#english 1 adv

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Why Spell Check (and some grammar check) isn't AI

So I've seen in the wake of Nanowrimo some people claim that spell check is AI and thus is like Gen AI, and I saw the claim originator on Twitter, but when I pressed them, they basically tried to say they had a degree in computer science, so when I pressed into them if they knew what they were talking about, they couldn't answer because obviously don't know about AI.

For some background I've done some light programming (If you look at the Korean name generator, that's all me). And I also have relatives that did programming.

Here, I can lay out how spell check works without AI or a fancy algorithm.

The oldest spellchecks didn't use AI or Gen AI, they used what is your basic corresponding tables.

If you use something like google sheets (database), you can do this pretty quickly yourself though with a lot of manpower.

Here is a list of commonly misspelled words.

Add that with another table with how they are commonly misspelled.

Then you need a table with "common typos"

Then you need one more table for "Words the user adds."

The algorithm is basically this: Set up a loop. A loop is a mechanism that has an algorithm (or set of instructions in it) which repeats until a certain instruction is met. This loop with this algorithm will check for words. In this case, anything with letters, usually encompassing ' and - (though some programs ignore dashes).

So[,][ ]it[ ]will[ ]look[ ]at[ ]letters[ ]in[ ]this[ ]sentence[ ]and[ ]figure[ ]out[ ]if[ ]it[ ]is[ ]spelled[ ]correctly.

The first loop in the previous sentence will look at the word "so" by selecting everything it knows to be a letter in English. Tada "S, o" Then correspond that to the dictionary. So shows up in the dictionary listing it has of English words. Thanks Webster. (If you're British, the OED)

The Algorithm concludes the word is spelled correctly. No more work needs to be done on So. The next word is it "i, t" correspond that to the dictionary and so on.

If you have a "bad word" for example "alot" then the work is, word is spelled incorrectly. Next "work to be done" is to find out if this word is in the "commonly misspelled" words list. If yes, then underline the word in red to get it corrected.

AKA run Algorithm to underline word (usually a few lines of code if you're doing it the old way).

Then the algorithm moves on. The function of right click/Cntrl click is saying, OK, this word, "alot" is it commonly misspelled? Here are a list of corrections according to this other table. This is the work that needs to be done: We need a popup table. We need to pull from the database this misspelling, and then we need to pull from this other database and pull corresponding correct spellings based on this. Then you set up an if-then If the user clicks on this word, change highlighted word.

This is your basic spelling algorithm. You do not need gen AI for this or AI.

Grammar works similarly. You need a table, the type of speech it is (n, v, adv, adj) and then to load in "rules" one should use. You do not need AI. You need some basic programming skills. On the table of somewhere between "Hello, world" (1) and "OMG, I created artificial intelligence like Data " (10) My "Korean name generator" is like 2.5? in difficulty (minus all of the language and cultural knowledge). Haha. Still mocking myself. But a Spellcheck is not far from that. it is like 3. You could build one fairly easily with PHP and database access to a dictionary and misspelled words with corrections.

But Google pulled from the Enron Emails.

In this case, you can sorta fuzzy logic it and create bigger algorithms, mostly to sort out the *grammar* and *New words* that were used that aren't already in the database, which basically is another loop, but with an add to database function. (i.e. table). Then you would correspond this with another loop to look at "odd grammar" and flag it.

You can use AI to sort it faster than a basic algorithm, but nope, you do not need AI to correspond it. A basic algorithm would do. You can also use AI for "words that look similar to this one" and "Words commonly used in place of this one"

But overall, You do not need AI for a grammar check. You only need a dictionary, a set of commonly held rules of English and exceptions (maybe some Noam Chomsky, though he's controversial), and then some programming skill to get past the hurdle.

But Grammar check could use AI

AI as it stands is basically a large algorithm to match large datasets to the words you use. But the problem is that the datasets are taken from users who did not volunteer to put in that information.

It is not Data on Enterprise have novel experiences of every day and learning how to function in the human world by processing it through a matrix of quantum computing.

So WHEN grammar check does use AI, the AI is mostly doing the crunching of the corresponding the information into a more neat table option, as I understand it. It is not the same thing as Gen AI or your average spell check and Microsoft algorithm from say 2000.

Those are not equal things. Instead, adding Gen AI to say, Microsoft Word, is more like stealing your words for the machine (which BTW, Microsoft absolutely did and you need to transfer out to Anti-AI programs/Apps.) and corresponding them for Gen AI future use for people who can't write worth a damn, and then "averaging" it out. Elew. Who wants to write to the average? That's anti-Creative.

And just because it uses an Algorithm, doesn't automatically use AI.

Look, I can write a algorithm now:

Loop: If you want to be strong...

Go outside.

Do cardio.

Go lift weights.

