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Things That Are on Your Mind

Spiritual Mask Salesman

CHIMer Dragonborn
Staff member
Comm. Coordinator
Site Staff
Why is my creative flow so unpredictable lately. I want to be doing more art, but it isn't working out. I am making a lot of progress with writing, which is cool, but I want to be in art mode right now, not a writing mode, lol. I have been in a writing mode for a month now, and up until now I was fine with that, but I want to start doing more art again. I have a bunch of digital art pieces I have that are half completed and that's been irking me. I also want to start doing character design art for my story now that the writing has moved along to a point where I can start focusing on that.

So yeah. I feel like I haven't had this issue in a really long time because I used to balance between the two so well.
 

Mikey the Moblin

sushi is a suspicious hello
Joined
Aug 31, 2014
Location
southworst united states
Gender
Dude
after seeing a few signs that maybe I've lost a bit of weight over the past couple weeks I decided to weigh myself
I'm currently 30-40 lbs overweight
I really really want to feel comfortable with my body and now that I'm not a kid anymore it's been hard to avoid being more sedentary since I can't "go out to play" with friends, and I don't have sports like soccer, swimming, or track to keep me active every day
I don't need to make any drastic changes but I do need some way to keep myself accountable
just cut out pop because I'm drinking so much of it and the calories add up fast
I've been walking more, but it's giving me horrible blisters everywhere for some reason and my feet have been in sharp pain for the last week or so
also my heels look disgusting lol
for some reason the physical aspect of my last job wasn't really keeping me in shape either


anyway that's what's currently on my mind as I eat an entire package of processed ramen at midnight
 

Morbid Minish

Spooky Scary Skeleton.
Forum Volunteer
after seeing a few signs that maybe I've lost a bit of weight over the past couple weeks I decided to weigh myself
I'm currently 30-40 lbs overweight
I really really want to feel comfortable with my body and now that I'm not a kid anymore it's been hard to avoid being more sedentary since I can't "go out to play" with friends, and I don't have sports like soccer, swimming, or track to keep me active every day
I don't need to make any drastic changes but I do need some way to keep myself accountable
just cut out pop because I'm drinking so much of it and the calories add up fast
I've been walking more, but it's giving me horrible blisters everywhere for some reason and my feet have been in sharp pain for the last week or so
also my heels look disgusting lol
for some reason the physical aspect of my last job wasn't really keeping me in shape either


anyway that's what's currently on my mind as I eat an entire package of processed ramen at midnight

Cutting out cokes will make a huge change. And you don't necessarily even have to cut them out, if you don't mind switching to the Zero ones. Just making that change will help you drop weight without even trying elsewhere. After I graduated high school, I stopped drinking them as much and lost a good bit without making any other changes at the time. Over time I've eventually switched to drinking water probably 98% of the time. And I used to hate drinking water. But if you keep up with it you get used to it, and will actually end up craving it. I know how tough the initial transition for those changes are though. Good luck with your efforts to shed some weight!
 

Link&Midna

K-Dawg
Joined
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Gender
walrus
I wouldn't drink Coke zero honestly, I've heard that stuff is really ****in bad for you, even moreso than the regular.
If you're looking for exercise that doesn't involve walking, maybe swimming would be good? If you've got a place nearby that's easy to access I've heard it's really good exercise and it's less strain on the body than other stuff
 

Morbid Minish

Spooky Scary Skeleton.
Forum Volunteer
I wouldn't drink Coke zero honestly, I've heard that stuff is really ****in bad for you, even moreso than the regular.
If you're looking for exercise that doesn't involve walking, maybe swimming would be good? If you've got a place nearby that's easy to access I've heard it's really good exercise and it's less strain on the body than other stuff

