#the robots of the interregnum

[larmegliamori]

Mr. Brown really came in like a wrecking ball by not only making Dors and Gladia bisexual but also by having the former equating Daneel to Sisyphus like holy shit

[o-craven-canto]

Words borrowed from other languages in English

Very incomplete list, based mostly on The Languages of the World (3rd ed.), Kenneth Katzner, 2002 + a heavy use of Wiktionary. some notes:

Many of these words have passed through multiple languages on their way to English (e.g. Persian -> Arabic -> Spanish -> French -> English); in that case I usually list them under the first language that used them with the same meaning as English.

I generally don't include words whose ancestors already existed in Middle English, unless their origin was exotic enough to be interesting.

The vast majority of borrowings are terms very specific to their culture of origin; I generally only include those that are either well known among English-speakers, or of general use outside that culture. As always, this is largely subjective.

INDO-EUROPEAN FAMILY (West and South Eurasia)

Hellenic

Greek: angel, chronometer, democracy, encyclopedia, geography, graphic, hieroglyphic, homogeneous, hydraulic, kudos, meter, microphone, microscope, monarchy, philosophy, phobia, photography, telephone, telescope, thermometer, and way too many other scientific or technical terms to count

Germanic

Afrikaans: aardvark, apartheid, fynbos, rooibos, springbok, trek, veld, wildebeest

Danish: Lego, simper

Dutch: brandy, bumpkin, coleslaw, cookie, deck, dock, dollar, freight, furlough, hodgepodge, landscape, maelstrom, noodle, Santa Claus, waffle, walrus, yacht

German: aurochs, bildungsroman, blitzkrieg, cobalt, dachsund, eigenvector, ersatz, gestalt, glockenspiel, hamburger, hinterland, kindergarten, kohlrabi, lager, poodle, quark, sauerkraut, wanderlust, yodel, zeitgeist

Icelandic: eider, geyser

Norwegian: auk, fjord, krill, lemming, narwhal, slalom, troll

Swedish: lek, mink, ombudsman, rutabaga, smorgasbord, tungsten

Yiddish: bupkis, chutzpah, kvetch, putz, schlemiel, schmaltz, schmooze, schtick, spiel, tchotchke

Slavic

Czech: robot

Russian: fedora, glasnost, intelligentsia, kefir, mammoth, pogrom, samizdat, steppe, sputnik, troika, tsar, vodka

Serbo-Croat: cravat, paprika

Celtic [many of these words are shared between the two languages]

Irish: bog, galore, gaol, geas, glen, orrery, shamrock, slob, whiskey

Scottish Gaelic: bard, bunny, cairn, clan, loch, ptarmigan, ?scone, slogan

Italic-Romance

†Latin: way too many, but ignoring the ones that were already naturalized in Middle English: a priori, arcane, algae, alumni, artificial, calculus, cancer, carnivore, cavity, circa, confide, dire, federal, flammable, homicide, interregnum, larva, lemur, magnanimity, manuscript, millipede, nebula, nimbus, nocturnal, octave, optimal, postmortem, senile, supernova, urban, verbatim, and countless medical or legal terms

French: the bulk of French (or rather Norman) borrowings occurred before Middle English, but to stick to my rules: aubergine, bourgeois, buttress, camouflage, capitalism, caramel, chassis, chauvinism, cheque, collage, elite, embassy, ennui, espionage, etiquette, facade, fondue, gouache, guillotine, infantry, lingerie, mauve, mayonnaise, mollusk, Renaissance, reservoir, sabotage, souvenir, turquoise...

Italian: allegro, aria, balcony, bandit, bravo, calamari, casino, cello, chiaroscuro, crescendo, contraband, contrapposto, fresco, gazette, ghetto, gusto, inferno, lagoon, lava, mafia, malaria, pants, quarantine, tempo, umbrella, vendetta, volcano

Portuguese: baroque, brocade, cachalot, cobra, creole, flamingo, petunia, pimento, zebra

Spanish: abalone, armadillo, bolas, bonanza, canyon, cargo, chupacabra, cigar, cilantro, embargo, gaucho, guerrilla, junta, manta, mesa, mosquito, mustang, patio, pueblo, rodeo, siesta, tornado, vanilla

Iranian

Persian: bazaar, caravan, checkmate, chess, crimson, dervish, divan, jackal, jasmine, khaki, kiosk, lemon, lilac, musk, orange, pajama, paradise, satrap, shawl, taffeta

Indo-Aryan

†Sanskrit: brahmin, Buddha, chakra, guru, karma, mantra, opal, swastika, yoga

Bengali: dinghy, jute, nabob

Hindi: bandana, bungalow, cheetah, chintz, chutney, coolie, cot, dungaree, juggernaut, lacquer, loot, rajah, pundit, shampoo, tom-tom, thug, veranda

Marathi: mongoose

Romani: hanky-panky, pal, shiv

Sinhalese: anaconda, beriberi, serendipity, tourmaline

DRAVIDIAN FAMILY (Southern India)

