My (28F) fiancée (26F) has had a strained relationship with her parents for a long time. She has always [edit for typo] tiptoed around her volatile father and been distant from her emotionally unavailable mother.
When she came out 3 years ago, the distance became clearer. Her mom is homophobic. I’m not afraid to say it. She has cried on several occasions (that we know of) about her daughter being gay, says she used to be a “normal girl,” and will not have a conversation with or about me. It’s puzzling because her mom is not religious and, other than being lesbians, we want a very conventional life - house, plans for kids, solid corporate careers.
Her dad is relatively accepting of me but defends his wife to no end. He says my fiancée surprised them by being gay without warning and came out at a bad time when he had just been diagnosed with cancer. Even if that were valid (imo it’s not), it’s 2024 and they’ve had three years now to process and get to acceptance (or even just tolerance as a first step). He constantly uses his cancer as a tool to guilt and shame my fiancée for being distant, saying he “won’t be here much longer” and he “just wants [his] family back.” His cancer is incurable but treatable and not terminal. He has a host of other physical health issues and undiagnosed mental health issues as well. I believe they are real, but I also believe he uses them to emotionally manipulate her.
The three of them have been in family therapy for 2.5 months. Long story short, they do not accept any responsibility for hurting her in the past or ongoing in the present and blame her for being distant. We just got engaged on a trip to Europe and let them know via text. They texted, “Congrats.” No follow-up questions. They constantly act like my fiancée’s “choices” (veganism and being sober are actual choices she makes, being gay of course is not) go against how she was raised and make her a bad person and a bad daughter.
She is closer to cutting them off than she ever has been before (since therapy has made little if any difference and they show their true colors each session), but she keeps coming back to feeling guilty and sorry for her dad if she cuts them off because he is physically and mentally ill.
It’s easy for me to say because they’re not my parents and I have a loving and supportive family that also accepts my fiancée, but I wish she would just cut them off. Maybe it would be the wake up call they need or maybe they are truly incapable of change. Either way, I’m sick of being treated like I don’t exist by them, but I’m much more sick of my partner having to carry this burden. I also would never want to bring my future children around grandparents who cannot love and accept their own child and be happy that she is happy. I try to validate my fiancée’s feelings without pushing any agenda. Am I the asshole for feeling this way?

Let this one fundamental rule guide you:
You are in full control of who you pursue and allow into your life. It is your responsibility to not let fantasy cloud your judgment and not see things as they truly are.
Only dedicate time and effort to those who value you.

1. Don’t continue to reach out if she’s non-responsive or never takes initiative to contact you. Sometimes people get busy, so you don’t want to get up in arms if she occasionally takes some time to respond. However, be observant about the general pattern of your communication with her. If she’s attracted to you, she will be reaching out to you a good portion of the time.

Don’t be someone’s second option or source of attention. Even if you like her, don’t let your hopes cloud your perception. If it’s like pulling teeth getting her to respond, then it’s fucking time to move on.

1. Real life isn’t Hollywood. Don’t wait in the wings for her if she’s in a relationship. This classic White Knight/savior complex thinking. In this scenario, a guy has feelings (or thinks he has feelings) for a woman, she’s unavailable, and he thinks he can treat her better. In the movies, this type of guy is the hero; his only redeeming quality is his “dedication”.

In real life, this type of guy is pathetic (also known as a male orbitor) and rightfully almost never gets the girl. You can’t put your life on pause for someone—they will NOT live up to the fantasy you’ve built in your head. There is so much opportunity out there to meet someone who will make you their FIRST priority.

1. Don’t buy her things to “win points”. You can’t buy attraction. Guys who chase women often think they can buy their way to her heart—expensive dinners, flowers, trips, etc. The sad thing is, they don’t give because they genuinely want to see her happy, but rather they feel that these favors add up on an unspoken numbers system, where she’ll eventually agree to have sex with him because of his generosity.

This is hallmark “Nice Guy” thinking. When you are first dating someone, don’t spend money trying to impress her. If she has a high level of attraction, she’ll want to spend time with you almost anywhere.

1. Don’t place her on an imaginary pedestal. She’s a human being with flaws, just like you. I’ve done this before myself. As men, we tend to idealize women are physically attractive, and place them on a pedestal above us. As mentioned previously, we’ve been conditioned by Hollywood to believe that an attractive woman is the prize for acts of self-sacrifice and devotion. Attraction doesn’t work that way in the real world. Women get extremely turned off when men get nervous around them. Think about it—if a woman is around a guy who is intimidated merely by her presence, why would she feel comfortable and safe around him? Women want to be appreciated, not worshipped.
   
2. Don’t dedicate yourself to her if she’s not committed to you. This is one of the most common mistakes I see guys make. They’ll meet a woman who they find attractive, start overthinking and project their romantic hopes and dreams onto her. They stop pursuing other dating options, under the assumption that they’re going to be in a relationship with her.
   

Basically, they give relationship-level commitment way too early, before an actual relationship has been established. These guys often wind up getting burned; she goes cold or will string him along.
Let’s make this very clear—you are to keep your dating options open—and actively date other women until you are in an actual relationship that has been agreed upon by both you. That’s when you exhibit dedication and slowly invest emotionally.
TLDR:

• Only dedicate time and effort to those who value you.
  
• Don’t wait in the wings for women who are taken or not invested in you in some manner
  
• You can’t buy attraction.
  
• Don’t place her on an imaginary pedestal. She’s a human being with flaws, just like you.
  

Full article on topic: https://modating.substack.com/p/the-cardinal-rule-of-dating-for-men

hello i know that this question has been asked multiple times on reddit but i'm having a dilemma choosing between both programmes, hence it would be greatly appreciated if any students from these programmes could give me some advice with regards to which one i should choose!
more context about myself: i am interested in pursuing comms, more specifically media and film studies. however, i'm also open to trying diff aspects of comms n i want to gain a deeper understanding of what the subject really entails before specialising. from uni, i'm really hoping to build a strong foundation in comms, understanding not just what to do, how to do it, but also WHY we do it
here's how i've weighed both programmes based on my understanding, please correct me if i'm wrong abt anything as it would rly help w my decision making process:
WKWSCI
Pros:

• ranking -- top comms sch in asia, 4th in the world. surely that says something about the quality of their programme n teaching (?)
  
• WKW is a school vs NUS CNM being just a course major in CHS, so there will be much more specialisation and dedication to comms, i assume there will also be more resources n funding = higher quality education
  
• most students in WKW enter w the intention of pursuing comms so i'll get to meet like minded people who actl care!!! vs CNM where ppl can take it as their UEs so they dont rly put in effort into grp projects (from my impression online...)
  
