Finding Ways

Posted on by accordingtohoyt

We don’t have access to the paths of power, the official support, the institutions, the easy money, the wealthy supporters.

That’s the bad news. The other bad news is that those things are all corrupt and extensively corroded. This is bad news for society as a whole, even if we’re locked outside it.

Look, one thing is for the hand that has money and power to tilt slightly in favor of the still more or less good performers but ideologically balanced to the left. That I understand is what was going on in the forties, fifties, etc.

Oh, the president — FDR (ritual spit) for instance — could be a loon and choose winners and losers according to the color of their socks or whether he liked their accent. Or you know, because he had a pash for commies. But in the tiers and ranks below, even in the most biased fields — writing, television, movies, newspapers — you would get a leg up and be expedited on your way to success if you were known to be red, but still quite decent.

Sure, perhaps not the best one could find, but competent, and at least with a marginal spark of talent. (But Sarah, red scare. People were against communists. Yeah. Right. Pull the other one. It plays jingle bells. Some people were publicly and obviously ostracized by the other communists in the field, but those businesses were already thoroughly left by then, and everyone was in on it. McCarthy wasn’t wrong. He was profoundly late. (Alas, Trump might have been too.)

Still, they produced watchable stories, wrote watchable stories, threw their money behind projects that might cement most hierarchies as lefty controlled but were also massively successful, thereby creating more money. And more disciples. To an extent. The amount of soft lefties who are so because of all the “of course” leftism implied in the world building of old shows and books became their unexamined premise. It’s just that the soft sell takes a long, long time. And mostly creates decent people who are reflexively left but still able to be shocked of it, and use their damaged thinking processes to think themselves away from the poison. (A lot of us.)

However perhaps the slowness rankled them. Or perhaps it is simply the decline of any hierarchy that relies on ANY OTHER REASON THAN COMPETENCE for hiring and promoting.

It doesn’t matter if that hierarchy is skin color (any) or likes my kind of music or is a communist or is one-legged or is related to me. Over time any hierarchy, any field, any arts, any crafts and most definitely any science where hiring happens due to reasons not related to competence, dedication and devotion to the field/thing itself, becomes a clown world of idiots, virtue signalers and slackers.

We’re well into that now. We have entertainment that doesn’t entertain, military that can’t defend us, a Junta that is in the pay of our enemies, fiction writers who sound like the most boring of Elizabethan preachers (apparently under the belief people will be fined for not filling the pews) and “scientists” who bring in non-reproducible results. And that is not counting the “scientists” and people who “f*cking love science” who rage, rage that math is racist.

ALL THE HIERARCHIES ARE CORRUPT AND BROKEN AND FALTERING.

And most of our politicians and a lot of our universities are being paid by China, apparently not having realized Chinese money is basically monopoly money backed by the “faith and credit” or totalitarians. They could print it in their basement and achieve the same effect.

So, everything is broken, things are going occasionally and bizarrely sideways in ways even I would find unbelievable ten years ago, and we — the bad kids — are locked outside the whole thing.

Well, there’s good and bad in being the outsiders.

The bad is of course that normal career paths of growth are closed to us. Hearing a soft-left friend not nearly as published/with as many fans as I have talk about movie deals, and money to hold properties for possible movies, and how he’s talked to so and so about a TV series made me want to cry. I knew I was giving that path up when I came out of the closet. It’s still disheartening to know it’s as closed to me as if there were a concrete wall at the very beginning. Unless a cataclysmic event occurs, and Hollywood turns upside down, I’m out of that game.

The good… I’m going to sound like a hippie, so forgive me, but the good is that we have each other.

As times become more unstable… more people need help. But it doesn’t take a huge benefactor. It takes a hundred (or a thousand) little ones. And we have that, because we have the numbers. (Which is why we need to budget what we do in that area, so we don’t bankrupt ourselves.) It’s not easy, it’s not flashy, it’s not easily visible, but it works and often flies below the radar.

I have been telling you for 12 years, give or take, that it’s all going to fall down. It’s rotten through and through. And we have to take the weight when it falls, when it blows. We have to be ready to step in and take the weight of civilization, and keep our people alive, and make sure what comes after is sane.

Honestly, if I didn’t know you bunch of weirdos, as it becomes obvious the rot is larger and worse than I thought, I’d be worried.

But I know you. I know us.

My directive to you is “find a way.” I don’t care what the community you’re involved in is or what project: find a way. If possible, find a way to make whoever needs money more “solid” (training, redirection, direct employment) so they don’t need help again. And help them in the direction of making them more what they want to be (not what you want them to be. Alas, neither son married/is marrying a web designer.)

As you’re building over, building under, building around, do try to be creative. Sometimes the extra mile between “I helped my buddy survive” and “I helped my buddy find a new sideline that he can do or needs just a little instruction for and which will be the beginning of a new career” is very fine, and not a lot of money. Sometimes of course, it’s more than that.

Consider too your time. That two hours you spend watching cat videos? There’s a lot of learning videos on you tube.

I’m not telling you what you should be interested in, mind you. Not my job. I’ll just say I don’t think civilization will fall all the way to pre-industrial or medieval, let alone primitive. Venezuela and Cuba still have electricity (ish. Most of the time.) But if what makes your heart pound is forging metal armor, go for it, maybe there will be something it’s needed for in the future.

However, more likely? Oh, soap making. Candle making. Bread making. Clothes alterations. Car repair. Dishwasher repair. making stuff out of scrap wood. Things that will pay out right now, but will really pay out in a disrupted society. Making natural cat food (Buy taurine to drip on it.) Whatever.

I’m a very useless person and conscious of being so, so what I’m noodling on is “ways to sell my books if Amazon falls.” And writing ever more compelling stories. I haven’t however lost sight of ‘teaching writing, because I’ve learned a few things and might give someone a leg up. I’ve just been slowed/hampered by years of well…. apparently of being high altitude, but I didn’t know that.

There is a wealth of information out there. Things that the scholars of the past would have killed themselves to get. You can learn anything. If you can try to make it useful, but don’t underestimate the chances things will be unexpectedly useful.

Just stay alert and be creative.

What can you do today to support one of us who are excluded from the structure? What can you do to build or solidify a network? What can you do to help someone go a step further? (Ye, I hear you “yelling at Sarah to finish books. I’m working on it.)

Think about it, stay active about it. Because we really really really are going to need all of us and all we have to survive this and to survive the collapse of the structures.

As I said, looking at you bunch of weirdos I’m not even worried. A little confused of how it will work out, but sure it will.

Be not afraid. Just keep working. We got this.