Kannada: bamboo

Malayalam: atoll, calico, copra, jackfruit, mahogany, mango, pagoda, teak

Tamil: curry, mulligatawny, pariah

Telugu: bandicoot

URALIC FAMILY (Northern Eurasia)

Finnic

Finnish: sauna

Saami: tundra

Samoyedic

Nenets: parka

Ugric

Hungarian: biro, coach, goulash, hussar, puszta, tokay

VASCONIC FAMILY (Northern Pirenees)

Basque: chaparral, chimichurri, silhouette

TURKIC FAMILY (Central and Northern Eurasia)

†Old Turkic: cossack, yurt

Tatar: ?stramonium

Turkish: baklava, balaclava, bergamot, caftan, caviar, harem, janissary, kebab, kismet, minaret, pastrami, sherbet, tulip, yoghurt

Yakut: taiga

MONGOLIC FAMILY (Mongolia and surrounding areas)

Mongol: horde, khan, ?valerian

SINO-TIBETAN FAMILY (China and Southeast Asia)

Tibeto-Burman

Burmese: ?marzipan

Tibetan: lama, panda, tulpa, yak, yeti

Sinitic [Chinese languages closely related, not always clear from which a borrowing comes]

Hokkien: ?ketchup, sampan, tea

Mandarin: chi, dazibao, gung-ho, kaolin, oolong, shaolin, shanghai, tao, yin-yang

Min Nan: nunchaku

Yue (Cantonese): chop suey, dim sum, kowtow, kumquat, lychee, shar-pei, ?typhoon, wok

TUNGUSIC FAMILY (Eastern Siberia)

Evenki: pika, shaman

KOREANIC FAMILY (Koreas)

Korean: bulgogi, chaebol, hantavirus, kimchi, mukbang, taekwondo

JAPONIC FAMILY (Japan)

Japanese: banzai, bonsai, dojo, emoji, geisha, ginkgo, hikikomori, honcho, ikebana, kamikaze, karaoke, koi, kudzu, manga, origami, pachinko, rickshaw, sake, samurai, sensei, soy, sushi, tofu, tsunami, tycoon, zen

KRA-DAI FAMILY (mainland Southeast Asia)

Thai: bong, pad thai

AUSTROASIATIC FAMILY (mainland Southeast Asia)

Vietnamese: pho, saola, Vietcong

AUSTRONESIAN FAMILY (maritime Southeast Asia and Oceania)

Western Malayan

Javanese: ?junk [ship]

Malay: amok, camphor, cockatoo, compound [building], cootie, durian, kapok, orangutan, paddy, pangolin, rattan, sarong

Barito

Malagasy: raffia

Phlippinic

Cebuano: dugong

Ilocano: yo-yo

Tagalog: boondocks

Oceanic

Hawai'ian: aloha, hula, luau, poi, wiki

Maori: kauri, kiwi, mana, weta

Marshallese: bikini

Tahitian: pareo, tattoo

Tongan: taboo

TRANS-NEW GUINEAN FAMILY (New Guinea)

Fore: kuru

PAMA-NYUNGAN FAMILY (Australia)

Dharug: boomerang, corroboree, dingo, koala, wallaby, wobbegong, wombat, woomera

Guugu Yimithirr: kangaroo, quoll

Nyungar: dunnart, gidgee, quokka

Pitjantjatjara: Uluru

Wathaurong: bunyip

Wiradjuri: kookaburra

Yagara: dilly bag

AFRO-ASIATIC FAMILY (North Africa and Near East)

Coptic: adobe

Berber

Tachelhit: argan

Semitic

†Punic: Africa

Arabic: albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alfalfa, algebra, alkali, amber, arsenal, artichoke, assassin, candy, coffee, cotton, elixir, gazebo, gazelle, ghoul, giraffe, hashish, harem, magazine, mattress, monsoon, sofa, sugar, sultan, syrup, tabby, tariff, zenith, zero

Hebrew: amen, behemoth, cabal, cherub, hallelujah, kibbutz, kosher, manna, myrrh, rabbi, sabbath, Satan, seraph, shibboleth

NIGER-CONGO FAMILY (Subsaharan Africa)

unknown: cola, gorilla, tango

Senegambian

Wolof: banana, fonio, ?hip, ?jigger [parasite], karite, ?jive, yam

Gur-Adamawa

Ngbandi: Ebola

Kwa

Ewe: voodoo

Volta-Niger

Igbo: okra

Yoruba: gelee [headgear], mambo, oba, orisha

Cross River

Ibibio: calypso

Bantu

Lingala: basenji

Kikongo: ?chimpanzee, ?macaque, ?zombie

Kimbundu: ?banjo, Candomblé, gumbo, macumba, tanga

Swahili: askari, Jenga, kwanzaa, safari

Xhosa: Ubuntu

Zulu: impala, mamba, vuvuzela

KHOE-KWADI FAMILY (Southwest Africa)

Khoekhoe (Hottentot): gnu, kudu, quagga

ESKIMO-ALEUT FAMILY (Arctic America)

