#IT'S BEEN 89 YEARS

[laubartciu]

Y'all back into Stardew Valley, like me?

[snatcher-no-snatching]

yep! he's still fun to doodle

[funuya]

i don't know what's wrong anymore

[the-physicality]

2007, conference finals phoenix vs san antonio

[pocketpencils]

Real quick and messy Chloe sketch cuz she-

[savrr]

him again

[whatudottu]

Ever since I talked about a universal language, or at least about common languages used in the interplanetary (though given we have examples from the Andromeda system, it could also be intergalactic) community, I have been contemplating number systems. Not exactly a universal one no, but certainly what the counting systems of some of the smarter species of Ben 10.

And who else none other than the cerebrocrustaceans that I have been headcanoning so much about for the privilege!

I remember watching a video about creating a number system (part of a series about making a conlang because :P) and at the time I had misremembered what the 'best' number system was and thought 'well what if the one thing cerebrocrustaceans and galvans agree on (rivalry or not) is their numbers'. Turns out, it's a hot fucking debate in the numbers community between base 6 (senary/seximal) and base 12 (duodecimal/dozenal), and the video made a compromise for base 16 (hexadecimal).

So instead of like... going based on that, I went with the next step; fingers!

Except... cerebrocrustaceans have uh... less fingers than humans (or even galvans). Sure, maybe if their number system is so low it can actually contribute into a literal billion digit IQ using the power of a base 2 (binary, of course) number system, using the 'on/off' of an open and closed claw to count but- 2 claws, 2 hands, that only counts up to 4. So I thought 'okay, what else would they use to count?' and looked at their teeth, counting from there; it didn't end up working, the tooth count was inconsistent between screenshots even though Brainstorm specifically held the same expression.

Then one day, in the middle of the night, as I was trying to figure out how to count with the babylonian number system (count to 12 on one hand counting the joints of your 4 fingers with your thumb, hold up a finger on the other to signify how many twelves you've counted up to 60);

What if I just give cerebrocrustaceans and extra joint on their claws (which technically they do have based on animation but it isn't shown because animation-friendly) and have they count the fronts and backs of their claw per claw (though I didn't understand the babylonian counting system previous since I kinda combined it with binary which I did know how to count).

Behold! A diagram!

We will address the 69 shaped elephant in the room later.

Let's bring in the close-ups for the discussion!

Including 0 (which would be an open claw in the same way a closed fist for a human is 0) the cerebrocrustacean number system using this diagram ends up being a base 9 (nonary) system, an odd-numbered system that I am not going to get into because I am only using hands as our counting origin. While functionally in decimal (because I practiced counting this way to stress test the system) you can count from 1-80 (each section on the tens claw corresponding to a multiple of 9 ending at 72), but with the fact that you can count up to 8 in each claw in a nonary system, it's actually counting up to the equivalent of 99 with only hands alone. Considering that the limitations of claws is that there isn't a vast landscape to count with, cerebrocrustaceans make do by counting each section of a claw twice, once from it's inner side and another on it's outer side going from, using the tip to count by touching the corresponding number.

The order from 1-8 is counted first in the (typically) right claw by the pollex (the inner claw) on the inner edge of the pincer (the outer claw) from bottom to top. Then the pincer bends to allow for the pollex to reach the outer edge, tapping the top claw then the bottom claw. Then the pincer follows the same steps to the pollex, counting from inside bottom to top, then outside top to bottom. The pincer has a little more reach being the larger of the two claws, but the pollex folds more because it has more mobility.

As a nonary system, there is no 9 and instead the 'nine' in this instance is 10, which is counted in the same order as 1-8 but done in the (typically) left claw, mimicking binary in how it accents the units of the right claw by adding an additional ten relevant to the corresponding claw.

Admittedly I had no rhyme or reason to display these claws in the order that they're in, but if cerebrocrustacean number systems are written in the same way it's counted then technically inside out, right to left, would probably be a pretty cool and also pretty hostile way to convey numbers (hah, reference to heavy out-grouping biases).

The main goal of the claw positions is to make at least an easily distinguishable set of numbers that don't blur (too much) between each other if you kinda look at it from silhouette alone. Not sure how successful I was but it isn't the actual numbers in written form themselves, so it's a different ball-park and more of a visualisation of the dexterity used to count.

And now- gotteem!

A funny thing about making a counting system and like, actually practicing how it feels and how to actually count, is that you sometimes stumble into comedy gold and get a 69 on the decimal 69 (if you twist your hands around to mimic it at least) plus just hitting you with an almost perfect 👌👌just made me want to actually visualise this. Well... I was gonna visualise it anyway since it helps to provide an example on how cerebrocrustacean's count with claws but like- yeagh I don't care that odd-numbered bases are not optimal I'm keeping the nonary system for this joke alone (not actually but it's a bonus)!

Anyway- don't ask me how they do math and have a good time counting to 76!

[yamatohomo]

whoa i got my first anon hate!! where's my prize?

[meruli]

At midnight in your timezone, the Aikatsu Stars! acoustic album, Resound Stars!, should (finally) be available on all major streaming platforms. This is mostly likely Aikatsu's final (digital) release, so feel free to bid your final farewells (if you haven't done that long ago) while listening to it!

[ceo-of-daichi]

Guys…

He’s here😍🥹😭

[quitethepirategal]

Also I updated my about page. It's longer qwq.

[c0rpsedemon]

can't wait until guaranteed benny tomorrowwwwww

[wizardnuke]

they did nawt give me enough nausea medication perhaps by a longshot

[noxtivagus]

i love love dun scaith

[neververy4]

There are officially no stores open that sell Arizona Tea at 99¢ anymore. Either they got rid of it alltogether, or for the two stores that still have it they managed to get the printed-on price sticker removed and now they sell them for $1.69

The last affordable drink is gone and I’m pissed because there’s nothing open when I’m at work except for Gas stations and McDonalds (which I can’t use because truck too tall)

[gruesomejack]

I was made for lovin' you, baby

You were made for lovin' me

And I can't get enough of you, baby

Can you get enough of me?