Make sure you eat a healthy diet and balanced which includes reducing refined sugars and do not eat bad fats.

That equally is a set of instructions, but that's not automatically AI.

I programmed my calculator to spit out the quadratic formula. And this isn't even officially programming, this is a script. Dudes, if you're going to call that AI, then you need help with learning computer programming.

The threshold for making AI v spellcheck is a lot, lot higher programming than a set of simple tables and a loop that looks for letters and spaces corresponding it to an existing dictionary. If that's you're threshold for AI, then when you type words, you are caught in an algorithm. Ooooooo... OMG, when you pull up a dictionary to spellcheck yourself, that's AI. C'mon. The threshold is a might higher to make AI or "victim of algorithm" as in Twitter.

So anytime someone says, "All Spellcheck uses genAI/AI" Laugh in their faces and say no. 'cause like, I'm a terrible programmer, and even I'm like, Meh, not that hard to set up spell check, give me a solid dictionary database and I'll do ya.

That said, A human will beat AI on grammar anytime and will be able to sort weird spellings faster and A-OK, or not.

[ranahan]

*bi-

Here’s a group of roots that relate to breadth, amount, and multiples of things, and that may or may not be related. I’m generally not 100% certain of many of these reconstructions; I don’t think there’s enough material to create a perfectly (or even mostly) watertight explanation for these and besides, many of the words here are the kind that resist a transparent explanation. Thoughts and ideas are welcome.

*bid, ‘amount���

bid (adv), ‘so (degree), to the extent of’

luubid (adv), ‘enough’ < luu- + bid, perhaps “sufficient amount”?

I’ve personally extrapolated from this that ‘bid as a suffix could mean ‘a measure of something,’ like English -ful > hosha’bid (spoonful), buyca’bid (bucketful), gaambid (handful), iru’bid (armful). And also that luu- might mean something like “sufficient” or “to suffice,” giving a verb luur, ‘to suffice.’

*bi-, ‘wide, broad, vast’

bikadinir (v), ‘to stab (with a broad blade), to run through’ < bi- + kad (sabre) + din(to give) + verbal suffix — from this I would hazard the guess that bi- means ‘wide, broad’.

cu’bikad (n), ‘an indoor game that involves stabbing blades into a chequered board - a cross between darts, chess and ludo’ < cu- (four) + bi- + kad (sabre), lit. “four broadswords(?)” — the game is played with daggers, so either the bikad here is metaphorical or in Mando’a it doesn’t mean a literal broadsword, but has perhaps diminished into a mere dagger.

I’ve also wondered if abiik, ‘sky,’ might not belong to this group? Possibly originally meaning something like ‘wideness, vastness.’ It could be unrelated as well, though; perhaps the root there is *ab- instead of *bi-; it’s hard to say anything conclusive because there aren’t enough clearly related examples to clarify the relationships here.

I’ve personally been using bila (from bi- + adjectival suffix) as an adjective/adverb meaning ‘wide(ly), broad(ly), vast(ly).’

*bin-, ‘stack,’ ‘bundle,’ or ‘bunch’

bines (n), ‘stack’ <bin- + nominal suffix meaning ‘a thing’

binesor (v), ‘to stack’ < bines + verbal suffix

bintar (adv), ‘both’ < possibly bin + t’ad, i.e. “two things”?

ebin (adv), ‘either’ < possibly eyn + bin, i.e. “one thing”?

An example of Fando’a derivation would be the binil, ‘a non-essential part’ (cf. paril ‘an essential part’) by MandoCreator Language Team.

*bir-, ‘harness, tackle, rig’

birgaan (n), ‘backpack’ < Doylist etymology is that this word comes from Bergen, a Norwegian backpack manufacturer and a British military slang word for a backpack (according to word of god). However, I like a Watsonian etymology (i.e. glossing it like it’s a native word) bir- + gaan, especially since it seems like Traviss used bir- elsewhere as well.

birikad (n), ‘baby carrying harness’ < bir- + ik’aad (baby)

birov (adv), ‘many’ < possibly from bir- + -ov, a nominal suffix that usually creates abstract nouns? The semantic link could be something like rig > arrangement of many things > many-ness.

Bir- from birov has been used in many a Fando’a word to mean ‘many, multiple’. Some examples by Aay’han Community (modifications mine): bir’ca’nara (often), bir’pirimla (universal, multipurpose, something that has many uses), birakir (1. multitask 2. to be multipurpose, perform many functions), birakyc (multitasking, multipurpose).

[pacing-er]

Death Mark Canon Content Checklist:

✔️= Read ⏹️= Not Read

Unofficial Translations are linked, other content is physical or available through the English Translation of the games. All credit to translators available through provided links.