Greenlandic Inuit: igloo, kayak

Inuktikut: nunatak

ALGIC FAMILY (Eastern Canada and northeast USA)

†Proto-Algonquin: moccasin, opossum, skunk

Cree: muskeg, pemmican

Mikmaq: caribou, toboggan

Montagnais: husky

Narragansett: ?moose, ?powwow, sachem

Ojibwe: chipmunk, totem, wendigo, woodchuck

Powhatan: persimmon, raccoon

SALISHAN FAMILY (Pacific coast at the USA-Canada border)

Chehalis: chinook

Halkomelem: sasquatch

Lushootseed: geoduck

IROQUOIAN FAMILY (Eastern North America)

Cherokee: sequoia

SIOUAN FAMILY (Central USA)

Lakota: teepee

MUSKOGEAN FAMILY (Southeast USA)

Choctaw: bayou

UTO-AZTECAN FAMILY (Southwest USA and north Mexico)

Nahuatl: atlatl, avocado, chili, cocoa, coyote, chocolate, guacamole, hoazin, mesquite, ocelot, quetzal, tamale, tegu, tomato

O'odham (Pima): jojoba

Shoshone: chuckwalla

Yaqui: ?saguaro

MAYAN FAMILY (Southern Mexico and Guatemala)

Yucatec Maya: cenote, Chicxulub

ARAWAKAN FAMILY (Caribbeans and South America)

†Taino: barbecue, cannibal, canoe, cassava, cay, guava, hammock, hurricane, iguana, maize, manatee, mangrove, maroon, potato, savanna, tobacco

Arawak: papaya

CARIBAN FAMILY (Caribbean coast of South America)

unknown: curare

Galibi Carib: caiman, chigger, pawpaw, peccary, yucca

QUECHUAN FAMILY (Andes)

Quechua: ?Andes, caoutchouc, coca, condor, guano, jerky, llama, mate, poncho, puma, quinine, vicuna

AYMARAN FAMILY (Andes)

Aymara: alpaca, chinchilla

TUPIAN FAMILY (Brazil)

[borrowings are often shared between these two languages]

†Old Tupi: ananas, arowana, Cayenne [pepper], jaguar, manioc, piranha, tapioca

Guarani: cougar, maracuja, Paraguay, petunia, toucan

CREOLE LANGUAGES (worldwide, mixed origin)

English-derived

Chinese Pidgin English: chopstick, long time no see, pidgin, taipan

Jamaican Creole: dreadlocks, reggae

Chinook-derived

Chinook Jargon: potlatch

EDIT 08-01-24: added lots more examples, especially African, Asian, and North American languages. Still not done. EDIT 17-01-24: finished adding examples, more or less. EDIT: 18-02-24: apparently not (cheetah). EDIT: 20-05-24: nope (mosquito); 30-06-24: jerky, mukbang, cello, glockenspiel, hodgepodge; 06-06-25: marzipan, lagoon, contraband, artichoke EDIT 02-11-24: finally expanded the French and Latin points. Also, added kudos, camphor, moose, and the Thai and Vietnamese sections.

[positivelybeastly]

Trope

Ready for a small novella?

Omnidisciplinary Scientist:

"He had his brains undergo an inflation similar to Superman's powers going from Flying Brick in the Golden Age to almighty in the Silver Age. In the early days, he was just the best and most studious of the school's students. By now he's a world-renowned expert in every science there is, and when it comes to solving the science-based problem of the week, be it a virus, a killer robot that doesn't respond to Eye Beams, etc. he'll be the one to do it. Officially Reed Richards is the smartest human in the Marvel Universe, but Beast really can stand up to him in the actual count of scientific day-saving moments. Need a device to make the godlike Dark Phoenix's butt temporarily kickable? He'll whip it up in an hour. The Big Bad is using an alien spaceship left behind by the Precursors? He'll pull up a chair and make it work for him in under an hour! Legacy Virus? Get on it, Hank. And somehow, even with the superhero-ing and research work in all fields of science, Hank also finds time to be a regular on the talk show circuit. Interestingly, he's less like this in his Avengers appearances: when you've got a team with Pym, Stark, and Banner you don't need another genius, so he's more of a Boisterous Bruiser with his (considerable) physical powers emphasized (which have also greatly increased since his days as one of the original X-Men; he once casually boasted about being able to bench press 70 tons and his agility has always been on par with Spider-Man). However, that was when he was first with the Avengers, during the interregnum between the original X-Men series and the "all new, all different" one that introduced Storm, Wolverine, etc. This many decades of being the X-Men's resident genius later, it's no longer possible to ignore the brains angle. He keeps his X-Men characterization during Secret Avengers, and in that series, he's clearly on par with Pym. The in-universe explanation (although never stated outright) was that this was the time when he started experimenting with pot.

Dark Beast, the evil alternate Hank who arrived here from the Age of Apocalypse universe, once posed as "our" Hank and ended up complaining about all the things he was expected to know. Dark Beast is an expert on genetics, making him seriously bad news to have on the wrong side in this universe. However, genetics is his specialty while prime Hank's specialty is "everything ever." At one point, that was prime Hank's specialty too, but he's branched out a lot since then, being a medical doctor in addition to having Ph.Ds in genetics and biochemistry and being a self-trained expert in everything else."

