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Junicorn 13: Crystal

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you CANNOT read too much old timey fiction because I was playing Raft with the lads this morning and without a THOUGHT said we could sail over to another island "if the wind would consent to blow" & let me tell you. This did not pass by unremarked.

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This is who is leading the NYC mayoral democratic primary rn

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skyrim isn't really even a game to me anymore it's like a bar with several health code violations that knows my order every time i come over and i swear i'll kick the habit and stop coming around but i still come back whenever it gets a bit chilly and need someplace to warm my bones

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I live in a never ending cycle of forgetting to wash my water bottle until I give myself mildew poisoning and then I spend a few days wondering why I have a sore throat and migraine until I remember to push that damn rock up the hill

anyways, this is your reminder to wash your damn water bottle and drink lots of water without killing yourself

thanks

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junicorn week 4 - carousel 🎠🎠🎠

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he got here at 10pm last night but i just opened the box!! his detail is insane in person i hope i was able to catch some of it in the light!

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sometimes you go down the rabbithole of online kink so far you have people being like “you think inner ear oviposition is a ‘weird’ kink? wait until you hear the nasty shit i, a real pervert, am into” and blog posts that are like “it’s so hard to find someone to dig a nine foot deep hole with when all the doms i can find want to dig a five foot deep hole max :/“ and then you remember that a sizeable portion of the population consider liking anal to be freaky

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Critiquing the Construction of Cipher's Midden

AKA "Why Can't Hermaeus Mora, In His Infinite Knowledge, Teach These Poor Nerds Some Basic Joinery Techniques"

Being back in Apocrypha replaying these quests after what, 2 years now? Got me actually looking around and looking at some details in a few houses (for fic purposes, of course) and then once I started doing that, being a woodworking aficionado with some construction experience myself, I couldn't help noticing a few things.

(Disclaimer that this is just for fun and not meant to be ripping on the actual ESO devs who did a great job of creating some really great environments and set pieces)

Unsupported beams: Putting beams across an otherwise open roof situation like this will add rigidity to the structure, but uh. They've gotta actually be attached to the frame. To have it just stuck to the interior panels like that is concerning. Honestly, from this point on, I'm just assuming any circular beams are purely a decorative choice because they just don't make sense otherwise.

Mystery Gaps: This is only the beginning for these particular beams. They will become a recurring theme. it's actually fairly common in modern-day construction to have multiple thinner pieces of wood (like 2x4s for example) stacked together like this to create support beams as this is usually a more cost-effective option than something like 4x4 hardwood and isn't really significantly less strong. but having 1-2 inch gaps between them is ???? not that bad I guess but just why? You're only making more work for yourself.

Missed Connections: If we're assuming these beams are carried over from the outside, then these oddly-spaced, doubled-up beams are likely what's supporting the eaves of the roof. That's not good! Leramil, your study's gonna blow over in a stiff breeze! Always carry your load-bearing beams across the frame!

This is Fine: well, it's not fine, it's probably not helping with insulation in here, but structurally it's not a big deal, just a bit baffling. It looks like their roofs are built in 3 layers; the boards visible behind the broken parts would be laid down first over the frame, and then the shingles on top, and then this broken shiplap (using that literally here lol) is the interior layer. Note how they don't quite meet up where the frame is.

I have no idea what that metal brace is holding up. Or the ropes. I guess the Ciphers are all just really into shibari or something.

Here we can see that someone among the Ciphers has the skills to actually cut proper joinery. From the look of it, that beam is supported by this round log, which has a joint cut into it to keep it in place. Good job!

And here we can see the ends of those doubled-up beams from the interior.

Decorative Protrusions: So, there is a historical precedent for details like this, but typically they would be supporting the floor of an attic. On the opposite side of this, there's just... wall.

