#the most niche of arbitrary picks

[lizardrosen]

okay, so let's pretend for the sake of argument that i've written 4k words of bridgertons getting in character as the cast of hamlet, in prose, so that doesn't even count the initial few posts

what do i do with it all? it feels like such a niche overlap, and it's not even properly a crossover, just a Lot of feelings about Hamlet.

I've been figuring out what details each character would pick out, and then expanding that to an inner life that's probably more detailed than any of them would develop to act the role. My narration is sliding between using the sibling's name and the character's name in a way that makes sense to me but probably seems arbitrary to anyone else, and it's just a very strange writing exercise, but it's also the most creative i've been all month, so i'll take it

[alkimea]

well i finished the bastard son and the devil himself and all i can think about is how little sense the way netflix analyzes data and decides what to renew makes to me.

like, first, and the thing i’ve seen most people talk about: how many people finish a series within the first month, regardless of the marketing budget that series got, seems like an arbitrary as fuck way to determine success, and impossible to predict the economic viability of said series long term.

but second, and what i personally find weirder, is that it doesn’t look like they take into consideration WHO the people watching each series are? so the result ends up being that they keep renewing shows for the exact same audience, which i can only describe as the ‘surface level mainstream hetcis millennial’, and their entire roster ends up being lowest common denominator tv shows, like stranger things and wednesday and elite, and sure they statistically get the most views, but doesn’t it make more sense to renew shows that cover different niches so everyone has a reason to keep their fucking subscription? like personally i can count with one hand the amount of netflix shows that have picked my interest since 2017, and most of them have been cancelled, the only reason i have an account is because my family shares one, but the day they crack down on account sharing from different households i have absolutely no reason to get an account for myself because i know that the type of shows i enjoy are not the shows netflix is willing to invest in, and when they do it’s clearly because they miscalculated and will proceed to throw them under the bus when they realize.

[jennifvr]

february's upon us, and in the midst of freezing my ass off ( which of you asked for this cold weather? i'm just trying to talk ) i've taken to spending most of my time underneath a giant blanket and indulging in the most mundane, niche — specific shit that the internet could possibly throw my way. i've picked up and dropped three hobbies in the last month alone, all because tiktok made them look like they'd be fun to do post - divorce and present - new year, new jen bullshit, but goddamn. i either am the human incarnation of that dog from the movie up, or i just have a lot of space in my brain for really arbitrary interests that have the same lifespan as sliced bread. what about you, what's something off the wall that scratches that itch in your brain or really appeals to you but the second you go to execute, it loses its luster? i'm jen, your friendly neighborhood hermit, and if you hear cries for help, know that i finally attempted to have my cat model the sweater i crocheted for him over christmas and he staged a coup. it was fun while it lasted. ⦙ @gonehollywoodstarters

[apsknifeshow]

Why APS Knife Show Stands Out Among Mobile Knife Games

In the crowded world of mobile gaming, knife-throwing games have carved out a niche for themselves, offering players a blend of skill-based challenges and satisfying gameplay. Among these games, APS Knife Show shines as a standout experience that captures the essence of knife throwing while introducing unique features that set it apart from the competition. Here’s why APS Knife Show stands out among mobile knife games and why it’s a must-play for both casual gamers and knife-throwing enthusiasts.

1. Realistic Knife Throwing Mechanics

APS Knife Show excels in delivering a realistic knife-throwing experience. The game’s physics engine is finely tuned, ensuring that each knife throw feels authentic. The weight, speed, and trajectory of the knives are meticulously designed, making the gameplay both challenging and rewarding. This attention to detail sets APS Knife Show apart from other games where knife throws might feel arbitrary or overly simplistic.

2. Diverse Range of Knives

One of the most exciting features of APS Knife Show is its extensive collection of knives. As you progress through the game, you unlock a wide array of knives, each with its own unique design and throwing style. From sleek modern blades to intricately designed traditional knives, the game offers something for every taste. This diversity not only adds to the visual appeal but also introduces strategic elements, as different knives can be more effective in different scenarios.

3. Challenging and Varied Levels

APS Knife Show keeps players engaged with its wide variety of levels, each offering unique challenges. Whether you’re aiming at stationary targets, hitting moving objects, or navigating through obstacles, the game constantly tests your skills and keeps you on your toes. The progression is well-paced, with levels gradually increasing in difficulty, ensuring that players are always motivated to improve and advance.

4. Stunning Visuals and Environments

Visuals play a crucial role in enhancing the gaming experience, and APS Knife Show does not disappoint. The game features beautifully rendered environments that range from rustic wooden cabins to sleek, futuristic arenas. Each setting is crafted with attention to detail, creating an immersive atmosphere that draws players into the world of knife throwing. The high-quality graphics are complemented by smooth animations, making every knife throw a visually satisfying experience.

5. Competitive Leaderboards

For players who thrive on competition, APS Knife Show offers global leaderboards where you can see how your skills stack up against others. The leaderboard system adds an extra layer of excitement, as players strive to improve their scores and climb the ranks. Whether you’re competing with friends or going up against players from around the world, the leaderboards provide endless motivation to keep honing your skills.

6. Regular Updates and New Content

One of the reasons APS Knife Show continues to stand out is its commitment to providing fresh content and regular updates. The developers are dedicated to keeping the game exciting with new levels, knives, and features being added regularly. This ensures that players always have something new to look forward to, keeping the gameplay experience fresh and engaging over time.

7. Easy to Pick Up, Hard to Master

APS Knife Show strikes the perfect balance between accessibility and depth. The game is easy to pick up, with intuitive controls that allow new players to jump right in. However, as players progress, they’ll discover layers of complexity that require skill, precision, and strategy. This balance makes APS Knife Show appealing to both casual gamers who are looking for a fun pastime and hardcore players who enjoy mastering challenging games.

8. Engaging Progression System

The game’s progression system is designed to keep players engaged without feeling repetitive. As you advance through the levels, you unlock new knives, encounter tougher challenges, and explore new environments. The sense of achievement that comes from unlocking a particularly difficult knife or completing a challenging level is incredibly satisfying and keeps players coming back for more.

9. Community and Player Engagement

APS Knife Show has fostered a strong community of players who share tips, strategies, and high scores. The game’s developers actively engage with the community, listening to feedback and implementing suggestions. This player-centric approach has helped APS Knife Show build a loyal fanbase and maintain its position as a top mobile knife game.

10. Innovative Game Modes

In addition to its standard levels, APS Knife Show offers a variety of game modes that provide unique twists on the traditional knife-throwing gameplay. These modes might include time trials, survival challenges, or even puzzle-like scenarios where players must use their knives creatively to solve problems. The variety of game modes ensures that there’s always something new and exciting to try.

Conclusion

APS Knife Show stands out among mobile knife games for its realistic mechanics, diverse knife collection, stunning visuals, and engaging gameplay. Whether you’re drawn to the thrill of competitive play, the satisfaction of mastering a challenging level, or the joy of unlocking a new knife, APS Knife Show offers an unparalleled gaming experience. With regular updates and a dedicated community, the game continues to evolve, making it a must-play for anyone interested in knife-throwing games. So, if you’re looking for a mobile game that combines skill, strategy, and fun, APS Knife Show is the perfect choice.

