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Dr. Gachey with foxglove, 1890

Some of Van Gogh’s best work was done during a period of his life that he spent in a hospital being treated for his mental health problems. I could be wrong but I think Starry Night was among those.

This is consistently the case. Creators tend to do their best work when they are in a healthy place and receiving proper treatment and not being self destructive in their efforts to cope. Go figure.

All our experiences, good and bad, inform what we create, but suffering is not the price of great art. Suffering is what prevents artists from completing great art.

(I bring to mind this @tkingfisher / Ursula Verson quote about once a week <3)

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swaps55

So. The Pillars of Creation are in the Eagle Nebula, which is of course a system you can visit in Mass Effect. But I have seen theories that the Pillars actually no longer exist. We just can't see their destruction yet, because they're 7,000 light years away and the light that would show it to us hasn't reached us yet.

Which now has me doing a lot of thinking about what humanity sees in their night sky on Earth verses the reality that's available with FTL and relays.

Imagine being a quarian who could look at an alien sky and still see a Rannoch that was theirs?

Imagine being someone who had loved ones in the Bahak System, looking through an alien telescope and seeing it still unbroken and whole?

Survivors of a reaper cycle could flee to the other side of the galaxy and look back to a time where reapers didn't exist.

It's gone forever. You can still see it in the sky.

I'm going to go lie down for a while.

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“Many people seem to think it foolish, even superstitious, to believe that the world could still change for the better. And it is true that in winter it is sometimes so bitingly cold that one is tempted to say, ‘What do I care if there is a summer; its warmth is no help to me now.’ Yes, evil often seems to surpass good. But then, in spite of us, and without our permission, there comes at last an end to the bitter frosts. One morning the wind turns, and there is a thaw. And so I must still have hope.”

— Vincent Van Gogh

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notthegrouch
“If I am worth anything later, I am worth something now. For wheat is wheat, even if people think it is a grass in the beginning.” 

- Vincent van Gogh

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foervraengd

Ppl: “Glaze and nightshade all your art!!”

Also ppl: * does not mention that you need to have a fucking NVIDIA GPU and running nightshade on one image takes at best 20 minutes*

Like the online version of glaze/nightshade requires an account. And last time i checked they arent accepting new accounts because of the high pressure.

Like i make my art on my ipad. My MacBook is from 2014. If i tried to download and run nightshade on my decade old macbook and go throufg 10+ years of artworks i might as well just set it on fire.

Like majority of digital artists doesnt actually have a high end gaming pc setup. It is unrealistic to expect everyone to be able to run such a heavy program just so we can feel somewhat ok with sharing our drawings online. It’s ridiculous. I CAN NOT nightshade or glaze my artworks even if i wanted to.

I have a pretty decent gaming PC, and despite this I had to close ALL the running programs I had running in the background (aka Discord and Opera) to let it shade my art, and the result was honestly quite awful even on the lowest setting.

I have already shared it around, but if you can't run it try Artshield.

It will add a big watermark all over your piece (there's also a check button to be sure it worked). It works best on pieces with a colored background, with white backgrounds or B/W piece it won't always work, but it's worth trying it.

Also, post at the lowest resolution possible (I go with 72dpi, keeping the highest one for clients and Ko-Fi rewards only), maybe add a noise effect too. I always did it but I read a while ago it makes a bit difficult for the A/I to scrape the piece. Not sure if it's still true, but still, worth a shot.

Glaze and Nightshade are great tool, but they're sadly unusable for a lot of people, and I hope they'll find a solution.

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Sorry but brainwashed Jacobi's "She was 28, sir!" Is genuinely heartwrenching. Not only because 28 but also just the happy, energetic way in which he said it makes me want to cry. That was his best friend and he has to be like "Yeah! My best friend died when she was only 28 years old!" AND Kepler having to just sit there and hear this. I am unwell.

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you have to guess and if you get it wrong you go to jail for a long time

1) only if you’re lying on purpose to hide taxable income or claim deductions you don’t qualify for (like, don’t lie and tell the IRS you have a kid when you don’t). If you are wrong THEY WILL LET YOU KNOW AND SEND YOU A BILL. (Or if you’re wrong in the other way, they send you a check) Don’t stress about this as long as you’re not trying to commit tax fraud!

2) call the IRS with questions! It can take a while to get through the queue, but they are SUPER knowledgeable and helpful!! I have called in the past and they’ve been SO HELPFUL, and SO KNOWLEDGEABLE, and FIXED STUPID MISTAKES I MADE.

3) IF YOUR ADJUSTED GROSS INCOME IS UNDER 79K, YOU CAN USE FREE FILE, WHICH IS NEW THIS YEAR!!

Don’t fear the IRS. The wealthy do, and they want you to fear the IRS too, so you’ll vote for Republicans who want to strip the IRS of funding so they can’t audit rich people.

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