Hank is fucking busted crazy smart. Like, it's one thing to be a genius in biochemistry, biophysics and genetics, a field in which Hank is basically meant to be the foremost expert in the entire world, but he's also a genius in basically any and every field. He just spontaneously develops an M.D. and starts doing brain surgery because it's what the X-Men need him to do!

I really don't think the writers ever quite considered what they were doing when they had every technological, scientific, or medical problem the X-Men ever faced be solved by one person.

[librarycards]

I was asked to provide a little bibliography on this. find some sources below!

Ashley, Florence. 2020. A Critical Commentary on "Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria" in The Sociological Review. (@floral-ashes !)

Cavar, Sarah. 2023. Embodying Otherwise: Nonhuman Criptopias in Salt Fish Girl in the Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies. (hi!)

Cavar, Sarah. 2023. Loving Trans into Possible: t4t As Transpollinatory Praxis in APA Studies in LGBTQ Philosophy. (hi!)

Chen, Mel Y. 2012. Animacies: Biopolitics, racial mattering, and queer affect. Duke University Press.

Chen, Mel Y. 2023. Intoxicated: Race, Disability, and Chemical Intimacy across Empire. Duke University Press.

Ferri, Beth A. 2018. Metaphors of contagion and the autoimmune body in Feminist Formations.

Fritsch, Kelly, and Anne McGuire. 2018. Introduction: the biosocial politics of queer/crip contagions in Feminist Formations.

Holland, Kate, Andrew Dickson, and Anna Dickson. 2018. ‘To the horror of experts’: reading beneath scholarship on pro-ana online communities in Critical Public Health.

Hsu, V. Jo. 2022. Irreducible Damage: The Affective Drift of Race, Gender, and Disability in Anti-Trans Rhetorics in Rhetoric Society Quarterly.

Malatino, Hil. 2019. Future Fatigue: Trans Intimacies and Trans Presents (or How to Survive the Interregnum) in Transgender Studies Quarterly.

Patsavas, Alyson. 2014. Recovering a cripistemology of pain: Leaky bodies, connective tissue, and feeling discourse in the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies.

Yergeau, Remi. 2020. Cassandra Isn’t Doing the Robot: On Risky Rhetorics and Contagious Autism in Rhetoric Society Quarterly.

These are pieces I've written, read and cited over the last few years, some of which informed the above post. Hope this helps!

any 'social contagion' logic presupposes (white, cis, tme, straight, abled, sane) ppl - especially those under 18, are 'pure' by default and thus in imminent danger of corruption, even possession, by unnamed forces of evil. (and, conversely, that those who cannot meet those criteria are vectors of sin –– i mean, symptoms. we can see this in very obvious ways re: discourses of trans contagion, sex ed as grooming, and the like, but it's definitely also worth considering the overlaps w/ Madness & neurodivergence:

before existing anti-trans moms had the main stage, discourses of "feminine contagion" were already being whipped up by many of these same moms, worried that their daughters' [sic] bodily autonomy was the 'evil' at the root of their disordered/disorderly eating, their self-injury, their suicide. fear of anorexia-as-contagion (and self-harm/injury more broadly) is rooted in this fear of bodily autonomy as a force of corruption, and as such, demands to "recover" in normative ways demands a kind of exorcism. it presumes that the Bad Part of us is unnatural and removable, because the person we are Ought To Be occupies the role prescribed to us already. cissexism, ableism, saneism, entangled once more.

one other interesting example of this - and by interesting i mean evil - is 00's A$ rhetoric around the "I Am Autism" video/campaign. Again, autism is a thing that comes in and "possesses" the hitherto "pure" child and must be cured - eradicated - battled. it's no coincidence that the most violent anti-trans bigots rest on the relationships between gender noncompliance and noncompliance with alimentary/behavioral norms, not because there is some magic genetic link between them, but because they are all expressions of willful & "impurifying" autonomy.

[welcometomy20s]

July 10, 2023

Lemmy is touted as an alternative to Reddit, but their biggest problem is UI Design. If you want to become the next Reddit, you need to look like Reddit. Of course, the instances look like Reddit, but the instances aren’t unified, unlike in Mastadon, where it is unified.

This unified view eases us into the federated world, which tries to combine the benefits of Web 1.0 and 2.0, forming a synthesis between good and bad.

Since, I kind of feel done with this topic, I’ll fill in with something related, but not directly on topic. Meta’s Thread is an interesting release for fellow robot and jiu jitsu opponent Mark Zuckerberg. This release reminds me of Instagram Stories. Instagram stories was a Meta’s take on Vine but more closely Snapchat. At release many were questioning its entrance to the market, but stories proved to be a viable although not dominant tool. Vine died, and it was China’s TikTok that managed to be the replacement after an interregnum. Of course, recently YouTube has made Shorts, which was made with similar if a bit muted response.