-Death Mark Good ✔️, Neutral ⏹️, and Bad Endings ⏹️

-NG Good ✔️, Neutral ⏹️, and Bad Endings ⏹️

-Death Mark II Good ✔️ and True Endings ⏹️

-Death Mark DLC: Little Red Riding Hood Good ⏹️ and Bad Endings ✔️

-Death Mark DLC: The Amusement Park of No Return ⬛ (Not released)

-Death Mark II Bonus: Princess Mach ✔️

-Death Mark II Bonus: Mary's Makeover ✔️ (Unofficial Translation on YouTube)

-Death Mark Art Book ✔️ (Officially Translated in English via LE PS4 Bundle)

-Death Mark Manga ⏹️ (Unofficial Translations only)

-Death Mark Novels ⏹️ (Unofficial Translations only)

-Death Mark: Everyday Life at Kujo Mansion Audio Drama ✔️ (6 total)

-Death Mark: Blue Demise Audio Drama ✔️ (29 total)

-NG Bad End Audio Drama ✔️ (Unofficial Translation on YouTube)

-Death Mark: Chapter 0 and Voice Drama ✔️ (6 total)

-Aksys Official YouTube and Social Media Content ⏹️

-Death Mark Official Website ✔️

I've finally finished playing through the Good Endings of all the base games!! I love when a series has lots of canon extra media aside from the primary content. I'm going to do my best to hunt it all down. Please let me know if I missed anything!

This list is for personal use and for the use of fans like me who need to consume 100% of the content for their fixation 😅

[toobluebirdie]

The Apparition Creature Runes

This post is to organize the thought process the Eden’s Rest discord server went through trying to figure out what the runes in the Apparition drawing really mean.

I hope my explanation is clear enough to follow!

We went from casually wondering what the runes meant to realizing they spelled nothing, to trying to flip them upside down and realizing they still spelled nothing, to finding a tik tok that led down a new rabbit hole entirely.

The person in this tik tok talks about an article they found about medieval language. SMCEN was written as smœn (which is also written as smoen). 

Here’s the link to the article they were talking about in the tik tok: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43628078 You can only access the article if you have a subscription to jstor, whether through your school or otherwise, but the sample page here has the passage the tik tok is talking about. Trying to figure out the literary jargon hurt my head. It talks about “mamorian” and “mamra” (which come from the same root word) meaning “to be deep in thought about something” or “sleep.” Trying to clear up what the article was saying about “smoen” after that and connect it all together was hard but here’s what i got:

It seems to say that smœn is linked to the word smean, which is a variation of the Old English word smeagan.

From the Wikipedia entry for smeagan ( https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/smeagan#Old_English ):

Verb

smēaġan

consider, think about 

meditate

examine, scrutinize, question 

These definitions line up with the definition assigned to mamorian. I hope you can follow how my brain made this leap, but this made me feel confident enough to say the jstor article is saying both mamra and smoen mean sleep or at least something similar to it. 

So we have our translation of SMCEN:

SLEEP

The rest is far less confusing. I think.

Now that I knew I should use Smoen as a search term and that it was a medieval word, google helped me a lot more.

I found this book about the Magical Treatise of Solomon:

You can search the book for the word “smoen” and that’s how I found a lot more I could use to find answers.

I found some alternate versions of smoen that helped with searching: Skonin and Skoen

I found that Smoen was a demon linked to the angel Patiel (or Pathiel)

This book also has a whole page of runes, some of which are similar to the Sundowning runes. It’s page 323 of the book if you want to see.

This book has a lot to it, but for the purposes of this rune translation attempt, I moved on.

The book mentioned lots of Greek words and names so I applied that to my search for the meanings of the other runes.

In Greek and Latin the letter j did not exist. “I” was used in place of “J.” So I switched the j in the remaining runes to an i. (AJR -> AIR)

I searched for info on ESIO maybe being a medieval latin word and I found this source: 

(which is from the Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources)

It said this: 

estio --> esio

esto (adv.)

esto (adv.)

so i searched for Esto and found this: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/esto 

And that said…

Etymology 1

Form of the verb edō (“I eat”).

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA: /ˈeːs.toː/, [ˈeːs̠t̪oː]

(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈes.to/, [ˈɛst̪o]

Verb

ēstō

second/third-person singular future active imperative of edō

So I think ESIO could mean EAT.

At this point my brain was leaking out of my ears so I gave up thinking. I decided AIR just meant AIR.

Air = Breathe???

And that’s the story of how the discord chat decided it said...

EAT BREATHE SLEEP

The end?

Eden's Rest friends involved in the making of this monster: @ccsven and @r-e-dax-t-e-d

Here’s @ccsven's drawing where we started trying to figure out wtf that said. And oh man, did we. Did we? I still don’t know.

[greentastico]

Where: discord (but first we talk here!)

Looking for: 18+ writers.