• some of the modules offered by WKW really appeal to me e.g. Narrative Film & TV Concepts and Applications, Digital Media Entrepreneurship. i think i'll have a lot of fun learning these skills n knowledge, but i'm worried that this fun and passion isn't going to sustain for long, esp since i'm only basing this on my current understanding without actually taking these courses.
  
• lots of hands-on opportunities e.g. organising a film festival sounds so fun wth + nearly guaranteed exchange prog
  
• sch culture seems v vibrant + can rly bond w ur batch as it's a lot smaller
  

My concerns:

• generally, my largest concern is that WKW is too focused on practical skills. their main selling point is the "hands-on" approach n emphasis on application, which no doubt is important for comms. however, when i spoke to some of the students n asked them what they learn, many of them replied w hard skills like video editing, how to use xx software, photography etc n its like. do i need to go to uni to learn these skills. and esp w how fast technology is evolving, who knows if the skills i learn are even going to be relevant in 4 years time. hence, my question for WKW students is, do you feel that the WKW programme prepares you for the future? do u think what ur learning now is going to be helpful n relevant in the next 10-30 years? with generative ai n all that can replace a lot of hard skills
  
• location
  
• harder to switch out if i realise idl comms
  

NUS CNM
Pros:

• flexibility of CHS can switch if I realise comms isn't for me / find something that interests me more. while i think i'm most likely not going to change, at least i have the option to which gives me freedom (impt to me)
  
• my general vibe is that CNM takes a more theoretical, but also broader approach to comms. there's more of a balance between practical n concepts. also ik that theories are boring, but i do believe that theory informs practice so ig i will bite the bullet 😭 CNM & WKW students please correct me if i'm wrong!
  
• focus on new media which i feel is an advantage; WKW feels more focused on traditional media
  
• got exchange prog to University of Amsterdam!!!!! which has the top comms prog in the world VS NTU dont have exchange there i thinkkkk
  
• location sorry ntu damn far
  

My concerns:

• how is the learning environment like? CNM students is it easy to find ppl who are passionate abt the same things as you academically?
  
• am i missing out if i choose CNM over WKW,,, bc it seems that WKW is the top choice for comms but i'm actl leaning towards NUS
  
• Will there be a lack of structure, since CNM doesn’t have ‘tracks’ like WKW? worried that i'll end up becoming a jack of all trades but a master of none bc of the lack of specialisation
  
• i wna live on campus but it seems super competitive to get a place VS NTU got 2 year guaranteed stay
  

Generally...
as mentioned, i'm currently leaning towards NUS. but i feel like i'm making decisions based on vague feelings n impressions i have towards both schools, so if anyone has any advice n experience, please let me know.
also i feel that WKW communicates their programme a LOT better than NUS CNM. after reading their promotional material n attending their events, i have quite a clear idea of what to expect from WKW. but for CNM i still have q a few queries + their social media presence not v strong HAHA idk if this says anyth abt the quality of their programme, given that it's a comms department after all...
if you've read this far, thank you very much <3333 n i hope this will also be helpful for any future prospective students who are facing the same problems as me :) jiayous everyone

Relatively recently, during the [now stopped] couple therapy, we collectively came to realization that I have serious abandonment issues/insecurity, unhealthy attachment "habit", and codependency with a possible narcissistic spouse.
I lost my mother (F33) to liver cancer when I was 11.5 years old. I am still processing the scale of the detrimental effect of early loss of my favorite parent, rejection from girls at school, and runaway bride back in 2012... The more I live, the more I feel stuck in little boys' mind with aging body surrounded by huge hostile World. (Of course, that is objectively not precise, but that how it feels).
Lately, I've been feeling really bad inside. First, I was laid off in February and am still looking for a job, while my morale is slowly degrading. Second, my wife and I have been getting less and less intimate physically, which is one of my main ways to connect and bond. Keeping initiating and getting rejected is not helping my mental state in any way and only adds to undermined morale and confidence... So I finally decided to stop fucking "simp"ing and deal with my shit by myself. As a Christian, I should not be considering relationships "on the side" ("easy way"), the idea of which I am currently battling. The hard way is to become less dependent on sex and relationships as a way to fuel happiness and/or satisfaction. To do that, I need to overcome the abandonment issues, I think.
My question is what are the effective ways to fight the abandonment issues and get independence of ghosts of the past and illusions of the present? I did try individual therapy to no avail. Had both female and male therapist, and couldn't really bond with either well enough to work on my issues. The female was not giving me concrete enough directions or advice or anything of that kind. The male was blatantly half-competent, as he was suggesting unproven practices and used unscientific, misleading terminology. All of my sessions were remote via YasnoLive platform. I chose it because of its affordability, but more importantly, for native Russian speaking providers (while my English is OK, it's not expressive or precise to describe all the details of my thoughts).
I appreciate any advice and comments, as it's difficult for me to even come out with a request of help.
P.S. Haven't proofread the post. May have grammar-farts here or there.

