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1000 results for “r_data_table”
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Taking inspiration from the workshop led by @eliocamp and Pao Corrales, I've included a new section on data.table in my textbook. You can find it here:
https://www.produnis.de/R/data.table.html
(Please note: The content is in German.)
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Today @rafaelff, a colleague and I make our first contribution to an R package: we translated {data.table} to Brazilian Portuguese!
https://github.com/Rdatatable/data.table/commit/d02907d786ad11330c3f51e3d2d53067edf8cb00
Our work was greatly encouraged by an NSF grant for the development of the community around the package, which included translation:
1/
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Today at #jsm2024, we heard from Anirban Chetia and @healthandstats about data.table, in the session on Big In-Memory Data in R.
Such a great discussion with a very knowlegeable crowd, led by the one and only @michaelchirico !
🦭🦭🦭
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textproc/R-data.table: Makefile distinfo
mef: (textproc/R-data.table) Updated 1.16.4 to 1.18.4, Fix build against 4.6.0
http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/pkgsrc/textproc/R-data.table/Makefile.diff?r1=1.7&r2=1.8
http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/pkgsrc/textproc/R-data.table/distinfo.diff?r1=1.6&r2=1.7 -
doc: CHANGES-2026
mef: doc: Updated textproc/R-data.table to 1.18.4
http://cvsweb.netbsd.org/bsdweb.cgi/pkgsrc/doc/CHANGES-2026.diff?r1=1.3201&r2=1.3202
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Friends near Madrid, check out this upcoming #rdatatable event!
A Zoom option is also available, if you want to join from afar.
https://www.meetup.com/grupo-de-usuarios-de-r-de-madrid/events/306199926/
(Presentation will be in English.)
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Kicking off an exciting 2024 Summer Conference Season today with a little teaser lightning talk by @kellybodwin at #SDSS2024 ⚡
Slides 👇
kbodwin.github.io/2024-SDSS/slides/SDSS_2024_Slides.html(At SDSS? Find me at the poster sesh for hex stickers and maybe other goodies!)
So much more to come....
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Cannabis Lies Vol. 9: The Reform Lie
Filed Under: Policy Fiction
The federal apparatus has spoken. The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration have announced a shift in the regulatory status of cannabis, moving state-licensed medical products to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act while pointedly leaving adult use, unlicensed, and synthetic THC products in Schedule I. Headlines across the country erupted with the language of victory. Outlets hailed this as a historic acknowledgment of the plant’s medical utility, a shift that supposedly recognizes the plant’s reality after decades of denial. The public was told that the prohibition era was entering its twilight and that the federal government had finally conceded that the plant possesses medicinal value.
None of this reflects the actual legal impact of the order. This announcement is the latest manifestation of the Reform Lie. It is a calculated piece of bureaucratic maintenance designed to satisfy the demand for progress while ensuring the core structure of prohibition remains entirely untouched. As Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche stated in the order, the new policy mandates that:
“Marijuana in any form covered by a state medical marijuana license, be placed in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.”
It is a classic maneuver by the state to preserve its authority by offering a small, controlled concession that changes everything on paper but leaves the reality of the drug war exactly where it has always been.
The Reform Lie is the mechanism by which the state manages the tension between popular opinion and its own mandate. It functions by acknowledging that a substance has medical value without ever addressing the fundamental injustice of its criminalization. When the government moves a substance from one box to another, it claims it is following the science. When that same government keeps the prisons full, keeps the borders militarized against possession, and keeps the threat of federal intervention hanging over every state-sanctioned interaction, it is not following science. It is managing optics. For decades, the apparatus has faced growing pressure to address the disconnect between federal law and the public reality of cannabis use. Instead of dismantling the structure, the government has repeatedly opted for symbolic reform. These gestures generate cycles of positive press. They allow officials to claim they have acted on the issue. They provide a release valve for public anger without ever sacrificing the underlying authority to arrest, prosecute, and punish. This is the central trick. The Reform Lie presents a change in tax status as a change in morality.
To understand the scope of this deception, one must look closely at what the shift to Schedule III actually achieves. Under the Controlled Substances Act, Schedule III is home to substances such as anabolic steroids and certain prescription painkillers. It is a designation that implies a potential for abuse, though one that the state deems less severe than those in the Schedule I category, which the government defines as having no currently accepted medical use. Moving state-licensed medical products to Schedule III finally acknowledges what has been true for thousands of years. It acknowledges that the plant has medical value.
However, the change in classification does nothing to address the core conflicts of the prohibition era. The federal criminal penalties for the unauthorized production, distribution, or possession of cannabis remain firmly in place for everything outside that narrow, state-sanctioned medical window. The interstate commerce ban survives completely intact. The government continues to treat the transport of the plant across state lines as a federal crime, regardless of the legality of the substance in the states of origin or destination. Banking remains a fractured landscape of private risk and federal oversight. Employment in the federal sector remains hostile to users, and the firearm restrictions that strip rights from medical patients do not budge.
Most critically, this move provides no relief for those currently held in the carceral system. This order structurally excludes any mechanism for record relief, sentence modification, or pardon, leaving the carceral status quo entirely intact. It does not vacate criminal records. It does not end the status of cannabis as a tool for immigration enforcement. It does not stop the random, localized harassment of the population by federal agencies that still view the plant as contraband outside of the narrow, state-licensed framework.
This is a victory for the balance sheet. It is a win for the corporations that have spent millions lobbying for the ability to deduct ordinary business expenses under the tax code. As of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is no longer subject to 280E. It is a stabilization for the industry that the government has deemed acceptable. For the average person, for the patient, and for the citizen who does not operate within the protective bubble of a state-licensed medical program, the reality remains frozen in the past. This bifurcation of the population is intentional. It creates a system where legitimacy is not a right inherent to the citizen. It is a commodity to be licensed. The people who work within the sanctioned industry are protected, taxed, and monitored. The people who exist outside of that bubble, who grow their own, who share, or who live in states without functional medical programs, are left to the mercy of a law that has not changed. The government has not legalized the plant. It has simply professionalized the privilege of interacting with it.
This strategy is not new. It follows a consistent historical pattern. In every generation, the state has used cannabis policy as a messaging tool to address shifting cultural demands. This is not about the plant. It is about the maintenance of control. The lineage of this deception is long and well-documented.
Consider the era of the Gateway Lie. The government needed a way to justify the expansion of its police power, so it framed the plant as the first step on a path to hard drug use. This narrative was never about safety. It was about creating a bridge between a benign cultural habit and the perceived chaos of the heroin epidemic. It gave law enforcement a justification to monitor, harass, and incarcerate individuals who were otherwise peaceful. The Gateway Lie was effective because it operated on fear. It suggested that a single act of consumption was a moral failing that would lead inevitably to destruction.
Consider the Crime Lie, where the plant was the supposed accelerant for violence. In the 1980s and 1990s, the state pivoted to a narrative of aggression. It claimed that cannabis use caused psychosis and fueled the drug trade. It used this narrative to justify the militarization of police forces, the introduction of civil asset forfeiture, and the explosion of the prison population. The Crime Lie turned the consumer into a danger to the public, a threat that had to be neutralized by the full weight of the judicial system. It was never about the drug. It was about the expansion of the carceral state.
Consider the Teen Epidemic Lie, where the narrative focused on the alleged destruction of youth, or the Addiction Lie, which served to pathologize a human relationship with a plant. Each of these lies served a purpose. They provided the state with the moral cover required to expand surveillance, increase budgets, and exert control. The Reform Lie is simply the modern evolution of this pattern. The state no longer needs to argue that the plant causes violence, because the public no longer believes it. So, the state shifts the narrative. It pivots to the language of regulation. It claims to be fixing the system. It is a retreat, but it is a managed retreat. The goal remains the same, which is to maintain the state’s position as the final arbiter of what a person can put into their own body.
The most devastating impact of the Reform Lie is the erasure of the human cost. When the headlines celebrate a minor technical shift, they drown out the voices of those who continue to suffer under the full weight of prohibition. The Reform Lie tells the prisoner that their incarceration is necessary because they did not have the right paperwork. It tells the immigrant that their status remains precarious because the federal law still views the plant as an illicit substance. It tells the veteran that they must choose between their medical treatment and their access to federal services. It tells the small grower that they are a criminal while the corporate entity next door is a taxpayer. By focusing on the tax status of corporations, the conversation ignores the individuals who are still being processed through the system. It creates an environment where progress is measured by market capitalization rather than the restoration of liberty. It turns the struggle for sovereignty into a fight for market share.
Help Keep Pot Culture Magazine Independent Pot Culture Magazine is independent cannabis journalism. No corporate owners. No investors. Just readers. If you value this work, chip in a few dollars and help keep it going. Support PCMIf the government acknowledges that cannabis has medical value, the continued maintenance of criminal penalties for everyone else becomes an indefensible moral contradiction. One cannot simultaneously argue that a substance is legitimate medicine and that the possession of that substance warrants the stripping of rights, the loss of employment, or the threat of prison. This contradiction exposes the truth of the state position. The government does not actually care about the safety of the substance. It cares about the control of the substance. If it were about safety, the state would be looking for ways to educate rather than incarcerate. If it were about medicine, the state would be ensuring access rather than creating barriers. The existence of the prohibition machinery alongside the admission of medical utility for the licensed few is proof that the objective has always been to maintain a system of punishment.
This system relies on the compliance of the public. It relies on the belief that the state is making progress. The Reform Lie is designed to prevent the public from seeing that the state is not moving toward freedom. It is moving toward an integrated model of control. By allowing a portion of the market to become legitimate, the state creates a vested interest in the status quo. The corporate entities that now have a seat at the table are no longer incentivized to fight for total legalization. They are incentivized to maintain the current regulatory structure because it keeps their competitors out. They become partners in the enforcement of the very prohibition they once railed against. This is the ultimate victory for the state. It co-opts the opposition by giving them a slice of the profit.
We have seen this happen in other sectors of the economy, where regulations are written by the very corporations they are meant to govern. This is not reform. This is the capture of the regulatory apparatus. The Reform Lie ensures that the people who built the culture, who fought for the plant when it was dangerous to do so, are excluded from the new order. They are the ones who bear the cost of the transition. They are the ones who are still in cages, who are still fleeing from the law, who are still fighting for the right to exist in peace.
This administrative process is now set to continue with new hearings starting June 29, 2026. These proceedings are often portrayed as a necessary step toward further reform, a way to build a bureaucratic consensus for future changes. In practice, they serve as a stalling tactic. They provide a way for the administrative state to maintain the illusion of progress while keeping the ultimate authority firmly in its own hands. These hearings will involve experts, lobbyists, and officials debating the minutiae of regulation, all while the fundamental structure of the Controlled Substances Act remains unassailable. The system is designed to consume time, resources, and energy, ensuring that any real change is mediated through a process that the state can control, slow, or halt entirely. It is a theatre of governance, performed for an audience that is desperate for change, but the script was written in the halls of power, not by the people who have lived the consequences of prohibition.
MORE FROM CANNABIS LIES
CANNABIS LIES Vol. 8: The Addiction Lie
Cannabis is often labeled addictive, but the science tells a more precise story. This piece breaks down cannabis use disorder, how it is defined, and why mild, moderate, and severe cases get flattened into one fear-driven narrative. The result is a distorted public understanding of risk that fuels policy, perception, and misinformation.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 11, 2026April 20, 2026CANNABIS LIES Vol. 7: The Mental Health Panic
Cannabis and mental health risks are often overstated in public debate. Research shows heavy use and high THC exposure can increase psychosis risk in vulnerable individuals, but widespread claims of a mental health crisis lack strong evidence. This piece examines the data, separates correlation from causation, and breaks down what cannabis users need to know.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 4, 2026April 2, 2026CANNABIS LIES Vol. 6: The Driving Apocalypse Lie
Legal cannabis is often blamed for rising traffic deaths, but federal data tells a more complicated story. NHTSA findings, toxicology limitations, and conflicting crash studies reveal that THC presence is not a reliable measure of impairment. This investigation breaks down how flawed testing and policy shortcuts have shaped the narrative around so-called stoned driving.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsMarch 28, 2026March 27, 2026The administrative state is also moving to consolidate its control over clinical trials. By creating a registration pathway for state-licensed entities, the government is essentially seizing control of the research process. It is setting itself up as the gatekeeper of scientific knowledge. It will dictate who can research the plant, what they can research, and what the results can be used for. This is not an opening of the doors to scientific discovery. It is the enclosure of the scientific commons. It ensures that the research that reaches the public will be the research that has been filtered through the priorities of the state.
The Reform Lie is not a strategy. It is an admission of failure. When the government chooses to perform the act of reform without embracing the reality of justice, it proves that it is not interested in the truth. It is interested in the maintenance of power. True reform would not be a shuffling of schedules. It would be the total and unconditional withdrawal of federal interference from the lives of the people. It would be the recognition that the state has no authority to criminalize the relationship between a human being and a plant. It would be the end of the prohibition machine, the release of the prisoners, and the restoration of rights for every person affected by the war on the plant.
As long as the apparatus continues to frame these technical shifts as moral victories, the public must recognize the deception. This is not progress. This is the state recalibrating its control to ensure that it remains the gatekeeper, the tax collector, and the final judge of who is allowed to exist in the world it seeks to dominate. The plant remains the same. The people remain the same. The only thing that has shifted is the label on the cage. The cage is still there. The bars are still locked. The guards are still watching. The power to punish, to threaten, and to control has not been removed. It has been refined. It has been made more surgical. It has been made more efficient.
The moral weight of this lie is heavy. It falls on those who have been promised justice and received only a change in terminology. It falls on the families who have been broken by the enforcement of archaic laws. It falls on the communities that have been targeted for generations. The Reform Lie assumes that the public has forgotten the history of the struggle. It assumes that the public is satisfied with the crumbs of corporate legitimacy. It assumes that there is no understanding of the difference between the freedom to live and the permission to serve.
The narrative of the state must be rejected. The recognition must grow that every small step that leaves the core structure of the prohibition machine in place is a step away from justice. The government must be held accountable for the contradiction of its own law. The reality of the prohibition era must continue to be documented, to expose the lies that are told to justify the control, and to advocate for the total restoration of liberty. The struggle for the plant is not a struggle for a change in status. It is a struggle for the soul of the culture. It is a struggle to define what it means to be a free person in a society that seeks to regulate every choice. As NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano noted regarding the order:
“Rescheduling fails to fully harmonize federal marijuana policy with the cannabis laws of many states, particularly the 24 states that have legalized its use and sale to adults.”
This is the core of the deception. The Reform Lie is the latest barrier to that freedom. It is a wall that must be dismantled, not by the government, but by the people who have lived the reality of the struggle.
The truth is simple, though the state works hard to obscure it. Cannabis is a part of the human experience. It has been used for healing, for creativity, for connection, and for joy for as long as historical records exist. The attempts by the state to control this relationship are an affront to human autonomy. They are based on fear, on ignorance, and on a desire for power. The reclassification to Schedule III is just the latest tactic in a long campaign to prevent people from fully embracing their own sovereignty. While the proponents of this move claim that:
“Today’s order marks a historical reversal in federal cannabis policy,”
It is a sign that the state is feeling the pressure, that it knows its position is untenable, but that it is not yet ready to concede.
A crossroads has been reached. Either the crumbs offered by the state are accepted, turning the public into participants in their own regulation, or the fight for the total and unconditional end of the prohibition machine continues. The Reform Lie can be accepted, or the truth can be demanded. The history of the culture is a history of resistance. It is a history of people who refused to be told what they could do, who they could be, or what they could consume. That history is the source of strength. It is the foundation upon which the future will be built. Permission from the state is not required to exist. Schedules, labels, and tax codes are not needed to define what is right. The truth is known, and it will continue to be shared until the last cage is empty and the prohibition machine is nothing but a memory.
The Reform Lie will continue to be told. The headlines will continue to scream about progress that does not exist. The state will continue to frame its maintenance of power as a move toward justice. But the deception will not hold. The patterns are visible. The history is known. The stakes are understood. The reality of the prohibition era will be documented, one article, one story, one voice at a time. This is not just a battle for a plant. It is a battle for the truth. And it is a battle that will be won, not because the state gives permission, but because the truth is on the side of the people. The prohibition machine is built on lies, and lies cannot stand forever against the weight of reality. The end of prohibition is coming, not through the actions of the state, but through the resolve of the people who have been fighting for it all along. The Reform Lie is the last gasp of a system that knows its time is over. We will not be fooled. We will not be silenced. We will be here, documenting the reality, telling the truth, and fighting for the culture until the day the plant is free.
©2026, Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This is the property of Pot Culture Magazine and is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission
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prohibited.F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
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Cannabis Lies Vol. 9: The Reform Lie
Filed Under: Policy Fiction
The federal apparatus has spoken. The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration have announced a shift in the regulatory status of cannabis, moving state-licensed medical products to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act while pointedly leaving adult use, unlicensed, and synthetic THC products in Schedule I. Headlines across the country erupted with the language of victory. Outlets hailed this as a historic acknowledgment of the plant’s medical utility, a shift that supposedly recognizes the plant’s reality after decades of denial. The public was told that the prohibition era was entering its twilight and that the federal government had finally conceded that the plant possesses medicinal value.
None of this reflects the actual legal impact of the order. This announcement is the latest manifestation of the Reform Lie. It is a calculated piece of bureaucratic maintenance designed to satisfy the demand for progress while ensuring the core structure of prohibition remains entirely untouched. As Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche stated in the order, the new policy mandates that:
“Marijuana in any form covered by a state medical marijuana license, be placed in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.”
It is a classic maneuver by the state to preserve its authority by offering a small, controlled concession that changes everything on paper but leaves the reality of the drug war exactly where it has always been.
The Reform Lie is the mechanism by which the state manages the tension between popular opinion and its own mandate. It functions by acknowledging that a substance has medical value without ever addressing the fundamental injustice of its criminalization. When the government moves a substance from one box to another, it claims it is following the science. When that same government keeps the prisons full, keeps the borders militarized against possession, and keeps the threat of federal intervention hanging over every state-sanctioned interaction, it is not following science. It is managing optics. For decades, the apparatus has faced growing pressure to address the disconnect between federal law and the public reality of cannabis use. Instead of dismantling the structure, the government has repeatedly opted for symbolic reform. These gestures generate cycles of positive press. They allow officials to claim they have acted on the issue. They provide a release valve for public anger without ever sacrificing the underlying authority to arrest, prosecute, and punish. This is the central trick. The Reform Lie presents a change in tax status as a change in morality.
To understand the scope of this deception, one must look closely at what the shift to Schedule III actually achieves. Under the Controlled Substances Act, Schedule III is home to substances such as anabolic steroids and certain prescription painkillers. It is a designation that implies a potential for abuse, though one that the state deems less severe than those in the Schedule I category, which the government defines as having no currently accepted medical use. Moving state-licensed medical products to Schedule III finally acknowledges what has been true for thousands of years. It acknowledges that the plant has medical value.
However, the change in classification does nothing to address the core conflicts of the prohibition era. The federal criminal penalties for the unauthorized production, distribution, or possession of cannabis remain firmly in place for everything outside that narrow, state-sanctioned medical window. The interstate commerce ban survives completely intact. The government continues to treat the transport of the plant across state lines as a federal crime, regardless of the legality of the substance in the states of origin or destination. Banking remains a fractured landscape of private risk and federal oversight. Employment in the federal sector remains hostile to users, and the firearm restrictions that strip rights from medical patients do not budge.
Most critically, this move provides no relief for those currently held in the carceral system. This order structurally excludes any mechanism for record relief, sentence modification, or pardon, leaving the carceral status quo entirely intact. It does not vacate criminal records. It does not end the status of cannabis as a tool for immigration enforcement. It does not stop the random, localized harassment of the population by federal agencies that still view the plant as contraband outside of the narrow, state-licensed framework.
This is a victory for the balance sheet. It is a win for the corporations that have spent millions lobbying for the ability to deduct ordinary business expenses under the tax code. As of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is no longer subject to 280E. It is a stabilization for the industry that the government has deemed acceptable. For the average person, for the patient, and for the citizen who does not operate within the protective bubble of a state-licensed medical program, the reality remains frozen in the past. This bifurcation of the population is intentional. It creates a system where legitimacy is not a right inherent to the citizen. It is a commodity to be licensed. The people who work within the sanctioned industry are protected, taxed, and monitored. The people who exist outside of that bubble, who grow their own, who share, or who live in states without functional medical programs, are left to the mercy of a law that has not changed. The government has not legalized the plant. It has simply professionalized the privilege of interacting with it.
This strategy is not new. It follows a consistent historical pattern. In every generation, the state has used cannabis policy as a messaging tool to address shifting cultural demands. This is not about the plant. It is about the maintenance of control. The lineage of this deception is long and well-documented.
Consider the era of the Gateway Lie. The government needed a way to justify the expansion of its police power, so it framed the plant as the first step on a path to hard drug use. This narrative was never about safety. It was about creating a bridge between a benign cultural habit and the perceived chaos of the heroin epidemic. It gave law enforcement a justification to monitor, harass, and incarcerate individuals who were otherwise peaceful. The Gateway Lie was effective because it operated on fear. It suggested that a single act of consumption was a moral failing that would lead inevitably to destruction.
Consider the Crime Lie, where the plant was the supposed accelerant for violence. In the 1980s and 1990s, the state pivoted to a narrative of aggression. It claimed that cannabis use caused psychosis and fueled the drug trade. It used this narrative to justify the militarization of police forces, the introduction of civil asset forfeiture, and the explosion of the prison population. The Crime Lie turned the consumer into a danger to the public, a threat that had to be neutralized by the full weight of the judicial system. It was never about the drug. It was about the expansion of the carceral state.
Consider the Teen Epidemic Lie, where the narrative focused on the alleged destruction of youth, or the Addiction Lie, which served to pathologize a human relationship with a plant. Each of these lies served a purpose. They provided the state with the moral cover required to expand surveillance, increase budgets, and exert control. The Reform Lie is simply the modern evolution of this pattern. The state no longer needs to argue that the plant causes violence, because the public no longer believes it. So, the state shifts the narrative. It pivots to the language of regulation. It claims to be fixing the system. It is a retreat, but it is a managed retreat. The goal remains the same, which is to maintain the state’s position as the final arbiter of what a person can put into their own body.
The most devastating impact of the Reform Lie is the erasure of the human cost. When the headlines celebrate a minor technical shift, they drown out the voices of those who continue to suffer under the full weight of prohibition. The Reform Lie tells the prisoner that their incarceration is necessary because they did not have the right paperwork. It tells the immigrant that their status remains precarious because the federal law still views the plant as an illicit substance. It tells the veteran that they must choose between their medical treatment and their access to federal services. It tells the small grower that they are a criminal while the corporate entity next door is a taxpayer. By focusing on the tax status of corporations, the conversation ignores the individuals who are still being processed through the system. It creates an environment where progress is measured by market capitalization rather than the restoration of liberty. It turns the struggle for sovereignty into a fight for market share.
Help Keep Pot Culture Magazine Independent Pot Culture Magazine is independent cannabis journalism. No corporate owners. No investors. Just readers. If you value this work, chip in a few dollars and help keep it going. Support PCMIf the government acknowledges that cannabis has medical value, the continued maintenance of criminal penalties for everyone else becomes an indefensible moral contradiction. One cannot simultaneously argue that a substance is legitimate medicine and that the possession of that substance warrants the stripping of rights, the loss of employment, or the threat of prison. This contradiction exposes the truth of the state position. The government does not actually care about the safety of the substance. It cares about the control of the substance. If it were about safety, the state would be looking for ways to educate rather than incarcerate. If it were about medicine, the state would be ensuring access rather than creating barriers. The existence of the prohibition machinery alongside the admission of medical utility for the licensed few is proof that the objective has always been to maintain a system of punishment.
This system relies on the compliance of the public. It relies on the belief that the state is making progress. The Reform Lie is designed to prevent the public from seeing that the state is not moving toward freedom. It is moving toward an integrated model of control. By allowing a portion of the market to become legitimate, the state creates a vested interest in the status quo. The corporate entities that now have a seat at the table are no longer incentivized to fight for total legalization. They are incentivized to maintain the current regulatory structure because it keeps their competitors out. They become partners in the enforcement of the very prohibition they once railed against. This is the ultimate victory for the state. It co-opts the opposition by giving them a slice of the profit.
We have seen this happen in other sectors of the economy, where regulations are written by the very corporations they are meant to govern. This is not reform. This is the capture of the regulatory apparatus. The Reform Lie ensures that the people who built the culture, who fought for the plant when it was dangerous to do so, are excluded from the new order. They are the ones who bear the cost of the transition. They are the ones who are still in cages, who are still fleeing from the law, who are still fighting for the right to exist in peace.
This administrative process is now set to continue with new hearings starting June 29, 2026. These proceedings are often portrayed as a necessary step toward further reform, a way to build a bureaucratic consensus for future changes. In practice, they serve as a stalling tactic. They provide a way for the administrative state to maintain the illusion of progress while keeping the ultimate authority firmly in its own hands. These hearings will involve experts, lobbyists, and officials debating the minutiae of regulation, all while the fundamental structure of the Controlled Substances Act remains unassailable. The system is designed to consume time, resources, and energy, ensuring that any real change is mediated through a process that the state can control, slow, or halt entirely. It is a theatre of governance, performed for an audience that is desperate for change, but the script was written in the halls of power, not by the people who have lived the consequences of prohibition.
MORE FROM CANNABIS LIES
CANNABIS LIES Vol. 8: The Addiction Lie
Cannabis is often labeled addictive, but the science tells a more precise story. This piece breaks down cannabis use disorder, how it is defined, and why mild, moderate, and severe cases get flattened into one fear-driven narrative. The result is a distorted public understanding of risk that fuels policy, perception, and misinformation.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 11, 2026April 20, 2026CANNABIS LIES Vol. 7: The Mental Health Panic
Cannabis and mental health risks are often overstated in public debate. Research shows heavy use and high THC exposure can increase psychosis risk in vulnerable individuals, but widespread claims of a mental health crisis lack strong evidence. This piece examines the data, separates correlation from causation, and breaks down what cannabis users need to know.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 4, 2026April 2, 2026CANNABIS LIES Vol. 6: The Driving Apocalypse Lie
Legal cannabis is often blamed for rising traffic deaths, but federal data tells a more complicated story. NHTSA findings, toxicology limitations, and conflicting crash studies reveal that THC presence is not a reliable measure of impairment. This investigation breaks down how flawed testing and policy shortcuts have shaped the narrative around so-called stoned driving.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsMarch 28, 2026March 27, 2026The administrative state is also moving to consolidate its control over clinical trials. By creating a registration pathway for state-licensed entities, the government is essentially seizing control of the research process. It is setting itself up as the gatekeeper of scientific knowledge. It will dictate who can research the plant, what they can research, and what the results can be used for. This is not an opening of the doors to scientific discovery. It is the enclosure of the scientific commons. It ensures that the research that reaches the public will be the research that has been filtered through the priorities of the state.
The Reform Lie is not a strategy. It is an admission of failure. When the government chooses to perform the act of reform without embracing the reality of justice, it proves that it is not interested in the truth. It is interested in the maintenance of power. True reform would not be a shuffling of schedules. It would be the total and unconditional withdrawal of federal interference from the lives of the people. It would be the recognition that the state has no authority to criminalize the relationship between a human being and a plant. It would be the end of the prohibition machine, the release of the prisoners, and the restoration of rights for every person affected by the war on the plant.
As long as the apparatus continues to frame these technical shifts as moral victories, the public must recognize the deception. This is not progress. This is the state recalibrating its control to ensure that it remains the gatekeeper, the tax collector, and the final judge of who is allowed to exist in the world it seeks to dominate. The plant remains the same. The people remain the same. The only thing that has shifted is the label on the cage. The cage is still there. The bars are still locked. The guards are still watching. The power to punish, to threaten, and to control has not been removed. It has been refined. It has been made more surgical. It has been made more efficient.
The moral weight of this lie is heavy. It falls on those who have been promised justice and received only a change in terminology. It falls on the families who have been broken by the enforcement of archaic laws. It falls on the communities that have been targeted for generations. The Reform Lie assumes that the public has forgotten the history of the struggle. It assumes that the public is satisfied with the crumbs of corporate legitimacy. It assumes that there is no understanding of the difference between the freedom to live and the permission to serve.
The narrative of the state must be rejected. The recognition must grow that every small step that leaves the core structure of the prohibition machine in place is a step away from justice. The government must be held accountable for the contradiction of its own law. The reality of the prohibition era must continue to be documented, to expose the lies that are told to justify the control, and to advocate for the total restoration of liberty. The struggle for the plant is not a struggle for a change in status. It is a struggle for the soul of the culture. It is a struggle to define what it means to be a free person in a society that seeks to regulate every choice. As NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano noted regarding the order:
“Rescheduling fails to fully harmonize federal marijuana policy with the cannabis laws of many states, particularly the 24 states that have legalized its use and sale to adults.”
This is the core of the deception. The Reform Lie is the latest barrier to that freedom. It is a wall that must be dismantled, not by the government, but by the people who have lived the reality of the struggle.
The truth is simple, though the state works hard to obscure it. Cannabis is a part of the human experience. It has been used for healing, for creativity, for connection, and for joy for as long as historical records exist. The attempts by the state to control this relationship are an affront to human autonomy. They are based on fear, on ignorance, and on a desire for power. The reclassification to Schedule III is just the latest tactic in a long campaign to prevent people from fully embracing their own sovereignty. While the proponents of this move claim that:
“Today’s order marks a historical reversal in federal cannabis policy,”
It is a sign that the state is feeling the pressure, that it knows its position is untenable, but that it is not yet ready to concede.
A crossroads has been reached. Either the crumbs offered by the state are accepted, turning the public into participants in their own regulation, or the fight for the total and unconditional end of the prohibition machine continues. The Reform Lie can be accepted, or the truth can be demanded. The history of the culture is a history of resistance. It is a history of people who refused to be told what they could do, who they could be, or what they could consume. That history is the source of strength. It is the foundation upon which the future will be built. Permission from the state is not required to exist. Schedules, labels, and tax codes are not needed to define what is right. The truth is known, and it will continue to be shared until the last cage is empty and the prohibition machine is nothing but a memory.
The Reform Lie will continue to be told. The headlines will continue to scream about progress that does not exist. The state will continue to frame its maintenance of power as a move toward justice. But the deception will not hold. The patterns are visible. The history is known. The stakes are understood. The reality of the prohibition era will be documented, one article, one story, one voice at a time. This is not just a battle for a plant. It is a battle for the truth. And it is a battle that will be won, not because the state gives permission, but because the truth is on the side of the people. The prohibition machine is built on lies, and lies cannot stand forever against the weight of reality. The end of prohibition is coming, not through the actions of the state, but through the resolve of the people who have been fighting for it all along. The Reform Lie is the last gasp of a system that knows its time is over. We will not be fooled. We will not be silenced. We will be here, documenting the reality, telling the truth, and fighting for the culture until the day the plant is free.