Characters: 21+

Ive been dying to do a more mature/realistic/dark rp set in the ninjago universe, specifically starting season 4.

Hi im Darla! 21, she/her. CET time zone.

In short, what and who I'm looking for:

- Lit to adv-lit, 3rd POV. Think 1000–2000 characters per reply.

- Action, adventure, fantasy, romance, ( i love romance yearning, needing, being so in love )fear, mature themes, gore/violence.

---> im really looking for the dark, the gritty, the hurt for this rp. There could be mention of: underground = illegal buisinesses/human trafficing, prostitutes. Violence = blood, injury, character death. (Ofc not all the time or 24/7 just to make clear these things can be mentioned and that im not shy about these things ^^) just think of Game of Thrones NO ERP/SMUT FOCUSED PLEASE

- i will write side characters, and you will too!

- English isn't my first language! I only check grammar for the actual rp story.

- FC = realistic/art realistic **i find fc on pinterest** warning: if i find something i like, and it's A.I. still gonna use it. So dont come for me if you are against that please.

- i really like to read about your oc, i can really get into it. But i would love the same energy back, as i too, put a lot of effort in my oc and i hope sm, you will love her.

What I'm looking for OOC:

- I'm here for a fun time! With regular chatting about characters, plotting, chit chat. I think communication is key. Please dont reach out if it takes you 3 to 5 business every week bc my motivation will die.

Pairing/Preference Info:

- FxM and FxF are what I'm most familiar with! I especially enjoy when our OCs are friends or have some established connection!

(this is a ocxcc double-up = we both write a oc we both write a cc for the other.)

✨Characters I can write for you:

1. Ask me! F or M it doesnt matter!

✨Characters you can write for me:

1. Kai (pls?) [Lol i have so many headcanons about him its crazy]

2. Cole

If you'd rather write cxc for your side:

- Jay x Nya → I prefer to write Nya

- zane x p.i.x.a.l. --> prefer to write p.i.x.a.l

- Nya x Skylor --> no preference!

- Nya x p.i.x.a.l --> no preference!

Thank you for reading! Send me a DM directly with some basics about you. Please, i will not respond to any form of 'hi wanna rp?' I need more than that. I wont respond to you if you can't introduce yourself.

Or like, and i will reach out to you! Do not like if you are not actually interested in a rp. (Why do people do this?)

Thats it thank you! If you are curious, on my blog i have a post with my writing sample's, then you know what i am expecting of you, and you can expect of me! I would love to start chatting i know i sound kinda harsh here. But i just want to be clear. 💕

i have only seen till season 7. But i am starting to catch up slowly!

[silvermoon424]

Is it me or does English dub anime from the 90's sound better. And I mean the English dub that stays truer to the original anime and not cut out like what DiC did to Sailor Moon. Like Fushigi Yuugi and Perfect Blue. Heck, those English dubs from the 90's even have more emotion than the current trend of English dubbing AND the 90's English dubbing even pronounces the names correctly JUST like the Japanese pronunciation!

anon I was ready to strongly disagree with you because I thought you said that the 90s Sailor Moon dub was superior 💀 Like I am the DiC/Cloverway dub's #1 hater, I could not have let that slide lmaoooo

ANYWAY, I do think that a lot of 90s anime dubs get a bad rap just because they were produced in that era. A lot of dubs back then (like Sailor Moon's) did kinda butcher the source material, and the quality of the voice acting itself wasn't always great.

But there are still so many iconic dubs from that era that still hold up! I know that the original dub of Neon Genesis Evangelion by ADV is still held in high regard, for example (to the point where a lot of fans consider it superior to the much newer Netflix dub).

[mofffun]

«Rita of Gokkan» Ch.19

eng translation by me

ch: [tag] [2-3] [4-6] [7-9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18]

timeline: ep5 (Toufu ch1)

Rita and Kaguragi test each other on what the other knows.

contains TV SPOILERS past ep5, assumed reader is up-to-date at ep43

*If you are a newcomer and wanted to read the manga along with its corresponding episode, you will only get context for what's hinted in this chapter much later in the show.

t/n:

p4: This bugnarok is pronounced "by-EH-jim" not "bae-jim" ... based on a fly (ha-EH)

Kaguragi addresses everyone as "-dono" but sometimes Rita as "Sovereign Rita". I'm putting Rita-sama and Rita-dono both as "Justice Rita". Normally I'd be inclined to keep the honorifics but since I already used the English form before I should stick to that and subs group conventions. ("-tono/-dono" is an antiqudated suffix that is only used in official documents nowadays. In history, it meant respect for those above you but nowadays it's used by the higher-rank to address those lower politely. Genderless, lower than '-sama'.)

