Exoteric

Tag: art

  • What’s Up with Jack?

    And where is Moonshadow?

    I know a lot of you out there have been waiting for me to finish a full-scale project(of like, any kind) for a long time.

    The original Exoteric project didn’t get much past concept and was about super advanced Virtual Reality.

    I ditched it for a game world that marinated in it. “Only Shadow” was born. Now, Only Shadow had a fair share of readers and NFT collectors. I’ve been hoping to throw all the material from Only Shadow into an ebook, and offer it by NFT, but also in one or more ebook store formats. I am still planning to do this, but as most of you know, my health has been a real issue for almost a year now.

    My health slows me down to a crawl. I rarely have the energy to keep up with social media, let alone create new material of the caliber I’m aiming for.

    In December 2024, I announced the end of ‘Only Shadow,’ and my intention to do something that could be truly unique. Moonshadow was the code name I put on this new material. It’s still the name I use, but it’s become very large scale, and will be even more so before launch.

    Until this project is completed, I’m offering art for the creation process(but not anything that’d be accurate in the full release) in the form of NFTs on a number of platforms. Links will be posted here when they happen.

    I began working on this in December 2024, and I’ve done some of my best work here. I think the full scale setting is going to be unlike anything else out there. It is certainly unlike anything I’ve ever attempted. I cut out anything that feels like it’s derivative of stereotypical as soon as I see it.

    Moonshadow is a world of fantasy, with SciFi elements. I’ve spent hours and hours checking my descriptions with realistically plausible scientific elements. The world has a place in its solar system that’s not like any we’ve had a good look at here. So, I’ve developed the look and feel of the setting to include pure science, with far less speculation. However, the further we get from earth, the more speculative everything gets.

    This project is going to be something that people are drawn to. It is on the level of something that calls to readers. In designing this setting, I’ve left a large area of openness, which will allow others to write within this setting, create art from it, any kind of media, really.

    So, for now, just keep an eye on my words, and I’ll continue releasing material, airdropping free material to people who’ve joined the whitelist, and more.

    • Jack Lhasa
    • exoteric

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  • The War on Drugs Rant

    From current problems to past abuses

    Tramadol is the least effective prescription-only pain medications.

    It’s also the least likely to be abused, because its pleasurable effects are only achieved at a dose that is dangerously close to causing Serotonin Syndrome. This is extremely important if you also take antidepressants.

    While I recognize the “Opioid Epidemic” as real, it should be relabeled. The Fentanyl Epidemic would be more precise.

    Unfortunately, law makers are idiots. The first steps taken were to impose stronger regulations to prescription opiates that are very common and have a very low addiction rate.

    This includes Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, dihydrocodeine, codeine, meperdine, and several others.

    By forcing doctors to limit their prescriptions for these medications became scarce.

    So, very suddenly, someone with a manageable addiction to a chemical that has a very low chance of side effects, was cut off from their source. And in the pains of withdrawal, no longer under the supervision of a doctor, they have to turn to the local dealer.

    Now, with no way, legal or illegal, to get their medication, the drug dealer on the corner offers to ease the pains of withdrawal with a needle and some heroin and/or fentanyl. Addiction is now intense, and occurs within a couple of days.

    In an incredibly short time, a person is forced into dangerous IV drug use. All thanks to the US government. Someone with a manageable addiction(Which is also far safer to detox), becomes a junkie for the really dangerous stuff. Thank the DEA and FDA for managing things so poorly that a person with a solvable problem turns into a full blown junkie.

    This is just the latest attempt for the US Government to try to convince tax payers and voters that there exists a ‘War on Drugs.’ This so-called war is the longest in US History. It has failed, on every front, in every way, every day since its original inception.

    Why will my opinion and insight continue to be ignored? Because the ‘War of Drugs’ brings in more money for the agencies executing it than any other source.

    This war has been waged by police departments, sheriffs, the DEA, the FDA, and others, and it is making them all more money than you can imagine.

    If a search warrant is issued for your home, and they find the smallest piece of illegal drugs, they can seize anything you own claiming it was paid for by the profits from selling drugs. Even if the charges are dropped, or you are found innocent at trial, you never get your stuff back. EVER.

    This war that we’ve never even experienced any sort of victory in, is promoted by the use of propaganda. Propaganda taught in schools, on TV, the radio, and physical posters everywhere, don’t help anything at all, and they are lies.

    “Marijuana is a gateway drug”
    FALSE. Alcohol is far more likely to act as a gateway to hard drugs.

    “Marijuana kill brain cells.”
    FALSE. Proven false by countless scientific studies.

    WHO was ready to publish the results of a test that proved cocaine was healthy, if used every six months, for a day or two, at most. This whole study was buried because the US government threatened to withhold funding. The documents were leaked several years later.

