#are html tables still used

[maxybabyy]

happy new year friends!

to celebrate the new year, i wanted to go through some of wonderful stories i read in 2024. going through the tags and my bookmarks, i have come to the realisation that I still suck at keeping track of my favourites, so these are just the one still stuck in my head.

five (+some) full length fics

sour and delicious, secret and unrepeatable by @officialmood (maxiel)

i know this was written for that trope you hate fest, but i absolutely loved every word of it. all the tiny details, the shoe tying scene that still lives in my head, daniel preferring adynamic sex, max thinking he cannot have both. all of it is just so fucking good. I think it is such an incredible fic and such a good way to explore the maxiel dynamic.

table in the back by @janinaduszejko (galex)

i think if i could take one fic with me into 2025, it would be this one. i am more of a peripheral galex enjoyer, but this just hits ALL the right notes for me. the angst and misunderstanding is just so perfect that i can still feel the hurt in my finger tips. 10/10, will read again to keep george in miserable company.

rosetta stone by @janinaduszejko (carcar)

unlike galex, carcar does have me in a chokehold. oscar learning spanish and being called out by Fernando, dropping hints that they should move in together, only for carlos to tell him he loves him first. it's so fucking great.

everything carcar by @testarossa is also so fucking perfect, but especially make a mess, lioness is so, so good.

the entire Yours verse by @loquarocoeur (lestappen)

i still remember reading the first chapter of yours and not knowing what to think, only for it to turn into the most wonderful series. i am such a sucker for close-to-canon fics and this just done so well. i don't even know what to say, it's just sooooo fucking good, and i am in love with the dynamic between max and charles.

four espressos (and a lifetime) by @ferrarisma is another wonderful lestappen fic. i love the 'they grew up together' trope and the identity porn is just so perfect!

Cad Dad, a Dad of cats by @33max (max-centric)

max-centric fics are such a weakness of mine. cat dad max bringing the cats to races so he can make sure sassy gets her medication is so, so lovely and wonderfully written.

i have also read the first two chapters of famiglia-familie by @lsunstreakerl and i am very intrigued! gp taking in kid max is such an interesting take on it, and I cannot wait to read the rest.

four scenarios for tumblr fics omega max has a very special place in my heart and both @officialmood (post) and @lost-in-fandoms (post) have made such wonderful posts about it. i love all the different ways omega verse can be used to explore the maxiel dynamic!

girl max (my beloved) is another trope that I love, and the winter warmers posts (day one, thirteen) by @thewindowatkirkland have just been absolutely perfect!!

daniel's partner dumping him for max is also such an incredible fic by @officialmood. it's such a fun take, and daniel is wonderful as the spiteful, insecure ex who kinda, maybe also wants to fuck max now?

also the absolute masterpiece by @boxboxlewis that is max dating ricardo from melbourne while daniel, you know, is totally cool with it.

three works of my own Writing this i realised i haven't written a lot this year, here or ao3. i really hope that will change this year, but i just wanted to highlight some of the works that i had a good time working on in 2024:

cameras in the traffic lights

this was my first big html coding project, and while it was such a pain in the end (and still not perfect even now!) the process of it all was so much fun. i really liked working with the format, and the writing process of the tweets, the timelines, and the planning of it was so different to the prep-work i usually do for fics. the response to the fic has also been very overwhelming, and i am so glad so many people seemed to enjoy it.

max run club

max run club is another pet project of mine. it's such a fun world to play in, figuring out how to characterise max when we only really see him during daniel's time on social media/work out apps, the whole scanielax aspect of it. i don't know if it will ever be a full length fic, but i am not done with the series.

toothbrush fic

it's getting late, and i don't really have that much to say about this. but this was also very fun to write, and i still think if you love someone, you should offer to brush their teeth once in a while.

[commehter]

The current cover art for The Spirit Tale of Fire Lord Ozai.

The 1st attempt before going back to tweak colors (especially on the background gradient) and a second round of highlights.

Clean close up of the crown itself without the foreground flames obscuring it.

A closer-to-canon version of the crown, removing the scorching/scar and embroidery on the band.

I've used this image in a few places now (Royal Road, Spotify, Discord. Should probs add it to AO3 as SToFLO's main home. See below edit.) for SToFLO, but I haven't really talked about it. So, let's do that!

First, white fire is HARD. (Especially in ATLA's style, which doesn't seem to keep to a brightest/hottest flame near the source pattern, so much as a bright spots where they look good until the flame shape abruptly ends method.) It's ridiculously difficult to keep the flames from looking ghostly (adding some yellows and reds buried under the white so they can just barely be seen helped with that) to say nothing of trying to keep them bright without turning them into a blob of white. I kinda hated myself for making that a plot point while I was working on this. Worse, depending on monitor/phone settings, this image can be either blinding or a dingy gray. I eventually had to accept that I could either scrap them (which I clearly did not do) or make my peace with the situation.

