#~300 hours I estimate anyway.

[pathfinderlittleduck]

I need to pick up Inquisitor Master Chief again I miss him.

He also dual wields energy sword daggers.

I wanna release this mod but I also wanna keep it for myself and make people jealous ha

[protect-edwin-at-all-costs]

Okay okay okay I wanted to keep quiet about this project but I am impatient as shit 💀

I am working on this project with my best friend that is an alternate escape from Hell from episode 7 of dbda bc honestly my impression was very "Thats it?" DW I LOVE THIS SHOW BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A FUN PROJECT

It is very much still in the making... I'm counting hours on both writing and illustrating, and I'm at 47, though I have estimated this to be about a 300 hour project (send help)

ANYWAY HERE'S AN ART DUMP THAT I'M NOT GONNA EXPLAIN :DDDDD (I know Charles looks weird in some of these pictures, leave me alone XD)

:D I hope.... This project is taken well when I finish it.... bc I think its really cool 😂

[ripewithdec4y]

26.09.24

so I was able to complete a 48 hour fast today! I was worried when I went out since everyone wanted to get coffee and I kind of wanted something sweet but it stayed under 50c4l so it didn’t break my fast which was a relief!!

and like I said today was going to be a bit of a high c4l day since I couldn’t get out of having a big meal so I only ate like 2/3 of it and over estimated the c4ls to be safe but I’ll be fasting through til Saturday so I’m gonna count today as a mini maintenance day!

todays stats!-

1cup coffee 1cup tea 2L water

Skinny cortado- 48c4l 13.00

Exercise- walking 3-4 hours 300-400c4l

Chicken balls and prawn toast- 700-800c4l 18.00

Grapes 250g- 162c4l 18.30

Total intk- 910/1010

anyway have a good day my loves and appreciate your friends for always being there for you and showing you the love and kindness you deserve!

Obligatory picture of my two cats being cute the other day

[genshin-impact-updates]

"The Exquisite Night Chimes" Version 3.4 Update Details

Dear Travelers,

Below are the details of the Version 3.4 update "The Exquisite Night Chimes" and the update compensation.

〓Compensation Details〓

Maintenance Compensation: Primogems ×300 (60 Primogems per hour the servers are down)

Issue Fix Compensation: Primogems ×300 (please refer to the relevant compensation mail for more details)

〓Scope of Compensation〓

Maintenance Compensation: Travelers who reach Adventure Rank 5 or above before 2023/01/18 06:00:00.

Please claim before the end of Version 3.4.

Issue Fix Compensation: Travelers who reach Adventure Rank 5 or above before 2023/01/18 06:00:00.

Please claim the compensation mail before 2023/01/21 06:00:00.

Our developers will distribute compensation to Travelers via in-game mail within 5 hours after the update maintenance is finished. The mail will expire after 30 days, so don't forget to claim the attached compensation in time.

〓Update Schedule〓

Update maintenance begins 2023/01/18 06:00:00 and is estimated to take 5 hours.

〓How to Update Game Client〓

PC: Close the game, open the Genshin Impact Launcher, and click Update.

iOS: Open the App Store and tap Update.

Android: Open the game and follow the directions on-screen.

PS5™ and PS4™: Highlight Genshin Impact from the Home Screen, press the OPTIONS button and select "Check for Update."

Please do not hesitate to contact Customer Service if you encounter any issues installing the new version. We will do our very best to resolve the issue.

〓Update Details〓

I. New Area

New Area "Desert of Hadramaveth" Now Available

◇ The desert's border stretches on. Legend has it that between the countless scimitar-shaped ravines that cut across the desert plain, a lost city of old lies hidden with a wandering tribe seeking refuge in its ruins.

Perhaps among the incessant sandstorms that seem to erode all things encompassed by history, a story lost in time awaits to be uncovered...

◇ New Area：In Version 3.4, the area, Desert of Hadramaveth in the Sumeru region will be available.

New Daily Commissions in the Desert of Hadramaveth have been added. In addition, there will be new Fishing Points and "Radiant Spincrystals" in this new area.

II. New Characters

5-Star Character "Admonishing Instruction" Alhaitham (Dendro)

◇ Vision: Dendro

◇ Weapon: Sword

◇ The current scribe of the Sumeru Akademiya, a man endowed with extraordinary intelligence and talent. He lives free — free from the searching eyes of ordinary people, anyway.

◆ Elemental Skill "Universality: An Elaboration on Form"

◆ Using his Elemental Skill "Universality: An Elaboration on Form," Alhaitham rushes forward. Holding the skill enters Aiming Mode to adjust the direction of Alhaitham's rush attack, dealing Dendro DMG to nearby opponents when the rush ends, causing a Chisel-Light Mirror to form. When he possesses Chisel-Light Mirrors, Alhaitham's Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will be converted to Dendro DMG that cannot be overridden. When attacks of the aforementioned kinds hit opponents, the Chisel-Light Mirrors will unleash a Projection Attack that deals AoE Dendro DMG based on the number of Mirrors on the field. The Chisel-Light Mirrors will disappear one after the other over time, and will all disappear when Alhaitham leaves the field.

◆ Elemental Burst "Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena"

◆ Using his Elemental Burst "Particular Field: Fetters of Phenomena," Alhaitham creates a Particular Binding Field and deals multiple instances of AoE Dendro DMG. If Chisel-Light Mirrors exist when this ability is unleashed, all such Mirrors will be consumed and increase the number of DMG instances dealt. 2s after this ability is unleashed, if 0/1/2/3 Mirrors were consumed, Alhaitham will generate 3/2/1/0 new Mirrors in turn.

4-Star Character "Burgeoning Grace" Yaoyao (Dendro)

◇ Vision: Dendro

◇ Weapon: Polearm

◇ Streetward Rambler's youngest disciple. A gentle and caring "little adult."

◆ Elemental Skill "Raphanus Sky Cluster"

◆ Using her Elemental Skill "Raphanus Sky Cluster," Yaoyao calls upon "Yuegui: Throwing Mode." Yuegui: Throwing Mode" throws out White Jade Radishes that will explode upon hitting characters or opponents, dealing Dendro DMG to opponents within a certain AoE, and healing characters within that same AoE based on Yaoyao's Max HP. If a radish does not hit either an opponent or a character, the radish will remain where it is and explode on contact with a character or opponent, or will explode after its duration expires.

◆ Elemental Burst "Moonjade Descent"

◆ Using her Elemental Burst "Moonjade Descent," Yaoyao summons "Yuegui: Jumping Mode" at intervals until their limit has been reached. White Jade Radishes generated by Yuegui: Jumping Mode will heal all nearby party members, and the Dendro DMG that they deal will be viewed as Elemental Burst DMG. The Adeptal Legacy state will also increase Yaoyao's SPD and Dendro RES. The Adeptal Legacy state will end once Yaoyao is off-field, and all remaining Yuegui: Jumping Mode will be cleared once this state ends.

III. New Domains

Domain: Fane of Panjvahe

◇ The significance of oases lies in the embrace of the desert. The oasis dwellers have never been oblivious to this. Thus did the ancestors in Gurabad build the hermitage for the Lord of Desert. Through the sandstorm-shrouded past and present, this hermitage has become an asylum for countless desert dwellers, among whom are some bandits as well...

◇ Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 28 or above and fulfill certain criteria.

◆ Challenge the Domain to obtain rewards such as Primogems and Dendro Sigils.

Domain: City of the Deceased

◇ The then-lords of Gurabad regarded death as the only path to the desert's sacred destination. In order to prevent the wretched from defiling this pilgrimage, they buried the unnamed tomb deep underground... But now, this place has become nothing but a paradise for Wenut and Fungi.

◇ Unlock Criteria:

• Reach Adventure Rank 32 or above and fulfill certain criteria.

◆ Challenge the Domain to obtain rewards such as Primogems and Dendro Sigils.

IV. New Equipment

New Weapon

Light of Foliar Incision (5-Star Sword)

CRIT Rate is increased by 4%. After Normal Attacks deal Elemental DMG, the Foliar Incision effect will be obtained, increasing DMG dealt by Normal Attacks and Elemental Skills by 120% of Elemental Mastery. This effect will disappear after 28 DMG instances or 12s. You can obtain Foliar Incision once every 12s.

