#Required Minimum Distribution

[nationallawreview]

Year-End Estate Planning Update: Strategies for 2025

The 2025 transfer tax exemption will remain at a historically high level before being reduced by 50% on January 1, 2026 under current law. As it remains uncertain whether the new Congress will enact legislation to maintain the current exemption amount, taxpayers should continue planning with the current law in mind. There are a variety of strategies available to take advantage of current…

[toothsalad]

Free Bulk Covid Tests?

If any of my followers are connected to food pantries or mutual aid orgs, a friend of mine just found a bulk order form for free covid tests from HHS and it seems to have worked. There is a minimum quantity of 300 tests and no required proof of affiliation, so you could just get them and distribute them to your community (as my friend is doing).

[katherinakaina]

I love in p2 when Artemy confronts Daniil on day 3, all aggressive and self-assured, he claims that Daniil's suggestions, hospital and vaccine research, are all about the future and neglecting people who are sick right now. Daniil doesn't really engage in this discussion, it's silly to him, when dealing with a disease this lethal you can't really expect to save everyone. So Artemy storms away with the sense of his moral superiority intact.

And then... He doesn't do all that much for people who are sick right now. The bare minimum in the hospital and checking on the bound, that's about it. He's clearly prioritizing making his cure and his own survival. The cure he has no clue how to make. And then, where to find the material. After two weeks he finally finds a source of the material, and it requires a huge sacrifice.

Almost makes you think, damn Artemy, maybe you should've helped that other guy with his vaccine? Maybe then you could avoid killing earth herself or whatever is it you did.

And now p3 is coming out and we know that Daniil is the one actually doing everything he can to protect people from getting sick right now. Actually talking to patients, making a version of a vaccine every day, managing the town, obsessing about the losses of human life. Not to mention that he always was the one to open the hospital and other facilities, in p1 his and Rubin's vaccine is actually created and distributed, saving lives, making sure there are any people left to give the cure to in the end.

Will there be a conversation now about how Artemy is an unreliable narrator and how heavily his perspective is warped by his sense of pride, duty to his family's name and need to prove himself? The conversation is long overdue.

[desiree-uk]

Butterbot is back! <3 Butterbot mod notes:

Description

Larger Patterns Panel increases the size of pattern thumbnails and the height of the patterns panel in Create a Style, Create a Sim, and Create a Bot. By default, the UI displays sixteen patterns at a time (four thumbnails x four rows). The mods enables the display of twenty-seven patterns at once (three thumbnails x nine rows).

Installation

Place mod into Mods/Packages folder.

To uninstall, remove mod from the Mods/Packages folder.

Requirements

A minimum screen resolution of 1920x1080 is strongly recommended. The bottom of the panel UI element will be off-screen at screen heights lesser than 1080px.

This mod was built and tested on patch 1.67.

Conflicts/Compatibility

The following resources are modified by Larger Patterns Panel. Mods doing likewise will cause a conflict.

LAYO 0x025C95B6-0x00000000-0x751448ABEBCD492C

LAYO 0x025C95B6-0x00000000-0x0A18231C4DBB9177

LAYO 0x025C95B6-0x00000000-0xBE89CAB9DEBCF5EE

Terms of Use

Do not redistribute.

All resources within this mod (including custom assets) may be edited as needed and included in UI mods/recolours provided that any resulting mods are freely distributed (no paywall, no early access) and include a link to back this page.

Toolset

S3PE

Photoshop CS6

Visual Studio Code

Download from MTS!

[house-of-angst]

Y'all mind if I talk about Present Mic's quirk for a second? Great.

So, my partner and I have been having Erasermic brainrot lately, and while we were binging content with them, I became interested in Hizashi's voice quirk. I began searching stuff about how sound/volume works, and linking it to his canon stuff.

I'll just say, the info I found makes him a pretty scary guy. It's a shame he's so underused in both canon and fanon.

Frequency

First of all, I want to talk about something everyone knows about him: his quirk is potent enough to shatter glass. Now, when it comes to decibels, it's always important to consider the time and distance a certain note is held for, since these can impact the "hit" a certain sound wave can have when influenced by effects such as the air or vibrations.

(Please keep this in mind for the reminder of this post)

When it comes to glass, however, it breaks almost instantly under the pressure of his voice. Our most constant example of this is the man's poor lenses, but there is a scene I'd like to talk about the most, it being he one where he completely shatters Shigaraki's tank.

