Other notable runner ups: Fixing LED light strips that separate from their adhesive, holding guitar nuts in place well enough for daily use but still mallet-able to remove it, and of course for gluing ones enemies eyelids shut

Hm so it is, I could have sworn that Temu was around before 2022

I think Temu has been around a bit longer, Wish just got more popular during Covid

Drink when R2 appears.

If you think that’s not enough for all 9 movies than add C-3PO.

That should have you well paced for all of them without killing you or being too slow.

Sorry

It reminds me of that bit from Its Always Sunny in Philadelphia where Dennis is talking about Hollywood movies.

I mean, it used to be only, like, the hard-line conservatives, like the pearl-clutching types, were the only ones that were overly vocal and extreme in their policing of sexuality. But now you got this, like, liberal wave of moral authority sweeping the nation. You know, it’s nuts. I mean, think about it. If the conservatives had always run Hollywood, movies would have sucked. You know what I mean? The art would have suffered. So I guess the question we’re asking is how will art fare under the oppressive thumb of this new liberal Hollywood moral PC elite?

It’s just so silly and yet so accurate. Whether it’s social values, politics or even just the opinion of AI and it’s capabilities vs. it’s potential vs. how people actually use it, there’s this pervading idea that restrictions en masse are a viable solution. I feel almost the opposite, like to some extent the oversaturation of it intrinsically lowers the negative reception of it. Prohibition philosophy - when it’s not allowed people will work even harder to use it in those ways, when it’s not only allowed but widely used and even encouraged, people just inherently care less over time.

We’re at a point right now where we are getting some pretty poor quality oversaturation of AI content and the tool alone is what is being blamed, to the point where copyright is being touted as this saving grace despite it consistently having been used against us smaller artists when corporate money is involved. Copyright isn’t promoting small artists, rarely has, nor is it preventing AI, but it’s somehow suddenly meant to ensure that the art you uploaded isn’t reproduced? That seems not only unlikely, but like it’s a scapegoat for a larger issue. Generative art isn’t a problem because Ms. Jane working two 40-hour jobs uses it to make art featuring existing characters. That circumstance was and never will be a problem because Jane very likely would never have the money to commission an artist in the first place. What Jane makes is 100% irrelevant, so long as she’s not claiming it as her original creation and trying to sell it - beyond that? I don’t think anyone should care or fault her, because she is doing the amount of art that her circumstances allow her.

What I absolutely agree is an issue is businesses and corporations using AI, cutting staff further overworking employees that remain. However, that Secret Invasion intro that seemed likely AI generated? I can’t in good faith try to argue “they should be tried for infringement” but I can fully support the fact that they should have hired an artist who would at least try to better use the tools at their disposal. I can simultaneously feel that the fact that Deforum may have been used is absolutely awesome, while also being annoyed and frustrated that they didn’t utilize artists who deserve it.

There is a very large difference between Ms. Jane making AI images, even movies, and any corporate product - or that AI generated rat for the science journal. For the former, it is something that IMO is fully necessary in order for Jane to be able to enjoy the experience of a creative process under the bullshit system we’ve worked out. The latter is a completely unnecessary replacement used to cut costs. And yet, for neither does the concept of infringement actually matter that much, because copyright isn’t the fundamental issue of AI, it’s just the one people are latching on to. Without realizing that the likelihood of copyright laws helping someone like us is nil. Especially since there’s probably an overlap of people who laugh at NFT’s and pirate files because bits of data aren’t a physical commodity that runs out, but a generative Imaging tool that does it is… Too far?

I think AI’s issues are separate from what I’ve mentioned here. What people blame AI for is something else entirely. AI is still just the tool that speeds up the process. We have the concept of safeguards utilized as signs, barriers, and nets, so that if someone wants to use a bridge for the wrong purpose there are some measures in place to prevent them. We don’t blame bridges for what the person is trying to do - we recognize that there is some reasonable level of safeguard and beyond that we just have to trust the person to do the right thing. And when it does show to be a pervasive issue, even still there is pretty much a bare minimum done - add another layer and a net and call it a day - instead of focusing on maybe why people in society are so inclined to jump.

The issue is always us. Yes AI makes evils job easier, like so many tools have. But trying to safeguard AI to the point of non-existence is just absurd from every angle, given that the bad stuff is likely going to happen in abundance regardless. I don’t particularly see AI as the evil so much as the humans creating the meaningless AI generated articles.

I just want people to be able to compete if they use cannabis. But you’re right that it would likely devolve lol

If I had to guess it’s not “that it takes roles away” or that it “affects the writing” like so many try to claim, but that it infringes on the power fantasy. Back in the day Charlie’s Angel’s was good because it plays into the mastermind behind the femme fatales,

The thing is, many of the movies that get complained about frankly get complained about for the wrong reasons. Some genuinely do have (usually minor) issues such as being written during filming with little motivation to reach an end-goal in mind, just not the rage bait that gets media attention. The reality is that it’s a bunch of small decisions that make the wider movie as a whole weaker, but these idiots just hop onto the “it’s bad because it’s woke” train. Like, for fucks sake people. Marvel isn’t bad because it has focused on female characters just like Sony isn’t bad because it’s woke. Morbius was a train-wreck led be a cultist and yet where is the rage for that mess? None, it got meme’d to death so hard Sony thought it did well and brought it back to theaters…

I guarantee that if 2005 Elektra were remade today and happened to be not so great it wouldn’t get the Morbius treatment, it would get the Phase 5 Marvel/Sequel Star Wars treatment about how the focus on female characters is detracting from something, all too happy to ignore the production issues behind the scenes.

