u/praline-trifle

I used to find it funny but at some point it just started to feel indistinguishable from real news. Without the shock/entertainment value, I guess I just stopped reading it.

Is this more of a me thing, or do people still read the Onion in 2026?

I can't quite put my finger on what's wrong, and I've always been pretty resilient, but I'm not doing so well right now and while not everything has gone downhill, it just feels like there's a huge weight on my shoulders

Please pray that this will pass and that I can be happy again. Everything just feels...like too much right now...

God bless you all

* Genre/s: Dystopian, sci-fi, realistic fiction, mystery (NO romance, fanfic, fantasy, horror/gore please)

* Goals/expectations/commitment: Just looking to share and celebrate milestones, bounce ideas off of each other, proofread. I work pretty irregularly in sprints as inspiration hits me so I'm looking for someone who isn't bothered by that lack of rigidity

* Writing/experience level: New and/or casual

* Meeting place: Discord

* Max size: Any

Hello all, I am seeking fellow writers who, like me, are interested in writing short stories. I'm really interested in thinking about what the future has in store for us, especially as it relates to new technologies, so if you're similar and are looking for someone to share your writing journey with I'd be pleased to make your acquaintance. It just feels like a lot of platforms are for YA/fantasy/romance/fanfic type stuff, and it's a lot harder to build your community if you're not interested in that. So yeah - lmk if you're interested!

I did NaNoWriMo and posted stuff on Wattpad back in the day, but it's been a long while since I've written anything. I'd like to have a go at my old hobby again, but don't have a huge appetite for YA romance/fanfic/fantasy stuff anymore.

I came across RoyalRoad yesterday. I was surprised to find everyone here talking about reads, shoutouts, reach, stats, promoting their book relentlessly, etc. Since the genre I'm interested in doesn't even seem to be mainstream, does this mean nobody will ever see my work? Do I have to play this whole social media game in order to have others engage with my work? Do I really need a fancy looking book cover straightaway?

I want to focus most of my time on writing, not on marketing my book...is RoyalRoad for me?

I've lived in a lot of different places in the past couple years, and while every place has had its ups and downs and I don't love where I grew up, my home base still feels like where my parents live.

It's really hard to imagine living or settling anywhere, I guess. Every time I go somewhere new, it feels temporary, even if there's no clear end date in sight.

Does this feeling ever go away? Is it just part of being in my twenties? People who move around a lot - where do you consider "home," and how do you make yourself feel at home wherever you are?

I came here looking for help but I think maybe I'll feel better if I help someone out too. There's so much scary and bad stuff out in the world, and I guess I just wanted to put out a little blind positivity for anyone that needs it

So whoever needs to hear this, you got this!! You're doing a great job and things will get better, eventually, or at least they'll blow over.

Everything will be fine, I promise!!

＼＼\(۶•̀ᴗ•́)۶//／／

I'm looking for a bifold leather wallet for my dad. I've seen lots of leather wallets, and I've also seen lots of Tyvek wallets, but I'm wondering if there's anyone that makes wallets that are leather on the outside and have Tyvek on the inside. The main motivation for this is aesthetics.

My dad also tends to lose his stuff, so if there's an extra little pocket somewhere we could slip a Moto tag/air tag into that would be great.

I don't know the first thing about leather crafting, so if this seems like an impossible request do let me know. Otherwise, I'd be interested in getting some quotes. Thanks!

Oh, also - I don't really mind if it's not real leather.

I recently got Play Pass. I really liked the graphics of the Jenny LeClue game, but the magnifying glass mechanism in the game was not really working for me (it's a detective game where you're supposed to search for clues, but you can't click on clues even if you see them; you have to use the magnifying glass to "scan" it until the magnifying glass glows).

I know of the Duck Detective games, and I really enjoyed playing Stardew Valley, but I'm wondering if there's any other chill Play Pass games that have a storyline, not necessarily mystery, that might be fun? Something that has a narrative but also casual gameplay like Dave the Diver would be great.

Also, I'd prefer games that don't have those weird on-screen joystick navigation things that look like they're ported from PC games, but that seems like a big ask.

Thanks!

I'm having such a shitty time today. I just want someone (human) to feel sympathetic for what I'm going through and to validate my feelings. I know other people have worse problems (I do too), but somehow it's the little stuff that really hurts today.

please, is there anyone I can talk to?

I really enjoy picture books, but most of them are (understandably) geared towards kids. I'm not looking for picture books that are specifically meant for adults, or wordless comics, but rather picture books which adults might be able to appreciate too.

One such example of this is "Don't Trust Fish," which is excellent because it's got some realistic-looking illustrations, and is funny because it was written by a crab.

Another example I can think of is "Poultrygeist," which is a play on that "Why did the chicken cross the road?" joke.

A third one I can think of is "I Want To Be a Vase," wherein a bunch of sentient household objects decide they want to have different functions instead of what they were made for.

Is there anything else that's funny and witty like this in genuinely surprising ways?

Thanks!

Edit: Thanks for all the recs folks! It's refreshing to see how many others still enjoy picture books as adults.

Hello Teachers,

I am a concerned sister and big reader who is going away for college. I would like to subscribe to a magazine for my little sister, who is a reluctant reader. She's entering middle school in the fall.

She's fully capable of reading, and claims she likes fantasy books, but her attitude towards reading is about the same as how people watch TV: general passivity.

She often skips over large chunks because they're too "boring," and flips to a random page to continue reading. If you ask her what she read, she can't articulate it with any clarity, but her imagination helps fill in the gaps so it doesn't seem to bother her if she doesn't get the whole story. She reads lots of manga now, like light novels and romance-y things, but not many books.