I wonder if Threads will march in the same direction as Instagram stories, as a relevant but not dominant alternative to Twitter. I am surprised there is no Chinese alternative popping off, although considering the state of Tech in China, it’s not a big surprise. It would be funny if Google have a crack at the market, considering Google could have bought Twitter in 2015.

[sixamese-simblr]

Planet: Sixam Stellar Revolution 125 since start of the colony Current Queen: Interregnum Household type: High Council Elites

Because Fnurk divorced their previous service robot, their housemates Thinzwi and Moltar are left without help cleaning. It doesn’t go great.

[anotheruserwithnoname]

Terrance Dicks had an immeasurable impact on the original Doctor Who series. Not only was he a writer of a number of classic-era stories, and the script editor for many more, but he was single-handedly responsible for writing at least half (if not more) of the 150 or so novelizations of classic-era stories published over a 20-year period by Target Books. He even dipped his toe into the new series, writing two Tenth Doctor novellas for the Quick Reads line about a decade ago, and he also contributed to the Bernice Summerfield spin-off franchise. Ironically he only wrote a half dozen TV scripts for Who himself, but they included The War Games (co-written with Malcolm Hulke, which introduced the Time Lords and regenerated Patrick Troughton); Robot (which introduced Tom Baker); the classic Brain of Morbius (though he didn’t care for how it was rewritten so he used the pseudonym Robin Bland); and The Five Doctors. During the interregnum he also helped keep Who alive by writing several independent spin-off productions, most notably the film Shakedown: Return of the Sontarans, that took advantage of a loophole that allowed non-BBC productions spun-off from Who so long as BBC-owned characters - primarily the Doctor - didn’t appear; Dicks later adapted Shakedown as a novel for the Virgin New Adventures line - where he was finally able to incorporate the Seventh Doctor into his story.

He will be missed. RIP.

[gofancyninjaworld]

OPM ‘Majin’ Drama CD Reviews.  Part 0 -- Setting

Introduction

So, because nobody else has, I thought I’d review the set of audio books that ONE produced for OPM in 2017.  There were four volumes and the ‘serious’ drama parts are original stories that have been wonderfully transcribed into English for us, available here. They are canon but are funny, informative and more than a little mad. I’ll be posting one every Sunday that there isn’t a manga or webcomic update. 

A short note on the dangers of fanon

When I sat down to look over the set as a whole, I had one problem. They all appeared to be set in the interregnum between the end of the alien invasion (which ends as of chapter 37 and the end of volume 7) and the introduction of King (which begins in volume 8 and chapter 38).  Except for one.  That included in CD2: ‘Genos, Training’.  When you go to the fan wiki, you’ll read that it’s been set after Genos gets his G-4 set of upgrades, which puts it much, much later than the rest and a real break with their continuity. This is a fan’s supposition, not an authorial statement and when I sat down to review the series, it stuck out as odd.

So I looked into it, considering even whether to write to ONE to ask for clarification.  And then I remembered that Nothing In OPM is Complicated; It May Be Subtle, But Never Complicated.

And the subtlety that is right there for the astute fan is this:  the heroes Genos recruits all call him Genos.  Not Demon Cyborg.  Why not?  Because he hasn’t yet been given one!  Just as is the case in CD1, he’s still without a hero name. Heroes call each other by their hero names.  We learned this all the way back in chapter 21:

If one is a keen fan, that’s all the explanation one needs to know that CD2 is set at the same time as CD1 and the rest of the Drama CD set.   However, it’s worthwhile explaining further in this instance.   So a few possible objections then:

Objection 1: How can you know when Genos got his G-4 upgrade and when he got his hero name?   

The manga tells us precisely which upgrade is the G-4 one in black and white (outlined in red for emphasis):

At the same time that the G-4 upgrades appear, Genos and Saitama get their hero names.  Not before.

 After Genos gets a hero name, only the heroes who knew him personally beforehand keep calling him Genos.  Bang and Saitama will always call Genos Genos because he’ll always be that damn kid to them,  King calls him Genos to his face, but calls him Demon Cyborg when talking about him to others, and Fubuki calls him both in the best possible passive-aggressive manner.

Objection 2: Right, so it’s not the G-4 one but couldn’t it be after Genos defeats the G-4 robot anyway? 

ONE has anticipated this possibility.  When Sonic shows up,  Genos goes out to face him precisely because it’d give him a chance to test out his interim set.  Which he discarded IMMEDIATELY afterwards, going back to his spare arms literally the moment he got back inside the apartment. 

He tests them out on Sonic (left) and they’re gone by the time Fubuki gets inside to tell her tale of woe (right). Because sometimes, Genos is a spoiled brat.

The set he had before G-4 is the only one he would have had long enough to do the several days of testing that Drama CD2 takes place over. 

Only this set is in the right place and the right time and for the right amount of time to logically fit in the story.

Objection 3: I can’t actually tell the difference between one arm set and another.

Genos does indeed go through a lot of arm sets and it’s an easy detail to miss. Thankfully, a hyper fan has done the work for us with extremely nice schematic drawings.  However, a very easy way to tell the G-4 upgrade apart from the rest is that it’s the one that looks like you could unscrew it with a coin.  If you had a very large coin and a place to stand. 