I really like how the reflections on the gold came out on my second attempt. I waffled over doing them the first time because the canon images I found for reference (They were surprisingly hard to find. Everything is either an establishing shot too far out for good detail, or a close up on the face that cuts out the crown.) don't seem to put any special shine on the crown at all. Some feedback encouraged me to at least try it to help tie the foreground and subject into a cohesive image. I'm glad I listened! It looks so much better than the first version for that factor alone.

It's not literal to the fic (barring sudden inspiration -- Agni might enjoy tagging along as a tiny sphere cradled in the crown, just because?) but I effectively slapped Zuko's scar on the crown and amused myself thoroughly doing so. I probably should have gone back and tweaked the background colors again to up the contrast between the two elements. (Maybe if there's a third version I'll remember to alter that.)

The band looked very plain as it was, so I added some embroidery. Flames and waves seemed Fire Nation appropriate, so that's what I ended up adding.

The finished piece is by no means perfect, but overall I'm quite chuffed with how it turned out. I learned a good bit making it, that's for sure.

Edit: I tried adding the image to AO3 in a few different ways, but failed to find any I liked. Doubly so when taking into account the differences in display size/dimensions for desktop/mobile. Formatting across systems is a pain.

Rejected options included: in the summary (couldn't make it look nice with AO3's limited HTML -- no float, table was a clunky workaround at best), in the opening notes (crowded, edging toward bloated), and above the text of the first chapter (same crowding problem, but uglier for being below the horizontal break). Oh well. It was a nice thought.

Edit2: Might go back and try adding it to a later (but still early) chapter, if I can find a place it would make sense to insert it. It should be a complementary addition to the story, not a distraction, ya know?

[ghost-bxrd]

GIRL CODED JASON !!!!! HI HELLO OMG TUMBLR USER AND AMAZING AO3 WRITER GHOST BIRD YOUR POSTS AND STORIES JUST ACTIVATE BRAINWORMS IN MY HEAD 😭😭😭😭 holy fuck hi I'm too shy to come off anon but I love the discussions you've been having, so just chipping in !!!

I love the many many looks on how people interpret him being girl-coded, exploring his feelings towards domestic violence, towards victims, women etc, extremely good points that you brought up ! And I'd like to bring up that on a more meta level, the way his character is treated by DC and by people in canon as a whole is also so... girl-coded ? Going to try my best to articulate since eng is my 3rd language 😔😔 Sorry if it's not consise 😭😭 I have FEELINGS AAAAAAAAAAAA

I think the core of this "girl-codedness" stems from a few things, two things I can point to currently are how he's treated as a victim and fridging. Fridging is the easier one to see imo, it's something that's usually associated with female characters but fits Jason a lot. It's not about him and his trauma/pain being feminine inherently (nothing can be categorised in that way honestly) but how it's dealt with by people and the narrative.

Let's take a look at its counterpart which is 'Dead Men Defrosting' trope coined by John Barton. Here's the source for that: https://www.lby3.com/wir/r-jbartol2.html, and a quote from the Women in Refridgerators website I feel is really encapsulates this whole situation.

"...women heroes are altered again and never allowed, as male heroes usually are, the chance to return to their original heroic states. And that's where we begin to see the difference."

Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Additionally, the grief that his death bought is made to be even more objectifying than it should have been. It's made to be Bruce's and everyone else's more than it is Jason's. The image of the dead character is, by necessity, distorted and is served as fuel towards a different character. He's reduced to his death and the pain associated with it is milked for like... 16 yearsish??? A perverted memorial, a perverted memory, an altered legacy. He was just 15. A boy. (Still, I wouldn't say Jason was fridged per say, as the term is created in reference to female characters and they have little to no agency in their stories there, but that 'feel' is there. So I understand where the girl-codedness comes from!)

It’s that the way a lot of characters treat him and a lot of the tropes used on him are things that are typically associated with feminine characters. It's also about how he's treated since he's not a perfect victim. Every attempt Jason has made to express his pain and his anger just gets him labelled as emotional, unreasonable and hysterical (which are again, unfortunately terms associated with women.)

There's many different points people have brought up about Jason, such as his bleeding compassion as Robin, the tears at the end of UTRH, and so on. Nonetheless, I think there's a lot of nuance that comes with gender discussions, since these things are deeply personal to people, and there's disagreements to be had. And that's cool !! There's many points loads of other people also being to the table that I love !! Contradictions too !!

Anyhow, so many cool PPL and analysis these days,,, ILY ANON WHO BROUGHT UP TITANS TOWER (anonanonanon pls chip in again and my life will be URS) Also ILY TUMBLR USER MAGIC-CRAZY-AS-THIS FOR PUTTING THE WEDDING DRESS IMAGERY IN MY HEAD, ALSO ILY GHOSTBIRD FOR THAT AMAZING REPLY AND ANALYSIS,, I LOVE THIS LITTLE POCKET OF COMMUNITY U HAVE CREATED this is so beloved 🥺🥺🥺💞💞💞💞

All very good points!

