Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 16h

Having panic attacks every time I try to do any work on my books again. Ugh. I'd have finished 5 books by now at least if I could get through this.

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 16h

"To hate on things you haven't even experienced at all..."

This guy has missed the point. We've already experienced too much of AI. We know what it is, we know what it does, and we've seen how it harms the people it wrongly stole from.

Fuck AI and every project that uses it.

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 1d

There's an old Internet rule that too many of us have forgotten (no, not THAT one, obviously).

Don't feed the trolls.

Just block and move on.

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 2d

It's a weird trope, but one I've always liked, too!

.... Hey @hiss-graphics.bsky.social , might have some commissions for you soon...

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 3d

I'm a fairly new refugee, having left Windows only about a year ago. My first and only distro so far has been Mint. Still learning the ins and outs of Linux.

It's a weird feeling, going from an expert on a machine to being a total novice. But it's a worthwhile trade.

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 3d

This is the way. Switched to Linux and I've never been happier!

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 4d

I dunno. I still love the fashion from classic Dominic Deegan. Luna's dress - the one with the triangle patterns around the collar - always stuck in my brain, and you can't beat a protagonist with a scarf!

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 4d

Man fuuuuuuck short form content. I am a many words boy and I want to use them all!

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 4d

I used to wonder why this is such a common feeling. Everyone I know feels this way from time to time.

I've come to the conclusion that because friends are so precious to us, it's natural to be afraid of losing them. In the absence of any real cause, the brain latches on to the only thing left - us.

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 4d

I love the new outfits on this page! Particularly Kaianda's - it's simple, but practical and looks great!

Also the herbalist looks to have reached a state of comfy that I can only DREAM of. I'll have whatever she's having.

(No pun intended, but I'm not removing it.)

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 4d

This movie actually had a great soundtrack throughout. The OST for the climax, Pushing The Sky, is great! youtu.be/wJGt14PxkXI

Pushing the Sky

YouTube video by Seatbelts - Topic

youtu.be

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 7d

@hiss-graphics.bsky.social made a graph describing the relationship dynamics between each pair of characters in Goulinn and I mean... I don't think I can argue this. I think this is just facts.

A graph showing the relationship dynamics between each pair of cast members in Goulinn

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 7d

I feel like I now how cause to sue for damages. I definitely lost some brain cells to this one.

Sharon @sharonk.bsky.social · 7d

thiel, man, what the fuck are you talking about

He describes the plot of Watchmen, a 1986 graphic novel involving superheroes grappling with moral questions about humanity against the backdrop of impending nuclear war:

The antihero Ozymandias, the antichrist-type figure, is sort of an early-modern person. He believes this will be a timeless and eternal solution – eternal world peace. Moore is sort of a late-modern. In early modernity, you have ideal solutions, ‘perfect’ solutions to calculus. In late modernity, things are sort of probabilistic. And at some point, he asks Dr Manhattan whether the world government is going to last. And he says that ‘nothing lasts forever.’ So you embrace the antichrist and it still doesn’t work.

Thiel later finds biblical meaning in the manga One Piece, discussing how he believes it represents a future where an antichrist-like one-world government has repressed science. He believes that the hero, Monkey D Luffy, represents a Christlike figure.

In One Piece, you are set in a fantasy world, again sort of an alternate earth, but it’s 800 years into the reign of this one-world state. Which, as the story unfolds, gradually gets darker and darker. You sort of realize, in my interpretation, who runs the world and it’s something like the antichrist. There’s Luffy, a pirate who wears a red straw hat, sort of like Christ’s crown of thorns. And then towards the end of the story, transforms into a figure who resembles Christ in Revelation.

Thiel, along with a researcher and writer at Thiel Capital, explored these ideas at greater length in an essay for the religious journal First Things earlier this month.

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 7d

Make sure everyone you know sees this. November is right around the corner. Use paper ballots, people. Our lives literally depend on it.

ΛTLΛS @atlasbun.bsky.social · 7d

Hey so the majority of voting machines are now owned and operated by a former Trump campaign head. If you are to vote in the future only use paper ballots.

Dominion Voting Systems sold to company run by former Republican election official

Dominion Voting Systems, which sued Fox over its reporting on the 2020 election, has been sold to a seemingly new election company run by a former GOP election official.

abcnews.go.com

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

If new fren is behind lock, must remove lock. Makes perfect sense!

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

OK UNIVERSE I GET IT THIS WAS HUBRIS I'M SORRY

The next few missions I joined all ended within minutes. Some of them I didn't even reach Omega before they used up their carts! Yikes!

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

Jumping into random lobbies and helping teams of randos win against Omega/Savage Omega just feels GOOD. They're hard ass fights, but man it's great to see players are starting to adapt and work together!

Also, I am shoving dozens of health potions down their throats. So.
#monhun

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

I knew you had it in you

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

You seem passionate about it and I've really enjoyed the personality that's bled over into your art of them - I'll give it a read, thanks!

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

Oh, right. I heard "siblings" and my brain hardlined on biological siblings. Duh.

You've mentioned your writing a few times since I started following you, but I haven't seen any. Are you posting this anywhere? Or is it a personal project?

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

That implies that Waclaw would have at least one set of twins or triplets as siblings, right?

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

What I'm saying is: don't do the things that I do and also someone help

J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

I apply this to my output at work as well as creatively, and always have. I actually wrote several stories and books that the world will NEVER see before I finished the first volume of Goulinn and had something I thought was worth sharing, but the whole process nearly killed me dozens of times!

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 9d

I'd love to discuss this with someone someday, because I have no idea how to separate the two. My self-worth is so tangled up in what I do that I've almost [REDACTED] many times.

Separating your self-worth from your output is healthy, but what are we if not what we create? I'm seriously asking.

InkyInGreen 🍂 @blackwallmancer.bsky.social · 17d

Found this on the AO3 subreddit, and I'm about to let it change my whole life (or at least work really hard to internalize it wrt my writing).

Someone's screenshot of a two-post twitter thread, from user blue (@bluewmist):

the fastest way to kill motivation is to make your identity depend on the outcome. it's called ego involvement. when failing becomes failing as a person, your brain starts avoiding the whole thing. not because you don't care, but because you care too much.

you don't need lower standards. you need less self-worth tangled up in your goals. the work gets easier when it's not about proving who you are.

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J W Sproul - Fantasy Author @jwsproul.bsky.social · 10d

I'm not sure why, but this thing makes me think of Celesto, and that somehow makes it even more unnerving than... well, the rest of it!

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