166 thoughts on “Finding Ways”

    1. I can’t help but feel that if you zoomed in on the Earthlike balloon enough you’d end up with that same image again…

  2. It’s hard to find a way when you’ve got bills to pay, medication that keeps you able to “find a way” that doesn’t involve an “I Love Me” jacket, family that needs your help, and a whole lot of other problems and issues.

    But…it’s time to figure out how to go over, around, and through…and while I might not be able to lead, I could do a lot of the writing and secondary paperwork.

      1. Thank you. Right now, it’s getting The Winter Solist done (solo work, like most writing), a cover made (that I’ll need help with), boosting the book in as many places as possible (help there, but I’ll also put a few dollars down on Facebook and WordPress to market for a week or two)…and keeping myself sane and health in the process of getting there.

        And, if people need help from my end, I’ll see what I can do with the time I have.

  3. We don’t have to help all of humanity all by our lonesomes.

    If we only help the people who are next to us and everyone pays it forward, it will be a great sufficiency.

    Even just paying your own bills and taking care of your own so as not to be burden helps in the grand scheme of things.

  4. Hierarchies tend to get taken over, not by those good at their jobs, but by those obsessed with being in charge. See The Iron Law Of Bureaucracy. The bigger the hierarchy, the more pronounced that tendency becomes. What’s the biggest hierarchy in the whole history of the whole history? Yeah. And it just keeps getting bigger, and worse. The obsessed idiots in charge keep making it bigger, and worse.

    Corporations have to be at least somewhat competent at what they’re supposed to be doing, or they go bankrupt. Or require bailouts. Governments, not so much. Governments can go on being stupid and incompetent and destructive until We The People can’t take it any more. The peasants are revolting! 😀

    Which is why they are obsessed with taking our guns away, and tell the most outrageous and transparent lies in pursuit of that obsession.
    ———————————
    There are forms of stupidity that businesses can’t indulge in. There are no such limitations on the stupidity of government.

    1. “Hierarchies tend to get taken over, not by those good at their jobs, but by those obsessed with being in charge.”

      And those darned ‘morning people’ who believe they get to make rules simply because they’re awake before noon.

      I think most sensible people recognize ‘politics is a necessary evil’. Most of the current crowd of elected, from school boards on up, think ‘politics – and political power – is everything‘

          1. I’m not…but wound up in a field where you get to launch airplanes at dawn to take advantage of low winds. Flight test mercenary. 🙂

  5. Thank you, Sarah.

    The tree of Renaissance is watered with the [blood] of turbulence. And here we are!

  6. Yes. Our tiny church is rather proud to sponsor a missionary in Honduras (who’s preaching women’s rights and “rape is bad no matter who does it,” along with the Gospel – the assassination attempts were up to five last time I heard). Plus the donation to disaster relief. Plus being the third-largest donor to the town food bank (out of a dozen sponsoring churches).
    Meanwhile, to help me keep my non-working sanity, I have set up an all-you-can-eat bird buffet by the dining room windows. The finches, titmice, chickadees, juncos, sparrows, cardinals and doves all love me. Or least they love the feeder.

    1. I am sure the squirrels, chipmunks, and depending if you are in the right area the oversized creative acrobatic black bird bear, all love you your feeder too.

      1. My mother has a sharpshinned hawk who adores her feeder.

        We’re all phlegmatic enough about nature to appreciate that hawks too need dinner, and really, he’s pretty cool to watch.

        There’s probably some sort of metaphor about TANSTAAFL in there, but bird brains, y’know?

        1. “It seems that a dove has experienced the Raptor.” DadRed after observing an explosion of feathers, followed by a Coopers hawk ripping into one of the numerous (overwhelmingly so at times) mourning doves that frequent the feeders and birdbath.

          1. Ask DadRed how long he waited for the chance to use that line. And while you’re at it, be a friend and bludgeon him with a carp for us.

        2. Such feeders need to be high enough (and far enough from fences and convenient tree branches) to make it hard to be a kitty-feeding station. Of course, feeder-users frequently dump things they don’t like onto the ground, and the ground-feeding birds take care of much of that, and so are exposed to feline attentions.

          And that’s why there should be some nice tall bushes close by, so all the featherbrains have someplace to flee and hide.

          I really like thistle seed feeders; the goldfinches are beautiful and fun to watch, but nobody cleans up thistle seed hulls, so an occasional shovel and bucket run is required.

          I’m sticking to just hummingbird feeders for now.

          1. I’m in the goldfinch AAA travel guide: neighborhood is reliable for coneflower seeds, it reads. For weeks, they come through and are startled away when I walk outside, but once or twice I have seen them feasting, and the bare coneflower stalks speak for themselves.

            Plus, of course, coneflowers for the summer.

  7. On the television and film front, there are actually several people trying to get that up and going. Tim Pool has a lot of interest in doing that to change the culture. So do Bill Whittle (check out his livestreams about his Colonies series he’s trying to get funded) and I think Steven Crowder. Maybe try reaching out to one of them (or all of them) to see if they would bankroll you or people like you in making a series for Rumble or the like?

    What’s the worst they can say? “No?” 😉

    — G.K.

    1. Good suggestion – I’ve been thinking for years that there ought to be alternate video and movie resources.
      You know – which really entertain the audience.

      1. Hi! waves

        Working on my degree right now (B.F.A. in Film Production and Media Content Development), but once that’s done, hopefully I’ll be able to lend a few scripts to the cause of entertainment!

        Or at least, that’s the goal. I’ve heard the ‘Daily Wire’ has an interest in that area as well, can anyone confirm? And give more detail?

        1. Jeremy Boreing over at Daily Wire has had Bill Whittle write and star in three series of shows (and working on a fourth), so they are producing with outside talent.

            1. Just be aware that DW is going to give you the worst possible terms ever. If you want to keep any rights to your ideas, try talking to Tim Pool. He’s got a much better idea of how to work with creatives other than turning them into serfs.

              — G.K.

              1. Different orientation – DW is running a business, whereas Pool is much more ideological, though he has admitted he has the freedom to do so because of his much smaller scale. DW does the usual thing for when an employee develops something on company time, with the payoff for the employee being that once they build their own profile by working at DW for a few years, they can branch out on their own, if they want.

                1. Yeah. I’m just saying that if you want to continue to develop it or do derivative works from it, go with someone who understands that you term-limit items like rights exchanging or you pay well and assume the production costs if you want to own it forever.

                  Based on what I’ve seen of how DW works, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t sign with them for something creative because they just don’t really understand how that space works at all. They know how the wonk stuff works but they don’t understand that you can’t put all your creative stuff behind the paywall and expect people to shell out $60/$120 just to see if it might be any good.

                  They’re also super risk-averse which tends not to result in very innovative (or entertaining) production. Pool is more open-minded and more willing to take risks.

                  — G.K.