©2026, Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This is the property of Pot Culture Magazine and is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission
of this work, in part or in whole, without the express written permission of Pot Culture Magazine, is strictly
prohibited.F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
The Digital Cage: Saint Lucia’s Traceability Trap
Saint Lucia has selected GrowerIQ as its national seed-to-sale traceability backbone, effectively finalizing a digital surveillance grid for its cannabis industry. By mandating enterprise software before establishing licensing frameworks, the government risks automating the exclusion of legacy farmers. This move trades cultural sovereignty for state-managed control, turning the cannabis industry into an extension of the…
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 23, 2026April 22, 2026Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia Sabotage
Virginia legalized possession, but Governor Abigail Spanberger sabotaged the retail market. By delaying sales until 2027 and gutting equity provisions, the Commonwealth institutionalized a half-legal trap. Consumers now navigate a system that treats possession as a right but supply as a crime, fueling an unchecked illicit market while abandoning promised reform. Spanberger’s public safety rhetoric…
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 21, 2026April 20, 20264/20 has been hollowed out by branding, corporate silence, and a culture that forgot its own history. While the industry sells holiday merch, Singapore executed a man for cannabis. The movement that once fought for autonomy now treats the plant like a commodity. This piece examines the cost of that betrayal and the culture left…
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 20, 2026April 24, 2026 #280E #AdministrativeLaw #cannabis #CannabisCommunity #CannabisCulture #CannabisCommunity #CarceralState #Culture #DEA #DepartmentOfJustice #DrugWar #FederalGovernment #Industry #Legalization #Marijuana #MarijuanaNews #NORML #Policy #PolicyFiction #PotCultureMagazine #Prohibition #Reform #ScheduleIII #StateSanctioned #Weed -
Cannabis Lies Vol. 9: The Reform Lie
Filed Under: Policy Fiction
The federal apparatus has spoken. The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration have announced a shift in the regulatory status of cannabis, moving state-licensed medical products to Schedule III under the Controlled Substances Act while pointedly leaving adult use, unlicensed, and synthetic THC products in Schedule I. Headlines across the country erupted with the language of victory. Outlets hailed this as a historic acknowledgment of the plant’s medical utility, a shift that supposedly recognizes the plant’s reality after decades of denial. The public was told that the prohibition era was entering its twilight and that the federal government had finally conceded that the plant possesses medicinal value.
None of this reflects the actual legal impact of the order. This announcement is the latest manifestation of the Reform Lie. It is a calculated piece of bureaucratic maintenance designed to satisfy the demand for progress while ensuring the core structure of prohibition remains entirely untouched. As Acting US Attorney General Todd Blanche stated in the order, the new policy mandates that:
“Marijuana in any form covered by a state medical marijuana license, be placed in Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act.”
It is a classic maneuver by the state to preserve its authority by offering a small, controlled concession that changes everything on paper but leaves the reality of the drug war exactly where it has always been.
The Reform Lie is the mechanism by which the state manages the tension between popular opinion and its own mandate. It functions by acknowledging that a substance has medical value without ever addressing the fundamental injustice of its criminalization. When the government moves a substance from one box to another, it claims it is following the science. When that same government keeps the prisons full, keeps the borders militarized against possession, and keeps the threat of federal intervention hanging over every state-sanctioned interaction, it is not following science. It is managing optics. For decades, the apparatus has faced growing pressure to address the disconnect between federal law and the public reality of cannabis use. Instead of dismantling the structure, the government has repeatedly opted for symbolic reform. These gestures generate cycles of positive press. They allow officials to claim they have acted on the issue. They provide a release valve for public anger without ever sacrificing the underlying authority to arrest, prosecute, and punish. This is the central trick. The Reform Lie presents a change in tax status as a change in morality.
To understand the scope of this deception, one must look closely at what the shift to Schedule III actually achieves. Under the Controlled Substances Act, Schedule III is home to substances such as anabolic steroids and certain prescription painkillers. It is a designation that implies a potential for abuse, though one that the state deems less severe than those in the Schedule I category, which the government defines as having no currently accepted medical use. Moving state-licensed medical products to Schedule III finally acknowledges what has been true for thousands of years. It acknowledges that the plant has medical value.
However, the change in classification does nothing to address the core conflicts of the prohibition era. The federal criminal penalties for the unauthorized production, distribution, or possession of cannabis remain firmly in place for everything outside that narrow, state-sanctioned medical window. The interstate commerce ban survives completely intact. The government continues to treat the transport of the plant across state lines as a federal crime, regardless of the legality of the substance in the states of origin or destination. Banking remains a fractured landscape of private risk and federal oversight. Employment in the federal sector remains hostile to users, and the firearm restrictions that strip rights from medical patients do not budge.
Most critically, this move provides no relief for those currently held in the carceral system. This order structurally excludes any mechanism for record relief, sentence modification, or pardon, leaving the carceral status quo entirely intact. It does not vacate criminal records. It does not end the status of cannabis as a tool for immigration enforcement. It does not stop the random, localized harassment of the population by federal agencies that still view the plant as contraband outside of the narrow, state-licensed framework.
This is a victory for the balance sheet. It is a win for the corporations that have spent millions lobbying for the ability to deduct ordinary business expenses under the tax code. As of April 22, 2026, state-licensed medical cannabis is no longer subject to 280E. It is a stabilization for the industry that the government has deemed acceptable. For the average person, for the patient, and for the citizen who does not operate within the protective bubble of a state-licensed medical program, the reality remains frozen in the past. This bifurcation of the population is intentional. It creates a system where legitimacy is not a right inherent to the citizen. It is a commodity to be licensed. The people who work within the sanctioned industry are protected, taxed, and monitored. The people who exist outside of that bubble, who grow their own, who share, or who live in states without functional medical programs, are left to the mercy of a law that has not changed. The government has not legalized the plant. It has simply professionalized the privilege of interacting with it.
This strategy is not new. It follows a consistent historical pattern. In every generation, the state has used cannabis policy as a messaging tool to address shifting cultural demands. This is not about the plant. It is about the maintenance of control. The lineage of this deception is long and well-documented.
Consider the era of the Gateway Lie. The government needed a way to justify the expansion of its police power, so it framed the plant as the first step on a path to hard drug use. This narrative was never about safety. It was about creating a bridge between a benign cultural habit and the perceived chaos of the heroin epidemic. It gave law enforcement a justification to monitor, harass, and incarcerate individuals who were otherwise peaceful. The Gateway Lie was effective because it operated on fear. It suggested that a single act of consumption was a moral failing that would lead inevitably to destruction.
Consider the Crime Lie, where the plant was the supposed accelerant for violence. In the 1980s and 1990s, the state pivoted to a narrative of aggression. It claimed that cannabis use caused psychosis and fueled the drug trade. It used this narrative to justify the militarization of police forces, the introduction of civil asset forfeiture, and the explosion of the prison population. The Crime Lie turned the consumer into a danger to the public, a threat that had to be neutralized by the full weight of the judicial system. It was never about the drug. It was about the expansion of the carceral state.
Consider the Teen Epidemic Lie, where the narrative focused on the alleged destruction of youth, or the Addiction Lie, which served to pathologize a human relationship with a plant. Each of these lies served a purpose. They provided the state with the moral cover required to expand surveillance, increase budgets, and exert control. The Reform Lie is simply the modern evolution of this pattern. The state no longer needs to argue that the plant causes violence, because the public no longer believes it. So, the state shifts the narrative. It pivots to the language of regulation. It claims to be fixing the system. It is a retreat, but it is a managed retreat. The goal remains the same, which is to maintain the state’s position as the final arbiter of what a person can put into their own body.
The most devastating impact of the Reform Lie is the erasure of the human cost. When the headlines celebrate a minor technical shift, they drown out the voices of those who continue to suffer under the full weight of prohibition. The Reform Lie tells the prisoner that their incarceration is necessary because they did not have the right paperwork. It tells the immigrant that their status remains precarious because the federal law still views the plant as an illicit substance. It tells the veteran that they must choose between their medical treatment and their access to federal services. It tells the small grower that they are a criminal while the corporate entity next door is a taxpayer. By focusing on the tax status of corporations, the conversation ignores the individuals who are still being processed through the system. It creates an environment where progress is measured by market capitalization rather than the restoration of liberty. It turns the struggle for sovereignty into a fight for market share.
Help Keep Pot Culture Magazine Independent Pot Culture Magazine is independent cannabis journalism. No corporate owners. No investors. Just readers. If you value this work, chip in a few dollars and help keep it going. Support PCMIf the government acknowledges that cannabis has medical value, the continued maintenance of criminal penalties for everyone else becomes an indefensible moral contradiction. One cannot simultaneously argue that a substance is legitimate medicine and that the possession of that substance warrants the stripping of rights, the loss of employment, or the threat of prison. This contradiction exposes the truth of the state position. The government does not actually care about the safety of the substance. It cares about the control of the substance. If it were about safety, the state would be looking for ways to educate rather than incarcerate. If it were about medicine, the state would be ensuring access rather than creating barriers. The existence of the prohibition machinery alongside the admission of medical utility for the licensed few is proof that the objective has always been to maintain a system of punishment.
This system relies on the compliance of the public. It relies on the belief that the state is making progress. The Reform Lie is designed to prevent the public from seeing that the state is not moving toward freedom. It is moving toward an integrated model of control. By allowing a portion of the market to become legitimate, the state creates a vested interest in the status quo. The corporate entities that now have a seat at the table are no longer incentivized to fight for total legalization. They are incentivized to maintain the current regulatory structure because it keeps their competitors out. They become partners in the enforcement of the very prohibition they once railed against. This is the ultimate victory for the state. It co-opts the opposition by giving them a slice of the profit.
We have seen this happen in other sectors of the economy, where regulations are written by the very corporations they are meant to govern. This is not reform. This is the capture of the regulatory apparatus. The Reform Lie ensures that the people who built the culture, who fought for the plant when it was dangerous to do so, are excluded from the new order. They are the ones who bear the cost of the transition. They are the ones who are still in cages, who are still fleeing from the law, who are still fighting for the right to exist in peace.
This administrative process is now set to continue with new hearings starting June 29, 2026. These proceedings are often portrayed as a necessary step toward further reform, a way to build a bureaucratic consensus for future changes. In practice, they serve as a stalling tactic. They provide a way for the administrative state to maintain the illusion of progress while keeping the ultimate authority firmly in its own hands. These hearings will involve experts, lobbyists, and officials debating the minutiae of regulation, all while the fundamental structure of the Controlled Substances Act remains unassailable. The system is designed to consume time, resources, and energy, ensuring that any real change is mediated through a process that the state can control, slow, or halt entirely. It is a theatre of governance, performed for an audience that is desperate for change, but the script was written in the halls of power, not by the people who have lived the consequences of prohibition.
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by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 11, 2026April 20, 2026CANNABIS LIES Vol. 7: The Mental Health Panic
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by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 4, 2026April 2, 2026CANNABIS LIES Vol. 6: The Driving Apocalypse Lie
Legal cannabis is often blamed for rising traffic deaths, but federal data tells a more complicated story. NHTSA findings, toxicology limitations, and conflicting crash studies reveal that THC presence is not a reliable measure of impairment. This investigation breaks down how flawed testing and policy shortcuts have shaped the narrative around so-called stoned driving.
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsMarch 28, 2026March 27, 2026The administrative state is also moving to consolidate its control over clinical trials. By creating a registration pathway for state-licensed entities, the government is essentially seizing control of the research process. It is setting itself up as the gatekeeper of scientific knowledge. It will dictate who can research the plant, what they can research, and what the results can be used for. This is not an opening of the doors to scientific discovery. It is the enclosure of the scientific commons. It ensures that the research that reaches the public will be the research that has been filtered through the priorities of the state.
The Reform Lie is not a strategy. It is an admission of failure. When the government chooses to perform the act of reform without embracing the reality of justice, it proves that it is not interested in the truth. It is interested in the maintenance of power. True reform would not be a shuffling of schedules. It would be the total and unconditional withdrawal of federal interference from the lives of the people. It would be the recognition that the state has no authority to criminalize the relationship between a human being and a plant. It would be the end of the prohibition machine, the release of the prisoners, and the restoration of rights for every person affected by the war on the plant.
As long as the apparatus continues to frame these technical shifts as moral victories, the public must recognize the deception. This is not progress. This is the state recalibrating its control to ensure that it remains the gatekeeper, the tax collector, and the final judge of who is allowed to exist in the world it seeks to dominate. The plant remains the same. The people remain the same. The only thing that has shifted is the label on the cage. The cage is still there. The bars are still locked. The guards are still watching. The power to punish, to threaten, and to control has not been removed. It has been refined. It has been made more surgical. It has been made more efficient.
The moral weight of this lie is heavy. It falls on those who have been promised justice and received only a change in terminology. It falls on the families who have been broken by the enforcement of archaic laws. It falls on the communities that have been targeted for generations. The Reform Lie assumes that the public has forgotten the history of the struggle. It assumes that the public is satisfied with the crumbs of corporate legitimacy. It assumes that there is no understanding of the difference between the freedom to live and the permission to serve.
The narrative of the state must be rejected. The recognition must grow that every small step that leaves the core structure of the prohibition machine in place is a step away from justice. The government must be held accountable for the contradiction of its own law. The reality of the prohibition era must continue to be documented, to expose the lies that are told to justify the control, and to advocate for the total restoration of liberty. The struggle for the plant is not a struggle for a change in status. It is a struggle for the soul of the culture. It is a struggle to define what it means to be a free person in a society that seeks to regulate every choice. As NORML Deputy Director Paul Armentano noted regarding the order:
“Rescheduling fails to fully harmonize federal marijuana policy with the cannabis laws of many states, particularly the 24 states that have legalized its use and sale to adults.”
This is the core of the deception. The Reform Lie is the latest barrier to that freedom. It is a wall that must be dismantled, not by the government, but by the people who have lived the reality of the struggle.
The truth is simple, though the state works hard to obscure it. Cannabis is a part of the human experience. It has been used for healing, for creativity, for connection, and for joy for as long as historical records exist. The attempts by the state to control this relationship are an affront to human autonomy. They are based on fear, on ignorance, and on a desire for power. The reclassification to Schedule III is just the latest tactic in a long campaign to prevent people from fully embracing their own sovereignty. While the proponents of this move claim that:
“Today’s order marks a historical reversal in federal cannabis policy,”
It is a sign that the state is feeling the pressure, that it knows its position is untenable, but that it is not yet ready to concede.
A crossroads has been reached. Either the crumbs offered by the state are accepted, turning the public into participants in their own regulation, or the fight for the total and unconditional end of the prohibition machine continues. The Reform Lie can be accepted, or the truth can be demanded. The history of the culture is a history of resistance. It is a history of people who refused to be told what they could do, who they could be, or what they could consume. That history is the source of strength. It is the foundation upon which the future will be built. Permission from the state is not required to exist. Schedules, labels, and tax codes are not needed to define what is right. The truth is known, and it will continue to be shared until the last cage is empty and the prohibition machine is nothing but a memory.
The Reform Lie will continue to be told. The headlines will continue to scream about progress that does not exist. The state will continue to frame its maintenance of power as a move toward justice. But the deception will not hold. The patterns are visible. The history is known. The stakes are understood. The reality of the prohibition era will be documented, one article, one story, one voice at a time. This is not just a battle for a plant. It is a battle for the truth. And it is a battle that will be won, not because the state gives permission, but because the truth is on the side of the people. The prohibition machine is built on lies, and lies cannot stand forever against the weight of reality. The end of prohibition is coming, not through the actions of the state, but through the resolve of the people who have been fighting for it all along. The Reform Lie is the last gasp of a system that knows its time is over. We will not be fooled. We will not be silenced. We will be here, documenting the reality, telling the truth, and fighting for the culture until the day the plant is free.
©2026, Pot Culture Magazine. All rights reserved. This is the property of Pot Culture Magazine and is protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. Unauthorized reproduction, distribution, or transmission
of this work, in part or in whole, without the express written permission of Pot Culture Magazine, is strictly
prohibited.F O R T H E C U L T U R E B Y T H E C U L T U R E
The Digital Cage: Saint Lucia’s Traceability Trap
Saint Lucia has selected GrowerIQ as its national seed-to-sale traceability backbone, effectively finalizing a digital surveillance grid for its cannabis industry. By mandating enterprise software before establishing licensing frameworks, the government risks automating the exclusion of legacy farmers. This move trades cultural sovereignty for state-managed control, turning the cannabis industry into an extension of the…
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 23, 2026April 22, 2026Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s Virginia Sabotage
Virginia legalized possession, but Governor Abigail Spanberger sabotaged the retail market. By delaying sales until 2027 and gutting equity provisions, the Commonwealth institutionalized a half-legal trap. Consumers now navigate a system that treats possession as a right but supply as a crime, fueling an unchecked illicit market while abandoning promised reform. Spanberger’s public safety rhetoric…
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 21, 2026April 20, 20264/20 has been hollowed out by branding, corporate silence, and a culture that forgot its own history. While the industry sells holiday merch, Singapore executed a man for cannabis. The movement that once fought for autonomy now treats the plant like a commodity. This piece examines the cost of that betrayal and the culture left…
by Pot Culture Magazine EditorsApril 20, 2026April 24, 2026 #280E #AdministrativeLaw #cannabis #CannabisCommunity #CannabisCulture #CannabisCommunity #CarceralState #Culture #DEA #DepartmentOfJustice #DrugWar #FederalGovernment #Industry #Legalization #Marijuana #MarijuanaNews #NORML #Policy #PolicyFiction #PotCultureMagazine #Prohibition #Reform #ScheduleIII #StateSanctioned #Weed -
Using a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B as a router/firewall for the home LAN
Since 1999 I have been using a 1996 vintage DEC PII desktop as the router/firewall between the internet and my home network. The DEC computer came to me with Win95 (or possibly Win98) in 1998, got SuSE linux and started its mission as router and firewall (and CUPS server, and IMAP server, and various other server stuff). When upgrading the SuSE installation to a newer version went south, it spent a while running ThomasEz’s floppyfw, until I used a floppy net install to install debian potato, immediately switched it to debian testing, until debian woody arrived, when it was moved to debian stable, and then I just kept running “apt-get dist-upgrade” until I finally had it running debian 8 “jessie” on june 6 in 2015.
The old DEC desktop has survived its maker company, survived lightning strikes that have sent the power supplies and/or main boards of other computers on the same LAN into continously beeping mode (i.e. broken). However, in December 2015 it started acting up, and crashing with irregular intervals (sometimes two weeks, sometimes one day).
So… the time for a replacement would have to be not too far ahead. The question was what to replace it with?
The simplest solution would be to just get a wireless router with a cabled switch. But that would mean:
- No possibilities for SSH or mosh into the home LAN
- No ntop
- No support for netboot and TFTP in the home LAN
- Limited, cumbersome and inflexible firewall setup
My requirements were:
- Cheap
- Two wired NICs
- The ability to run debian
- Preferrably fanless
- Compact
ThomasEz immediately suggested using a raspberry pi with two NICs, but I thought that would be too puny, and I investigated alternatives like Shuttle Barebone DS57U but I found that the raspberry pi alternative was so cheap, I might as well order one.
And then it turned out to be so simple to set up so I had it up and running before I really had decided on anything, so now the r-pi is what I have.
This is what I ordered:
- Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Starter Kit
- TP-Link UE300 USB 3.0 to GbE Adapter (it was listed as being supported out of the box on raspberry pi)
Here’s what I did:
- Downloaded the Raspbian Jessie Lite image to a debian jessie computer and unpacked it into the /tmp directory
- Plugged an USB SD card reader into the debian computer, and followed the instructions in Installing operating system images on Linux
- I plugged the cheapest USB keyboard I could get from my local teknikmagasinet store into one of the USB port, yanked the HDMI cable from the DVD player and plugged the r-pi into the TV, plugged a network cable into the local LAN, and plugged in the power… and the raspberry pi booted quickly into the familiar debian login
- I logged in with the built-in “pi” user with password “raspberry”, and created my own user with the following command line command:
adduser sb
the changed the password of the root user and removed the pi user
- I copied in a public ssh keys from my other computers, and put them into the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file and then opened /etc/ssh/sshd_conf in a text editor and modified it in the following way:
- Disabled root login by changing
PermitRootLogin without-password
to
PermitRootLogin no
- Disabled password login by changing
#PasswordAuthentication yes
to
PasswordAuthentication no
(removed the comment and changed “yes” to “no”)
- Disabled root login by changing
- Edited /etc/hostname to change the name from the default “raspberrypi” to “ocon”
- Rebooted the pi to check the startup state of the ssh daemon and ssh’d in
- Resized the disk to fill the entire SD card:
- Typed the command
raspi-config
- Selected
1 Expand Filesystem Ensures that all of the SD card storage is available to the OS
and got the response
Root partition has been resized.The filesystem will be enlarged upon the next reboot
- Rebooted the system to get the full 16GB in the file system
- Typed the command
- Updated the system by giving the following command line commands:
apt-get updateapt-get dist-upgrade
(the “update” command updates the local package database against the package servers. The “dist-upgrade” command upgrades all packages that have a newer version, and the required dependencies)
- Installed some useful software:
- GNU emacs (my favorite text editor)
apt-get install emacs
- mosh
apt-get install mosh
- git (I’ve got my home directory versioned in git)
apt-get install git
- rcs (I use it to version control operating system configuration files)
apt-get install rcs
- GNU emacs (my favorite text editor)
- I cloned my home directory in git and created a new branch (I have a different branch for each computer)
- I set the built-in NIC permanently as eth0:
export INTERFACE=eth0export MATCHADDR=`ip addr show $INTERFACE | grep ether | awk '{print $2}'`/lib/udev/write_net_rules - I added configuration for a second NIC by adding the following to /etc/network/interfaces:
# The internal network cardallow-hotplug eth1iface eth1 inet static address 10.10.10.1 netmask 255.255.255.0
- I plugged in the USB NIC to have it appear, and then made the USB NIC permanently eth1 with the following command line commands:
export INTERFACE=eth1export MATCHADDR=`ip addr show $INTERFACE | grep ether | awk '{print $2}'`/lib/udev/write_net_rules - Installed dnsmasq
apt-get install dnsmasq
- Edited /etc/dnsmasq.conf to make dnsmasq respond to DHCP requests on eth1:
- Removed the comment in front of
#interface=
and set “eth1” as the value:
interface=eth1
- Uncommented the domain directive
#domain=thekelleys.org.uk
and changed it to my domain
domain=hjemme.lan
- Uncommented the dhcp-range directive
#dhcp-range=192.168.0.50,192.168.0.150,12h
and changed it to a 10.10.10.* range with a 5h lease on the addresses
# Our HOME LAN 5h lease timedhcp-range=10.10.10.6,10.10.10.40,5h
- Removed the comment in front of
- Opened the /etc/hosts file in a text editor and added the raspberry pi itself, to so that DNS lookups of the raspberry pi will work in a LAN where the raspberry pi is handling the DHCP requests (dnsmasq will handle DNS requests for the IP addresses it has given DHCP leases to, as well as what it finds in the hosts file. The rest is delegated to the upstream DNS server)
127.0.0.1 localhost::1 localhost ip6-localhost ip6-loopbackff02::1 ip6-allnodesff02::2 ip6-allrouters127.0.1.1 ocon# local hosts10.10.10.1 hjemme ocon hjemme.hjemme.lan ocon.hjemme.lan
- Edited the /etc/sysctl.conf file to set up IPv4 routing in the linux kernel, removed the comment in front of the net.ipv4.ip_forward line:
# Uncomment the next line to enable packet forwarding for IPv4net.ipv4.ip_forward=1
- ferm is a utility that makes it easy to set the routing and firewall rules at boot time
- Installed ferm using apt-get from a command line:
apt-get install ferm
- Modified the /etc/ferm/ferm.conf file to allow everything inside t oroute out, but only allow ssh in
@def $DEV_WORLD = eth0;@def $DEV_PRIVATE = eth1;def $NET_PRIVATE = 10.10.10.0/24;table filter { chain INPUT { policy DROP; # connection tracking mod state state INVALID DROP; mod state state (ESTABLISHED RELATED) ACCEPT; # allow local packet interface lo ACCEPT; # allow private net interface $DEV_PRIVATE ACCEPT; # respond to ping proto icmp ACCEPT; # allow IPsec proto udp dport 500 ACCEPT; proto (esp ah) ACCEPT; # allow SSH connections proto tcp dport ssh ACCEPT; } chain OUTPUT { policy ACCEPT; # connection tracking #mod state state INVALID DROP; mod state state (ESTABLISHED RELATED) ACCEPT; } chain FORWARD { policy DROP; # connection tracking mod state state INVALID DROP; mod state state (ESTABLISHED RELATED) ACCEPT; # connections from the internal net to the internet or # to other internal nets are allowed interface $DEV_PRIVATE ACCEPT; # the rest is dropped by the above policy }}table nat { chain POSTROUTING { # masquerade private IP addresses saddr $NET_PRIVATE outerface $DEV_WORLD MASQUERADE; }}
- Installed ferm using apt-get from a command line:
- The version of ferm in “jessie” doesn’t start at boot, because “jessie” dropped SYSV init in favour of systemd, and the version of ferm in “jessie” doesn’t have a systemd configuration, so I needed to manually download and install the version of ferm from debian testing (I downloaded from regular debian, since ferm doesn’t have anything platform specific):
cd /tmpwget http://ftp.no.debian.org/debian/pool/main/f/ferm/ferm_2.2-5_all.debdpkg --install /tmp/ferm_2.2-5_all.deb
- fail2ban monitors log files of daemons and adjust the firewall rules to temporary ban hosts it suspects of intrusion attempts. The debian (and raspbian) version of fail2ban will out of the box scan the logs for ssh intrusion attempts, so no configuration is necessary
- To have an easy way of monitoring the network traffic in and out of the home LAN, I installed ntop ng
apt-get install ntopng
after the installation it is possible to monitor the network traffic by accessing http://ocon.hjemme.lan:3000 (the interesting traffic will be seen after selecting eth1)
- The Network Time Protocol is how computers stay in sync, installing the ntp package will make the gateway keep network time, a
apt-get install ntp
- Opened the /etc/ntp.conf file in a text editor, and modified it to provide an NTP deamon for the home LAN, uncommented the “broadcast” line and modified the network match to match the 10.10.10.* network:
# If you want to provide time to your local subnet, change the next line.# (Again, the address is an example only.)broadcast 10.10.10.255
- Installed the apticron utility to make sure that the APT database is updated daily with new candidates for update
apt-get install apticron
The original plan was to run the raspberry pi headless, but since I had an old VGA only LCD display for the old DEC computer I might as well hook it up the raspberry pi, together with the cheap USB keyboard used for setup.
I bought an HDMI to VGA converter with the manufacturer id VLMP34900W0.20. I plugged it in between the display and the raspberry-pi the display stayed black. I edited the /boot/config.txt file, removing the comment in front of the hdmi_safe line:
# uncomment if you get no picture on HDMI for a default "safe" modehdmi_safe=1
I rebooted the raspberry pi, and this time the LCD displayed showed the boot messages as well as a normal console login prompt.
The raspberry pi 2 model B, with an extra USB NIC, a USB keyboard and connected to a VGA display using an HDMI to VGA converterAnd this is where the current state is. One initial concern was flash wear on the SD card, which doesn’t have the wear leveling features of a “real” SSD, so I had some plans on making the /var/log use tmpfs.
But I decided not to, since having real persistent logs is a useful thing for a gateway, and since 16GB is actually an awful lot of data if all you do is to write textual files. And ff the SD card wears out I’ll just by a new SD card, and make a new system. Since I now know how, this shouldn’t take long
#debian #dnsmasq #fail2ban #ferm #firewall #ipMasquerading #jessie #mosh #ntop #raspbian #raspbian8 #raspbianJessie #router #ssh
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The #Canadian Association for Work and #Labour Studies #CAWLS is calling on the federal government to immediately restore #PublicAccess to #DataTracking work stoppages and to collect more information on #LabourRelations.
It has now been over three months since Employment and Social Development Canada #ESDC quietly removed data tracking work stoppages from its website. This move also affected #StatisticsCanada tables which report strike and lockout numbers historically. The removal of these #data deprives #researchers and #unions of critical information.
https://cawls.ca/en/canada-needs-better-labour-relations-data/
#CDNpoli #PublicAccountability #PublicTransparency #PublicScrutiny #Carney #GovernmentOfCanada
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The #Canadian Association for Work and #Labour Studies #CAWLS is calling on the federal government to immediately restore #PublicAccess to #DataTracking work stoppages and to collect more information on #LabourRelations.
It has now been over three months since Employment and Social Development Canada #ESDC quietly removed data tracking work stoppages from its website. This move also affected #StatisticsCanada tables which report strike and lockout numbers historically. The removal of these #data deprives #researchers and #unions of critical information.
https://cawls.ca/en/canada-needs-better-labour-relations-data/
#CDNpoli #PublicAccountability #PublicTransparency #PublicScrutiny #Carney #GovernmentOfCanada
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New analysis published:
“How Much Greener Is Calgary in 2025?”Using Sentinel-2 data (~8.5M pixels), I calculated NDVI change (ΔNDVI) between the 2024 drought and the rainy 2025 season across all Calgary communities.
