#rubber ducking

[pluralprompts]

Prompt #732

"Rubber ducking" is the process of explaining your problem to someone in order to figure out what's wrong and how to solve it. It doesn't need to be done with an actual person – it's most known for being done with rubber ducks, hence the name. Knowing this, Person A decides to create an imaginary "rubber duck" of sorts to rubber duck with, similar to an imaginary friend. They never expected their "rubber duck" to gain enough sentience to be able to talk back and offer solutions when they're rubber ducking!

[kawaoneechan]

In Animal Crossing New Horizons, the various color variations of all the outfits are stored as separate items, each part of a clothing group that in turn holds the number for that item's base name and some information about fashion themes. All the important stuff is in the item itself. And therefore, each variation of a given outfit item has a separate entry in ItemParams.bcsv.

In the datamined JSON files for Project Special K, there's only one file describing all variations right now:

I left out some details but the important part is the "variants" array.

In the villager data, this would be referenced to by ID:

Right now, loading the villager data can resolve these references so the Villager object for Lolly has a member that's a Tops pointer to the Snowy Sweater. But to do that, the "gray" modifier had to be thrown out on load.

I wonder how to handle having an item like that retain things like outfit variant, or furniture item variants and patterns.

Actually...

What if I turned it from a plain Tops into an InventoryItem? That in turn could hold the Item (which Tops inherits from so that's valid) and the variation data. Then that InventoryItem could reflect some pertinent stuff about the Item it boxes, and have AsInsertItemTypeHere methods like SimpleJSON's JSONValue does, to return the boxed Item as the type it actually is.

... delightfully devilish, Seymour.

[druidx]

Hey hen, happy Storyteller Saturday. A meta writing question for you for once:

How do you deal with a scene that should be relatively easy in theory, but is proving to be more difficult in its execution?

Howdy 😄️

I'm a strong advocate of the "if you stop paying attention and let your subconscious do it's thing, everything will work out".

I will sit there and sulk, then maybe have a bitch about it on tumblr or to Housemate. And if that doesn't work I'll go play a computer game for a bit - one in a wildly different grene to what I'm writing (eg, if I'm stuck on a fantasy story, I'll go play a sci-fi game). Or read, watch a movie, or just do something to get myself out of my head for a bit. Then, when I come to sit down, the answer is usually crystal clear.

On a side note: I'm always open to being the duck if someone needs to untick themselves. I'm very good at saying quack 😅️

Happy STS, thanks for the question

[echo-has-queries]

"Explain it to me like I'm five."

- old/boring/unoriginal

- I'm bad with children

- might get you a simple/interesting answer but also might just have someone give up on explaining at all

- focus lies on the explainee understanding (which is fine when that's the goal)

"Explain it to me like I'm a rubber duck."

- funny/exciting/unexpected

- I'm great at talking with animals/inanimate objects

- might get you bewilderment/amusement and potentially an answer that consists entirely of quacks, which I considder an absolute win

- focus lies on the explainer getting a recontextualizing of the subject, ideally allowing them to find solutions they otherwise wouldn't have (which is the actual situation in my life much more often personally)

- Quack! 🦆

[the-laridian]

My current quilting problem is there are 3 different patterns that I want to do, they're all scrappy, and I can't sit down and focus on "collect/cut the fabric for JUST ONE". Which I really should do. 

Shorthand: they are Argyle, Foxes, and Spools. 

Spools is arguably the easiest and with the least amount of tricky blocks. It looks cool. I have many of the fabric squares picked out; I do need to cut the background fabric (white). 

Foxes is middle of the road on everything. I have half the fabrics picked out. I need to pick and cut a background fabric (probably a blue? Depends what's in the stash). 

Argyle is the hardest one (tricky blocks, tricky cutting) but I do have a bunch of the fabrics already cut. Just not the tricky ones. I am also looking at this going "am I out of my mind" on those tricky blocks, but otoh if I pull it off, it'll look great. 

Having thus talked it out, I should at least bag up the fabrics for Foxes and Argyle so they don't get lost, note how many of each one has been cut, and set them aside so I can work on Spools.

[neednothavehappenedtobetrue]

okay! I have a villain with a goal! I have some protagonists who stand in opposition to that goal! I have some side characters, even.

next steps: Stella and Robin meet Evil Grandma Kimberly, who thinks Robin would be a good candidate for her pet project (or maybe that both of them would be a good fusion trial balloon)

how does Callie get looped back into this? does Stella just flee directly to the only person she knows?

well, write the next bit and we'll see

[kleptozoology]

This is called Rubber Ducking, and programmers do this all the time. Its an excellent way to learn and troubleshoot problems you dont really understand.

I LOVE when children who juuuust barely understand ten percent of something find somebody (a toy or a smaller child, usually) who understands zero percent and they’re like “come hither and I shall take you under my wing and teach you my instant wisdom.”

[cinema-hallucinations]

Prompt: rubber ducking is the process of explaining one's problems to a rubber duck in the hope that it will reveal a solution to the problem. Write a movie concept about a programmer whose rubber duckie start talking back to him.

