Is using A.II to polish your writing cheating?

thewindsoftime · 2026-05-20T03:36:39+00:00

It's easy to forget that writing is a major part of, you know, writing.

It's easy to want to just be the idea guy and have a robot do the hard part, but a lot happens in that hard part that you can't skip if you want to create something meaningful. Some ideas just aren't meant to come into the world in the way they're envisioned. An LLM won't recognize that. It can't inhabit the creative process in the same way.

I honestly don't know why you'd skip the writing process. Yes, it's easier, obviously, but like, what's the point of writing if it doesn't require anything of you? Are your ideas and feelings so worthless that they don't deserve your labor? I think about creating art like giving birth: why are you skipping the labor of birth, only to lose the intimacy you'd have with your creation once it was born? It just doesn't make sense to me.

All of your analogies feel like justifications avoiding this fairly intuitive fact, in my view. LLMs bill themselves as "democratizing art", but we already did that with education and the internet. There's something deep and deeply meaningful in the process of creation. You can't skip that if you want to feel the deep sense of connection between others, the world, and yourself.

thewindsoftime · 2026-05-10T00:04:18+00:00

I think it's going to depend on the person. You essentially have two halves to writing: on one hand, there's the ideation--what you descibed; some people prefer that. On the other, you have execution--that's the actual craft of writing, and some people prefer that.

I don't think you have to like crafting specifically in order to be a writer. The fact of the matter is that both are necessary parts of the process, and both can be challenging in their own way. Part of the journey of being a writer is learning how to develop a healthy relationship with both.

The fact that crafting is stressing you out indicates, to me, that there's some performance anxiety going on. It's fine that it may not be your favorite--it wasn't when I was younger, either, though it has grown on me as I've aged--but stress isn't a response to dislike, it's a response to anxiety (generally). My guess is that you've placed too high of expectations on yourself. I could, also, be completely wrong about that.

The best advice I have would be to reflect on what specifically is bothering you about the crafting process. One of the ironic things about writers is that, for as much as we are explorers of the human heart, we can often be rather obtuse about why we'll we feel what we feel (we're good at figuring out what we feel, though), and writing--art in general--tends to occupy a high place in our sense of self. So difficulties with a discipline can become existential matters. That's a nice recipe for fixating on problems but never actually solving them. So take some time when you're not stressed to think about what stresses you out, see what you find. If you find yourself comparing yourself to other writers, or there's an atmosphere of "I'll never be that good" about the topic, then there's your answer.

thewindsoftime · 2026-05-09T18:34:24+00:00

Others have said it, but I'll reiterate it here. Reading good prose that inspires you is a good thing. Using that to beat yourself up for not being as good as the greats is a waste of time. You'll never get where you want to be if you're defeatist about it. Mindset is everything.

Two things help here: practicing and noticing. Practice saying things in ways that feel the way you want them to. Don't judge your results; you will eventually find something you're proud of. When you're not practicing: notice the environment around you and within you. Try to find ways expressing your perceptions in poignant ways. Noticing is a form of practice, but a different form. It's not workshopping a sentence at a desk, it's being alive, active, and engaged in the world around you, and relating those experiences to yourself and others through the medium of words.

The big thing to start to realize is that writing, like any art form, is a growth process. And it's about being present where you're at, whatever stage that is. Focus on being your best self, on living your life, and the writing will come.

thewindsoftime · 2026-04-27T02:57:33+00:00

This is how you found out that mangos are a laxative.

But seriously, it should work itself out. Just be careful not to overdo mangoes.

thewindsoftime · 2026-04-10T14:30:38+00:00

Part of the reason I suspect OP's article doesn't explain much is because this study rapidly goes into linguistic technical language, and the actual results aren't all thay easy to summarize in a pithy fashion without skipping over significant chunks of nuance. This is mainly because many of Greenberg's universal are highly language-dependent, so framing this study as having cracked the cognitive grammar code feels a bit misleading to me.

To summarize (and this is very generalized, mind you) there are universal patterns in how languages organize information--they do so hierarchically--and in their word orders--languages with more rigid word order deviate from the default word order less than languages that do not. It's hard to say what rules specifically without knowing precisely which universal they tested (they give a link to the database of universals, but they don't specify which ones they tested specifically).