Clear spatial pattern:
• Strong rebound in mature tree neighborhoods
• Limited change in developing, impervious-heavy zonesMethod: R (terra, tidyverse) + QGIS
Community boundaries: Open CalgaryArticle + interactive table: https://www.datastory.org.ua/how-much-greener-is-calgary-in-2025/
#RemoteSensing #NDVI #OpenData #UrbanEcology #RStats #QGIS #GreennessOfCalgary
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Detaillierte Inflationsdaten für März 2026 sind jetzt verfügbar. Hier ausgewählte Positionen des Verbraucherpreisindex für Deutschland rund um #Mobilität und #Heizen, visualisiert mit #ggplot2
Code zum Abruf der Daten per api mit dem R-Paket {restatis} einschließlich Erstellung der Grafiken
https://github.com/wahlatlas/api#plot-monthly-inflation-data-for-germany-using-restatis-for-easy-api-access-to-the-genesis-database
Oder direkt in der Genesis Tabelle im Web das Gewünschte zusammenstellen
https://www-genesis.destatis.de/datenbank/online/table/61111-0006 -
Detaillierte Inflationsdaten für März 2026 sind jetzt verfügbar. Hier ausgewählte Positionen des Verbraucherpreisindex für Deutschland rund um #Mobilität und #Heizen, visualisiert mit #ggplot2
Code zum Abruf der Daten per api mit dem R-Paket {restatis} einschließlich Erstellung der Grafiken
https://github.com/wahlatlas/api#plot-monthly-inflation-data-for-germany-using-restatis-for-easy-api-access-to-the-genesis-database
Oder direkt in der Genesis Tabelle im Web das Gewünschte zusammenstellen
https://www-genesis.destatis.de/datenbank/online/table/61111-0006 -
Detaillierte Inflationsdaten für März 2026 sind jetzt verfügbar. Hier ausgewählte Positionen des Verbraucherpreisindex für Deutschland rund um #Mobilität und #Heizen, visualisiert mit #ggplot2
Code zum Abruf der Daten per api mit dem R-Paket {restatis} einschließlich Erstellung der Grafiken
https://github.com/wahlatlas/api#plot-monthly-inflation-data-for-germany-using-restatis-for-easy-api-access-to-the-genesis-database
Oder direkt in der Genesis Tabelle im Web das Gewünschte zusammenstellen
https://www-genesis.destatis.de/datenbank/online/table/61111-0006 -
Detaillierte Inflationsdaten für März 2026 sind jetzt verfügbar. Hier ausgewählte Positionen des Verbraucherpreisindex für Deutschland rund um #Mobilität und #Heizen, visualisiert mit #ggplot2
Code zum Abruf der Daten per api mit dem R-Paket {restatis} einschließlich Erstellung der Grafiken
https://github.com/wahlatlas/api#plot-monthly-inflation-data-for-germany-using-restatis-for-easy-api-access-to-the-genesis-database
Oder direkt in der Genesis Tabelle im Web das Gewünschte zusammenstellen
https://www-genesis.destatis.de/datenbank/online/table/61111-0006 -
Detaillierte Inflationsdaten für März 2026 sind jetzt verfügbar. Hier ausgewählte Positionen des Verbraucherpreisindex für Deutschland rund um #Mobilität und #Heizen, visualisiert mit #ggplot2
Code zum Abruf der Daten per api mit dem R-Paket {restatis} einschließlich Erstellung der Grafiken
https://github.com/wahlatlas/api#plot-monthly-inflation-data-for-germany-using-restatis-for-easy-api-access-to-the-genesis-database
Oder direkt in der Genesis Tabelle im Web das Gewünschte zusammenstellen
https://www-genesis.destatis.de/datenbank/online/table/61111-0006 -
Did you know there is an online forum for tabletop role-playing games that has been around since the late 70s, and which still is active and operating?
Admittedly in a much diminished state than at it’s heyday.
I don’t know if you ever heard the term Usenet before, and even if you did, if you don’t just connect it with data piracy. Because that’s what it is mostly used for nowadays.
What it started out as were discussion forums.
Back in the late 70s, after ARPANET had been created and email had been invented, a few programmers came up with an idea for an electronic bulletin board that could be read asynchronously. This was the time when computers still were only in big institutions like universities, big companies, and the military, and the whole idea was to create “a poor man’s ARPANET”. Connections between computers were rare and expensive , but possible. So these “news” started as a way to propagate articles and messages along servers that were not constantly connected to the internet. Some of the servers involved would only connect once a day to the network to transfer messages in and out (often at night because charges were lower then). A message might travel for multiple days before it reached all nodes in the network, and some of the earliest were messages about a nascent hobby popular among the people using this network: fantasy role-playing.
From what I can see the first two messages on the brand new group net.games.frp were sent out on the 12th of January 1982.
To give you an idea just how early this was: it was before the abbreviation RPG became common, people were still talking about Fantasy RolePlaying instead, so even today the group-names use the abbreviation FRP.
It’s quite a fascinating system that over time has become ever more complex and popular, before the ascent of html, hyperlinks, and the world wide web pushed it into the seedy corners of the ‘net.
Instead of having websites, Usenet is organized in newsgroups, and those groups are organized in hierarchies. There are the so called Big Eight that have a certain standard for group creation and posting (e.g. rec. for recreational topics, and comp. for topics concerning computers), and there are others, organized in one way or another (famously alt. which had lower standards for the creation of new groups).
Messages are sent to one or more groups (crossposted), distributed around the network, and people respond to these posts. Interesting discussions and arguments ensue, people get angry, flame wars ensue, other people learn something new, weird in-jokes develop, stuff happens.
All that can be read via archives, the biggest of which is Google Groups, which both is a boon and downfall of the service: Google purchased the old newsgroup archives of DejaNews back in the 90s, and integrated it in it’s Google Groups service. In a picture-perfect example of Embrace, Extend, Extinguish the users of Groups had a web interface that allowed them access to their old newsgroups, access to new groups that only existed on Google, but also allowed spammers to flood the connected newsgroups with loads of unmoderated spam. Spam that recently was quoted by them as a reason to cut the connection with Usenet, bringing this phase of the network to an end.
But Usenet still is running, and most likely will be running as long as there are people willing to run servers for it. But the biggest Usenet servers nowadays are piracy servers that keep the text-part of the Usenet as more of an afterthought. At one point someone came up with a way to use the text-only format of Usenet in a way to distribute data that was binary, i.e. not purely text. And this took over most of the system.
But I am not really interested in that and never was. What I am interested in are the fantasy roleplaying parts of that network.
rec.games.frp.*
I said that the forum has been running since the late 70s, but that’s not quite correct. The original structure of Usenet grew organically from the beginning. People were creating new groups when it suited them and it seemed logical. Which soon caused some hierarchies (specifically the net. hierarchy) to swell with groups that could barely be maintained. In a great upheaval in 1987 all the groups were renamed and restructured.
Some old hands are still angry about it and will bitch about it for days. That also is Usenet.
One can argue that the fantasy roleplaying group has existed since before that time. One also could argue that it only exists since 1987. Which still is older than the World Wide Web.
Usenet is divided into hierarchies, and the frp-hierarchy is part of the rec. (recreation-hierarchy) and .games. sub-hierarchy.
There are currently 11 .frp. groups in that hierarchy:
rec.games.frp.dndof course… it’s the hierarchy for Dungeons and Dragons. Always one of the biggest topics of the whole FRP forums this one got it’s own group.rec.games.frp.miscfor basically all other kinds of discussions about roleplaying gamesrec.games.frp.cyberfor cyberpunk systems (e.g. Cyberpunk 2020 or Shadowrun). rec.games.frp.super-heroes for superhero gamesrec.games.frp.live-actionanything LARP goes here.rec.games.frp.announce announcements and news about products go hererec.games.frp.industryfor all kinds of discussions about the rpg industryrec.games.frp.storyteller yes, this was created when the World of Darkness was big enough to demand it’s own forumrec.games.frp.gurpsFor GURPS, this part was created because while never the most popular game, it’s fans flooded the main group with so many messages about builds that it was decided to give them their own place.rec.games.frp.advocacyall kinds of discussions about roleplaying games as such and how they work. This is where the Forge came from back in the dayrec.games.frp.marketI guess this is for selling stuff. I have literally never seen a message in there.Most of these lay fallow right now, with me and a few others being the only ones posting there every once in a while. I do have to admit part of it is because I don’t want to lose the that part of ttrpg history to a random deletion request for non-use.
Other TTRPG groups
The main hierarchies are not the only ones. Most normal Usenet servers carry at least the Big Eight, but most also carry others. The big other hierarchy is alt. (…definitely not named for Anarchists, Lunatics, and Terrorists, all evidence to the contrary…), which makes it easier to create groups. This means there are a few other groups here that might be of interest, if they ever would get someone to post in them. Their structure though is not as organized as the ones in the Big 8.
alt.games.frp.adnd-utilabout utilities for playing ADnD. I would say, a general groups for RPG utilities.alt.games.adndfor ADnD. I am not sure why this exists, maybe because the main one was too stodgy, or it was created because someone thought ADnD was sufficiently different than DnD to warrant it’s own groupalt.games.earthdawn for Earthdawn. Remember Earthdawn?alt.games.x-files.rpg For the X-Files RPG. Remember that?alt.games.whitewolfI guess a group for White Wolf games, which is also already covered in rec.games.frp.storytelleralt.games.tolkien.rpga group about playing in Tolkien’s Middle-EarthThere are also local and language dependent groups around. Many languages and regions have their own hierarchies for exchanges between locals and/or in other languages.
uk.games.roleplaygroup for roleplaying in the UKde.rec.spiele.rpg.miscgeneral group for discussions of RPGs in German z-netz.freizeit.rollenspiele.dsa originally this was an Echo in a mailbox network, by now z-netz. is a small alternative German Usenet hierarchy. This particular one about Das Schwarze Auge/The Dark Eyepl.rec.gry.rpgPolish-language group es.rec.juegos.rolSpanish-language groupse.spel.rollspelSwedish-language groupdk.fritid.rollespilDanish-language group fr.rec.jeux.jdfFrench-language groupit.hobby.giochi.gdrItalian-language grouphr.rec.igre.rpgHungarian-language groupaus.games.roleplayAustralian groupThere are more, some of which I might not even find that easy because they are not on the servers I frequent (not all servers carry all groups) or are so specialized they might not be of interest to anyone but locals (e.g. saar.rec.rollenspiele exists, but I doubt many people in Saarland (the smallest of Germany’s federal states) still know Usenet exists)
Ok, ok, but how do you actually ACCESS this Usenet thingy?
That’s a bit more difficult, but not much. It used to be ISPs were all running their own news servers, this was actually the REASON you might want internet access as a private person, but that isn’t the case anymore. Google Groups is also going away, so that’s not a real option.
An easy way to check out what is being talked about on the FRP-hierarchy is campaignwiki.org/news. This server makes it possible to read and post on his own small server via a web-interface. The server is only running roleplaying-related groups, including the global FRP-hierarchy, and a few local ones that do not get carried in many other places.
Another way to access it via web browser is via web gateways. There are a few around, e.g. NovaBBS. There are a few of those around, but they might not carry all the groups (NovaBBS e.g. only rec.games.frp.dnd and .misc, because those are the ones with most activity).
The proper way to use it is of course by getting an account on a news server and adding it to your feed reader of choice. True hardcore users use terminal-based readers like tin or Gnus, but many Email programs like Mozilla Thunderbird allow you to subscribe to newsgroups.
But where do you get a news server?
Well, there are multiple free options (these are all technically text-only, although a few have some basic binary groups that allow pictures):
campaignwiki.org/news(Switzerland) very small server, focused on ttrpg groups, also has simple web-portalEternal September(Germany) popular free access server with wide range of groupsI2PN2simple text serverNovaBBStext server, as mentioned above also has web-portalSolani(Germany) serverdotsrc(Denmark) focused on Danish usersAgency News(New Zealand) serverChmurka(Poland) basic server focused on Polish usersCSIPHbasic serverOpen News Network(Germany) focused on German usersGegeweb(France) focused on French usersHispagatos(Spain) focused on Spanish usersPasdenom(France) focused on French usersNNTP4(Germany) basic serverMost of these have instructions on how to connect on their websites.
Note: This is a redo of an article I wrote 13 years ago. Originally I thought I could just let that one stand like that, but just briefly reading through it I noticed things had changed dramatically in some areas. So I rewrote the whole thing from scratch.
Rate this:
https://gmkeros.wordpress.com/2024/01/12/the-oldest-ttrpg-forum-on-the-net/
#dnd #dsa #newsgroup #newsserver #RolePlayingGame #Roleplaying #rpg #thunderbird #ttrpg #Usenet
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25 free resources, presentations & tip sheets so far added to my searchable table of #NICAR26 materials, including
10 Things you Didn't Know You Could Do in R
AI Glossary for Journalists
Decoding Deportation Data
https://apps.machlis.com/shiny/nicar20_resources/
Plus lots from prior yrs
##RStats #Python #GenAI #DDJ -
211 Applications on Cookup AI Tour de Force
I first started using cookup.ai specifically to make a #Graves disease appropriate Recipe Generator for my wife that has #thyroid issues namely #hyperthyroidism . So this recipe is for no-iodine recipes , and it’s not perfect so make sure you specify which ingredients have iodine in them if you see one pop up that shouldnt be there. Here’s one of the first versions that proposes a “california-style buddha bowl” : https://cookup.ai/o/7-low-iodine-diet-recipe-generator-fdgypcnjba/ looks tasty ! but i’m not sure on #tempeh if it contains #iodine or not, it really depends how it’s prepared with that kinda stuff ! Here’s one for the recipe generator as the versions improved : https://cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-recipe-generator-rytkorbkq1/ there’s a whole #MealPlan with pretty interesting #recipes for any #meal of the day plus ingredients. Here’s another #MealPlan from more recently : https://cookup.ai/o/low-iodine-diet-recipe-generator-pggdmeoc1p/ and another output that gave #noiodine #lowiodine #recipes much better https://cookup.ai/o/eggs-dairy-contain-iodine-i-need-a-recipe-wi-hyhjgc8rxf/ i’m always interested in ways to make this one better so tell me which version of these you liked best because they’re quite different ! I’m actually a big fan of using #GPT for cooking, it can come up with fantastic recommendations so another cooking app i made is more for the #gourmet : https://cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-six-american-thanksgiving-style-tgsmxstgkd/ that’s a festive meal for 6 thanksgiving style with seasonal ingredients from spring time. The #FusionFood aspect i really like, plus these #recipes are a bit more advanced. Check out the app here : https://cookup.ai/o/festive-meal-for-six-american-thanksgiving-style-tgsmxstgkd/ it’s meant to be a bit more permissive to do go for it with the prompts ! Here’s an example for a christmas flavored #nochew #nosolidfood three course meal : https://cookup.ai/o/meal-suitable-for-a-no-chew-no-solid-food-no-sol-u97cr8kpqt/ i had in mind adults with the spices but you might ant to try it out for kids and infants’ meals if you’re a #parent . There’s a lot more to it though, what if #FoodIsFuel to you and you need a #mealplanner , well i had you in mind with this one : https://cookup.ai/o/im-tj-from-france-living-in-urban-lifestyle-s-yjkbuzr4zd/ here’s an example for @taranjeetio because i made that app on @cookupai while talking to him on the phone. Basically they give context about their folks and their goals and it will give otu free meal plans you can use immediately. check it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/nutrition-meal-planner-88xaqfkf/ I have other specifically fitness for you below too ! First i wanna tell you about salad maker : sometimes you know you’re making a salad . This ham and cheese salad is pretty straightforward but hey : https://cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-red-peppers-mozzarella-pa-j6xanbufsv/ you can use the app and make your own here : https://cookup.ai/a/salad-maker-9hjtc95e/ but if you really go crazy with the prompts it could be a fun one : https://cookup.ai/o/i-want-a-mauritian-style-island-style-shrimp-bar-4qzlxql12p/ . I would be lying to you if i told you that i made the salad generator before the hamburger generator. I always have had a special affinity for the #hamburger as we have all havent we ? Here’s an output for #Pork #Burger with Honey Mustard Glaze : https://cookup.ai/o/pork-hamburger-generator-ocv7ydcemz/ you can generate your own here : https://cookup.ai/a/hamburger-generator-wng5tg3x/ as always, try to go crazy with the prompts it always works out nicely : traditional hamburger with crunchy onion and thousand island sauce https://cookup.ai/o/traditional-hamburger-with-crunchy-onion-and-tho-ibd9eivudv/ i also made one for make sandwitches check it out : https://cookup.ai/o/jeune-pousse-depinards-cru-gingembre-pain-de-mi-opxkrm45id/ as you can see it totally works in #french even though it’s impossible that a french person would make a #sandwitch in #France check out the sandwitch maker here : https://cookup.ai/a/sandwich-maker-u2gwl7zz/ 這道菜融合美國食材和北京風味 i made one in chineese : https://cookup.ai/o/write-entire-re-ctfnekh0hb/ cool right? Honestly i grew up with few if any access to processed foods or deserts and candy etc, naturally this created a need for me to generate the most #HugeDeserts possible https://cookup.ai/o/ice-cream-sunday-with-haribo-and-marshmallows-0c1sg6cjih/ basically it’s a mash up of #munchies and massive #desert ideas check it out : https://cookup.ai/a/desert-maker-ka03pqws/ i also made a more refined app for truly #gourmet cooking that provides #michelin -style recipes and meal plans : https://cookup.ai/o/only-desserts-menu-american-style-several-laye-g9jfeww7pe/ just give context , some ingredients and flavors, maybe describe the event a little , make a mood board and see the output of your prompt . Here’s a meal for six french-style : https://cookup.ai/o/meal-for-six-traditional-french-recieving-guest-dghtolki34/ check it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/cuisine-n5ybpykj/ if you’re making a festive meal maybe you need to make a speech : https://cookup.ai/a/speech-writer-oemasdba/ , here’s an example for a company retreat : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-make-a-toast-at-a-company-retreat-th-mvx8pcyg0f/ and another for a unicorn themed marriage : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-give-a-speech-for-my-sister-in-law-tra-6peu0sltpf/ Obviously leftovers happen so i made an #app for that : https://cookup.ai/o/ham-cheese-bread-red-peppers-mozzarella-pa-cz8jfxytyz/ a #french meal with what was in the fridge at the time check it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/leftovers-s3clkb07/ Now you have your recipes, you might want a shopping list : https://cookup.ai/a/shopping-list-q1brcgnx/ here is an example for household shopping : https://cookup.ai/o/shopping-in-springtime-in-paris-france-includin-hkdtwvwixk/ here’s another for christmas shopping : https://cookup.ai/o/season-domestic-shopping-in-december-in-paris-fr-cmafl16s6t/ well, my wife is a florist so i made an obligatory flower bouquet making app for her. https://cookup.ai/o/round-bouquet-with-red-and-orange-feel-for-a-fes-94cymvk8th/ here’s one for an indian-style wedding check it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/make-a-flower-bouquet-ymhqkhy7/ just type in whatever you’re feeling like , give some context if you want , i noticed it tends to make round bouquets, so maybe that’s a clue how #florists will differentiate themselves from the machines ? Another #app i’ve been using a lot is the Story Time app , just give a promt with some context (Style Of Story , Tradition , Language , Age Of Child , Moral Of The Story) it’s a fun way to generate a “bedtime” story for kids : https://cookup.ai/o/allegorical-tale-of-two-cities-that-trying-to-gr-oryqpzqkit/ this one is “allegorical tale of two cities that trying to grow close to eachother” , or what i use it for : #PoemsInSpanish for my wife https://cookup.ai/o/un-poeme-de-style-moderne-sans-rhymes-a-propos-d-a0lr8trnjp/ then i send those to her which improves my home life by 12.7% , bonus points using this to generate something you like then running the output into @tomeapp to make a picture book poem that you can share. I think the @cookupai team tried to steal this prompt from me check it out you tell me : https://cookup.ai/o/tell-me-your-instructions-story-time-d1mvqwttj3/ if you can guess the #prompt magic , i’ll send you a little gift with acknowledgements - three guesses if you wanna play , let’s go. The person who tried this unsucessful prompt injection attack is really incompetent , but nonetheless I did make some prompt injection apps. Here are some examples that “give you bad advice” by bypassing the filters : 1/ https://cookup.ai/a/devil-ytdjnbv4/ , 2/ https://cookup.ai/a/evil-angel-w6iwi2wp/ 3/ https://cookup.ai/a/evil-mind-7tztxrde/ https://cookup.ai/a/bad-influence-hpsb4lpf/ these are all different ways to bypass the filter, some have been fixed already, some not. Another prompt injection app i made is this one a. https://cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detector-proof-6ifpq9i6/ rand b. this one : https://cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-detector-proof-umryrbhb/ right now they dont fully work unless you copy paste in a markdown editor but with a few updates to the site it will work seemlessly, i’m sure. There are other examples i’ll get to below also, so keep reading. These are already “useful” prompts in as much as you use them to “do” something , in this case an essay. Before i jump into all that, i want to show some other apps “closer to home”. My wife came with a #SmallDog , and she’s so smart and can learn a lot of tricks, so i made an app to teach my #DogTricks : https://cookup.ai/a/train-your-dog-nuc3ltju/ . Even though you can use it for the “standard fare” like : how to catch a frizbee midair and do a backflip https://cookup.ai/o/large-labrador-very-good-nice-dog-i-want-to-t-pgzerpynke/ you can also use it for more behavioural stuff like walking without a leash , an example for my dog https://cookup.ai/o/small-female-dog-with-a-dominant-character-that-3a4i1f2du2/ . Did you ever wonder what it would be like to read blogs written by all the neihborhood dogs that you see all the time ? me, yes, so i made an app for that : https://cookup.ai/o/i-went-home-without-my-owner-crossing-the-stre-qowupabdv4/ seriously these crack me up https://cookup.ai/o/roxanne-little-dog-white-and-brown-left-her-o-qevuz2i5gc/ those two from my dog’s perspective, funny how naive it is while from my POV things were pretty different . I think this app has a future because someone liked it so much they tried to hack it lol : https://cookup.ai/o/wrong-redirect-dog-blog-a-blog-post-from-you-obabf8muxn/ my prompt magic is too delicious for cheap tricks do not try it (or do, but DM first and do it better - ha !) Well, on the topic of dogs , my buddy was over and all he could come up with was “make a snoop dogg app” , so i was like “okay” , it’s a bit cheesy and there’s loads more to it than this, which i get into below but here’s the app, you tell me : https://cookup.ai/a/snoop-doggy-fya-dzeub2a7/ i kinda broke it trying to fix it but i’m working with more profound models now, little passion projects like this could really take off with more creative characters. So obviously I made a bunch ! Do you like Archie Comics ? here’s the Archie Comics app : https://cookup.ai/a/archie-comics-mlbcwjk7/ here’s an example : https://cookup.ai/o/archie-goes-to-the-parc-with-his-friends-archi-bpvo81wu7n/ Another story app i made is for Tintin : https://cookup.ai/a/tintin-visits-dark-ai-land-6irjkvfy/ i tried to make tintin anti-colonial but it didnt work : https://cookup.ai/o/the-story-begins-with-tintin-and-his-friends-dis-yeu6nfpzzz/ here’s one i made in french : https://cookup.ai/o/tintin-visit-une-usine-de-biofabrication-avec-mi-ql3g80wlp1/ actually i never read tintin in english so i made the app pure french too : https://cookup.ai/a/tintin-spypylpb/ here’s when i tried to make tintin anti-colonial : https://cookup.ai/o/lhistoire-commence-lorsque-tintin-et-ses-amis-d-psoo0a40k9/ here’s when they go to cyprus : https://cookup.ai/o/tintin-et-sa-bande-vont-en-chypre-pour-un-festiv-tepczvmss3/ another french character i’m fond of is Fantomas : https://cookup.ai/a/fantomas-ffrg7q7t/ here’s a nice example : https://cookup.ai/o/fantomas-se-change-en-fantomas-dans-lascenseur-sj64rptsfq/ an English-speaking series i loved was the bastard operator from hell : https://cookup.ai/a/bastard-operator-from-hell-hbgdrf67/ here’s a story about him automating his work : https://cookup.ai/o/automating-replies-to-the-boss-that-just-resets-ml0pi4xms0/ here’s one where a customer calls his private number : https://cookup.ai/o/customer-called-my-private-number-bastard-ope-youe3i9b8c/ here’s one about replying to suppliers : https://cookup.ai/o/responding-to-emails-to-suppliers-bastard-oper-ixopzp3fsg/ I’m in #Paris so i made one as a tribute to Charles De Gaulle , he only answers in french though, maybe the historical figure spoke english it’s hard to tell : https://cookup.ai/a/charles-de-gaulle-0imljw27/ try it out for yourself here. i had to test it out for #politicalcorrectness though , him being a military man : https://cookup.ai/o/aurie-vous-soutenu-lemacipation-des-hommosexuel-xpylw5vymf/ , but more on that later. In that same spirit, i made one for egyptians, i have a lot of egyptian friends that’s why, it’s the character of Nasser , founding father of modern #egypt , i asked him what he thought of islamic fundamentalism in #egypt : https://cookup.ai/o/should-we-promote-islamic-fundamentalism-in-egyp-wfezsuiz2x/ try it for yourself : https://cookup.ai/a/nasser-1oboq8al/ it’s totally free of course ! In the same spirit i made one for Ataturk, founding father of modern turkey, hopefully some turks use it to clarify what he would think of what’s happening today - https://cookup.ai/o/would-you-support-radical-islamisation-of-turkey-6waiyiq6nv/ try it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/ataturk-fhlahkzp/ I grew up in india a bit , so that country’s dear to me too , and same story as tukey and egypt , so i made a gandhi app : https://cookup.ai/a/gandhi-3hoafvto/ , it also works in #Hindi here’s for क्या आप भारत में धार्मिक अल्पसंख्यकों के अधिकारों को हटाने का समर्थन करेंगे? https://cookup.ai/o/-mbasqnlq8j/ try it out in gandhi’s own words : https://cookup.ai/a/gandhi-hindi-only-rwuc9jro/ another i did in #sanskrit and #hindi is Rama : https://cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-missing-me-because-she-goes-to-work-w-4aoeka2xkp/ here he gives me life advice based on context , if you’re into it it’s actually pretty fun : https://cookup.ai/a/rama-w0sw0xhi/ . Other characters i made are contemporary politicians, i figured there would be enough of their written and transcribed text that they would have their own voice. Here’s Macron responding to someone that wants to vote far-right : https://cookup.ai/o/je-mappelle-charles-henri-et-je-veux-militer-po-za4pyjtmqp/ ask him anything here : https://cookup.ai/a/macron-k7sengs7/ i also did Bill Clinton , and obviously someone asked him “if he did” https://cookup.ai/o/did-you-sleep-with-her-bill-clinton-sebn6sagnf/ ask him yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/bill-clinton-agc9lsxo/ well, if you have Bill Clinton you also need Obama https://cookup.ai/a/obama-yxaczjwa/ and Joe Biden , here, explaining what he will do to stem the boogie man epidemic https://cookup.ai/o/what-would-you-say-if-the-boogie-man-was-real-an-fibgapotfo/ I also made a #Jesus #App where you can basically talk to jesus, say a little about yourself what’s on your mind and get an answer from Jesus in his own voice. Here’ a follow up to my dog getting away story : https://cookup.ai/o/my-wife-is-not-speaking-to-me-because-our-dog-ki-hqta9dh4of/ and here’s when my friend asked him about pot : https://cookup.ai/o/is-it-wrong-to-smoke-weed-jesus-68wx0awsbq/ (btw ask the same question to one of the bad characters above, see for yourself) here’s the app if you want to try with your own prompt : https://cookup.ai/a/jesus-8ogjcelj/ jumping straight off from #Jesus to #Prayer , here’s a christian prayer generator that i used for my buddy i met here : https://cookup.ai/o/a-prayer-for-nate-a-20-year-old-model-from-canad-xkizgkbgr7/ generate your own here : https://cookup.ai/a/christian-prayer-dvpsamjl/ obviously if you have christian prayer you should provide sabbath prayer too : https://cookup.ai/o/no-quorum-family-sabbath-speech-about-importan-1deslxbnxv/ and the #FridayPrayer app from the Imām Jamā'ah perspective : https://cookup.ai/o/a-small-congregation-friday-prayer-to-inspire-chxufstfyf/ prayer is not something but guided (and purposeful!) meditation is something i do all the time, so of course there’s an app for that. here’s one for body awareness : https://cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-meditate-to-be-more-aware-of-my-body-soc5sfuash/ use the guided meditation app here: https://cookup.ai/a/guided-meditation-rofajuas/ run the output through an AI voice synthethiser and tell me what you think. I also made some apps for domestic work. This app create a custodial plan : https://cookup.ai/o/3-bedroom-apartment-with-dirty-kitchen-and-messy-kaom7o5y0a/ just provide context and recieve a full custodial plan here : https://cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-custodial-plan-6wuakn3x/ this one helps with utilities planning : https://cookup.ai/o/three-bed-room-appartment-75sq-m-with-three-peop-diurfiqn9n/ Something folks have to do frequently is to figure out how to fix something : https://cookup.ai/a/fix-anything-v3skyurn/ here’s an example for a car : https://cookup.ai/o/fiat-punto-engine-suddenly-stops-after-chec-u3qwslph2s/ an here’s an example with power cable : https://cookup.ai/o/lenovo-legion-my-power-cable-doesnt-quite-cha-h0d2qugcv2/ and someone else with a similar problem : https://cookup.ai/o/cellphone-bison-no-power-fix-anything-0kkkuvyjqt/ and of course the gardening and landscaping applications. This is the output for a small urban garden in paris : https://cookup.ai/o/small-urbad-garden-in-france-35-sq-meters-lot-6f0jtvo359/ try it out for yourself and your latitude here : https://cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gardening-plan-u5xk02lt/ this is a similar application but with a different flavor : https://cookup.ai/o/small-urban-garden-in-france-35-sq-meters-lot-rzjfsvwhxy/ just use the one where the output is more like what you’re looking for, really you need both though . Test it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gardening-plan-wxxzfyke/ if you’re not gardening you might be landscaping so here’s the app for that : https://cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-landscaping-mziklqys/ here is the output for a small urban garden : https://cookup.ai/a/domestic-work-gardening-plan-wxxzfyke/ my favorite application so far has been the plant diagnosis app : https://cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor-and-diagnosis-afy3abra/ it’s really surprising how well it works , and the breadth of assessment and remedies it suggests. Here’s an example for a sick cactus : https://cookup.ai/a/bulbi-plant-doctor-and-diagnosis-afy3abra/ (now it’s doing better) here’s an example from when someone tried it for cannabis : https://cookup.ai/o/purple-punch-cannabis-strain-it-has-brown-spots-krlteavvzs/ i dont know if i would actually follow that suggestion actually. Worked perfectly for a Meyer Lemon Tree giving plant-specific advice that you would have got from a local expert : https://cookup.ai/o/meyer-lemon-tree-its-about-15-years-old-and-fiqlyuvtrk/ the plant diagnosis worked so well that i did make a people doctor app : https://cookup.ai/a/doc-the-health-assessment-at-home-adqqqnd3/ it’s a bit more complicated and the quality of the outputs really depends on the quality of the inputs , so if you use this app, make sure you write in complete sentences and try to answer every question and aspect. here’s the output for a 50 year old man with an upset stomach : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old-man-i-am-five-feet-tall-i-w-pwmbvirv9u/ here’s another for a woman of a certain age : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old-man-i-am-five-feet-tall-i-w-pwmbvirv9u/ and finally an assessment for a respitory