[thenewblu]

Budget Gaming: Making the Case for the *Old* 3DS/2DS in 2024 and beyond

Playing video games in 2024 is more expensive than ever. More so if you’re looking to purchase a new video game system. In a time where there are constantly new games coming out, that are more expensive and more monetized than previously thought possible, I want to make the case for the 3DS. The original 3DS not the models with the “New” designation. Not only can you find the systems on the cheap, but you also have access to an excellent library of software I believe is truly for any kind of gamer. For the price of a new Switch you can be up and running in style with some of the coolest games the system has to offer. Games that are fully realized complete experiences that wont nickel and dime you with loot boxes, or not work because you need a 50 GB day one patch.

I know, I know, $300 bucks, and I can be gaming anywhere with some of the coolest Nintendo games from the 10s’!? It’s True, and you wont be alone, either. The 3DS has a large community of fans across the internet. Look on YouTube you’ll see all kinds of videos lauding the system and people reminiscing on times past. The 3DS subreddit r/3DS has over 1 million follows, and has spawned several more niche subreddits to help direct people to more esoteric discussions about the system. You’ll have no difficulty finding discord servers to join either.

Enough about the online presence, lets get back to that price. It might seem like a large number, but it’s just an arbitrary number that was easy to pick since it’s the new price of the Switch, which is cheaper than either of its competitors. The nice thing about what we’re doing is you can break this up into several smaller purchases that reach this total, or you can just ignore me entirely, and make your own choices. I’m a stranger on the internet and only you know whats right for your budget.

Maybe you’re looking to get into Retro™ gaming. Maybe the Switch has you curious what your favorite games looked like last console generation. Maybe you just want to play some damn games and don’t have the prerequisite stash of gold to shell out for current generation hardware and games. I’m here to introduce the 3DS, and make a case for its earlier hardware revisions as great entry points.

Consoles

The 3DS, more than any other system, had many different revisions over its lifetime. Over time the later hardware revisions have become the most sought after, driving their prices to insane heights. The New 3DS and New 3DS XL are fast approaching our target number on their own. A lot of buyers have instead opted to search for a somewhat cheaper New model from Japan. The catch here is that the system is region locked, so after your purchase there’s a little legwork you have to put in to unlock it. I instead, am here to champion the cause of the older brother and cheaper base 3ds and 2ds models. I’m not gonna lie to you. There’s definitely a reason these are not the models people are after. The newer hardware revisions improved a lot about these systems. However, either of these two handheld systems could easily be your daily gaming driver, and in the process save you some serious scrilla, which means more money for what we’re really here for the games!

Okay, so what are we giving up? The newer systems have slightly more processing power under the hood. I won’t go super technical on you, just know a slim number of games are exclusive to those newer systems. Additionally we get slightly longer load times, and slightly worse frame rates. The 3D screen the system is known for also works a lot better on the new revisions. It has a tracker to help align the 3D effect with your eyes as the systems tilts or rocks about in your hand. Battery life is where I feel you can most try to justify the higher cost of the newer systems. I like a long play session, I want battery life. I’d say it’s one of the most important metrics to care about when looking at a hand held gaming console of any kind. According to Nintendo support, we get between three and five hours on the 3DS and three and a half to five and a half hours on the 2DS. Not bad per se, but a far cry from the potential 7 offered by the New 3DS XL.

However, these systems are likely a decade old. Our first expense past getting us a console is a replacement battery. Just do yourself a favor and replace it now. Swollen batteries can leak and cause damage, and as they age also just lose some of their ability to hold a charge. With a replacement battery, we are still at roughly $115 dollars, which means we are looking good! I would also advise purchasing some screen protectors (roughly 5 to 10 bucks) and a case or shell of some kind to protect against some wear and tear. These can range anywhere from 8 bucks to any amount. There are SO MANY case options and everyone’s preferences will be different. As we are on a budget I’d say we cant go wrong with anything in the $15 to $20 range. Lastly, we’re gonna want a memory card. Your system likely comes with one but SD cards come cheap now. you can grab a 32 GB one on amazon for $10 or less. With all that I’d put our total for system and extras at $135 for a 2DS and $155 for a 3DS. ($80 for a 2DS $100 for a 3DS, and assuming you paid on the higher end for all accessories listed). With those purchases now though you are big chillin’! Got a new battery, protection, we are in it for the long haul with this setup! (and only halfway to the price of a new switch!)

Games

Okay, so that was a lot. It’s a little more legwork than just buying something new off the shelf for sure, but now we’re to the section that justifies the previous one. THE GAMES! If you've owned a Nintendo system before then you know this is where we really shine. If you haven’t played any Nintendo games prior to this, then I really cant think of a better way to get acquainted with some of Nintendo’s games than on this platform. At the end of the article I’ll total everything together with what I would get, but there will be plenty of choice here for you to make your own list to pick from! You truly are spoiled for choice in a multitude of different genres with the 3DS. Two genres where I do think you’re hurting though are shooters and racing games. That’s not to say they’re absent but if that’s your go to genre you may find the selection lacking.

Let’s start with first party Nintendo games. There are easily enough to justify owning this system and they are more affordable than you could hope for (for the most part!). Let’s start with Mario. The man needs no introduction and yet here I am trying to write one anyway like a dunce. You could do a lot worse than buying yourself a copy of Super Mario 3D Land. If your coming from non-Nintendo hardware you may have not done much platforming and this is a great way to get your toes wet and have a good time. If you opted for a system with the 3D screen it also does a pretty good job flexing that effect if you want to see what its like with the 3D on. Another great option in this genre, especially if you think you want to put your platforming chops to the test, is Donkey Kong Country Returns 3D. The music is great, it has an aesthetic and vibe i really dig. Perhaps not a great buy for someone not accustomed to platforming, but in the long run I wouldn’t ignore this gem of a game. Grabbing both will run you about Twenty Five bucks and shipping, which is a steal if we were to compare that to picking up Super Mario Odyssey and Donkey Kong Country Tropical freeze.

“Platformers!?” I hear you say, “I’m here for Pokemon!” Well I have good news and bad news for you fellow Pokemon enjoy-er. The good news is that the 3DS can not only play the largest number of Pokemon games, but is also where Pokemon hit its apex. The bad news is that about half of those games are going to cost you more than what you spent on your system, extras and accessories included.

For those of you still here lets talk Pokemon for a bit. The 3DS era of Pokemon included generations six,seven, and spans across 3 different regions (Kalos, Hoenn, and Alola). Although well received at the time, discourse has changed to mixed on these Pokemon offerings and only gotten worse into the Switch era. Everyone has different ideas of what they personally want from a Pokemon game. Some want the grindy endgame of a battle frontier, some want a tough as nails nuzlocke, and some just want a chill turn based RPG with cool and cute monsters. Pokemon is a game wearing a lot of different hats and although it wears most of them well on the 3DS it doesn’t wear them all well. The 3DS also being backwards compatible with previous DS games means that you have the choice to re-visit generations four and five(Sinnoh, Johto, and Unova). This is where the games skyrocket into supreme un-affordability, sadly. If you just want a single Pokemon game because you want to see what it’s all about, or you haven’t played one in a while and you just need to scratch that itch, my pick goes to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. These games are a little more expensive than the previous two 3DS titles we've discussed, but you’ll get a decent amount of play time out of them. If you’re a ride or die Pokemon fan and you disagree with my recommendation then its likely this entire article isn't really for you anyway. You wont necessarily come out cheaper here compared to a copy of a switch Pokemon game, but you also wont have to purchase any DLC, and few would make the claim any of the switch titles are better than the gen 3 remakes.