    In summary, fuck the government. They are always abusing you. It has nothing to do with political alignment. Governments feed on their citizens poverty. Poverty means less education & less healthy foods, while making sure the individuals in poverty never have access to the tools to change it.

    Support sensible and appropriate drug laws.

    Ask yourself if the punishment is equal to the crime. Most people imprisoned under drug charges have never hurt anyone. The only reason they are there is because they were unlucky enough to get pulled over.

    In 2002, I was pulled over by a county deputy. He claimed I crossed the line, drifting into the other lane. He asked to search my car. I said yes, because saying No means they can say that they saw drugs inside the car. They always get their search. The deputy found a glass pipe(Which, full honesty, I thought I’d lost months prior), and then they found a film container with seeds and stems in it. I’m not saying it was planted, but to this day, I have no clue whose film canister that was.

    In many places, cannabis seeds and stems are perfectly legal because they contain no THC. There was less than 1gram of seeds and stems in the container.

    My sentence was 24 hours in lock up, a $1000 fine, a year’s probation, and 10 weeks in rehab. If you’ve never been on probation, let me explain it a bit. Once a month for the time you are required, you go into a very small office and hand them a check(Yes, even more money, roughly another $1000 in total), and walk back out.

    Does anyone think that was a punishment equal to the crime??

    Legalize Cannabis!

    Support the complete and total rewriting of drug laws.

    RANT MODE: OFF

    • Jack Lhasa
    • “No one sells drugs. Drugs sell themselves.

    If you‘d like to help change these probelm, but dont knw where to start, try NORML.Org

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  • iOS App Review: Miji

    Miji App Review

    Miji is a database of AI images and the prompts used to create them. Includes prompts for s variety of AI art applications, and allows the editing of a prompt to save your changes.

    The directory is far from expansive. It feels like something that could be updated with a simple RSS feed, to create a robust reference library. Also, the most common AI model that the prompts come for is MidJourney. Personally, I was bored with MidJourney after about a week’s use.

    In my opinion, MidJourney and Dall-E are overused and they underperform. Similar to the OpenAI products GPT & Stable Diffusion, the models are very popular, but in reality, they are the low end of machine learning.

    The prompts the app uses are extremely basic. This app might be good for someone new to AI image generation/editing, but experienced users are unlikely to find much of use.

    The developers’ website was down at the time of this writing.

    All-in-all, I don’t recommend this app. It might be worth looking through, but its usefulness will run thin quite quickly.

    • Jack Lhasa

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  • Where I’m At

    on Moonshadow

    I’m currently keeping activity to worldbuilding, style, characters, places, and stories. It’s my favorite part really. I feel a large pull from this project that keeps me coming back. I add to it every day. I also cut stuff from it daily. I’ll be at this til around midsummer, I’m thinking.

    I’ve been working on it since the start of December. Three full months. At lot of which were spent on getting and keeping my self inspired. Now, I’m forming these early ideas into bigger finished concepts.

    I’m releasing some of my early designs(that I won’t be using in Moonshadow itself) as NFTs on Rodeo, Surreal, and Uncut. I’m looking into how to release the writing. Threre are a couple of good services out there that make NFTs that are entire books. That’s tempting. It’s also tempting to publish to my paragraph, and push for people to mint entries that are canonically relevant to a final novel or novella.

    It’s an odd idea to wrap up, as I come to the end of the encapsulated setting. Could a novel succeed as blog posts that are minted? Each a page, or chapter. Hmm….

    • JL

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  • Feedback Policy

    I don’t take feedback, unless I ask for it specifically. I often ask for it. If you’ve got something to say about my work, hold that thought until I post again looking for feedback. Simple comments are always welcome, as long as we are not talking about my process or what I decide to publish.

    That said, please leave comments and/or feedback in the comments. No feedback is acknowledged over social media.

    Point:

    I publish what I want to publish. I don’t go with fads or popularity contests. I don’t expect things I publish to be seen or read. I publish them because I like them, and I think it’s worth public exposure. I don’t want to hear what you think I should publish.

    I will, quite often, ask for feedback. In such situations, I generally specify exactly what I’m looking for opinions on. Some things are simply complete. If something is complete, no amount of pretentious commentary will make me go back and edit it. If you find an actual issue with something like my grammar, I will thank you for bringing my attention to it, and I will fix it.

    This post is very concise; to the point, as it were. That’s because it’s a simple issue that shouldn’t be hard to grasp.

    I’m asking one thing from my readers, friends, and fans. That was it.

    Thank you,

    Jack Lhasa

    (This post will appear, with slight alterations for readability, on a static page with information on copyrights, FAQ, and the like.)

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