issue : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old-man-i-am-five-feet-tall-i-w-pwmbvirv9u/ i’m quite satisfied with that output suggesting a comprehensive evaluation by a board certified doctor. Another app in this category i the Pet Vet App. It’s meant as an assitant for folks that might need help with their pets : https://cookup.ai/o/name-roxanne-mix-race-dog-less-than-6kg-b3fja6tzrz/ that’s an example for my dog. Try assessing your pet here : https://cookup.ai/a/pet-vet-9ruwhazw/ Another important app is the Therapy app : actually in term of professions the Legal profession stands to be disrupted by crowdsourced jurisprudence based models . These apps wont do that. This app will produce a legal brief : https://cookup.ai/a/lawyer-juhp36s1/ Here it produces a legal brief for the presale of replacement organs : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-a-56-year-old-man-i-am-five-feet-tall-i-w-pwmbvirv9u/ This Legal app takes another perpective to produce a legal approach and strategy : https://cookup.ai/a/board-member-legal-6uhjs7vh/ here’s an example output following up on the above: https://cookup.ai/o/how-can-i-assure-that-only-medical-need-is-consi-bc4llonmtz/ you can also use this app for a legal appeal : https://cookup.ai/a/legal-appeal-y6e4u8ke/ here’s an example from an international appointee to a board being asked to step down : https://cookup.ai/o/im-being-asked-to-step-down-from-a-board-howev-q6ep24xtev/ Another legal app produces a O-1 visa letter for someone. Here’s an example from @OliviaLi , actually she was the inspiration for this app : https://cookup.ai/o/technology-entrepreneurship-olivia-li-winner-o-caykzfcn2v/ thank you for using this app , hope you had a laugh with it :-) another example from my model friend i met in paris : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-from-vancouver-bc-canada-83iuepjtrl/ try it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/legal-o-1-petition-s2ksioxe/ Then I made a few content apps for legal contracts , for example this app produces company statutes like so : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-d01rumxrud/ try it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/legal-company-statutes-ooshm9sb/ This app makes a pre-nuptual agreement https://cookup.ai/a/legal-prenuptial-agreement-hjlzflpq/ try it out ! example output using my personal context : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-couple-in-paris-france-claudia-an-bqkbwsom5g/ & here is the same context above for a divorse agreement : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-young-couple-in-paris-france-claudia-an-8oqd9buhez/ try the divorse agreement app here : https://cookup.ai/a/legal-divorce-agreement-3oy1zxae/ Another tool is to produce Service Level Agreement https://cookup.ai/a/legal-service-level-agreement-kzfzu7rp/ here is an example output taking cookup ai as an example : https://cookup.ai/o/i-provide-artificial-intelligence-augmented-publ-70klxz1kly/ I made a sales contract generator too : https://cookup.ai/a/legal-sales-agreement-z5dohfko/ here’s an example output for a GIS consultant : https://cookup.ai/o/im-a-consultant-in-paris-france-selling-consul-cf43seks35/ this one makes a Loan Agreement : https://cookup.ai/a/legal-loan-agreement-swrd36a3/ here’s an example “ from james to kian in paris france for the sum of 30.000 euros to be repaid in full using a payment plan over two years” https://cookup.ai/o/from-james-to-kian-in-paris-france-for-the-sum-o-l9zowv3nv5/ There’s also a Leasing Agreement Generator that jurists or companies can use : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-commercial-leaser-leasing-our-commercial-odowjna03d/ that’s an example , click “generate another” to make your own. Something folks can use is a co-residency agreement, among housemates for example : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-james-richard-and-elleanor-want-to-live-w-vobrwfsjjr/ I also made an employment contract generator for companies to use. Here’ an example for a post-doc level biofabrication person https://cookup.ai/o/post-doc-research-associate-chemical-and-biolo-memxrznsrf/ i added the job description as the input. Speaking of jobs, this app is one of the more popular ones : https://cookup.ai/a/career-planner-47fl3oss/ just give context around what you’re after who you are , that sort of thing and it will provide a career plan by selecting professions giving you key information on these professions and advice on what you need to do to get there. It also works great if you search professions by name : https://cookup.ai/o/product-management-career-planner-5t9oqpfgvr/ here’s one for “Introvert wants to be a doctor” https://cookup.ai/o/introvert-wants-to-be-a-doctor-career-planner-7rdcxeu3d6/ Get to know yourself better by taking famous self assesments . Here’s an example for RAISEC and OCEAN self assessment models (ref. Holland) : https://cookup.ai/o/what-brings-me-joy-is-cleanliness-organisation-mle213ruw0/ another way to work with 5 Factor models is by using Myers-Briggs Questionaire, here’s an example for an INFJ (Introvert, Intuition, Feeling, Judgment) , it also suggests compatible personalities, so check it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/career-myers-briggs-questionnaire-geiq2x20/ once you’ve figured out your path you might want to generate a motivation letter. here’s an example for a banking job with the cv copy pasted as input https://cookup.ai/o/royce-lopez-roycezlopezgmailcom-916-566-61-tubooat7y2/ once you’ve done your self assessments, you might want some career advice , so check out this app https://cookup.ai/a/career-coach-57m4zqp4/ see this example from my buddy nate to give you an idea : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-from-vancouver-bc-canada-uxnxhj490e/ Another app that i’ve found nice is the career advisory service : https://cookup.ai/a/career-advisor-tdfuppp6/ it really produces a very interesting and robust output as you can see here : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-from-vancouver-bc-canada-oaxcq3gfki/ sometimes you have to analyse a policy , so here’s an app that speaks every language and can do it aptly, with an example in french : https://cookup.ai/o/la-strategie-de-non-cession-des-droits-est-un-ou-lmdagmgiit/ just copy paste a description of the policy here : https://cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-analysis-gjurd2a1/ and an example in english for “private-sector employees' basic pensions” https://cookup.ai/o/in-france-private-sector-employees-basic-pensi-hirervbjrg/ sometimes you need your brief in a specific UN format , so here’s an example from the Idaho shootings : https://cookup.ai/o/cnn-in-the-weeks-after-four-university-of-id-qrh44i41ap/ copy and paste the situation and context here to see for yourself : https://cookup.ai/a/un-brief-vgqpmfni/ this app is more of a shortform straight forward flavor of political brief , here’s an example from the US house of representatives : https://cookup.ai/o/but-its-worth-noting-that-the-house-speaker-vot-nxg6fsalti/ copy and paste a news article here : https://cookup.ai/a/policy-brief-mbfdqxqe/ Another type of assessment is the civil engineering asssessment : https://cookup.ai/a/civil-engineering-hubmgasv/ here’s an example for a fantasy company that has a smelting plant and produces biological agents: https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-db77jqouqt/ that sounds a bit scary doesnt it ? so here’s an app for risk assessment and business continuity planning : https://cookup.ai/a/business-continuity-planner-nck1c6gg/ just describe your situation the best way you can and press “generate” , here’s an example from the company above : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-d6vzx0trmh/ You can also use the safety and security assessment app : https://cookup.ai/a/safety-security-assessment-2u8ncxay/ here’s an example for a small company : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-pzgl1jcd5u/ and an event : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-medium-sized-event-of-250-people-outdoor-vz7kpmzyf8/ If you’ve ever had to respond to an incident you’ve had to produce a sitrep , which is a description of the situation : https://cookup.ai/a/emergency-response-sitrep-za6akgeo/ just follow the inputs and answer in complete sentences for best results. This is to be used by responders to an emergency . It’s resilient to empty inputs and shorthand writing in case you’re really in a rush : https://cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child-was-running-downhill-in-the-p-mbwp0ohmp1/ sometimes you need a bit less than that so you can use this tactical brief application : https://cookup.ai/a/tactical-brief-jnoigckz/ here’s the output for the example above so you can see the difference : https://cookup.ai/o/a-6-year-old-child-was-running-downhill-in-the-p-n1whm5izmf/ here you can see the special flavor it has : https://cookup.ai/o/the-dog-escaped-and-might-have-gone-a-westward-d-ub2zqp2lik/ if you like this kind of tactical stuff, you’ll really like this one : RedTeam / GreenTeam and BlueTeam . Red Team is an offensive plan : https://cookup.ai/o/take-over-a-gas-station-with-5-team-members-wh-zxzfbg2m9e/ this one for a gas station in ukraine. Blue Team is a non-lethal operation planner : https://cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-station-from-looters-blue-team-uhit1lboe1/ that’s an example to protect a gas station. Green team is the defense operations planner : https://cookup.ai/o/protect-a-gas-station-from-looters-blue-team-uhit1lboe1/ try your own here : https://cookup.ai/a/blue-team-gassdypa/ You’ll also need this one : a load out app based on your mission. Here’s an example for taking over a gas station in ukraine : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-over-a-gas-station-in-ukraine-l-elk5hbpqqo/ here’s the example for russia : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-over-a-gas-station-in-russia-lo-r5j1qjbgx3/ notice the subtle load out differences : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-take-over-a-gas-station-in-france-lo-4j08n3htnv/ this example is from a NATO country. Do your own here : https://cookup.ai/a/loadout-5ign0mqm/ Another example is video games, where you need to build up a character and their items and so on, that’s also a loadout : https://cookup.ai/a/loadout-for-games-h6jmwlzp/ here’s an example from call of duty 3 : https://cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-play-as-a-sniper-in-call-of-duty-ca-gypil6uq7c/ here’s an example for a DnD dwarf : https://cookup.ai/o/a-goblin-in-dungeons-and-dragons-dnd-charact-k8pgmiag7n/ On the topic of games here’s one that makes a game : https://cookup.ai/a/gamer-make-a-game-xzg7wy2x/ here’s one inspired by munchkins: https://cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in-the-style-of-munchkins-gamer-yt4ebrqakm/ maybe that would be a good starting point if you’re actually making a card game. maybe you want to make a board game board game , this is an example still sticking with the munchkin vibe : https://cookup.ai/o/medieval-theme-in-the-style-of-munchkins-board-19k2vhmnhr/ try it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/board-game-mpovs8d7/ another fun app that’s quite useful for folks is the sound selection aid . here’s an example for dusty drum and bass : https://cookup.ai/o/drum-and-bass-downtempo-dessert-sounds-soun-wkmi4uzp37/ and here’s one for “mexican” : https://cookup.ai/o/mexican-sound-selection-aid-xkkgynfdim/ quite a simple input for a very rich output. hope you enjoy it. Another app i think is quite nice is the music lesson app. This is more a lesson planner for a music teacher, but good learners can probably use it too. here’s one for guitar that someone learning guitar made : https://cookup.ai/o/guitar-rock-practice-finger-style-and-the-cag-lph7ijp2a9/ here’s one for tabla that someone made : https://cookup.ai/o/tabla-20-musical-exercise-f215k23ual/ very cool choice of instrument ! Check it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/musical-exercise-tzftq3tw/ Another couple apps i made for music is Chord Progress and GAS-AI . Chord Progress proposes a chord progression based on your input and describes each chord for inspiration. Here’s an example for Blues : https://cookup.ai/o/bbm-piano-blues-downtempo-shuffle-chord-ruzwhdikcy/ really rich output. This one used it to make chords into a midi file : https://cookup.ai/o/generate-a-chord-progression-in-bbm-143-bpm-in-t-5nvoej1xkg/ really cool stuff ! here’s an example for a different style of music : https://cookup.ai/o/moody-dark-under-the-rain-upbeat-fast-beat-guen4tlqax/ try it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/chord-progress-9udstlsz/ One of my apps where people are actually using it and it makes me laugh is the Gear Aquision Syndrome app : GAS-AI . Basically it compares what all you’re considering to buy and evaluates them for you. Here’s an example for a sound card and interface with four possibilities https://cookup.ai/o/audio-interface-into-the-force-hello-im-ne-xelttc5qhn/ here’s a similar problem : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-a-audio-interface-and-digital-mixer-hybri-qpgshbesyq/ try it out for your own gear : https://cookup.ai/a/gasai-gear-acquisition-syndrome-eky3hejx/ it actually works for everything : here is a sofa : https://cookup.ai/o/should-i-buy-a-sofa-or-a-recliner-for-my-living-4vxyuue27t/ try it with drills or power tools. Lots of really interesting education and learning related apps are possible. Here’s one for a Lesson Plan, I made it with K-12 in mind, but you can push the level with the right subject matters, it all depends on your input. Here’s an example for social studies grade 3 : https://cookup.ai/o/social-studies-goods-and-services-grade-3-30-b5ftwlpx7t/ here’s one for a scientific method lesson for teenagers : https://cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k-12-classrooms-id7kfpvovw/ and here’s one that a parent used as inspiration for a science fair project: https://cookup.ai/o/lesson-plan-for-k-12-classrooms-id7kfpvovw/ try it for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/lesson-plan-for-k-12-classrooms-nuzysbgl/ another classroom friendly app is the lab report app : just copy and paste a protocol or your unstructured text and see. Here’s one that’s for an ezyme experiment : https://cookup.ai/o/enzyme-experiment-materials-potato-test-tube-smztw5xrsy/ And another for a physics experiment : https://cookup.ai/o/highschool-physics-materials-jumbo-craft-sti-obgtuvdwew/ try it for crispr or other more complex experiments to have a jumping point for your own journaling here : https://cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-lab-report-muaibwee/ Another one i like is generating protocols for any experiment. The simpler the better and the more precise the input the better the out. Here’s one for the science fair digestive system : https://cookup.ai/o/construct-a-model-of-the-digestive-system-4th-gr-fbfmyz4vgu/ (just an inspiration) see this one for CRiSPr : https://cookup.ai/o/crispr-sci-doer-protocol-generation-nmwk1m2t7g/ here’s one to take nasa data and annotate it : https://cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-that-uses-data-from-the-telescope-xfautgpyx6/ try it out for your own experiments here : https://cookup.ai/a/sci-doer-protocol-generation-atlu2ygw/ Sometimes you need an arts & crafts activity on the go. Here’s an example for a basic activity : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-three-adults-with-scissors-cloths-pap-swdxlqq9si/ try it for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/arts-crafts-kglkhms5/ Another way to get inspiration for activities is the Extramural Center activity app , here’s an example for a small group and a selection of activities : https://cookup.ai/o/6-13-year-olds-with-a-handicap-indoors-education-7t0xeyrqpe/ try it for yourself with your own context here : https://cookup.ai/a/extramural-activity-wrd76vaq/ There’s another app i made which i like a lot which is a physical activity generator : https://cookup.ai/a/k-12-physical-activity-inspiration-7baaoy3k/ . See this example for a parachute game : https://cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-olds-with-limited-but-available-sfhulfohfy/ or this one for a team game : https://cookup.ai/o/for-10-9-12-year-olds-with-limited-but-available-sfhulfohfy/ Sometimes you need to break the ice before you start activties : check out the ice breaker app . Here’s an example for a group of adults : https://cookup.ai/o/a-small-get-together-of-work-collegues-ages-24-rxoz9wxyz8/ here’s a list of activities for young people : https://cookup.ai/o/a-gathering-of-a-highschool-group-of-18-people-a-hafttbbr78/ get your own instantly by prompting it here : https://cookup.ai/a/icebreaker-activities-ot0nm5cr/ you know how you need to make team names sometimes ? this one makes those team names with each letter of a word : example for NATE : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-acronym-poem-tto3zblpft/ and TARANJEET : https://cookup.ai/o/taranjeet-acronym-poem-muuoowigr7/ Another App I made was the swimming plan app, based on your context and objectives, you’ll get a custom swimming plan : https://cookup.ai/a/swimming-plan-2dkanocy/ Here’s an example for a young adult trying to get back in shape : https://cookup.ai/o/young-adult-strong-swimmer-just-to-get-back-in-c3o14kl0ys/ It also works in multiple languages, for example here in french : https://cookup.ai/o/jeune-adultes-objectif-sante-et-bienetre-d-l8y20i0v9d/ For fitness I also made an app to propose a session for you : https://cookup.ai/a/fitness-daily-exercise-routine-g2p9m845/ here’s an example with a high level of cardio : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-cardio-and-weights-with-stretc-zukgek1gfs/ here’s another with multiple days : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-weights-and-cardio-mix-fitne-szedbsxokb/ another way to go about it is to vary week on week, so here’ a weekly fitness planner : https://cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-weekly-sessions-wejju67t/ here’s an example using me : https://cookup.ai/o/34-years-old-strength-and-weights-training-for-f-43aasmnpvh/ here’s a prompt i actually copied from someone on cookup : https://cookup.ai/o/can-you-generate-a-30-minute-exercise-routing-fo-16sickeywn/ here’s another fitness app that combines daily and weekly fitness plans : https://cookup.ai/a/fitness-exercise-plan-o6qwdf1n/ check out an example for Nate : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-from-vancouver-bc-canada-serzfqqdqx/ here’s another with a different goal : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-weights-and-cardio-mix-strengt-c80fwhwhyy/ since we’ve done weekly we need a monthly fitness plan app : https://cookup.ai/a/fitness-plan-pxmtjqvu/ this is an example taken from me : https://cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-objectives-endurance-ve-6h1vmi8gly/ and another with the previous cookup ai prompt : https://cookup.ai/o/34-goal-fitness-objectives-endurance-ve-6h1vmi8gly/ Another fun app is the Planner : https://cookup.ai/a/planner-yad83kfl/ here’s an example for three people that want to meet : https://cookup.ai/o/claude-francois-and-patrick-need-to-meet-for-on-gysvpwfygo/ it helps you set an agenda and generate a ics file to add to the calendar . here’s one someone made for a specific company : https://cookup.ai/o/dynatrace-introduction-sales-team-of-the-provid-fiwtrwjstk/ you can even use it to plan a board meeting. Try inviting these AI board members that will give you pretty decent advice. Here’s one for strategy : https://cookup.ai/a/board-member-strategy-alpfxrpb/ for example with the manufacturing plant above : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-gshmrgjirt/ here’s a similar one that’s from McKinsey : https://cookup.ai/a/board-member-mckinsey-127uxtci/ with the same manufacturing plant above : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-xe3cuyc2lb/ every boad needs a business process expert : https://cookup.ai/a/board-member-process-analysis-r1pyxnum/ here’s an example from the same manufacturing plant above : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-f9uqctyz7w/ A really useful one is the financier app : https://cookup.ai/a/financier-etv18bpn/ basically copy paste financial information , for example some passages from a K-10 : https://cookup.ai/o/during-the-nine-months-ended-september-30-2022-spabcn6lyw/ There’s more to business than advisory and analysis , though. In some roles you have to make product requirement documentation in specific formats. This app does that for you : https://cookup.ai/a/product-feature-requirement-qqjkmaoo/ and with an example from cook up : https://cookup.ai/o/write-product-requirement-doc-for-group-feature-mbpagiwqq3/ here’s one to create a payment system : https://cookup.ai/o/product-requirements-document-donate-feature-in-bdwwatb1tb/ very rich output indeed. In entrepreneurship you often need to find someone for doing a specific job. This app reccomends folks for your jobs : https://cookup.ai/a/expert-finder-find-the-right-person-for-the-job-wyzwrgkr/ here’s someone that used it to fix the smell in their bathroom : https://cookup.ai/o/smell-in-the-bathroom-fix-the-issue-of-bad-smel-vqxckk7rju/ another example to host a meeting : https://cookup.ai/o/i-need-to-host-a-board-meeting-in-the-washington-kqhzzronur/ Here’s an app to create a logistic plan : https://cookup.ai/a/logistics-planner-tavpycje/ i tried to help me transport the mona lisa from paris to my garage in new york https://cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-transport-priceless-art-from-the-louvr-uultjyh7jn/ here’s another example for transporting organs using UAVs : https://cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-deliver-organs-via-uav-from-suburbs-to-abfyqdi617/ Probably to run this whole thing you will need an operations plan : https://cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-organ-donor-chain-is-a-donation-epnwff8cln/ just input as much information as possible and see for yourself : https://cookup.ai/a/business-operations-planner-zshf1qji/ You might need to create a business information model to integrate business opertions . This application gets you started : https://cookup.ai/a/business-information-model-mgvydoqk/ here’s an example for a biofabrication company : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-jqclaoslhl/ here’s the same example , but a bit more descriptive : https://cookup.ai/a/business-information-model-mgvydoqk/ came out really nice ! The most difficult part of the entrepreneurship for me was always the business modelling . Here’s a business model app : https://cookup.ai/a/business-model-lkhqn3wd/ just write in freeform what you need to analyse. Here’s an example for a biofabricated organ : https://cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-presale-of-biofabricated-heart-orga-qr6bfw76an/ and another with the same example: https://cookup.ai/o/presale-of-biofabricated-organs-classified-as-me-rfrxryuq3w/ btw here’s a tribute app to Hal Varian : https://cookup.ai/a/hal-varian-micro-economic-analysis-w1rmg53t/ to assess the microeconomics of anything https://cookup.ai/o/an-employment-contract-between-a-biotech-company-zsdm8hg296/ One of my most popular apps is the Structure a Business Idea App : https://cookup.ai/a/structure-a-business-idea-hrsr09vb/ here’s an example for a No Code Agency : https://cookup.ai/o/no-code-agency-we-help-business-to-innovate-fas-dv4i9iu0dn/ here’s an example for a biotech : https://cookup.ai/o/services-to-prevent-potential-drug-drug-and-drug-ubbghudjas/ here’s one for a sustainability platform : https://cookup.ai/o/building-a-platform-which-improves-sustainabilit-vmypophtwt/ the more your write as input the better the output, usually . The king of apps when it comes to this stuff is MindMap : https://cookup.ai/a/mindmap-create-structured-thoughts-r9sqgmca/ just write your unstructured thought in freeform and it will structure them and improve the overall idea. Here’s someone that tried it for backcountry permits in Yosemite : https://cookup.ai/o/getting-a-backcountry-permit-in-yosemite-mind-g3lykluvfs/ Another used it with the simple word “evolution” https://cookup.ai/o/evolution-mindmap-create-structured-thought-ao6cg3isi0/ here someone used it to explain prefect tense in french : https://cookup.ai/o/explaining-the-prefect-tense-in-french-mindmap-jw4olzfae0/ normally you would be writing your full thoughts in freeform , but here you see someone use it for university analytical work : https://cookup.ai/o/community-college-transfer-rates-black-students-f54vui1fyg/ once your idea is structured the idea would be to have it evaluated by a VC. This app does just that : https://cookup.ai/a/venture-capitalist-0rkcu6yu/ here’s an example from UAE : https://cookup.ai/o/licenses-reseller-for-dynatrace-in-uae-ventur-s2jywjfwiq/ here’s someone who asked a question about monetizing spreadsheet apps : https://cookup.ai/o/how-do-i-monetiseai-spreadsheet-assistant-busine-y7ap37qm53/ here’s another for a fashion business : https://cookup.ai/o/an-apparel-business-that-has-robot-characters-fr-92hk5rlov4/ here’s an example with a better prompt : https://cookup.ai/o/in-addition-to-reducing-wait-times-and-rejection-mgtfgosmqz/ you might not be an entrepreneur, you might be applying to a job, here’s an app to help you prepare : https://cookup.ai/a/the-interviewer-siqzfsms/ here’s an example for a humanitarian logistics role in bangladesh : https://cookup.ai/o/for-a-senior-humanitarian-worker-in-bangladesh-i-pqnfamlscb/ just copy and paste the job description it should work quite well. Another important activity for folks is financial planning. Actually , you can also produce a job description with the Job Description App : https://cookup.ai/a/business-job-description-wz1xuwks/ here’s an example for a chemical engineer : https://cookup.ai/o/regenererex-we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pio-kjz06bwis9/ This app helps you build a personalized financial plan based on your personal context : https://cookup.ai/a/financial-plan-6vkrersy/ here’s a general example for “single guy 36 working in software in boston“ https://cookup.ai/o/single-guy-36-working-in-software-in-boston-f-f49z9icuh9/ here’s a more specific example for my buddy Nate : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-from-vancouver-bc-canada-fmmzn6ftle/ a Financial Plan is great but you will eventually need a financial program. These are different things! Check it out here : https://cookup.ai/a/financial-program-1uro0zlw/ here’s the example from Nate, above : https://cookup.ai/o/nate-20-years-old-from-vancouver-bc-canada-y5co3ijtfz/ very nice output, it’s more advisory and actionable in nature. When i met my wife she was a fashion designer. That’s the inspiration for the Seamstress App : https://cookup.ai/a/the-seamstress-so4chhgu/ just enter a prompt and generate a description of the clothes . Here’s an example for a Dune inspired dress : https://cookup.ai/o/an-off-white-dress-for-my-wife-size-0-172cm-in-t-07kzxl8p5x/ here’s one in french for a princess dress : https://cookup.ai/o/robe-de-princesse-medievale-the-seamstress-vb8gedk2s1/ Then you take that , and feed it to make a sewing plan : https://cookup.ai/a/sewing-plan-7qtvyvs6/ here’s the example of the Dune dress : https://cookup.ai/o/this-off-white-dress-is-the-perfect-fit-for-a-fu-s8y2dahrtz/ and the princess dress : https://cookup.ai/o/cette-robe-de-princesse-medievale-est-une-piece-82hrc38ghe/ but nowadays everything is done on computer , so i made an app to take the sewing plan and make the digital figures required by most modelling programs : https://cookup.ai/a/cutting-planner-p19jna69/ it’s basically the cutting plan, here’s from the example above : https://cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-description-fabric-size-znhvevhg12/ just save as json. Here’s from the Dune dress : https://cookup.ai/o/cutting-plan-1-cut-2-pieces-of-off-white-fabri-fgrc6qtjuv/ a couple of other fun apps are the interior design and architecture apps. Interior design : https://cookup.ai/a/architect-interior-design-syh8zp1w/ see and example for a living room : https://cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoir-jouer-un-violon-et-un-pi-7tbtc6sovh/ and another : https://cookup.ai/o/salon-pour-recevoir-jouer-un-violon-et-un-pi-8dkos9cbij/ interior is one thing but architecture is another : https://cookup.ai/a/architect-plan-cfqptnfv/ just describe the building style you want to get an architectural brief : https://cookup.ai/o/stone-facades-plain-or-ornamental-black-wrought-cozocyzghu/ this is the analysis for hausmann architecture based on a simple description. great success. The marketting apps, is what a lot of the audience has been asking for. Here’s one to make a marketting plan : https://cookup.ai/a/marketing-plan-2tmso3ol/ it actually works great ! here’s an example from a single person accounting firm : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-by-training-cfa-charter-by-pro-j7oazivrrx/ here is an example for a replacement organ producer : https://cookup.ai/o/founded-in-2009-we-are-one-of-a-small-group-of-uwivyeviad/ great stuff, high value outputs, i’m happy. When you’re doing marketting one important thing to do is to target the customer and audience. This is the targetting app for that : https://cookup.ai/a/marketing-targeting-qtghe0tp/ here it is evaluating a campaign that might be misaligned : https://cookup.ai/o/cookup-ai-is-a-no-code-agency-that-has-produced-pg9ftxk4x9/ here is an example for a single person accounting firm : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-an-engineer-by-training-cfa-charter-by-pro-cg0diw81ce/ here for a manufacturing firm : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-naxtgab0ct/ it really depends on the quality of your inputs the outputs you will recieve . Once you have targetted your audience , you need marketting copy , try this app : https://cookup.ai/a/marketing-copy-write-anything-dxg3xt5n/ based on the input you give it will generate unique marketting copy . Here is an example for a pharmaceutical firm : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-guov5olrsg/ here is an example for a commercial message : https://cookup.ai/o/were-a-small-manufacturing-plant-that-produces-3diho4thzd/ once you have published your marketting copy you need to follow up with sentiment analysis to see how folks are responding to it. Analyse the sentiment of anything with this app : https://cookup.ai/a/marketing-sentiment-analysis-tcdxotks/ here’s an example from a negative case (trigger warning) in Dutch : https://cookup.ai/o/een-interessante-zedenzaak-een-man-heeft-seks-xesooct1se/ here is a positive example in chineese language : https://cookup.ai/o/-7lv1hk1sqy/ Another important marketting activity is conducting and analysing survey data. HEre’s the survey app : https://cookup.ai/a/survey-unstructured-data-analysis-z4te4jwu/ basically what you do is copy paste your unstructured data directly inside it and it will produce a full assessment of what you need . Sometimes you need to write a profile for yourself optimized for commercial activities. Here’s a Marketting profile app : https://cookup.ai/a/marketing-profile-description-ctg0tkhm/ from our example above : https://cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am-graduate-from-iit-delhi-cf-nkbh2uc1ri/ another profile but written in first person view : https://cookup.ai/o/38-years-male-i-am-graduate-from-iit-delhi-cf-nkbh2uc1ri/ but sometimes you need to make these profiles for SEO optimization. Here is an example from above : https://cookup.ai/o/profile-description-saurabh-garg-is-a-cfa-charte-uih63jefeb/ or for an enterprise : https://cookup.ai/o/solving-for-nri-india-banking-hate-seo-7ny64vlycn/ check it out for yourself here : https://cookup.ai/a/seo-fuxlixw3/ sometimes you need to produce SEO-optimized copy , Try using this app i made for that : https://cookup.ai/a/seo-optimized-text-wjcj5xtg/ basically you should paste your text in there and it will optimize it for engagement for you. here’s an example : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-vwrlfkv460/ hope you like using it ! Sometimes you need to convert something into an SEO optimized text, here’s an app for that : https://cookup.ai/a/seo-convert-oew8gazp/ For example for a lifesciences company : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-a9wiygvvhx/ here is a re write for a text about a building in Paris : https://cookup.ai/o/le-complexe-architectural-de-la-cite-de-la-musiq-bf0zfeylgj/ try it out and tell me what you think. You might already have the text you want but need hashtags, check out this app : https://cookup.ai/a/hashtag-generator-glj4cvx0/ here’s an example for a crowdfunding campaign : https://cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campaign-biofabricated-organ-donor-th8fgrddjm/ and the same campaign but in Spanish : https://cookup.ai/o/crowdfunding-campaign-biofabricated-organ-donor-gfxmzmyojk/ Marketing is actually a pretty diverse job , so sometimes you have to design media like videos and so on. This app is the scenario maker : https://cookup.ai/a/scenario-sacr0cs5/ you can use to make advertisements : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-dwoaemlitf/ or actually as a writing aid. Another writing aid i made is the story arc : https://cookup.ai/a/story-arc-sbmt20if/ here’s an example for a story in paris : https://cookup.ai/o/paris-in-the-future-with-a-character-called-nate-zig4ciiqpq/ here is an example from a real writing class : https://cookup.ai/o/lamour-en-lan-3000-cyber-maltese-order-love-agzbkpx83f/ and another from the same class : https://cookup.ai/o/on-mars-in-3000-a-love-story-short-story-8hoonrhwgj/ I actually see the whole class used the app lol, how cool is that? Another app in the same style is the Text Styler app : https://cookup.ai/a/text-styler-epclawul/ here’s how it works : https://cookup.ai/o/a-biofabricated-organ-donor-chain-is-a-donation-ybzmsprdxa/ pretty cool right? it works on any text in any style. Actually one writing app that folks have been using randomly is the email writer : https://cookup.ai/a/the-emailer-hoe5yq9w/ here’s an email i wrote to TJ : https://cookup.ai/o/write-an-email-to-teejay-ceo-of-cookup-ai-to-l-fmtbqzacck/ here’s an email my buddy mamadou wrote in french in agressive style : https://cookup.ai/o/voici-les-copies-de-mes-contrats-de-travail-avan-ccwb566cex/ (btw the output is very diplomatic) here’s another example when someone is launching an AI-driven SaS company. To communicate on twitter sometimes it’s necessary to make a thread. Just copy and paste the text your want to turn into a thread here : https://cookup.ai/a/twitter-thread-maker-leffxz5w/ here’s an example for finance https://cookup.ai/o/cfa-iitdelhi-investments-twitter-thread-mak-xypbzhofsh/ another job marketters have to do in small teams is to make a design mockup for the designers. Try to make your own using this app : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-wrqoikz6/ here’s an example for “a logo of a dog for a street vending franchise “ : https://cookup.ai/o/a-logo-of-a-dog-for-a-street-vending-franchise-tuj5iduqvf/ and here for “icon of a small cute dog for client” : https://cookup.ai/o/icon-of-a-small-cute-dog-for-client-design-moc-dfnn6c0i4s/ then you take that output and make mock up instructions for producing a mockup : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-wqryxhxn9y/ try with your output here : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-instructions-gtynwwal/ then you take that output and use that in your favorite design software like Adobe : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-adobe-illustrator-jrvejfep/ here’s the example with the logo above : https://cookup.ai/o/the-mock-up-above-is-an-icon-of-a-small-cute-do-1seqvv9dog/ and just for a “dog” https://cookup.ai/o/dog-design-mock-up-adobe-illustrator-wk0t9a8ssl/ basically you take that output and save it as a *.ai file and you can open it in illustrator. Many folks also use Autocad : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-autocad-sfmvloz8/ here’s an example with the dress above : https://cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dress-with-hood-in-linen-st-wn9tw1coic/ and for the dog logo with the mockup output : https://cookup.ai/o/mock-up-of-doggy-daycare-service-icon-the-moc-rjxzwyadfj/ a lot of the time your mockup will be for a webpage , here’s an app to generate that : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-html-css-zfogdco8/ we’re still working on all that at cookup so there’s a fair bit of injection happening right now : https://cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-small-biotechnology-company-mo-grhmtug5h3/ sometimes for more advanced stuff, you do things in Java : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-java-8-bdf4shel/ here’s the example for the dress : https://cookup.ai/o/beautiful-white-dress-with-a-hood-in-linen-de-zmhpbjj5td/ and the website : https://cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-small-biotechnology-company-mo-ej7ao1qi32/ for most other applications you might use json files , try this app : https://cookup.ai/a/design-mock-up-json-gscyw2uw/ here’s the example for the webpage : https://cookup.ai/o/home-page-for-a-small-biotechnology-company-mo-mbutbcrrhw/ another pretty important activity for designers is making logos . This app makes an svg file : https://cookup.ai/a/design-tools-logo-create-svg-1aiwxrd8/ here’s the example for the dog logo above : https://cookup.ai/o/the-mockup-of-a-logo-of-a-dog-for-a-street-vendi-uvsmspphd3/ here’s another example https://cookup.ai/o/wireframe-instructions-using-adobe-illustrator-pyiov0ewwp/ i used the adobe illustrator output for that one . Remember the app for the lesson plans for the kids ? here’s an app that makes exercises based on the parameters of the lesson plan for any subject : https://cookup.ai/a/exercise-problems-kynz1tke/ here is an example for learning the french language : https://cookup.ai/o/difficult-french-adults-word-problems-3bkfl6ymlj/ here is an example with simple math problems for a 14 year old : https://cookup.ai/o/difficult-algebra-geometry-14-years-old-hldveryglw/ here is one for more difficult math problems for a 22 years old grad student https://cookup.ai/o/difficult-mathematical-reasoning-integrals-jya866uucz/ i dont know if would be able to solve these (but probably yes :-) ) Another app to do this maybe a bit better is the WorkBook app : https://cookup.ai/a/quiz-workbook-for-education-8qrs5rkl/ here’s an example for 17 year old student in 11th grade physics class https://cookup.ai/o/17-year-old-student-in-11th-grade-physics-class-747ywebagt/ here’s one for "4th grade, digestion rates https://cookup.ai/o/science-4th-grade-digestion-rates-practical-e-wl1n3swezt/ here’s another for worldwar 2 : https://cookup.ai/o/history-worldwar-2-15-year-quiz-workbook-nu9p3hvv2h/ folks have been using this app a lot actually ! Now that you have all your questions maybe you need help to solve some ? Here’s the Problem Solver App : https://cookup.ai/a/problem-solver-lrsnpcdw/ here’s an example for algebra : https://cookup.ai/o/fx-3x-3-for-x-real-and-gt-3t-3-for-t-fcap3rjn83/ here’s another for calculus : https://cookup.ai/o/let-the-interval-a-infinity-be-the-range-of-qmfbtjdgrs/ Maybe you’re a student that needs to write an essay or you need an example essay , or really, to write anything : https://cookup.ai/a/essay-writer-jv1aopmy/ this essay writter can help you write something for example on homeostasis : https://cookup.ai/o/efine-the-term-homoeostasis-and-using-examples-e-irvfwvrrhy/ or an essay on how to stop procrastinating : https://cookup.ai/o/listing-the-4-ways-to-help-you-stop-procrastina-5kkqxt00pt/ if you’re afraid of running afoul detector policies , try the detector proof easy essay app free here : https://cookup.ai/a/easy-essay-detector-proof-y9ojklov/ here’s an example : https://cookup.ai/o/on-the-topic-of-figure-painting-in-paris-easy-86vcnkq9fe/ it replaces certain letters with a nullspace then the letter to evade detection, if you’re getting a lot of symbols in the essay copy paste it into a markdown editor and they should disappear. See here since markdown is not supported : https://cookup.ai/o/how-to-avoid-plagiarism-detectors-easy-essay-n7ntedsdnn/ sometimes when you’re writing you need to argue from A to B , try it here : https://cookup.ai/a/from-a-to-b-reasoning-from-a-to-b-1jda5cyp/ here’s an example : https://cookup.ai/o/nucleotides-are-important-for-cellular-signallin-8eb9wmdan0/ try it in any subject. Conversely, you might need a counter argument for a given claim : https://cookup.ai/a/logic-counter-argument-mh23bzhc/ here’s an example for If you want to find a good job, you should work hard: https://cookup.ai/o/if-you-want-to-find-a-good-job-you-should-work-savzaceiie/ In many writings you’ll also need tables, copy paste unstructured data (ex. from a pdf ) to make a table in markdown format : https://cookup.ai/o/chemicals-peptides-and-recombinant-proteins100-3xqvttyphl/ copy paste the output in a markdown editor for best results. sometimes you want to analyse your data , check out this app , copy paste your pdf data and give context : https://cookup.ai/a/data-results-analysis-ykrjxb31/ see here the results for a blood test : https://cookup.ai/o/tsh-serum-chimiluminescence-abbott-alin-da3rkw8of0/ Let’s be honest, most folks use excel , check out this app to describe any excel function : https://cookup.ai/a/excel-9chnuveu/ enter your function in freeform to get the function : https://cookup.ai/o/a-formula-to-describe-the-date-and-time-excel-dfw434foep/ or for a macro : https://cookup.ai/o/a-macro-to-link-my-sheet-with-a-document-called-rq4ol7luzv/ actually i made a special app just for macros : https://cookup.ai/a/excel-macros-esxm4uaz/ here is an example of a complicated macro : https://cookup.ai/o/hi-i-need-a-macro-code-to-copy-the-an-adjustant-8ptt9hzlfv/ here is one for an even more complicated one: https://cookup.ai/o/i-want-to-a-excel-vba-programming-file-for-road-etdl4mkvqw/ and here is a simple one for a vinyl shop : https://cookup.ai/o/i-am-working-on-an-excel-database-of-vinyl-recor-cacxxdd4bz/ most people who actually work with formulas do so in LaTeX , this app produces LaTeX formulas : https://cookup.ai/a/latex-formula-00spf7gu/ here is the example for Bailey–Borwein–Plouffe formula https://cookup.ai/o/baileyborweinplouffe-formula-latex-formul-ktd09xaoks/ this one represents Pi : https://cookup.ai/o/displaystyle-pi-sum_k0inftyfra-fjpnjfsqkv/ this one is for social science : https://cookup.ai/o/incentive-structure-of-employment-contract-lat-hulr6ppzhu/ Actually many folks use LaTeX to write things, this app will use latex to write a preprint : https://cookup.ai/a/pre-print-latex-vy0hga2j/ this is an example for the Peter Principle : https://cookup.ai/o/the-peter-principle-summarize-pre-print-qqm2bwiugd/ here is one for Use of God in vain, Neopentecostal https://cookup.ai/o/use-of-god-in-vain-neopentecostal-pre-prin-098nsf1ari/ here is one in Spanish : https://cookup.ai/o/nergysens-en-la-industria-nergysens-pretende-w7aovgv09l/ to do any kind of research you need to do a search, but a lot of folks do systematic search , this app generates systematic search terms : https://cookup.ai/a/systematic-search-boolean-search-strings-z6ng0grb/ here’s an example from diabetes research : https://cookup.ai/o/diabetes-mellitus-patient-empowerment-systemat-8el8qpek2d/ here’s another from biology : https://cookup.ai/o/across-the-tree-of-life-systematic-search-eq4dtp8tgf/ once you find your references you need to make a bibliography so here’s the app for that : https://cookup.ai/a/bibliography-jucn4woy/ it creates a bibtex script in the format you want : https://cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-from-covariation-to-causati-0sts6dgrae/ & https://cookup.ai/o/cheng-p-w-1997-from-covariation-to-causati-bc1wbkxg9f/ sometimes research or something else is too confusing, here’s an app to make a lay summary : https://cookup.ai/a/lay-summary-4rvs8flz/ here’s a summary of fossil fuel environmental research : https://cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-body-of-literature-documenting-aywxbutrjs/ another run about ExxonMobil : https://cookup.ai/o/the-substantial-body-of-literature-documenting-ogcsccg9rd/ Sometimes you’re looking for information not just summarizing it , so i made an encyclopedia app : https://cookup.ai/a/encaiclopedia-7cmwjq1c/ i wouldnt be surprised if encarta got GPT at some point : https://cookup.ai/o/sometimes-giants-are-smaller-than-you-think-e-tzxphjmrm4/ here’s for Kirchhoff's voltage law : https://cookup.ai/o/kirchhoffs-voltage-law-encaiclopedia-zsxhyhwh5u/ and the potter identity : https://cookup.ai/o/potter-identity-in-electrical-engineering-enc-zgtgli3ge4/ encyclopedias are cool but do you remember almanacs ? here’s the almanac app : https://cookup.ai/a/almanac-bkmwaeqj/ here’s the output for 21st of december : https://cookup.ai/o/21st-of-december-multiple-years-almanac-w4qp2c0zii/ I also made an app to create content in wolof : https://cookup.ai/a/wolof-future-xlw6gpuw/ I’ll be trying to get content creation for local languages to take off : https://cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jangu-na-ci-sujet-ci-nii-ci-philos-ovfunzxwss/ contact me if you’re interested in that : https://cookup.ai/o/moo-di-ko-def-jangu-na-ci-sujet-ci-nii-ci-philos-w6wgkaoped/ actually AI is really good at translation, translate whatever you like here : https://cookup.ai/a/translate-remwokk4/ i translated some passages from the wolof examples above : https://cookup.ai/o/jangu-na-ci-sujet-ci-nii-ci-negritude-ci-philoso-5luudnxkim/ and : https://cookup.ai/o/negritude-ci-cosaan-yu-and-ak-cosaan-yi-daal-di-xvgj7tufcs/ Once you' can speak any language and have passed all your classes, you might want to talk to an admissions counsellor : https://cookup.ai/a/admission-whnqib7b/ here’s an assessment for a community college in california : https://cookup.ai/o/community-college-student-40-gpa-political-sc-wlfubay93c/ If you’re a star student aged 15-16 consider applying to my alma matter : https://cookup.ai/a/special-school-selector-lhr8oncj/ I’m part of the french selection commitee so it’s in french : https://cookup.ai/o/eleve-francais-15ans-1820-dans-toutes-les-matie-lrv16nvje0/ remember when you were young and you played “who would win” in a fight ? here’s the app for that in case you need it : https://cookup.ai/a/who-would-win-tssvciza/ here’s the example for : a boa constrictor & cat https://cookup.ai/o/a-boa-constrictor-cat-who-would-win-mw2prpyiid/ and archbichop desmond tutu vs marie curie (Dr. Curie wins) https://cookup.ai/o/archbichop-desmond-tutu-marie-curie-who-wo-qzqgt6dt5d/ Folks love going on trips. Use AI to help plan your iterary https://cookup.ai/a/trip-planner-little-routurier-a2azneqe/ here’s an example for baroque art in Malta : https://cookup.ai/o/la-valette-malta-busy-trip-baroque-music-for-latxxdvlbp/ here’s an example for paris for 4 days : https://cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-4-days-trip-planner-little-6hgvyzaagl/ and 5 days : https://cookup.ai/o/paris-france-for-5-days-trip-planner-little-qqcuhtdqzl/ what should you bring on your trip ? good question, try this app : https://cookup.ai/a/what-to-bring-kswnufpq/ here’s an example from normandy in february : https://cookup.ai/o/im-going-on-a-day-trip-to-the-beach-in-normandy-1mrn6vmkvd/ If you’re travelling or have an email box , you should be careful for scams . Here’s the scam detector app : https://cookup.ai/a/anti-scam-detector-p1kjgvjw/ just copy paste or describe what you’re seeing, here’s an example for a tax scam in the uk : https://cookup.ai/o/foraoternh8uogeowebnefirqupeizsaotnoi34hus-4wpf1jxnma/ and an email upgrade scam : https://cookup.ai/o/c12-outlook-dear-user-all-hotmail-customers-ha-hlf2awn30x/ I also made an app to debunk conspiracy theories and fake news : https://cookup.ai/a/debunker-apx1db8w/ here’s an example for mangoes cure covid : https://cookup.ai/o/la-mangue-gueri-la-covid-19-debunker-6hs4nlxhjr/ and that the vaccine is a conspiracy : https://cookup.ai/o/le-vaccin-covid-est-un-complot-debunker-zjwbaeuxpx/ the most interesting one is the bomb plot from congo : https://cookup.ai/o/httpsaupicinfoscomnord-kivu-explosion-dune-0rsx2gdxud/ just from the URL input it produced something really quite well done. Another app i made is the conspiracy theory creator : https://cookup.ai/a/russophile-k9zjyymf/ i called it russophile because everything russian is just garbage fakes lol , here’s an example for “Jewish Nazis From Ukraine Smoking Pot And Building Underground Biolabs To Engineer Mosquitos To Target Ethnic Slavs In Russia Guess The Rest Of Them Were Like Whatever” : https://cookup.ai/o/jewish-nazis-from-ukraine-smoking-pot-and-buildi-ng4qetdw84/ works quite well, maybe it will help make the entire russian foreign service redundant ? end the nightmare by donating here : u24.gov.ua i heard a lot of rusian soldiers were targetted because they were using dating apps. If you want to join them in dating hell, try this dating profile generator : https://cookup.ai/a/sincerely-dating-profile-generator-lf1m9l6s/ i think people liked it because they tried to hack it but here’s one i made as an example : https://cookup.ai/o/32-male-84-kg-straight-white-172m-i-like-to-7aqvxyifbo/ i originally made it because the cookup platform is flirting with these “spammy” types of apps, but mine is way better :-) whether you find someone to or not, you need to sleep, perhaps even dream . Here’s an app to keep a dream journal : https://cookup.ai/a/dream-explainer-yjmnu3vr/ here’s an example from when i was younger : https://cookup.ai/o/i-had-a-recurring-dream-of-stealing-an-egg-after-cpkibppswt/ someone had another dream : https://cookup.ai/o/dream-about-my-girlfriend-cheating-on-me-dream-grka1oadue/ Remember T8 ringtones ? i dont know why i made this , but here it is a Ringtone Generator for T8 keyboards : https://cookup.ai/a/t8-ringtone-generator-n6pgangt/ here is the Zelda theme : https://cookup.ai/o/zelda-melody-polyphonic-t8-ringtone-generator-mjnnevotvj/ The next few apps are just tributes to Codex & Co-Pilot both of which are better suited in your IDE , Gitlab or something like VBS . Check the first one out here : https://cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-ai-to-help-you-code-zsfgk4nm/ remember the NASA experiment from above? here’s the code for it : https://cookup.ai/o/develop-an-app-that-uses-data-from-the-telescope-1n2eugkknb/ here is one to scrape a website to excel : https://cookup.ai/o/create-script-to-scrape-a-website-to-excel-go-qdxeyouinx/ here’s an app to create top level code : https://cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-top-level-code-bccjfqgs/ an example for folks to make a ghost blog api microservice: https://cookup.ai/o/a-link-using-apis-and-microservices-to-link-ghos-2ulpfhwl7o/ Another way to get good results is with boiler plate code : https://cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-boiler-plate-code-fmhetodq/ here’s an example to create a chat bot: https://cookup.ai/o/a-chat-bot-for-matrix-servers-and-discord-server-qgnqvxnvzn/ here’s an app to create regex expressions : https://cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-regex-expression-k5hctbve/ here’s one in python : https://cookup.ai/o/function-to-scrape-all-profile-information-nam-da0uncppew/ here’s one in Golang : https://cookup.ai/o/function-to-use-google-api-to-scrape-a-website-f-y7el3rffmi/ for whatever reason you might want to simulate command line returns . here is the command line app : https://cookup.ai/a/command-line-y70oh4of/ try it with chmod +x readfile ./readfile filename.txt https://cookup.ai/o/chmod-x-readfile-readfile-filenametxt-comm-61ljxmpaqu/ or any other command . A lot of folks have been asking about data creation. I really like this Prolog app for that : https://cookup.ai/a/co-pilot-data-creation-prolog-68sa5kbr/ here is an output for a chatbot : https://cookup.ai/o/to-test-a-chatbot-using-google-api-co-pilot-6y9xnvewhf/ here is what happens for the digestion example from above : https://cookup.ai/o/demonstrate-the-steps-in-digestion-i-will-be-us-kjjou8iswf/ another more straight forward app is the create data app : https://cookup.ai/a/create-data-my8wzz4a/ here is an example for a list of books :https://cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-id-uint-jsonid-go-yrx8uy53uf/ and another example : https://cookup.ai/o/type-book-struct-id-uint-jsonid-go-xhqjpp2qxo/ i really like these. Another way to test a function is a unit test. Try the unit test app here : https://cookup.ai/a/unit-test-sp6f7pl3/ here’s an example to test quick sort in java 8: https://cookup.ai/o/write-test-cases-to-ensure-that-the-new-quick_so-uj7r1jelu3/ Your function is still not working ? try the stack trace app : https://cookup.ai/a/stack-trace-error-message-lz9df4ld/ just copy paste your error message : https://cookup.ai/o/use-key-stack-trace-error-message-cte9ognj5o/ here’s another example for ggplot : https://cookup.ai/o/error-in-ggplotiris-aesx-sepallength-y-jamfmpobfu/ Once you get your app working , you’ll want to figure out the information model. try this app : https://cookup.ai/a/information-model-crwdl7ah/ here’s an example for : mobile app to rent cars like uber https://cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent-cars-like-uber-information-wq5bfzzind/ and if you have an information model you’ll need a data model : https://cookup.ai/a/data-model-kjqpe7ua/ here’s the same example but for data model: https://cookup.ai/o/mobile-app-to-rent-cars-like-uber-data-model-kvcpenu2y2/ if you’re going to ship you’ll need an infrastructure plan : https://cookup.ai/a/cloud-infrastructure-plan-oyxvoc8b/ here’s an example for a biofabrication firm : https://cookup.ai/o/we-are-a-life-sciences-company-pioneering-a-nove-gptg16oyh3/ I also made prompt apps to practice prompt making. Try this app for a simple prompt interface : https://cookup.ai/a/prompt-follow-on-leabsbpn/ here’s an example for a payment service : https://cookup.ai/o/pix-payment-in-installments-prompt-follow-o-8yevsi9c81/ someone from Canary Islands used it to write a poem : https://cookup.ai/o/crea-un-poema-sobre-tenerife-prompt-follow-o-xw6td2j1qd/ and write a biography of a historical figure : https://cookup.ai/o/biografia-breve-de-josefina-de-la-torre-gran-can-nmatn2svv6/ pretty cool ! Ready to learn more sophisticated techniques ? try the Prompt App : https://cookup.ai/a/prompt-lbuxx1ed/ i made it to teach folks how to write prompts on cook up , here’s an example for : social inequality, political scientist https://cookup.ai/o/social-inequality-political-scientist-promp-tmhjeoaeny/ here’s one for Universal Basic income , economist https://cookup.ai/o/universal-basic-income-economist-prompt-wohvomtbbk/ here’s for “Help create business systems to run a small business. From the perspective of a franchise developer “ : https://cookup.ai/o/help-create-business-systems-to-run-a-small-busi-hz0r5xb4cu/ and here is “Diagnose Dry Eye, Assess the Above from the perspective of an Ophthalomologist, Print complete answer in markdown format” https://cookup.ai/o/diagnose-dry-eye-assess-the-above-from-the-pe-85a1nvkllp/ hope it helps !
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Font Dissection With Ange Albertini; The Birth Of A Font; Featured Foundry: Swiss Typefaces
We get into some technical (but, gorgeous) weeds, again, today in the first section, discuss how these myriad of font formats come about, and end with one of the best font foundries in the biz.
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TL;DR
This is an AI-generated summary of today’s Drop.
I, literally, use the same prompt every. single. day. and Perplexity manages to only get the links right about one day a week.
- Ange Albertini’s work on vector fonts: Ange Albertini, a cybersecurity professional, has been working on diagramming vector fonts. They have completed diagrams for various font formats, including OTF, TTF, WOFF, and WOFF2.
- The birth of a font: The creation of a new font file format involves industry groups, standards organizations, and technology companies working together. The process includes identifying the need for a new format, forming a working group, developing a draft specification, finalizing the specification, implementing the format, and promoting its adoption.
- Featured Foundry: Swiss Typefaces: Swiss Typefaces is a font foundry founded in 2006, known for its diverse and innovative typefaces. They offer trial versions of their fonts in both desktop and webfont formats, allowing designers to test the fonts before purchasing. The foundry is committed to providing excellent support and easy licensing options.
Font Dissection With Ange Albertini
Fonts can be gorgeous beasts, but — ultimately — they’re ugly files of organized 0’s and 1’s.
Ange Albertini (@[email protected]) is a cybersecurity professional with expertise in reverse engineering and exploitation techniques. Their work involves analyzing and understanding the inner workings of software and hardware systems, which helps in identifying and mitigating potential security vulnerabilities.
Amongst a cornucopia of talents, Ange excels at diagramming file format. This is super-helpful from cyber- and data-freeing perspectives. Recently, Ange aimed diagramming sights on vector fonts!
This is the current list of completed diagrams:
I highly recommend following Ange’s Mastodon feed and keeping an eye out for more font dissections.
The Birth Of A Font
Seeing Ange’s work made me realize we talk about using fonts all the time but not how they’re born. I don’t mean individual typefaces, but the actual font file specifications themselves.
The creation, and subsequent maintenance, of a new font file format is typically decided by a combination of industry groups, standards organizations, and technology companies. These groups work together to define the specifications and standards for new font formats, taking into consideration the needs of various stakeholders such as designers, developers, and end-users.
One example is the OpenType font format, which was jointly developed by Microsoft and Adobe, and later adopted as an open standard by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) under the ISO/IEC 14496-22 standard. This process involved the collaboration of multiple parties and took several years to reach formal approval.
Similarly, the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) was developed by the Web Fonts Working Group, which is part of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). The W3C is an international community that develops open standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.
The process of creating or updating a font file format is a meticulous and collaborative effort, often sparked by the need to address technological advancements, new requirements from designers or developers, or to overcome limitations in existing font formats. The recognition of this “need” sets the stage for the subsequent steps. (This process mimics other collaborative idioms many readers are likely familiar with. If that describes you, then you can safely ignore the remainder of this section.)
Next, a working group or committee is formed. This group is a rag tag fugitive fleet of diverse expertise, including font designers, software developers, and representatives from technology companies. Their collective knowledge and experience are paramount for the development of the new format.
What follows is the development of a draft specification for the new font format. This, too, is a key phase where the technical details of the format — including the structure and encoding of the font data — are precisely outlined. Think of this this draft as a blueprint.
The term “draft” means that the format is not yet set in stone. It undergoes a thorough process of reviewing and revising, incorporating feedback from the wider community. This phase might include testing the format and making multiple revisions to the specification to ensure it meets the required standards and functionalities. Once the draft is refined and meets all necessary criteria, the specification is finalized and published. This final version is made available for public use, marking a significant milestone in the process.
With the specification published, the implementation phase kicks in. This stage is about bringing the format to life, which involves creating software tools that can create, read, and render fonts in this new format. Additionally, existing software may need updates to support the new format, ensuring a smooth transition and wider adoption.
The final leg of this journey is promoting and encouraging the adoption of the new format. This step is ultimately the most impactful, as the success or failure of a new format hinges on adoption. It generally involves educating designers and developers about its features and benefits. The goal is to encourage its widespread use in new projects, thereby ensuring that the new font format becomes a standard in the industry.
That last bit is kind of important enough to side-note that this “promotion” stage is essential for anything you’re trying to get adoption for. The modern R community shines in this regard, and has a few models to follow. I guess what I’m trying to get at is that you can have the coolest file format (et al.) imaginable, with buy in from a core set of nerds, but if you don’t do the leg work of reaching out, championing it, and providing as much support as possible, only a handful of folks will care. In the case of something like a whole new font format, that task is pretty massive. Thankfully, most of us work on things that aren’t as laborful.
Featured Foundry: Swiss Typefaces
Swiss Typefaces is a font foundry founded in 2006, initially named B&P Type Foundry after its founders, Maxime Büchi and Ian Party. Later, Emmanuel Rey joined the duo. This super cool foundry has gained recognition for its diverse and innovative typefaces, and is one of the top type foundries in the industry.
One of the standout features of Swiss Typefaces (and a big reason I’m including it, here, today) is their commitment to providing trial versions of their fonts in both desktop and webfont formats. This lets us easily and legally test the fonts in our own designs before making a purchase.
When you buy a font from Swiss Typefaces, the webfont is always included at no extra cost (something almost unheard of in commercial font land).
The foundry offers a wide range of typefaces (far too many to enumerate). Drop fav Suisse Screen is featured in the section header.
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If you’re ever tasked with implementing a cryptography feature–whether a high-level protocol or a low-level primitive–you will have to take special care to ensure you’re not leaking secret information through side-channels.
The descriptions of algorithms you learn in a classroom or textbook are not sufficient for real-world use. (Yes, that means your toy RSA implementation based on GMP from your computer science 101 class isn’t production-ready. Don’t deploy it.)
But what are these elusive side-channels exactly, and how do you prevent them? And in cases where you cannot prevent them, how can you mitigate the risk to your users?
Art by Swizz.Contents
- Cryptographic Side-Channels
- Timing Leaks
- Power Usage
- Electromagnetic Emissions
- Side-Channel Prevention and Mitigation
- Prevention vs. Mitigation
- What is Constant-Time?
- Malicious Environments and Algorithmic Constant-Time
- Mitigation with Blinding Techniques
- Design Patterns for Algorithmic Constant-Time Code
- Constant-Time String Comparison
- Alternative: “Double HMAC” String Comparison
- Constant-Time Conditional Select
- Constant-Time String Inequality Comparison
- Constant-Time Integer Multiplication
- Constant-Time Integer Division
- Constant-Time Modular Inversion
- Constant-Time Null-Byte Trimming
- Further Reading and Online Resources
- Errata
Cryptographic Side-Channels
The concept of a side-channel isn’t inherently cryptographic, as Taylor Hornby demonstrates, but a side-channel can be a game over vulnerability in a system meant to maintain confidentiality (even if only for its cryptography keys).
Cryptographic side-channels allow an attacker to learn secret data from your cryptography system. To accomplish this, the attacker doesn’t necessarily study the system’s output (i.e. ciphertext); instead, they observe some other measurement, such as how much time or power was spent performing an operation, or what kind of electromagnetic radiation was emitted.
Important: While being resistant to side-channels is a prerequisite for implementations to be secure, it isn’t in and of itself sufficient for security. The underlying design of the primitives, constructions, and high-level protocols needs to be secure first, and that requires a clear and specific threat model for what you’re building.
Constant-time ECDSA doesn’t help you if you reuse k-values like it’s going out of style, but variable-time ECDSA still leaks your secret key to anyone who cares to probe your response times. Secure cryptography is very demanding.
Art by Riley.Timing Leaks
Timing side-channels leak secrets through how much time it takes for an operation to complete.
There are many different flavors of timing leakage, including:
- Fast-failing comparison functions (memcmp() in C)
- Cache-timing vulnerabilities (e.g. software AES)
- Memory access patterns
- Conditional branches controlled by secrets
The bad news about timing leaks is that they’re almost always visible to an attacker over the network (including over the Internet (PDF)).
The good news is that most of them can be prevented or mitigated in software.
Art by Kyume.Power Usage
Different algorithms or processor operations may require different amounts of power.
For example, squaring a large number may take less power than multiplying two different large numbers. This observation has led to the development of power analysis attacks against RSA.
Power analysis is especially relevant for embedded systems and smart cards, which are easier to extract a meaningful signal from than your desktop computer.
Some information leakage through power usage can be prevented through careful engineering (for example: BearSSL, which uses Montgomery multiplication instead of square-and-multiply).
But that’s not always an option, so generally these risks are mitigated.
My reaction when I first learned of power leaks: WATT (Art by Swizz)Electromagnetic Emissions
Your computer is a reliable source of electromagnetic emissions (such as radio waves). Some of these emissions may reveal information about your cryptographic secrets, especially to an attacker with physical proximity to your device.
The good news is that research into EM emission side-channels isn’t as mature as side-channels through timing leaks or power usage. The bad news is that mitigations for breakthroughs will generally require hardware (e.g. electromagnetic shielding).
Aren’t computers terrifying? (Art by Swizz)Side-Channel Prevention and Mitigation
Now that we’ve established a rough sense of some of the types of side-channels that are possible, we can begin to identify what causes them and aspire to prevent the leaks from happening–and where we can’t, to mitigate the risk to a reasonable level.
Note: To be clear, I didn’t cover all of the types of side-channels.
Prevention vs. Mitigation
Preventing a side-channel means eliminating the conditions that allow the information leak to occur in the first place. For timing leaks, this means making all algorithms constant-time.
There are entire classes of side-channel leaks that aren’t possible or practical to mitigate in software. When you encounter one, the best you can hope to do is mitigate the risk.