                2. That sounds less like DW running a business and more like the all too common problem of Conservative X replicating all of the problems of X, but with a conservative paint job on it.

                  This is the same crap that places like Truth Social do. And the people who think we need to build a central national organization for such and such cultural issue. It’s always about failing to understand why something doesn’t work, are wanting to build systems that are obsolete because that is what was required by the technology of 50 years ago.

                  1. Oh, it’s definitely not unique to DW. The Blaze does it and so does Fox. They’re doing the same thing everyone is doing now and paywalling everything and just putting out teasers. The problem is that DW, TB, Fox, and PJM are all chasing the same few hundred thousand conservatives who are willing to pay and not putting anything out there to reach people who are low-info or who don’t realize there is an alternative to the MSNBC view of the world. They’ve pretty much ceded all that territory to the Left because they don’t want to come out from behind their paywalls, take a risk, and try doing things like paid-for content on YT, Rumble, Vimeo, or Amazon (like putting stuff up and letting people buy it show-by show or doing season passes).

                    And it’s a real shame because that’s not how people get entertainment. That’s how people signal “I support your message” for political and wonk stuff, but it’s not how people signal “OMG, Avengers phase 1 stuff is FUN!” If you want to break the entertainment barrier, you have to put a lot of entertainment stuff out there for free (like how TV is for the end-user and yes, I know that advertising and ratings and production are things that exist and involve money. I also know I never had to pay a dime to watch ST: TNG when I was a kid because it was on TV for FREE to me). You have to take a lot of risk and you have to cultivate a lot of advertisers who are either down to their last effs to give or who are too massive to be canceled. You have to know how product placement works and pays out versus traditional ads. You have to be willing to admit you might be wrong if your show doesn’t do well and do focus groups and audience feedback to see what you can do to make the next show better. You can’t just sit there, smirk, and talk really fast (Shapiro’s whole shtick) and brag that you went to Harvard.

                    That’s why so much entertainment is subsidized. It’s 80% garbage, 15% watchable, 5% great and you never know which is which. Something that is garbage now might catch fire in ten years and become a cult classic. Something that is great now might do well for sales for years 1 – 3 but then become The Thing That Everyone Loves To Hate On in year 5 for $reason. The entertainment industry made its bank by taking a lot of risks but spreading its risk out (like buying a whole lot of lottery tickets spreads risk). The current wonks on the Right aren’t willing do that and aren’t willing to concede that they aren’t experts on everything which is why there are only a handful of non-lefties out there trying to open up the space (Tim Pool, Bill Whittle, and Steven Crowder).

                    — G.K.

                    PS — Sorry for the novel here. This is just something I get pretty heated up about. 😉

        3. One thing to consider, the tools available to make high quality videos are getting more available every day.

          One of my hobbies is flight sims, and despite it being a very tiny market, the trailers people put together are really impressive. For example, the ‘Vampire’ trailer for the F-14 for DCS: https://youtu.be/s011BXKZS9g

          Thing about it is, these are largely community made. Typically the core devs will work with a couple of the known community video makers to put these together, and handle the licensing stuff and QA, but the videos are typically done by only a couple of guys or so using pre-release beta versions.

          Now, could you do something with mass appeal through just that? I sort of doubt it. But we have seen other machinima break out into the wider world. Red vs Blue comes to mind. And I suspect as we see AI augmented tools get refined, the ability of a small handful of creatives to create compelling video will only grow in scope.

          That’s going to be the catastrophic disruptor for Hollywood: when a dozen people in their own garage can make a movie as high quality as any of the major monster studios.

          And I suspect we are much closer to that than anyone expects.

          1. Look at all the stuff published on Youtube under Dust. There is a LOT that a small indie studio can do, and the tools to make top notch stuff are rapidly improving and becoming affordable for individuals, let alone teams.

              1. You mentioned you were studying film production. Do you know if anyone has put together a decent generic film architecture?

                I’m wondering if it would be possible to put together a list of “this is all the things you usually need to make a computer animated film” and see what the current tool chain looks like?

                1. Not to my knowledge, but that looks like the sort of thing that I would have to either research on my own or learn about in the 300 & 400 level classes, which I’m starting on this fall.

                2. If it’s computer animated films you’re looking at, you definitely want to take a look at Blender. There are lots of tutorials on Youtube, and most of them take a while to go through because it can do just about everything. From modeling your characters and setting up the animation rigging, to doing final editing on the film. It’s also free (and open-source), so the only cost to learn it is time. (Though you certainly can also pay money for Blender-related stuff: they allow people to sell things like collections of pre-made models useful for various sci-fi or fantasy settings, that sort of thing. But the software itself is free.)

                  I don’t know what other software exists that would be useful in the tool chain, but if you’re wanting to do computer animation, Blender is definitely one of the programs you’ll want to learn.

                    1. Hmm… I found something recently and was saving it to feed Fox’s crippling meme addiction whenever she shows up again. But if you’re interested in animation at all, it occurs to me that you might find it useful to contact the guy behind these and ask him about his animation techniques:

                      Not gonna lie, if the animated LOTR movies had been done in this style I probably would have liked them much better. There’s a stilted quality to the animation that gives it a very old-school feeling (which I suspect is deliberate) but it looks much better than those ever did.

                      There’s not much on the guy’s channel yet aside from those two videos, unfortunately; I imagine it take quite a while to make these things. Here’s the channel address if you’re interested: https://www.youtube.com/@EddieSharam

                    2. Wow. The first one managed a really good summary! (I haven’t read the prequel parts of the Do’Urden series, so I can’t speak to the second video’s quality, but it was definitely powerful.)

                    3. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjEaoINr3zgFX8ZsChQVQsuDSjEqdWMAD is one of the best video series for learning the basics of Blender. Starts out by assuming you know nothing about Blender so you need to learn the user interface. Then teaches you all the basic steps in producing an animation: modeling an object, giving it color and texture, setting up lighting, planning out the animation the object will go through, then compositing and rendering the final video.

                      Download a copy of Blender, and follow along in that tutorial series doing the same steps yourself, and you’ll end up with a decent grasp of everything involved in producing your own computer animation.

                3. Draven would be one of the people here who would be the first to talk to about something like that.

                  He has a deep interest in some of the relevant types of software.

                  He also has industry experience, and formal training.

      1. How does one crowdfund a project like that? GiveSendGo? Kickstarter?

        I’m not being sarcastic, I’m genuinely curious as to whether or not those platforms might be helpful.

        2. I don’t know how they started. But I know how I’d start: small. You want to build an audience to make non woke movies, start with short videos on YouTube. Keep it PG or lighter so you at least have a chance to be monetized. Network/schmooze and learn new venues and marketing.

          That’s what I’d do. No doubt someone who has actually DONE some of this has more concrete info.