On an aside, I still don’t understand why Sony is getting a pass with the awful villain movies. The first Venom was OK but the sequel with Carnage was abysmal and the real leaked script for Kraven didn’t look much better… I’m not entirely enthused about the upcoming projects they have because I want them to do Madame Web well and… I just hope they get it together but I personally was not a fan of TASM 1 and 2 (though 1 was far, far better by comparison). Mostly nothing to do with the cast and most of the cinematic scenes, it was just the bland changes to the story that ultimately didn’t lead anywhere. So many frameworks are all set for them but instead of following it they just recreated images in live action - the side by sides are beautiful, the films are pretty terrible. That’s the one thing that Sony doesn’t have against DC and Marvel is at least the attempted re-imaginings of character arcs in DC and Marvel are sort of making the framework their own. Rant within rant over, thanks for reading.

P.S. for anyone else view Phase 4 Marvel as 2020’s Phase 1. Endgame basically reset the universe, the actor-heroes are tired so in between the Multiverse movies they’ve been doing single-character focused films. Black Widow, Shang-Chi, Eternals are all pretty much stand-alone characters (with minor cosmic roles to come). The shows Hawkeye, Ms. Marvel, and She-Hulk are also completely independent character-driven shows that I really liked.

WandaVision was pretty much a setup for ending the aftermath of Endgame and leads into the movie Multiverse of Madness. Falcon and Winter Soldier had a different script about a plague being used by terrorists, then Covid-19 lockdowns happened so the show was changed and suffered because of it. With that in mind, it’s an OK show. Loki S1 is pretty good, S2 was a let down but the finale set up the future well. Moon Knight had no action sequences and wasn’t planned so it suffered. (Surprise surprise, all Marvel shows that sucked completely unrelated to… “wokeness”, whatever they mean by that).

With that in mind, Phase 5 is simply continuing this trend. It’s mostly character driven movies with a few being tie in films. Ant-Man 2 was OK, I liked it more than people online did it seemed and I honestly found Kang to be the weakest part of the movie for me. Guardians 3 was very good, but it does hinge on you caring about the events of the characters from Guardians 1, 2, and Endgame. But it’s the closing chapter of the gang, so it’s a good sendoff. And now we have the Marvels, which I haven’t seen yet but from my understanding is another semi-introduction film for Ms. Marvel and Monica Rambeau (from WandaVision). Deadpool 3 looks to be a tie-in Multiverse, and then we’ll probably get a few more character oriented movies and shows.

So honestly, while I understand the burnout for Marvel content, as of November 2023 if you’ve seen Endgame then you can watch the Phase 4 and 5 marvel films and shows in basically any order so don’t let that be a real excuse. I listed everything except for What If (animated but canon) and Thor: Love and Thunder (production issues, I liked it but it needed tonal consistency).

It’s how long archeology has said we have had permanent settlements.

In reality it’s likely far earlier than that, we only just found a settlement from 11,000 BCE in Turkey, Gobekli Tepe which was likely a sanctuary/shrine, as well as other towns in the surrounding area likely having started before even then.

Big archeology pushed back to say that that’s not 100% certain and that humans were still nomadic, despite all the evidence showing otherwise. It was finally just recognized officially a couple months ago.

This just in - 3 female super heroes count as politically correct. More at 11.

I can’t speak to what you’re looking for specifically, however I can give you an idea of the level and type of noise you could expect.

With a local server I built with 3 standard 8TB HDDs, the “noisiest” part of the whole computer is the fans itself - it’s very quiet compared to say, a fanned air purifier on full or maybe even half power. I’ve never actually heard my hard drives from any of the computers I’ve built in the last 6-8 years, and I’m usually right by them. If I listen very closely I may hear some ticking/spinning if they happen to be ramped up.

So under load, there may be a chance of hearing some of the spinning disks in a quiet room, however I haven’t actively heard an HDD since 2012 - though the size you’re going for could be different as you mentioned. I can’t speak for the 18tb sizes. As for the smaller external HDD’s, I have 3 6TB ones running in tandem and it’s pretty much the same, I’ve heard them ramp up slightly but it’s nearly silent even under load it’s more of a gentle hum. If there were any noise sources like music it would be unnoticeable. But again, the size may play a factor.

You mentioned it’s right by your bed but would your active hours align with the backups? I.e. if you run them overnight from 2a to 8a, you’d already be asleep for the backup. If it’s noise that prevents you from sleeping that may help.

It’s a bit dated by now I’m sure but I’m a fan of my Rakk Ang Lam Pro (or for me, the Falcon Elite TKL - same thing) that I got from Flashquark.

~$80 board with media scroll wheel and a Win lock. Hotswappable so your favorite switches likely work. It is just a plastic housing but it’s sturdy and there’s no major flex or wear after ~3 years.

Spilled a beer on it and washed the board, all still fully functional.

In browser audio sampler with fairly decent tools

The one I haven’t been able to find a good replacement for is Sampler.

That’s too bad, I’ve always liked Tails. Was lucky that it ran on a mid 2012 MacBook Pro, but the non-working hardware list is pretty large. Some people prefer Qubes and Whonix anyway

I was just reading a couple weeks ago about a smaller web project. Lemme see if I can find it

Edit: here it is, https://kbin.social/m/selfhosting@slrpnk.net/t/476826/What-is-the-Small-Web

I personally run Tails OS as a daily driver. Not only does it keep others safe, but it keeps me from tracking my own online presence.

Just some other suggestions, there’s also Syncthing (for backups and syncing devices) and PhotoPrism (like the user who suggested Immich, for gallery view.)

Good find on the solution, there’s some good alternatives from the github Monolith as well. However, MoW looks great, too bad it’s Chrome only from what I can see :(

You can buy Gwenyth Paltrow’s goop jade egg and you’ll receive it, that doesn’t mean it’s not a scam.