One might argue that the glass was already weakened from Mirko's kicks, but that's honestly part of something that makes this so impressive to me; Mirko's legs are strong enough to straight-up rip a high-end Nomu's head clean off, yet this tank was tough enough to withstand two attacks from her - including her ultimate move - before starting to leak; and the fact she was heavily injured doesn't fly here, as we very clearly could see she wasn't holding back one bit.

Now, let's get technical.

According to Google, a normal tone of voice would be around 50 decibels, while the required to shatter glass would be a minimum of 105. For comparison, that's roughly the same volume as a jackhammer. Now, you might be thinking, "Oh, that's not so bad! Some singers can do that!" and you'd be right, but there's also some other things to consider. Allow me to explain.

Some singers can reach a pitch that can make glass vibrate enough for it to break, but I've personally only heard of this happening if the person has their mouth close to a smaller, empty cup, and even then the volume would be distributed around. Hizashi, on the other hand, was standing several feet away from this reinforced tank and was able to shatter it immediately, using the directional speaker around his neck to aim the volume. This would naturally require for him to hit even higher decibels, specially when you take into consideration that one's frequency must match the glass' for it to vibrate, which drastically increases when it's dampened. (Read next topic for more info on this)

And then there's his glasses which, like I've stated before, are the most common thing he breaks with his voice. Obviously, this is not directed and it's not a total shatter, but there is something to be observed; say, did you know the necessary volume for lenses to crack, when not being directly aimed at, would be that of a nearby shot from a highcaliber gun? That's roughly 140-170 decibels.

Harm factor

Boy, oh boy! I'm betting most of you were looking for this part when you clicked the read more, right? Look no further, I've got you covered, you just better remember what I mentioned before about distance and duration.

Hizashi's parents were unfortunate enough to have a mutant child that was born with his quirk already active, and I'm willing to bet a newborn doesn't have the slightest bit of control over a power as destructive as a sonic-powered voice, which immediately resulted in everyone in the room bleeding from the ears.

Sound-related ear bleeding is most commonly associated with a ruptured eardrum, which can happen at around 150 decibels and is about the same as a jet engine taking off. While a baby most likely unleashed his maximum voice power on the first breath, I believe something like that would, thankfully, only develop fully after puberty, just like with non-powered people like us, since his quirk is a drastic intensification of a common function and not a new ability altogether.

With that being said... The Finals Exam.

In this, Hizashi was standing very far and, even with the directional speakers, there were many obstacles in the way that kept him from landing direct soundwaves on the students. Regardless, Jirou's ears bled in less than 30 minutes being exposed to this.

This could have happened due to the fact that she has a hearing quirk, which would make hers much more sensitive, but let's study this, shall we? We don't have the exacts of what happened there, but the students are visibly uncomfortable upon the first soundwave, which would suggest it was at about 120 decibels upon impact (with 85 already being enough to cause damage to your ears) and being emitted even higher by him, considering distance muffles volume. Still, I think all that would be nothing compared to the scream he let out after those bugs started crawling on him, with how unfiltered that was.

With Jirou, it comes to no surprise this volume at this distance and time almost rendered her deaf, and realistically would take several months of healing time. How much do you want to bet Hizashi got a solid scolding from Shouta? I mean, it was supposed to be a challenge, but homeboy came this close to breaking her quirk.

Another thing I want to point out is that his voice is powerful enough to actually fucking launch people, and this only happens due to an event called acoustic trauma, basically meaning Hizashi can surpass supersonic levels. Although, it's important to note that this effect is caused mostly due to pressure and not so much as sound, so while it's not freakishly loud (about the same as thunder), it can still cause hearing and psychological damage.

! WARNING !

The following part contains graphic mentions of injury, and death. Do not proceed if these are sensitive topics for you.

Now, we look at the disturbing side of Hizashi's quirk. Buckle in, because it's a wild ride.

Remember what I commented earlier, about him having to hit even higher frequencies to be able to shatter Shigaraki's tank? First of all, as the doctor was sent flying, this qualifies as supersonic, but that's not all. To shatter such a protected tank, with liquid inside increasing the density, he'd have to hit over 200 decibels; which is considered extremely dangerous and most definitely fatal, as the threshold of pain is of 115-140 - this can cause damage such as crushed ear bones, ruptured lungs, or embolism. For comparison, this would come close to standing right next to a Saturn V Moon Rocket during launch, and is no longer considered a "sound" due to the vacuum.

With that being said, the man came very close to dying by Hizashi's hands (voice?) twice. Not only was he so close during the lens incident, literally being inches away from his face and in risk of getting his eardrums ruptured already, but if Mic had decided to raise his voice even more during his rage, it'd be possible for the frequency to make the doctor's inner organs malfunction, or straight-up burst from the pressure.