◆ During the event wish "Epitome Invocation," the event-exclusive 5-star weapon Light of Foliar Incision (Sword) will receive a huge drop-rate boost!

V. New Outfits

Kamisato Ayaka: Springbloom Missive

◇ Ayaka's travel outfit. Its design is based on the Fontaine dresses depicted in light novel illustrations and seems to reflect the lifestyle of proper ladies who live in that nation.

◆ After the Version 3.4 update – 2023/02/27 03:59:59, during this period, Kamisato Ayaka's outfit "Springbloom Missive" will be available for purchase in the Character Outfit Shop at a limited-time discount. During the discount period, the price of the outfit is 1,350 Genesis Crystals. The price will revert to 1,680 Genesis Crystals after the limited-time discount ends. The outfit can only be purchased once.

Lisa: A Sobriquet Under Shade

◇ An outfit Lisa had someone commission for her when she revisited Sumeru. A perfect balance between practicality and elegance, the dress bears a resemblance to Lisa's old uniform from the Akademiya days.

◆ During Version 3.4, Travelers can obtain Lisa's outfit "A Sobriquet Under Shade" for free by participating in the limited-time "Second Blooming" event.

◆ After Version 3.4 is over, Travelers can buy the outfit in the Character Outfit Shop.

VI. New Main Story

1. New Story Quest

Alhaitham's Story Quest - Vultur Volans Chapter: Act I "The Illusions of the Mob"

Permanently available after the Version 3.4 update

◆ Quest Unlock Criteria

• Reach Adventure Rank 40 or above

• Complete Archon Quest Chapter III: Act V "Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises"

2. New World Quests

◆ New World Quests: "The Dirge of Bilqis," "Her Foes Rage Like Great Waters...," "Tadhla the Falcon," "Apocalypse Lost," "Rejoice With Me, for What Was Lost Is Now Found" and more.

*After fulfilling certain criteria, the World Quest "Her Foes Rage Like Great Waters..." will be available on 2023/02/06 04:00:00.

VII. New Enemies

Setekh Wenut

◇ An eyeless predator that dwells within the depths of the desert and uses sound and vibrations to seek out its prey.

It can use the power of Anemo to a certain extent, which allows it to leave the ground when in combat and enter a floating state. While floating, it can fire Windbite Bullets. Attacks from elements that may react with Anemo can destroy Windbite Bullets, which will temporarily decrease the corresponding Elemental RES of the Setekh Wenut. After 2 Windbite Bullets are destroyed in succession, the Setekh Wenut will be brought down from its floating state.

Located at Desert of Hadramaveth

Consecrated Red Vulture, Consecrated Scorpion, and Consecrated Flying Serpent

◇ Lifeforms that became twisted and warped by eating some great being.

During combat, they will enter the powerful Phagocytic form. Some of their attacks will unleash Phagocytic Energy Blocks. Use the corresponding elemental attacks to destroy these Energy Blocks to absorb the power within them, which can then be unleashed when attacking the Consecrated Beasts, dealing significant DMG and paralyzing the creatures temporarily.

Eremite Scorching Loremaster and Eremite Floral Ring-Dancer

◇ Warriors that may be found in one of the many scattered mercenary groups that hail from the desert.

They will unleash the ominous spirit contained within their body to fight alongside them after taking a certain amount of damage. This will cause them to enter an Infused Form. Defeat these spirits and they will enter a weakened state for a fixed amount of time thereafter.

VIII. Other Additions

New Recipes:

○ Sumeru's Lambad's Tavern: Sabz Meat Stew and Scented Meat Balls

○ Alhaitham's specialty: "Ideal Circumstance"

○ Yaoyao's specialty: "Qingce Household Dish"

New "Sumeru: The Gilded Desert - Series II" Achievement category added, new Achievements added to the "Wonders of the World" category.

New Namecards:

"Alhaitham: Enlightenment": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Alhaitham

"Yaoyao: Yuegui": Reward for reaching Friendship Lv. 10 with Yaoyao

○ "Celebration: Lenticular Clouds": Obtained from event

"Travel Notes: Rhythm and Rhyme": Reward obtained via the BP system

"Achievement: Sandstorm": Reward for completing all achievements under "Sumeru: The Gilded Desert - Series II"

Adds some prompts for loading screens.

New Animal: Flying Serpent

Added Sets 15–20 of "Paimon's Paintings" chat emojis.

"Genius Invokation TCG" Gameplay Update:

New Match History function: Players can now review their actions in the previous turns.

New Character Cards: Klee and Beidou, and their corresponding Talent cards

New invitation duels and guest challenges added to the Player List.

Adds markers for Teleport Waypoints and Domains in non-outdoor areas on the map.

The gadget "Launch Tube" and other fireworks can now be purchased from the NPC Granny Shan in Liyue Harbor.

Consecrated Scorpions and Scorpions are added to the area around the Serpent's Head in Yashiori Island.

Tree of Dreams, Vanarana: Increase in the Level Cap of Tree of Dreams to Level 40.

Spiral Abyss

Floor 11 Ley Line Disorders changed to:

• All characters in the party gain a 75% Dendro DMG Bonus.

Updated the monster lineup on Floor 11 of the Spiral Abyss.

Updated the monster lineup on Floor 12 of the Spiral Abyss.

Starting from the first time that the Lunar Phase refreshes after updating to Version 3.4, the three Lunar Phases will be as follows:

Phase I:

Thorn-Twisted Moon

The Dendro RES and Electro RES will be decreased by 30% for opponents that are under the Quickened state. This effect will be removed 2s after the Quickened state ends.

Phase II:

Verdant Moon

After a character deals Dendro DMG to opponents through Normal Attack, Charged Attack, Plunging Attack, Elemental Skill, or Elemental Burst, the character will gain one stack of Verdant Vigor: DMG dealt by the character will be increased by 8% for 6s. This effect can be triggered once every 0.1s. Max 6 stacks. Each stack's duration is counted independently.

Phase III:

Luxuriant Moon

When a character triggers a Spread or Aggravate reaction on an opponent, a shockwave will be unleashed at the opponent's position, dealing True DMG. A shockwave can be unleashed this way every 3s.

〓Adjustments & Optimizations〓

● System

In "Mystic Offering," the selected Artifacts will not be cleared after switching the Artifact Strongbox.

In "Mystic Offering," a second confirmation pop-up window has been added when selecting an enhanced Artifact.

Optimizes the filtering criteria of Artifacts in "Mystic Offering."

In "Mystic Offering," Artifacts can be selected in batches by scrolling.

● Audio

Optimizes the sound of some Elemental Reaction effects in Genius Invokation TCG.

Adjusts the playback logic when characters' weather-related and standby voice-overs are triggered at the same time.

● Characters

Optimizes the appearance of Yelan's hands in her model.

Adjusts the appearance of Dori's legs in her character illustration.

● Genius Invokation TCG

Adds a function to end turn using a controller when playing Genius Invokation TCG. While using a controller, when the cursor is hovering, hold the X button on the PC and PS4™ or the Circle button on the PS5™ to end the turn (using the Dualsense™ and DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controllers as examples).

Adds L1 and R1 button prompts when using a controller to play Genius Invokation TCG (using the Dualsense™ or DUALSHOCK®4 wireless controllers as examples).

Adjusts the number of charges and Elemental Dice required, as well as DMG dealt by the Elemental Burst for the Character Card "Yoimiya" in Genius Invokation TCG: the number of charges required has increased from 2 to 3, the number of dice required has increased from 3 Pyro Dice to 4, and "Deals 3 Pyro DMG..." has been adjusted to "Deals 4 Pyro DMG..."

Adjusts the DMG dealt by the Elemental Skills "Blustering Blade" and "Frosty Assault" of the Character Card "Maguu Kenki" in Genius Invokation TCG: these two Elemental Skills will no longer deal DMG, and will only summon "Shadowsword: Lone Gale" and "Shadowsword: Galloping Frost," respectively.