Okay. We are past Pokemon now. I’m gonna rapid fire some games now or this games section is gonna continue on for a while! We’ve talked Mario, we’ve talked Pokemon but there’s a really big Nintendo franchise that's escaped this discussion so far and that's ZELDA! Yes, there’s a nice number of great Zelda games on the system! If you haven’t experienced them then I can’t recommend the N64 duology more! Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask are both fan favorites and justify owning the system in their own right. Both are thankfully readily available on the cheap too! The real under talked about Zelda in my estimation though is A Link Between Worlds. If you can only get one Zelda right now it should be this one. It even won awards if you care about that sort of thing! A loose copy of the Switch’s Breath of the Wild isn’t an expensive grab either, but it once again has paid DLC where as these 3DS games are complete out of the box

Fire Emblem had it’s renaissance on this system! My pick, especially if your just looking to try the franchise out or not used to tactics based RPGs goes to Fire Emblem: Awakening. Like most of our switch title comparisons Fire Emblem: Three Houses isn’t going to cost you much more but offers paid DLC.

Unless you haven’t been on the internet these last few years, you've probably heard people talk about the ineffable cozy game. This is a system that helped sow the seeds of that genre, with a great title in Animal Crossing:New Leaf. Not a great game for long single sessions, but a game with an incredible amount of longevity nonetheless and one of my most played games.

That’s probably enough of the first party games, I’ll let you discover more of Nintendo’s own catalog for yourself. There’s a plethora of great 3rd party developed software to talk about as well!

This is where we really start to see the 3DS truly can offer up something for everyone. I could not start this section without first talking about what brought me to the platform. Monster Hunter. An action RPG series, that at the time was niche outside of japan, in which you fight increasingly difficult boss monsters to craft better gear to do it all over again and again. There are three amazing entries in this series on the 3DS and I love them all to bits. If a cozy game is a game that feels like a digital security blanket than Monster Hunter is my cozy game. Monster Hunter 4:Ultimate is what I’m going to recommend as your entry into monster killing on the system. It is by far the game most likely to give you the best dollar per hour rate at $18 a copy. I was never able to complete this game and my system still has me recorded at 178 hours of playtime. Our switch counterpart is Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak, and it’s also coming in at a great price. Monster hunter is just one of the best deals in video games.

Okay, if I write too much more about specific titles this post will never end so I really am gonna mention a few great titles here before we move to our conclusion. Rune Factory 4 is an action RPG fused with a farming simulator you’ll see a lot of playtime out of. Bravely Default is a traditional turn based JRPG with stunning visuals. Resident Evil Revelations is worth a look too, if your a fan or just want to try a horror game out on the system. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call is a cute rhythm game offering a great package mostly because the music is majority composed by the absolute legend Nobuo Uematsu. A great time, even if you never played a Final Fantasy game, the music is just that good. Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars is another tactical RPG, great especially if you aren’t vibing with the Fire Emblem aesthetic or just want more tactics games.

Conclusion

Let’s get to that total! What games would I get to hit that $300 total? Well, I can’t pass up on Monster Hunter, which would also mean I’d be purchasing a Circle Pad Pro so I can actually move the camera like a normal person. This would mean I’m going with the 3DS and not the 2DS as it doesn't work with this accessory. I’d also spring for Pokemon Omega Ruby, Mario 3D Land, Resident Evil Revelations (it also works with our circle pad pro!), and Animal Crossing New Leaf. That’s about $120 in games (including the CPP). Which with our previous $155 For the console and other accessories totals us at $274 which leaves us some leftover for those other costs like shipping and taxes. That’s getting you two fantastic RPGs, a platformer, a horror game, and a cozy game all for less than the cost of a Switch. IF you were to do something similar with the base switch model I could see you easily getting closer to the $400 dollar mark without any games. A case, a memory card and taxes would at least put you to $350. Add five games to that and we are flirting with five hundred dollars.

So obviously we cant get every game I’ve discussed, but that was kind of on purpose. I want to show off a wide array of games, and show you could get many before we ever approached getting to the price of a Nintendo Switch. With its Lite revision you could likely do something similar to this with the switch itself as well! Unfortunately, in my subjective estimation I’ve found many titles on the switch to just not be as fulfilling. Don’t take that as a knock against the system, I still own one and play games on it, but i just don’t connect it with the same way I do on the 3DS. For my money I want to continue expanding my 3DS library and enjoying the games I’ve fallen in love with on it.

What’s next? If you find you really enjoy the system then I would wholeheartedly recommend saving long term for a New model 3DS. They aren’t getting any cheaper. You could also look in on the thriving homebrewing scene. You have many great games to discover, there are so many I did not mention here. Don’t neglect the original DS library either! I hope this writing has been of some help to you, and I hope that not matter what sort of games you play, you enjoy them. Thanks for reading!

[youhaveyourfits]

I said it on my writing sideblog but I hate bitches who say that unless people have been writing since they were .2 minutes old or only people who write stories about people living in houses or Whatever arbitrary condition they want to use are the only Real Writers and everyone else has zero storytelling ability or originality or whatever the fuck and is ngmi. like first of all I wouldn't trust someone who acted like they knew the human condition inside and out like that anyway like who are you? even if it's an accomplished author who's lived a full rich and diverse life saying this. I don't think there's any point of experience or knowledge that would possibly give you the authority to cordon off such a basic human experience like this. which leads me to my second point which is to say that storytelling isn't just some kind of niche career accomplishment whose criteria come from the modern market, nor is it some kind of spiritual signal from beyond that only special prophets on earth can pick up on, nor is it even just a skill that you can learn but that some people will always just naturally be better at, and by sectioning people into storytellers and not storytellers I think it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of what a story even is or can be and ironically shows ur lack of imagination. I'm also not saying that *I* have the special definition of what a story is but this is more of an attempt at logically examining perimeters and the physics of the human mind. humans are natural storytellers. by one frame, it is the point in our growth that makes us different from (most of) our other living kin on the planet. it's in everything we do. you couldn't make it to brushing your teeth without stories that you've been told and that you tell yourself. and I don't mean just like "good little children brush their teeth so the tooth decay monster doesn't take their teeth away" type shit, it's before that even, when the kid watches their parent teach them how to brush their teeth and thinks "this person knows a lot of things I don't and has looked after me, I will try doing what they say" and then has the competing story of "I didn't like that and I don't want to do it again but I have no choice". a story is further than an impulse, has some reason in it, and can usually be communicated. by the time we get to adulthood we've taken in so many layers on layers of stories that it's not obvious that we're learning them anymore, but we all live by stories, we're bound by them, and we free ourselves with them. we're fluent in stories before our first language. so how could anyone say that some people, most people, aren't destined to tell stories? people are so fuckin good at telling themselves stories that they'll kill themselves for the stories they've come up with about their lives. it could be said that becoming a good storyteller is to become more aware of the fact that the world is already made of stories. but I don't think that anyone has the right to say that only special chosen people have the ability to write stories and everyone else should give up. especially when even if you don't become a bestseller just the practice of writing will make you better at telling your own story and give you that much more clarity in life and with people. storytelling is human