Yesterday I was served my papers. Dismissed after 3yrs at the company. My performance was stellar. I received constant praise for things I did. Was liked by most everyone. But at the end of the day, it's all about money. Company had "limited work", and they needed to make cuts. What better department than the IT department. We're not revenue generating, and an easy target.
I was the sole systems admin on a 4-person team. I managed the server and cloud environments. I did the "Tier 2 and 3" troubleshooting. I was hands-on with the c-suite giving them "white glove treatment". I also would 3D print stuff for the company. Whether it was stuff used in the shop for when they made cranes and trucks, or for events. I was working on wall mount brackets for our WAPs so they were mounted horizontally. I managed the security camera system. UPS', network, you name it. We had an entire year of updates planned. Moving to SharePoint and eliminating an old on-prem file server. Finally getting rid of our last 2 Server 2008 R2 boxes. Upgrading the building security and HVAC control systems.
Despite all that I did, all that I was involved in, it didn't matter. Company needed to cut costs, and I was next on the chopping block. When I arrived yesterday morning at work, I put my keys on my desk, removed a print from my printer to see how it turned out (if you know anything about 3D printing, TPU is not easy to work with), and went to grab a coffee. As I'm at the machine, I hear a "Morning" from behind me. It was my boss. He didn't look happy. Said he needed to talk to me in my office. Then I heard another "Morning" from behind me. It was the CFO. That's when I knew something bad was happening.
We went to my office, I put my coffee on the desk and heard the door close. Was told I was being laid off due to a "lack of work". Was nothing performance related. The CFO gave me a hollow "thank you for your help and all that you've done" and shook my hand. Told me that they can give me a glowing reference if I want. Once he left and it was just my boss and I, I could tell how furious he was over this decision. He told me that he argued hard against this, and that he only found out late the day before. In the end, it fell on deaf ears.
Boxing up everything off my desk was such a weird feeling. I had moved offices a few times, but this was different. When I had all my stuff boxed up, it was almost 8am. Boss mentioned that people were rolling in for the day and asked if I wanted to wait to go out to my car. I told him "fsck that. I want as many people as possible to see this." and he told me he liked that attitude. I held my head high and walked out to my car carrying a box, by boss behind me with another box. Had a few people see me and have shocked looks on their faces. Had one lady come back as I closed my trunk and asked to give me a hug. I always liked her. She's Spanish and has that awesome mom vibe. She hugged me so tight and said she was sorry this happened. Boss shook my hand, and told me how sorry he was. We're meeting for lunch tomorrow because there are some big discussions to be had. He also told me that there are a few people who will be reaching out to me to discuss job opportunities. The amount of support I've received from him even after this is nothing but amazing. He was by far the most supporting and helpful boss I've ever had.
This morning is when it really hit me. Woke up at 930. House was quiet. Slowly went downstairs, got my coffee, and sat down at my computer. I opened my resume to start updating it, and realized that I just couldn't do it. And that's when everything came rushing out.
Decided I'm going to take some time for myself instead. The wound is pretty raw still, and I need to collect myself before I work on anything. Had a friend reach out to an audiobook company to see if they need any male VAs and they do, so maybe this could be a good time to focus on my VA career which went on the back burner. Plus I have a lot of lines to record for a DCS World campaign. Also have some 3D print projects to work on. Adding a runout sensor to the extruder on my k1 max, and printing Obi-Wan's lightsaber from Ep3 to go on my shelf of geeky things. Some things to do around the house as well.
No matter how hard you work. No matter all the good you do for the company, at the end of the day you're nothing but a number on a spreadsheet. And the higher up on that sheet you are, the bigger a target you become. They will discard you like yesterday's jam without nary a thought. Don't kill yourself for your job. Set up your boundaries, and work within them. It's not worth your energy, your sanity, or your well being to kill yourself for your job.

ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING! ITS HAPPENING!
EDIT TO ADD STATEMENT BY AARON SHANKS FROM THE OTHER POST ON IT: "Hey Pathfinders, I am so glad you already found this!
Aaron Shanks here, former Paizo Director of Marketing, here to tell you that I am helping Ossian Studios promote this Kickstarter. This is, in fact, a single-player, turn-based, CRPG Pathfinder Second Edition video game. We are, of course, working with the Paizo Marketing Goblins to make the official announcements, but with PaizoCon just around the corner we could not wait to get the pre-launch Kickstarter page live.
Pathfinder Lore Note: The Dragon's Demand Adventure has some plot twists, so please use your spoiler warnings!
Please tell your friends to sign up to be notified at launch. The easy url to remember is DragonsDemand.com!" LINK TO COMMENT
Pathfinder: The Dragon's Demand https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ossianstudios/pathfinder-the-dragons-demand?ref=android_project_share

I didn't get the Vision Pro for any special use case that I could finally uncover. I think of it as simply a better way to watch media, and to be able to have separate windows (multi-monitors) in a portable form factor. Ideally, I would like this to replace a laptop and be something I could do casual things on (nothing that requires special software that would only work with a Mac or Windows).
The big holdup for me is typing. I am currently typing this post on my Chromebook, it would be too irritating to do this on the Vision Pro without a physical keyboard. I will say the air-typing with fingers actually impressed me, because I guess I was expecting it to be as shitty as Quest, and also Marques Brownlee convinced me that air typing with your eyes is better than using your fingers but now I can say I disagree from my experience. But it's still a pain to type anything more than a few words on. I could probably get used to it, but I would be settling for something worse than just grabbing my Chromebook to write up something.
I can't do voice typing, my mind just doesn't work writing posts and comments with my voice, I have to think while I type and go back and change a few things and sometimes scrap sentences. I could consider getting a keyboard for it but I also hate the idea of having another physical component that sits on my lap, but it's going to be needed if I want a decent typing experience.
One idea I like is to have the virtual keyboard projected on a hard surface so you are touching something solid physically like a touchscreen (Touchscreen keyboards like on an iPad aren't too bad imo).

A Daily chronicle of AI Innovations May 16th 2024:

🤔 Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions 🪫 Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell
🍎Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts
🤖Humane’s AI Pin upgraded with GPT-4o
💸Stability AI seeks buyer amid financial woes
📽️Mozilla Firefox incorporates NVIDIA RTX video to improve video quality on Windows
☁️Musk's AI firm xAI In talks with Oracle for $10 billion cloud deal
❄️Snowflake invests in Metaplane to enhance data quality
😱 Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI
📱 Android phones enter the AI era
🗣️ How to clone your voice using AI
🤔 Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions

• Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on AI technologies.
• The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
• Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
• Source

Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell

• Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
• The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
• Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
• Source

Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts

Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.

Another noteworthy addition is Music Haptics, designed for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. When enabled, the Taptic Engine in iPhones plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations synchronized with music audio.
Additionally, Apple has introduced Voice Shortcut, which allows users to create custom voice commands for specific actions on their devices. With Voice Shortcut, users can perform tasks hands-free by simply speaking their personalized commands
Why does this matter?
This would encourage the development and advancement of AI technologies in the accessibility domain, ultimately benefiting individuals with disabilities across different platforms and devices.
Source

Humane’s AI Pin upgraded with GPT-4o

Humane has upgraded its popular AI Pin product with the GPT-4o model. This upgrade aims to enhance the AI Pin’s performance. The new version runs faster, provides more accurate answers, and offers richer information.
[ca
Why does this matter?
As more sophisticated AI models become accessible, we can expect further improvements in various applications, from digital assistants to natural language understanding and generation.
Source

Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI

OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever announced that he is leaving the company — following months of speculation of Sutskever’s role from the November 2023 Sam Altman ousting.

• Sutskever said he is confident that OpenAI will ‘build AGI that is both safe and beneficial’ under the current leadership.
• Also leaving is Sutskever’s superalignment group co-lead Jan Leike, announcing his departure with a cryptic resignation post.
• The news follows months of departures largely coming from OpenAI’s superalignment and safety teams, fueling speculation.
• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman named Jakub Pachocki as the new chief scientist, a key researcher on the creation of GPT-4.

After months of tensions, the speculation around Ilya’s future with Sam is finally put to rest. But questions surrounding the safety team departures still remain. Also important to watch is where Sutskever and Leike land next, with two of AI’s brightest minds now officially on the market.

Android phones enter the AI era

Google announced a host of new AI integrations coming to Android phones at its I/O Developer Conference, bringing its powerful Gemini model on-device to enable upgraded smartphone experiences.