Adjusts the effect of the Event Card "Minty Meat Rolls" in Genius Invokation TCG: this effect can now trigger up to 3 times.

Adjusts the number of uses for the Team Combat Status "Catalyzing Field" in Genius Invokation TCG: the number has decreased from 3 to 2.

Adjusts the number of Elemental Dice required for the "Floral Sidewinder" Talent Card in Genius Invokation TCG: the number required has been increased from 3 Dendro Dice to 4.

Optimizes the appearance of some Character Card faces in Genius Invokation TCG.

Optimizes the special effects of the shielding effects for cards when playing Genius Invokation TCG on mobile.

Optimizes the animation effect when a new Character Card is played in Genius Invokation TCG.

● Other

Adjusts the description of the achievement "A Well-Trained Archaeologist."

Adjusts the number of Teleport Waypoints required to unlock the achievement "Over Sandstorms and Mirages (I)." The original total number of Teleport Waypoints required to be unlocked is 26, and is now adjusted to 27 (if the achievement has been completed, the completion status of the achievement remains unchanged).

Adjusts the rules for obtaining the Elemental Resonance effects: when there are four characters in your party, or four or more characters in your party due to trial characters, Elemental Resonance will take effect as normal, with the specific Elemental Resonance effect determined by the corresponding elements of the first through fourth characters in your party (prior to the adjustment, Elemental Resonance would not take effect if a Trial Character was present).

Removed the second confirmation pop-up window for skipping the cutscene for the second phase of the "Shouki no Kami, the Prodigal" boss fight. Now, clicking "skip" will directly skip the cutscene without a need for confirmation.

Adjusts the height range for triggering some Random Events.

〓Bug Fixes〓

● Quests

Fixes an issue where some NPCs were positioned abnormally when listening to dialogue in the Daily Commission "A Novel Idea."

Fixes an issue with the World Quest "The Blessings of The Seven" whereby Paimon's Korean voice-overs could not be played properly.

Fixes an issue with the World Quest "Storytelling Method" whereby under specific circumstances, you are unable to continue normally with its objective "Talk to Junkichi."

● Enemies

Adjusts the borders of the open world combat area for the boss Aeonblight Drake to fix the issue whereby it has a probability of abnormally leaving combat in certain locations.

Fixes an issue whereby the AoE of the spiral attacks of the bosses Algorithm of Semi-Intransient Matrix of Overseer Network and Primal Construct: Repulsor is too large.

● Characters

Fixes an issue whereby the Wanderer is still able to use his Elemental Skill in certain scenarios where the use of skills is not allowed.

Fixes an issue with the Wanderer whereby the special effects of his third Normal Attack would display abnormally.

Fixes an issue with the Wanderer whereby in his hovering state, when canceling his sprint, the game screen will lag abnormally.

Fixes an issue with the Wanderer whereby under certain circumstances, after he casts his Elemental Skill, its generated effects behind him would persist abnormally after his hovering state has expired.

Fixes an issue whereby when Arataki Itto casts his Elemental Burst again while in his "Raging Oni King" state, there is a small chance that the Elemental Burst will not work properly.

Fixes an issue with Arataki Itto whereby under certain circumstances, when tapping to cast his Elemental Skill, he would throw Ushi too far (i.e.: the same distance as holding to cast his Elemental Skill).

Fixes an issue with Faruzan whereby her arrow shots would fail to alert the enemy.

Fixes an issue with Kuki Shinobu's Lv. 4 Constellation whereby the AoE Electro DMG dealt by the effect is unable to hit some enemies.

Fixes an issue whereby the special effects of Hu Tao's Elemental Burst upon hitting enemies would be displayed abnormally. After the fix, the special effects will be displayed normally on PS5™ and PS4™ Base. When graphic settings are set to Low/Lowest on PC, iOS, Android, and on PS4™ Pro devices, the associated effects will not be displayed.

Fixes an issue with Nahida whereby when casting her Elemental Burst and Elemental Skill in succession, the enabled Motion Blur effect would abnormally fail.

Fixes an issue whereby some characters with skills and attacks involving trajectory would have a small chance for their trajectory's path to be affected abnormally.

● Genius Invokation TCG

Fixes an issue in Genius Invokation TCG whereby when consuming cards for Elemental Tuning under certain circumstances, the previews of the converted Elemental Dice would appear abnormally.

Fixes an issue in Genius Invokation TCG whereby the enemy Hydro Abyss Mage's Mist Bubble skill would be abnormally affected by the Talent Card "Chaotic Entropy," and deal increased DMG.

Fixes some environment icon display errors in Genius Invokation TCG.

Fixes an issue in Genius Invokation TCG whereby there were errors in the text description of some cards. Some of the descriptions have been made uniform.

Fixes an issue whereby when using a controller to play Genius Invokation TCG, if the number of current Elemental Dice is exactly 3, you are unable to choose which dice you want to convert when consuming cards for Elemental Tuning.

Optimizes the effects displayed when the opponent draws cards in Genius Invokation TCG.

Optimizes the display time of dialogue during a Genius Invokation TCG match.

● System

Fixes an issue in Co-Op Mode whereby after the character entered Uyuu Restaurant, their location icon on other players' mini-maps did not match their actual location.

Fixes an issue whereby when playing on a mobile device, the amount of DMG a character deals while in combat may have a small chance to not display properly.

Fixes an issue under certain circumstances whereby the party setup interface special effects would display abnormally.

● Audio

Fixes an issue with Xiao whereby his voice-over line "Low HP: III" would fail to trigger properly in combat.

Fixes an issue with Xiao whereby some of his combat-related Korean voice-overs would not trigger properly.

Fixes an issue with Nahida whereby there were some Chinese voice-over errors in "Profile > Voice-Over > More About Nahida: V."

Optimizes some Korean, English, and Japanese voice-overs in some Quests.

● Other

Adds a path that leads to the boss "Dendro Hypostasis" in the Land of Lower Setekh area (only a map icon has been added, the terrain remains unchanged).

Fixes an issue whereby the Hydro element would abnormally continue to be applied to the character when the character teleported to the Teleport Points in the Mausoleum of King Deshret area, while being affected by the Hydro element due to the rain.

Fixes an issue whereby under certain circumstances, when using a controller to play the game, the button cannot be used to confirm the selection when switching areas on the placement function interface of the Serenitea Pot.

Fixes an issue whereby under certain circumstances, there is a chance that characters can remain abnormally in the climbing state when in mid-air.

Fixes an issue whereby when a character is climbing, when opening the Inventory when your Stamina is depleted, there is a probability that the character will remain in the climbing state abnormally after exiting the menu.

Fixes an issue whereby when a character picks up a Healthy Dendrogranum, when the Dendrogranum is attached to that character, if the active character is changed to another character on the Party Setup Interface, the new active character's Charged Attacks will not trigger Dendrogranum attacks.

Fixed an issue where some enemies' weapon could become the target of an Electro-Charged reaction.

Fixes an issue whereby there are errors with the respective Adventure Ranks required to unlock Sumeru's Domain of Forgery (Weapon Ascension Materials) and Domain of Mastery (Talent Level-Up Materials): after the fix, the required AR for the Domain of Forgery will be 16 (it was previously 22) and the required AR for the Domain of Mastery will be 27 (it was also previously 22).

Fixes an issue with some characters whereby the appearance of their summons would display abnormally in some environments.

Fixes an issue in Co-Op Mode whereby when you teleport to The Chasm: The Underground Mines, Enkanomiya, and other places, the party's Elemental Resonance effects will abnormally fail to take effect.

Fixes some textual errors in 15 languages and optimizes text. "Note: Related in-game functions have not changed." (Travelers can view the changes in different languages by going to the Paimon Menu > Settings > Language and changing the Game Language.)

Text-related fixes and optimizations in English include:

◆ Optimized some lines in Archon Quests.

◆ Optimized some lines in Story Quests.

◆ Optimized some lines in the Wanderer's character story.

◆ Optimized instances of a furnishing's name from "Long Adhighama Chamfer Table" to "Long Adhigama Chamfer Table."