Schematic drawings of arm sets.  Left: interim arm set used on Sonic.  Right: G-4 upgrade arm set.

Objection 4: Isn’t this all rather subtle?

The clues as to when the other episodes are set are just as subtle. In all of them, King is not yet in attendance. Once Saitama meets King, the latter is with them almost all the time and he and Saitama are frequently to be found playing video games.   In CD1,  Saitama doesn’t have a hero name yet, so we’re happy to assign it to before King.  In CD3, Sonic doesn’t recognise Genos, so we’re happy to accept that they’ve not clashed yet and put it before King.  In CD4, Garou bumps into Charanko without recognition, so we’re happy to accept that he’s not yet made his declaration of war yet. 

But I’m going to bet that there’s going to be an incredible amount of push-back to the idea of setting CD2 with the rest of the stories that bracket it.   Push-back that wouldn’t be present if it were about a character who enjoys more fannish favour, like Metal Bat (where the response would be one of relief ‘I thought as much!’).  The fanon view of Genos is that he’s extremely weak, barely a Class S hero, and it’s taken him several upgrades to be barely adequate.

Objection 5: Truthfully, I just don’t care. 

I can believe that. That is indeed the truth!  Well, it’s half the truth. The full truth is that faced with an ambiguity, the fannish bias against Genos became clear -- it had to be later, rather than sooner.  And no one questioned it or pushed back.  That’s how bias works: it’s not mindless opposition at all times, but a lean towards or against whenever you have a choice. It’s a danger inherent in fanon -- when popularly-accepted notions gain near canonical status.  In universe, it’s how King works too: because he could be anything, characters project onto him their own internal character and biases.

It’s worth getting these things right. No individual fan has to care, but sites like the fandom wiki do. Editorial remarks are all too easily mistaken for authorial ones and that’s misleading.

Objection 6: What’s your problem, anyway?

I’m writing this as much because I’m annoyed with myself as with anyone else for not taking the time to look into it until I came to review the stories where how little sense the supposition actually made became clear. 

It does come down to what fandom is about, doesn’t it?  Fandom is as much a social activity driven by the need to cohere and to agree as it is about enjoying a work.    And sometimes the truth suffers for it.   It’s a salutatory reminder to myself to always, always do my own thinking, cross-check carefully and take no one’s word as gospel. 

The Take Away

Anyway, what the take away is this: all four ‘Serious’ Drama episodes are set in the period between when one fit of madness -- the alien invasion -- ends, and then next fit of madness -- the monster uprising -- begins. 

[bananadata]

A scientist is trying to teach a neural network to cook—and the results are hilariously bad

Let's be honest, there isn't much that we enjoy more than when AI fails at stuff that we, as humans, have totally mastered. This is a good one!

“One day, for certain, the machines will control us all. You know it, I know it, even those survivalists who swear their Ham Radios are unhackable deep down know it. But in the interregnum, while we foolishly and recklessly train artificial intelligence to exert its dominance, we might as well laugh at their foibles.

In fact, robots being bad at doing robot things is pretty much its own genre of humor. Perhaps it will bring us comfort when we are in the camps, looking back at these light-hearted days.

When our inevitable enslavement comes, what will the robots feed us?” Find out more on Daily Dot

[syrupwit]

Letter for Trick or Treat 2018

Thank you for reading!!

Table of Contents:

General Likes & DNW

Dishonored

Original Works

Portal

Sunless Sea

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GENERAL LIKES & DNW

Fic Likes: Humor, angst, slice of life, action/adventure, casefic, "original flavor" canon compliant works. On the light side -- camaraderie, cooperation, and loyalty among characters; hijinks and shenanigans; frenemies. On the dark side -- manipulative or one-sided relationships; fridge horror; Monkey's Paw situations; permeating, lingering atmospheres of dread. On the Halloween side -- witches, ghosts, cults, rituals, eldritch beings, and silly fake-scary party foods. I love short fics, character sketches, and unusual narrative structures (epistolary, found document, framing devices like quoting from a work that doesn't exist). Drabbles are more than welcome. For POV, first, second, and third person are all welcome. I am also fond of outsider POV and, where applicable, Outsider POV on requested characters. Also I really like pining.

Art Likes: Bright colors, monochrome, pixel art, detailed decorative-style art, cartoon style, sketches, digital art, illustrations... I'm not super well versed in art, but I like it! No doubt your hypothetical piece will impress me terribly!

DNW: Major character death, bestiality, or gratuitous gore/violence. Onscreen rape/non-con, suicide, cannibalism, or harm to animals (offscreen is fine). Asexual or aromantic characters in romantic/sexual situations. Issuefic.

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DISHONORED

I love the worldbuilding and creepy atmosphere in Dishonored. It's probably the game I have spent the most time playing. My computer is apparently allergic to Dishonored 2, but I have seen part of an LP (and I'm spoiled!). For this exchange, I've requested characters that I would like to know more about. 