• Google’s Gemini Nano model will be integrated into the Pixel later this year, allowing for enhanced multimodal capabilities.
• Gemini features will be easily accessible with a new overlay, which improves and understand context to provide dynamic suggestions.
• A Circle to Search feature, allowing users to query anything on screen, gains homework help features via a LearnLM model.
• Google is also bringing a new AI security feature soon, providing real-time alerts on calls that appear to be scams.

While everyone awaits the iPhone AI announcements, Google’s Android AI era is rolling. With Gemini coming directly on-board, the potential is there — but if Apple integrates ChatGPT, it may remain tough sledding against the dominant market leader.
Source

AI TRAINING How to clone your voice using AI

A new model on Replicate called OpenVoice lets you clone any voice for free with just an audio file and the desired text to be turned into speech.
Step-by-step: Access OpenVoice on Replicate here and log in with your GitHub account. Upload the audio file of the voice you want to clone where it says ‘audio’. The longer, the better. Fill the ‘Text’ field with the text you want to convert into a speech. Click on the ‘Run’ button and listen/download the generated audio with the cloned voice!

New AI Job Opportunities on May 16th 2024

• Lambda - Manufacturing Quality Engineer
• Anthropic - People Operations Coordinator
• Figure AI - Humanoid Robot Pilot
• Luma AI - Senior Software engineer- Data infrastructure

What Else Is Happening in AI on May 16th 2024

‍Instagram co-founder joins Anthropic as head of product
Anthropic has appointed Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram and Artifact, as head of product. In this pivotal role, Krieger will steer the company's product engineering, management, and design efforts as Anthropic expands its suite of AI apps and aims to bring Claude to a wider audience. (Link)
IBM plans 800 new jobs in Ireland
IBM plans to hire up to 800 more people in Ireland to help build advanced software underpinned by AI technology. This is the biggest job announcement in the country’s multinational sector this year. The roles will be in research and development, digital sales, and consulting. (Link)
Mozilla Firefox incorporates NVIDIA RTX video to improve video quality on Windows
Mozilla Firefox has incorporated NVIDIA RTX Video, a technology that leverages AI to improve video quality on Windows PCs and workstations. This brings a host of AI-powered enhancements to online videos, including upscaling and HDR, for a more immersive viewing experience. Users can easily access these features by updating GeForce RTX drivers and activating Windows HDR. (Link)
Musk's AI firm xAI In talks with Oracle for $10 billion cloud deal
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is in talks with Oracle executives about a $10 billion deal to rent cloud servers from Oracle over several years. This move comes as Musk’s company seeks to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google to dominate the AI field. (Link)
Snowflake invests in Metaplane to enhance data quality
Snowflake, a data cloud platform, has invested in Metaplane, a Boston-based startup. Metaplane focuses on helping enterprises identify and rectify data quality issues using an end-to-end AI-powered platform. The investment aims to enhance integration between Metaplane’s data observability offering and the Snowflake data cloud. (Link)

Enjoying these updates? Support me by downloading and subscribing to my AI educational Apps below: Wonderland Bedtime AdventuresRead Aloud For Me - Safe AI for All - WebRead Aloud for me - Safe Ai for All - iOS Read Aloud for me - Safe AI For All - AndroidRead Aloud For me - Safe AI For All - Windows

Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions

• Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on AI technologies.
• The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
• Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
• Source

Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell

• Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
• The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
• Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
• Source

Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts

Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.

Microsoft’s AI ambitions lead to 30% rise in emissions

• Microsoft's commitment to being carbon-negative by 2030 is threatened by a 30% increase in its carbon emissions, largely due to its growing focus on AI technologies.
• The company's expansion of AI operations necessitates building more data centers, which rely on energy-intensive materials like steel, concrete, and microchips, further complicating their carbon reduction goals.
• Despite its renewable energy claims, Microsoft is acknowledged for using instruments like renewable energy credits (RECs) that might mask actual carbon emissions, indicating a challenging path ahead to meet its sustainability targets.
• Source

Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell

• Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion.
• The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney.
• Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023.
• Source

Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts

Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-ai-push-imperils-climate-160020868.html
🪫 Stability AI reportedly runs out of money and in negotiations to sell
Stability AI, known for its open-source image generator Stable Diffusion, is negotiating a sale due to financial struggles, despite a valuation of $1 billion. The company raised over $100 million in 2022 but struggled to turn its free software into revenue while facing stiff competition from rivals like OpenAI and Midjourney. Founder and CEO Emad Mostaque resigned amid management issues, and the company faces significant expenses and liabilities, projecting $153 million in costs against only $11 million in revenue for 2023. Source: https://the-decoder.com/stability-ai-reportedly-runs-out-of-money-and-in-negotiations-to-sell/
Apple unveils AI-enhanced eye tracking, music haptics, voice shortcuts
Apple recently unveiled new accessibility features that will launch later this year. One of these features is Eye Tracking, which enables users with physical disabilities to navigate their iPhones and iPads using only their eyes.
By leveraging the front-facing camera and AI, Eye Tracking allows precise control through a “Dwell Control” feature, eliminating the need for additional hardware.
Another noteworthy addition is Music Haptics, designed for users who are deaf or hard of hearing. When enabled, the Taptic Engine in iPhones plays taps, textures, and refined vibrations synchronized with music audio.
Additionally, Apple has introduced Voice Shortcut, which allows users to create custom voice commands for specific actions on their devices. With Voice Shortcut, users can perform tasks hands-free by simply speaking their personalized commands
Why does this matter?
This would encourage the development and advancement of AI technologies in the accessibility domain, ultimately benefiting individuals with disabilities across different platforms and devices.
Source: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2024/05/apple-announces-new-accessibility-features-including-eye-tracking
Humane’s AI Pin upgraded with GPT-4o
Humane has upgraded its popular AI Pin product with the GPT-4o model. This upgrade aims to enhance the AI Pin’s performance. The new version runs faster, provides more accurate answers, and offers richer information.
Why does this matter?
As more sophisticated AI models become accessible, we can expect further improvements in various applications, from digital assistants to natural language understanding and generation.
Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/15/24157731/humane-says-its-ai-pins-just-got-a-gpt-4o-upgrade
😱 Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI
Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike leave OpenAI OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever announced that he is leaving the company — following months of speculation of Sutskever’s role from the November 2023 Sam Altman ousting.
Sutskever said he is confident that OpenAI will ‘build AGI that is both safe and beneficial’ under the current leadership.
Also leaving is Sutskever’s superalignment group co-lead Jan Leike, announcing his departure with a cryptic resignation post.
The news follows months of departures largely coming from OpenAI’s superalignment and safety teams, fueling speculation.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman named Jakub Pachocki as the new chief scientist, a key researcher on the creation of GPT-4.
After months of tensions, the speculation around Ilya’s future with Sam is finally put to rest. But questions surrounding the safety team departures still remain. Also important to watch is where Sutskever and Leike land next, with two of AI’s brightest minds now officially on the market.
📱 Android phones enter the AI era
Android phones enter the AI era Google announced a host of new AI integrations coming to Android phones at its I/O Developer Conference, bringing its powerful Gemini model on-device to enable upgraded smartphone experiences.
Google’s Gemini Nano model will be integrated into the Pixel later this year, allowing for enhanced multimodal capabilities.
Gemini features will be easily accessible with a new overlay, which improves and understand context to provide dynamic suggestions.
A Circle to Search feature, allowing users to query anything on screen, gains homework help features via a LearnLM model.
Google is also bringing a new AI security feature soon, providing real-time alerts on calls that appear to be scams.
While everyone awaits the iPhone AI announcements, Google’s Android AI era is rolling. With Gemini coming directly on-board, the potential is there — but if Apple integrates ChatGPT, it may remain tough sledding against the dominant market leader.
Source: https://blog.google/products/android/google-ai-android-update-io-2024
AI TRAINING 🗣️ How to clone your voice using AI
How to clone your voice using AI
A new model on Replicate called OpenVoice lets you clone any voice for free with just an audio file and the desired text to be turned into speech.
Step-by-step:
Access OpenVoice on Replicate here at https://replicate.com/cjwbw/openvoice and log in with your GitHub account.
Upload the audio file of the voice you want to clone where it says ‘audio’. The longer, the better.
Fill the ‘Text’ field with the text you want to convert into a speech.
Click on the ‘Run’ button and listen/download the generated audio with the cloned voice!
New AI Job Opportunities on May 16th 2024
🔬 Lambda - Manufacturing Quality Engineer: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59796724-manufacturing-quality-enginee
📋 Anthropic - People Operations Coordinator:
https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59882127-people-operations-coordinator
🤖 Figure AI - Humanoid Robot Pilot: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59875233-humanoid-robot-pilot-evening-shift
💻 Luma AI - Senior Software engineer- Data infrastructure: https://jobs.therundown.ai/jobs/59880695-senior-software-engineer-data-infrastructure
What Else Is Happening in AI on May 16th 2024❗
🧑‍Instagram co-founder joins Anthropic as head of product
Anthropic has appointed Mike Krieger, the co-founder of Instagram and Artifact, as head of product. In this pivotal role, Krieger will steer the company's product engineering, management, and design efforts as Anthropic expands its suite of AI apps and aims to bring Claude to a wider audience. (Link: https://techcrunch.com/2024/05/15/anthropic-hires-instagram-co-founder-as-head-of-product)
💼 IBM plans 800 new jobs in Ireland
IBM plans to hire up to 800 more people in Ireland to help build advanced software underpinned by AI technology. This is the biggest job announcement in the country’s multinational sector this year. The roles will be in research and development, digital sales, and consulting. (Link: https://www.reuters.com/technology/ibm-add-800-ai-related-jobs-ireland-2024-05-15)
📽️Mozilla Firefox incorporates NVIDIA RTX video to improve video quality on Windows
Mozilla Firefox has incorporated NVIDIA RTX Video, a technology that leverages AI to improve video quality on Windows PCs and workstations. This brings a host of AI-powered enhancements to online videos, including upscaling and HDR, for a more immersive viewing experience. Users can easily access these features by updating GeForce RTX drivers and activating Windows HDR. (Link: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/ai-decoded-rtxvideo-firefox)
☁️Musk's AI firm xAI In talks with Oracle for $10 billion cloud deal
Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, is in talks with Oracle executives about a $10 billion deal to rent cloud servers from Oracle over several years. This move comes as Musk’s company seeks to keep pace with rivals like OpenAI, Microsoft, and Google to dominate the AI field. (Link; https://www.reuters.com/technology/elon-musks-xai-nears-10-bln-deal-rent-oracles-ai-servers-information-reports-2024-05-14)
❄️Snowflake invests in Metaplane to enhance data quality
Snowflake, a data cloud platform, has invested in Metaplane, a Boston-based startup. Metaplane focuses on helping enterprises identify and rectify data quality issues using an end-to-end AI-powered platform. The investment aims to enhance integration between Metaplane’s data observability offering and the Snowflake data cloud. (Link: https://venturebeat.com/data-infrastructure/snowflake-invests-in-metaplane-to-solve-data-quality-issues-plaguing-ai-development)
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Hey All,
Let me preface this by saying I was always a crappy student in school. Was never motivated, slacked off as much as I could, and pulled more allnighters the night before a test than I would have liked to - just to get an average score because I didn't study more in advance.
With that being said, I did officially pass the PMP on my first try on 5/14/24 with AT in all 3 target areas! I wanted to share my advice as I know when I first started studying I felt lost and wasn't sure if I was wasting time studying the wrong materials.
1.) PMI Study Hall is THE NUMBER ONE thing you should be studying. The questions on the test very closely mimic study hall. Look at the reasoning of why you got questions wrong and memorize the vocabulary as best you can (there are some vocab questions on the exam). As everyone else notes, the mindset is key. Caveat: use the expert questions as additional practice, but try not to confuse yourself with the explanations - some of them are contradictory to the PMP mindset. However, I wouldn't say skip them all together as some people suggest because it is additional practice. I did find there were some VERY challenging questions on the exam and maybe those were expert level. It's hard to say.
2.) Don't waste too much time/money spreading yourself too thin between all of the different study materials. This may sound controversial but - AR Mindset, 3rd rock notes, different PMP programs you can find online and pay for - keep in mind all of these people are making money off of you and of course they're going to tell you that their program is the best, no one ever fails after taking their course (BS - you can find plenty of people here that failed after meticulously studying AR's mindset course). My biggest problem with people who make their own "PMP Study Course" is that they're making up the questions themselves and you're not getting an accurate representation of what the exam will look like. The most helpful thing from these programs is probably the mindset - but again it could lead you astray. I would emphasize that PMI study hall was the single most helpful tool I used.
3.) David McChlaclan's youtube videos - primarily 200 agile questions, 150 waterfall, and the 7th edition PMP questions videos helped a lot - and helped break up the monotony of reading through Study Hall content every day. I would constantly rotate between study hall questions and then watch david's videos and follow along when my brain started to fry for the day.
With that being said, the questions he goes over are most likely generated himself or outside of PMI - but SOME of them look similar to the questions you'll find on the test - and his explanations really help you master the mindset of eliminating bad answers and narrowing them down to the right choice. He also really helps fill in the knowledge gap of the AGILE questions - which as many people state here on Reddit - are a huge portion of the exam. The agile knowledge and vocabulary around agile processes is KEY.
Side note: I specifically remember many questions about deliverables, and the stakeholders rejecting deliverables at the end of a project: what to do, what SHOULD the PM have done, etc. Maybe take a note of that, and how it relates to acceptance criteria of deliverables.
2nd Side Note: I never once referred to the PMBOK 7th edition guide or Agile Practice Guide Books - again I thought reading through these was like watching paint dry and felt it was a huge waste of time instead of just diving right into study hall and YouTube and cross referencing things when I didn't understand them (google searches for definitions, etc.).
Make sure you're not just memorizing the answers in PMI Study Hall (there are about 700 questions total) - mix it up between the practice questions and practice tests to make sure you're getting a well rounded understanding of all of the material.
TIme Management: This was harder than I thought it was going to be. I was taking too much time deciding between answer choices and reviewing answers for the first 2 sections of the test. This left me with 65 minutes for the last 60 questions and I REALLY busted through the last section as quickly as possible - I ended up with about 7 minutes to review my flagged questions for this section and got some peace of mine before submitting everything. With that being said, make sure you manage your time well from the beginning - mental fatigue really does start to wear on you.
Last rant: the power of the internet now is amazing. There is so much good content on youtube and people giving away free information - and that was a huge contributor to my success - especially when concepts in Study Hall/the explanations were confusing.
I never expected to pass AT/AT/AT - (I studied maybe 3 months total with 1-2 hours a day and sometimes not studying for days in a row - the last 2 weeks I turned it up hardcore and studied 3-8 hours a day depending on my mental capacity for the day). But with consistency and really dedicating yourself, it's possible. I thought the exam overall was CHALLENGING, some easy questions but some very tricky ones.
I just wanted to post this to say THANK YOU for all the helpful information and references to helpful study material. My success wouldn't have been possible without the Reddit PMP community. I'm very glad I'll never have to take that 4 hour, anxiety-inducing test again.