◆ Optimized some lines in Archon Quest "Inversion of Genesis."

◆ Optimized instances of a Daily Commission's name from "Crisis Mode" to "Emergency."

◆ Optimized some lines in Nahida's character story.

◆ Optimized some lines in the description of the artifact "Feather of Jagged Peaks."

*This is a work of fiction and is not related to any actual people, events, groups, or organizations.

"PlayStation", "PS5", "PS4", "DualSense", "DUALSHOCK" are registered trademarks or trademarks of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc.

[saiyukiitaliaandinternational]

Monthly Minekura Christmas edition

Day 7 “Deer”

Sorry for late upload but exams keep me always busy and I have to use the little energies I have to keep pace with the event after many hours of study. Anyway I want to take advantage of this prompt to talk about a Chinese deer species that not many people know and gets too little love and recognition: the tufted deer (Elaphodus cephalophus).

The tufted deer is a species native to central China and Northeastern Myanmar. The name derives from the tuft of black hair on its forehead, but the striking characteristics of the this species are the fang-like tusks which are present only in males. The species lives in forested regions at high altitudes (between about 300 and 4600 meters above sea level), and in rain forests in high-altitude valleys. Their habitat is always near water. They weigh from 17 to 50 kg, and are 110 to 160 cm long, with a shoulder height of 50 to 70 cm . The tail is 7 to 16 cm long. The coat is coarse and dark gray or brown, with a dark gray head and neck, but during winter time it's black while in the summer it's chocolate brown. This is why I aimed at a darker colour in my work since we are in December. The underside is white, including the underside of the tail, and the lips and the tips of their ears are also white, even if in my drawing you cannot see it except for the tail. The availability of salt licks is also a positive factor to the presence of this animal. This deer is able to withstand minor human disturbances, and is occasionally found in cultivated lands.

Males bark to attract females during mating season. The deer mate in late fall and early winter, the young are born in the early summer after a gestation of 180 days. Tufted deer usually give birth to one or two fawns per year. Until the age of six months, a young deer is dependent on its mother. Tufted deer become sexually mature between eighteen months and two years of age. While longevity in the wild is not well documented, in captivity they can reach 15 years. When the deer runs, it lifts its tail, exposing the underside in a similar manner to that of the white-tailed deer. Tufted deer sometimes live in pairs, but are usually solitary. They bark when alarmed, which serves as a warning to others of their species in the area. They are territorial and do not tend to move far from their home territory. The bucks are known to fight over territory and mates, and their chief weapons are their elongated canines; their antlers are also used, but are not as dangerous also because they are covered by the tufted fur of the head. They eat leaves, twigs, fruits, grasses and other types of vegetation, and curiously they are both browsers and grazers. These deer tear off vegetation to eat by pressing the lower incisors against a callous pad that takes the place of upper incisors. Predators include leopards and dholes.

Because of their barking tendency when they see predators they may also help to alert humans to the presence of predators. Little is known about its longevity in the wild, and some sources list its diet as omnivorous, although the majority list the tufted deer as an herbivore. There are a disputed number of subspecies of Elaphodus cephalophus, most commonly there are three listed: E.c. cephalophus, which is found in northeast Burma and southwest China, E.c. michianus from eastern China, and E.c. ichangensis from central China. It is possible that E.c. ichangensis is a hybrid of the other two subspecies.

And now the painful part: conservation status

Surveys from 1998 put the estimated population around 300,000–500,000 individuals, though a substantial, ongoing decline is almost certain. Overharvesting of large animals in China is a serious threat not only to this species. The hide of this deer is a fairly high-end textile material, especially after the vigorous conservation efforts made on other more endangered species. Habitat loss is also an issue in this rapidly developing country. In China, this species is listed as provincially protected species in many places, but it is not protected by the national law. It occurs in a number of protected areas. The tufted deer is part of the yellow species survival plan program by the association of zoos and aquariums, because it cannot maintain 90% gene diversity for 10 generations. To prevent gene diversity to continue dropping the program plans to work on ex situ populations by increasing the number of exhibit places in zoos and making sure that animals can breed. Prior to this the tufted deer population was also decreasing in captivity due to lack of interest in the species, even though captivity greatly help conserve this species by facilitating interbreeding and gene diversity.

Sorry for long post, but I wanted to share something about this beautiful yet underrated species. China has so many cool animals and plants and its biodiversity deserves to be protected and I am not only referring to giant pandas who get the most attention (they are even used as diplomatic tools by the Chinese government), but also pygmy slow loris, white-cheeked macaque, white-headed langur, golden snub-nosed monkey, Chinese sturgeon, Chinese giant salamander, black-crested gibbon, white-shouldered ibis, Sumatra rhinoceros, Chinese alligator, Chinese red-crowned crane, South China tiger, Chinese pangolin, Sunda pangolin, Williamson's mouse-deer, Gongshan muntjac, Père David's deer (sadly extinct in the wild), and many others I can't remember now.

Credits:

Saiyuki Reload Blast © Kazuya Minekura, Platinum Vision, 2017-present

[rigelmejo]

Dreaming Spanish, Paper of 1200 hours learning French only watching shows, Personal Notes

So I signed up for Dreaming Spanish's site yesterday. However: it quickly became clear I have absolutely no time for studying something on top of Japanese and Chinese so. I will not get to use it much.

The good: their website is very nice, I think. The free videos are listed, and part of all collections, and they can track on the website how many minutes/hours you've watched and skip videos you've watched before if you wish. Meaning if you're using DS videos to study, going on their site is useful if you watch on a computer or phone, because their site will track your minutes watched for the day and put on a playlist for you for your language level. So it requires much less navigation and keeping track from you compared to the youtube site. I am super bad at tracking time doing X and what video I was on in youtube, so these features are awesome. It also tells you how many days it will take to reach each study level they have.

I think this is a super good tool to keep you realistic, and accountable to your own personal goal. If you only set your goal on DS to the learner option of 30 minutes a day (do NOT set it to 15 minutes a day), then you're looking at hitting goals at these points: you'll know 1500 words in 299 days, you'll know 5,000 words in 1,199 days (~3.3 years), and you'll be level 7 comparable to a native speaker in 2,999 days ~8.2 years). As you can see... 8.2 years is comparable to maybe if you took Spanish all through elementary school for 30 minutes a day (if that elementary school spanish was an immersion class). Now, languages take years to learn no matter what, and sometimes it will just have to look like 8 years for you (I'm studying Japanese and definitely getting close to that lol, and if I only had 30 minutes to study I'd obviously have to settle with the pace I can do). But if you study 2 hours a day, you can make a huge amount of progress in just 2 years (see below).

If you set it to 120 minutes per day (2 hours, like I tend to recommend for decently paced progress) then you'll know 1,500 words in 75 days (great progress from absolute beginner to able to start doing basic graded readers and learner podcasts if you want, and about where I got to when self studying in Chinese in the first few months), you'll learn 5,000 words in 300 days (less than a year!) at which point slow native speakers talking and books for children should be understandable (and shows will almost be without any word lookups, easier shows like cartoons and daily life romance may be). That's AMAZING progress for less than a year. I know for an English speaker, learning French or Spanish takes less time to understand... but I forgot how much less time. I guess my Chinese progress was only a little slower but I did a lot of 4+ hour study days the first year. And you'd get to DS Level 2 comparable to a native speaker in 750 days (just over 2 years).

That's a perfectly snappy progression, to be honest with you. People complain that comprehensible input lesson plans/ALG plans take 1500-2000 hours (DS takes 1500 hours), but the Foreign Service institute suggests 750 hours in class for Spanish then another 750 outside of class study, which is 1500! Same time period FSI suggests. For Thai it recommends 1100 class hours and 1100 out of class study, which is 2200 hours. So the CI lesson plans/ALG plans take about as much time as FSI estimates it takes their learners, the difference appears to be that ALG plans just do NOT include in any outside time spent studying. (A note: Dreaming Spanish does suggest doing lots of listening outside of their materials, but gives you the option to log that time on their site, so I am guessing outside listening you understand the meaning of would count toward their hours required of study).

