1.5M ratings
277k ratings

See, that’s what the app is perfect for.

Sounds perfect Wahhhh, I don’t wanna
debaucherries
dicaeopolis

astronomy club sent up a weather balloon w a gopro in it last friday. put in three packs of fruit snacks so they could have a giggle over eating fruit snacks that had been to space.

balloon went up into inner space, about 90,000 feet. came down right near the dinosaur park. a few physics teachers drive out to get it, crack it open on the way home to start watching the footage.

fruit snacks are missing.

multiple sources confirm that fruit snacks were put in balloon and sealed in with duct tape. physics teachers check entire balloon. no fruit snacks.

physics teachers watch footage. all 7 hours of it. right in the middle of footage, there are about 8 minutes of visual and audio static when balloon is in orbit. no other interference with balloon recorded.

conclusions: ???????

bettycrockersbitch

aliens stole yo fruit snacks

daisenseiben

I’ve been a UFO enthusiast for 2/3rds of my life and this is the most convincing alien encounters story I have ever heard.

should-be-sleeping

image

Originally posted by freckleslikestars

dicaeopolis

Happy just-over-ten-years to this post. Early in its life, it was viewed by a seventeen-year-old aspiring astronomer who DESPISED it, thought it was the dumbest Space Post ever, got mad every time it crossed her dash. But this wasn’t anybody I knew, and she did the mature thing and didn’t send any hate mail about it, and went off and got her whole entire astrophysics degree without me ever finding out. So how do I know about this person’s deep dislike for this post? BECAUSE. I have, at press time, been sleeping next to her for three and a half years

peterparkerisspider-man

Do not punish the behaviour you want to see

olofahere

I mean, it seems pretty obvious when you put it like that, right?

But how many families, when an introvert sibling or child makes an effort to socialize,  snarkily say, “So, you’ve decided to join us”?

Or when someone does something they’ve had trouble doing, say, “Why can’t you do that all the time?” (Happened to me, too often.)

Or any sentence containing the word “finally”. 

If someone makes a step, a small step, in a direction you want to encourage, encourage it. Don’t complain about how it’s not enough. Don’t bring up previous stuff. Encourage it.

Because I swear to fucking god there is nothing more soul-killing, more motivation-crushing, than struggling to succeed and finding out that success and failure are both punished.

redcurlzbychoice

Encouragement and acknowledgment are so much more effective than punishment.

ingridverse

image
jabbage

One of the moments that I think about a lot when I think about how much I love my Dad, is that once when I was a teenager prone to spending long hours alone in my room I emerged to spend time with the family, he joked “Oh look, it’s the lodger!”

And before I’d even processed what he meant (that I was behaving more like a tenant than a family member), he went on some kind of internal flashback journey, and said “My father used to say that to me and I hated it, I don’t know why I said it to you,” and he apologised, and never made a joke like that again.

It’s like he did a speedrun on overcoming generational trauma.

thou-creature-of-the-deep
storycraftcafe

Did I just unsubscribe from a writer I've been following for years because they advocated for using AI? You fucking bet.

They suggest it's use as a tool, citing writers who hesitated to jump on the internet being left behind and I think that displays a rather big misunderstanding of the nature of problem.

Their point was gen AI can "help us think" but there's growing studies show us that it does anything but. Here's one paper on skill atrophy from AI use. There's more than a few of them plus some articles like this one from Forbes. Essentially using AI for a particular skill shows degradation in thelat skill.

Fact is brainstorming, research, analysis. Planning, outlining, writing, editing are ALL skills writers need to develop and practise. Not offload to a machine and surrender critical thought.

These skills are vital and transferrable to other aspects of our lives. My ability to critically examine a body of text to parse meaning works in enjoying fiction and digging through mixed messages in news and on social media. My ability to research and develop ideas from multiple sources also helps me fact check misinformation online.

These skills are so important, too important to cast aside for convenience.

I'd rather use my brain and do the work. Maybe ai will shift and better tools will arise, but I have put too much work into developing my skills to be content with the half assed result of the plagiarism machine.

Fuck that.

storycraftcafe

And tumblr seems to be eating the links lets try this again: Forbes article.

Paper mentioned: paradox of augmentation

audre-w

Also, some times, planning, brainstorming, researching, writing etc... Can be hard to do own its own. So discussing it can help. But like... That what other humans and society os for. Helping. Call you bff, or go to a café, and let chatgpt die in a corner

storycraftcafe

THIS.

I'm fortunate enough to have people I can rubber ducky problems with. I think every writer needs at least one person they can turn to for that, which is solved by us forming communities.

painkillerscoffeeandcathair

Thinking is hard.

Thinking is a skill.

But if it's a skill, it can be improved upon. It takes effort, curiosity, interest.

storycraftcafe

^^^^^^^

author-a-holmes

I agree with everything said above, but I'd also like to add a tip.

I have a small handful of friends, and they all work or have families and so aren't always available to brainstorm or help me pick apart my plot problems.

I have more friends online and in writing communities, but I also suffer from depression and anxiety, and much of the time the thought of 'bothering' them can be overwhelming.

So I've actually found you can "Rubber Duck" a problem for writing, alone. Much like the original concept, where a programmer talked through their code with a literal Rubber Duck, I have a sheet of poster paper stuck to my living room wall. On it, are post-it notes laying out my story's plot. And I'll stand in the middle of the living room, with more, unused, post-it's on the table, and multple multi-coloured pens, and my music playing, and I'll talk MYSELF through my plot until I find where I can improve it, or what I'm stumbling over.

No one needs AI to write or create. AI is a tool, but it's like a surgeon trying to use a butter knife instead of a scalpel.

thegardenandthegrave

I have a recorder app on my phone and I talk to my publisher (me) through it to work out story problems or even to solve roadblocks like knowing I won't have as much time to write this week due to my job.


Mind you, I have never once listened back to these recordings but they've helped me in so many ways.