Something about Rita's speech pattern is they tend to use a lot of kanji, as part of their solemn personality and regular legal jargon. I lack the context to evaluate how advanced Rita's kanji are to the average Japanese but the general sense of Rita having a more archaic/complex vocabulary is evident.

holding my urge not to put a ! in every Kagu speech bubble

p14: Kagu's reation to hearing Rita saw Suzume's figure: ……はて？ -> long pause, [lit. 1. well; let me see; now​ (used before sentences expressing a doubt) 2. dear me/good gracious]

ch19:

t/n part 2:

p9: わざわざお出まし恐縮（きょうしゅく）です [lit. my apologies for making you come all this way.] -> What an honour to have your persence!

Here it is! the east/west cultural difference! Keigo is a big challenge for me as a learner already, let alone a translator. There's no direct dictionary substitution and it really depends on your intuition with usage in either langugaes. The keigo here is humble-type, while to make it sound natural in English, instead of reflecting your own incompetence, you are flattering the other party. In the next line, Kaguragi says because Rita came unannounced, they were inadequate in failing to preapre a welcoming committee. I think the scarcasm is there in English too, but I just feel it's more insulting to imply Rita is not exactly welcome while initiatively taking the "weaker" side (Kaguragi's gaslighting, what's new).

p13: learner's note: the royal kitchen is called 厨房(chuubou) while the word for kitchen I knew was 台所(daidokoro). Research shows 厨房 is a professional kitchen like in a restaurant and 台所 is the one at home. Katakana Kitchen is also in the vocabulary to mean a modern, western-style industrical kitchen. Chinese has lost the distinctioin and uses 廚房 (note!: an extra dot above 厨) for both home or workplace.

p16: I interpret Rita's first concern is in maintaining equality between the kingdoms. A duo alliance between ❤🖤 is only detrimental to a five-kingdom one they are working towards: small circle, and increased hostility from 💛💙 if they believe ❤🖤💜 is their small clique. Yet it is interesting Rita raised the question out of personal curiosity. Remember in the beginning there was this, feeling, ❤🖤💜 are seniors and they've known each other for longer? Now we know Kaguragi is actually Rita's junior in terms of order of sucession. Now they could've what he was like prior to taking the throne. Notice how they never describe him as a liar. Maybe Rita does find it odd a man of his capability feels the need to bootlick Racules.

Onomatopoeia words this week:

スッ(Suu) an action done suddenly without sound

ボコボコ(boko boko) 1. sound of hitting a hollow object 2. uneven (surface) 3. to cause damage with full force

バキバキ (baki baki) hard objects shattering/breaking/cracking ポカ(poka) 1. repeated hit with something heavy i.e. fist/bat 2. feeling of warmth

よろよろ (yoro yoro) (adv., not a sound) staggering

もがく (moga ku) (v.) struggle/wiggle impatient -> here means eating frantically (because food is too god)

ずいっ (zui) (adv.) straightforwardly, readily, without hesitation

alternate translations:

p9: No careless msitakes… -> Better keep my guard up… / Better stay alert…

p11: No way any of that is true. -> What a load of crap. (intuition lol)

Script:

p1 (18lp) p2 「バサッ　バサッ」 「ガクン」 すみません～… バエジーム お騒がせしております～ 「ゴゴゴ…」 くそ…　バグナラクめ… どこにでも湧（わ）いて来る… p4 うるさくてすみません～　そして… 「ブ　ブゥン」 死んでいただけると助かります～ 「ス…」 「タッ」 p5 「ガッ」 「ボコ　ボコ　ボコ」 待ち伏（ふ）せていたのか p6 「ドドド」 「ガガガ」く…つ 「バキ　ゴ　ポカ」 p7 ギヤ 「ズンッ」 トウフ国の黒子軍団…！ 今だ！ p8 撃（う）たせていただきます 「パ　パ」 「タ　ドッ　タ　ボッ　ボ」 「タッ」 ギャ 「よろ　よろ」「ブブブ」 てっ…　撤退（てったい）です～！　 p9 いやいや…　素晴らし腕前 さすがリタ国王 わざわざお出まし恐縮（きょうしゅく）です 前もって言っていただければ迎えの用意いたしましたのに カグラギ‧ディボウスキ… こいつはラクレスと通しているようだが… 油断（ゆだん）は禁物（きんもつ）だ… p10 p11 して　ギラという男 強盗団（ごうとうだん）の親玉（おやだま）という噂がありまして 毒虫（どくむし）食にしている化け物なんていう話も もういい そんなわけないだろ もしやそのご様子まさかギラの正体（しょうたい）をご存じで…！ 調査（ちょうさ）中だ たとえ王でも外部の者に話すわけないだろう p12 さすがは絶対中立の王　素晴らしい！ 察しますに最高厳罰（げんばつ）処分（しょぶん）ですね …ただ一つ言えるのは…… おお！？言えるのは！？ —いや 調査の結果は法廷（ほうてい）で明らかにする 危ない…どうもこいつの前でもしゃべりすぎる… ラクレスに感づかれては厄介（やっかい）だ うまい…　「もが」 はっはっは　そうでしょう！ このトウフには世界中のあらゆる食が揃っております p13 ただ… 聞いたことない食事は出ませんが … そういえば　リタ殿 以前（いぜん）コーカサス城の厨房（ちゅうぼう）で 調べごとをされていた…とか 調べもの見つかりましたか？ 個人的な調査だ　結果を話すつもりはない そういえば　あの時… p14 お前とよく似た着物を見たが ！ ……はて？ ラクレス殿にご挨拶にうかがったときでしょうか？ p15 いや…　もっと小柄（こがら）な… それはリタ殿の見間違いでしょう なにか　隠しているな… お前はなぜラクレスに付き従う（つきしたがう） ラクレス殿は素晴らしい志(こころざし)をお持ちの方 であれば協力するのは当然です それにしてはまるで主従(しゅうじゅう)のようだ p16 国同士は対等（たいとう）な関係のはず… それに前王イロキの悪政（あくせい）から解放したのはお前の独力（どくりょく）だ それは… リタ国王！ これは仕方がないのです…！