But that's not the worst part.

After establishing that the lethal amount of over 200 decibels would be necessary to shatter the tank given the circumstances, if he exceeded 240 and the doctor happened to be in the way of this, it would be enough to cause his head to explode upon impact. That old man better be grateful that he was standing a feet few away, and that the supersonic blast blew him away a bit more, or it'd be an immediate game over.

With all this being said, how devastating would it be for this guy to scream his rage out?

(Please keep in mind that many of the extreme cases in this are actually impossible to happen in a real-life scenario and are purely speculation!)

[freshstitches]

I finally published the project for my dice roll scarf that went viral last month. If you love dice games, you'll enjoy knitting this pattern.

The color work in this project is determined by an algorithm, a set of rules that determine the final outcome. There isn't an exact set of instructions for this project. Instead, the knitter uses four 10-sided dice or a random number generator to pick the length of the colorwork in each row. 

The result is a staggered stripe sequence along the edge of the shawl. There are trillions of unique outcomes, so no two projects turn out exactly alike. The pattern uses about 500 yards of yarn in total, but the amount of each color that you'll need is randomly determined. Before publishing, I wanted to find out the minimum and maximum amount of each color required to make the project and the probability of each outcome.

The knowledge needed to calculate the yardage was a bit beyond my skill level, but my friend Mary W. Martin helped me gather this info. I used an online probability calculator to find out the probability of each unique stitch count. The results are slightly different depending on whether you use four 10-sided dice (blue) or pick a random number (yellow), but 99% of all possible results fall within a very small range. 

It was an interesting little tangent, but not hugely important to the actual knitting pattern. I can, however, confidently say there is a >99.9% chance that you'll need a 2nd skein of the main color. If you want to know more about the math, you should check out my project notes on Ravelry. 

The thick and thin striped colorwork is created with a super simple "long stitch" technique. The pattern looks great in fluffy mohair or contrasting colors of basic wool and the instructions include some basic tips for substituting yarns or changing the gauge.

Finished Size: 18 x 68” (46 x 172 cm) rectangular wrap.

Yarn: Approx. 315 yards (288 m) of MC and approx. 264 yards (241 m) of CC. Yardage may vary, see notes on yardage below and yardage chart in photos.

• Main Color (2 skeins) - JMR Studio Worsted Weight Mohair, 245 yards (225 m) per 4 oz; 78% Mohair, 13% Wool, 9% Nylon.

• Contrast Color (1 skein each, both yarns held together) - JMR Studio Fingering Weight Mohair, 320 yards (293 m) per 100g; 63% Silk, 23% Kid Mohair, 11% Nylon, 3% Polyester Held with Lavender Lune Yarn Co. Suri Alpaca, 328 yards (300 m) per 50g; 74% Suri Alpaca, 26% Silk.

Yardage: The amount of each color used for this pattern fluctuates based on the random numbers used to determine the stitch pattern. MC uses approx. 233 to 315 yards (213 to 288m) and CC uses approx. 182 to 264 yards (166 to 241m). 99% of possible results fall within a much smaller range. The Yardage Chart shows the distribution of all potential yardage outcomes.

Needles: Size 8 (5 mm) straight needles, or size needed to obtain gauge. NOTE: Straight needles work best with long stitches. Circular needles with a thin cord allow the long stitches to tighten and stretch, making them harder to manipulate.

Gauge: 12 sts x 14 rows = 4 x 4” (10 x 10 cm) square in pattern.

Other Materials: 10 sided die or random number generator, stitch marker, scale, tapestry needle.

Generating numbers: In my sample, I used four ten-sided dice (D10) to choose a number between 4 and 40 sts. If you don't have dice, you can use an online app like RANDOM.org to generate your numbers. If you follow this link, you'll get a list of 63 integers between 4 and 40. NOTE: Each time you visit the link or refresh the page, the list changes. You can also just choose numbers as you knit.

Pattern is available on my website and on Ravelry.

[crustaceousfaggot]

My review of the city planning of town-upon-gorkhon as someone who knows nothing about city planning

PROS:

Walkable (food, first aid & necessitates available within a 15 minute walk of most residences)

Thriving cultural and historical scene

Several public parks within the town, plus easy access to wild greenspace

Plenty of benches & public seating

Public drinking water sources

Streamlined barter economy

Lots of funding for arts & sciences

The very minimum amount of CPS required to rehome lost babies and find that spooky graveyard girl a foster father.

Plentiful shade trees & urban greenery

Only one actual cop, and he's incompetent enough that you can just kinda ignore him.