[gold-rhine]

like, to think about it from evil company design perspective, the purpose of limitations can't be to force ppl to pull. bc they give you new characters currently on the banner as trial like they did with maulani and kinich, they give u several trial characters. and most ppl will have enough characters on account to play, these characters just won't be LEVELED. this is not forcing u to pull, its forcing u to waste resources on characters you didnt want to build. and now have to just to fill arbitrary number

so i can only surmise is that the purpose is kind of like combat events with trial characters, to give you a try of a character and make u want to pull them. but like the difference is that combat events are always tailored to the strengths of the specific character, if its kazuha trial, they will give u like 20 slimes so you just woosh them together, if its kinich trial, they will give u burning team and one or two bulky enemies, etc

bc genshin philosophy for making new characters is to diversify them into niches to prevent powercreep as much as possible, like, kinich didnt powercreep alhaitham bc alhaitham is better in spread and hyperbloom, but kinich is doing as much or more damage in burning, etc.

but what this specialization-focused approach means is that characters often require very specific teams and conditions to feel good, except few generalists like neuvi or nahida, but you dont need to work to sell them. for most characters random teams in random fights will make them feel HORRIBLE. like, i never want to pull mualani after i tried her in imaginarium, it was clunkier than ganyu melt.

this is a game where team synergy is one of the most important factors both bc of reactions and character kits, and they made a mode that fucking makes it impossible to have good teams. this mode is a fucking coop simulator, where there are like xiao, nahida, shenhe on the team and you need to pick a character to make this somehow clear domain, all while thinking i could do this in 20 seconds if i had my own team. at least in coop you're doing this to help other ppl, here it's like. play a bad team just because? also like why are they encouraging casual players who already not great in understanding team synergies and importance of them to throw whatever characters together, bc like hey its an official endgame mode, obviously just picking random shit is how u're supposed to play?

playing thru imaginarium and getting mad bc it could've been good if it wasn't bad :\

[max1461]

I think the thing that bothers me about programming is that it feels basically fake, in the same way that the bad parts of the humanities are fake. No wait let me explain! "Real" things are things which were not chosen arbitrarily. Math is some of the realest shit ever, because even though you can choose your axioms, once you pick an axiom set the consequences are fixed. And in some sense you're not really "picking" axioms anyway—all axioms sets already "exist" in some sense, and you're just selecting one to study. No arbitrary choice involved!

On the other hands there's like... organisms. In some sense, organisms are kinda arbitrary: there are selective pressures, sure, but there's also a huge amount of random chance. Run evolution again starting from the beginning and you'd get totally different creatures, if presumably ones that occupied similar ecological niches. So the biosphere has a lot of arbitrariness. But not chosen arbitrariness. Just like, accidental arbitrariness beyond human control. Once we arrive on the scene, we see a set of ecosystems that are already determined by factors we could never have affected. No arbitrary choice. Biology is real!

Something like, uh, education (the field), on the other hand, is full of arbitrary choice. Like obviously there are constraints (kids will not learn if you blow them up with TNT), but within those constraints there are tons of possible choices. And not to be too harsh, the foundations of most educational philosophies seem to come down to arbitrary choice within said constraints: "we should teach kids like this, because, uh, well I just think we should". I mean there's usually more ostensible reasoning than that, but as is par for the course in these sorts of fields it is not usually very rigorous. I get similar vibes from cultural studies, management, communications...

Not all humanities fields are like this, by the way! History definitely isn't. For all the flak that literary criticism gets, most of it doesn't feel this way to me either. This is a feeling I tend to get from the newer humanities fields (those founded in the twentieth century or so) and the social sciences. Something something managerialism, something something buzzword corporate lingo dynamic product engagement we're not a workplace we're a family. If you'll permit me to be a little flippant: literary criticism is a lot of empty words trying to circle something real (the emotional experience of reading a text), whereas these "managerial humanities" are a lot of empty words trying to achieve an instrumental goal (like increase worker productivity). So studying these things doesn't really feel like learning anything. It feels deeply soulless and off-putting to me.

Thus, computer programming. It's... well it's all arbitrary choices. There are of course constraints (time complexity of algorithms and this and that), but most of what you're interfacing with when you program a computer is basically arbitrary choices made by another human being. And you're doing so not to really learn anything, but to achieve an instrumental goal (get your program to work). It feels empty, contentless, like reading something out of a management textbook. I do not enjoy this.

It's like... ok, if someone gives me a math puzzle, I instantly want to solve it. It's this thing that exists out there in math land, in the Eternal Realm Of Abstraction, and I want to explore it until understand it. Someone picked this puzzle out from all the others and gave it to me, sure, but make no mistake—it already existed. It just is. Or at least, that's how it feels to me (let's put the actually philosophical questions aside). If someone gives me a coding puzzle, it's like, the only reasonably answer is "run some code that someone already wrote to do this lol". Even if I program something "from scratch", I'm still using a high level language to do it, which comes built in with all these tools written by other people. Why stop there? If I can take those tools as given, why can't I just take the code of someone who already wrote a program to do this and give that as my answer? Where is the line?

It all feels a bit arbitrary and meaningless, a pile of random human decisions upon random human decisions. Who cares!

The one part of program that is kind of cool is the really low-level stuff, "close to the bare metal". Because that puts you in touch with the computer as a machine, as a physical device in the world whose limitations may represent human choices at some point in the past, but in the here-and-now are baked into the very silicon. That's real, that's like, an actual thing instead of a bunch of bullshit. I like that!

Idk, I don't want to be too harsh. I have enjoyed programming sometimes in the past, and it's still something I want to get better at. And I'm sure there is good research that gets done in education and management and communications, even if I think a lot of it is bullshit. But this is just how it makes me feel.

[flingpoly]

fling posse autistic headcanons

since my autistic fp art got support before i’m gonna throw this out there for anyone else who might like the idea! these are a mix of my interpretations of canon behavior and also headcanons

ramuda:

- it's worth noting the entire reason he’s considered a “failed experiment” is because he has emotional dysregulation, which is something a lot of autistic people struggle with.

- has vocal tics! (i’ve always loved the part in pink iro no ai when he repeatedly stutters “are” because it’s very very similar to a vocal tic of mine)

- sucks on other hard candies besides medicinal lollipops because Good Mouth Stim

- once he’s comfortable around fling posse and masks less he goes through a lot of periods of total silence where he prefers not to verbalize. it's nice and comfortable for him because he doesn't have to force himself to speak or be perfectly social.

- he likes initiating touch (feeling nice clothes textures and hugging tightly) but has trouble being touched by others

- i often think of that scene in rhyme anima where he gets frustrated he can’t explain himself and covers his ears and makes a sort of groaning sound. that combined with the marionette drama track where he gets frustrated and yells “shut up” (which is the same word as “too loud” in japanese), i'm lead to think he often covers his ears when overstimulated or frustrated. that’s the sensory input he needs to block out when he needs to “reset”. this also makes sense since a lot of stimulation he’d have to deal with would be from a hypnosis mic, so ironically, even though he’s supposed to handle things well, he ends up being most sensitive to noise/think to protect his ears first when upset.

- i would actually go as far as to consider ramuda autistic-coded (since other central themes of his are masking, “speaking with no tact”, fluctuating empathy, struggling to make true connections beyond a surface level). he could have his own post but i’ll stop here

gentaro:

- has a very low amount of social spoons (ramuda and dice learn to recognize when he needs space)

- carries that blank book around partially for the aesthetic and partially because he flips through it and feels the pages as a stim

- picky about food texture and probably rotates between a few same foods

- related to the above, he places importance on routine and habit and has to sit in the same spot at the same café

- he’s able to pull facts about dinosaurs out of his ass because they were his special interest at one point. that’s why he’s so insanely smart on a few niche topics and why he can speak on them at a moment’s notice.