(Please note: If you’ve written a treat for me in this fandom before, I am a fan of all you write and if you are thinking of writing something for me I’d be happy with anything. But no pressure, seriously!)

Daud's Mother - Not a witch, but accomplished with poisons. Please tell me more about her! How did she learn to "never make an enemy of a witch"? How did she make her name, or lack thereof? Did she have, like, opinions, about politics? Did she ever eat good food? Make her real for me :D

Billie Lurk | Meagan Foster - The lieutenant who pays too much attention, the scarred and mysterious captain. In The Knife of Dunwall, I love that even the other Whalers think she's sort of weird. In DH2, I love... HER. Ultimate woobie tbh. I'd be happy to read anything about Billie: backstory, comedy, case snippets, angst, hurt/comfort, navel-gazing inner monologue. What was her best or worst job as an assassin? What does she do during the Fugue Feast? How were her first days at sea after leaving Dunwall? For ships, I'd prefer Billie/Daud, Billie/Emily, or Billie/Delilah. For friendships: Billie & Sokolov. However, she's great all on her lonesome.

Vera Moray | Granny Rags - The fallen beauty, the would-be cannibal! What were the stories the kids in the slums told about her? What did she find in Pandyssia? She's so grubby and creepy and fascinating. How did her little war with Slackjaw start? Did she ever meet Delilah? I'd love to see her interact with Sokolov or Corvo, but I'd also love to just see what's going on in her brain.

Black Sally - Slackjaw's predecessor, probably faked her own death. Tell me more about her rise and fall, and what she got up to after the interregnum. Did she ever pique the Outsider's interest, and if so, what dissuaded him? Was she involved, or were her parents involved, in the Morley Insurrection? *interviewer voice* When did she first display leadership skills? Erm, I guess I'd just like to know more.

Lizzy Stride - Sharpens her teeth to look tough. What happens to her after the events of The Brigmore Witches? Who is her aristocratic lover? What's her idea of a good time? What does she think about whales? How does she die? I kind of ship her with Delilah in a messed up way, but you don't have to.

Slackjaw - The Urchin Prince. If his elixir still is contaminated with rat plague, how does he find out? What's his place in the wider criminal society of Dunwall? Has he ever been even the least bit interesting to the Outsider? Why exactly does he dress like a Hatter (Watsonian explanation)? And, ah... How does he die, if not by the hand of Mrs Vera Moray?

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ORIGINAL WORKS

I am loving the Original Works tags this year. Please feel free to use the character tags themselves as prompts if you’d prefer, or see my questions below.

Female Counselor Working at the Camp Where Those Murders Happened Years Ago - How long has she worked at the camp? Was she... the murderer?! Was her mother the murderer? Have the murders started up again just like they did all those years ago? Was she/her mother the murderer, but now the murders have started up again just like they did all those years ago and this time it's not the original murderer? Is the Counselor simply welcoming campers to the grand reopening of Camp Hackynslasche with a delicately worded account of its history? Options abound.

Mayor Who Won't Close The Beaches Because He Doesn't Believe There's a Murderous Sea Monster - What's the Mayor's reasoning? Do they change their mind? Are they in league with the Sea Monster? Does the whole thing come to a head one dark and stormy night as torrential floods allow the Sea Monster to temporarily come on land, or one bright and sunny day as the Mayor sets out in a glass-bottomed boat with a pack of journalists to prove once and for all that there is no Sea Monster? Or perhaps the Sea Monster isn't really murderous and has just been taking people to a secluded island against their will to test out its new theme park -- which is still a crime, but not as bad as murder, surely? Go wild...

Psychic Detective Who Has To Fake Being Brilliant At Clues - COMEDY GOLD. What is the Detective investigating? Have they always been psychic, or is it a recent development? Is there a rival police detective getting increasingly fed up with the Detective's nonsensical methods that somehow always arrive at the right conclusion? Are there times when being a Psychic Detective really, really sucks, and other times when it's awesome? How?

Pyramid Scheme Victim Out For Revenge - Yes! I love this prompt! What's the scheme? Probiotic health shakes? Crystal jewelry? Organic knives? Does the pyramid scheme conceal some sinister purpose, or is its founding motivation simple human greed? How does the Victim seek revenge? Infiltrating the pyramid scheme's corporate headquarters under an assumed identity? Founding a competing scheme? Shutting down production and supply? Uh, hacking? I'd love to know :D

Space Traveler Stranded on a Haunted Planet - A Trick request, or possibly a Treat! What stranded the Traveler? What is the haunted planet like -- air, gravity, landscape / seascape / gas-scape, habitability, light / darkness, ...? Who or what is doing the haunting -- an ancient civilization, a malevolent higher being, a malevolent AI that just acts like a ghost, the ghosts of other stranded travelers, native inhabitants who are alive and just really don't want to get colonized? I'm interested!

A Yoga Ball that is One of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Disguise - I just want to know what's going on here.

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PORTAL

Somehow, Portal 2 managed to be even better than Portal. Or was it the other way around? Anyway, I'd love something funny, scary, or whimsical yet fridge-horrifying for this fandom.