        3. I don’t know how they started. But I know how I’d start: small. You want to build an audience to make non woke movies, start with short videos on YouTube. Keep it PG or lighter so you at least have a chance to be monetized. Network/schmooze and learn new venues and marketing.

          That’s what I’d do. No doubt someone who has actually DONE some of this has more concrete info.

          1. > “start with short videos on YouTube.”

            I’m going to disagree here. Not with the “short video” part, but with the “YouTube” part.

            I suggest you look into alt-tech hosting sites that don’t practice viewpoint censorship – such as Rumble – and focus on building your audience there. Use YouTube only to reach people you wouldn’t otherwise, but assume they’ll censor you sooner or later and don’t rely on it.

            Same for any kind of censorious platform or service; as much as is practical you want to go with the businesses that have proven resistant to cancel culture.

  9. I think that as a member of the suppressed majority, there should be a way to success and security. There are far more of us out there than is apparent. I know that I am new to this community, but it is one of the very few places where I feel comfortable.

  10. Sarah, I’m not sure if what you said about your sons was a hint that you need website assistance or not–if not, then please disregard this.

    But if you do–if you need special coding on the back end to make plugins and themes, and whatnot play nicely together, I have an excellent web tech and would be happy to give you her name via chat on MeWe. (She’s having to limit her clients list) Her terms are quite reasonable and I’ve found her assistance to be invaluable.

    I’m pretty good with plugins and fairly good with widgets and SEO, and I’m happy to help you if it’s something I know, but I don’t do any back end coding, and I won’t touch cPanel.

    1. Honestly, I DO need website design, but nothing special. (I THINK) I just need someone with time to find the right wordpress meme and set up websites. I’ve tried to get two people to do it, but they’re busy. I’ll pay. And I’ll even pay for purchased theme. My head just doesn’t bend that way and I need… 3 websites done? And this one maintained.
      Email at two initials last name at heated email. (Name changed to throw off the crawlers.)

    2. Hi,
      I wondering what it takes to get someone launched as a web designer. I really need something to help my long term boyfriend, who is drifting further into the politics of envy because he’s been shut out of the traditional entry to his chosen field of computer science. I suspect he could learn to do freelance webdesign or something related to build his own career, but he’s given up and I’m not sure how to help because he’s the person who gets computers.

      Thanks

      1. @Dawn. Have your boyfriend look into Cascade Software Systems (https://www.cascadegovsoftware.com/).

        Last I heard they were still looking for programmers/*support. The company is now a subsidiary of a private equity group out of Canada. Programming tool is **Delphi (5 and current). While the company is based in Eugene Oregon, the programmers work from home via VPN into the company servers in Eugene. (Ironically I pulled the plug because working from home permanently wasn’t an option. But new bosses and 2020 changed that.)

        (*) To be clear Not a call center type support, just (most) the programmers support the clients with the software. Mostly quick requests. It is phone support but there is a method to link to the user’s computer (huge improvement when that became available). Besides the users teach you as much about the huge system that the code does as you research and make changes. While everyone, eventually, finds themselves “the expert” in subsets (mine was “Forms”), anyone can make changes in any code in the system. The other pluses were, at least then: No code line requirements. No (technically no) release deadlines. (Yes, if a client calls and says “the auditors are here”, one is expected to drop what you are doing and focus on getting that problem solved. Or if they call on payroll day, something wrong with time reports/forms. Although, when they call at 4:30 PM and it is due at 5 PM? Yea. Not your problem. Not that you say that. Also, my favorite saying to “when will this be fixed” was “Probably a few minutes after I figure out what is wrong. Now ask me how long will it take to figure out what is wrong?” Yes, I’d been there a few years by then. Before then it was “IDK. I will let me know when there is a fix.”)

        (**) When I retired in 2016/01, after 12 years working there, the process was being worked out on how to move tools forward from Delphi 5 to a newer version. I’ve heard that that is now in progress. The company was sold after I retired.

        Tell your boyfriend to not despair. He just has to keep at it. I’ve been where he is. My first non-short-time job I did get because of who I was: a Forester who Programs, with full 4 year degrees and experience in both. (What? You thought I’d say it was because I was female? Okay, it didn’t hurt that someone on the hiring committee was in the forestry graduating class behind me, and the logging manager was in my husband’s class two years ahead, although we didn’t know that until after I was hired. It did count against me that the job work location had to be moved.) Then my experience, and age, counted against me before I got the job at Cascade (forestry firm left the area, next job the company got bought with the purchasing company going bankrupt). Seventeen months of applications being sent out, with a handful of interviews. Very discouraging. But if the applications/resumes aren’t going out, the job offer isn’t dropping in his lap.

      2. @Dawn, If I may, I’d recommend Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) and Lightcast as two companies who hire quite a few computer science people and have a lot of computer science-adjacent jobs — and who don’t do the leftist shenanigans.

        I don’t know how many entry-level jobs SEL tends to have (I do know they offer paid internships and frequently hire those who do well), but they make a real effort to treat their people well and have a lot of directions a computer science guy could go. A guy I know who has talent, a little bit of coding experience (not very much, just enough to demonstrate that he can do some useful things), and no degree got on at Lightcast and is doing actual coding and likes the place a lot.

        1. Thanks d and Ing for your suggestions.
          The reason why my BF had given up was because he’s several years out of college, never got the entry level CS job, and apparently interviews terribly. What’s a person to to? That’s why I was wondering if he could try inventing his own job.

          1. Cascade Software he’ll be in an entry level job. That is where everyone starts even if one already had 20 years experience (hey after 17 months of not getting ANYTHING, it was a paycheck).

            Regarding “try inventing his own job”. Interviews are selling yourself. I do/did okay. But not particularly a good sales person (or maybe wasn’t particularly good at closing). I tried going out on my own. Then I realized doing my own freelance consulting or coming up with a product to sell, then I would be always selling myself and/or the product. …. Um, No! At least for me. At a paycheck job, it was my work and interfacing with end users that was measured. Not my ability, or lack of, to sale. Your BF may find it differently.

            1. Hi,

              Thanks for getting back to me. Yeah, the selling yourself is the big problem. I’m ok at it, he’s very not good at it. Not sure how teach that to an Aspie who wants to be right and doesn’t care about amenable or faking social norms.

              1. Not criticizing. Took lots of someones to tell me exactly this multiple times. I learned to keep my opinions to myself (sigh, if you knew my mom, or sisters, not easy). Also meant not promoting myself on jobs. Luckily for the jobs I had that wasn’t necessary, including at Cascade. My best advocates were the clients who insisted on working with me, and in the end, while they understood, they were not happy (more than one comment was “Nooooo. You’re suppose to wait until I’ve retired!” and just plain “Noooooo!”)