- having an “eccentric” vocabulary is also considered a telling sign of autism, and especially since (spoilers) we know gentaro was never an author to begin with, these are just dialects and speaking styles he’s picked up on his own. author or not, he probably did love books a lot growing up, and that’s why so many autistic people pick up odd speaking habits– they tend to read a variety of stories rather than interact with their peers at a young age.

- i just wanna see him do flappy hands with his sleeves

dice:

- was never good at structure because he couldn’t understand arbitrary social rules, which is why he had a falling out with his mom/doesn’t want to live a “typical” life; it just doesn’t work for him

- always making little sounds somehow! it’s canon from the radio show that he likes whistling with grass and creating makeshift percussion and such, so he’s probably always tapping on something

- takes everything literally, which is why he still doesn’t understand when gentaro is joking or not and falls for it every time. that’s also why he’s unfamiliar with a lot of metaphors

- actually very interested in card games in general and loves memorizing strategies and rules; just kinda helps he uses this skill to gamble

- no volume control but that’s okay because ramuda and gentaro find it very endearing since it’s often when he’s enthusiastic

- he chews on his little hair bead thing

- likes weight/pressure, which is why he carries around ramuda so much. ramuda probably just lays directly on top of him sometimes like his own little weighted blanket.

[sazandorable]

About moderating and banning content on AO3!

Okay so! I haven’t had the spoons to do this for a while but I cracked and ranted about it on twitter which is... not... conducive to long rants, so!

This is a h u g e discussion part of the l o n g history that led to the creation of AO3, which older, more informed, and more articulate people have talked about at length and can be found around if you look (I reblog some of it in my AO3 and fandom history tags for the curious). So I won’t go into that here, nor into the practical reasons why it’s not even possible to put that system in place anyway.

Arbitrarily, or the purpose of this post, because it’s the biggest topic I’ve seen brought up lately, I’ll be talking about fic depicting underage characters in se*ual situations, but honestly I could hold the exact same conversation on literally any controversial content.

This is about why you, specifically, if you are a content creator and especially if you are marginalised and especially if you are queer and especially especially if you are sensitive to fiction depicting certain things... do not, actually, want a banning system on AO3.

What? Of course we do. There’s a lot of p*do shit on AO3 and p*do shit is gross. No one should condone that, wtf? It would be easy to do — just periodically delete the entire Underage tag!

What will happen if that is done is that people will re-upload and continue to write it, they’ll just stop tagging and you will run into it with zero warning nor ability to filter it out. Again, this is not a theoretical — we know this is what happens. When I was a teen, adult content (all adult content) was not allowed on FF.NET; it was everywhere regardless, and without tags. The exact same thing happened on tumblr when adult content was banned as well. It’s not a matter of “staff not handling it well” — it just doesn’t work.

To keep safe the people who need to be able to exclude that tag, that tag needs to exist and be used.

Well, shucks. A reporting system then?

A reporting system would operate in one of two ways:

-an algorithm, which would delete a lot of stuff we wouldn’t want it to delete.

-humans, which is... the bigger problem.

An algorithm sounds great. We do want it to delete everything.

Okay. What about the daddy k*nk fics between consenting adult characters? What about the fics featuring characters that are children in the canon but are adults in the fic? What about the fics about teenagers exploring their se*uality together, written by adults about the experiences they remember having or wish they could have had? What about the thousands of SasuNaru and Drarry and other shounen and YA fics that will get written, by teens or by people who remember being teens? What about the se*ually explicit fic written by teens who are se*ually active in real life? What about the fics about CSA as trauma, about healing from it? What about the fics written by survivors of CSA to cope about their trauma? What about the fics that clearly show that it’s evil and traumatic? What about the super dark, harrowing, but beautiful and artistic that I’m glad I read even though it fucked me up for days? What about the ones that were really shitty but also horribly hot?

Well, some of these are still not okay, but maybe some might be. It depends on how it’s written. We’ll have humans moderating content and deciding, then.

Okay.

The thing is, I don’t know which of the things I just listed were okay for you to be depicted in fiction and which were too much. Odds are I don’t agree with you. Odds are if I asked 10 people randomly picked off the street, not everyone would agree.

Odds are, even if AO3 arbitrarily decided on which of those are allowed and which are not, you would not agree with their choice, and you would still be unhappy with the decision. (Or you would be happy, but your friends wouldn’t.)

Odds are, different AO3 content moderators might not agree on whether a given fic qualifies or not — is it artistic enough? Does it show enough that these actions are evil and wrong? Can the author prove they’re a teenager? Can the author prove they are a CSA victim? Can the author prove that this is to help them cope with their trauma? The author seem to be functioning alright, they mustn’t really be traumatised!

You know what I mean! There’s absolute, objectively gross shit out there that is not artistic and should not be published.

I agree that there’s vile stuff out there that makes me sick and that I think is very clearly just ped*philic trash. But there is no way to, 1) stop those from getting published anyway, 2) take those down and preserve the safety of everything else.

If we start forbidding some things, there’s two ways to go about it.

One single, clear, arbitrary rule — for instance, absolutely no adult content featuring characters under 18 (leaving aside the fact that this would not even work for the reason cited above). So we lose all the stuff from teenagers, all the coming of age stories about adolescence, all the stuff from CSA survivors; people who need to write it can’t publish it anymore, and people who need to read it can’t anymore either (and as a cool bonus, they’re told it’s wrong and made to feel bad about it). Depending on whether the rules applies to characters that are under 18 in the canon, we lose entire fandoms.

Or, subjective moderation by humans, according to what they estimate to be gross.

Let’s assume all moderators can agree on what’s gross or not.

If there is a system in place to ban some underage works because “gross shit”, then that means other gross stuff can be taken down on account of being gross and harmful.

Yeah! Gross stuff should be taken down! Come on, surely everyone agrees on what’s gross and harmful.

Ah.

But the problem is.

Here is a list of things I have seen — with my eyes seen — called harmful to be depicted in fiction:

Murder

Non-con

Inc*st

Cannibalism

Torture

Self-harm

Mental illness

Drugs

Racism

K*nk

Non-negotiated k*nk, but healthy k*nk is ok

Spanking k*nk

BDSM where the woman is a bottom, but woman top is ok

Healthy depictions of BDSM

Unhealthy depictions of BDSM

Queer people doing bad things

Abusive relationships

Rival/Enemies to lovers

Redemption stories

A happy relationship between a 17 yo and an 18 yo

A happy relationship between a 20 yo and a 60 yo

A happy relationship between a boss and their employee, or a college teacher and a student

A happy relationship between a 14 yo boy and an older teenage boy, because that’s reminiscent of older men preying on younger gay boys IRL

Se*ual content featuring a character whose age is unclear in canon and some people headcanon them as being underage, some as being a young adult

Loving, consensual fluff between characters that are evil villains, because it romanticises them and their actions

Dark content shipping female characters

Fluffy content shipping female characters, because it’s misogynistic to act like lesbians are only soft all the time

Consensual s*x featuring a canonically asexual character, because it implies that all aces can and should still have se*

Fics about the same canonically asexual character hating s*x, because that erases the experience of s*x-positive aces

Shipping a character who is perceived by some fans as queer-coded with a character of a different s*x

The tendency to ship a black character with white characters

Fluffy drunk s*x, because that’s not actually consensual

Sleep s*x, because that’s not actually consensual

Trans characters not experiencing dysphoria, because that idealises the trans experience

Consensual s*x between adults that are not married

LGBT+ content, because kids shouldn’t see that.