There's been a lot of stuff in recent years saying how bad diet/zero cokes are dangerous or bad for your health but it's not really consistent with research. People try to say that aspartame is bad for you and causes all sorts of problems but the research on that was old and found to be inconsistent. Even the American Cancer Society has said that there is no link between aspartame and cancer risks, and cited links from the FDA and EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) stating that it is safe. (American Cancer Society statement link)And from what I know the EFSA is even stricter than the FDA on stuff like that. Aspartame is just an artificial sweetener that is used in a lot of things because it takes much less to sweeten foods than normal sugar/corn syrup. Corn Syrup is in most everything, especially since it's much cheaper to produce than actual sugar and corn farmers receive a subsidy from the government for growing the crop. Corn syrup has actually been linked to increase in appetite, obesity, higher risk of diabetes, higher risk of heart disease, etc. And it is in just normal cokes. Plus it requires a lot more corn syrup to make something sweet vs aspartame so you're exposed to much more of those risks, even if aspartame has some harmful effects as well. Diet/zero cokes are a good step to weight loss because it still gives you something sweet to drink without the calories. So you get the craving fix while trying to transition to drinking more water. Exercise is also good, but the biggest factor when it comes to weight loss is what you eat since it all comes down to calories in vs calories out. You'll have to work much, much harder to burn off the extra calories from just normal cokes.

Sorry to ramble on about this. Lol. I've done a lot of reading about weight loss stuff, and have lost a good bit of weight over the years on and off.
 

ExLight

why
Forum Volunteer
Brazil's National Institute of Cancer (INCA) recommends avoiding the use of aspartame and mentions multiple international recent studies about their carcinogenic properties. It feels like one of those topics that are still somewhat inconclusive and in need of better research due to conflicting results. In any case I doubt this is the only worrisome thing someone would find inside the mysterious witch brews that sodas are lmao, so not so sure how much healthier just cutting the sugar would be.

And sugar is not an issue if you're using it through exercising, so as long you're somewhat keeping track of what you ingest and burn it should be easier to know how much you activity/re-dieting you need.

I saw a twitter thread earlier about an AI system that can replicate human art very well, and it's a little bit concerning.

Like, I can definitely tell the art is still AI generated because it lacks the nuance that a real artist can give a piece, the AI art looks really, well, souless. But to non-artists this stuff could certainly fool them into thinking a human made the work.

It might not happen right away, maybe not in our lifetime, but I do find myself wondering if AI is going to replace real artists within projects at some point. It's a scary thought.
Why is it concerning? Literally every time a new technology comes, or that a piece of machinery starts improving at something, people freak out and start acting like they'll dominate the field or take jobs away. Hell, since its creation to up to this day, a ton of painters complain about photography.

I saw the same twitter thread, and honestly; people in art, outta all places, panicking about it kinda makes me roll my eyes a bit. While drawing something pleasant to the eyes is part of what makes art impressive, it's not all that it has for it. Being able to add a concept, being able to transmit a message or feeling through it, being creative... they're all things an AI will hardly ever understand. Most of these modern AIs are trained with other human arts; they can mainly only (somewhat) replicate styles and based on others art, and that's it. Maybe that's why some people feel like it's """soulless""".

Even if the AI eventually learns how to be creative by itself, even if the AI learns how to express feeling by itself; it's THEIR message and feelings. It's its own thing, it isn't stealing anyone's creativity; it isn't stealing anyone's feelings.

Sure, AI might cause changes in multiple fields, but that's more of just another revolution in these artistic industries rather than the "omg artists won't exist anymore!!!" freakout we keep seeing? Like, of course AI might eventually earn its place in, like, automation in an animation studio; but just as another tool to be used, not another competitor.

In the end it feels like the people who feel threatened by it are either the ones who have a very shallow and aesthetic view on art; or just mass-spew out commissions for a quick cash grab, which, sure, it's their business and their lifestyle, so it's understandable. But c'mon, commercial commissioned art has always been meritocratic, with all due respect if people are paying someone because they draw anything for cheap rather than because of the quality of their work then they were going to become obsolete regardless of any AI.
 

Spiritual Mask Salesman

CHIMer Dragonborn
Staff member
Comm. Coordinator
Site Staff
Why is it concerning? Literally every time a new technology comes, or that a piece of machinery starts improving at something, people freak out and start acting like they'll dominate the field or take jobs away. Hell, since its creation to up to this day, a ton of painters complain about photography.