        2. Dunno if you’d actually want to do anything with Lightcast.

          Last I heard, they went all in on the DIE stuff after dumping their conservative Christian CEO.

          1. Dang, that’s too bad. I heard some people say that the place was improving after getting rid of a “problematic ceo” and I should’ve known from their word choice that they were “improving” in the wrong direction.

  11. Sarah, I fall into the “useless person” category probably even more than you think you do. (BTW, you are NOT useless. You are a shining light in these Clown World times and don’t you ever forget it, ma’am.) I’m in my 50s, fat, out of shape, diabetic, depressed (clinically) and have the practical and mechanical skills of a pet rock. In other words, I’m useful for chocking a wheel and that’s about it.

    So what do I do when the poop hits the ventilator or my company decides I’m not Diversity enough to keep my job? I’m the wrong sex, wrong race, and wrong age to get hired much in my field in tech anymore despite my charming personality (pfft). I can write, but never have done it professionally. My wife’s the crafting deity in the relationship, I always just drove the car and helped set up the tent when we did craft shows with her jewelry.

    I do something, that’s what. I get a job, pushing carts at Wal-Mart if that’s all I can do. I keep looking in the meantime. I never give up. I don’t let the despair drag me down. I continue to be the best husband to my wife and the best father to my daughter that I can be and work on building them up to survive and thrive. I do what needs to be done, whatever it takes. Because that’s what I’m called to do as the man of the family. RIght now, I am terrible at it. But something tells me I’d better start improving at it, and that quickly.

    The Bible says, in some very unpopular passages in today’s world, that man is the head of the household as Christ is the head of the church. What did Christ do for the church? It sure wasn’t pretty, or easy, or desirable. But He did what He needed to do. We are called to do likewise, whatever it takes.

    Besides, sadly, I don’t think that pro-gamer Twitch streamer career is going to work out for me. Be nice if it did, though. 🙂

    1. Besides, sadly, I don’t think that pro-gamer Twitch streamer career is going to work out for me.

      If you have a nice voice and aren’t excitable when you play, you never know!

      There’s a subset of Twitch streamers who get lots of comments about “How relaxing their streams are to listen to!” and “I listen to your stream to help me fall asleep”.

      Just because most streamers put their faces on the screen doesn’t make it a requirement. ^_^

    2. When the stuff hits the fan, burden the enemy with your burdens. Keep them busy helping you, etc. Get needy. Get noisy.

      There is an epic example set by one of our guys held captive by North Vietnam. He played stupid, like Gomer Pyle’s slow cousin stupid. He screwed up anything assigned. They finally gave him a broom to keep him harmlessly busy.

      He was tasked with sweeping the prison compound. He dumped handfuls of swept dirt and sand into NVA truck fuel tanks.

      A whole bunch of trucks.

      Repeatedly.

      And they -never- caught on.

      Be the wheel chock. Even the “useless” can fight.

    3. Hi Anonymoose. Five years ago I was in a similar place 100 lbs overweight prediabetic exhausted and having lost iur house and lively hood. Jan 2018 I came home from my last job. I was literally ready to die. I slept 14 hours then sat in front of the tv and slept 20 more. I had always been busy and active andnupbeat and kept my family going. After 6 weeks I did go see a new doctor at my wifes urging. Against my will and desire I started in high vlood pressure medicine. It made a huge difference. I started exercising a little. There were setbacks but everything I did helped a little more. I summer of 2019 due to a lack of anything else I started working at Walmart. I should have been let go the first week. Unloadi g the truck was exhausting me….but it helped and the shift managers recognized thst I kept going even when I was ready to fall over.
      I did cut back to 4 days and was shifted to stocking which was less.heavy labor but always walking and moving. My weight stabilized around 225…still high but liveable. I had energy was no longer prediabetic and was useful. I worked all through th3 covid nonsense which helped monetwrily and that I could get scarce items.
      Not working now for good reasons but looking to get back into tech work to get ahead of inflation.
      So do what you can you can change your health to be better and even mundane jobs at grocery stores and places like walmart are vital. In fact working those places during shortages can be good for our family. You can do it.

    4. If you want a more positive method for a different SHTF,

      Childcare

      Daycare/storyteller/scoutmaster to keep kids busy/organized/upbeat while parents do their skillthings.

      You might even start now, as part of a church youth program or scouting.

      Learn how to make soaps frtrade-off. (How to make it includes making the tools and scrounging the ingredients) Soap is absolutely vital in a survival situation. Just so many “hard living” problems are attenuated or eliminated with the ability to wash with decent soap. “Nice” soap is a luxury worth much tradestuff.

  12. Film isn’t closed off to you. However, you can’t get there by traditional means. You have to take the indie route the same way you did with publishing. There’s got to be some decent indie film makers in Texas.

    1. There are more and more independently funded films being made. Some of them show up on Amazon Prime, such as the “Mythica” series (6 films) and the hilarious “Dudes & Dragons”. There have also been a number of independent documentaries, a couple of which I have donated to. So, it is quite possible to get films done outside the mainstream.

        1. Oh how perfect! How could the enemy object?

          But absolutely, do not sign away control.

        1. The “Mythica” series is a fairly generic Dungeons & Dragons set of movies. Not great, but I don’t regret watching them. “Dudes & Dragons” was a lot of fun, I’ve even rewatched it. There are a number of others I’ve watched, but I don’t remember the titles.

          2. Watched the first two Mythicas with some family members. They are entertaining in a goofy way, and include a couple CGI monster models apparently purchased at Daz3D and a town with a very Daggerfall small-town layout (and an inn in particular that could have escaped from any Elder Scrolls game). Characters are dumb though, especially the female ones and especially in the first movie. We decided the party of adventurers only had five brain cells between them and promptly dubbed the two male characters “Thane of the Four Gray Cells” and “Dagen of the One Gray Cell.” The violence is unconvincing, and the racy bits maybe equal to Brosnan era Bond or a bit less.

            1. Heh. Based on what I’ve heard and seen of the animated Castlevania series, one of the jokes is that the three heroes have one brain cell among them. Apparently they take turns with it.

  14. Sarah – thanks for the hopeful message tempered with the reality of where things might be soon. I look at the employment numbers (with a grain of salt!) and wonder how many people have already made the transition from on-the-books employee to off-the-books freelancer. I think the barter and cash economies are much bigger than the establishment knows. In just over a month I will leave my corporate job of 35 years and semi-retire to self employment. I have tools and skills and have actually worked for myself the entire 35 years so nothing different really.

  15. A great deal of good can be got by observing how people in e.g., Argentina have done to survive. Land mostly. Never trusting banks always. How they’ll do without the US dollar will be a question should it occur.