I guarantee you: you, I, and 10 random people plucked from the street will not agree on what, in that list, is and isn’t okay to publish and consume fiction of.

So why should your taste be the one followed? Why should it be the taste of mods you don’t know? Why should anyone get to dictate? What if the mods think your OTP is gross and your NOTP is fine?

This is the slippery slope argument.

Yes, it is the slippery slope argument. Because we know it happens. Because we’ve been there, because I’ve seen it happen myself twice already and I’m not even thirty. Because we know people do complain loudly about all of these things.

And because the second there is a banning system in place, assholes will use the system to abuse it and get stuff they just don’t like taken down using the “it is gross” argument, and one day you’ll wake up and the beautiful fic that helped you come to terms with your abuse/trauma/identity/orientation/k*nk for feet will be taken down and wonderful vulnerable creative people will have been harassed out of fandom because they argued with 1 person who didn’t like their foot k*nk fic that happened to also feature, for instance, a CSA trauma backstory.

Again: not exaggerating. Not theoretical. It happens, we know it happens, AO3 was created literally because it happens.

I still fucking hate that stuff.

That is completely fine and normal. No one likes everything. Me too! Most of the dark stuff is niche and the creators know only few people will like it the same way they do.

(For the record, I get grossed out and triggered by fics about an asexual character who does not like s*x having s*x with their partner to make them happy. Deep in my gut everything screams that that’s fucked up, terrifying and harmful, how can people write that. But I recognise that there are people who love and need that, and I leave those people and their content alone.

OTOH, I read a lot of otherwise dark shit and I enjoy it in the same way I enjoyed, say, Hannibal, in the same way some people enjoy true crime documentaries, horror movies or r*pe fantasy k*nk. It helps me explore stuff that I like to see in fiction, in a safe, controlled way. I’m also asexual, 90% s*x-repulsed IRL, and, obviously, I would never abuse a child. For that matter, I wouldn’t kill and eat people, either, nor would I do 90% of the tamer k*nky stuff I read.

Of course, Hannibal was fucked up and lots of people probably think Hannibal was gross and should not have been aired — but as exemplified by the fact that it was created, aired and watched, lots of people thought it was fine, interesting and even fun to watch.)

You can and should curate your experience and protect yourself. The AO3 website now allows you to exclude certain tags, and people have developed tools to help with that such as plugins that save your filters or hide fics that contain certain words.

But no, it isn’t going to, and it shouldn’t, get banned.

[honeyhangukeo]

@kimberlysplanet  thanks for the suggestion about linguistic differences across Korea! I love this topic about this so warning this could be a long post :)

As far as I know, there is not a massive difference in terms of the vocab people use. Korean language is a orderly and standardised system, so any differences are often vocal i.e. in people’s pronunciation or slang. There can be spelling mistakes that have become accepted informally, but when written formally all South Korean text would appear identical.

In terms of regional variation, there are different dialects mainly between northern and southern provinces of South Korea. Again, they’re not hugely different, people can understand each other - like how a Canadian could understand a Texan. However, there can be a little prejudice towards the main southern dialect (or Busan satoori 부산 사투리), as Seoul is considered the standard for proper pronunciation; and therefore celebs, reporters, politicians etc will likely adjust their dialect to fit the Seoul standard when in the public eye.

There are also many interesting differences between North Korean and South Korean language. Of course the language foundations began the same, but the North has been closed off for half a century - while South Korea has embraced global development and thus has lots of loan words from English (known as Konglish), the North has not, and therefore the North creates their own new words for new things.

Portmanteaus, or word-sandwiches, are HUGE in Korean. Like in English we say brunch, hangry, labradoodle, bromance. Korean portmanteaus are sometimes Konglish, as they tend to describe modern things and are used often by younger people. Any and every opportunity to shorten a phrase, Koreans seems to grab it. Some include 아아 (literally ‘ah ah’, short for 아이스 아메리카노 - ice americano), 수저 (su-jeo, 숟가락 + 젓가락 = spoon + chopsticks, which is the standard utensil pairing for most meals), 치맥 (chimaek, 치킨 + 맥주 = fried chicken + beer, a common combination people love). Some are really common and almost standard, some are niche and used by young people/online.

There are a few non-standard difference between the things men say and the things women say, like certain ways of ending a question can come across more masculine/feminine and some people say ‘a woman wouldn’t really say it like that’. This seems kind of arbitrary and gendered, but it does occur in other language and its worth knowing when to pick one word over the other to come across more ‘natural’ according to your gender. And of course, there’s the speech variation depending on one’s age, as age hierarchy is strong in Korea, which you will see in the way conjugation/honorifics work.

Finally, a common pronunciation difference you might pick up on (especially if you watch k-dramas/k-entertainment) is when a word ends with 고 (go), e.g. the end of a verb like 밥을 먹고..., the 고 is often said like 구 (gu/goo). This is supposedly a way of sounding ‘cuter’ but to be honest I’ve heard anyone and everyone say it like this recently.

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 14

First

Previous

Next

The next day was The Day.

It had been a full month since they had moved into the house.

Tensions had settled somewhat, people had more or less grown used to each other’s presence… but, on that one particular day, the five of them were on edge.

It was the day to begin posting.

Chat bit his lip, scrolling through all the different videos he had taken on patrols. Should he just go in the order that he had taken them in? That would certainly be easier than any arbitrary system he put out.

Then again, if he actually figured out a system it would make what he was doing feel like it had more effort. Out of all the account themes that he knew (Chloe was still refusing to answer any questions about hers), his definitely required the lowest amount of effort.

It fit him, but still.

He decided to schedule a little bit. It would go dogs, then cats, then more unusual animals, then repeat.

There. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

Hopefully, Fu wouldn’t take issue with it --.

He tore through the skin of his lip and hissed in pain. He dropped his phone on the bed next to him and brought his hands up to stem the bleeding until he found a tissue.

He walked to the mirror and snickered to himself when he saw his reflection.

Thank the kwamis he wasn’t home anymore. His dad would have thrown a fit about him ‘ruining’ his perfect face.

The door opened and he looked over to see Chloe. “Bonjour --.”

He groaned a little. “Bonjour. You’re not taking tonight’s patrols from me, but you can come along if you want.”

“What? No. I need more time to edit a video for my account so I’m going to be announcing the start of our accounts.”

“You had a month and you’re still not done?” He teased, tossing the bloodied tissue in the trash.

She scoffed. “Not like I owe you an explanation, but I have an hour of footage to go through and edit down to a few minutes at most.”

Ah. Yeah. That would be hard.

He followed her to where everyone had congregated on the couch.

Well, actually, Ladybug and Carapace were the only ones on the couch, Rena was standing behind it, peering over the other miraculous holder’s shoulders as they scrolled through their phones.

Rena looked up when she heard their footsteps and gasped. “What happened to your lip?”

“I lost a fight...” … with his own mouth, but that was beside the point.

Carapace raised his eyebrows. “You lost a fight without leaving your room?”