Low homelessness rate, and vagrancy does not appear to be penalized

Yet to be corrupted by automobile infrastructure. God bless.

Excellent public waste disposal system. Really. Multiple trash cans on every street AND they're emptied regularly? That's the dream

CONS:

No hospitals

No schools

No plumbing

A tragic lack of public art, unless you count the statues of the Mistresses or the posters outside of the Theatre

The whole corrupt totalitarian oligarchy thing

Class-based and race-based division of neighborhoods, which is hard to avoid but undeniably has a negative impact on societal function.

The aforementioned public water sources are unreliable and sometimes unsafe.

No welfare system, unless you count "the leftovers from the fund will be distributed to the poor"

I'm gonna be real the armed robbers on every block are a real problem. Idk what the solution there is but it's a real issue.

The undrinkably polluted river is also a big issue. Maybe some of the money going into new experimental architecture projects could be funneled into coming up with a filtration system, idk just an idea.

The most god-awful street layouts ever designed

Not self-sufficient, unable to function long-term without external supplies

No restaurants

Only one bar and they only serve one drink. Also I hear the owner's a freak.

The only transit system (river boat) gets no government funding and is too expensive for widespread use. 2 fingernails for a boat ride???? In THIS economy????

Honestly the complete lack of an organized healthcare system in a town of that size is pretty appalling. Three doctors for over 10'000 residents is just not acceptable. They should get on that asap. Who knows what could happen.

Not wheelchair accessible (stairs everywhere)

[irlactualhuman]

Lea Shepherd,

It has come to the attention of the HR department that you have been using your corporate email to both offer and request sexual favors from several of your coworkers on company time, and in a seemingly official capacity. This is a clear violation of company policy regarding sexual conduct in the office, on official channels, and during work hours. Our policy clearly states that benefits not considered "earned rewards", such as target bonuses, cannot be distributed to employees evenly, including so-called "social benefits".

To comply with policy, we ask that you either cease all sexual activity described herein immediately, or agree to both offer and receive such sexual services from all employees equally. The entire HR team would strongly urge you to choose the latter option, as it will not only go a long way to undoing the sense of unfairness this conduct has instilled in many employees, but will also likely improve overall corporate moral, including for us here in HR.

If you do choose the latter option, as we most certainly hope you will, HR may be required to change the designation and official duties of your employment, as it is likely this even distribution of activity will severely limit your capacity to carry out your existing work. Management has, however, already given the green light on this, as they are all eager for your well documented talents to become more widely available.

Please respond to this email with your selection by noon this coming Monday, so HR and Management can move forward and take any necessary adjustments to ensure your continued success with us.

Thank you for your time and for that thing you did the other day in the break room,

Laika Loveless HR Manager

Laika Loveless,

After due consideration, I will conditionally accept this new position within the company that Management has seen fit to develop for me. My stipulations are outlined as follows:

Pay increase commensurate to my increase in duties. We can scarcely say that I was compensated fairly for my admittedly assumed duties up to this point, but we can use them as a spring board. Based on my new adjusted workload intake, I would expect no less than a 130% increased salary yearly.

As I will be moving to a more physically intensive position within the company, this must be non-exempt.

I will require at minimum two PA's under my direct supervision. I do not have any singular or outstanding requests as to their work history or training beyond the ability to administer good and frequent massages.

Finally. I want Jessica's office. The nice one on the 3rd floor with the bay window. If you'll circle back to me on this in person, Ms. Loveless, I can review with you some additional information I may have pertinent to this request.

I am certain we can come to an understanding on all further points related to job function, the filing of appointments, and commission. The Christmas party will be sublime, this year.

I am thrilled to be helming this new venture on behalf of the company. It is as my father always told me, "get on your knees, girl!" He was right, and I am sincerely flattered to have my accomplishments so keenly realized by my superiors.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

- Lea Shepherd

Title Pending (Might I suggest Morale Officer?)

PS: GIRL I TOLD YOU WE GONNA MAKE THIS HAPPEN JESSICA IS FCKIN THROUGH see you at drinks at Marty's honey. kisses!

[askagamedev]

So why do early access games tend to only launch on PC anyway? Consoles are perfectly capable of updating games, and even have built in news feeds these days too.

Certification, [the process by which the console makers grant legal permission to sell and distribute games for their consoles], is an extremely expensive and rigorous process. This is because the console makers require a certain minimum bar of quality for player experiences. Combine the less stable state of most early access games with the expense of certification (typically in the tens of thousands of dollars) and it becomes a losing proposition to spend a bunch of money that the studio may not have to pass cert on a game that may not ever recoup that spend, especially when that money could have been spent developing a better game.