I don’t have much to add here except perhaps the argument with the memorial case. You’re absolutely right. I never realized how similar it is to the classic hero trope of protagonist mourning their dead love interest/family and dedicating their entire life to a memory of them, citing the actions they take to be in honor of the dead person.

On one hand, I tend to enjoy that trope. On the other hand with Jason, it all became horribly twisted so very quickly and lead to a hard downward spiral of Bruce having a real assholish phase.

But yeah that’s a whole other can of worms better left unopened for now ksksks.

I’m very happy you’re enjoying this blog 💚 it’s honestly super rewarding to hear people say that when it was one of the main goals to have this be a safe and harmonious space for everyone 💚💚✨

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

You know that spreadsheet I made? It's got an upgrade. Same information (with some errors fixed), but actually presentable now! Because surprisingly, it turns out that my friend, who is actually knowledgable about IT and used proper web design tools, can make a better looking site than I did by creating an Excel spreadsheet, copying the text into Notepad, adding HTML tags, and uploading the table to some free site that will let you host a single HTML page there.

Seriously, it's awesome. I'm quite enjoying looking at it. It's got a search function that lets you narrow results and actually works. All the links are still there. The text is way more readable, with things like different colours involved (I was going to put colour on my HTML page, but it seemed like too much effort to figure out).

And once again, I would like to say, to Andy Zaltzman, who came on The Bugle and announced that he'd looked up the Chocolate Milk Gang and was confused by the result: the work's been done for you, Andy! And for anyone else who wants it! No one else needs to spend dozens and dozens of hours across several years Googling this odd niche, because I've already done it! And I have a friend who knows how to do websites, so now it's even readable:

This page is going along with a larger archive that's currently under construction, but the whole thing is going to be really cool, archiving comedy is cool and useful. Although if Kitson ever manages to stumble across it, I will deny having any involvement with that archive, or, in fact, ever having heard of Kaniel Ditson.

[highly-nonexistent]

There is something very weird about the relatively short nature of the culture surrounding website creation. As in, like, internet-user-created websites have been around for like 30-31 years at this point, and the culture surrounding them has changed so very much.

People used to create websites left and right for their own needs, their little shops and their little blogs about what they liked. Some websites of course housing horrible content since their dawn, and some being as mundane but as unique as the person behind its code. I have seen older sites, archived, that promoted creating your own site, and that was interesting to see. That culture of creating your own website and of sharing that knowledge on a still-growing facet of communication.

And then at some point social media appeared, and that was interesting, because now everyone was able to quickly present themselves without the need of a website, but that didn't mean people stopped making websites. I mean, hell, Geocities died in 2009, so a lot of people were creating their own websites for free before that time, no need to pay for domain names or hosting. And even without Geocities, there were other website hosting things that yes, while not as customizable, were still a resource for people to work with them. There's still a website floating around that I made when I was a kid using one of these services. Cool stuff.

All this to say that I do feel a weird sense of dread looking back and cross-referencing with the present and seeing things like "website creator powered by AI" and shit like that, because just ?? How did it go plummeting so quickly. There is a weird feeling of having lost a developing culture to corporations making quick access to posting things that, as corporations' nature dictates, are used to sell data or to train models or what have you. Similarly, we get pretty same-y looking pages because of the need to be slick or whatever with designs that just leaves everything looking the same. ALSO, the loss of spaces for kids, or just the gradual lowering of them in favor of cocomelons and whatever else the devil's machine has spawned is like watching an apple decay before having ripened. I do feel like there is this phenomenon in which how to make a site has been lost in the notion of "making a website falls into the realm of evil and scary coding and I could never be a programmer, plus who would look at it, plus we have tools to make them," etc etc etc. Here is a little secret: website creation is not exactly hard to pick up at all. You might say it's very similar to using a rich text editor like Word or a notes app or whatever you use. Similarly, have you used markdown for things like messages or D iscord messages, you know, with the asterisks for bold text and the likes? Markdown is based on html's structures. And truly, you do not have to even learn to code using Javascript if you don't want to, you can just go full html + css and structure your things as you go, adding your little images and your updates. Because guess what !! Html and css are not programming languages, they're a markup language and a stylesheet language respectively, which is a fancy way to say "you make the structure of your page with the first one and make it pretty with the second one". This includes cool stuff like tables, lists, grids, colors, transitions, etc. All of that without any programming. (That being said, if you are interested in programming, Javascript isn't too bad to pick up. The language itself *is* kind of evil, but using it in conjunction with html is not too difficult). I do have to say though, I am glad that there is a push to making your own websites and things, especially with Neocities sprawling a huge community of avid website creators, as well as the huge amount of tutorials and stuff making the push forward with making sites and online spaces and experiences more widely available. Hopefully this becomes a trend that keeps going up, considering the state of seemingly every single social media that has existed since the 2000s- 2010s.