Cave Johnson - His loudspeaker announcements were among my favorite parts of Portal 2. For a trick OR treat, I'd love to know more about the wild, wacky, and wildly unethical schemes he got up to. What happened to those mantis men? What were his interdepartmental memos like? Any weird company policies or work holidays we didn't hear about? For art, I loved the Aperture Science posters and Cave’s steadily aging portraits. Also I ship him with Caroline, though I understand this exchange is character matching. ;)

GLaDOS - Murderous AI of my heart! I ship her with Chell and/or Wheatley, but you don’t have to. What piqued her interest in cake? What if she gave it all up and became a potato farmer? When did she first become conscious of her own sentience? What if she decided to pursue becoming, like, “best friends” with Chell even after Caroline was gone? What if there arose some situation in which she were hurt and needed to be comforted?? For art, I’d love to see GLaDOS in one of her earlier robot bodies, or throwing herself a birthday celebration, or hosting a Halloween party. Malevolent GLaDOS looming above a pile of dubiously human bodies is, uh, also an image that just sprang into my mind. Oh dear.

Turret(s) - Poor things. So much potential for creepiness or cuteness, or both at once. What do the turrets get up to in their spare time, if they have any? What do they think about GLadOS, or working for GLaDOS vs Wheatley? Cute art of turrets performing their daily duties or dressing up for Halloween absolutely would not go amiss!

Wheatley - What can I say, he grew on me. I ship him with Chell and/or GLaDOS, but again, you don’t have to. Poor Wheatley up there on the moon... What’s it like to know that you were designed specifically to dampen someone else’s intelligence? Are there things Wheatley is good at that just go entirely against GLaDOS’ way of thinking? How did he get detached from GLaDOS in the first place? If for some reason he was invited to a Halloween party, and he had to attend in costume while still being a round little robot, what costume would he wear? 

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SUNLESS SEA

The atmosphere in this game is amazing! I'd love anything featuring the characters below that involves part of the canon tone, be it the creepy, whimsical, tragic, or whimsical-and-creepy-and-tragic-all-at-once.

The Bandaged Poissonnier - So affably sinister, and such an asset to the well-armored crew that finds itself at zee for months on months. Please, educate my captain on the nature of edibility! What is the most challenging item the Poissonnier has managed to render not only safe but appetizing? How does he feel about various ports? Was he ever a surface dweller, and if so, does he remember what that was like? Alternately: Daily operations of The Vengeance of Jonah? They must get plenty of characters there.

The Lady in Lilac - Creepy as hell. Is she real? Is she a shared hallucination? Is she a ghost? Is she a god? I’d like to know more.

Phoebe | The Scarred Sister - One of my favorite characters, and the one I always try to save. What exactly was going on at the house at Hunter’s Keep? Is she happier among the sisters at Abbey Rock or sunlit en route to Corinth? What is the nature of her bargain with Storm? I just am fond of Phoebe and want to learn about her.

Tomb-Colonist(s) - Just what precisely is their problem?! The Last Tour is one of my favorite quests; Venderbight is one of my favorite ports. Underestimated badass characters are one of my favorite tropes, and that is why I’ve requested the Tomb-Colonist(s).  

The Nacreous Outcast - That must be a terrifying existence! How did it feel for the Outcast to be generated? What are its thoughts as it roams the zee? If the captain chooses to lose against the Principles, how does it feel afterwards? What would it take for the Outcast to be truly, entirely happy as its own self?

The Pirate Poet - My favorite romanceable NPC! She is so cool! I’d love to learn more about her past with the Pianolist, or know an extra snippet of her potential night out with the zee-captain. Seriously, even the Pirate Poet’s thoughts on various ports would make me happy. If it matters, I ship her with a sympathetic Zee-Captain or the Merciless Modiste. (Or any nonbinary or female character, or Phoebe somehow if you want to completely blow my mind.)

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Congratulations if you’ve made it to the end :D

[studyinternational]

19th-century doctrine for kindergartens could be key to saving your job from robots.

Read more at :  Independent News for International Students

We are now in an interregnum, a phrase coined by the Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci in the 1920s to mean the period where “the old is dying and the new cannot be born” and it it, “a great variety of morbid symptoms appear”.

[larmegliamori]

I can't believe we got Bi Dors Venabili rights in 2018 thank you for your service Mr. Brown

[larmegliamori]

Isaac Asimov: The Mycogenians believe themselves to be the descendants of Aurora. They're characterized by their kirtles, their baldness, but most importantly by their extremely patriarchal society :)

Mr. Brown with the steel chair: HENLO :)))))

[larmegliamori]

Can Dors settle down on an eye color please

[larmegliamori]

Reading Dors' reflections on her marriage to Hari in The Robots of the Interregnum has me like

[larmegliamori]

Downloaded The Robots of the Interregnum yesterday and tbh I didn't expect Dors to go “Manella..." (Dad Turner style, from Fairly Oddparents) in the first page like. Girl. She's extra-dead by now 😭😭😭