[jabmanjoshua]

Was Doug TenNapel's Gear inspired by Evangelion?

DISCLAIMER: This will probably contain spoilers for both of the above-mentioned series.

A while back, I read Doug TenNapel's Graphic Novel "Gear," his first big comic story that started his career as a "comic-er" as he once put it.

Gear tells the story of four cats in a world at war with cats, dogs, and insects. All of which have access to giant robots called "Guardians" and the fabled "forbidden mechanism" that has the power to turn the tables for whoever uses it.

It's an interesting story, one with some aspects that feel strangely familiar. More specifically, it made me think of a certain 90s mech anime... Neon Genesis Evangelion.

Now, before I say anything else, let me just say that I don't know if Doug TenNapel ever watched NGE or not, but there are at least a few similarities that seem almost too close to be a coincidence, which I'm going to point out here.

1. Timing.

According to Doug in the bonus material section of Gear's 20th anniversary edition release, He started writing Gear in 1997, the first issue of Gear was published by Fireman press on November 1998 and the last issue came out in April 1999.

NGE Started airring in Japan in 1995 with the last episode airring on March 27, 1996.

AD Vision A.K.A. ADV Films Dubbed the series in English in 1996 to 1998.

This means Doug TenNapel could've seen the show prior to or maybe even during writing Gear.

2. Weapons of War.

In NGE, the Eva pilots mainly have two weapons at their disposal, guns, and a plasma powered knife called the "Progressive Knife" or "Prog Knife."

In Gear, they are quite a few guns. including ones built into at least some of the guardians, and while there aren't any plasma powered knives that resemble giant carpet knives, We do see Gordon, one of the main four cats carry around a knife that becomes an important part of the story towards the end, however in the original Fireman press version of the comic, we see him use his knife to take out a few unsuspecting dog troops during the blood rage scene. also, while the guns shoot lasers in the 20th anniversary edition, in the original they fire bullets.

3. Angels of Lore.

In NGE, The world is under attack by giant powerful mysterious creatures referred to as "Angels."

Gear doesn't have such beings in its story however, the title character, a somewhat bumbling robot at one point refers to Heaven as "his home" which sounds odd until you look at the temple catacombs, which contain a hieroglyphic depicting the origins of the forbidden mechanism, revealing that it was forged from the remains of an angel that fell to earth after being defeated by a demon.

This implies that Gear isn't just a robot, but a robot with the soul of an angel.

4. Familiar Smells.

At one point in NGE, the main character, Shinji, notices that the smell of Eva Unit 01's cockpit reminds him of his mother.

In Gear, after Waffle undergoes "Geno Mutation" and turns into a guardian, Gordon notes that the guardian is not only the same color as Waffle but also smells like him.

5. Soul in the Shell.

Near the end of NGE, It's revealed (kind of) that Units 01 and 02 absorbed the souls of Shinji's mother and Asuka's mother, and their souls reside inside their Evas.

In Gear, during what seems like a miracle, Gear uses his power to the souls of Waffle and an insect named Chee into their guardian bodies to aid in the final battle.

6. The Mastermind.

In NGE, Shinji's father Gendo has an ulterior motive of bringing about the "The Human Instrumentality Project" in an attempt to reunite with his deceased wife Yui.

In Gear, Emperor Pago wants the forbidden mechanism to power up his guardian and conquer the world.

7. Blood in the Machine.

In NGE, The Evas are humanoid and are able to bleed.