[zarvasace]

Things I've learned about AO3 styling recently

It's rather difficult to work around the existing default styling of things like <p> and <h#>s. Better to use <div>s to circumvent that entirely.

If you use <p> and <div> elements in the same block, the <div> will inherit the <p> because AO3 puts freakin <p>s on EVERYTHING

^^ you don't need to add extra padding or margin on stuff a lot because of the existing margins on <p>s which, as we have noted, go on everything thanks to AO3's parser. Just keep it in mind.

ID css selectors don't work. Use classes instead.

AO3 doesn't really style lists or tables, so you can use those selectors without working around anything

Selectors like :nth-child still work though!!

Just keep your nesting organized and save your work somewhere where the tab stops and formatting makes sense, because AO3's html editor likes to move stuff around and it's hard to find after the fact. Keep a copy for editing.

[blurban-form]

Bluey’s School (Glasshouse School) (2/?)

References in this post are primarily from this link: https://academics.hamilton.edu/government/dparis/govt375/spring97/Teacher_Training/tt4.html

Waldorf Schools

Any episode that includes Bluey’s school… right away you can tell that it is an atypical school. It is: it’s a Waldorf school. The teaching style, curriculum, etc. are all distinct from standard approaches.

Here’s a deep dive on this based on some online research���

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the first Waldorf school in Germany in 1919, believed that all children should be given "individualized" attention (rather than just those with special needs.)

This style of education emphasizes a focus on the 'individual' rather than the 'group', with each child being valued for their individual accomplishments: every child is deserving of the same attention typically given to gifted and learning-disabled students in conventional educational streams.

Classes within these schools are structured in a unique system of "blocks" that focus on particular areas of study for a period of three to four weeks rather than the same subjects for the whole school year or semester.

As children grow older, more concrete and technical areas of subjects are introduced. Through this method, not only are the developing child's needs met, but so are their interests. As a result, students are kept actively engaged.

Features of this style of education

Key elements of the Waldorf educational approach include:

Teachers try to fully engage the individual student at each step by gearing the curriculum to their age and needs.

Teachers focus on the child's learning processes and achievements in all areas, not just the academic. In this way, the children can be developed as complete human beings.

Waldorf classrooms don't include computers, televisions, etc. Note how in “Typewriter”, Bluey thinks she needs a typewriter for a story but her teacher takes the focus off of typing a story and onto Bluey and her friends actually having an adventure.

The Waldorf curriculum integrates arts and music into all areas of study. Daily activities include drawing, painting, singing, instrument playing…

Even the aesthetic atmosphere of the classroom is different to a standard school: The Tampa Tribune described a Waldorf school setting: "Imagine a classroom with old wooden tables, a backyard garden and children learning to knit and crochet. Where art and music is intertwined with every subject, students write their own textbooks and the toys are all handmade". Which is definitely the look/feel in Bluey’s school…

Additionally, a tenet of this style of education is that a focus on art and nature in education can lead to a greater appreciation for the beauty of life later on.

Waldorf schools encourage children to keep working on their imagination skills beyond kindergarten, using these skills to learn how to co-operate, share and interact. This concept of letting children progress into adulthood at their own level is a unique cornerstone of the Waldorf education method.

This concept of letting children progress into adulthood at their own level is a unique cornerstone of the Waldorf education method. This last piece is very key -- we seldom see anything being taught to the children; they’re free to do their own thing, make up activities, interact with one another, problem-solve, etc. and Calypso is there to gently guide them towards solutions occasionally.

So Why is This in “Bluey”?

The show “Bluey” is somewhat based on the show’s creator, Joe Brumm’s life experiences as a parent. Joe Brumm chose to have his daughter educated this way after she started the first grade. This is explained by Joe Brumm in an interview with the website The Father Hood:

"Bluey was still in embryonic form when Brumm’s eldest daughter started school. Her experience changed the course of the show.

'Play time was suddenly taken away from her, it was just yanked and seeing the difference in her was horrendous,' he says. 'There was no playing, there was no drawing, it was just straight into all this academic stuff. And the light in her eyes just died.'

Brumm researched alternatives for schooling and researched the value of play for child development. It is said that this is what led him to select Waldorf-style education for his daughter.

'Bluey is just one long extrapolation of that,' Brumm says. 'It’s to encourage people to look at play not just as kids mucking around, but as a really critical stage in their development that, I think, we overlook at their peril.'

Quotes from Joe Brumm from this link:

Closing comment & a caution

Personally, I think it’s interesting to see a different approach of educating children depicted in a TV show. It’s not “oddball”, it’s just a part of these dog-children’s lives.