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Frequent Questions: The FAQ

[copperbadge]

Every time, you guys. Every time I look into alternatives to Lulu.com for self-publishing I come up with “Wow Lulu really is the best of a bad set of options, huh?” 

Recently, Draft2Digital bought Smashwords in order to bring a print book company under their aegis; they’d formerly only done ebooks. I thought I might investigate them as an alternative to Lulu, which I’ve used for about twelve years now. For ebooks I would venture D2D is probably top of the line. For print books they are....not. 

I’m writing this out half so other folks can see it but half so that in the future I can look this up and remind myself of why I’m still with Lulu. 

TLDR: Not only does Draft2Digital want 60% of my print book royalties where Lulu takes 0%, and $30 for a proof that costs me $11 at Lulu, but I also appear to have solved the problem of why Lulu was making me price my books so goddamn artificially high. Which is like. Honestly the best anti-anxiety drug I’ve experienced this week. 

Basically there are a number of elements that go into self-publishing with a print-on-demand service. For some publishers, there’s a “setup fee” which doesn’t really set anything up, it’s just there to be a fee, everything is done by computer on the back end. Traditionally, Lulu has not charged a setup fee. Smashwords used to charge $50, but Draft2Digital currently waives it. I was heartened by that because the setup fee was keeping me from migrating, since I can afford $50 but I balk at knowing I’m paying them $50 for nothing. 

Next is the cost of printing -- what it costs the company in paper, ink, machinery, labor, etc, to just make a book with no profit. Lulu’s price calculus isn’t super clear and I’ve never bothered looking at what the breakdown is, because they’re pretty up-front -- they tell you in the process of setting the book up how much it’ll cost. In this case, a 140-page 6x9 trade paperback, no frills, which is how all my books are printed, is $5. Draft2Digital doesn’t tell you the flat price anywhere but they do offer the breakdown information; it costs $1.22 flat plus $0.0133 per page. So, for a 140 page book, the at-cost is $3.08. So far so good. 

Now, if you’re going to sell through Lulu, the “at cost” is the minimum price. You won’t make any money but you CAN charge just $5 for a $5 book. Any pricing above that is your cut. So -- let’s price this 140 page trade paperback at $13-$15. That’s a bit high to be honest but let’s just see. At Lulu, your take is roughly $6-$8 based on those prices, because you’re just dropping out the cost of printing from the retail price. 

At Draft2Digital, the same 140-page trade paperback, which remember is quoted as costing roughly $1.20 less to print than Lulu charges, gets you $2.75-$3.50 in royalties per book.

....wait, what? 

So now we need to sidetrack a little but I promise it’s for a reason. One of the motivations for looking into a change to Draft2Digital is that I didn’t like that Lulu was setting higher “minimum prices” than I was accustomed to -- they would tell me the book only cost $5 to print but require me to sell it for $12 or similar, and I couldn’t work out why. I’m an idiot but the penny did finally drop: it’s because when you distribute them outside of Lulu (say, on Amazon or Barnes & Noble or similar) your royalties drop like a stone. $7 in royalties purchased through Lulu comes out to like twenty-five cents purchased through Amazon. So Lulu forces you to price the book at a point where you even GET royalties and don’t end up weirdly owing Amazon money. The “global distribution” is what’s driving that minimum up. 

So in price-quoting a competitor I actually solved the problem with Lulu. 

Which is good, because the fun doesn’t stop there. If you want a proof copy of a book from Lulu, it’s the at-cost of the book, plus tax, plus postage. Buying a proof copy of this book from Lulu would cost me $11. Lulu makes you order a new proof copy every time you make a change, which is shady, but usually I only need to make 1-2 changes across the life of a book, so at most the cost will probably be $35 and for that I’ll get three copies of the book. Draft2Digital doesn’t give you an option. If you want a proof pre-publication, it’s $30 flat. If you want to publish and then buy a copy you can, but you can only make one change to the book every 90 days once it’s published. If you want to make more than one change, it’s $25 every time you upload a new version of the manuscript within that 90 day period.

So Draft2Digital’s books cost less to print but they take a massive cut of your royalties out of the retail cost of the book. If the book costs $3 to print, and I price it at $15, that’s $12 in profit on the book. Of that $12, however, I only receive $4. Draft2Digital literally wants 2/3 of my royalties per book. They want $20 more than Lulu to send me a proof copy. If I need to correct the proof, the correction is free, but I’m assuming the second proof will also cost me $30. Any changes after that, within 90 days, will cost $25 plus $30 for a new proof.