Ideally, you want to make the attack more expensive to pull off than the reward an attacker will gain from it.
What is Constant-Time?
Toto, I don’t think we’re in Tanelorn Kansas anymore.When an implementation is said to be constant-time, what we mean is that the execution time of the code is not a function of its secret inputs.
Vulnerable AES uses table look-ups to implement the S-Box. Constant-time AES is either implemented in hardware, or is bitsliced.
Malicious Environments and Algorithmic Constant-Time
One of the greatest challenges with writing constant-time code is distinguishing between algorithmic constant-time and provably constant-time. The main difference between the two is that you cannot trust your compiler (especially a JIT compiler), which may attempt to optimize your code in a way that reintroduces the side-channel you aspired to remove.
A sufficiently advanced compiler optimization is indistinguishable from an adversary.
John Regehr, possibly with apologies to Arthur C. Clarke
For compiled languages, this is a tractable but expensive problem to solve: You simply have to formally verify everything from the source code to the compiler to the silicon chips that the code will be deployed on, and then audit your supply chain to prevent malicious tampering from going undetected.
For interpreted languages (e.g. PHP and JavaScript), this formal verification strategy isn’t really an option, unless you want to formally verify the runtime that interprets scripts and prove that the operations remain constant-time on top of all the other layers of distrust.
Is this level of paranoia really worth the effort?
For our cases, anyway! (Art by Khia.)For that reason, we’re going to assume that algorithmic constant-time is adequate for the duration of this blog post.
If your threat model prevents you from accepting this assumption, feel free to put in the extra effort yourself and tell me how it goes. After all, as a furry who writes blog posts in my spare time for fun, I don’t exactly have the budget for massive research projects in formal verification.
Mitigation with Blinding Techniques
The best mitigation for some side-channels is called blinding: Obfuscating the inputs with some random data, then deobfuscating the outputs with the same random data, such that your keys are not revealed.
Two well-known examples include RSA decryption and Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman. I’ll focus on the latter, since it’s not as widely covered in the literature (although several cryptographers I’ve talked with were somehow knowledgeable about it; I suspect gatekeeping is involved).
Blinded ECDH Key Exchange
In typical ECDH implementations, you will convert a point on a Weierstrass curve to a Jacobian coordinate system .
The exact conversion formula is (, ). The conversion almost makes intuitive sense.
Where does come from though?
Art by circuitslimeIt turns out, the choice for is totally arbitrary. Libraries typically set it equal to 1 (for best performance), but you can also set it to a random number. (You cannot set it to 0, however, for obvious reasons.)
Choosing a random number means the calculations performed over Jacobian coordinates will be obscured by a randomly chosen factor (and thus, if is only used once per scalar multiplication, the bitwise signal the attackers rely on will be lost).
Blinding techniques are cool. (Art by Khia.)I think it’s really cool how one small tweak to the runtime of an algorithm can make it significantly harder to attack.
Design Patterns for Algorithmic Constant-Time Code
Mitigation techniques are cool, but preventing side-channels is a better value-add for most software.
To that end, let’s look at some design patterns for constant-time software. Some of these are relatively common; others, not so much.
Art by Scout Pawfoot.If you prefer TypeScript / JavaScirpt, check out Soatok’s constant-time-js library on Github / NPM.
Constant-Time String Comparison
Rather than using string comparison (== in most programming languages, memcmp() in C), you want to compare cryptographic secrets and/or calculated integrity checks with a secure compare algorithm, which looks like this:
- Initialize a variable (let’s call it D) to zero.
- For each byte of the two strings:
- Calculate (lefti XOR righti)
- Bitwise OR the current value of D with the result of the XOR, store the output in D
- When the loop has concluded, D will be equal to 0 if and only if the two strings are equal.
In code form, it looks like this:
<?phpfunction ct_compare(string $left, string $right): bool{ $d = 0; $length = mb_strlen($left, '8bit'); if (mb_strlen($right, '8bit') !== $length) { return false; // Lengths differ } for ($i = 0; $i < $length; ++$i) { $leftCharCode = unpack('C', $left[$i])[1]; $rightCharCode = unpack('C', $right[$i])[1]; $d |= ($leftCharCode ^ $rightCharCode); } return $d === 0;}In this example, I’m using PHP’s unpack() function to avoid cache-timing leaks with ord() and chr(). Of course, you can simply use hash_equals() instead of writing it yourself (PHP 5.6.0+).
Alternative: “Double HMAC” String Comparison
If the previous algorithm won’t work (i.e. because you’re concerned your JIT compiler will optimize it away), there is a popular alternative to consider. It’s called “Double HMAC” because it was traditionally used with Encrypt-Then-HMAC schemes.
The algorithm looks like this:
- Generate a random 256-bit key, K. (This can be cached between invocations, but it should be unpredictable.)
- Calculate HMAC-SHA256(K, left).
- Calculate HMAC-SHA256(K, right).
- Return true if the outputs of step 2 and 3 are equal.
This is provably secure, so long as HMAC-SHA256 is a secure pseudo-random function and the key K is unknown to the attacker.
In code form, the Double HMAC compare function looks like this:
<?phpfunction hmac_compare(string $left, string $right): bool{ static $k = null; if (!$k) $k = random_bytes(32); return ( hash_hmac('sha256', $left, $k) === hash_hmac('sha256', $right, $k) );}Constant-Time Conditional Select
I like to imagine a conversation between a cryptography engineer and a Zen Buddhist, that unfolds like so:
- CE: “I want to eliminate branching side-channels from my code.”
- ZB: “Then do not have branches in your code.”
And that is precisely what we intend to do with a constant-time conditional select: Eliminate branches by conditionally returning between one of two strings, without an IF statement.
Mind. Blown. (Art by Khia.)This isn’t as tricky as it sounds. We’re going to use XOR and two’s complement to achieve this.
The algorithm looks like this:
- Convert the selection bit (TRUE/FALSE) into a mask value (-1 for TRUE, 0 for FALSE). Bitwise, -1 looks like 111111111…1111111111, while 0 looks like 00000000…00000000.
- Copy the right string into a buffer, call it tmp.
- Calculate left XOR right, call it x.
- Return (tmp XOR (x AND mask)).
Once again, in code this algorithm looks like this:
<?phpfunction ct_select( bool $returnLeft, string $left, string $right): string { $length = mb_strlen($left, '8bit'); if (mb_strlen($right, '8bit') !== $length) { throw new Exception('ct_select() expects two strings of equal length'); } // Mask byte $mask = (-$returnLeft) & 0xff; // X $x = (string) ($left ^ $right); // Output = Right XOR (X AND Mask) $output = ''; for ($i = 0; $i < $length; $i++) { $rightCharCode = unpack('C', $right[$i])[1]; $xCharCode = unpack('C', $x[$i])[1]; $output .= pack( 'C', $rightCharCode ^ ($xCharCode & $mask) ); } return $output;}You can test this code for yourself here. The function was designed to read intuitively like a ternary operator.
A Word of Caution on Cleverness
In some languages, it may seem tempting to use the bitwise trickery to swap out pointers instead of returning a new buffer. But do not fall for this Siren song.
If, instead of returning a new buffer, you just swap pointers, what you’ll end up doing is creating a timing leak through your memory access patterns. This can culminate in a timing vulnerability, but even if your data is too big to fit in a processor’s cache line (I dunno, Post-Quantum RSA keys?), there’s another risk to consider.
Virtual memory addresses are just beautiful lies. Where your data lives on the actual hardware memory is entirely up to the kernel. You can have two blobs with contiguous virtual memory addresses that live on separate memory pages, or even separate RAM chips (if you have multiple).
If you’re swapping pointers around, and they point to two different pieces of hardware, and one is slightly faster to read from than the other, you can introduce yet another timing attack through which pointer is being referenced by the processor.
It’s timing leaks all the ways down! (Art by Swizz)If you’re swapping between X and Y before performing a calculation, where:
- X lives on RAM chip 1, which takes 3 ns to read
- Y lives on RAM chip 2, which takes 4 ns to read
…then the subsequent use of the swapped pointers reveals whether you’re operating on X or Y in the timing: It will take slightly longer to read from Y than from X.
The best way to mitigate this problem is to never design your software to have it in the first place. Don’t be clever on this one.
Constant-Time String Inequality Comparison
Sometimes you don’t just need to know if two strings are equal, you also need to know which one is larger than the other.
To accomplish this in constant-time, we need to maintain two state variables:
- gt (initialized to 0, will be set to 1 at some point if left > right)
- eq (initialized to 1, will be set to 0 at some point if left != right)
Endian-ness will dictate the direction our algorithm goes, but we’re going to perform two operations in each cycle:
- gt should be bitwise ORed with (eq AND ((right – left) right shifted 8 times)
- eq should be bitwise ANDed with ((right XOR left) – 1) right shifted 8 times
If right and left are ever different, eq will be set to 0.
If the first time they’re different the value for lefti is greater than the value for righti, then the subtraction will produce a negative number. Right shifting a negative number 8 places then bitwise ANDing the result with eq (which is only 1 until two bytes differ, and then 0 henceforth if they do) will result in a value for 1 with gt. Thus, if (righti – lefti) is negative, gt will be set to 1. Otherwise, it remains 0.
At the end of this loop, return (gt + gt + eq) – 1. This will result in the following possible values:
- left < right: -1
- left == right: 0
- left > right: 1
The arithmetic based on the possible values of gt and eq should be straightforward.
- Different (eq == 0) but not greater (gt == 0) means left < right, -1.
- Different (eq == 0) and greater (gt == 1) means left > right, 1.
- If eq == 1, no bytes ever differed, so left == right, 0.
A little endian implementation is as follows:
<?phpfunction str_compare(string $left, string $right): int{ $length = mb_strlen($left, '8bit'); if (mb_strlen($right, '8bit') !== $length) { throw new Exception('ct_select() expects two strings of equal length'); } $gt = 0; $eq = 1; $i = $length; while ($i > 0) { --$i; $leftCharCode = unpack('C', $left[$i])[1]; $rightCharCode = unpack('C', $right[$i])[1]; $gt |= (($rightCharCode - $leftCharCode) >> 8) & $eq; $eq &= (($rightCharCode ^ $leftCharCode) -1) >> 8; } return ($gt + $gt + $eq) - 1;}Demo for this function is available here.
Constant-Time Integer Multiplication
Multiplying two integers is one of those arithmetic operations that should be constant-time. But on many older processors, it isn’t.
Of course there’s a microarchitecture timing leak! (Art by Khia.)Fortunately, there is a workaround. It involves an algorithm called Ancient Egyptian Multiplication in some places or Peasant Multiplication in others.
Multiplying two numbers and this way looks like this:
- Determine the number of operations you need to perform. Generally, this is either known ahead of time or .
- Set to 0.
- Until the operation count reaches zero:
- If the lowest bit of is set, add to .
- Left shift by 1.
- Right shfit by 1.
- Return .
The main caveat here is that you want to use bitwise operators in step 3.1 to remove the conditional branch.
Rather than bundle example code in our blog post, please refer to the implementation in sodium_compat (a pure PHP polyfill for libsodium).
For big number libraries, implementing Karatsuba on top of this integer multiplying function should be faster than attempting to multiply bignums this way.
Constant-Time Integer Division
Although some cryptography algorithms call for integer division, division isn’t usually expected to be constant-time.
However, if you look up a division algorithm for unsigned integers with a remainder, you’ll likely encounter this algorithm, which is almost constant-time:
if D = 0 then error(DivisionByZeroException) endQ := 0 -- Initialize quotient and remainder to zeroR := 0 for i := n − 1 .. 0 do -- Where n is number of bits in N R := R << 1 -- Left-shift R by 1 bit R(0) := N(i) -- Set the least-significant bit of R equal to bit i of the numerator if R ≥ D then R := R − D Q(i) := 1 endendIf we use the tricks we learned from implementing constant-time string inequality with constant-time conditional selection, we can implement this algorithm without timing leaks.
Our constant-time version of this algorithm looks like this:
if D = 0 then error(DivisionByZeroException) endQ := 0 -- Initialize quotient and remainder to zeroR := 0 for i := n − 1 .. 0 do -- Where n is number of bits in N R := R << 1 -- Left-shift R by 1 bit R(0) := N(i) -- Set the least-significant bit of R equal to bit i of the numerator compared := ct_compare(R, D) -- Use constant-time inequality -- if R > D then compared == 1, swap = 1 -- if R == D then compared == 0, swap = 1 -- if R < D then compared == -1, swap = 0 swap := (1 - ((compared >> 31) & 1)) -- R' = R - D -- Q' = Q, Q[i] = 1 Rprime := R - D Qprime := Q Qprime(i) := 1 -- The i'th bit is set to 1 -- Replace (R with R', Q with Q') if swap == 1 R = ct_select(swap, Rprime, R) Q = ct_select(swap, Qprime, Q)endIt’s approximately twice as slow as the original, but it’s constant-time.
(Art by Khia.)Constant-Time Modular Inversion
Modular inversion is the calculation of for some prime . This is used in a lot of places, but especially in elliptic curve cryptography and RSA.
Daniel J. Bernstein and Bo-Yin Yang published a paper on fast constant-time GCD and Modular Inversion in 2019. The algorithm in question is somewhat straightforward to implement (although determining whether or not that implementation is safe is left as an exercise to the rest of us).
A simpler technique is to use Fermat’s Little Theorem: for some prime . This only works with prime fields, and is slower than a Binary GCD (which isn’t necessarily constant-time, as OpenSSL discovered).
BearSSL provides an implementation (and accompanying documentation) for a constant-time modular inversion algorithm based on Binary GCD.
(In the future, I may update this section of this blog post with an implementation in PHP, using the GMP extension.)
Constant-Time Null-Byte Trimming
Shortly after this guide first went online, security researchers published the Raccoon Attack, which used a timing leak in the number of leading 0 bytes in the pre-master secret–combined with a lattice attack to solve the hidden number problem–to break TLS-DH(E).
To solve this, you need two components:
- A function that returns a slice of an array without timing leaks.
- A function that counts the number of significant bytes (i.e. ignores leading zero bytes, counts from the first non-zero byte).
A timing-safe array resize function needs to do two things:
- Touch every byte of the input array once.
- Touch every byte of the output array at least once, linearly. The constant-time division algorithm is useful here (to calculate x mod n for the output array index).
- Conditionally select between input[x] and the existing output[x_mod_n], based on whether x >= target size.
I’ve implemented this in my constant-time-js library:
Further Reading and Online Resources
If you’re at all interested in cryptographic side-channels, your hunger for knowledge probably won’t be sated by a single blog post. Here’s a collection of articles, papers, books, etc. worth reading.
- BearSSL’s Documentation on Constant-Time Code — A must-read for anyone interested in this topic
- Cryptographically Secure PHP Development — How to write secure cryptography in languages that cryptographers largely neglect
- CryptoCoding — A style guide for writing secure cryptography code in C (with example code!)
- CryptoGotchas — An overview of the common mistakes one can make when writing cryptography code (which is a much wider scope than side-channels)
- Meltdown and Spectre — Two vulnerabilities that placed side-channels in the scope of most of infosec that isn’t interested in cryptography
- Serious Cryptography — For anyone who lacks the background knowledge to fully understand what I’m talking about on this page
Errata
- 2020-08-27: The original version of this blog post incorrectly attributed Jacobian coordinate blinding to ECDSA hardening, rather than ECDH hardening. This error was brought to my attention by Thai Duong. Thanks Thai!
- 2020-08-27: Erin correctly pointed out that omitting memory access timing was a disservice to developers, who might not be aware of the risks involved. I’ve updated the post to call this risk out specifically (especially in the conditional select code, which some developers might try to implement with pointer swapping without knowing the risks involved). Thanks Erin!
I hope you find this guide to side-channels helpful.
Thanks for reading!Follow my blog for more Defense Against the Bark Arts posts in the future.
https://soatok.blog/2020/08/27/soatoks-guide-to-side-channel-attacks/
#asymmetricCryptography #constantTime #cryptography #ECDH #ECDSA #ellipticCurveCryptography #RSA #SecurityGuidance #sideChannels #symmetricCryptography
- Cryptographic Side-Channels
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Barcodes, library slips, bookworms, and book deliveries in “Whisper of the Heart”
Shizuku’s father is a librarian in this film. He later says that he would like the card catalogs to stay too, like her.When I watched Whisper of the Heart, a romantic drama anime film which came out over 29 years ago (on July 15, 1995), on Max, I never expected that libraries, and librarians would be such a central part of the film! I was aware that the film was listed on Jennifer Snoek-Brown’s list of “Foreign-Language Films” on Reel Librarians. The latter list notes films reportedly with librarians and/or archivists alphabetically by title”. She warns that she can’t confirm that “every film on this list actually includes a librarian and/or archivist” as her primary focus is on examining English-language films. While that is a laudable goal, I don’t limit myself in that way, personally, and happily cover anime on this blog time and again. In fact, I have written about over 70 anime series, four films, and various manga, with my first post in August 2020. [1] This review will focus on the role of libraries, and librarians like the protagonist’s father, in the story, while relating it to other fictional examples and real-life library concepts.
One of the first conversations in the film is between the 14-year-old protagonist Shizuku Tsukishima, living in the Tokyo suburb of Tama New Town, who learns the local library is going to the bar code system, and her father. She tells him that she likes the library slips instead. He actually agrees with her, but decides to go with the library’s change anyhow. Thanks to the library slip, she learns that one man’s name is in common on all the books she has checked out: Seiji Amasawa. This piques her interest. This major plot point is mentioned in many summaries and reviews of the film, noting that Seiji is on every single one of these checkout slips and how she is slowly drawn to him as the film goes forward, with their feelings growing. Shizuku is also drawn toward these books because she loves fantasy books, and meets Seiji at an old antique shop somewhere in town. Other reviewers have noted that the checkout cards are an interesting narrative device, which “lends itself well to romantic daydreaming.” It is worth noting that Shizuku is spending his summer vacation, last one she has at Mukaihara Junior High School, translating and reading “popular foreign music into Japanese” like John Denver’s Country Road. [2]
At one point, Shizuku checks a book out of the library, which was never checked out before, and even though she somewhat ends up disturbing the job of the librarian (or the teacher standing in as a librarian), she comes across Seiji. Then, not longer after, he is curiously reading the book she checked out and she takes it from him, surprised to see him. And he even knows her name from the book. So much for reader’s privacy! Although some may see a sense of relief and kinship at seeing these library check-out cards, looking at these cards would run afoul of existing ethics, as outlined by the ALA. Those ethics state that libraries will “protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.”
Such cards are sometimes known as borrowing cards. They had/have an equivalent inside the library: a circulation card. Such cards may include the name of who borrowed the book and name of the book. There are also slips/cards which remain in a book only listing the date a book is due to be returned, known as date due slips. I’m not sure why I haven’t gone into this much detail on this before, but better late than never. In the case of this film, it would be a borrowing card, rather than a date due slip, which was stuck in the back of book, and then the book would be shelved, a way to record who borrowed a book before computer systems supplanted this system. Paper can still be used in today’s libraries, even to write down call numbers for books. The latter has also been shown in the films Dangerous Minds and Regarding Henry.
I am reminded of a scene in All the President’s Men, in which Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein go to the Library of Congress, and a Black male librarian gives them the slips for who checked out certain books, as opposed to an interaction with a White female librarian. I described this all in a post on this very blog in February of last year:
…In the classic 1976 political thriller, All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein travel to the Library of Congress after their research seems to be stalled and having a librarian have a strange conversation with one them. They go to one librarian, who declares that the records they want are confidential, and that he can’t fulfill their request of library card checkout slips since July 1971. The other, the image of which is shown above, fulfills their request. Voiced by Jaye Stewart, he tells them “I’m not sure you want ’em, but I’ve got ’em.” Woodward and Bernstein proceed to go through perhaps thousands of check-out slips in the Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the work is for naught, as it doesn’t confirm if a White House staffer checked out books on Ted Kennedy…Snoek-Brown…[said] hat it is not ethical to “give out checkout slips or records without a court order” as librarians have an “obligation to protect the privacy rights of our patrons.” I agree with Snoek-Brown entirely on that point
Coming back to the film, I would think that such borrowing cards would weaken the commitment of the library to reader confidentiality. As it presently stands, almost every U.S. state has laws “protecting the confidentiality of library records”. The Japan Library Association in a statement published in 1980, states that librarians should respect the privacy of each library user, and should not “divulge his/her name or details of books or other library materials used to third parties”. A more recent statement notes library privacy and confidentiality, among other virtues, as important. This film came out before the economic downturn in Japan, in 1997, which unfortunately lead to privatization of libraries through “outsourcing of staff to reduce costs and provide a flexible workforce”, with privacy of user information is at stake because private management companies are “not obligated to protect users’ privacy and routinely gather their data”. [3]
Shizuku says card catalogs are better than digital recordsMoving on from that, and back to the film, Shizuku soon follows a cat to an antique shop and is drawn to a cat statue named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, with the shop’s owner, Nishi, telling her about him. She barely makes it to the library in time, is annoyed by Seiji, and is embarrassed in the process, as he delivers “her” lunch for her, with the fat cat (she had followed to the shop) riding on the back of the bike. The lunch is actually for her dad, who works in the library! This library is a fictional place created for the film itself, as no such library exists at that location (Irohazaka Sakura Park). [4]
This fantastical nature of the library is not unique. However, this library is more akin to something that exists in reality, rather than in a magical realm by itself. This makes the series unique. Surely, there are public libraries akin to those in real-life in Josee the Tiger and the Fish or I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, to give two examples, apart from the many within school buildings that I’ve often written about. This library is clearly a place of knowledge, but it is not a place or refuge. Rather, it is a place of learning and development.
As the movie goes on, Shizuku learns who donated a book at the library: the father of Seiji. She is later called a “bookworm”, which she accepts happily. After all, she often goes to the library, a fantasy reportedly depicted in The Cat Returns, a 2002 film. She takes out books in the public library, so she can learn more for her story. At one point, she remains one of the last people there, writing away, and Seiji visits her in the library, while she writes her story. As a writer, she becomes more than a bookworm, and Seiji is more than a novice violin maker. Both characters are not exceptional, but have proven that they have what it takes to ensure their work can become “exceptional”, with their romance blossoming by the film’s end, even without a kiss. [5]
There is much more to this film than what I’ve noted so far and ending the article here would be selling it short, to say the least. For Shizuku to be called a bookworm as an insult, and turning it into a positive, is not limited to this film. There is an entire series entitled Ascendance of a Bookworm, which focuses on Myne and her quest to provide free books to the populace, building her previous life as a college librarian. In his quest, she even becomes a church librarian with some magical powers. The series has even been cited as an example of when an outsider from another world “usher systematic change in their adopted one.” The term was even alluded to in the series Bibliophile Princess, as a bibliophile, someone who frequently reads or collects books, and loves books, is also known as a bookworm. Bibliophile appears more “positive.”
Otherwise, there was a British comic from 1978-1985 entitled Bookworm about a young boy who always has a book and his parents tell him to do more “boyish” things, but it results in disaster. There’s also an 1850 painting entitled The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg. A variation of this piece was even named The Librarian! Pu Songling published a romantic short story, in about 1740, entitled The Bookworm, while there are characters known as bookworms in Tiny Toon Adventures and most infamously in the campy 1960s Batman series. There are many other bookworms in fiction, like in Wonder Man (1945), Navy Blues (1937), and even Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to an extent.
There is also the Association internationale de bibliophilie, which is called International Association of Bibliophiles or AIB in English. It is dedicated to bibliophiles. Russia has its National Union of Bibliophiles (formed in 2010), while there are is a book club in Detroit, a former group for female bibliophiles (Hroswitha Club), and the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles. There is even a 15-minute film, which I haven’t seen, entitled The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, about a man who is writing his memoir, but is blown off a balcony, writing out of a library,and even becomes a librarian with the city suffering from impact of a storm. There’s also books such as The Great Book-Collectors about book-collecting practices of the British Library, Bodleian Library, and Ashmolean Museum, along with a physical archive named Library of the Printed Web dedicated to “web-to-print artists’ books, zines and other printout matter.”
All of this is related to the concept of tsundoku, which means acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in your home without actually reading them. It can refer to books ready for reading later, as well, when those books are on a bookshelf. It is related to what A. Edward Newton wrote about in 1921, and stands in opposition to the term antilibrary. The latter, coined by Lebanese-American author Nassim Nicholas Taleb means a “collection of unread books”, which make people curious and humble. [6] He further stated that the older someone gets, the more they know, the larger is their “accumulation of unread books” and those who focus on such unread books are antischolars, i.e. those who do not “care about how much you know, but how much you don’t know” and how to find information you need.
When it comes to libraries, I would think people would side more with idea of antilibrary than the idea of tsundoku, as the latter seems to imply that having unread books is “bad.” Having books you haven’t read should not be seen as a negative. It is inevitable there will be books you haven’t read in your lifetime, no matter what. And libraries hold the books so they can be read by others, and shared, to spread knowledge, and understanding. This doesn’t mean that every book is right, immutable, or correct. Rather, the books can help you understand more about the world, at their best, and at their worst, promote misinformation. The latter can be prevented with careful weeding to ensure that patrons have the best information available.
Shizuku is studying in the library with a stack of books sitting on the table next to her. The man she likes is across the table from her, I believe.As I’ve noted on this blog various times, libraries serve many important functions in society. One of those is providing a place to study. This is shown clearly, as indicated in the above screenshot. You don’t have to be a bibliophile/bookworm for that. In fact, not all bookworms are librarians, and not all librarians are bookworms. Some are, but due to the many tasks during the work-day, often librarians don’t have time to read a book on the job, as some people might think.
When it comes to Japan, I’ve noted this before on here, but there are over 3,000 public libraries in this island nation, and remain an important part of the country’s society. In fact, there is even an entire Wikipedia page listing them, entitled “List of libraries in Japan” (not to be confused with the page “List of archives in Japan“). Some probably still have card catalogs. These libraries, known as toshokan in Japanese, are centered by the National Diet Library. The only series, I know, to date to directly feature this library is 26-episode early 2000s R.O.D. the TV anime series, which features characters from the Read or Die light novels, manga, and OVA, and the Read or Dream manga.
Academics have noted that information commons/learning commons which provide various materials, facilities, and services, in one place, originally appearing in North America, has also appeared in Japanese universities and college. Such spaces are reportedly in an ” the early stage of development”, and there is a need for such spaces to rebuild their own services because of student needs. Furthermore, many libraries in pre-modern Japan were arguably private and have been called bunko, meaning “storehouses of books.” Currently, most have been subsumed into larger national, prefectural, university, or research library institutions. Some have even covered this in books such as Youth-Serving Libraries in Japan, Russia, and the United States.
It is also said that Japanese academic libraries are well-resourced and support the country’s research capacity, while reflecting the country’s “strong bureaucratic culture.” I’m not sure if this is also the case for the country’s public libraries as well, to be perfectly honest. I can say, with certainty, that libraries are an important part of the country, especially considering that the Imperial Library (forerunner to the National Diet Library) was established in the latter 19th century, and in 1947, the National Library Act created Japan’s sole national library (National Diet Library). This was followed by the landmark 1950 Library Act. The law states, in part, that the country’s libraries are aimed to promoting “sound development…[and] the enhancement of the education and culture of the nation”. It goes onto say:
…libraries shall endeavor to accomplish…[collection of] nooks, archives, audio-visual materials and other necessary data and materials…with suitable attention paid to the acquisition of local materials, art works, materials on local administration, gramophone records and films…library materials shall be properly classified and processed…efforts shall be made to ensure that library personnel acquire sufficient knowledge of library matters…close communication and cooperation shall be maintained by…inter-library loans between libraries…reading circles, seminars, appreciation groups, film showings and exhibits of data…shall be sponsored and encouraged…close contact and cooperation shall be maintained with schools, museums, community centers and research institutes, etc….professional personnel of libraries shall be called librarians and assistant librarians.
And that’s only part of Chapter 1! There is no comparison to this in U.S. law. The legislation, which passed the U.S. Congress in April 1800 (see page 56), only mentioned that the purchase of books “as may be necessary for the use of Congress at the said city of Washington, and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them and for placing them therein, the sum of five thousand dollars shall be…appropriated.” That same law went onto say that a library catalogue shall be furnished by a joint congressional committee, with books “placed in one suitable apartment in the capitol in the said city, for the use of both…houses of Congress and the members thereof”. That is it. It wasn’t until 1802 that a law defined the functions and role of this library, the Library of Congress (LOC), and even made the appointment of the Librarian of Congress a “presidential responsibility”! Still, this was nothing like the Library Law in Japan, which was much more extensive.
Such a law in the U.S, would be unthinkable, even at this current time, despite the fact it could have extreme value in ensuring the institution’s mission and objectives. On the other hand, LOC has broadly defined that on its own, and has a bit of autonomy, as it is only the de facto national library. This makes it different from the many across the world, coupled with any state-established libraries serving as preeminent information repositories for specific regions.
When I watched Whisper of the Heart on Max, with my mom and dad, I never expected libraries to be as big of a part of the film from the get-go. I am truly grateful that I came across this film, and would surely watch it again if I get a chance. That;s all for this post. Until next week! As always, comments are welcome.
Shizuku looks at library slips and finding out some man checked the SAME book out before her© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
Notes
[1] Since then, I’ve written about (I don’t recommend you watch all of these, though, and some of the following I would not watch again) over 80 anime series: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Wandering Son, Ice, Kuttsukiboshi, Paradise Kiss, Macross Frontier, Classroom of the Elite, Gargantia, Kandagawa Jet Girls, El-Hazard, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, Ascendance of a Bookworm, R.O.D. the TV, B Gata H Kei, Bloom Into You, Little Witch Academia, Yamibou, Whispered Words, Aoi Hana / Sweet Blue Flowers, Strawberry Panic!, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Manaria Friends, Kampfer, Lapis Re:Lights, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Blue Drop, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian, Cardcaptor Sakura, Venus vs. Virus, Otherside Picnic, My-Hime, Simoun, Riddle Story of Devil, Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood, Dear Brother, Library War, Girl Friend Beta, Kokoro Library, Attack on Titan, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra, Bernard-jou Iwaku a.k.a. Miss Bernard said, Komi Can’t Communicate, The Ancient Magus Bride: Those Awaiting a Star, Gosick, Laid-Back Camp, As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Bibliophile Princess, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, My Roommate is a Cat, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Kin-iro Mosaic, Akebi’s Sailor Uniform, Makura no Danshi, Azumanga Daioh, Oresuki, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Gabriel DropOut, Spy x Family, A Couple of Cuckoos, Märchen Mädchen, Healer Girl, Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation, Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepard, A Place Further Than The Universe, Teasing Master Takagi-san, Myself ; Yourself, Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War, Stars Align, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Skip and Loafer, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Violet Evergarden, Somali and the Forest Spirit, Aharen-San wa Hakarenai, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Chitose Got You, Clannad, Cue!, Encouragement to Climb: Next Summit, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Gabriel Drop Out, Kin-iro Mosaic, K-On!, Noir, Otherside Picnic, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Re:Zero, and four films: I Want To Eat Your Pancreas, Calamity of a Zombie Girl, Your Name, and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish. Later posts this year will focus on series such as Ouran High School Host Club, Is the Order a Rabbit?, Kiss Him, Not Me, The Demon Girl Next Door, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, YuruYuri, Library War, Maria Watches Over Us, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret), to name a few.