I feel like the public is exposed to a lot of examples of children’s education on television and it’s generally portrayed in a negative light: e.g. The Simpsons, Bob’s Burgers… and even on shows like “Arthur” the kids were often complaining about school, or having something unpleasant/stressful take place while at school.

My only concern for Bluey and her classmates (and maybe it’s a long-term issue, nothing to worry about in the short term) is this: a potential downside to a Waldorf-style education would potentially be the sharp adjustment a student will encounter transitioning from this nurturing environment to one where that isn’t the case. It could well be unsettling.

…phew, ok, maybe one or two more posts about the school to come.

(Maybe, because of the source material, some of this post may sound a little like a giant sales pitch… it’s not meant to be. I think it’s interesting because it’s different; something else to learn about, etc.)

[divineerdrick]

Warhammer 40,000 Balance Update for October 16, 2024 - Munitorum Field Manual and Errata for Xenos Factions

After writing, I decided to split this document up into the super factions for ease of use. I've also changed how I format rules changes. Let me know what you think! Is this more readable, would you prefer a single post, or should I do a post for each faction?

Edit: The color coding for points changes breaks every time I edit it. To fix it, I have to go into the HTML and correct where it's marking things. I just don't have the spoons for manually correcting that much text.

Aeldari

Form their lofty perch, Aeldari have gotten to a point where they could use some love. While their win rate is near spot on, they're having trouble making it to top tables. And the players that are, usually run Ynnari. But will GW give them much of anything or let them ride until their Codex comes out?

Here we run into another issue. The changes are being made directly to the Index. This is good. GW should definitely do this. But do they tell us what's changed anywhere? Answer, they've put it in the document for the Index Cards. It's important they put it somewhere, but I really wish they had it spelled out somewhere where the changes are listed.

So what's changed? The standard Autarch now has the basic Captain ability as detailed in the last Balance Dataslate. That's an important change to have listed finally. For FAQ, we get another common sense answer for Wraith Guard and clarification on how to properly position a jumping Yncarne.

All Corsairs: -2 pts/model Falcon: -10 pts Fire Prism: -10 pts Shining Spears: -10 pts/3 models Warlock Conclave: -5 pts/2 models Warlock Skyrunner Conclave: -5 pts/model Wave Serpent: -10 pts Wraithblades (5 models): -10 pts Wraithguard (5 models): -10 pts Wraithknight: -15 pts

As for the points, it's all good news! GW really is getting much better at understanding what's going on in the game! The important stuff here are the buffs to vehicles and Wraith constructs. I don't know if this brings Wraithknights back to the table, but small groups of Wraithguard might be worth taking again. I'm not sure these changes will convince anyone to bring a Conclave on foot though. All of this is good news for Eldar players!

Drukhari

The article warned that nerfs are incoming. Still I hope they only get a love tap. Their rankings are greatly bolstered by skilled faction specialists. No one is currently running out and buying up Drukhari models because the faction is good. Granted if GW successfully brings down the factions above them, there might be an issue. But I hope they don't go beyond a love tap.

For Errata, the Archon is specified as having its own ability, not Lord of Deceit. I don't think there's anything Drukhari can take to stack with it, so that shouldn't be an issue. My guess is the team is considering changing Lord of Deceit in some way. It is really strong. So this makes sure that change doesn't affect Archons. They also get a couple more clarifications for Pain Parasite, but there's nothing unusual here.

Archon: +10 pts Beastmaster: +15 pts Court of the Archon: +10 pts Drazhar +10 pts Hellions: -2 pts/model Incubi: +2 pts/model Lelith Hesperax: +10 pts Mandrakes (5 models): +5 pts Reavers (3 models): +5 pts

Yeah there's a lot there. I think that's a whole unit gone from many Drukhari lists. We also see that GW is continuing to recognize that some MSU spam is just really good. This really is a good thing, and may be slowly turning me around on purchasing units in bricks. But it sucks when you're already really nerfing an army.

Drukhari could be hurting.

Genestealer Cults

I'm about to say something that might shock some of you. I honestly don't think GSC is doing that badly. They've actually got solid numbers, though this come from the fact they're a niche faction with skilled specialists. But I think that's okay. I think it's okay for some factions to be there for the fans and require a little skill to play. It's very obvious that while GSC can struggle in match ups, you can get results with them. What they mostly need is internal balance, and I think that will come to rules.

For errata and FAQ we get a revision that makes sure you take a GSC model as your Warlord in the Brood Brothers detachment. We get a common play clarification for Tunnel Crawlers, but a very interesting clarification for Brood Brother Kasrkin. Despite not having the Voice of Command Army Rule, Kasrkin can still give themselves orders. That makes them a much more powerful and versatile unit in the Brood Brothers detachment. Still not sure that's enough to make that detachment even close to good, but it's interesting at least.