Which means my upfront costs at Lulu are about $35 per published book; to do the same thing at Draft2Digital is between $60 and $105 depending on whether I need to make changes after the second proof copy. And even after that, my royalties at Lulu are just about twice what they would be at Draft2Digital per purchase. 

So, well, Lulu it is. And the problem I was having with Lulu is solved if I decide to just retail through Lulu rather than selling globally. Which...selling globally has done two things that I’m aware of:

1. Fucked up my author page so badly on Amazon that one of my books is still attributed to Kathleen Starbuck, and one of her books is for sale on my author page. 

2. Raised the minimum price I’m allowed to set my books at by like, 40%. 

So I think probably what’s going to happen is going forward my books will be for sale only on Lulu. I can still assign them ISBNs and they still will ship worldwide, and the prices will fall significantly. My deepest apologies to those of you who have paid an artificially inflated price for the last few books; I’m going to fix that going forward, I’m going to go in and try to fix it retroactively in the books that are already on Lulu, and if it’s any consolation at least the cash came to me, and TWO THIRDS OF IT didn’t go to Lulu. 

It’s gonna take me a little time, untangling Lulu’s relationship to other retailers is tricky, but eventually the Shivadh Omnibus and Twelve Points should come down significantly in price, and there ought to be a dollar or two drop for the older books as well. 

This is why it always pays to do the math, even if like me you are dreadful at it. 

[nothorses]

thank you for your brave stand beside people in bad need due to the gruesome war over Gaza. ❤️🖤💚🤍

It's the bare minimum! You are doing and enduring so much more. I hope you and your family come out of this safe and okay. Your family is lucky to have someone working so hard for their safety.

I'm posting this ask on my blog in hopes that more folks see it and can help circulate it. This is Fadi Ayyad, a Palestinian high school student; and his father, Ayman Ayyad, a well-respected, well-known Gazan educator. They've been organizing to get their family out of Gaza and into Egypt where they hope to find some safety.

As of right now, they're at $27,500 out of $35,000 needed- which is getting close, but not quite there! If you can help boost their posts and/or give them anything to help get them the rest of the way to their goal, it'd be a huge help. Direct action and all that.

You can see where they've been verified here, and they're also on this spreadsheet of verified Palestinian fundraisers.

Here's where the money is going, as per their gofundme:

"This process needs me to pay $5000 per person over 16 and 2500 per person under 16 to let the whole family move out of Gaza through Rafah crossing point as coordination fees. ( Total amount required is ($ 35000) distributed as $20000 for adults (4 people ) and 10000 for children ( 4 children )."

[catt-nuevenor]

The Future

Time to establish what's going to happen from this point forwards.

The vast majority of you have been exceptionally patient this last year, and for that you have my deepest thanks. You've given me the time to not only write a book, but edit it, and send it off to literary agents, something I would have long given up on doing without the continued support of those who enjoy my writing.

Now that the book is off doing the rounds independently, it's time I got back to Myrk Mire.

Originally Myrk Mire was built in ChoiceScript, a scripting language created by the Choice of Games company. Choice of Games control what is done with their script, understandably, they own it. This does pose some restrictions. I can't, for example, release any paid material built using ChoiceScript unless it is directly through their publishing label. If I do publish under their label, I maintain IP or Intellectual Property Rights, however I also grant them the exclusive rights under perpetual license to publish the multiple choice game 'electronically'.

Source: Choice of Games.com

As you can see from the outline above, they do make exceptions for stories published in non-competing formats, and for sequels, prequels, and spin-offs. However, traditional publishing houses might require stricter control over IP, distribution, and exclusivity. It will only become more and more complicated as things progress, and being locked into a perpetual license agreement of any nature is not a decision to make lightly.

As some of you may be sensing from the tone of all this so far, I'm going to be moving Myrk Mire away from Choice of Games and ChoiceScript, and into a new medium/format.

After tinkering, and trialling with a few alternatives, I've decided to go with Renpy. Renpy, while largely used for visual novel style games and stories, provides a very workable framework for interactive fiction, and is an Open Source script, it isn't beholden to publishing contracts, licence cost, or exclusivity.

I'm not going to be diving into transferring Myrk Mire right away, it's a huge piece of writing, in an entirely different scripting language, and as previously stated, there are a lot of changes I want to implement with the cast. Instead, I'm creating a trial story: One Háḟest Day. My Patrons have been aware of all this for about a month or so, and have already seen some previews.