After the nightmare that is the interior, I was interested to see how bad the foundation would be, but honestly? It's pretty solid, assuming the beams are lap jointed (cutting blocks off the beam on the outside and cutting a corner off your beams on the inside so they then fit together and sit flush without the need for nails) Evenly spaced 4x4 beams about a foot apart, this would be great if not for the floorboards running parallel to the beams themselves, and then the odd connections of the posts that serve as the foundation not actually sitting on the frame. So close!

So, canonically, I believe that the Ciphers get most of their material salvaged from Fathom's Drift, which makes things like this doorframe actually make a decent amount of sense. These long, curved beams could feasibly have been part of a ship's hull once, and I think that's a pretty cool touch.

Now, onto the walkways:

a suspension bridge without a railing is just a springboard for co-workers you hate. bonus points for the tripping hazard to make extra sure you faceplant on the ground below.

I have no words for this railing. the nice thing about it is, assuming all those rods are dowelled into the boards beneath them, this could actually work out if they properly connected the rail itself. which it doesn't seem like they have, if the mix of nails and rope is anything to go by.

Before I finish this, I just wanna take a quick look at some furniture:

(Yes, I know these are technically the rustic High Isle set, but I'm doing them anyway)

Really the only issue I have with this table and chair set is that the seat of the chair is covered in nails. Don't do that. You've already used dowels on the back, just use them to connect the seat as well. Or if you have to use nails, you can sink them down further and then plug them with something. (I'm sure there's a tamriel equivalent of wood filler, it's basically just sawdust and adhesive) Otherwise these are both pretty solid and well built.

The chair back is a little interesting though. It's pretty common for chairs to be built with tennon joints (basically the vertical pieces have niches carved into them, and the horizontal slats either have the ends tapered, or carved away entirely to sit flush with the other piece) but the visible dowels are a little weird and probably not doing anything structurally. I guess it could be an aesthetic choice.

TL;DR:

Most of this place would absolutely not pass a building inspection. These choices vary from dangerous to just kind of weird, and the Ciphers should probably find a new carpenter.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk <3

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The Dabous Giraffes - neolithic petroglyphs found in Saharan Niger estimated to be 6,000 to 8,000 years old. The bigger of the two giraffes is 5.4 meters long and is the largest known petroglyph in the world.

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one time in college when i was like 19 this guy in one of my classes asked me out and he was SO nice so i cannot stress enough i did Not want to hurt his feelings. i turned him down very gently and told him i just wasn't interested, which was the truth. anyway a week later one of those evil christian demonstrators was on campus shouting at people and generally we ignored them because what they want is an audience and an argument. but on this day i was walking by on my way to ballet so i was in leggings and a sweater over my leotard and he yelled "nice cameltoe, dyke!" and i honestly was less angry at him than i was at my university for allowing him to be there. they said it was public property so he had the right to "assemble" but i didn't understand why sexually harassing students and calling them slurs was included in that "right."

anyway i was 19 and so mad and i spun on him idk probably i was going to hit him and people saw that because they got between us and gave me the classic "he's not worth it" speech and i was like okay you're right.

so he shouted something about me liking pussy and i laughed and said "actually, i do! you got one thing right!" and then i turned to walk away

and one of the guys who intervened (thankfully so i didn't get expelled for beating someone up on campus) was the guy who'd asked me out and after i calmed down and he was sure i was okay he was joking around to lighten the mood and he said "'pussy' huh? now i know why you weren't interested in me hahaha."

and my autistic ass said, without thinking, simply trying to clarify my identity at the time "no i am bisexual, that wasn't it."

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Would you be so kind as to draw a suffolk punch or some other draft breed with a bunch of frilly bows in their mane?

sure can! hope the bows are to your liking though. feel like they arent the best

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I'm just curious here - and depending on results it will be interesting to know whether the players most likely to actually follow the dialogue in quests are also the ones who prefer to play from the base game through the release-order timeline, following the stories.

So I'll make that poll once the results are in for this one.

My dearest wish is an option at the end of Character Creation to choose whether this playthrough will have the Zone/Prologue/Story Quests locked into sequential order or not, the way we can choose to skip the tutorial.