Abberants (5 models): -15 pts All Acolyte Hybrids: -1 pts/model Acolyte Iconward: -10 pts Atalan Jackals: -2 pts/model Benefictus: -10 pts Jackal Alphus: -5 pts Neophyte Hybrids: -5 pts/10 models Patriarch: -10 pts Primus: -10 pts Outlander Claw: - Serpentine Tactics: -5 pts

Oh boy! Christmas just came early for my cults! Still, I'm actually going to say these aren't the best changes. A lot of these changes benefit Outlander Claw, the Mad Max style detachment. And that is currently the best GSC detachment and my personal favorite. While the other detachments will love these changes too, I'm worried that Outlander is going to become the only way to play GSC. There's already a Wolf Jail like list running around the scene, and no one likes dealing with that list. The only good news is I doubt this is going to bring a huge flood of players to the faction spamming toxic bike lists. So while GSC isn't going to become a problem, it's only going to be a rare problem list that will frustrate players now and then.

Leagues of Votann

The Kin are another force that looks good from win rates but is actually struggling quite a bit. Like Death Guard, the Leagues struggle to secure the points they need at mid boards and up. This will hopefully get better if GW continues to get them new units, as their roster is still quite small. But for now, points aren't really the answer here.

FAQ wise we only get a timing clarification for Grudge tokens. And points don't have much either.

Einhyr Hearthguard (5 models): -10 pts Hernkyn Yaegirs: +10 pts

Okay. Yaegirs probably did need to go up, but I'm not sure this was the time for it. With so many other factions that are performing better getting all buffs, this is bad news for the Kin.

Necrons

After a brief stint as our metal overlords, Necrons have shifted to a pretty good spot. The main thing they need is some internal balance for their Detachments, and I don't think points will do that. Hypercrypt is just such a strong way to play the faction. Nerfing the models in the Hypercrypt builds threatens to drop Necrons too low. I think maybe only the Monolith can take a nerf without too much interference.

For Errata we start out with some Keyword fixes. Obeisance now benefits all Nobles and not just Overlords. And the Silent King is now officially part of the Triarch! However Plasmancers have had their ability to target Lone Operatives removed. So it's not all good news there. The FAQs are just common play clarifications too.

Annihilation Barge: -10 pts Catacomb Command Barge: -10 pts Deathmarks: +1 pts/model Doomsday Arc: -10 pts Lokhust Destroyers (1 model): +5 pts Lokhust Heavy Destroyers: +5 pts/model Monolith: +25 pts Obelisk: -25 pts Tesseract Vault: +25 pts Triarch Praetorians: -4 pts/model Triarch Stalker: -15 pts

That's a lot of shifting things around, and it's going to take me a moment to dissect it. As predicted, they bumped up the Monolith and Tesseract Vault with it, though I don't think many players were taking the latter or that it could be used as substitute. The dropped the cost on the Obelisk, but I don't think anyone's gonna try it out. Points aren't the problem there. My biggest problem here is Destroyers. While Hypercrypt did often take them, so did all the struggling detachments as well. And while faction specialists are going to experiment, I don't think these changes are enough to make Obeisance Phalanx really viable.

Things could be getting bumpy again for the Necrons.

Orks

As was said earlier, Orks are not in a good spot. While the nerfs they took didn't seem all that severe, they turned out to be nerfs to pillars that were holding the faction up. Since then, Orks have fallen hard and are the worst faction that has actual rules or isn't competing for its own players. And they're likely going to need a lot to rise back up.

The first big change is a clarification change to many rules that might help with some timing issues and future proofing. All or most rules active when you call the Waaagh now read they are active while the Waaagh is active for your army. This means if they change the timing on calling the Waaagh, as many Ork players would like, you wouldn't lose these buffs during your opponent's turn if you went second. While this looks like it might be nerf to Bully Boyz, the FAQ specifies that their abilities still work. We also get an FAQ the clarifies that when Snikrot uses Kunnin' Infiltrator, he doesn't count as moving for the purpose of Fire Overwatch. Though, he does still count as being setup on the board when he comes back down for the same stratagem.

Beast Snagga Boyz: -1 pts/model All Big Meks: -10 pts Boyz: -5 pts/10 models Deff Dread: -10 pts Deff Koptas: -10 pts/3 Gorkanaut: -15 pts Hunta Rig: -15 pts Kill Rig: -15 pts Kommandos: -15 pts Meganobz: -5 pts/model Morkanaut: -15 pts Tankbustas: -20 pts

And that is a lot of green, and a lot more green you can put on your table! As expected, Meganobz got some of their nerf rolled back. But a lot of boyz, including the popular Beast Snaggas, got buffs. Also, at some point the Gorkanaut and Morkanaut have to become playable as just a pile of wounds and guns on the table.