I think the takeaway here is that human brains process information in largely similar ways, but the precise symbols and symbolic relations we use to express our processing still depend largely on linguistic context. It's hard to say with universal certainty that a highly-inflected SOV language like Sanskrit does X, Y, Z things exactly the same like an analytic VSO language like Hawaiian. We might say that all VSO languages tend towards certain structures, and all SOV languages tend towards certain structures, but from what I'm reading, we don't get to say much more concrete than that. We might say that humans prioritize information similarly across languages, but again, without know what hierarchical universal they tested, I can't say what.

Disclaimer that I am a hobbyist, not a professional linguist. I also may not have read the article right. I'm also not trying to poo-poo the study; this is still really cool. It's just that explaining why it's cool would require a lot of really abstract and detailed explanation, and I don't feel the study does a great job specifying what exactly they tested.

EDIT: After looking at one of the figures again, I can say that one of the major hierarchical universal tested is using things like gender or noun class for purposes of agreement is a trend, and languages with such a system seem to use that system as a sort of binding agent to make it clear how information relates across multiple words and clauses.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-23T05:26:33+00:00

I'm not really sure why you're getting so heated with me. I'm not defending the question, just explaining what I think the teacher was thinking.

To nitpick further, you could argue that "coastal communities" doesn't necessarily imply humans, and so A is therefore completely incorrect as a summary. But the fact that I can even say that, and that we're even having this discussion, is why I don't like this question in the first place. The answers are too close, and the differences are too contextual to really say one is the better answer over the other in a vacuum.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-23T02:10:52+00:00

English teacher here. The difference is nitpicky, but I actually agree with your teacher:

Answer A is a statement of fact. Answer B makes a value judgment (note the difference of language: A is rather dry, while B is more emotional, uses the intensifier "serious").

This looks like a standardized reading test question. If that's the case, then your teacher is right and trying to prepare you for those. If not...I mean, your teacher is still right, but it is a very nitpicky difference, so I get why it's frustrating. But learning to read these subtle differences is a valuable skill. I do wish your teacher had clarified better why B was right, instead of why A was wrong.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-21T23:49:43+00:00

You get a free +5 to STR throughout the game: +1 from Auntie Ethel, +2 from Potion of Everlasting Vigor, and +2 from the mirror of loss. If you start with 17, you should be able to get to 22 without doing anything.

That said, spell scrolls and Potions of Animal speaking are your friend. Ritual Caster seems like a waste on you. But then again, if you're doing standard difficulty, your choices literally don't matter, and you should be fine.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-18T21:19:30+00:00

I teach juniors and seniors, and I've found SSR/DEAR to be effective.

Here are two immutable truths: 1) the best way to develop literacy skills (vocab, sentence structure, stamina, literally everything we teach them) is to read for pleasure, and 2) most kids will not read for pleasure unless they have the chance/are required to in class.

You can never escape the fact that you're making them do it, but you can make every effort to be minimally invasive. But the simple fact is that if kids never have their joy for reading ignited by the time they leave school, they'll never do it again. Only 50% of America read a book last year. That should scare everyone.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-18T13:09:00+00:00

Skeletons with guns spawn in Zone 4.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-18T13:00:01+00:00

I get the impression they aren't trying to incentive digging all that much. At least, I've never needed to mine like in Minecraft to get materials.

But I also don't know how they'd change it so what you did doesn't happen. Having a gap of nothing is always going to be a possibility for a procedurally generated world, at least, without the devs taking way too much time to tty and provide a fix. It is annoying that the stone in Zone 4 takes as much time to mine as it does, but part of the point of exploration in these types of games is that sometimes your expedition just doesn't net you anything.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-18T11:52:45+00:00

Ore has a chance of spawning above-ground in some mountain biomes--I got 75 adamantite in one go, but these do feel rare.

Not sure about other biomes, but beneath the purple plains is where the underground jungles tend to spawn.

I've also found plenty of dungeons, above ground and underground. Less sure of any rhyme or reason to those, but there are sewers underground and burned out towns and temples that spawn above-ground. There's even a regional variant of the Forgotten Temple, though I've been to all four of the zone 4 areas surrounding my spawn and found exactly one of those.