In Gear, we see Waffle's bleed as he is crushed by Pago's guardian,

and we see Pago's guardian also bleed when Gear stabs himself to stop him.

8. Finding God.

NGE has many references to the Bible, Christianity, and Catholicism. From the aforementioned angles to the names of said angels (that apparently aren't mentioned in the actual show for some reason), to symbolic crosses seen throughout the series.

Gear is a bit more subtle with it's references to Christianity and the Bible, namely a panel consisting of the character Simon giving an account of Heaven, the implication of Gear having the soul of an angel as mentioned earlier, and Pago quoting Goliath during the final battle.

One thing I will point out is that technically Doug first started referencing Christianity in his work with The Neverhood, a PC point-and-click adventure game that released (ironically) in 1996.

If Doug did see Evangelion, maybe it inspired him to reference his faith in his stories. After all, if a weird Japanese mech anime could do it, why couldn't he?

That's all the similarities I noticed. Was Doug inspired by Evangelion? I don't know, but it's interesting to think about.

[bowloflentils]

I'm a few days late sharing this on Tumblr, but I posted an update for the Sakura Wars 2 fan translation on behalf of the team on Twitter this week.

Here are the contents of the update for anyone that isn't on Twitter:

On behalf of the whole team, I'm sharing an update on our current progress with the Sakura Wars 2 fan translation. We've been hard at work since January, so we put together a short video showcasing our current build followed by a summary of what we've accomplished this year.

The English script for both the adventure and battle sections of SW2 have been patched into disc 1 and we're now trying to iron out bugs. We're also in the process of implementing single-byte text encoding which has remedied some of the script size issues we’ve been running into.

The translation for the ADV section was completed in 2022 and this year we finished translating the remaining text files for the “Long Day in the Theater” mode as well as the battle sections. This was a massive task as the battle scripts were divided up into over 400 small files.

In terms of editing, the ADV script has received several editing passes this year and things like minigame titles, special attack names, and battle unit labels have been finalized. Battle dialogue has also received its first editing pass and other system text has been unified.

We’ve gotten a lot done this past year but we still have a ways to go before the patch is complete. We're not sure when everything will be finished but here is a short breakdown of what still needs to be worked on:

-What is left to do- Many of the in-game menus and graphics still need to be converted into English, and solutions need to be found for several technical issues we’ve run into with our current builds. Specifically, we are experiencing quite a few bugs in the battle segments at the moment. Also, we currently only have disc 1 up and running in English. That means that the script will continue to be polished and edited as we see more of the English text for disc 2 and 3 in-game. And once everything has been implemented, we’ll still have to do an extensive amount of testing, especially since the game is three discs long compared to SW1’s two discs.

---

Thank you to everyone in the team that put in so much work this past year:

Project Lead: NoahSteam.

Programmer: TrekkiesUnite118.

Translators: MattoBii, CrouchingMouse, Natsume38.

Graphic Artist: Joqu.

Editor: Bowl of Lentils.

And all other contributors.

See you next time!

[tobiasdrake]

I'm not entirely certain on if there's an official source for what the english dub ages are, but I've always heard them listed as 1 year older in the dub except for the younger kids (TK, Kari in Adv. and Cody in 02) who stayed the same. But it does generally match up with what I DO know we gets said in dub (such as Joe calling himself a teenager in Adventure). That being said, TK DID say he was in 7th grade in the first episode of 02 in the dub, and since Davis and Kari are also in his class they would all probably be 12 or 13 regardless. So Yolei calling them all 12 is consistent with that. TK and Kari being 8 in Adventure, then aging up the 4 years to 12 to match the ages of their brothers in Adv. does make the most sense, because that's kinda why the time gap was 3 years in the original, because that's the age gap between them and their brothers (Tai also does say he's in Jr High in OWG).

Yeah, the dub adding the year to Davis, Cody, and Yolei makes sense. The "acting like 12-year-olds" remark also makes more sense of Yolei is 13 in the dub than if she, too, is 12.

It's still an awkard line, though, because she's saying it about Davis and Cody. And there is no way Cody is supposed to be the same age as Davis.

[thespeakingbox]

Blog 1: Introducing The Speaking Box!

Hello everyone,

I’m The Speaking Box, a writer from Atlanta, GA. Writing is not just a hobby for me; it's a passion. I'm studying English and have published my debut novel in the Summer of 2023. I love to write in various genres, including Romance, Rom-Com, and erotica, and I’m always open to exploring new ones like Sci-Fi and Horror.

When I'm not writing, I'm all about new experiences. I'm a massive fan of live music, especially R&B/Soul, Hip-Hop, Gospel, and pop. I love the energy of concerts and the vibe of lounges with live bands. I'm always up for a good time.

I'm thrilled to delve into Adv Creative Nonfiction. For this semester's project, I chose to become an active member of a student organization on campus. I would like to focus on a virtual creative writing club.