I saw the same twitter thread, and honestly; people in art, outta all places, panicking about it kinda makes me roll my eyes a bit. While drawing something pleasant to the eyes is part of what makes art impressive, it's not all that it has for it. Being able to add a concept, being able to transmit a message or feeling through it, being creative... they're all things an AI will hardly ever understand. Most of these modern AIs are trained with other human arts; they can mainly only (somewhat) replicate styles and based on others art, and that's it. Maybe that's why some people feel like it's """soulless""".

Even if the AI eventually learns how to be creative by itself, even if the AI learns how to express feeling by itself; it's THEIR message and feelings. It's its own thing, it isn't stealing anyone's creativity; it isn't stealing anyone's feelings.

Sure, AI might cause changes in multiple fields, but that's more of just another revolution in these artistic industries rather than the "omg artists won't exist anymore!!!" freakout we keep seeing? Like, of course AI might eventually earn its place in, like, automation in an animation studio; but just as another tool to be used, not another competitor.

In the end it feels like the people who feel threatened by it are either the ones who have a very shallow and aesthetic view on art; or just mass-spew out commissions for a quick cash grab, which, sure, it's their business and their lifestyle, so it's understandable. But c'mon, commercial commissioned art has always been meritocratic, with all due respect if people are paying someone because they draw anything for cheap rather than because of the quality of their work then they were going to become obsolete regardless of any AI.
Well yeah the hope is AI just becomes a tool to streamline the process even more maybe, and I guess a lot of people even now are trying to add it to their workflows for idea generation.

Anyway, It was concerning when I first heard it because I was still trying to process it.
 
Kind of absent-mindedly browsing twitter and like checking out accounts from retweets and stuff and this rabbit hole always seems to lead to like this internet subculture where everyone just sort of acts and talks the same and it kind of disturbs me, to be honest. Like, I mean, we all sort of pick up on idiosyncrasies from the people we hang out with, but the fact that like this happens on such a large scale that people regardless of age and demographic all talk indistinguishably from each other really weirds me out. It's definitely the byproduct of how communication is streamlined anymore, but it's still like jarring to see on that scale and after kind of giving it some thought, I think that might actually be the underlying reason why I'm so afraid to meet new people online anymore. It's hard to feel people are genuine when they all sort of funnel into the same personality. I'm sure there's studies on it out there, but eh.

Either way, I appreciate y'all here on ZD. I do really feel like I'm talking to real people with real personalities and that makes the interactions we have here in the shoutbox and even in threads a whole lot more meaningful. It's not just about the post you guys make but the person making the posts. That's invaluable.
 

TheGreatCthulhu

Composer of the Night.
Joined
Jan 22, 2016
Location
United States of America
Gender
Very much a dude.
One guy says that the Peavey 5150 and the Peavey 6505 sound different.

However, according to the designer of the two amps, James Brown, the circuits of the two amps are exactly the same. And, in a blind test that eliminates all variables, except for the two amp heads in question, most people can't pick out the difference.

So why are Peavey 5150 originals selling for an extremely upcharged price? Because of Eddie Van Halen. When he passed, people thought that the Peavey 5150 would become rare, and Eddie's passing gave them an opportunity to sell what was originally a great sounding, affordable tube amp around $1000, for extremely upcharged prices.

Well, one, the 5150 is the most used amp on metal records right alongside the Marshall JCM-800, so rarity isn't a thing with these amps, and even if the numbers on the front don't say "5150" you can buy the 6505, which is the same damn amp, according to the designer.

I should also note that most people place more value on the amp head than they do the speakers, which is silly, since it's the speakers that are actually creating the sound you're hearing.

The reason this bothers me, is because he's encouraging someone to buy an extremely overpriced amp that's the same as the 6505, which is much more affordable these days. Suggesting someone to buy a more expensive amp, when a lower priced one does the exact same thing isn't good advice. It's just spending money to spend money.
 

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