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Almonihah

@almonihah.bsky.social

Master Technomancer, occasional author, serial art commisioner. Expect dragons, griffons, and magic birds. Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He/Him

5089 Posts381 Follower302 Folgt
Ash@fishyash.bsky.social · yesterday

Friendly reminder that Duolingo was initially concieved to trick people into translating articles for free, which they later used as training data for MTL algorithms. Duolingo's primary purpose has NEVER been about teaching you a language, even from the start! slate.com/technology/2...

If it doesn’t charge users and, so far, doesn’t serve them any ads, how does Duolingo make money? It tricks you into working as an unpaid translation service. At the end of some lessons, Duolingo will ask you if you want to practice by translating a real-world document. Which will turn out to be, say, a BuzzFeed article. By melding together enough stabs at this task from high-level Duolingo users, the app can render a surprisingly accurate translation. Which is worth good money. So far, Duolingo has contracts with BuzzFeed and CNN to translate stories from English into languages such as Spanish, French, and Portuguese. This service is already earning Duolingo hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, but von Ahn predicts he will be adding a raft of new clients soon. “The language translations market is huge,” he says. “It’s a $30 billion per year market.”
Japanese Talk@japanesetalk.bsky.social · 3d ago

It really irks me when people share their 300, 600, 1000 day Duolingo streaks but still don't know how to use Japanese. Here's an explanation for why apps like Duolingo don't work for learning to any fluency. jtalkonline.com/why-apps-lik...

Absurd@absurd-eternal.bsky.social · 14h ago

Welp I am kind of in a tough spot. Lost a steady supply of income I had recently and now as all the things I had to pay came up, I am now in a little debt. Please! if you are looking for character commissions I am doing 120$ character comms with 100USD extra for a background! please help out!

Neal 🔜 BLFC-MFF-FC@verdantsculpts.bsky.social · yesterday

One of these has been claimed! One more left! Will be finishing these up today and can ship as soon as tomorrow!

Neal 🔜 BLFC-MFF-FC@verdantsculpts.bsky.social · 2d ago

Almost done with these two halloween bonsais. Just one more pass of shading to do. I am selling these for $175 each plus $15 flat rate shipping in the US. Payment via PayPal invoice. These won't be going up in the shop and will come with me to shows if they don't sell here. DM to claim.

A photo of two halloween themed bonsai dragons sitting on my desk. They are planted in half pumpkin shaped pots. They are black with orange foliage and moss. They are surrounded at their roots by brown moss and small clay pumpkins.
Foxfeather Zenkova@foxfeather.bsky.social · yesterday

Bald is beautiful! And normal for blue jays (and cardinals) this time of year. Bluey is rocking the 'catastrophic molt' look, dropping all her head feathers at once. This happens in late summer, coinciding with the availability of fatty seeds and food abundance, allowing them to be replaced fast.

A blue jay missing alll of its normal head feathers, looking quite bedraggled.
Amayensis@amayensis.bsky.social · yesterday

Illustration commission for my patron Roseblood, of their FFXIV character having a fun chat at a café with their friend’s character 🙌 This was a challenge that took me out of my comfort zone a little, but it was great digital painting practice 😄

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@rivalmit.bsky.social · yesterday

This is a bat kitty. One of my fun creations. not very original but ok XD  she is a rare white version The piece is balanced sculpture called The Companions.  It has its own little stand to stand on. It is balanced so it stands on it's leg and requires no additional support.

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