Anyway, back to my point about Dreaming Spanish's tracking: I deeply appreciate how it shows you the goal study time per day you set, how much you're actually reaching it (so you know if it's unrealistic for you), and how long the milestone goals of understanding should take if you study at your goal study time per day. I think this tool on their site is incredibly useful. And even the Levels area on it's own, listing hours to get to each level and what you should be able to do at it, is quite good as a guide for what you should expect as a language learner.

Their guide matches up fairly well with what I could do in French, Chinese, and Japanese at various levels, very well. I read earlier and watched shows earlier than the guide suggests - I started when I was between level 2 and level 3 (so when I knew between 300-1500 words... I usually start graded readers ASAP so I started Chinese graded readers at 500 words studied, and with Japanese I waited longer than usual and read them at 1500-2000 words but read manga before that ToT, with French I started graded readers at 300 words and normal reading material at 1500 words... but also keep in mind, I was looking words up whereas the DS method does NOT suggest you look any words up, so me looking words up likely made harder materials like novels and shows understandable at an earlier point). And I found French reading material readable with no dictionary around level 4 (far earlier than DS suggests native speaker reading material being doable), I found Chinese shows understandable without word lookups earlier for me around level 4 (earlier than DS suggests - but I tolerate ambiguity okay and am Great at guessing new things from context, it's my favorite way to learn).

Semi Related things:

I read a whole paper a man wrote about learning French entirely through shows for 1200 hours, then an additional 300 hours of talking to people in French, a little grammar conjugation table reading and wikipedia in french reading and comic reading, and taking the B1 and B2 test and passing at the conclusion of 1500 hours. I recommend reading it if interested, I found it fascinating. The man looked up NO WORDS AT ALL in the first 1200 hours. The man did not pre-study much, he did not even know French was not spelled phoenetically much until 1200 hours in when he finally saw the writing system. He switched to watching cartoons a couple hundred hours in, because he could figure out new word meanings much faster with the direct visual context for what characters said (compared to shows for adults having discussions of things not happening on screen), and switched to shows for adults later once his vocabulary rose. (*Note: I did something similar with Chinese, I started with action wuxia because they would say 'get her/grab it/kick him/run/fight me/she's X' and I could learn a LOT of verbs and nouns by guessing instead of having to look up words every minute, back in that early point... action shows generally do more describing of whats actually on screen happening, and then comedic romance daily life shows, if you don't want to watch cartoons). His experience was brutal, he watched 5 hours on average a day, paid attention and made concious guesses of new words and features. It worked though!

And it is a great point to use as comparisons. His method worked, so the ALG/CI method type lessons should work as they are also 'watching audio visual' stuff in the language. While also being LESS exhausting than what this man did, since the ALG/CI lessons are structured to make it much easier to figure out new word meanings without as much uncertainty, are spoken slower to be understandable to learners, and are designed to teach you specific vocabulary and grammar.

He mentioned in his method, that if he were to do it again, he thinks he'd make faster progress if he'd allowed himself to 1. watch with French subtitles (to work on reading skill at the same time as listening), and 2. to look up words meanings to compare with the guesses he was making so he could quickly confirm correct meanings and move on.

I personally, based on my own experience, think he was somewhat right in thinking this and ALSO somewhat wrong. What I think is true about his guess that looking up words would've sped up the process: I know it does, I learned 2000 Chinese words in 6 months, then another thousand at least in the next 6 months, and while I cram studied an SRS app for 2 weeks (and 2 review) I think the bulk of reinforcement of remembering was me watching shows and confirming word guesses by looking up key words. If I'd done zero SRS app, and just watched shows from day 1, I would've looked up 1 keyword per minute at first probably. And it would've got me a similar pace of progress. I learned all my Chinese vocab after that first SRS app cram, by looking words up as I read or watched stuff. It definitely sped up progress. In French, I took 6 months to get where that guy got in 1 year... I was reading instead of listening mind you (and listening seems harder), but looking up words sped up my ability to comprehend more faster.

I think his assumptions about watching with French subtitles were wrong though: I think while subtitles DO help with reading (helped my Chinese reading a ton), I think (especially with similar alphabet languages - if you know another language uses that alphabet too) seeing the written form gives your brain more space to sub-vocalize the WRONG pronunciation mentally. You tend to prioritize reading subs over hearing actual dialogue, and so also I think you'll fail to develop the skill of parsing real muddled and slurred and muffled and sped up together language as fast as learners who do NOT use subtitles. When I watch Chinese shows without subtitles I have a noticeably more difficult time parsing what's said, and when I watch audio dramas and audiobooks I feel a whole comprehension level Lower than I feel when reading a book. I'm years into studying and specifically working on my ability to parse speech with no reading aid, so that's what only watching with subtitles did for me lol. (Also in French, I can't comprehend listening anywhere close to how well I can read, but that's more of an example of "what happens if you study primarily through reading and ignore listening skills"). So I think while practicing reading and seeing the spelling of new words IS useful (especially if you desire to train reading skill), it's also useful to spend at least SOME time watching shows or listening to audio with no subtitles or transcript to rely on... to practice parsing the sounds.

I did find it interesting he picked up reading so quickly, after all the work on listening. I had personally hoped, that learning to read things you already know in listening, might be easier to do than learning to read Brand New words. Based on his experience, this seems true. And I'm hoping I can eventually do something similar with Japanese... have a listening skill above my reading skill, and then work on reading (but either way I plan to use reading-listening at once, so even if there's new words in reading I don't want to develop a totally wrong pronunciation guess in my head).

And then, a note about Dreaming Spanish and my personal experience with Spanish: When I actually watch the Dreaming Spanish videos, it's the Intermediate Level videos that feel correct for me - I hear some new words and can understand/guess them in the context of the video, they speak at a pace I find understandable, they're not so boring I want to tune out, they're not so difficult I feel exhausted (interestingly when I checked out Lazy Chinese the intermediate level feels easier than this but a comfortable 'easier' spot for listening skills, and Comprehensible Japanese's intermediate videos feel a bit more focus-intensive for me than Dreaming Spanish's but also provide the right amount of new stuff to learn in context). I would assume knowing some French helps A TON with comprehending Spanish, and I have read several Spanish nonfiction books and don't find trouble with nonfiction (fiction Spanish books have enough unknown words though that I do need to look things up). I did also read Madrigal's Magical Key to Spanish self-study book back in college, and do a few months of Language Transfer Spanish podcast, so I saw a couple thousand cognates and basic grammar rules from those.

Anyway... I just find it curious that the actual content Dreaming Spanish has, I don't feel Superbeginner matches me despite being a beginner overall. The Superbeginner videos do have new words for me (tall, old, eyes, head, nose, hand), with context they're immediately understandable of course. Then also: some of them sound just like French to me or like words I've heard before. Garden is jardin, like french. Apprend is learn, like french.

Another interesting thing I noticed... some Spanish accents are easier for me to parse than French. I'm not super surprised, because that summer I was focusing on Spanish in college on my own, the goal was to MAKE IT SOUND DIFFERENT than French in my head, because mentally I'd confuse spanish and french when reading. I succeeded and developed a better ear for Spanish, and a slightly better ear for French (but clearly not as much as Spanish now that I'm hearing Spanish and parsing words better than I do in French). There's a few Spanish accents that feel almost as difficult as French to parse - the JARDIN video accent, with J like a Y but a way different Y sound than the French jardin threw me off a lot. The dropping of certain letters pronunciation also confused me... I think Spanish maybe does some ll sounds as y/i sound, so maybe that's what I heard? And the 'th' sound instead of s, my ears struggled with but I was more aware to look out for that in Spain pronunciation.

Then again, who knows how much my knowledge of French was simply interfering with Spanish: making a lot of cognates way easier to understand, but making certain pronunciations harder to parse. That could be both what helped and what makes things more confusing to me.

I have no time to study Spanish or French right now, so I can't really dive into what kind of work it would take to separate French and Spanish more in my head (but apparently they do need to be more firmly separated...still, in pronunciation). But it was interesting to see that effect.