This is not going to make Orks into one of the top factions, but it should go a long way to getting them back where they should be.

T'au Empire

Tau are in what I'd call an okay spot. They're not where they need to be, but they're not doing that bad. They're performing just slightly above par, and only one of their detachments is struggling. They're what I would consider a textbook example of an army that shouldn't be receiving any external balance passes, so that they can rise up to where they should be when the meta changes. Internally, Kroot need help. But I'm not sure points can fix that.

The big fix here is to the Puretide Engram, which I think has been broken since the Codex came out? It now does something, letting you get a CP back on 4+ when you target the bearer's unit with a Stratagem. The new FAQs start by clarifiying that Crisis Suits always have a Pivot of 0" regardless of how you model them. Then we get two clarifications that, while they are how the rules work, are doubtless going to feel bad to Kroot players.

Commander Farsight: -10 pts Kroot Carnivores: -1 pts/model All Kroot Shaper: -10 pts/model Kroot Rampagers: -5 pts/model Krootox Rider (1 model): +5 pts Piranhas: +5 pts/model Riptide Battlesuit: +10pts

It looks like they're trying to do some internal balance, and at least help Kroot somewhat. But I don't think this is anything close to enough to make them viable. I don't think the other changes are going to affect Tau much, though we might see Farsight a bit more.

Tyranids

My beloved bugs have really turned it around with the Pariah Nexus changes. Despite losing Spore Mines, the changes to Synapse and Shadow in the Warp means we can actually get some damage now. That means we aren't always on the losing end of trading games. Neurotyrant with Zoanthropes also make for a fun and interesting tech piece. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them take nerfs, as well as the Swarmlord. Unnending Swarm could use some love though.

For errata, Surprise Assault gets some cleanup for timing and targeting. The Swarmlord gets the same treatment as Cypher, the Archon, and Ventris got, meaning it will keep its version of Lord of Deceit. Unseen Lurkers has been updated to the rules changes on Stratagems preventing your units from being targeted. Hunting Grounds, and all rules that trigger when a unit arrives from reserves, are clarified to trigger when a unit didn't go to reserves but was set back up on the battlefield. Rules that say "cannot arrive" on the battlefield during a turn take precedent over units that "must arrive" on that turn. While it doesn't specify, I do believe they can still arrive the next turn under normal Strategic Reserve rules. All the rest I believe are common play, though I was initially confused by the Neurogaunt/Neuroloid answer. But Neurogaunts specifically say that they have to be within range of a friendly model.

Carnifexes: -10 pts/model Lictor: +5 pts Old One Eye: +10 pts Pyrovores (1 model): +5 pts Von Ryan's Leapers: -5 pts/3 models Winged Hive Tyrant: -10 pts

This all seems fair to me. Carnifixes on their own got cheaper while Old One Eye got more expensive. The full unit still dropped in cost though. Pyrovores continues a trend as to how much GW wants you to pay for a single unit. And the Lictor has honestly been under-costed for a while.

I'm happy with this. I think we'll be just fine.

Final Thoughts

And with that, we have our balance changes for October! Space Marine players of all stripes aren't going to be too happy. Even Dark Angels, who initially thought would do well, will hate the base points changes in the Codex. Only Space Wolves . . . you know . . . THE ARMY THAT NEEDED NERFED THE MOST!!! . . . will be fine with these changes. Dedicated Ultramarines players will likely get something to work though, now that their Primarch is back in play. Sisters and Thousand Sons are in for a drop. Sisters probably won't drop too far, but, and I know I said this last time, I'm worried about KSons. Drukhari are really going to be hurting, though I'm sure Archon Skari will still find a way to win. I'm also worried about Leagues of Votann, Necrons, and World Eaters too.

Orks are looking like they'll start to rise again, but I don't think they're a top faction. CSM and GSC might be in a position to fight for the top spot. Wolf Jail is dead! Long live Jackal Jail! I also think Aeldari might have a reversal of fortunes too. The rest of us will only shift by percentage points, which is exactly what you want when the balance is this tight.

[inspofromancientworld]

Megalithic Sites

A megalith is a huge stone that has been put to some type of purpose, typically between the Mesolithic through the chalcolithic period, fading out through the Bronze age. They can be single or multiple stones, though they are generally not tombs.

Single stones can come in three general types: Menhir, also know as 'standing stones', monolith (a single stone on its own), and capstones, which cover burial chambers without other supports. Multiple stones can come in five general types: Alignments which can be rows or spirals, megalithic or Cyclopean walls, which are rough-hewn bolder walls, stone circles or cromlechs like Stonehenge, dolmen which can be called a portal tomb and are table like entrances into tombs, and cist which is a stone coffin.