Title: Computer Quackery

Tagline: How do you debug reality?

Logline: A burnt-out programmer named Elliot relies on his rubber duckie, Ducky, for brainstorming solutions. But when Ducky starts talking back with insightful advice, the line between reality and Elliot's fractured psyche begins to blur, forcing him to confront his inner demons and debug not just his code, but his own life.

Characters:

Elliot Vance: A brilliant but jaded programmer, drowning in self-doubt and anxiety. He uses a rubber duckie named Ducky as a way to verbalize his coding problems, a technique known as "rubber ducking."

Ducky (Voice Only): Elliot's seemingly sentient rubber duckie. Ducky offers surprisingly insightful advice on coding and life, but his existence remains ambiguous.

Dr. Ramirez: A compassionate psychiatrist specializing in tech addiction and stress. She tries to help Elliot discern reality from delusion.

Ava: A brilliant and optimistic fellow programmer at Elliot's company. She becomes his confidante and a potential romantic interest.

Plot:

Elliot Vance is a coding prodigy whose brilliance is overshadowed by his crippling self-doubt and social anxiety. His only outlet is his rubber duckie, Ducky, to whom he verbalizes his coding problems.

One night, after a particularly frustrating debugging session, Elliot hears Ducky's voice for the first time. Ducky offers a witty and insightful solution to the coding issue, sparking a series of conversations that blur the lines between reality and delusion.

Ducky's advice transcends coding and starts delving into Elliot's personal life. He encourages Elliot to connect with his co-worker, Ava, and seek help from Dr. Ramirez, a psychiatrist specializing in tech stress and addiction.

Dr. Ramirez suspects Elliot may be experiencing a form of psychosis brought on by his social isolation and reliance on technology. She encourages him to engage with the real world, but Elliot clings to Ducky's guidance.

As the lines between reality and Elliot's perceived conversations with Ducky become even more blurred, the consequences grow darker. Ducky's advice becomes increasingly erratic, leading Elliot to question his friendships, his career, and even his own sanity.

He isolates himself from Ava, suspicious of her intentions. He neglects his projects at work, unable to differentiate between Ducky's "insights" and reality. The climax involves a near-disastrous event at work caused by Elliot's erratic behavior, forcing him to confront Dr. Ramirez and his own mental state.

Is it Real?

The movie carefully avoids confirming whether Ducky is actually talking or a manifestation of Elliot's subconscious. This ambiguity fuels the suspense and leaves viewers questioning reality alongside Elliot.

Themes:

The importance of human connection in a technology-driven world.

The dangers of social isolation and the thin line between creativity and delusion.

Confronting one's inner demons and finding solutions within yourself.

Ending Scene:

In the final scene, Elliot finds himself back at his coding desk. Ducky sits on the desk, silent. Elliot hesitates, then begins talking through his problem, as if to a confidante. He pauses, then a smile breaks across his face as he seems to find the solution himself. He turns to the camera, breaking the fourth wall, and says, "See, Ducky? I told you I could get it." Whether Ducky ever really spoke remains a mystery, but Elliot seems to have found a way to navigate his reality, with or without a talking rubber duck by his side.

[spacebubblehomebase]

"SEE-MORE!!!" Get it??? Cause- ACK! (Gets 🍅 to the face.) OW! Okay! OK! I'll stop!

-Bubbly💙

[techno-danger]

HES A DUCK!!! HES A FUCKING DUCK I KNEW THAT WAS HIS TRUE ANGEL FORM!!! I THOUGHT THAT WAS JUST A REGULAR BIRD AT FIRST BUT NO MY PRAYERS HAVE BEEN ANSWERED!!!

DUCK LUCIFER!!!

[hexenmond]

My last resort for stymying problems are usually forums. And since it’s both good manners and results in more and better answers, I always make sure to write up my problem as clearly and concisely as I can.

In about fifty percent of these instances this either opens up new research paths that I hadn’t thought of before, or I realise I’ve made a dumb mistake somewhere. Love when that happens 😄

Lmao

[r-aindr0p]

Idia retrieving things for Azul in exchange for food is hysterical because it implies that one of, if not the only (non-species specific) people that Idia talks to is quite literally the shadiest guy around

He was just minding his own business and got tricked !!!! And now he's stuck in that situation

Hunger (if not confronted to actual living being) has him acting a bit like a stressed out chihuahua

But yeah he's so harmless he isn't even getting chased down by the hunting team, might try to sneak in a house if he gets apermission in somehow and hide in the attic

[sonimage1965]

Dennis Hopper

[daevilpanda71]

you know what? you know what fuck it- rubber ducks your prime assets:

[paintedaster]

I’ve been drawing a lot and hoarding it like a dragon, so have one of my first Hazbin Hotel arts I made when the show was still airing. I love Luci and Charlieeee

[wolfythewitch]

The ocean and me we are buddies, pals, chums