    I’m afraid our own GOSPLAN people are obviously fudging the numbers to hide the fact that the wheels are coming off the bus. Didn’t want to admit it to myself, but I’ve crossed that river. They’re just goal seeking the numbers now, which tends to be the final stage before it finally collapses. Lot of ruin in a nation, though so it’ll probably take a while, the rest of my lifetime possibly.

    I’m still betting China goes first with Europe right behind it.

    1. I get the sense that Europe was hanging in there, until the EU [France and Germany] put in all those farming policies and environmental policies that started whittling away at the foundations of the economies. Then came 2015 and the start if the immigration inrush, with all the problems that followed, and further tightening the noose on actual economic productivity. Toss in the 2020-2021 mess, and the “must cut farming by at least 30% because of cow farts and plastic in the Pacific,” and the teetering system is leaning farther over the edge.

        1. It really is getting to be a Millennialist movement, “if we stop growing food, Gaia will heal and paradise will return!” Sort of like the Ghost Dance, where the dancers believed that the bison would return and Anglos would disappear and the world would return to the Good Old Days. The hard environmentalist stuff (Extinction Rebellion, Beyond Oil, others of that philosophical bent) really have become end-times cults, long on ritual and short on [positive] results. The article is about the cattle-killing movement. If it is too detailed (it is LONG but good) Wiki’s piece isn’t bad.

          https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/cattle-killing-movement

          2. Encountered a self-published author on the Creek reservation in Wyoming a few years ago. (We were there to see the Creek rendition of the Little Big Horn. Very similar to the “official,” version, but with lots of NA “extras”. Custer and Co were played by Civil War reenactors).
            He was very bitter and very, “Oh, for the Goood Old Days.” But he also was all-in for communal living, the elders run everything, no ownership etc. Felt sorry for him. But if the tribes came up with Ghost Dance 2.0, he’d be leading it.

      2. It would be wonderful if Those Better Than Us (spit) weren’t trying to push the system as hard as they are. They seem to think that they’ll be immune to consequences. Talk about magical thinking.

      3. When the European wheels come off, the newer immigrants are going to wish they’d stayed put. Most won’t be able to hide. They won’t be able to steal to get what they need to live. The locals won’t let them, with prejudice.

          1. To be fair here too.
            …

            True. In the area where everyone knows everyone from childhood through the local retirement community.

            Other areas? Where migrants can hide if they make the effort. “Targeting system sucks” is the least. I know of Hispanic Basque families who have been in Oregon for generations. Here before Oregon became a state. To be fair, generally in the above mentioned communities where everyone knows everyone else.

  16. As a sort of random tangent, I took a Wilderness First Aid course this last weekend. (This is the layperson version—the 80 hour courses and the 200 hour courses are what Search & Rescue types do. This was only 16 hours, which is less than it sounds like.)

    That’s a good thing to have on hand, because “wilderness” is defined as “more than an hour from professional medical care.” Which means, for example, two and a half miles inside your popular and crowded state park just off the highway, because you don’t have a cell signal and it’s going to take at least 40 minutes at fast hiking speed to get to the ranger station.

    (Also, it’s pretty cool to know that there are a couple of things you’re allowed to do in wilderness situations that you are NOT allowed to do in urban situations. One of them is to “clear a spine,” which means a careful and considered decision to allow a person to move after they have experienced physical trauma. In an urban environment, only certain medical professionals can make that designation, but in the wilderness, if the person should be allowed to move but isn’t allowed, that can take a two-hour evacuation process and turn it into a Search & Rescue call that takes 16-20 hours to get the person to care. ONLY in the wilderness, and ONLY after certain criteria are met)

      1. First Aid? Yesyesyes! DO!

        The life you save may be your own. Or your loved ones.

        That magic golden hour of survival starts with the person who can stop the spilling red stuff. Or similar.

        And most of it is -easy- to do.

        First Aid, soonest.

          1. I’ve said in other places …

            Healthy humans don’t leak.

            Humans are grossly bilaterally symmetrical – differences from one side over the other, or differences from the condition of the rescuer’s body Deserve Some Attention.

          2. Also, as our trainer said, “If it’s wet, sticky, and not yours, you don’t want it on you.” Hepatitis being the big nasty, in three highly-contagious strains. Get your nitrile gloves and have them ready. (Note: we have a whole box of them at home for when we’re handling ground meat or hot peppers, so they’re not a big box of waste.)

      2. It’s not so good as an actual class – the hands-on stuff is important – but modern first aid/casualty care education is as close as your smartphone.

        Search your favorite app store for “Deployed Medicine”; also available at https://www.deployedmedicine.com/. TCCC – Tactical Combat Casualty Care – is pretty much the best available training, and it’s pitched at the lowest common denominator, to begin. It’s FREE. It does require you to establish a login, but there seems to be no limit on who may sign up, which is reasonable since most of the info has been obtained and organized with Your Tax Dollars. And blood, in the field.

        The /reddit/wilderness mods are grumping about the ‘combat’ aspect, but for the first aid part you can start after the ‘under fire’ modules and ignore all the ‘establish fire superiority’ stuff.

        1. If you’ve had a CPR certification in the past, you can do reviews online for free as well. A lot of places won’t accept an online cert, but if you just want the skill, or if you can later do an in-person practice, that’s a good idea.

    2. When you are rural, the “golden hour” might get observed more in the breach. In $TINY_TOWN, since we lost the local ambulance service (Grrr), the best we have are first responders. Both of the nearest ambulance services are 25 miles or so, and both are volunteer, so the transit time is in addition to getting a crew together. Minimum 2, though I had three (one a trainee) on my first trip in the back. That was noonish with good response. OTOH, the same incident found a first responder doing something else in the fire hall, so response time was a few minutes.

      One thing that’s medium common is “grab-‘n’go”. $SPOUSE did that for me several years ago, and drove me to the clinic. Got the golden hour ticket… I’ve seen incidents where people more rural than I am get transported by car while the ambulance is getting there, and meeting somewhere en route. (Last I saw was a heart attack, and the car trip was 15ish miles or more.) Works well if cell service is OK, and if transport by un/semi-trained people is acceptable. (The air ambulances want EMTs on the ground when they respond. The terrain, roads, and such make for limited numbers of landing zones.)

      In short, “wilderness” might be just outside the door. Some kind of first aid and CPR training is a good idea.

      1. Inlaws lived south of Sunriver off of Pine Creek State Park road. MIL had an brain aneurysm. She just dropped in their kitchen. FIL called the neighbor, a retired nurse, and 911. The two took turns providing CPR breathing on MIL during the 40 minutes it took the nearest EMT and ambulance services to get there. Not sure if that was La Pine or Sunriver, but it wasn’t Bend. MIL survived. It was over an hour before MIL got to the emergency hospital in Bend. This was before the clinic in La Pine was built.