One Háḟest Day takes place in Aldmirham before the events of Myrk Mire, around the time the Main Character and the Wanderers first arrived in town. The reader will have the choice to follow one of the romanceable characters through a single day, with opportunities to explore their lives and relationships before the Main Character and Child come along. I hope it will provide a proving ground for the changes that previously caused debate, and an opportunity for people to try out the new format and interface.

My plan is to distribute One Háḟest Day through Itch.io, working with their early access framework and voluntary payments for such as soon as one of the character routes is ready to play from beginning to end, updating regularly with the other characters as they too are completed, and with additional features as required. Once the full game is complete, I will release a separate full build with a set minimum price that can be discussed with the community as we move forwards.

At the second, I'm aiming for a web hosted format and a desktop/laptop downloadable format, with phone compatibility to come later down the line once things are stable.

I will post production updates and info when I can to tumblr, though a lot of what I'm doing now is very python coding heavy, so perhaps not that interesting?

I've included some screenshots below of very early development, featuring a Character Log and Word Log that I hope will allow readers to more easily navigate the story. I'm toying with the idea of having a Mysteries Log as well that will keep track of snippets of information gleaned from each character's route, but that can be a tinkering feature for now.

Let me know your thoughts, concerns, or excitement, though do keep all messages objective and polite.

[chronicbitchsyndrome]

Do you have any examples for what kind of air filtration places should be using? And how do I go about asking what they’re using? I’ve been wanting to contact my library to ask, but I don’t know what word to use.

(DISCLAIMER: this answer is for the USA. air filter regulations and certification vary country-to-country, and i live in the USA. please do not assume any of this--beyond the basic scientific information--is true if you are not in the USA.)

so the short answer is that in order to be effective against COVID (and most other viruses), your filter must capture particles in the size range of 0.1-1 microns. if the minimum capture size is larger than that range, it will not trap viral particles. just as importantly, it needs an appropriate Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) for the size of the room it's filtering; you can learn about how to calculate CADR and other details in the linked documents here, but the short version is your purifier's CADR should be equal to at least 2/3rds of the room's total area (for example, a room of 120 square feet requires a minimum CADR of 80), and rooms with ceilings higher than 8 feet require a higher CADR-to-area ratio than that. most wisdom recommends aiming for 5 complete air changes per hour, however, i've been told that this can be overkill.

the most commonly-used air filters in the USA which filter particles in the correct micron size range are HEPA filters. HEPA stands for High-Efficiency Particulate Air [filter]. you can learn a little about HEPA filters on the EPA website here. because of how air purifier testing and distribution work, the easiest question to ask to determine if something filters the correct micron size range is "is this a certified HEPA filter?" there are many filters being marketed as "HEPA-type" filters which do not filter microns in the correct size range. make sure you ask if something is specifically a HEPA filter and not a "HEPA-type" filter.

other than asking if it's a HEPA filter, i would suggest asking the following questions:

is the CADR of your purifiers rated for your room size[s]?

if they don't know: who can i talk to in order to get that information?

if they don't know that: what is the CADR of your air purifier[s] and what is the square footage of the room[s] they are in? (you can calculate whether or not it's rated appropriately to size yourself.)

the CADR should be on the packaging and info booklets that come with the air purifier, but if whoever you're talking to can't access any of that information, try asking for the specific brand and model of the purifier. if you look it up, you should be able to easily find its CADR on the manufacturer's online listing.

hope this helps! let me know if i can expand on anything or explain anything more clearly.

[studywithtarun]

Declutter and Reset for 2024

Every new year we create this wall filled with hope and joy creating impossible goals and tend to fall behind very quickly, so here in this post I am going to share my methods to avoid this very exact incident repeat this year.

Goals :

Goals are most important step to create a perfect and productive year, unfortunately the most neglected every guide somehow skips this and hence here I am sharing the write way to create your goals!

Instead of impossible goals we have to create possible chunks of impossible goal, for example instead of lose 12 kg this year instead try to break it as lose at minimum half a kg a month for first 4 months then increase difficulty because no complex action can be achieved in sudden efforts.

Checkpoints :

Try setting up a checkpoint system it works like a cross balance and reminds you of where you stand from your goal.

For example : for me it is like my first check points is in April 14 ( Tamil new year) then September 2 ( Onam) December 13 ( Karthikai) so these are other festivities which I use as a checkpoint. Create a similar setup according to your belief system or holiday system🤗

A partner :

Now to keep you in track set up a trust system in which you select a group of people to check after your progress you can do the same to them so it creates a good structure.