Hey, so currently I'm working on a video essay about how poorly Funimation, Crunchyroll, and Sony are treating Dragon Ball and taking advantage of its fans. I've been able to get ahold of most of the footage, but there are a couple things I can't find.
I'm missing the footage of episodes 164 and 189(both from season 9) I was wondering if anyone who either has a copy of the Dragon Box sets or the individual DVD releases could help me get my hands on those two episodes? If you can help me out, and/or are just generally interested in the project, please DM me.
Ps. Moderators, I am a paid subscriber of crunchyroll, looking for someone with a physical dvd release that only exists in an aftermarket capacity, I only need footage from two episodes, and the footage is for a journalistic review. Disk sharing is not piracy, and this post should not be removed under the pretext that I'm trying to pirate the show.

I am long term subbing in middle school art (5-8th grade) art through the rest of the year because the current teacher had a baby. She has also decided to be a stay at home mom and is not coming back to teach. As part of my assignment I was tasked with end of the year cleanup of the room. I have been slowly cleaning and organizing everything in the room for next years new art teacher. The room is incredibly messy with random supplies in just about every drawer and cupboard. How much old art should I purge in an effort to clean up. I am taking this rather seriously because I personally would hate to take over in job where everything is a total mess. I have already taken several good examples of each art project and organized the few lesson plans I have found in different drawers (sometimes different parts of the lesson plan were in different drawers around the classroom!!) I have also handed back as much art as l could but there are entire drawers filled with art that was never handed back, most still in the class folder! What would you want if you were starting in a new classroom/school? Should I take off the posters from the wall and put them away so the new art teacher can make the room how they want? What do I do? Any advice is very appreciated.
As a side note I would like to say that I just graduated in January with a Physical Education/ Adapted PE/Health/Coaching/Outdoor Adventure degree. While I do quite a bit of art in my free time I don’t know what sort of environment is normal for a new teacher to step into.

I have already completed two ACCA papers and am struggling with the third one. I think I am struggling with FA because of Dr and Cr. I have watched so many videos and read so many books about Dr and Cr but still I cannot understand it. I am not a stupid person. I did really well in School and especially in Physics and Mathematics (my favorite two subjects).
But this Dr and Cr is killing me. Someone shared an interesting book to me and he said it explains Dr and Cr very well with an easy to follow guideline called DEAD CLIC and all I need to do is memorize it.
But I am reading the chapter that explains DEAD CLIC and which is simple if Dr and Cr follows that rule. But the page below DEAD CLIC with more explanation to Dr and Cr states like this.

1. Investment of cash by owner in business. Dr. Cash/Bank Cr. Capital
   
2. Purchase of non-current asset on cash. Dr. Asset Cr. Cash/Bank
   

What the .... How to memorize Dr and Cr with DEAD CLIC if it is like this?

Im experienced (9y) software guy.
Want to start an open source PaaS project, so looking for mates. My discord candyboobersdenis.
​
It's kinda vercel/netify/render clone, but:
- opensource
- easy pluggable
- selfhosted
Go lang preferable

I am working on a project where I need to save a number of different graphs with related metadata (I'm using MetaGraphsNext).
Currently I am saving the graph data using two csv files, MyGraph.nodes.csv, and MyGraph.edges.csv. I like this method becasue it provides good readability of the saved data, and it is easy to implement with DataFrames and CSV. Additionally I like the DataFrames format, becasue I do not use the Graph object, at every point in my code. For instance when loading the instances, I just need the data. I do not actually create a MetaGraph object, I just load the edge data into matrixes.
My issue is that I now have multiple files that I need to deal with. I would like a method that allows me to combine these into one file, and maybe provide some sort of additional meta data. Additionally, I need to use these graphs to create a problem instance that contains two graphs and an additional linking table. I would also like to be able to treat this as a single file.
I have come up with the following ideas but I don't really like any of them

1. Store everything as separate csv files and just deal with it. I have been using folders for the instance.
2. Combine all of the files into a JSON file. (I have implemented basically fully, but I don't really like it. I have to convert everything into Dicts, save as a JSON and do the reverse to read. I have also created a bunch of new structs to store the data. IDK why, but I don't like it)
3. Skip the CSV files and use an existing graph file format. MGFormat and DOTFormat are supported with MetaGraphNext. This is ok but they are not very readable and it does not solve the instance problem.
4. Create a .zip file of the data. I could create all the files, and them zip them into a collection. Additionally I could add a JSON file with some metadata. I like this except for have to make the temporary files and I don't need them to be zipped.
5. Use SML from this video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWjhuXBrBfg), but there is no julia support.
6. Use .xlsx files with multiple tables

I guess what I am looking for is some advice on what to do and what options are better than the others or if there is something that I totally missed.