        Heck. Even the recent accident BIL drove up on, seconds after it occurred (he didn’t witness but the car was still spinning on it’s top) on Hwy 58, a couple of years ago, he had to send his wife almost back to Crescent to get cell coverage to call 911 with the accident details (he was driving the truck towing the 5th wheel, she was following in their runaround smaller car). He was able to check the occupants in the car (no survivors) and the long haul truck driver, shaken, bruised, and in shock, long before the emergency vehicles got there. They learned later that someone behind the accident turned around and went down to where there are emergency landlines available for reporting highway accidents, but they had no way to know until the emergency crews got there and took his statement.

        1. If you live/work/play away from cellular sevice, consider CB and/or HAM radio.

          A decent AM radio signal carries quite a way.

          1. We used to have double set hand carrier, 5 mile line of sight. Someone, not me, and not son, left one on the back bumper of the truck. Pretty sure it is on the mountain off Tuolumne Pass, Tetons, CA … in little bitty pieces. Enough people carry those that word is likely to get out.

            Inlaws moved into Bend after the aneurysm scare.

          2. TIL (actually last weekend) that you can rent satellite phones. Good for backcountry trips on an irregular basis. But as you say, AM radio works well—which is why a lot of park ranger stations have that as one of their points of contact.

    3. Our Wilderness First-Aid is way out of date now. I think it was good for 3 years. We took it through BSA through Red Cross trained trainers. While then it was required for at least two on each Philmont crew to have this certification when we first got it (hubby, son, and the other 3 leaders and their sons, for their 2003 trek crew, making it 8 of the 12. I tagged along for the class), it is now required for at least one (adult) person on troop outings to be certified for Wilderness First-Aid.

      But the same time we got the “When Help is Delayed” Red Cross training. That never expires.

      Oh. The 2003 crew trek? They did end up using the Wilderness First-Aid. Not on their crew, but at one of the campsites. Another crew had a leader have a seizure. Knew something was up when 3 boys came running into camp for help. It was a long night for two of the leaders in son’s crew (one of which was hubby). Their crew was just starting their trek, but the other crew was just finishing up. So while the one leader was evacuated for medical treatment, when EMT’s arrived. At least the 3 leaders and the 8 boys of that crew didn’t miss out on the rest of their trek (not a consideration but still, it is not easy to get a trek at Phillmont).

      1. The training is three years, but the Official Cert that Philmont accepts is two years. For the exact same training plus a “course fee.” Philmont has now upped its requirements to four per crew, and many of the participants there were getting it for that reason. This group was BSA-heavy, but we also had a Land Trust lady who was getting it for the sixth time for her work, and a couple of backcountry types (including an EMT). A few of them were under 18.

        Our group was trained through a company that basically does this. Our trainer said that in 20 years of doing trainings and backcountry, she’s had to use the specialized training all of once. (As opposed to your basic first aid, which just about everybody does.)

        1. Might have been certified within 2 years for Philmont, and 4 on the crew, then too. But it was 2003. Easy call for son’s crew because no one had the certification, current or otherwise (through the council, which usually scores 2 crews every summer, an option where youth want to go but their small troop don’t have enough to send). The son’s of the 4 leaders were at the coarse, because “why not?” (ages 13 – 16, our son was 14 before the trek by 2 weeks).

    4. Some local community colleges (like the one near me) offer CPR, basic first aid, and some slightly more advanced classes, free. Or at reduced tuition, because companies, insurance companies, and other groups sponsor them in hopes of getting people basic “stop the leak until EMS gets here” training. I’m seriously considering one later this month, to add onto my CPR and older training.

    1. Just had flash of alternative history. What if for his second term Ronald the Great had replace bush with Jerry Pournelle? Reelected twice, no clinton. Would we be on Mars now? Would we miss his books, but appreciate the better country. Would he have done it?
      Jerry talked about how bush replaced those who supported Ronald the Great. How different if the country club republicans had not stolen back the party in 1988, and let evil be elected.

      Just a thought.

      This reminds me of Dean Koontz book “Hideaway”. Real Demons, Real Angels, made as a movie in 1995, missing the angels. That is what hollywood does. A hopeful sign, the making of “the Chosen” , a crowd sourced story of Jesus, only possible now. The creation of alternatives to the evil, corrupt, stupid, demonic, ones, who think they are in charge. If you can find it, read Koontz afterword written in the reissue in 2005, about how the movie twists his story. That is what makes the folk doing “The Chosen” so hopeful. In the same way the Christian funding site seems salvation for all who oppose Paypal, this may be the foundation for movies that are not woke, by all.

      Be Not Afraid. Evil is its own worst enemy. Remember October 28, 1940, when Italy defeated Hitler. Sing “How Firm A Foundation”, to be filled with the spirit of Joy. Know I AM is with you. The Author does not promise the journey will be easy.

  18. Take note, this is a reason we should see Victory.

    Marxism corrodes, corrupts, and destroys everything it touches.

    Including Marxism.

  19. Cheer up, people. Everyone keeps thinking in terms of TEOTWAKI…I’d be more concerned about domestic unrest/disaster that requires you to fend for yourself for a week. Also Great Inflation 2.0 (for those of you under about 55, the value of the U.S. Dollar dropped by nearly two-thirds during the 1970s).

    In particular, start thinking in terms of How to Capitalize on This Mess. There’s a reason why I picked “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” as an avatar…he’s the best example of someone who seized opportunity hen it presented itself.

    For example, take film. I think there’s a market for digital sets. I’m convinced that acting in the future will be mostly in front of a green screen. If the actors aren’t wearing or touching it, it’ll be digital. Which knocks the cost of period dramas down dramatically. I suspect there would be a market for digital sets of HMS Genericfrigate – ordinary sailing, storm, and battle.

    I’ll add that mastering a skill usually pays. There are plenty of people who can swap parts on ARs and Glocks and call themselves “gunsmiths”. There are few who can actually do work beyond the kitchen-table-and-vise level. And they command top dollar.

    So keep your chins up, and an eye out for opportunities.

    1. On that note the more skills the merrier. Frankly do not have to be ‘expert’ at all but have strong familiarity allows you to recognize the very skilled and not be hoodwinked. But it takes some time. I am not a great welder but I know when I see one at work, nor am I a great forger, but could make a passable blade and can recognize the work of masters when I see it. The same goes for most skill sets. As a generalist I have a fairly deep talent stack but more importantly the BS detector is very strong.

      As to the fall of civilization, I have come to realize that it has been a long slow decline such that it becomes difficult to remember for instance the freedom we had growing up in the sixties, the purchasing power in the sixties and seventies etc. That decline has been slow enough that I got used and adapted to the changes. All of which means that the wake up call to the existential danger was slow in coming. Prepping really only started in earnest ten years ago.