[2] “Whisper of the Heart,” IFC Center, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Russo, Lee. “How Whisper of the Heart Explores the Fear of Failure,” CBR, Jun. 13, 2020; Graeme. “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” Film School Rejects, Jun. 15, 2018; “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Faith. “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli Movies, Nov. 28, 2014; Toole, Michael. “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” Anime News Network, Nov. 29, 2014; Osmond, Andrew. “Whisper of the Heart Review,” Anime News Network, Jan. 11, 2012; Mindus, Jay. “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” CBR, May 12, 2022; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba),” Harvard Film Archive, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Cyrenne, Randall. “Whisper Of The Heart,” Animated Views, Mar. 7, 2006.
[3] Alix, Francis A. “The History and Current Challenges of Libraries in Japan,” SLIS Connectings 10(1): 10.
[4] Graeme, “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” 2018; Toole, “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” 2014; Osmond, “Whisper of the Heart Review,” 2012; “Tracing Shizuku’s Steps: Visit ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Locations in Real Life,” tsunagu Japan, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; “Visiting ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Movie Location,” justa-fangirl, 2014.
[5] “Whisper of the Heart,” Ghibli Wiki, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; Cyrenne, “Whisper Of The Heart,” 2006; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba,” Harvard Film Archive; Mindus, “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” 2022; Pineda, Rafael Antonio. “Live-Action Whisper of the Heart Sequel Film Delayed Due to COVID-19,” Anime News Network, Apr. 20, 2020. The live-action sequel, also named Whisper of the Heart came out in October 2022 in Japan, but it was received badly if the reviews from Japan Times and Crunchyroll listed on the “Whisper of the Heart (2022 film)” Wikipedia page are any indication. Apparently, there is even a library scene in the film. I haven’t watched the film, so I can’t confirm that completely, however.
[6] Brooks, Katherine. “There’s A Japanese Word For People Who Buy More Books Than They Can Actually Read,” HuffPost, Apr. 19, 2017; Tobar, Hector, “Are you a book hoarder? There’s a word for that,” Los Angeles Times, Jul. 24, 2014; “Tsundoku: The art of buying books and never reading them,” BBC News, Jul. 29, 2018; Crow, Jonathan. “‘Tsundoku,’ the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language,” Open Culture, Jul. 24, 2014; “A QUOTE ON BIBLIOMANIA,” Language Hat, Feb. 7, 2008; Popova, Maria. “Umberto Eco’s Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones,” The Marginalian, Mar. 24, 2015; Stillman, Jessica. “Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read,” Inc., Dec. 5, 2017; McDonough, Lauren Smith. “Everyone Is Obsessed With the Trend of Antilibraries Right Now,” House Beautiful, Dec. 19, 2017; Boyd, Rebecca Lowry. “The book trend everyone is talking about right now,” Better Homes & Gardens, accessed Jun. 27, 2023.
#AllThePresidentSMen #AnimeNewsNetwork #antilibrary #AscendanceOfABookworm #barcodes #BibliophilePrincess #bibliophilia #BlackLibrarians #BlackWomen #BluRays #books #booksAreNotSacred #ethics #femaleLibrarians #IWantToEatYourPancreas #JapaneseLibrarians #JapaneseMen #JapanesePatrons #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #KOn #libraryCards #librarySlips #magic #NationalDietLibrary #NavyBluesFilm #RODTheTV #ReadOrDieLightNovels #ReadOrDieManga #ReadOrDieOVA #ReadOrDream #readerConfidentiality #ReelLibrarians #SeitokaiYakuindomo #Simoun #students #studying #teachers #TheCatReturns #tsundoku #WhisperOfTheHeart #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen
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Barcodes, library slips, bookworms, and book deliveries in “Whisper of the Heart”
Shizuku’s father is a librarian in this film. He later says that he would like the card catalogs to stay too, like her.When I watched Whisper of the Heart, a romantic drama anime film which came out over 29 years ago (on July 15, 1995), on Max, I never expected that libraries, and librarians would be such a central part of the film! I was aware that the film was listed on Jennifer Snoek-Brown’s list of “Foreign-Language Films” on Reel Librarians. The latter list notes films reportedly with librarians and/or archivists alphabetically by title”. She warns that she can’t confirm that “every film on this list actually includes a librarian and/or archivist” as her primary focus is on examining English-language films. While that is a laudable goal, I don’t limit myself in that way, personally, and happily cover anime on this blog time and again. In fact, I have written about over 70 anime series, four films, and various manga, with my first post in August 2020. [1] This review will focus on the role of libraries, and librarians like the protagonist’s father, in the story, while relating it to other fictional examples and real-life library concepts.
One of the first conversations in the film is between the 14-year-old protagonist Shizuku Tsukishima, living in the Tokyo suburb of Tama New Town, who learns the local library is going to the bar code system, and her father. She tells him that she likes the library slips instead. He actually agrees with her, but decides to go with the library’s change anyhow. Thanks to the library slip, she learns that one man’s name is in common on all the books she has checked out: Seiji Amasawa. This piques her interest. This major plot point is mentioned in many summaries and reviews of the film, noting that Seiji is on every single one of these checkout slips and how she is slowly drawn to him as the film goes forward, with their feelings growing. Shizuku is also drawn toward these books because she loves fantasy books, and meets Seiji at an old antique shop somewhere in town. Other reviewers have noted that the checkout cards are an interesting narrative device, which “lends itself well to romantic daydreaming.” It is worth noting that Shizuku is spending his summer vacation, last one she has at Mukaihara Junior High School, translating and reading “popular foreign music into Japanese” like John Denver’s Country Road. [2]
At one point, Shizuku checks a book out of the library, which was never checked out before, and even though she somewhat ends up disturbing the job of the librarian (or the teacher standing in as a librarian), she comes across Seiji. Then, not longer after, he is curiously reading the book she checked out and she takes it from him, surprised to see him. And he even knows her name from the book. So much for reader’s privacy! Although some may see a sense of relief and kinship at seeing these library check-out cards, looking at these cards would run afoul of existing ethics, as outlined by the ALA. Those ethics state that libraries will “protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.”
Such cards are sometimes known as borrowing cards. They had/have an equivalent inside the library: a circulation card. Such cards may include the name of who borrowed the book and name of the book. There are also slips/cards which remain in a book only listing the date a book is due to be returned, known as date due slips. I’m not sure why I haven’t gone into this much detail on this before, but better late than never. In the case of this film, it would be a borrowing card, rather than a date due slip, which was stuck in the back of book, and then the book would be shelved, a way to record who borrowed a book before computer systems supplanted this system. Paper can still be used in today’s libraries, even to write down call numbers for books. The latter has also been shown in the films Dangerous Minds and Regarding Henry.
I am reminded of a scene in All the President’s Men, in which Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein go to the Library of Congress, and a Black male librarian gives them the slips for who checked out certain books, as opposed to an interaction with a White female librarian. I described this all in a post on this very blog in February of last year:
…In the classic 1976 political thriller, All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein travel to the Library of Congress after their research seems to be stalled and having a librarian have a strange conversation with one them. They go to one librarian, who declares that the records they want are confidential, and that he can’t fulfill their request of library card checkout slips since July 1971. The other, the image of which is shown above, fulfills their request. Voiced by Jaye Stewart, he tells them “I’m not sure you want ’em, but I’ve got ’em.” Woodward and Bernstein proceed to go through perhaps thousands of check-out slips in the Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the work is for naught, as it doesn’t confirm if a White House staffer checked out books on Ted Kennedy…Snoek-Brown…[said] hat it is not ethical to “give out checkout slips or records without a court order” as librarians have an “obligation to protect the privacy rights of our patrons.” I agree with Snoek-Brown entirely on that point
Coming back to the film, I would think that such borrowing cards would weaken the commitment of the library to reader confidentiality. As it presently stands, almost every U.S. state has laws “protecting the confidentiality of library records”. The Japan Library Association in a statement published in 1980, states that librarians should respect the privacy of each library user, and should not “divulge his/her name or details of books or other library materials used to third parties”. A more recent statement notes library privacy and confidentiality, among other virtues, as important. This film came out before the economic downturn in Japan, in 1997, which unfortunately lead to privatization of libraries through “outsourcing of staff to reduce costs and provide a flexible workforce”, with privacy of user information is at stake because private management companies are “not obligated to protect users’ privacy and routinely gather their data”. [3]
Shizuku says card catalogs are better than digital recordsMoving on from that, and back to the film, Shizuku soon follows a cat to an antique shop and is drawn to a cat statue named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, with the shop’s owner, Nishi, telling her about him. She barely makes it to the library in time, is annoyed by Seiji, and is embarrassed in the process, as he delivers “her” lunch for her, with the fat cat (she had followed to the shop) riding on the back of the bike. The lunch is actually for her dad, who works in the library! This library is a fictional place created for the film itself, as no such library exists at that location (Irohazaka Sakura Park). [4]
This fantastical nature of the library is not unique. However, this library is more akin to something that exists in reality, rather than in a magical realm by itself. This makes the series unique. Surely, there are public libraries akin to those in real-life in Josee the Tiger and the Fish or I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, to give two examples, apart from the many within school buildings that I’ve often written about. This library is clearly a place of knowledge, but it is not a place or refuge. Rather, it is a place of learning and development.
As the movie goes on, Shizuku learns who donated a book at the library: the father of Seiji. She is later called a “bookworm”, which she accepts happily. After all, she often goes to the library, a fantasy reportedly depicted in The Cat Returns, a 2002 film. She takes out books in the public library, so she can learn more for her story. At one point, she remains one of the last people there, writing away, and Seiji visits her in the library, while she writes her story. As a writer, she becomes more than a bookworm, and Seiji is more than a novice violin maker. Both characters are not exceptional, but have proven that they have what it takes to ensure their work can become “exceptional”, with their romance blossoming by the film’s end, even without a kiss. [5]
There is much more to this film than what I’ve noted so far and ending the article here would be selling it short, to say the least. For Shizuku to be called a bookworm as an insult, and turning it into a positive, is not limited to this film. There is an entire series entitled Ascendance of a Bookworm, which focuses on Myne and her quest to provide free books to the populace, building her previous life as a college librarian. In his quest, she even becomes a church librarian with some magical powers. The series has even been cited as an example of when an outsider from another world “usher systematic change in their adopted one.” The term was even alluded to in the series Bibliophile Princess, as a bibliophile, someone who frequently reads or collects books, and loves books, is also known as a bookworm. Bibliophile appears more “positive.”
Otherwise, there was a British comic from 1978-1985 entitled Bookworm about a young boy who always has a book and his parents tell him to do more “boyish” things, but it results in disaster. There’s also an 1850 painting entitled The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg. A variation of this piece was even named The Librarian! Pu Songling published a romantic short story, in about 1740, entitled The Bookworm, while there are characters known as bookworms in Tiny Toon Adventures and most infamously in the campy 1960s Batman series. There are many other bookworms in fiction, like in Wonder Man (1945), Navy Blues (1937), and even Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to an extent.
There is also the Association internationale de bibliophilie, which is called International Association of Bibliophiles or AIB in English. It is dedicated to bibliophiles. Russia has its National Union of Bibliophiles (formed in 2010), while there are is a book club in Detroit, a former group for female bibliophiles (Hroswitha Club), and the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles. There is even a 15-minute film, which I haven’t seen, entitled The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, about a man who is writing his memoir, but is blown off a balcony, writing out of a library,and even becomes a librarian with the city suffering from impact of a storm. There’s also books such as The Great Book-Collectors about book-collecting practices of the British Library, Bodleian Library, and Ashmolean Museum, along with a physical archive named Library of the Printed Web dedicated to “web-to-print artists’ books, zines and other printout matter.”
All of this is related to the concept of tsundoku, which means acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in your home without actually reading them. It can refer to books ready for reading later, as well, when those books are on a bookshelf. It is related to what A. Edward Newton wrote about in 1921, and stands in opposition to the term antilibrary. The latter, coined by Lebanese-American author Nassim Nicholas Taleb means a “collection of unread books”, which make people curious and humble. [6] He further stated that the older someone gets, the more they know, the larger is their “accumulation of unread books” and those who focus on such unread books are antischolars, i.e. those who do not “care about how much you know, but how much you don’t know” and how to find information you need.
When it comes to libraries, I would think people would side more with idea of antilibrary than the idea of tsundoku, as the latter seems to imply that having unread books is “bad.” Having books you haven’t read should not be seen as a negative. It is inevitable there will be books you haven’t read in your lifetime, no matter what. And libraries hold the books so they can be read by others, and shared, to spread knowledge, and understanding. This doesn’t mean that every book is right, immutable, or correct. Rather, the books can help you understand more about the world, at their best, and at their worst, promote misinformation. The latter can be prevented with careful weeding to ensure that patrons have the best information available.
Shizuku is studying in the library with a stack of books sitting on the table next to her. The man she likes is across the table from her, I believe.As I’ve noted on this blog various times, libraries serve many important functions in society. One of those is providing a place to study. This is shown clearly, as indicated in the above screenshot. You don’t have to be a bibliophile/bookworm for that. In fact, not all bookworms are librarians, and not all librarians are bookworms. Some are, but due to the many tasks during the work-day, often librarians don’t have time to read a book on the job, as some people might think.
When it comes to Japan, I’ve noted this before on here, but there are over 3,000 public libraries in this island nation, and remain an important part of the country’s society. In fact, there is even an entire Wikipedia page listing them, entitled “List of libraries in Japan” (not to be confused with the page “List of archives in Japan“). Some probably still have card catalogs. These libraries, known as toshokan in Japanese, are centered by the National Diet Library. The only series, I know, to date to directly feature this library is 26-episode early 2000s R.O.D. the TV anime series, which features characters from the Read or Die light novels, manga, and OVA, and the Read or Dream manga.
Academics have noted that information commons/learning commons which provide various materials, facilities, and services, in one place, originally appearing in North America, has also appeared in Japanese universities and college. Such spaces are reportedly in an ” the early stage of development”, and there is a need for such spaces to rebuild their own services because of student needs. Furthermore, many libraries in pre-modern Japan were arguably private and have been called bunko, meaning “storehouses of books.” Currently, most have been subsumed into larger national, prefectural, university, or research library institutions. Some have even covered this in books such as Youth-Serving Libraries in Japan, Russia, and the United States.
It is also said that Japanese academic libraries are well-resourced and support the country’s research capacity, while reflecting the country’s “strong bureaucratic culture.” I’m not sure if this is also the case for the country’s public libraries as well, to be perfectly honest. I can say, with certainty, that libraries are an important part of the country, especially considering that the Imperial Library (forerunner to the National Diet Library) was established in the latter 19th century, and in 1947, the National Library Act created Japan’s sole national library (National Diet Library). This was followed by the landmark 1950 Library Act. The law states, in part, that the country’s libraries are aimed to promoting “sound development…[and] the enhancement of the education and culture of the nation”. It goes onto say:
…libraries shall endeavor to accomplish…[collection of] nooks, archives, audio-visual materials and other necessary data and materials…with suitable attention paid to the acquisition of local materials, art works, materials on local administration, gramophone records and films…library materials shall be properly classified and processed…efforts shall be made to ensure that library personnel acquire sufficient knowledge of library matters…close communication and cooperation shall be maintained by…inter-library loans between libraries…reading circles, seminars, appreciation groups, film showings and exhibits of data…shall be sponsored and encouraged…close contact and cooperation shall be maintained with schools, museums, community centers and research institutes, etc….professional personnel of libraries shall be called librarians and assistant librarians.
And that’s only part of Chapter 1! There is no comparison to this in U.S. law. The legislation, which passed the U.S. Congress in April 1800 (see page 56), only mentioned that the purchase of books “as may be necessary for the use of Congress at the said city of Washington, and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them and for placing them therein, the sum of five thousand dollars shall be…appropriated.” That same law went onto say that a library catalogue shall be furnished by a joint congressional committee, with books “placed in one suitable apartment in the capitol in the said city, for the use of both…houses of Congress and the members thereof”. That is it. It wasn’t until 1802 that a law defined the functions and role of this library, the Library of Congress (LOC), and even made the appointment of the Librarian of Congress a “presidential responsibility”! Still, this was nothing like the Library Law in Japan, which was much more extensive.
Such a law in the U.S, would be unthinkable, even at this current time, despite the fact it could have extreme value in ensuring the institution’s mission and objectives. On the other hand, LOC has broadly defined that on its own, and has a bit of autonomy, as it is only the de facto national library. This makes it different from the many across the world, coupled with any state-established libraries serving as preeminent information repositories for specific regions.
When I watched Whisper of the Heart on Max, with my mom and dad, I never expected libraries to be as big of a part of the film from the get-go. I am truly grateful that I came across this film, and would surely watch it again if I get a chance. That;s all for this post. Until next week! As always, comments are welcome.
Shizuku looks at library slips and finding out some man checked the SAME book out before her© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
Notes
[1] Since then, I’ve written about (I don’t recommend you watch all of these, though, and some of the following I would not watch again) over 80 anime series: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Wandering Son, Ice, Kuttsukiboshi, Paradise Kiss, Macross Frontier, Classroom of the Elite, Gargantia, Kandagawa Jet Girls, El-Hazard, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, Ascendance of a Bookworm, R.O.D. the TV, B Gata H Kei, Bloom Into You, Little Witch Academia, Yamibou, Whispered Words, Aoi Hana / Sweet Blue Flowers, Strawberry Panic!, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Manaria Friends, Kampfer, Lapis Re:Lights, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Blue Drop, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian, Cardcaptor Sakura, Venus vs. Virus, Otherside Picnic, My-Hime, Simoun, Riddle Story of Devil, Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood, Dear Brother, Library War, Girl Friend Beta, Kokoro Library, Attack on Titan, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra, Bernard-jou Iwaku a.k.a. Miss Bernard said, Komi Can’t Communicate, The Ancient Magus Bride: Those Awaiting a Star, Gosick, Laid-Back Camp, As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Bibliophile Princess, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, My Roommate is a Cat, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Kin-iro Mosaic, Akebi’s Sailor Uniform, Makura no Danshi, Azumanga Daioh, Oresuki, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Gabriel DropOut, Spy x Family, A Couple of Cuckoos, Märchen Mädchen, Healer Girl, Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation, Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepard, A Place Further Than The Universe, Teasing Master Takagi-san, Myself ; Yourself, Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War, Stars Align, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Skip and Loafer, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Violet Evergarden, Somali and the Forest Spirit, Aharen-San wa Hakarenai, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Chitose Got You, Clannad, Cue!, Encouragement to Climb: Next Summit, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Gabriel Drop Out, Kin-iro Mosaic, K-On!, Noir, Otherside Picnic, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Re:Zero, and four films: I Want To Eat Your Pancreas, Calamity of a Zombie Girl, Your Name, and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish. Later posts this year will focus on series such as Ouran High School Host Club, Is the Order a Rabbit?, Kiss Him, Not Me, The Demon Girl Next Door, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, YuruYuri, Library War, Maria Watches Over Us, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret), to name a few.
[2] “Whisper of the Heart,” IFC Center, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Russo, Lee. “How Whisper of the Heart Explores the Fear of Failure,” CBR, Jun. 13, 2020; Graeme. “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” Film School Rejects, Jun. 15, 2018; “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Faith. “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli Movies, Nov. 28, 2014; Toole, Michael. “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” Anime News Network, Nov. 29, 2014; Osmond, Andrew. “Whisper of the Heart Review,” Anime News Network, Jan. 11, 2012; Mindus, Jay. “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” CBR, May 12, 2022; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba),” Harvard Film Archive, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Cyrenne, Randall. “Whisper Of The Heart,” Animated Views, Mar. 7, 2006.
[3] Alix, Francis A. “The History and Current Challenges of Libraries in Japan,” SLIS Connectings 10(1): 10.
[4] Graeme, “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” 2018; Toole, “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” 2014; Osmond, “Whisper of the Heart Review,” 2012; “Tracing Shizuku’s Steps: Visit ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Locations in Real Life,” tsunagu Japan, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; “Visiting ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Movie Location,” justa-fangirl, 2014.
[5] “Whisper of the Heart,” Ghibli Wiki, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; Cyrenne, “Whisper Of The Heart,” 2006; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba,” Harvard Film Archive; Mindus, “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” 2022; Pineda, Rafael Antonio. “Live-Action Whisper of the Heart Sequel Film Delayed Due to COVID-19,” Anime News Network, Apr. 20, 2020. The live-action sequel, also named Whisper of the Heart came out in October 2022 in Japan, but it was received badly if the reviews from Japan Times and Crunchyroll listed on the “Whisper of the Heart (2022 film)” Wikipedia page are any indication. Apparently, there is even a library scene in the film. I haven’t watched the film, so I can’t confirm that completely, however.
[6] Brooks, Katherine. “There’s A Japanese Word For People Who Buy More Books Than They Can Actually Read,” HuffPost, Apr. 19, 2017; Tobar, Hector, “Are you a book hoarder? There’s a word for that,” Los Angeles Times, Jul. 24, 2014; “Tsundoku: The art of buying books and never reading them,” BBC News, Jul. 29, 2018; Crow, Jonathan. “‘Tsundoku,’ the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language,” Open Culture, Jul. 24, 2014; “A QUOTE ON BIBLIOMANIA,” Language Hat, Feb. 7, 2008; Popova, Maria. “Umberto Eco’s Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones,” The Marginalian, Mar. 24, 2015; Stillman, Jessica. “Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read,” Inc., Dec. 5, 2017; McDonough, Lauren Smith. “Everyone Is Obsessed With the Trend of Antilibraries Right Now,” House Beautiful, Dec. 19, 2017; Boyd, Rebecca Lowry. “The book trend everyone is talking about right now,” Better Homes & Gardens, accessed Jun. 27, 2023.
#AllThePresidentSMen #AnimeNewsNetwork #antilibrary #AscendanceOfABookworm #barcodes #BibliophilePrincess #bibliophilia #BlackLibrarians #BlackWomen #BluRays #books #booksAreNotSacred #ethics #femaleLibrarians #IWantToEatYourPancreas #JapaneseLibrarians #JapaneseMen #JapanesePatrons #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #KOn #libraryCards #librarySlips #magic #NationalDietLibrary #NavyBluesFilm #RODTheTV #ReadOrDieLightNovels #ReadOrDieManga #ReadOrDieOVA #ReadOrDream #readerConfidentiality #ReelLibrarians #SeitokaiYakuindomo #Simoun #students #studying #teachers #TheCatReturns #tsundoku #WhisperOfTheHeart #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen
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Barcodes, library slips, bookworms, and book deliveries in “Whisper of the Heart”
Shizuku’s father is a librarian in this film. He later says that he would like the card catalogs to stay too, like her.When I watched Whisper of the Heart, a romantic drama anime film which came out over 29 years ago (on July 15, 1995), on Max, I never expected that libraries, and librarians would be such a central part of the film! I was aware that the film was listed on Jennifer Snoek-Brown’s list of “Foreign-Language Films” on Reel Librarians. The latter list notes films reportedly with librarians and/or archivists alphabetically by title”. She warns that she can’t confirm that “every film on this list actually includes a librarian and/or archivist” as her primary focus is on examining English-language films. While that is a laudable goal, I don’t limit myself in that way, personally, and happily cover anime on this blog time and again. In fact, I have written about over 70 anime series, four films, and various manga, with my first post in August 2020. [1] This review will focus on the role of libraries, and librarians like the protagonist’s father, in the story, while relating it to other fictional examples and real-life library concepts.
One of the first conversations in the film is between the 14-year-old protagonist Shizuku Tsukishima, living in the Tokyo suburb of Tama New Town, who learns the local library is going to the bar code system, and her father. She tells him that she likes the library slips instead. He actually agrees with her, but decides to go with the library’s change anyhow. Thanks to the library slip, she learns that one man’s name is in common on all the books she has checked out: Seiji Amasawa. This piques her interest. This major plot point is mentioned in many summaries and reviews of the film, noting that Seiji is on every single one of these checkout slips and how she is slowly drawn to him as the film goes forward, with their feelings growing. Shizuku is also drawn toward these books because she loves fantasy books, and meets Seiji at an old antique shop somewhere in town. Other reviewers have noted that the checkout cards are an interesting narrative device, which “lends itself well to romantic daydreaming.” It is worth noting that Shizuku is spending his summer vacation, last one she has at Mukaihara Junior High School, translating and reading “popular foreign music into Japanese” like John Denver’s Country Road. [2]
At one point, Shizuku checks a book out of the library, which was never checked out before, and even though she somewhat ends up disturbing the job of the librarian (or the teacher standing in as a librarian), she comes across Seiji. Then, not longer after, he is curiously reading the book she checked out and she takes it from him, surprised to see him. And he even knows her name from the book. So much for reader’s privacy! Although some may see a sense of relief and kinship at seeing these library check-out cards, looking at these cards would run afoul of existing ethics, as outlined by the ALA. Those ethics state that libraries will “protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.”
Such cards are sometimes known as borrowing cards. They had/have an equivalent inside the library: a circulation card. Such cards may include the name of who borrowed the book and name of the book. There are also slips/cards which remain in a book only listing the date a book is due to be returned, known as date due slips. I’m not sure why I haven’t gone into this much detail on this before, but better late than never. In the case of this film, it would be a borrowing card, rather than a date due slip, which was stuck in the back of book, and then the book would be shelved, a way to record who borrowed a book before computer systems supplanted this system. Paper can still be used in today’s libraries, even to write down call numbers for books. The latter has also been shown in the films Dangerous Minds and Regarding Henry.
I am reminded of a scene in All the President’s Men, in which Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein go to the Library of Congress, and a Black male librarian gives them the slips for who checked out certain books, as opposed to an interaction with a White female librarian. I described this all in a post on this very blog in February of last year:
…In the classic 1976 political thriller, All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein travel to the Library of Congress after their research seems to be stalled and having a librarian have a strange conversation with one them. They go to one librarian, who declares that the records they want are confidential, and that he can’t fulfill their request of library card checkout slips since July 1971. The other, the image of which is shown above, fulfills their request. Voiced by Jaye Stewart, he tells them “I’m not sure you want ’em, but I’ve got ’em.” Woodward and Bernstein proceed to go through perhaps thousands of check-out slips in the Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the work is for naught, as it doesn’t confirm if a White House staffer checked out books on Ted Kennedy…Snoek-Brown…[said] hat it is not ethical to “give out checkout slips or records without a court order” as librarians have an “obligation to protect the privacy rights of our patrons.” I agree with Snoek-Brown entirely on that point
Coming back to the film, I would think that such borrowing cards would weaken the commitment of the library to reader confidentiality. As it presently stands, almost every U.S. state has laws “protecting the confidentiality of library records”. The Japan Library Association in a statement published in 1980, states that librarians should respect the privacy of each library user, and should not “divulge his/her name or details of books or other library materials used to third parties”. A more recent statement notes library privacy and confidentiality, among other virtues, as important. This film came out before the economic downturn in Japan, in 1997, which unfortunately lead to privatization of libraries through “outsourcing of staff to reduce costs and provide a flexible workforce”, with privacy of user information is at stake because private management companies are “not obligated to protect users’ privacy and routinely gather their data”. [3]
Shizuku says card catalogs are better than digital recordsMoving on from that, and back to the film, Shizuku soon follows a cat to an antique shop and is drawn to a cat statue named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, with the shop’s owner, Nishi, telling her about him. She barely makes it to the library in time, is annoyed by Seiji, and is embarrassed in the process, as he delivers “her” lunch for her, with the fat cat (she had followed to the shop) riding on the back of the bike. The lunch is actually for her dad, who works in the library! This library is a fictional place created for the film itself, as no such library exists at that location (Irohazaka Sakura Park). [4]
This fantastical nature of the library is not unique. However, this library is more akin to something that exists in reality, rather than in a magical realm by itself. This makes the series unique. Surely, there are public libraries akin to those in real-life in Josee the Tiger and the Fish or I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, to give two examples, apart from the many within school buildings that I’ve often written about. This library is clearly a place of knowledge, but it is not a place or refuge. Rather, it is a place of learning and development.
As the movie goes on, Shizuku learns who donated a book at the library: the father of Seiji. She is later called a “bookworm”, which she accepts happily. After all, she often goes to the library, a fantasy reportedly depicted in The Cat Returns, a 2002 film. She takes out books in the public library, so she can learn more for her story. At one point, she remains one of the last people there, writing away, and Seiji visits her in the library, while she writes her story. As a writer, she becomes more than a bookworm, and Seiji is more than a novice violin maker. Both characters are not exceptional, but have proven that they have what it takes to ensure their work can become “exceptional”, with their romance blossoming by the film’s end, even without a kiss. [5]
There is much more to this film than what I’ve noted so far and ending the article here would be selling it short, to say the least. For Shizuku to be called a bookworm as an insult, and turning it into a positive, is not limited to this film. There is an entire series entitled Ascendance of a Bookworm, which focuses on Myne and her quest to provide free books to the populace, building her previous life as a college librarian. In his quest, she even becomes a church librarian with some magical powers. The series has even been cited as an example of when an outsider from another world “usher systematic change in their adopted one.” The term was even alluded to in the series Bibliophile Princess, as a bibliophile, someone who frequently reads or collects books, and loves books, is also known as a bookworm. Bibliophile appears more “positive.”
Otherwise, there was a British comic from 1978-1985 entitled Bookworm about a young boy who always has a book and his parents tell him to do more “boyish” things, but it results in disaster. There’s also an 1850 painting entitled The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg. A variation of this piece was even named The Librarian! Pu Songling published a romantic short story, in about 1740, entitled The Bookworm, while there are characters known as bookworms in Tiny Toon Adventures and most infamously in the campy 1960s Batman series. There are many other bookworms in fiction, like in Wonder Man (1945), Navy Blues (1937), and even Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to an extent.
There is also the Association internationale de bibliophilie, which is called International Association of Bibliophiles or AIB in English. It is dedicated to bibliophiles. Russia has its National Union of Bibliophiles (formed in 2010), while there are is a book club in Detroit, a former group for female bibliophiles (Hroswitha Club), and the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles. There is even a 15-minute film, which I haven’t seen, entitled The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, about a man who is writing his memoir, but is blown off a balcony, writing out of a library,and even becomes a librarian with the city suffering from impact of a storm. There’s also books such as The Great Book-Collectors about book-collecting practices of the British Library, Bodleian Library, and Ashmolean Museum, along with a physical archive named Library of the Printed Web dedicated to “web-to-print artists’ books, zines and other printout matter.”
