable amount of variability.

I don't like playing Catan with the dice anymore.

JavaScript for Everyone A high quality, expansive written course that will elevate your JavaScript skills to a level you never thought was achievable.

In case you missed it: JavaScript for Everyone is now available and the launch price runs until midnight, October 28.

Save £60 off the full price of £249 and get it for £189!

piccalilli.link/js4e-launch-...

I saw someone go into this on a YT video once.

Normal Kraft singles don't have enough to be useful, but Kraft "Deli Deluxe" does.

In social movement studies, we talk about how marches and protests expand the threshold of acceptable risk so that people take more and bigger social risks IN PUBLIC, EN MASSE. This is extremely important for the bourgeois white folks holding signs and building social rapport.

Remember folks. The original bluesky ethos by us bluesky elders (apparently I count?) is block and move on.

Don't quote dunk, don't pick fights.
Block, and move on.

This is what made this site unpalatable to the right early on, and we can continue to make it unpalatable to them.

A friend of mine has a new book out on how to balance activism and relationships without burning out. She is having her book release in store event this Thursday! www.eventbrite.com/e/kitty-stry...

I've bounced off of JS courses for literal decades at this point (hat tip to Wes Bos for the only course I've ever finished).

I'm on Lesson 7 of 53 of JS for Everyone, there hasn't been a single "hello world" in sight (so far...), and I'm actually learning new things *about* JavaScript.

Putting out a call: if you were part of WOTC’s late-2010s live events (Stream of Many Eyes, D&D Live, The Descent), I would love to talk to you as part of the Actual Play book.

ecfriedman@auburn.edu will reach me, either to schedule a chat or to share your memories.

Please feel free to share.

Hey all, I'm trying to get a baseline for how good people are at detecting whether fiction is AI-generated or human-written (most of the research on this is for nonfiction and my hypothesis is we're better with fiction).

If you have time, give it a try?

jlp-experiment.github.io/ai-detection...

Another @midimyers.com banger

🗣️ We're hosting an archival version of "plainlanguage.gov" to help make sure this trusted resource remains available to folks who need it.