#apollo cackling

[gothhabiba]

hey, would you happen to have any tips for IDing/transcripting text in a language you can't read? sometimes I come across Arabic text in an image, for example, and I can't type that and I can't read it to double check if the OCR I use transcripts it correctly. no worries if you don't have any tips lol, thanks in advance!

on the one hand writing systems are just shapes and you don’t actually need to be able to read them in order to recognise and copy those shapes. on the other hand, this is made more difficult if you’re trying to transcribe something that’s an abjad (like Arabic), syllabary, or abugida rather than an alphabet (since the letter forms aren’t discrete but change in reference to each other)—and also different fonts can make the process of form recognition difficult (like, what changes signify stylistic differences between two things that are the same letter, and which ones signify different letters?).

I usually use google translate’s keyboard input to type alphabets (Greek, Cyrllic) and may use the draw input to figure out anything else. OCR outputs can be “proofread” with just shape recognition but see again the font thing, and also the fact that OCR is less likely to be helpful with anything very stylised. try translating the text after you’ve transcribed it to see if it sounds coherent.

there are other techniques I use to quickly half-learn writing systems for the sake of a certain apocryphal cooking blog, but honestly unless you have an independent interest in writing systems in general I don’t think I’d bother. it’s understandable that you wouldn’t be able to transcribe text you can’t read—maybe just write the rest of the ID, identify the language / writing system, and see if anyone else can complete the ID?

I’d also be happy to transcribe Arabic text if you send me a DM.

[st-just]

[ID: a positive steam review that says,

game good but you gotta be old or autistic, or both if you're like me

/end ID]

so I checked out the steam page for Shadows of Forbidden Gods bc I saw you post about it

Honestly this describes like 40% of my favorite games (another 40% being glorified choose-your-own-adventure books and/or dialogue simulators.)

Anyway yes correct.

[literary-illuminati]

seeing you post some of your older reviews onto goodreads is fun bc it's sorta an enhanced version of the "huh sounds like a fun book/they really liked this one *checks* ...oh 2 stars?" effect I get when reading your reviews (lighthearted)

Assuming this is about the Iron Widow one? That actually was originally three stars, I just went back and edited it because I came across some analysis/discourse and realized I'd cooled quite a lot on it since I read it.

[terresdebrume]

47!

[From this ask game. Feel free to send a question!]

I kind of listen to a little bit of everything tbh xD

Well. I lean more towards pop, movie soundtracks and Celtic music, but I've got songs i enjoy in pretty much every genre, even jazz which is one of my least favorites x)

But honestly a lot of the music I've discovered these past few years was either through people directly recommending it to me or through my dash/the YouTube algorithm.

The lazy way of listening to music xD

[japanifornication]

the evolution of the ace attorney weirdgirl based off this post

[maximura]

[zizzy-rie]

@bog-in-a-well / @bogswell-kampilan, the Rock Monkies AU creator everyone dndnxn

I sent a transcript of the shadowpeach argument aka breakup scene in our groupchat djdjdj

It's so hilarious how very similar the shadowpeach fallout is in canon and in the AU. None of us really expected it.

They're not so different after all huh

[doctorsiren]

I just started the fourth game and these two feel very Iron Dad to me 😭💖

[txttletale]

what's up with Leviathan eu4? searched it up and like wow that's the lowest rated thing I've seen on steam... pretty much ever lol

as-released it was so badly bugged it made the game unplayable

its features were ill-conceived and broke a lot of existing systems

its features were so mind-bogglingly strong that they trivialized the game

generally a lot of this is attributable to a new studio coming in and the natural problems that are gonna happen with a new studio's first release. however unfortunately, and most importantly for me:

4. it set the tone for the rest of the game's life cycle, which was 'we've reached the absolute limit of what we can meaningfully do with the game's engine and core framework, so here's a bunch of dumb bullshit that lives on top of all the other systems without meaningful interaction with them'

like, people joke about hearts of iron mods trying to turn the game into a visual novel, but that's essentially official paradox policy now wrt eu4. every update is just like 'new mission chain based on some wacky althist to give france massive bonuses for colonizing siberia or annexing singapore or some bullshit'. it's a boring and uninteresting design philosophy to me that goes against everything that i like about paradox games so i'm basically not interested anymore

[thepollyjustice]

you have the most beautiful brown eyes (I want you carnally)

“Thanks, I think, I’ve never been told that..!”

[phoenix--flying]

this is so random but i love meshing fandoms a bit too much

pjo x sbg type au

whether it be sbg as demigods or pjo in a similar situation as sbg i am holding it gently

[gingermintpepper]

They got interrupted on their date 😔✊🏾

Had to draw the very talented @namidew 's designs for Apollo and Hyacinthus after their most recent post of them!!! I'm SO in love with these designs y'all!! Absolutely want to kiss both of their cheeks!!

[st-just]

completely out of left field but I remember a few years back you did this ask meme like "send me a song that reminds you of me" or wtv—

—and I don't remember what song I sent but I would like to retract it and replace it with Loneliness by Birdy just based on like Vibes. 👍

I mean yeah that sounds like an ask meme I reblogged at some point.

Anyway love the song, have now downloaded, thanks!

[literary-illuminati]

re: "reading the volumes in a row would [...] feel far too much like cheating to get my reading challenge counter up higher" idk if it'd work for you but what I do is count each 'arc' of a comic/manga as a book for my reading challenge and only set one volume from each arc as read within the current year (if you blank out the dates read/finished here

goodreads doesn't count it for the reading challenge)

For the moment I don't feel too guilty - internally consider this spending the credit earned for all of Pale only counting as one book - but will probably do something similar in the new year, yeah. (if I can figure out what natural 'arcs' for whatever comics I read even are, I guess).

[onestorytorulethemall]

THIS. this made me laugh too hard when i read it.

[isa-ghost]

I was literally about to get in the shower how am I supposed to be normal about unknowingly winning a fic awards category while I'm butt ass naked