The physics paper 2 today was shockingly easy. I got a feeling that Cambridge will screw us up in the MCQ

So I've posted a lot of times on this subreddit, and a part of that is because I haven't fully fleshed out the details of my world; I had a basic idea of what I wanted my world to look like, the types of magic I wanted to be there, and the world in which I wanted that magic to occur. I'm someone who likes grinding down on my magic system until it makes sense, so I haven't really been able to focus on writing my actual story, although in fairness I've tied up a few plot threads. Now, I think I have a genuine final product and can actually start writing my story. So here it goes.
FUNDAMENTALS
The three fundamental forces in my universe are Dream, Spark, and Sacrifice. Dream is the product of the underworld, Sacrifice resides in the domain of the living, and Spark is the energy that binds and separates the two worlds. I'm very fascinated by the idea of making a sacrifice, or the spilling of blood in many cases, being necessary for dreams to come true.
Dream, in this context, is imagination, memory, past, future, desire, fear, all that does not yet exist but existed or has the potential to exist. The fuel of Dream is memory, because a dream that is not remembered, even subconsciously, is one that ceases to exist, and Dream tends to absorb memory.
Sacrifice, in this context, has a more neutral meaning than we're used to; it only means a change in the mortal realm, mental or physical, that initiates the coming to life of a dream. Think of a mother, who sacrifices or is made to sacrifice her body for 9 months to give birth to the dream of a child, the possibility made real by the change in the mother's physical circumstance. Or an empire; someone dreamed of it, but they needed to spill blood to bring it into fruition. The blood and death, not the action, is the sacrifice, and that sacrifice brings life to a dream.
Spark, broadly, is energy. From a metaphysical perspective, it is the energy that carries out a sacrifice and, using that sacrifice, brings Dream into existence. Two people needed to perform the action of intercourse for the mother who gives birth to a child to have made a sacrifice; the act of intercourse induces the sacrifice, which is the state of pregnancy. To go back to the empire example, you need to perform the act of stabbing or shooting a bunch of people, or if you're not into all out war, the act of slitting the throat of the king, for instance. The act induces the sacrifice, which is death, which enables the dream to come true. But more broadly, spark is literally energy, the force that makes the planet move, the sword to swing, the fire to burn.
The child of Dream and Spark is Will. Will is consciousness, the ability to make something happen, to manipulate energy to accomplish a purpose, to make the dream come true.
The combination of all three, Dream, Spark, and Sacrifice, is what creates life, a physical manifestation of the Will; this is what makes life special above all other things. When in your physical body, the Will is bound by that body because the body created by Dream, Spark, and Sacrifice creates a barrier that the Will cannot cross, which is why almost no one can manipulate energy on their own. Once you die, you either cross into the Underworld, the land of dreams, or a Sacrifice in the form of emotional connection interacts with the Will to block it from returning to the Underworld, binding you to the Mortal Realm, making you a ghost, a will that exists in the Mortal Realm but without a physical body usually cannot perceive the world except for other Wills, trapping spirits stuck in the Mortal Realm in their own memories unless they can use the body of another as a host.
The exception to the binding of the Will to the body is through Dream; when you dream, your Spark transfers your will to the Underworld, where all dreams live. Spark has a natural magnetism towards the Underworld, and the Will has a natural attraction to Spark, meaning when you're asleep, Spark is no longer bound by consciousness and is able to take the Will to its natural home before waking. As I said before, dreams are fueled by memory, so when you dream, the Underworld is slowly taking memories from you until you wake up, meaning that most people forget most of what they dream about.
The Mortal and Immortal Realms are separated by a substance in the air known as Valin Steel, which has the effect of cancelling out any binding effect of a sacrifice, detaching Spark energy from the physical form it is bound to, causing it to by default return to the Immortal realm. When Spirits are summoned from the Immortal Realm to the Mortal Realm, that creates a disturbance which causes Valin Steel particles to form into visible chunks of a metallic substance stronger than normal steel. Valin Steel is particularly dangerous because of its combustibility, with only a small amount of exposure to fire being sufficient to cause explosions that can level neighborhoods if not cities with just a few pounds of material.
One other reaction is that of the Will interacting with the physical world. The Will generates Spark, and when it is not bound to a physical body but is still bound to the Mortal Realm, that Spark, when a spirit uses it to manipulate the Mortal world, sinks into and irradiates any material under it, which creates a substance called Emanation, which contains certain levels of Spark, which means it can be combined with other ingredients to induce specific magical effects when the solution makes contact with something; Emanation is thus the basis for all magical potions.
MAGIC
As I said, the Will of a living being cannot cross past or alter that body, but when a living thing dies, while most go to the Underworld, some are trapped here, without a body to bind the Will. Unbound, a spirit's Will allows them manipulate the Spark, and this forms the source of all magic in this world; the key to using magic, therefore, is developing some type of relationship or having a pre-existing relationship with a spirit. Without any sacrifice, spirits can use telekinesis, lightning generation and manipulation, and thermokinesis. Because Spark forms the basis of cognition, spirits can enter your brain and steal your thoughts and memories, share thoughts and memories by imparting them to the being they're passing through, essentially able to impart "suggestions" that, in their strongest form, can act as a form of hypnosis.
Spirits can also briefly possess creatures, but bodies are generally not equipped to handle two sparks in a single host. A spirit possessing a body would cause every part of that body to want to move, and having two sparks in one body can end up killing the host because without constant movement the extra spark ends up just absorbing oxygen from the air for stimulation. This is why when possession occurs it is usually only for brief periods, like a minute or so. The exception is if people learn certain war dances which allow them to use their whole bodies, they can be possessed, therefore possessing the power of spirits, for a much longer time; they have to keep dancing to maintain the stability, and this form of magic use has given birth to multiple martial arts styles based on encircling and constantly barraging your opponent; some of the arts are called Sand-Dancing, Water-Dancing, and Mud-Dancing, all based on using bouts of telekinesis to quickly harness easy to manipulate materials to overwhelm opponents (the inspiration for these martial arts styles would be Capoeira; Capoeira is extremely effective and allows for constant movement).
So the biggest fuel for my magic system is the issue of perception. Most people can't remember visiting the Underworld, most people can't see beyond their bodies, most people cannot see ghosts in the Mortal Realm, and most ghosts cannot see the Mortal Realm because they don't have a physical body with which they can perceive. This creates a situation where, while anyone can use magic because most people can develop some type of connection with spirits, it is difficult in practice for most to do so.
But some people are born with, or in rare cases develop, a unique bond with dream, giving them some or all of these abilities. Really creatives, people with certain mental disorders, or people born from uniquely difficult circumstances that required sacrifice, usually on the part of the mother, that is greater emotionally or physically than what would otherwise be expected, are more connected to Dream, and are therefore more able to perceive it beyond just their physical senses. This represents around 10% of the population; a strong sign of one of these abilities is lucid dreaming, because it means you are able to navigate the Underworld while not having your memories stolen, meaning you can essentially access the dream world whenever you sleep, or if you're trained whenever you want. Seeing spirits in the mortal realm is rare; around 2% of people have the ability, and it's really useful because spirits have the ability to manipulate energy but can't perceive the world around them, meaning that you can make a deal with a spirit for them to lend you their services in exchange for lending your body to them. Another rare ability is astral projection, which comes hand in hand with the ability to perceive the Mortal Realm as a spirit because both involve the ability to perceive the world beyond your physical body. So these ghosts, unlike others, are under normal circumstances essentially autonomous because they can perceive the world around them, meaning they can interact with the world without the constraints of a physical body. These are usually the deadliest types of spirits.
In order to change the nature of something, you need a sacrifice and a spirit must provide the spark necessary to activate that sacrifice. There are three different types of sacrifices:

1. White Sacrifices, which are made by causing mental anguish or connection. This sacrifice is necessary for two purposes; to create and bind someone to a magical oath which makes it so such an oath cannot be broken as long as the person bound to the oath remains bound, or to create a magical bond between two or more beings, allowing those bonded with each other to communicate telepathically, to perceive events through each other’s eyes, to share memories, and when one dies, to share a living body.
2. Red Sacrifices, which are made simply by spilling blood. This sacrifice is necessary to transform the physical form of one thing into another form. For instance, to transform an inanimate object into another inanimate object, one must coat that object with their own blood, and have a spirit activate that blood sacrifice by using their spark. Typically, Red Sacrifices involve shedding one’s own blood to change their physical form; when Red Sacrifices are activated, their form changes. When transforming into a form larger than themselves, the spell will cause a person to absorb the soft matter (water, sand, dust, mud, etc.) around them to gain mass, and when transforming into a form smaller than themselves, they shed mass in the form of “Formsand”, which they can then use to transform into their original form. This sacrifice can be permanently imbued as an ability to change into a specific form and back using tattoos made from emanation; the process of tattooing spills the blood necessary for a blood sacrifice, and the specific ingredients, the placement of the ink, and the Will of the tattooer and the tattooed determine the specific form they turn into. Descendants of those who shape shift inherit some of the characteristics of the altered forms of their parents.
   1. Some animals have also evolved ways of using Red Sacrifices to give themselves enhancements, such as the ability to breathe fire.
3. Black sacrifices, which are made by taking a life. This sacrifice is necessary to bind spirits of the dead to a physical form. The target spirit can perform or activate the sacrifice, but if the target spirit is one that the magic user wishes to control, another spirit has to make and activate the sacrifice. This can be used for a variety of purposes, including permanently binding spirits to a physical object and forcing it to do the bidding of the user, and permanently binding a spirit to a dead corpse, giving them new life in a new body.

Spellcasting is the act of giving spirits you are bound to instructions to perform an action. Basically, spirits recognize certain words as commandments to perform an action based on what they've learned; the more people that recognize a specific word as a specific command, the more potent that spell becomes. Spellcasting in the context of telepathic acts is often performed with songs or poetry, with certain phrases being used as a form of hypnotism as the melodic effect coincides with the spirits placing ideas in your head; this also happens to act as a sort of work-around to the requirement of possession for mind control because the spirit doesn't need to channel their energy through the whole body, just the mind, and they don't need to completely enter the person's body to influence them; this allows some magic users to cross the line from hypnotism into genuine mind control.

Hi Everyone! Looking for a sanity check on a project regarding pricing.
I was just working as a freelance shoote editor for a few years, and transitioned into a different full-time job with the intent of working on projects on the side. A friend who is relatively successful in the realm of corporate recruiting has a side business where she teaches job seekers how to find work (she gets like $800 to rewrite resumes JFC) and speaks publicly here and there. In trying to generate more passive income, she wants to create an online course and has hired some writers to work with her on the scripts. She's asked me for a quote to handle the shoot/ editing and told me her budget is about $8k.
The whole thing is projected about 90 minutes in length. Since the project will be mostly narrated video/ slides, she will only appear on camera for about 15-20% of that 90 minutes. if it's 12-18 minutes of finished footage, that sounds like a single day with just me (maybe an assistant?) two cameras, three lights, and an audio kit. Seems relatively straightforward to me.
The edit is the tricky part. Sounds like I'll have about a month to complete a 90-minute project. In a vacuum, that sounds *insane* but the nature of narrated clips of someone on a computer *might* mean the creator is picking the best take, and that removes a lot of work. I might be, at the end of the day, doing some finishing work, and cutting 15-minutes of talking head footage, which sounds pretty easy since it's already scripted.
The course is broken into four modules that are 20-25 minutes in length. I'm thinking it makes sense to treat it like it's 4 edits that are 20 minutes long, and saying it's $1k for each. Does that make sense?
Thanks!

This is going to be a bit long but please bear with me...
That paper was soooooo easy, probably the easiest physics paper I have ever attempted.....and I still couldn't do it.
So I arrived at my college at 8.45 and our Dean made us stand in the ground for coming late. There were atleast a 100 students there with me. She made us stand there until the paper started like after 9 so our attendance will be marked as late.....like purposely. The reason I was late was because of ALOT of traffic. And it was soo hot today, while in the ground I started to feel dizzy and extremely anxious as the paper had started.
By the time I got the exam paper, I was shivering with anxiety, and when I opened the paper I forgot everything. Like literally even the most basic things like how do you calculate percentage uncertainty or what's the fricking definition of Momentum. I tried to calm myself down and tell myself that I know everything but I can't think clearly if I'm having an anxiety attack.
I did Q2, Q3, Q5 and Q7 correctly and maybe messed up in a few parts but they were 2 marks each so not that big of a problem. But I couldn't do Q1 which was 10 marks, Q4 which was 11 marks and I left 1 part in Q6 which was of 3 marks. This means I left a total of 25 marks and god knows how many more silly errors I made. I just don't want to get below 30 because even if the grade threshold states that A is at 25 (hypotheticall), below 30 means fail. It means I couldn't even score 50% of the marks and I am soo soo disappointed in myself.
I still have my practical and paper 1 and I'm aiming to get 30+ in both. But I feel soo hopeless now like what's the point of even studying anymore? What if I forget again or what if I have another anxiety attack. I've been in therapy for more than a year and I take antidepressants daily but healing anxiety takes a lot of time. I was perfectly fine with the rest of the papers and the last time this happened was in maths p2 in Olevel.
Please give me any kind of reassurance or hope that I can still do it, that I can still get a B in physics and I'm just overthinking...
I feel soo embarrassed because the paper was actually soo easy, and I still couldn't do it 😔