Rena’s lips twitched into a mischievous grin. “Who knows, with all the stuff in his room something could be living in there and no one would know.”

He fought the urge to sink into the fabric of his turtleneck (which he now felt weird wearing considering the actual turtle in the group never wore turtlenecks). “Shut up.”

“Nice comeback,” commented Carapace.

“Thanks,” he muttered, dropping down onto the couch beside him and resting his head on his shoulder.

Chloe hummed as she set up her phone to take a video of them all and then she paused, looking at everyone. “Costumes? Since this is the announcement video?”

Ladybug set her phone in her pocket. “Sure.”

“Oh, what if we start in costume and then we detransform?” Said Carapace.

“Why?” Questioned Rena.

“For the drama. Obviously.”

No one bothered to reply to that, instead they all called their kwamis to transform.

Chloe pressed to start recording and then waltzed over to take a seat on Ladybug’s lap. To Ladybug’s credit, her face remained neutral. They all knew she blinked behind her mask even if they couldn’t see it.

Rena snickered a little behind her hand.

Ladybug’s skin flared bright red. There it was. She’d finally finished processing.

“Was… was the spot beside me not good enough?”

“Nope!” Chloe said brightly before turning her attention to the camera. “Hello, Paris… and others, though I don’t know why you’d bother with our accounts if you aren’t Parisian. We’re the miraculous team!”

They went in a line from left to right introducing themselves and then detransforming to show off their civilian clothes.

“Now, you might be wondering: what’s going on?”

“A good question. Not even we really know,” Chat muttered.

(Carapace, the only one close enough to really hear, was now smiling more sincerely.)

“We’ve started TikTok accounts that we’re going to be maintaining until we defeat Hawkmoth. Why’d we decide to do this?”

Everyone’s gazes briefly pulled away from the camera to send Chloe looks that varied from slight exasperation (Carapace) to amusement (Rena).

“No reason! Just convenience!”

Chat rolled his eyes a little.

Chloe went on to explain what each of their accounts would be about, except...

“You forgot your own niche, Queenie,” said Ladybug gently.

“I didn’t forget.”

They waited for her to go on and say what she was going to be doing, but she didn’t.

The other miraculous holders exchanged wary looks.

“All their accounts are going to be in the caption. Follow them!”

The video cut.

~

A day passed, but no one was really getting picked up by the algorithm, it seemed.

They had all convened in the living room again to discuss what to do.

Chat had the most followers, which wasn’t a surprise considering he was just posting cute animals.

Ladybug actually had quite a few as well. A few of them were actual Parisians, but most just seemed to be random French speakers who wanted to get their lives together. Good for them.

Everyone else was having trouble getting their videos seen.

Chloe was taking this especially hard. She had flung herself over the sofa and buried her face in the cushions.

Ladybug didn’t seem all that concerned about the possible impending akuma as she sat down on the arm of the couch. “It would probably help if you had actual content,” she commented.

The other barely lifted her head to send her a glare.

Carapace sat down in the armchair with some chips and salsa. “Maybe we should just use all the trending tags to get people to see us.”

“We could tag our videos as cosplay and then see how long it takes them to figure it out,” said Rena, grinning as she stole some chips.

(Carapace sent her a tired, halfhearted glare but apparently decided it wasn’t worth the effort to keep his food away from her.)

Chat wasn’t really concerned about all of this. He sat in the window, smiling as the sun beamed down on his back. “I don’t know. If we want we can get some blogger to report on it.”

“If we do that one, how about the Ladyblogger? I’m pretty sure she’s the most popular one,” offered Ladybug absently. “And her blog has the option to send in stuff anonymously, too.”

Chloe pushed herself up to a sitting position, apparently done sulking. “Nope, she’s been inactive for a few months. Said something about her schedule getting too hectic, I think.”

“Oh! Is that why I haven’t seen her around?” Said Chat, trying to hide his relief. “I thought I’d done something to offend her or something.”

He noticed, vaguely, that Rena was now bright red. His brain struggled to figure out why and then it clicked. The Ladyblogger stopped showing up a little while before Rena had appeared… she must be feeling left out!

He gave her a tiny smile. “There’s still other blogs, though, so we could try that.”

“You know, I always thought it was weird that the Ladyblogger had always chosen Ladybug for her name when Chat was there first,” mused Carapace.

“Do you know any good puns for Chat Noir that has to do with blogging?” Said Ladybug, a little defensive.

“Fair.”

“She also had a different name originally, she just changed it when Ladybug came on because of the pun,” muttered Rena.

Ah, so Chat had been wrong about Rena’s feelings about the Ladyblogger. Clearly she was just a fan of her work. That made sense, that seemed like the kind of content she would enjoy --.

Chloe was the one to pull everyone on track: “Who cares? If she’s been inactive no one’s checking her page, so we need a new plan.”

The five of them lapsed into silence as they considered the options.

“I could get Nadia Chamack to report on it?” Offered Ladybug.

“No one under thirty really watches the news. Wrong demographic,” Rena pointed out.

Chat hesitated slightly before raising his hand to get everyone’s attention. “Can’t we just use Chloe’s dad? I mean… everyone follows him to find out what insane thing he did for his daughter this week.”

Chloe sent him a glare.

“No offense,” he added quickly. “That’s definitely on the people of Paris for their… judgementalness and tendency to --.”

“Chat, do yourself a favor and shut up,” advised Rena.

“Okay.”

There was a moment as they all thought about it.

Chloe pulled her phone out. She dialled a number and there was hardly a beat before she smiled and said: “Daddy! Hi!”

There was a collective wince that the mayor’s daughter opted to ignore.

“I was wondering if you could -- oh. Thanks! I’ll text you the info to tell everyone, then...”

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @mialuvscats @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0 @ladybug-182 @cas-and-their-refusal-to-write

[llatimeria]

1,18, and 22!

1. Show us three of your favorite animals!

ONE. WEIRD OLD FISH. OBVIOUSLY

TWO. ive just been thinking about dogs all day this is an anatolian shepherd and i just think theyre neat. and huge

they were bred to be livestock guardians, which is a slightly different Dog Niche to like, regular guard dogs or herding dogs. they live almost exclusively within their flocks and deter various predators just by being present, which is a way more ethical and environmentally sound than just like. eliminating every wolf from an entire ecosystem. while also protecting the needs of farmers who, uh, benefit from their animals not being dead. also anatolians are now being used to help protect cheetahs in namibia with the same method; farmers who had issues with cheetahs would kill them to protect their livelihood, but after they added anatolians to their flocks livestock deaths went way, way, way down, meaning there was basically no need to kill the cheetahs anymore.

also to be clear anatolians aren’t the Only livestock guardian breed there’s a handful but i just like anatolians the most aesthetically for basically completely arbitrary reasons. here’s an example of another breed of livestock guardian: 

the komondor. the mop. the fucking mop. these things were bred to protect sheep from fucking wolves and bears. the mop-

THREE. UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH im kind of out of animals ive just had dog brainrot all day. OH uH HERE’S A BIRD I LIKE

IT’S CALLED THE VARIED THRUSH AND IVE NEVER FOUND A RECORDING THAT GETS ACROSS HOW ETHEREAL THEY SOUND IRL. their song is just one long whistley note and when youre walking at dusk by yourself from the library to your apartment in late fall/early winter it makes you feel like youre in a video game cutscene. i can’t explain it at all. also they’re really pretty 