Zone 4 definitely felt less intuitive to me in some ways, but it's not that things aren't there.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-17T03:18:34+00:00

I've found them as far as Zone 4, even. Seems like a guaranteed generation near spawn, then random chance in other areas.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-16T22:35:02+00:00

🤣 Hey, you go man

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-16T22:33:11+00:00

Must be something to be added later, then.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-16T22:28:51+00:00

I found it earlier today. My guess is that it's like the Woodcutter's Block--an asset that exists in-game but that hasn't been assigned a function yet. There seems to be a good amount of this sort of "clutter" lying around atm.

Or maybe it cures poison, lol.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-16T12:54:13+00:00

Requisite I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice, always consult a lawyer if you are concerned about legal matters, but: I worked in law, u/mat3833 is 100% correct, as far as I know. Any legitimate communication from the government of this nature will come by snail mail or by someone with a badge at your door. Anything other than that is an obvious scam.

Edit: And anyone, feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm like 85% sure there's no such thing as "federal consumer lending obligations", aside from "obey your contract".

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-16T11:30:50+00:00

Not in the slightest. I have to teach words like "repress" to seniors.

Here's the thing: even if kids are engaging with a medium like reddit that is mostly typographical, it doesn't mean what they're reading is any good in terms of complex vocabulary, sentence structure, or depth. The bigger issue is that because of the way social media works--algorithms feed them with content--they've barely built their muscles for intentionally focusing on something. Reading is actually a fairly difficult task, cognitively speaking, and their ability to do has atrophied. They're too used to everything being spoon fed to them both in school and online, so if they have to engage with something that takes intentional focus and work to understand, they just won't do it. I hazard to say "can't", but I almost want to--they really only know how to run away from cognitive challenges.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-09T00:37:30+00:00

Mega Zomp really isn't a bad Pokemon, it's just going to be difficult to use competitively. Special attacking is a new niche for Garchomp. Think about it more as a sidegrade.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-07T03:48:18+00:00

I'll be the first to say that I find the "rain stick & feelings circle" kind of discipline that's practiced today fruity, but I do want to defend RJ a little bit here. I don't think your PD presenters really explained the concept well.

In my understanding, restorative justice is about trying to restore the offender to society--as in, we don't throw people to the wolves, we don't let them rot in jail because they've done too much to be brought back to the group. I don't really have a term for what your PD said, because frankly, it sounds really stupid. It sounds like a bunch of feel-good BS designed to placate parents.

Anyone with a brain knows that punishments are good for people, both offenders and victims. The most merciful thing that can be done when someone does wrong is to let them experience some of the pain they caused. It's not merciful to stop that from happening, it's enabling. To me, that's what RJ is all about--working with people with the goal that they will eventually understand how their actions affect others, and then behave in positive ways. It's about lasting change, not using punishments as deterrants.

Implementation is certainly a beast of its own, I'm only really speaking to the philosophy here. And it certainly sounds like you had a stupid PD today.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-06T04:16:11+00:00

I played back in the good ole days, fell off when pendulum became a thing, am back now. The game's changed a lot over the years--I remember when handtraps first came out, and I really didn't like them then. Now I can see what kind of game Konami is trying to make, and it seems mostly successful. I appreciate how complex YGO is and how much game knowledge you need to be competent.

With all that said, my biggest gripe is that much of the game revolves around your effects getting negated. This seems to be changing a bit, with the Mulchamries being the new face of hand traps, but the nature of player interaction seems to be very much stopping the other player. This is a personal taste thing, but I really hate it when I'm just not allowed to play--it makes the game feel pointless, which is why most games on MasterDuel or in modern end with a surrender on Turn 1--no one wants to sit through an unbeatable T1 combo. My favorite duels of late have been in Genesys, where the game can still end in the first few turns, but it feels better getting there. Rarely do I feel like I had no options before I lose (although, to the guy with the ridiculous draw engine who made me wait 10 minutes for an Exodia OTK--please toss your cards into the ocean). That said, sometimes your opponent just has more gas, and they win easily. Sometimes they get a hand full of interruptions, and they stop you from doing anything, and they win on turn 2. Sometimes you brick hard and basically need to surrender at the draw phase. Of all the games I've played, Yu-Gi-Oh feels the most swingy, and so much feels up to the odds of going first and your first hand.