[maryjanewagner]

Exams, Jobs, and Procrastinatory Contemplations about My Future

Yesterday’s comparative politics exam went fairly well, I think. I estimate I’ll get a B, though I know I missed some definitions and could have delved deeper into the essay portion. Anything lower would be disappointing, even though I studied effectively for only two or three days, I realized that with just a bit more effort I could have secured a perfect score.

This realization is both empowering and potentially dangerous. It reinforces my tendency to procrastinate throughout the semester. If I can perform well in exams (six this semester) without attending tutorials or lectures, where I often feel frustrated with peers or professors merely reciting slides, why bother showing up at all? The only events that seem worthwhile are seminars led by professors or researchers, where attendance dwindles, offering a chance for productive and interesting exchanges, contrary to sitting in lecture halls with 300 or more people.

But I do acknowledge the downsides of this approach, the most significant being the lack of social interaction and potential friendships. Next semester, I plan to attend more events, even if it doesn’t significantly impact my performance. Perhaps it's time I learn to be disciplined and follow the conventional path. Successful students attend all classes, even when unnecessary. Maybe I should take inspiration from them.

Anyway, writing this is another form of procrastination from studying for my Public International Law exam tomorrow. I’m not even halfway through the material, having started only today! But I needed to capture these thoughts before diving back into study mode.

Today, I signed a contract for a job at the café in the arthouse cinema. I’ll be working 15 hours a week, which seems substantial, but I need to finance myself completely from October when my student loans stop. Speaking of loans, I owe 20k Euros. In Germany, debt is uncommon, and I feel a mix of shame and anxiety, especially since my academic progress has been slow. I changed my course to politics and law in 2022, aiming to finish my bachelor’s by 2026. Alongside, I’m pursuing certificates in International Law, Islamic Cultures, and Islamic Law, hoping to also enhance my skills in Persian, French, Italian, and Arabic.

Considering this, I turned down a job offer from the student union for a position in the center for cultural and international matters. Though it sounded appealing, I realized it involved mundane tasks and uninspiring colleagues. Conversely, the café job offers daily interaction, free coffee, and free arthouse movies. Plus, the flexible hours fit my schedule better.

I hope to excel during my probationary period at the café, especially since I was unexpectedly fired from a previous job a month ago. I believe in my abilities as a waitress and will strive to be friendly and competent. On a positive note, I’ve been invited to the summer festivities at the cinema and café next Monday. Looking forward to it!

[squeakygeeky]

100 hours of Thai listening comprehension

I did just talk bout my one month milestone which was 60 hours so it's not like I feel much different, but supposedly I should know around ~300 words now. Do I? I have no idea because this isn't a method that lends it self to tracking and testing. I am pretty good at colors, numbers, animals, family and food so I guess that's about right. I can feel my listening comprehension improving week by week when I watched subtitled BL. I believe this would be A1 CEFR, but only for listening. No speaking, reading, or writing.

I'm probably more advanced than 100hrs would normally would be since I would estimate I've watched 350+ hours of Thai BL (yikes!). But I don't count that since I wasn't paying attention to the language, and even now if I watch something with subtitles I'm mostly learning subtitles. I can definitely understand the words I know when I hear them in BL and not just in the context of the lessons. There are some words that I recognize as distinct words, but I'm still trying to figure out what the heck they mean.

I'm avoiding watching Thai BL for the most part, since I'm kind of saving it all for later when I understand even more. Right not it's only Laws of Attraction. Knowing family words helped with the very poor subtitles though, so my time is paying off.

I am very bored of watching videos like Guess The Fruit and look forward to being able to watch more advanced ones about Thai culture and stuff, but that's a ways off. Watching BL without subtitles (not in the sense of understanding all the words, but being able to follow the plot) would I think take almost a year, even at my current pace, which is absolutely going to be unsustainable when we hit fall. But I keep thinking of that meme 'the time will pass anyway.'

[tibbiwibby]

May 23rd, 2023

I had my computer exam which went pretty decent actually. I checked my weight and weighed the lowest I have in the past few months.

Then I ended a 17 hour fast with a roll.. I think it was like 300 calories? I'm probably underestimating but yeah...

Woke up from a nap and studied. I tried not to eat more since I already felt guilty about the roll and don't want to gain tomorrow... I'm too happy ab how much I weighed today but I ate anyways. I had instant noodles they were like 308 calories. Later I just studied for my exam tomorrow and now I'm going to bed. ♡

Calories:

Roll: 320 (estimated)

Noodles: 308

Total: 628

Net: 590

[whatdoesshedotothem]

Saturday 17.. February 1838

7 ½

1 55

fine morning F27° at 7 ¾ and the same at 9 am at which hour breakfast in about (near) an hour A- read a little aloud of vol. 2 Lardners’ Russia – then had people in a/c of Northgate – Mercer glazier paid up in full – Crossley painter paid the whole – Shaw the plasterer came in vain – no order for him – ditto ditto Moorhouse who wanted about £26. did not ask Shaw the sum – then had Schofield the joiner small bill extra of May last for the Stump X Inn – settling took me till 12 –then with A- at luncheon too till one – then had Engine-Holt lately returned from York castle – unfairly sent there by the plotting of his partner Mr. Thomas who wanted to get the business to himself – offered Holt £200 if he would give up – yes! if Thomas would see the concern properly wound up and all the concerns paid – and the partnership was solvent – but Thomas had H- arrested by his (Thomas’) brother for lent money £300 – equally lent to Thomas as to H- but H- the only one arrested – H says they tell him there will still be 15/. in the pound for concerns – they seem to have behaved very kindly to H- he tells me Thomas had charged me in the books about £20 for plans etc – as H- own he never knew such a thing done – no! nor I – said I would never pay it – I owned them nothing – ordered no plans – as for H-‘s plan of the mill near Keighley, it was H-‘s own volunteering – I considered that a thing of his own – he said he would bring it – I never ordered it – I merely said I should be much obliged to him, and never him to make any charge – but I thought of giving him something sometime for his trouble – spoke to him now about the engine which the assignees had to sell – wanted H-‘s estimate of what he would set it up for, if I bought it but if I found they thought of pressing in anyway unfairly on me, I would have nothing do to with it – poor fellow he said everybody had been very kind to him, and he did not fear – he had done the best he could and his creditors were satisfied – when he left home he had only 3/. or rather when they took him off his wife had but 3/. in the house and she gave him 2/. of it – but two of his creditors had given him 2/. and 5/. and thus he set off – Joseph Mann (and he should always respect him for it) had lent his (H-‘s) wife a sovereign – after talking above ½ hour partly in the hall (while A- had William Pearson of L-..... near Lightcliffe) and then in the upper kitchen – gave H- a sovereign and came away – he is to come on Tuesday evening to tell me about the Engine – I said if I could not buy it worthwhile I would have nothing to do with it – then sat with A- a little – then while she wrote her journal a little while in the west tower and looking over papers – with A- and then again had her for a few minutes before she rode off about 3 to Cliff hill – snowy day – began before 10 am and has continued snowing more or less ever since – snowing hard now at 3 ½ pm – then all the afternoon (out a minute or 2 in the barn about 4) till 7 looking over and assorting all Mr. Harper’s letters and those of Messrs. Parker and Adam then had Crook the bell-hanger in a/c of Northgate – gave him check for £40 – will want about £20 more when the Casino is done – dinner at 7 ½ and sat reading the newspaper till 9 – then came upstairs and till 12 10 read over H-‘s letters and copied very small and close on one sheet all his 7 papers respecting the Listerwick water wheel – snowy day – F27° at 9 ¾ pm found my cousin come tonight

The Manns did not come this evening – too busy tubbing Listerwick pit

[necarion]

Doing some math here, because of course I have nothing better to do. I'm going to do a lot of rounding, because the sizes are all ass-pulls from the drawing anyway.

First, some basic numbers:

Maruchan instant noodles = 11 oz hot water ~ 325 ml

Start at 20C (slightly cold on the space ship) and warm it up to 90C

Heats in 1s after pulling

Water’s heat capacity is 1 cal / g * degC

This gives an energy of the heated water at

dE = 325 ml * 1 g/cm3 * 1 cal / g * degC * (90-20) degC = 95 kJ ~ 100  kJ

For the estimates of the various ratios in the container, I drew some lines. The perspective is weird, but the ratios will basically hold up.