18. What’s your favorite example of of mutualism in the animal kingdom? aOOH THIS IS A GOOD ONE... ITS HARD TO CHOOSE... for some reason my first impulse (after remembering that it is technically mutualism) was like, literally any gutflora? though i don’t think i could even begin explaining why because microbiology and health aren’t really areas of interest for me in any other way. i just kind of think its cool that i’m not just one isolated solitary Thing, but kind of a colony of many other things all working in tandem at once i guess

22. If you could get a Warriorcats-style book series about any species, which would you pick? UHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH GOD THIS IS SO HARDDDDD my gut says Literally Any Fish and i know id probably be right that there’s some fish out there with some cool social structures that could be worked into a warriors-style series but. that thing about coyotes and badgers working together  could make a cool YA series

[sixofhearts-homestuck]

post on general info for the four card trolls under the cut!! not sending their full refs because i want to keep some things secret for now :)

HEKKZA HAARTS

senaryCardiologist, she/it

six of hearts, witch of mind

purpleblood

eldest of the card trolls, has to leave alternia forever on the day after her 9th wriggling day. she hates it, but she tries to keep cool and go with it because she dreads the thought of her, or worse, her friends, being culled for being a fugitive.

not exactly a fan of the role she's been given because of her blood: for one, she finds the whole juggalo label uncomfortable for herself (she prefers doing this whole jester thing), and more importantly, she doesnt really... like subjugating lower bloods? the four trolls who she cares about most are under her in the hemospectrum, 2/3 are on the low end, and she doesn't see why they should be treated any worse apart from arbitrary rules.

LATRAL DYMONS

quaternaryJeweller, she/her

four of diamonds, ??? of ???

second eldest of the card trolls. she was chosen to be an archeradicator, but hasnt been able to handle bows for a while due to her increasing strength. she tries to not think too hard about what would happen when she gets picked up for this reason.

shes not a big fan of the whole hemospectrum thing. she knows she is expected to suck up to it because she is on the lower side of the "highbloods" but she cant bring herself to be casteist, especially since 2/3 of her favourite trolls are lowbloods.

shes recently started having "vague feelings" about things that will happen, and how she must react to them to avoid potentially catastrophic consequences.

QUINET SPAYDZ

quinaryExcavator, she/her

5 of spades, ??? of ???

2nd youngest of the card trolls. was the last in her group to transition, at around 8 sweeps/18 years old( as compared to the others who did so around 13-15 years old). has gotten a lot of help from hekkza & latral especially.

an aspiring engineer/inventor. she keeps heaps of metal parts all around her room. though its something she always had, recently her intuition for how to take things apart and put them back together has been sharpening for some reason.

DUEOWE CLYBZE

binaryBotanist, they/them

two of clubs, ??? of ???

youngest of the card trolls, hekkza's imminent leave keeps reminding them theyll have to watch as the only people who've ever made them felt loved leave one by one and its not exactly been easy for them.

they love scrolling through forums for niche indie titles and had stumbled upon devlogs for a game called "sgrub". after talking with its developer, twinArmageddons, they learned it might have strange properties that could help them stay with their friends. in an act of desperation, they hack TAs computer, only to accidentally mix a drop of their blood in their hiteck huskputer, which... put part of them *into* that computer?

GENERAL FUN FACTS:

they dont really like the rigidity of the traditional quadrant system. they'd always felt close to one another and tried to plan relations in a way that would help express that in the bounds of the "one person per quadrant, one quadrant per person" rules (dueowe <3 hekkza, quinet <3 latral, hekkza <> latral, dueowe <> quinet) but it didnt feel... right for them?

nowadays they dont really know how to properly label it, but they freely express flushed/pale feelings between each other. they briefly experimented with pitch but found long distance kissmessitude to not be as fulfilling as theyd want it to be.

theyd often get annoyed at people asking whats up with their quadrants, so they intentionally picked up the card suit symbolism to fuck with people even more.

(may add to this over time as new things come up for them)

hivebent: stripped deck act 1 act 1 is out!!! in this chapter we meet the four trolls central to our story :)

id really appreciate if you could check it out, this is the first piece of my work ive been able to publish fully on my own terms :)

[stocklinku0]

Building a Webgame - Putting the Chrome on a Stock Simulator - Part 2

Last article we detailed the first list of functions we wanted the stock simulator to do...

Buy and sell stocks in TV shows, TV channels, Studios, and stars

Short sell and cover the same stocks (Short selling and covering is the opposite of a buy or sell, if you short a stock, you hope the price drops so you can gain money on the fall.)

Rate or vote for popular TV shows

offer easy to use registration that is seamless

design the market system for extreme modularity so we can add in new features as we develop them without interrupting the market itself.

That list has now significantly expanded - this is the current list of functions and capabilities for the Stocks Online application...

buy and sell stocks

Short and cover stocks

Rate or vote for a random list of 10 stocks

easy registration process

retain modular market system for additional modules without extensive recoding or rebuilding

Display stocks not yet released so players can see upcoming stock listings or IPO's

Allow players to pre-buy IPO stocks before they go live at the IPO price

Flash-based stock ticker pulling information off of a cron-built data file that is updated every 15 minutes

hot-links in the stock ticker so players can go to individual stocks as they stream across

Generate a top 10 list of stocks so players can see what stocks are moving

A function to make a stock featured

Put a hotlink on the main page that shows a random pick of an IPO stock released that day, a featured stock that is being promoted, and the top moving stock in regards to share volume

Different stock types so there can be easy separation between categories such as shows, people, and studios or channels

cross-link stocks so if one stock goes up or down in price, all associated stocks also feel the adjustment to a smaller degree.

An admin function for stock price adjustment that allows for all cross-linked stock to be effected by the price adjustment without the cron cycle

a stock hold function with cash out ability so we can put a stock on hold and cash it out if it delists or go's onto a hiatus

Allow a player to rate individual stocks for a reward

Allow a player to write a review of a stock for a reward

We are currently finishing up the last two items on the list, at which time the application will be completed and we will begin branching out the stock sim to different niche market applications.

As the entire application is php based, we can put functions into php includes and as such modularise the system to create custom pages for Reality TV or for specific studios or shows as events occur, such as the Emmy awards.

Once the base system was completed, the real work began , putting in all the data for current television shows, the actors involved, producers, directors, creators, the studios and the channels that air the shows. Everything had to be put into the system, cross-referenced, and checked to ensure it all worked seamlessly.

That data entry took most of two months to do - but by the end, the market system had been seeded with all of the current run prime-time shows and their related actors and production studios. The market was brought out of Beta status on September 2nd and went live later that day.

We then began tracking neilson ratings so we could revalue the market as we realised the arbitrary values we had put into the stocks were far too low. Tracking neilsons back to early august, I began to compile a spreadsheet showing the neilson trends and the growth in viewership as new shows premiered and then either faded or survived.

In the last week of September, we put a hold onto the primary channel stocks, freezing and cashing out ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and The CW - and then neilson adjusted each one up to it's corrected levels based on the neilson ratings that had been accumulated. The reaction to the linked stocks was dramatic. CBS which linked to every CBS aired show gained ground rapidly. By the time the next Cron cycle had run after all neilsons had been put in, CBS stood at over $100 a share in game currency. It had started at about $2.

if you need more information http://www.stocklinku.com/ kindly cheakout our site.