You can use your family ( parents or siblings) please don’t use very close friends both why must screw away with both forgetting initial plans ( cause it happened with me 😭) and you can also use Tumblr as a partner just post and use a tag #1stepcloser so I can also look and motivate myself to keep going 😓

Plan :

Just having goals is not going to help us but a workable plan distributing work thought year and one that you can actually follow and take benefit of is what you need.

Let’s be frank here you as well as me can’t follow a schedule every studytuber or studygram communities throw at us they are edited as no actual living normal human can follow it so create on that suites you ( try using AI like ChatGPT to form your schedule and I am saying it works like magic)

Analyse and Rebrand:

Believe me rebranding doesn’t just mean changing goals routines etc it your social media along with friend circle.

First identify friends who are pulling you down the ones who are using you and social media creators who are wasting your golden time

Remove them from preferences from your social media settings, break the friendships that are one sided that are hurting you emotionally and financially

Now what I wrote sounds intense but it is all required because all this create your personality and true rebranding can happen when wrong influences don’t deviate your focus! So it your turn to work a way to detangle yourself from drama and try to achieve your max capabilities.

Try new stuff :

Try new stuff, hobbies anything that is new and can build a better portfolio or can increase your focus etc.

Don’t hesitate because unless you try you might never know how to fells after doing it. For example I first hesitated to post in Tumblr I had account for a 3 month by then but did note dare to start posting yet now when I post I feel better in a way I know that my work is helping someone and also I used Tumblr to vent some anger that helped my very much so ya try try try

The post is going too long so we will continue this topic in another post also please check out this template just designed to do whatever I just said above it is completely free - https://stwtarun.gumroad.com/l/ultimate-new-year-kit?layout=profile

Byeee besties

Your study buddy

Tarun

[stormshipping]

Memoir - a low-effort SFW stormshipping zine!

Let's spend time from Valentine's day thinking about our favourite master and student of love!

Create a new fanwork involving Jun/Chazz and Fubuki/Atticus.

Submit it via one of the methods below by 30 June 2025.

Mod will compile into a single pdf and publish (intended to be on Internet Archive) on 30 July 2025 (international day of friendship)!

Download, read, enjoy!

FAQ:

How do I apply?

No application needed, just create a work and submit as set out below. Anything made by the deadline will go in subject to content as below.

There will be no "background checks" or automatic exclusions of participants, however the zine is intended to build community within the ship scene: if any participant harrasses any other, their work may be removed from the zine.

What content is allowed?

Fanfiction, fanart, recipes, cosplay, meta... Any medium as long as it can be flattened into a PDF eventually. The work should be new and not published anywhere else until the zine's release (though you may create a teaser / preview during July if you wish).

The work should focus on the relationship between Atticus/Fubuki and Chazz/Jun. This relationship can be however you interpret it and both characters do not necessarily need to be present (e.g. a sketch of Jun writing a love letter to Atticus would be fine; so would a drabble about an OC's fly-on-the-wall description of the two together). However, please do not include romantic side pairings.

This is a low effort zine so there is no minimum requirement. I am bravely setting no maximum but this is a LOW EFFORT zine so probably not the place for your 400k epic. The long creation period is to reduce stress not increase it!

This will be a SFW zine so please no sexually explicit material, graphic depictions of violence, abuse, or major criminal activity. This is for practical reasons and creatives who may make works containing darker themes are welcome.

How do I submit?

Save your work as any common file format and either:

Email to stormshipping at pm dot me

Submit to this blog on tumblr @stormshipping

Add to the AO3 collection Memoir

on or before the deadline of 30 June including the information below.

Make sure to include how you would like to be credited (anonymous is OK too). Exclude any personally identifying info - don't send from your school email address for instance.

You must include a permission statement along the lines of "I request this work be included in the Memoir stormshipping zine and grant the right to non-commercial modification, publication and distribution of the work with attribution as part of said zine".

(modification - I need to add your work to the pdf; publication - the zine needs to be displayed; distribution - the zine needs to be available publicly; attribution - your credit will be included as requested)

Optionally, include some words about how you got into stormshipping, what you love about it, your headcanons...

You may submit more than one item but please send each separately with all the above.

Who are the mods?

There is one mod - Sixy, who runs this blog, also known as harinezumiko on AO3.

This zine has no finance or shipping (other than stormshipping!) and graphic design will be minimal to non-existent.

Who gets the covers?

You want a low-effort zine to have a cover?

Oh, alright then... If you are making art, let me know in your submission if you'd like to be considered for front or back cover. I will pick one that fits the size and looks ok with text over it (textless version will be included inside) and if there's still a choice there will be a difficult judging process (mod will post a poll with text descriptions).

What about...

Drop an ask, mod will answer.