Volume of power pack: 27.2 (unitless)

Volume of noodle part: 155.8 (unitless)

Ratio: 5.7 (unitless)

Total volume of standard noodle container ~ 14 oz ~ 415 ml (this is an ass-pull, but accounts for an extra 3 oz container space at top and for the noodles themselves)

=> Volume of the bottom ~ 73 ml

This gives an energy density: 380 Wh / L, equivalent to an average lithium ion battery (300-700 watt-hours / liter) at full discharge.

Now the kicker: it heats up in about 1 s. 100 kJ / 1s = 100 kW. That’s about 40x the power of electric kettles that Brits love (~2.5 kW). That’s the type of power you get from 5 or 6 backup home generators (maxing at ~ 15-20 kW). Or about a quarter of the engine power of a muscle car.

In a 2.5 oz container.

To be fair, the energy density of TNT is about 2 kWh/L, and the discharge rate of full TNT is in ms. So you're not quite at "high explosives".

Nevertheless, bomb indeed.

Everyone always talks about flying cars this and flying cars that.

When the only futuristic gadget I want that doesn't exist yet when it SHOULD are those cup noodles from Cowboy bebop where you just pull the tag at the bottom of it and the noodles are instantly warmed.

where is the future I was promised?

[blackfire-fanfiction]

Remember my old fic hoard (a list of over 300 fanfics I kept to read through)? Well, now that I'm focused on a new (and much smaller) fandom, the hoard looks MUCH different [9k fics on ao3 for duckverse total compared to 32k fics for all tmnt total]. Anyway I'm looping a song so here's the current (actually manageable) hoard

21 fics -> 3 sections

ds [ducktales short] -> 5 fics // ~72,000 words

dl [ducktales long] -> 14 fics // ~2,835,000 words

n [non-ducktales] -> 2 fics // ~406,000 words

Total Approximation: ~3,313,000 words

yeah I was not kidding about the long fics being *long*. anyway time estimation! Anyway the 2 calculations for time are average word count per day (we'll go with 55k) and if I was trying to read an insane amount per day (I'll undershoot with 200k. technically I could read 300k but... nah). If you've seen my past versions of this post you know that this is a much more chill approach. My dependency on fanfic has decreased significantly so that's the reason. The depression isn't as bad anymore *thumbs up*

ds -> 72k // 2 days (let's be real I could read through all of em in 1 day if I wanted. It'd take *uses 30k per hour average* 2 and a half hours)

dl -> 2,835k // 52 days or 14 days

n -> 406k // 8 days or 2 days

with 55k average: 62 days or ~2 months with 220k sicko mode: 16 days or ~half a month

yeah the hoard is definitely more chill than last time. apparently switching what fandom you read fanfics for changes things a bit *shrug*

oh and none of this is including the fanfic updates I get. but that's only really adding 5k a day. maybe 10-15k if someone updates a long chapter but like. yeah.

I'm tired. and probably won't do anything with this information

[aparticularbandit]

Based on this post, I just want to pop off a little bit on translation. Specifically in reference to Bible translation.

Because like - the reason you see so many Bible translations comes down to whether the translators are word-for-word or whether they're going for translating the idea (which can come with a lot of bias based on what they think the idea is supposed to be, although word choice in a word-for-word can also be biased). And there's a wide spectrum of this, right? So some people will read segments across multiple translations to understand what's being said better.

And like you can run into footnotes that explain things!

I'm gonna pick on a specific instance because I've been in John 12 recently and this helped me a lot (now that I've actually, you know, the math of the thing).

So - in John 12:3, Mary annoints Jesus feet with "a pound of fragrant oil—pure and expensive nard" (HCSB). In John 12:4, Judas asks why she didn't sell it for 300 denarii, and the note says that a denarii is equal to a day's wage for a common laborer. Another states that 300 denarii is about a year's wages.

And like. I'd read the first note and think that's 300 days of work and then the second and if I was paying attention (I have not been, apparently), that's a year's worth of work. And it flies over my head.

But like.

The federal minimum wage is $7.25. Think of that as the base, the lowest we can get legally. (I know there are people who are paid less. I'm still using this as my base.) I don't know how much higher on the totem pole a common laborer would be, but so like - again, that's a base. It could be more! It also could be less. We're estimating here.

Assuming 52 weeks a year. 5 days a week. 8 hours a day. For a full year.

$7.25 × 8 hrs = $58 a day.

$58 × 5 days = $290 a week.

$290 × 52 weeks = $15,080 a year.

(That's before taxes and also 7 days a week over 52 weeks is only 364 days. But you get the point.)

Mary did what now.

Mary annointed Jesus' feet with oil that cost how much.

And this is like me making an estimate, please don't take my estimate as Scripture (when translating I tend to word-to-word for mental health reasons because I don't want to feel like I'm changing Scripture, you know).

But like - that's the difference between word-to-word and footnotes and localization.

And it is really about - what's the point of your translation? If its point is to help your reader have the greatest understanding of what's being written, how do you do that? How do you help your reader understand, to the greatest extent, what is going on here? What's its purpose?

And when translating Scripture, it's really hard to say what the best way of doing that is, particularly if you're wanting to avoid bias in a translation. Word-to-word might be better for that, but it can be rough to understand. As a reader, what are you sacrificing, what are you losing? Etc.

Anyway.

Thoughts.

[lilboytings]

Another event accountability log 🥳

Its about the first time theyve seen me in like 4 years i gotta show up and show tf out

Got over a month to get it together.

Day 1 (4.19)

Food: 1,157

Exercise: 939

Net: 218

Notes: my body lines going dumbb rn so i just at least gotta maintain form might just post a bc 🤪. Also ill weigh-in whenever i feel like the number wont make me 🤢 on sight

Day 2 (4.20)

Food: 993

Exercise: 181

Net: 812

Notes: ⭐ving to recover from this but i knew it was gonna be really over my comfort range.

Day 3 (4.21)

Weight: 111

Food: 20 (liquid iv)

Exercise: 674

Net: -654

Notes: still ⭐ving on hour 28 as of this note. I put a goal of 95 but i know its unrealistic with my schedule this week 🙃

Day 4 (4.22)

Food: 0

Exercise: 986

Net: -986

Notes: i have no clue but i made it through a 2 hr cardio session and mowed the entire yard while still fa$ting (hour 49/95). I do feel like shit rn though

Day 5 (4.23)

Food: 713

Exercise: 758

Net: -45

Notes: my legs feel like jelly but I got work and shopping to do. We on hour 65 so i might actually make it to 95.

Update: broke at 67.5 hrs and am now in pain

Day 6 (4.24)

Weight: 110.3 after "breakfast"(icecream and fries)

Food: 700

Exercise: 189

Net: 511

Note: i feel like im more aggressive when i eat, its like when im fa$ting theres nothing else that matters except not eating.

Day 7: 4.25

Food: 653

Exercise: 371

Net: 282

Week dance hrs: 6

Day 8: 4.26

Food: 412

Exercise: 109 (estimated from my step count)

Net: 303

Day 9: 4.27

Food: 724 (half liquor)

Exercise: 1091

Net: -372

Notes: partied from 4.26night to 4.27morning so the numbers are a bit funky

Day 10: (4.28)

Weight: 108.3

Food: 880

Exercise: 539

Net: 341

Notes: wrote an absolutely insane plan for next month 💀 imma still try it tho

Day 11 (4.29)

Food: 681

Exercise: 718

Net: -37

Notes: im in pain.