All of this is related to the concept of tsundoku, which means acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in your home without actually reading them. It can refer to books ready for reading later, as well, when those books are on a bookshelf. It is related to what A. Edward Newton wrote about in 1921, and stands in opposition to the term antilibrary. The latter, coined by Lebanese-American author Nassim Nicholas Taleb means a “collection of unread books”, which make people curious and humble. [6] He further stated that the older someone gets, the more they know, the larger is their “accumulation of unread books” and those who focus on such unread books are antischolars, i.e. those who do not “care about how much you know, but how much you don’t know” and how to find information you need.
When it comes to libraries, I would think people would side more with idea of antilibrary than the idea of tsundoku, as the latter seems to imply that having unread books is “bad.” Having books you haven’t read should not be seen as a negative. It is inevitable there will be books you haven’t read in your lifetime, no matter what. And libraries hold the books so they can be read by others, and shared, to spread knowledge, and understanding. This doesn’t mean that every book is right, immutable, or correct. Rather, the books can help you understand more about the world, at their best, and at their worst, promote misinformation. The latter can be prevented with careful weeding to ensure that patrons have the best information available.
Shizuku is studying in the library with a stack of books sitting on the table next to her. The man she likes is across the table from her, I believe.As I’ve noted on this blog various times, libraries serve many important functions in society. One of those is providing a place to study. This is shown clearly, as indicated in the above screenshot. You don’t have to be a bibliophile/bookworm for that. In fact, not all bookworms are librarians, and not all librarians are bookworms. Some are, but due to the many tasks during the work-day, often librarians don’t have time to read a book on the job, as some people might think.
When it comes to Japan, I’ve noted this before on here, but there are over 3,000 public libraries in this island nation, and remain an important part of the country’s society. In fact, there is even an entire Wikipedia page listing them, entitled “List of libraries in Japan” (not to be confused with the page “List of archives in Japan“). Some probably still have card catalogs. These libraries, known as toshokan in Japanese, are centered by the National Diet Library. The only series, I know, to date to directly feature this library is 26-episode early 2000s R.O.D. the TV anime series, which features characters from the Read or Die light novels, manga, and OVA, and the Read or Dream manga.
Academics have noted that information commons/learning commons which provide various materials, facilities, and services, in one place, originally appearing in North America, has also appeared in Japanese universities and college. Such spaces are reportedly in an ” the early stage of development”, and there is a need for such spaces to rebuild their own services because of student needs. Furthermore, many libraries in pre-modern Japan were arguably private and have been called bunko, meaning “storehouses of books.” Currently, most have been subsumed into larger national, prefectural, university, or research library institutions. Some have even covered this in books such as Youth-Serving Libraries in Japan, Russia, and the United States.
It is also said that Japanese academic libraries are well-resourced and support the country’s research capacity, while reflecting the country’s “strong bureaucratic culture.” I’m not sure if this is also the case for the country’s public libraries as well, to be perfectly honest. I can say, with certainty, that libraries are an important part of the country, especially considering that the Imperial Library (forerunner to the National Diet Library) was established in the latter 19th century, and in 1947, the National Library Act created Japan’s sole national library (National Diet Library). This was followed by the landmark 1950 Library Act. The law states, in part, that the country’s libraries are aimed to promoting “sound development…[and] the enhancement of the education and culture of the nation”. It goes onto say:
…libraries shall endeavor to accomplish…[collection of] nooks, archives, audio-visual materials and other necessary data and materials…with suitable attention paid to the acquisition of local materials, art works, materials on local administration, gramophone records and films…library materials shall be properly classified and processed…efforts shall be made to ensure that library personnel acquire sufficient knowledge of library matters…close communication and cooperation shall be maintained by…inter-library loans between libraries…reading circles, seminars, appreciation groups, film showings and exhibits of data…shall be sponsored and encouraged…close contact and cooperation shall be maintained with schools, museums, community centers and research institutes, etc….professional personnel of libraries shall be called librarians and assistant librarians.
And that’s only part of Chapter 1! There is no comparison to this in U.S. law. The legislation, which passed the U.S. Congress in April 1800 (see page 56), only mentioned that the purchase of books “as may be necessary for the use of Congress at the said city of Washington, and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them and for placing them therein, the sum of five thousand dollars shall be…appropriated.” That same law went onto say that a library catalogue shall be furnished by a joint congressional committee, with books “placed in one suitable apartment in the capitol in the said city, for the use of both…houses of Congress and the members thereof”. That is it. It wasn’t until 1802 that a law defined the functions and role of this library, the Library of Congress (LOC), and even made the appointment of the Librarian of Congress a “presidential responsibility”! Still, this was nothing like the Library Law in Japan, which was much more extensive.
Such a law in the U.S, would be unthinkable, even at this current time, despite the fact it could have extreme value in ensuring the institution’s mission and objectives. On the other hand, LOC has broadly defined that on its own, and has a bit of autonomy, as it is only the de facto national library. This makes it different from the many across the world, coupled with any state-established libraries serving as preeminent information repositories for specific regions.
When I watched Whisper of the Heart on Max, with my mom and dad, I never expected libraries to be as big of a part of the film from the get-go. I am truly grateful that I came across this film, and would surely watch it again if I get a chance. That;s all for this post. Until next week! As always, comments are welcome.
Shizuku looks at library slips and finding out some man checked the SAME book out before her© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
Notes
[1] Since then, I’ve written about (I don’t recommend you watch all of these, though, and some of the following I would not watch again) over 80 anime series: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Wandering Son, Ice, Kuttsukiboshi, Paradise Kiss, Macross Frontier, Classroom of the Elite, Gargantia, Kandagawa Jet Girls, El-Hazard, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, Ascendance of a Bookworm, R.O.D. the TV, B Gata H Kei, Bloom Into You, Little Witch Academia, Yamibou, Whispered Words, Aoi Hana / Sweet Blue Flowers, Strawberry Panic!, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Manaria Friends, Kampfer, Lapis Re:Lights, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Blue Drop, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian, Cardcaptor Sakura, Venus vs. Virus, Otherside Picnic, My-Hime, Simoun, Riddle Story of Devil, Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood, Dear Brother, Library War, Girl Friend Beta, Kokoro Library, Attack on Titan, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra, Bernard-jou Iwaku a.k.a. Miss Bernard said, Komi Can’t Communicate, The Ancient Magus Bride: Those Awaiting a Star, Gosick, Laid-Back Camp, As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Bibliophile Princess, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, My Roommate is a Cat, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Kin-iro Mosaic, Akebi’s Sailor Uniform, Makura no Danshi, Azumanga Daioh, Oresuki, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Gabriel DropOut, Spy x Family, A Couple of Cuckoos, Märchen Mädchen, Healer Girl, Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation, Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepard, A Place Further Than The Universe, Teasing Master Takagi-san, Myself ; Yourself, Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War, Stars Align, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Skip and Loafer, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Violet Evergarden, Somali and the Forest Spirit, Aharen-San wa Hakarenai, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Chitose Got You, Clannad, Cue!, Encouragement to Climb: Next Summit, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Gabriel Drop Out, Kin-iro Mosaic, K-On!, Noir, Otherside Picnic, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Re:Zero, and four films: I Want To Eat Your Pancreas, Calamity of a Zombie Girl, Your Name, and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish. Later posts this year will focus on series such as Ouran High School Host Club, Is the Order a Rabbit?, Kiss Him, Not Me, The Demon Girl Next Door, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, YuruYuri, Library War, Maria Watches Over Us, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret), to name a few.
[2] “Whisper of the Heart,” IFC Center, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Russo, Lee. “How Whisper of the Heart Explores the Fear of Failure,” CBR, Jun. 13, 2020; Graeme. “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” Film School Rejects, Jun. 15, 2018; “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Faith. “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli Movies, Nov. 28, 2014; Toole, Michael. “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” Anime News Network, Nov. 29, 2014; Osmond, Andrew. “Whisper of the Heart Review,” Anime News Network, Jan. 11, 2012; Mindus, Jay. “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” CBR, May 12, 2022; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba),” Harvard Film Archive, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Cyrenne, Randall. “Whisper Of The Heart,” Animated Views, Mar. 7, 2006.
[3] Alix, Francis A. “The History and Current Challenges of Libraries in Japan,” SLIS Connectings 10(1): 10.
[4] Graeme, “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” 2018; Toole, “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” 2014; Osmond, “Whisper of the Heart Review,” 2012; “Tracing Shizuku’s Steps: Visit ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Locations in Real Life,” tsunagu Japan, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; “Visiting ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Movie Location,” justa-fangirl, 2014.
[5] “Whisper of the Heart,” Ghibli Wiki, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; Cyrenne, “Whisper Of The Heart,” 2006; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba,” Harvard Film Archive; Mindus, “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” 2022; Pineda, Rafael Antonio. “Live-Action Whisper of the Heart Sequel Film Delayed Due to COVID-19,” Anime News Network, Apr. 20, 2020. The live-action sequel, also named Whisper of the Heart came out in October 2022 in Japan, but it was received badly if the reviews from Japan Times and Crunchyroll listed on the “Whisper of the Heart (2022 film)” Wikipedia page are any indication. Apparently, there is even a library scene in the film. I haven’t watched the film, so I can’t confirm that completely, however.
[6] Brooks, Katherine. “There’s A Japanese Word For People Who Buy More Books Than They Can Actually Read,” HuffPost, Apr. 19, 2017; Tobar, Hector, “Are you a book hoarder? There’s a word for that,” Los Angeles Times, Jul. 24, 2014; “Tsundoku: The art of buying books and never reading them,” BBC News, Jul. 29, 2018; Crow, Jonathan. “‘Tsundoku,’ the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language,” Open Culture, Jul. 24, 2014; “A QUOTE ON BIBLIOMANIA,” Language Hat, Feb. 7, 2008; Popova, Maria. “Umberto Eco’s Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones,” The Marginalian, Mar. 24, 2015; Stillman, Jessica. “Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read,” Inc., Dec. 5, 2017; McDonough, Lauren Smith. “Everyone Is Obsessed With the Trend of Antilibraries Right Now,” House Beautiful, Dec. 19, 2017; Boyd, Rebecca Lowry. “The book trend everyone is talking about right now,” Better Homes & Gardens, accessed Jun. 27, 2023.
#AllThePresidentSMen #AnimeNewsNetwork #antilibrary #AscendanceOfABookworm #barcodes #BibliophilePrincess #bibliophilia #BlackLibrarians #BlackWomen #BluRays #books #booksAreNotSacred #ethics #femaleLibrarians #IWantToEatYourPancreas #JapaneseLibrarians #JapaneseMen #JapanesePatrons #JoseeTheTigerAndTheFish #KOn #libraryCards #librarySlips #magic #NationalDietLibrary #NavyBluesFilm #RODTheTV #ReadOrDieLightNovels #ReadOrDieManga #ReadOrDieOVA #ReadOrDream #readerConfidentiality #ReelLibrarians #SeitokaiYakuindomo #Simoun #students #studying #teachers #TheCatReturns #tsundoku #WhisperOfTheHeart #WhiteLibrarians #WhiteWomen
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Barcodes, library slips, bookworms, and book deliveries in “Whisper of the Heart”
Shizuku’s father is a librarian in this film. He later says that he would like the card catalogs to stay too, like her.When I watched Whisper of the Heart, a romantic drama anime film which came out over 29 years ago (on July 15, 1995), on Max, I never expected that libraries, and librarians would be such a central part of the film! I was aware that the film was listed on Jennifer Snoek-Brown’s list of “Foreign-Language Films” on Reel Librarians. The latter list notes films reportedly with librarians and/or archivists alphabetically by title”. She warns that she can’t confirm that “every film on this list actually includes a librarian and/or archivist” as her primary focus is on examining English-language films. While that is a laudable goal, I don’t limit myself in that way, personally, and happily cover anime on this blog time and again. In fact, I have written about over 70 anime series, four films, and various manga, with my first post in August 2020. [1] This review will focus on the role of libraries, and librarians like the protagonist’s father, in the story, while relating it to other fictional examples and real-life library concepts.
One of the first conversations in the film is between the 14-year-old protagonist Shizuku Tsukishima, living in the Tokyo suburb of Tama New Town, who learns the local library is going to the bar code system, and her father. She tells him that she likes the library slips instead. He actually agrees with her, but decides to go with the library’s change anyhow. Thanks to the library slip, she learns that one man’s name is in common on all the books she has checked out: Seiji Amasawa. This piques her interest. This major plot point is mentioned in many summaries and reviews of the film, noting that Seiji is on every single one of these checkout slips and how she is slowly drawn to him as the film goes forward, with their feelings growing. Shizuku is also drawn toward these books because she loves fantasy books, and meets Seiji at an old antique shop somewhere in town. Other reviewers have noted that the checkout cards are an interesting narrative device, which “lends itself well to romantic daydreaming.” It is worth noting that Shizuku is spending his summer vacation, last one she has at Mukaihara Junior High School, translating and reading “popular foreign music into Japanese” like John Denver’s Country Road. [2]
At one point, Shizuku checks a book out of the library, which was never checked out before, and even though she somewhat ends up disturbing the job of the librarian (or the teacher standing in as a librarian), she comes across Seiji. Then, not longer after, he is curiously reading the book she checked out and she takes it from him, surprised to see him. And he even knows her name from the book. So much for reader’s privacy! Although some may see a sense of relief and kinship at seeing these library check-out cards, looking at these cards would run afoul of existing ethics, as outlined by the ALA. Those ethics state that libraries will “protect each library user’s right to privacy and confidentiality with respect to information sought or received and resources consulted, borrowed, acquired or transmitted.”
Such cards are sometimes known as borrowing cards. They had/have an equivalent inside the library: a circulation card. Such cards may include the name of who borrowed the book and name of the book. There are also slips/cards which remain in a book only listing the date a book is due to be returned, known as date due slips. I’m not sure why I haven’t gone into this much detail on this before, but better late than never. In the case of this film, it would be a borrowing card, rather than a date due slip, which was stuck in the back of book, and then the book would be shelved, a way to record who borrowed a book before computer systems supplanted this system. Paper can still be used in today’s libraries, even to write down call numbers for books. The latter has also been shown in the films Dangerous Minds and Regarding Henry.
I am reminded of a scene in All the President’s Men, in which Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein go to the Library of Congress, and a Black male librarian gives them the slips for who checked out certain books, as opposed to an interaction with a White female librarian. I described this all in a post on this very blog in February of last year:
…In the classic 1976 political thriller, All the President’s Men, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein travel to the Library of Congress after their research seems to be stalled and having a librarian have a strange conversation with one them. They go to one librarian, who declares that the records they want are confidential, and that he can’t fulfill their request of library card checkout slips since July 1971. The other, the image of which is shown above, fulfills their request. Voiced by Jaye Stewart, he tells them “I’m not sure you want ’em, but I’ve got ’em.” Woodward and Bernstein proceed to go through perhaps thousands of check-out slips in the Reading Room of the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, the work is for naught, as it doesn’t confirm if a White House staffer checked out books on Ted Kennedy…Snoek-Brown…[said] hat it is not ethical to “give out checkout slips or records without a court order” as librarians have an “obligation to protect the privacy rights of our patrons.” I agree with Snoek-Brown entirely on that point
Coming back to the film, I would think that such borrowing cards would weaken the commitment of the library to reader confidentiality. As it presently stands, almost every U.S. state has laws “protecting the confidentiality of library records”. The Japan Library Association in a statement published in 1980, states that librarians should respect the privacy of each library user, and should not “divulge his/her name or details of books or other library materials used to third parties”. A more recent statement notes library privacy and confidentiality, among other virtues, as important. This film came out before the economic downturn in Japan, in 1997, which unfortunately lead to privatization of libraries through “outsourcing of staff to reduce costs and provide a flexible workforce”, with privacy of user information is at stake because private management companies are “not obligated to protect users’ privacy and routinely gather their data”. [3]
Shizuku says card catalogs are better than digital recordsMoving on from that, and back to the film, Shizuku soon follows a cat to an antique shop and is drawn to a cat statue named Baron Humbert von Gikkingen, with the shop’s owner, Nishi, telling her about him. She barely makes it to the library in time, is annoyed by Seiji, and is embarrassed in the process, as he delivers “her” lunch for her, with the fat cat (she had followed to the shop) riding on the back of the bike. The lunch is actually for her dad, who works in the library! This library is a fictional place created for the film itself, as no such library exists at that location (Irohazaka Sakura Park). [4]
This fantastical nature of the library is not unique. However, this library is more akin to something that exists in reality, rather than in a magical realm by itself. This makes the series unique. Surely, there are public libraries akin to those in real-life in Josee the Tiger and the Fish or I Want to Eat Your Pancreas, to give two examples, apart from the many within school buildings that I’ve often written about. This library is clearly a place of knowledge, but it is not a place or refuge. Rather, it is a place of learning and development.
As the movie goes on, Shizuku learns who donated a book at the library: the father of Seiji. She is later called a “bookworm”, which she accepts happily. After all, she often goes to the library, a fantasy reportedly depicted in The Cat Returns, a 2002 film. She takes out books in the public library, so she can learn more for her story. At one point, she remains one of the last people there, writing away, and Seiji visits her in the library, while she writes her story. As a writer, she becomes more than a bookworm, and Seiji is more than a novice violin maker. Both characters are not exceptional, but have proven that they have what it takes to ensure their work can become “exceptional”, with their romance blossoming by the film’s end, even without a kiss. [5]
There is much more to this film than what I’ve noted so far and ending the article here would be selling it short, to say the least. For Shizuku to be called a bookworm as an insult, and turning it into a positive, is not limited to this film. There is an entire series entitled Ascendance of a Bookworm, which focuses on Myne and her quest to provide free books to the populace, building her previous life as a college librarian. In his quest, she even becomes a church librarian with some magical powers. The series has even been cited as an example of when an outsider from another world “usher systematic change in their adopted one.” The term was even alluded to in the series Bibliophile Princess, as a bibliophile, someone who frequently reads or collects books, and loves books, is also known as a bookworm. Bibliophile appears more “positive.”
Otherwise, there was a British comic from 1978-1985 entitled Bookworm about a young boy who always has a book and his parents tell him to do more “boyish” things, but it results in disaster. There’s also an 1850 painting entitled The Bookworm by Carl Spitzweg. A variation of this piece was even named The Librarian! Pu Songling published a romantic short story, in about 1740, entitled The Bookworm, while there are characters known as bookworms in Tiny Toon Adventures and most infamously in the campy 1960s Batman series. There are many other bookworms in fiction, like in Wonder Man (1945), Navy Blues (1937), and even Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, to an extent.
There is also the Association internationale de bibliophilie, which is called International Association of Bibliophiles or AIB in English. It is dedicated to bibliophiles. Russia has its National Union of Bibliophiles (formed in 2010), while there are is a book club in Detroit, a former group for female bibliophiles (Hroswitha Club), and the Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles. There is even a 15-minute film, which I haven’t seen, entitled The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, about a man who is writing his memoir, but is blown off a balcony, writing out of a library,and even becomes a librarian with the city suffering from impact of a storm. There’s also books such as The Great Book-Collectors about book-collecting practices of the British Library, Bodleian Library, and Ashmolean Museum, along with a physical archive named Library of the Printed Web dedicated to “web-to-print artists’ books, zines and other printout matter.”
All of this is related to the concept of tsundoku, which means acquiring reading materials but letting them pile up in your home without actually reading them. It can refer to books ready for reading later, as well, when those books are on a bookshelf. It is related to what A. Edward Newton wrote about in 1921, and stands in opposition to the term antilibrary. The latter, coined by Lebanese-American author Nassim Nicholas Taleb means a “collection of unread books”, which make people curious and humble. [6] He further stated that the older someone gets, the more they know, the larger is their “accumulation of unread books” and those who focus on such unread books are antischolars, i.e. those who do not “care about how much you know, but how much you don’t know” and how to find information you need.
When it comes to libraries, I would think people would side more with idea of antilibrary than the idea of tsundoku, as the latter seems to imply that having unread books is “bad.” Having books you haven’t read should not be seen as a negative. It is inevitable there will be books you haven’t read in your lifetime, no matter what. And libraries hold the books so they can be read by others, and shared, to spread knowledge, and understanding. This doesn’t mean that every book is right, immutable, or correct. Rather, the books can help you understand more about the world, at their best, and at their worst, promote misinformation. The latter can be prevented with careful weeding to ensure that patrons have the best information available.
Shizuku is studying in the library with a stack of books sitting on the table next to her. The man she likes is across the table from her, I believe.As I’ve noted on this blog various times, libraries serve many important functions in society. One of those is providing a place to study. This is shown clearly, as indicated in the above screenshot. You don’t have to be a bibliophile/bookworm for that. In fact, not all bookworms are librarians, and not all librarians are bookworms. Some are, but due to the many tasks during the work-day, often librarians don’t have time to read a book on the job, as some people might think.
When it comes to Japan, I’ve noted this before on here, but there are over 3,000 public libraries in this island nation, and remain an important part of the country’s society. In fact, there is even an entire Wikipedia page listing them, entitled “List of libraries in Japan” (not to be confused with the page “List of archives in Japan“). Some probably still have card catalogs. These libraries, known as toshokan in Japanese, are centered by the National Diet Library. The only series, I know, to date to directly feature this library is 26-episode early 2000s R.O.D. the TV anime series, which features characters from the Read or Die light novels, manga, and OVA, and the Read or Dream manga.
Academics have noted that information commons/learning commons which provide various materials, facilities, and services, in one place, originally appearing in North America, has also appeared in Japanese universities and college. Such spaces are reportedly in an ” the early stage of development”, and there is a need for such spaces to rebuild their own services because of student needs. Furthermore, many libraries in pre-modern Japan were arguably private and have been called bunko, meaning “storehouses of books.” Currently, most have been subsumed into larger national, prefectural, university, or research library institutions. Some have even covered this in books such as Youth-Serving Libraries in Japan, Russia, and the United States.
It is also said that Japanese academic libraries are well-resourced and support the country’s research capacity, while reflecting the country’s “strong bureaucratic culture.” I’m not sure if this is also the case for the country’s public libraries as well, to be perfectly honest. I can say, with certainty, that libraries are an important part of the country, especially considering that the Imperial Library (forerunner to the National Diet Library) was established in the latter 19th century, and in 1947, the National Library Act created Japan’s sole national library (National Diet Library). This was followed by the landmark 1950 Library Act. The law states, in part, that the country’s libraries are aimed to promoting “sound development…[and] the enhancement of the education and culture of the nation”. It goes onto say:
…libraries shall endeavor to accomplish…[collection of] nooks, archives, audio-visual materials and other necessary data and materials…with suitable attention paid to the acquisition of local materials, art works, materials on local administration, gramophone records and films…library materials shall be properly classified and processed…efforts shall be made to ensure that library personnel acquire sufficient knowledge of library matters…close communication and cooperation shall be maintained by…inter-library loans between libraries…reading circles, seminars, appreciation groups, film showings and exhibits of data…shall be sponsored and encouraged…close contact and cooperation shall be maintained with schools, museums, community centers and research institutes, etc….professional personnel of libraries shall be called librarians and assistant librarians.
And that’s only part of Chapter 1! There is no comparison to this in U.S. law. The legislation, which passed the U.S. Congress in April 1800 (see page 56), only mentioned that the purchase of books “as may be necessary for the use of Congress at the said city of Washington, and for fitting up a suitable apartment for containing them and for placing them therein, the sum of five thousand dollars shall be…appropriated.” That same law went onto say that a library catalogue shall be furnished by a joint congressional committee, with books “placed in one suitable apartment in the capitol in the said city, for the use of both…houses of Congress and the members thereof”. That is it. It wasn’t until 1802 that a law defined the functions and role of this library, the Library of Congress (LOC), and even made the appointment of the Librarian of Congress a “presidential responsibility”! Still, this was nothing like the Library Law in Japan, which was much more extensive.
Such a law in the U.S, would be unthinkable, even at this current time, despite the fact it could have extreme value in ensuring the institution’s mission and objectives. On the other hand, LOC has broadly defined that on its own, and has a bit of autonomy, as it is only the de facto national library. This makes it different from the many across the world, coupled with any state-established libraries serving as preeminent information repositories for specific regions.
When I watched Whisper of the Heart on Max, with my mom and dad, I never expected libraries to be as big of a part of the film from the get-go. I am truly grateful that I came across this film, and would surely watch it again if I get a chance. That;s all for this post. Until next week! As always, comments are welcome.
Shizuku looks at library slips and finding out some man checked the SAME book out before her© 2023-2024 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.
Notes
[1] Since then, I’ve written about (I don’t recommend you watch all of these, though, and some of the following I would not watch again) over 80 anime series: Revolutionary Girl Utena, Wandering Son, Ice, Kuttsukiboshi, Paradise Kiss, Macross Frontier, Classroom of the Elite, Gargantia, Kandagawa Jet Girls, El-Hazard, Sorcerous Stabber Orphen, Ascendance of a Bookworm, R.O.D. the TV, B Gata H Kei, Bloom Into You, Little Witch Academia, Yamibou, Whispered Words, Aoi Hana / Sweet Blue Flowers, Strawberry Panic!, My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, Manaria Friends, Kampfer, Lapis Re:Lights, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Blue Drop, The Mystic Archives of Dantalian, Cardcaptor Sakura, Venus vs. Virus, Otherside Picnic, My-Hime, Simoun, Riddle Story of Devil, Ms. Vampire who lives in my neighborhood, Dear Brother, Library War, Girl Friend Beta, Kokoro Library, Attack on Titan, Let’s Make a Mug Too, Tatakau Shisho: The Book of Bantorra, Bernard-jou Iwaku a.k.a. Miss Bernard said, Komi Can’t Communicate, The Ancient Magus Bride: Those Awaiting a Star, Gosick, Laid-Back Camp, As Miss Beelzebub Likes, Bibliophile Princess, Love Live! Sunshine!!, Shikimori’s Not Just a Cutie, My Roommate is a Cat, Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai, Kin-iro Mosaic, Akebi’s Sailor Uniform, Makura no Danshi, Azumanga Daioh, Oresuki, Seitokai Yakuindomo, Gabriel DropOut, Spy x Family, A Couple of Cuckoos, Märchen Mädchen, Healer Girl, Smile of the Arsnotoria the Animation, Smile Pretty Cure!/Glitter Force, A Good Librarian Like a Good Shepard, A Place Further Than The Universe, Teasing Master Takagi-san, Myself ; Yourself, Kaguya-Sama: Love Is War, Stars Align, Tokyo Mew Mew New, Skip and Loafer, Kubo Won’t Let Me Be Invisible, Violet Evergarden, Somali and the Forest Spirit, Aharen-San wa Hakarenai, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, Chitose Got You, Clannad, Cue!, Encouragement to Climb: Next Summit, Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro, Gabriel Drop Out, Kin-iro Mosaic, K-On!, Noir, Otherside Picnic, The Rising of the Shield Hero, and Re:Zero, and four films: I Want To Eat Your Pancreas, Calamity of a Zombie Girl, Your Name, and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish. Later posts this year will focus on series such as Ouran High School Host Club, Is the Order a Rabbit?, Kiss Him, Not Me, The Demon Girl Next Door, The Executioner and Her Way of Life, YuruYuri, Library War, Maria Watches Over Us, Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka, and Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu (Haruka Nogizaka’s Secret), to name a few.
[2] “Whisper of the Heart,” IFC Center, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Russo, Lee. “How Whisper of the Heart Explores the Fear of Failure,” CBR, Jun. 13, 2020; Graeme. “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” Film School Rejects, Jun. 15, 2018; “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Faith. “Whisper of the Heart,” Studio Ghibli Movies, Nov. 28, 2014; Toole, Michael. “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” Anime News Network, Nov. 29, 2014; Osmond, Andrew. “Whisper of the Heart Review,” Anime News Network, Jan. 11, 2012; Mindus, Jay. “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” CBR, May 12, 2022; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba),” Harvard Film Archive, accessed Jun. 6, 2023; Cyrenne, Randall. “Whisper Of The Heart,” Animated Views, Mar. 7, 2006.
[3] Alix, Francis A. “The History and Current Challenges of Libraries in Japan,” SLIS Connectings 10(1): 10.
[4] Graeme, “The Best Films I’ve Ever Seen: Whisper of the Heart,” 2018; Toole, “Whisper of the Heart Blu-Ray + DVD Review,” 2014; Osmond, “Whisper of the Heart Review,” 2012; “Tracing Shizuku’s Steps: Visit ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Locations in Real Life,” tsunagu Japan, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; “Visiting ‘Whisper of the Heart’ Movie Location,” justa-fangirl, 2014.
[5] “Whisper of the Heart,” Ghibli Wiki, accessed Jun. 7, 2023; Cyrenne, “Whisper Of The Heart,” 2006; “Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba,” Harvard Film Archive; Mindus, “Why Studio Ghibli’s Whisper of the Heart Is the Perfect Movie for Young Artists,” 2022; Pineda, Rafael Antonio. “Live-Action Whisper of the Heart Sequel Film Delayed Due to COVID-19,” Anime News Network, Apr. 20, 2020. The live-action sequel, also named Whisper of the Heart came out in October 2022 in Japan, but it was received badly if the reviews from Japan Times and Crunchyroll listed on the “Whisper of the Heart (2022 film)” Wikipedia page are any indication. Apparently, there is even a library scene in the film. I haven’t watched the film, so I can’t confirm that completely, however.
[6] Brooks, Katherine. “There’s A Japanese Word For People Who Buy More Books Than They Can Actually Read,” HuffPost, Apr. 19, 2017; Tobar, Hector, “Are you a book hoarder? There’s a word for that,” Los Angeles Times, Jul. 24, 2014; “Tsundoku: The art of buying books and never reading them,” BBC News, Jul. 29, 2018; Crow, Jonathan. “‘Tsundoku,’ the Japanese Word for the New Books That Pile Up on Our Shelves, Should Enter the English Language,” Open Culture, Jul. 24, 2014; “A QUOTE ON BIBLIOMANIA,” Language Hat, Feb. 7, 2008; Popova, Maria. “Umberto Eco’s Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are More Valuable to Our Lives than Read Ones,” The Marginalian, Mar. 24, 2015; Stillman, Jessica. “Why You Should Surround Yourself With More Books Than You’ll Ever Have Time to Read,” Inc., Dec. 5, 2017; McDonough, Lauren Smith. “Everyone Is Obsessed With the Trend of Antilibraries Right Now,” House Beautiful, Dec. 19, 2017; Boyd, Rebecca Lowry. “The book trend everyone is talking about right now,” Better Homes & Gardens, accessed Jun. 27, 2023.
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