There's a couple other kids in our family that are a bit younger, for whom I'm thinking of getting a Highlights subscription. Is there something you'd recommend for tweens?

Thanks!

I'm interested in reading books about how the way we perceive reality is manipulated by corporations through the use of technology. Not really in the context of VR or the metaverse, or even AI, but more stuff related to how human belief and behavior is manipulated or controlled in ways we might not be conscious of.

I previously read Debord's *Society of the Spectacle*, as well as Zuboff's *Surveillance Capitalism* a while ago, and found those relevant.

Recently, I also read Rosen's*The Extinction of Experience–* I found the subject to be relevant, but felt like her book was too whiny and repetitive, and it didn't really add to my knowledge. Currently, I'm about halfway through *If/Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future*; it kinda fits, but it reads more as a deeply personal biography of the people and their involvement in American politics of the time as opposed to something that actually makes any *point* about anything.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

I'm interested in reading books about how the way we perceive reality is manipulated by corporations through the use of technology. Not really in the context of VR or the metaverse, or even AI, but more stuff related to how human belief and behavior is manipulated or controlled in ways we might not be conscious of.

I previously read Debord's Society of the Spectacle, as well as Zuboff's Surveillance Capitalism a while ago, and found those relevant.

Recently, I also read Rosen'sThe Extinction of Experience– I found the subject to be relevant, but felt like her book was too whiny and repetitive, and it didn't really add to my knowledge. Currently, I'm about halfway through If/Then: How the Simulmatics Corporation Invented the Future; it kinda fits, but it reads more as a deeply personal biography of the people and their involvement in American politics of the time as opposed to something that actually makes any point about anything.

Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!

I'm sure this product has been around for a while, but it's new to me, and holy crap! It works! I'm not sponsored or anything; but it's genuinely amazing and I would recommend it to anyone suffering from visible pores around their T-zone.

What impresses me the most is that there's a visible difference immediately after one use. I wish I took before/after pics, but hindsight is a bitch.

Background: I've always had a mild interest in trying new products, but I'm the kind of person that finds it tough to stick to a consistent routine -- I'll use any old drugstore face wash, forego skincare when I'm traveling, and pretty much the only thing you can count on me doing is sunscreen and maaaybe lip balm if my lips are super chapped.

All that said, I'm approaching my mid-twenties, so I figured there's no time like now to start getting serious about skincare. This is the first product that I've used where I've been like, "damn, this actually makes a difference, I'll make an effort to keep using it regularly," so it's kind of a big deal personally.

Routine: First, I did oil cleansing with Speedy and then the Dokdo cleanser from Costco with warm water. Next, I soaked the cotton pad it came with with the sebum softener.

Packaging: The packaging kinda reminds me of contact lens solution, but not exactly? It has this twist top you can open, and then you tap or shake gently to soak a cotton pad before putting it on a target area. The actual liquid is clear and not sticky at all.

How to use: Then, I smoothed the strip out on my nose and set a timer for 15 minutes. I probably put a bit too much, so it didn't dry completely, but it definitely felt like something was happening. It didn't really sting at all, but it definitely tingled a little and it feels kind of like if your skin is super dry and you try to use a toner. (Or my skin is just dry. Idk! But I definitely have an oily nose with visible pores.)

After the time was up, I got a skin spatula and scraped off the gunk. I didn't have one come with the ILSO kit so I used one of those ultrasonic skin spatulas with the metal tip while it was OFF.

Results: Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, that was clogging my nose pores came out really easily without much squeezing or scraping. Totally painless. It was kinda gross, but it was super satisfying and hurt way less compared to those Biore pore strips. (Those did little for me the couple of times I tried, and tend to leave dried glue-like residue on my nose even when completely dry.)

My skin texture feels smoother and softer, and a lot of noticeable sebaceous filaments were cleared up. Even the slight bump on my nose from a clogged pore I've had for years has reduced visibly.

I hope this review helps someone!

I've been working with a pipeline to try and get MinerU bounding boxes into Label Studio as predictions. I got most of the way there, except for one problem:

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The bounding boxes come into Label Studio at the wrong scale for some (not all! some!) of the pdfs.

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(Additionally, the _layout.pdf preview boxes are drawn at the wrong scale on the pdf, even though the cropped images it outputs are correct.)

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I've been reading through the docs and reference regarding their output files (https://opendatalab.github.io/MinerU/reference/output\_files/) and I am not 100% sure I'm actually understanding the way the bounding box coordinates are stored in the _middle.json file correctly. It looks like it's normalized as [0,1000] but there must be something with its origin or something that I'm missing.

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Does anyone have any experience with similar workflows or have better understanding of what minerU is actually doing and how it encodes the bounding box coordinates in the _middle.json file? I would really appreciate any thoughts and suggestions as I am a bit stuck. Thank you!

I have some milia on my eyelids, in addition to under my eye circles. I'm in my mid twenties and have started to notice a couple of fine lines, more unevenness, and bumps where my dark eye circles are. I know I've been more stressed than usual, and I have allergies and don't sleep a whole lot which all contributes, but the millia on my eyelids is new, and I don't like it!

I have pretty clear skin otherwise. My lips get dry, and so does the skin near my mouth, but my nose gets oily easily.

I currently don't use any k-beauty products. I'm more of a Biore sunscreen/Burt's Bees lip balm/Trader Joe's basic moisturizer type of gal, but I'd like to make a change and take better care of my skin.

Are there any products or routines that you'd recommend, for the milia and otherwise?

Not exactly things like r/AccidentalRenaissance (photos that look like paintings), but pictures of scenes people took pics of or other artists came across and curated that have interesting architecture, landscape, lighting qualities, framing, etc that for either its composition or colors would make great painting practice.