Day 12 (4.30)

Food: 1054

Exercise: 728

Net: 326

Notes: last day before the d1et starts 🤠 already bought food thatll fit into it though

Day 13 (5.1)

Food: 802cal

Exercise: 539

Net: 263/700

Steps: 1.4k/2k

Day 14 (5.2)

Food: 706

Exercise: 95

Net: 611/600

Steps: 788/2k

Week dance hrs: 7.25

Note: i need to tighten up

Day 15: (5.3)

Food: 851

Exercise: 1438

Net: -587/700

Steps: 4.5k/2k

Day 16 (5.4)

Food: 732

Exercise: 404

Net: 328/600

Steps: 1.7k/2k

Day 17 (5.5)

Food: 300

Exercise: 270

Net: 30/500

Steps: 2k/2k

Day 18 (5.6)

Food: 585

Exercise: 593

Net:-8 /550

Steps: 3k/ 2k

Day 19 (5.7)

Food: 590

Exercise: 461

Net: 129/450

Steps: 2.9k/ 2k

Day 20 (5.8)

Food: 940

Exercise: 539

Net: 401/450

Steps: 3.1k/2k

Day 21 (5.9)

Food: 620

Exercise: 701

Net: -81/ 600

Steps: 2.5k/ 2k

Week dance: 6.5 hrs 😡

Day 22 (5.10)

Food: 785

Exercise: 539

Net: 246/ 400

Steps: 1.4k /2k

Day 23 (5.11)

Liquid:

Exercise:

Net: /200

Steps: /2k

Umm anyways- i went to the thingy and they thought i was hot and my body was great. Just wait till the next function

[the-firebird69]

We have a couple added notes

-there is a commotion in town that is in fight it was turning into a fight with a pseudo empire

-this fight in town is getting bigger and the two are going to go to it it's downtown and it's over jobs and the pseudo empire who were pushed out of the reasons are here they're pushed out of the rings are here and they're pissed off and they're going to take over jobs and police jobs cuz these idiots got them in trouble and they want them dead that's true and it's a lot of there are thousands now there's a few million and they're here being pushy and going to bring our son in to force us out of the rings after getting rid of the others and want to try and capture us. And yeah that's not good I was going to attract us because we kicked them out and yeah well you have to be with the good use so far they can't get into the sheriff's office but they will use Force shortly. Other items are just as important

-there's a huge amount of crap it's going out up in Tampa it's huge and it's just uncorked five tunnels and it was 20 minutes ago also and they took out the superstructures and it's true and cleared it out well they're going to. It is good that it's done there's a lot of poop coming out and they still have to pull out the sooner structures and they get diamonds stuck on them makes it harder to pull them out so there's screw screw UPS again anyways the things are uncorked and poop is going out for real so far just run for 20 minutes there's a plum and it is about 300 miles north to south at 50 miles away and slowly going out to sea and it's time coming in and yeah you're pretty smart you could have said today take it out there superstructure and tonight opened it but okay and they're mean and nasty, and dumb and will pay for it and soon enough might even be out of the ship business because it's such a pain in the ass hey might not be trusted. That plume is going to go off shore. And in just moments it'll be 20 miles out later on today about 3:00 p.m. it'll be 30 miles out and it won't smell much but the wind's going the other way but it will get digested fast there's a water warmed up and stuff

And it is me speaking and yeah that plume is moving now says it doesn't smell here it smells like foliage it's good and Netflix about 25 miles out and it is going due West and will be for quite some time at twice the normal rate it's moving it and it is growing and replicating and that means that as is throwing seeds are for me and Germanating in just hours. It's going to be a big day the oxygen levels we estimate will be at about 20 during the day and a peak and 17 all day from now on and 25 at night down to about 22 steady and it's going to go all day and really the oxygen levels have been about 13 and picking at 15 for the past 3 months and before that they were 12 to 14 and at night was not much better now this oxygen level stuff started to go up only a couple weeks ago for real and even saying it's going on and they're mean people but it has gone up sharply most of them can't tolerate it and the stink from the crap is unbearable it's going up to Tampa and surrounding and the area is evacuated as well as those who just placed the percentages we had 30% yesterday morlock here and we expect about 8% to evacuate tons of people are packing up because of pseudo empire is moving in and we are moving into the rings yes and other areas we're going to print now

Thor Freya

Olympus

We only take part of Florida but we feel that the Volkswagen golf is a sign against us about Florida by the warlock and the max

Hera Zues

And we feel it too now he looked into it and they're the ones who derived it is not true but we see that they're going along with it and we understand what they're talking about they're trying to get us to engage you and constantly and that's their prerogative it was George you say and that's interesting

Macs

He kept saying to engage you now whether or not big while they are not big

Cammilla

Actually remember those years and it didn't work and our friend here was saying I don't think so and stuff like that not much of it

Mac daddy

Olympus

[exaustedshadowscale]

my bathroom is slowly flooding every few hours and my complex told me they can't do anything until the fucking 18th. this is not the only problem that this complex is having either, here's a short list of problems (and a long rant) that i have heard from my neighbors, and maintenance people:

multiple units are having the same problem with sewage backing up and flooding bathrooms, most of the units are vacant, but me and my upstairs neighbors (who i have finally gotten to introduce myself to after 2 years and we bonded over shared hatred of this corporate apartment) are having this same problem.

my upstairs neighbor's AC went out and it took THREE (3) DAYS for them to bring a fucking window unit out to them. multiple units are having this same problem, and while they are being provided with window units. i need to say that i live in Texas where it is regularly hitting 105+ F (40.556+ C) in the mornings, getting past 110 F (43.333 C) in the afternoon.

this complex has 300+ units, with the cheapest rent being 1200 USD (i got grandparented into 1000 USD, but still). there are also only three (3) maintenance people scrambling around to prepare for move in day on the 18th. that is 100+ units per person.

now, here's another reason why i mentioned i'm in texas: renter protections in this state are fucking garbage. they have seven (7) days to fix this before it becomes illegal. which, if the estimate of the 18th is correct, they will be in violation of that, as i put in my request on the 10th. they have better lawyers than me reading shit on the texas attorney general's website (fuck you ken paxton i hope the prison food is so bad you wish it was poison) so they should know this. this bit right here honestly infuriates me: "You do not have a right to withhold rent because the landlord fails to make repairs when the condition needing repair does not materially affect your physical health or safety. If you try this method, the landlord may file suit against you. § 92.058."

personally, i think sewage backing up in my bathroom materially affects my safety, and potentially my health, but a corporate lawyer for a multi-billion USD (58.2 billion as of 2022) company would fight like hell to disagree with that.

i'm hiding this behind a break because i'm sorta embarrassed about my background, being fron a rich white family, but i would LOVE to swing big dick money around to help out my fellow tenants and get rent deducted for this month. this section gives me some hope: "Under Texas law, it is illegal for a landlord to retaliate against you for complaining in good faith about necessary repairs for a period of six months from the date you made such a complaint. §§ 92.331-92.335." because if i make a big stink (like my bathroom currently is) they can't evict me for 6 months as long as my rent gets paid, which since i'm a privileged piece of shit, my dad has that on autopay. after that whatever, i wanna leave this shit place anyway, but i also want to help protect the other tenants by taking the brunt of the hostility. if i get evicted i can go live by my parents again, not even with them, just in the same damn city and they'll still pay (most of) my bills. i don't want to assume anything about my fellow tenants, but as far as i know none of them are about to lawyer up to get shit fixed, i just want to take the first step to get this started because FUCK am i angry. i'm angry that it took 3 days to fix ac in 100 F (37 C) degree weather. i'm angry that apartments are flooding while management overworks their maintenance people during the busiest week of the year, instead of contracting or just fucking hiring more people. i'm angry that ken paxton is still my god damn attorney general. i'm not angry that i have to vacuum the water myself because the maintenance people are so nice and wonderful despite everything going wrong and being overworked that i just want to be helpful and offer them drinks. i'm fucking furious that half the dryers in the laundry area are broken, and have been broken for a fucking month; they don't even work well when they fucking work. i'm pissed that i can't put 6 fucking quarters into the laundry machines and instead have to use a shitty, laggy app that works as well as the fucking dryers.

for fucks sake we deserve better. everyone deserves better than this. everyone deserves to be as financially secure as i am. if you don't think so then fuck you.

anyway, be nice to people. you don't know what they're going through that day. i'm gonna go find out how to legally start a rent strike. tomorrow. when i'm actually off and not just calling out to replace towels and vacuum every 2 hours.