    2. “I suspect there would be a market for digital sets of HMS Genericfrigate – ordinary sailing, storm, and battle.”

      Careful with digital. Once it’s been produced once, the cost to reproduce and tweak via automation drops quickly.

    3. I wonder if acting will migrate to VR? There’s a whole online subculture dedicated to VR chat and they’ve been developing ever increasingly sophisticated systems of body tracking. As VR systems get lighter and more mobile, I could see that con binging with AI animation to migrate acting into a VR space.

      That would also fix one of the issues with extensive green screens, in that green screen actors have legitimacy no idea what else is going on in the scene. The great robot blender machine can be swirling twenty-odd extra slicy energy swords right in their face and they have no idea.

      But in a VR set, even if the final version is not ready, they can at least have early models to act against.

      1. If it interests you, look into what Epic Games is doing with their Unreal Engine software. They’ve been pushing the VR / Augmented reality angle hard and they have (admittedly expensive) setups where actors can step into fully realized real time CGI scenes.

          1. Look up the documentary bits from the first season of The Mandalorian. They talk about the Volume, the real-time LED backdrop that they used (which uses Unreal Engine as a driver!) There’s no VR outfits involved, and the LED projects light accurately (always the big tell with green screen.) You can have an actor in a reflective costume and it looks right.

            So they’re basically already at the projected fake background; they’d just need designs.

              1. Probably not that hard, all things considered. One of the things that really make the technology shine is the screens in the background are linked to the cameras as well, so the perspective on the background shifts based on the camera and really integrates the actor into the scene easily.

            2. That’s basically my point. The cost of doing good-but-not-great video has dropped significantly. And the cost of doing Pretty Good Period Backgrounds is about to come within the reach of the high-end hobbyist or low-budget film maker.

    4. Don’t get me started about people who think swapping modular components makes them a gunsmith.

      I want to replace two springs and re-tap a rear sight to get a family heirloom back in working order.
      I’ve found a single person actually willing to do it, and he charges a price I can’t afford.

      I actually had one tell me, “I only work on ARs”. And he had the audacity to be snooty about it!

      1. Look into a mini-lathe and a mini-mill. Good enough for dovetails, precise holes and other assorted doodads one runs into.

        On this subject, there are some quite good youtube channels for machining. I like Blondihacks because she focuses on the mini-lathe and mini-mill, and she likes building steam engines. I figure if you can build a mini-engine from castings you can fix whatever broke on pretty near anything. Metal is metal, right? She spends a great deal of time explaining her setups, and is quite entertaining about it.

        I also like Abom79 and Cutting Edge Engineering Australia, they do heavier work on bigger machinery.

        Lately I’ve been watching Paul Sellers for woodworking without machines. I still have and still love my machines of course, but knowing all the little handwork tricks lets you do things quickly that would otherwise require complex jigs and custom cutters.

        Like a sliding dovetail for a shelf. If you want a dozen you make a jig, but if you only want one then doing it the hard way becomes the easy way.

        1. The Abom79 channel is interesting, but I tend to watch his travel channel more. I was surprised while watching his 2021 Mount Rushmore video to first spot my home-built camper in the background of a parking lot shot, then see my wife and I in the background of another shot overlooking Rushmore. Then in one of his 2022 videos, he and his wife were camping in the park about two miles from my house. It is a small world!

      2. I’ve seen it. Of course, I move in circles where the gunsmiths are cranky SOBs…and masters of their craft. If they get around to it. I’m still waiting on a flintlock pistol I commissioned in 2018.

    6. “I suspect there would be a market for digital sets of HMS Genericfrigate”

      HMS Generic Corvette is here, might take some tweaking to get it up to semi-photorealistic: ttps://www.daz3d.com/medusa

  20. “Hearing a soft-left friend not nearly as published/with as many fans as I have talk about movie deals, and money to hold properties for possible movies, and how he’s talked to so and so about a TV series made me want to cry. I knew I was giving that path up when I came out of the closet.”

    Once Upon A Time, I thought I wanted to be a screenwriter when I grew up. Now that I see more clearly just how fcked in the head H’wood is, I’m glad I never got anywhere near it.

    …hmm, if computer-generated covers are getting easier to do, how much longer before animation follows?

    1. Animation requires a consistency that is not currently present. And I’m not sure they can actually make it work unless they manage to get the algorithms to actually recognize the anatomy as objects to move.

      1. I believe there has been work in that area, but it has been from the study of extinct species and focused on figuring out how they could have actually moved.

        I think what it would require is defining a baseline skeleton, using AI character generation to paint the external identifying features on it, then generation the skeleton animation using the skeletal animation engine, then merging all that back together with current tools for morphing things based on skeleton animations.

        Basically, the parts are probably all there, but scattered across three or four different disciplines and not currently out to this application.

        1. There’s a toolkit called live3d.

          It is what vtubers use to overlay the performer with the image of an anime nekomimi girl.

          1. But if it works the way some of the other things I’ve seen do, there’s a range of poses pre-defined for the overlay anime-girl vs. trying to generate that on on the fly, and the program just has to apply and move it.

        2. Ai isn’t quite there yet, but it’s inevitable that eventually you will be able to feed it 3d space data, and it ‘fills in’ the rest of the image.

          Once you have that, it will have the capability to understand spatial relationships. And maybe even make regular hands.

      2. Gerry Anderson’s “The New Captain Scarlet” was mostly computer-generated, back in 2005. I was impressed at how good it looked.

  22. A complete aside…
    After decades of Harry Potter this, Star Trek that, and superhero the other from the commentariat, all in the most tangential and superficial manners…
    The past several days have featured a giant softball for invoking “The Prisoner”, and I’ve yet to see a single reference.
    Fricking poseurs.

    Be seeing you.

      1. What on earth are you talking about?

        Because I thought I was clear about mainstream political commentators being the target.
        You know the ones, who inappropriately drop “nerd” references into their writing, in between arguing over whether a hot dog is a sandwich, and conserving conservatism most conservatively by siding with the Left.

        1. Unfortunately, you weren’t.

          You didn’t specify which commentariat, you were talking about. For all I or anyone else knows, you could have been referring to the people here, or at Insty, or on Twitter, or on Fox News.

          Your “Fricking Poseurs” (although I really do love the French spelling) was directed at that insufficiently unspecified commentariat, all because they don’t make references to a specific fandom that you (apparently) follow.

          The “Be seeing you”, following all of that, sounds more like a passive aggressive way to announce that you’re leaving and never coming back than a genuine salutation.

          If it wasn’t a flounce, it did a darn good imitation of one.

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