I look forward to learning more about writing and getting to know each of you this semester. I wish you all the best in this class and in your future endeavors!

Peace and Blessings!

The Speaking Box

[karizard-ao3]

Bad news, gang. In my excitement over the new Ranma 1/2 anime I finally finished buying my set of original English volumes which means that at any time I could decide to compare the old translation against the 2-in-1 translation against the Ranmascan project translation, which is something I've wanted to do for a very long time!!!

(I also want to do an episode by episode comparison of the NGE ADV dub vs Netflix because there are definitely differences between the two. Just taking little notes for my own edification. Like, this episode with Kaworu had very different dialogue at the end, from what I can recall and I very much want to compare them.)

I'm a fucking mess.

[noosphe-re]

*aiw-

also *ayu-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "vital force, life; long life, eternity." It forms all or part of: age; aught (n.1) "something; anything;" aye (adv.) "always, ever;" Ayurvedic; coetaneous; coeval; each; eon; eternal; eternity; ever; every; ewigkeit; hygiene; longevity; medieval; nay; never; no; primeval; sempiternal; tarnation; utopia. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit ayu- "life;" Avestan aiiu "age, life(time);" Greek aiōn "age, vital force; a period of existence, a lifetime, a generation; a long space of time," in plural, "eternity;" Latin aevum "space of time, eternity;" Gothic aiws "age, eternity," Old Norse ævi "lifetime," German ewig "everlasting," Old English a "ever, always."

—Etymonline

[chososcamgirl]

um i feel naked telling u my subjects but they r basically

chem, bio, econ, e1 math, maybe e1 english, adv math, adv eng, religion 1 (i go to a catholic school)

e1 english is a maybe bc my teacher and english coordinator told me to do it but i don't really want to i think it's too much early mornings.

and like no one has told me if they think i'm doing courses which r a bit too hard except for my friends - but my goal atar is kinda like above 95 (hopefully 97+ i want to do medicine)

and i'm also considering e2 math (my tutor and mathematics coordinator said i could prob do it)

but idk...

also if she has any time management/ general organisation tips that wld be very helpful !! thank u

wise words from mandy !! 💕💕💕

[ao3feed-lanaeve]

Perant

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/fGFynaV by swaneewhistleandkazoo Perant (adv) – Old tongue for together. "Almost dead yesterday. Maybe dead tomorrow. But alive, gloriously alive today." At Elayne’s estate Lan and Nynaeve finally have a quiet moment together to enjoy the first day of their marriage. Words: 2388, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 10 of WoT: Dreams and Nightmares Fandoms: Wheel of Time - Robert Jordan, The Wheel of Time (TV) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: F/M Characters: Lan Mandragoran, Nynaeve al'Meara Relationships: Nynaeve al'Meara/Lan Mandragoran Additional Tags: Book 08: The Path of Daggers, Missing Scene, Making Out, Haylofts, Flirting, Hair Brushing, Touch-Starved, Spoilers, Wheel of Time TV Series Spoilers read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/fGFynaV

[findroleplay]

HSR / WUWA 1X1 ROLEPLAY REQUEST!

Hi! My name is Em and I'm looking for lit - adv. lit partners for mlm HSR/WUWA rps! My average response length starts from 300 words, but I tend to write more depending what's going on in the story. 3rd person, present/past tense depending on when the events are taking place.

I am willing to try out most things as long as the concept is interesting. exceptions are: apocalypse, dystopia, zombies, etc. I like to include a fair share of romance and smut if it flows, but I do not wish for it to be the main focus of the plot unless we have discussed otherwise. **Angst, triggering stuff, dark topics, are welcome. **

P.S I also have a soft spot for xianxia genre especially with the Xianzhou cast

I usually construct plots from scratch with my partner rather than offer pre-made ones, cuz like that we're both sure to enjoy it on both sides :> English isn't my native language, I'm from Europe (GMT+2) although I'm active 24/7 so whatever timezone you're in, doesn't matter to me.

When it comes to response time, it is dependent on what's going on in my personal life. Normally it's 1-4 days max, although if anything comes up I'll be sure to let you know. I am on the consistent side of replying, and I'd prefer my partner to be as well :3 Then again, it's alright if something comes up, just lmk and idm waiting longer!

SHIPS (bold for preffered muses)

HSR ::

Jing Yuan x Blade

Blade x Dan Heng

Jing Yuan x Dan Heng

Sunday x Aventurine

Gallagher x Sunday

Dan Heng x Boothill

WUWA ::

Jiyan x Mortefi

Calcharo x Jiyan

Geshu Lin x Jiyan I can also write for Jinhsi!

In case of interest, please feel free to like this post and I'll get back to you asap!

-