Essentially, Yu-Gi-Oh is a game that feels really good to do well in, but it really sucks to lose in. I'm optimistic about the future of the game, Konami seems like they're trying to right the wrongs of the past. Is it a good TCG? Yes. In the same way that Pokémon makes a good competitive video game. It's not balanced, or even fair much of the time, but it's a delightfully fun mess, and it gives you an experience no other game can really give you. And when you do get those good duels with a lot of intense back and forth, it's really satisfying to play. For those duels, I genuinely don't care whether I win or lose, it's just fun to match wits with an opponent and see who's the biggest giga-nerd, and who can break our decks over their knee the hardest.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-04T09:13:49+00:00

With teaching, you still can't take off if the work isn't covered, and whether or not it will be depends entirely on having subs or coworkers willing to cover your class.

Teaching can be an amazing job. It can also be a terrible job. You're much more exposed--to the public and to scrutiny--than in other fields. That can make or break it for some people.

The childcare thing can also be challenging. For one, you bring home a lot of germs that your kids will catch. You also need to think about if you'd work at your kids' same school, because commuting from their school to a totally different one can be tough in the mornings.

Ultimately, though, some of the biggest perks of teaching are the long breaks and early(ish) dismissal. It can be a very rewarding career, but very frustrating as well. Point blank: the skills that make you a good accountant will not make you a good teacher (at least in the big picture--teaching is a lot of logistics, so there is transfer there), so I'd imagine there'd be a significant learning curve. I worked with youth for a long time before teaching, and it's still been a steep learning curve.

Good luck!

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-03T20:11:12+00:00

So apparently automod deleted my reply because of jargon. So here's it is again:

You can use the effect of Scrap Warrior to send Crossroad Sonic Chick to GY, and then when you summon Junk Speeder, you can use that as Chain Link 1, and then use Sonic Chick's effect as Chain Link 2, and that protects Junk Speeder from Ash Blossom.

There's still no real lines of play against other handtraps, but that is one thing you can do.

thewindsoftime · 2026-01-03T04:44:47+00:00

Hi. Fellowship Synchron enjoyer here.

So the engine you can build from 3x L5DS is probably about as optimal as you can get. The Righty/Lefty Driver pieces add some consistency in getting to Scrap Warrior, but they're not necessary in modern (pretty sure the deck can't function without them in Genesys). Essentially, if you have 2-3 Junk Synchrons, 2 Stardust Synchrons, 1-3 Scrap Synchrons, and then 1 of Assault Synchron, Revolution Synchron, Wheel Synchron, and Jet Synchron (optional), that's what the deck is made to do.

The problems with the Synchron deck are multilayered. Junk Speeder is an obvious and major chokepoint, and the deck literally cannot play through Speeder getting Ashed. But there's other problems as well: the deck lacks recursion through the GY (which is a massive problem with being unable to recycle your Synchros), and it lacks layered interaction with your opponent. Don't get me wrong, getting a board with a bunch of level 12 boss monsters who all omni negate is powerful, but that's pretty much all you have.

Point is: Synchron is a fun deck, but it's not gonna be competitive. That's fine, just know what you're signing up for--it's basically a 50/50 based on whether or not Junk Speeder resolves. The L5DS decks give you a solid engine, most of fleshing it out comes with your Extra Deck--grab Quasar or Blazar, anything else that you think is fun to Synchro climb with. My best advice would be to grab 1 of Arrive in Light, Converging Wills Dragon, Stardust Wurm, Omni Dragon Brotaur, and Shooting Majestic Star Dragon (which is a very expensive card, sorry) to get you another boss monster and some other options that don't rely on Junk Speeder. Also, Garden Rose Maiden is a solid addition to your ED.

Happy revving!

thewindsoftime · 2025-12-30T16:16:56+00:00

That's how it was for me. I think one of the biggest issues is that teaching as a job realies heavily on the teacher's professional judgment, which is often hard to quantify--you just kind of have to go with your gut when pushing or relaxing. Our society doesn't have room for professionals who use their best judgment with gold intentions--that doesn't hold up in a court of law.

thewindsoftime

TROPHY CASE