By German Archaeological Institute, photo E. Kücük. - Dietrich L, Meister J, Dietrich O, Notroff J, Kiep J, Heeb J, et al. (2019) Cereal processing at Early Neolithic Göbekli Tepe, southeastern Turkey. PLoS ONE 14(5): e0215214. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0215214Image: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/figure?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0215214.g001"Copyright: © 2019 Dietrich et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited." (links to CC BY 4.0 the day the picture is uploaded), CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=90543136

Humans began building large stone structures even before we began living in cities. Some of the earliest are around the area of Gobleki Tepe in modern day Turkey, which were built around 9000 BCE by a culture that we don't know what they call themselves and first rediscovered in 1963. It wasn't until about 1994 that the excavations began. These sites consist of many large stones that are decorated with male figures and animals. Because these sites predate writing, we don't know what the purpose was, but we can tell by what refuse is around that these sites were not for full-time shelter. Because of this, we believe that they held ceremonial significance. However, with less than 5% of the site excavated, we still have a lot to learn about this site, though we have learned so much already.

By Mahmut Bozarslan (VOA) - https://d33vxfhewnqf4z.cloudfront.net/a/tarihin-yeni-sifir-noktasi-karahantepe/7351113.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=145335567

Nearby, there is a site called Karahan Tepe that was discovered more recently that might be older, possibly dating as far back as 11000 BCE. It also includes area where the stone for the megaliths was quarried. It was first rediscovered in 1997. It hasn't been as excavated or studied as much as Gobekli Tepe, however it appears to have been intermittent in habitation, possibly following herds of grazing animals and availability of wild growing grasses such as barley and wheat.

By Hanay, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15044109

Atlit Yam is a site one kilometer off-shore from modern day Atlit. At the time it was built, approximately 6900 BCE, during the last Ice Age, the location was on the shore. There is a large stone semicircle that would have been around a freshwater spring. This site also has what appear to be houses as well. Around 6300 BCE, Mount Etna appears to have a collapse of its eastern flank that likely led to 40m tsunami in the Mediterranean. There were piles of fish and other evidence of rapid evacuation of the site. Within the site, there is also a woman and child that appear to have had tuberculosis, the earliest known cases, as well as men who have inner ear damage that indicate that they probably dived to fish and that the water was likely cold. There is evidence that this was one of the earliest sedentary cultures with grain storage and what appear to be wells, before it was abandoned to the tsunami and sea-level rise of the end of the last Ice Age.

By Raymbetz - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7525976

Another pre-agriculture seasonal megalithic habitation is Nabta Playa in modern day Egypt. While the location is now within the Sahara Desert, at the time, it was a rich savanna with a lake nearby. Archaeological findings suggest that people began camping there seasonally around 10000-9000 BCE. The megalithic structure was probably built around 7500 BCE, The megalithic site seems to be a "calendar circle", though there is some debate about that. Given that the exact alignment of the stars and seasons has shifted over the past 12000 years, it's difficult to know for sure which constellation the stones align to and which season, but they do seem to align with the bright stars in the constellation Orion. There are suggestions that the site was used as a ceremonial gathering site prior to the building of the stone circle based on the remains of cattle found in the location. It's believed, based on modern nomadic cultures, that cattle would have only been killed on important occasions.

Resources:

Milo Rossi (miniminuteman on YouTube and tiktok): Series on Archaeology of Southern Turkey Series regarding Netflix's Ancient Apocalypse

[dollsonmain]

So That Guy demanded Son look up coding languages etc. in a non-teaching, non-leadership kind of way and Son was reading off the list to him yesterday.

Son said "CSS" and That guy goes "I don't know what that is." That Guy still thinks all websites are programed with HTML.

And I'm just like..... "Here *inspect element* that's CSS. It's similar to and uses a lot of elements of HTML. That's how most websites are built these days. "

He does not like when I know something he doesn't, so much so that he did this yesterday where he came home, asked me to unlock my phone without asking questions, set it on the table, go into Signal, and show him the settings. He still refuses to tell me what that was about, but knowing him and his particular style of paranoia, I'm guessing he wanted to make sure I had "Share contacts with IOS" set to off. He refuses to explain, though. It gives him something to know that I don't.

If you're going to give an assignment to someone, you ought to also know the information? But also, I very much dislike how he's all demanding and condescending all of the time when his own education about the subject he's trying to airquotes"teach"airquotes is sub standard.

[definitively-different-drivel]

First & Last Lines

Basically, post the first and last lines of the last 10 fics you posted. WIPs are welcome.

So. Why the heck not, LOL? They're all Teen Wolf. I added two at the end that are unposted WIPs so I put in the first and last sentence from my most recent drafts. Sidenote, this took so much wrangling. LOL. Seriously, it was literally easier to hand-write out the code than it was to use the built in rich text editor, so shoutout to Tumblr for motivating me to re-familiarize myself with HTML. XD I don't have anyone to ping, but I still wanted to participate, so here's my contribution!

1. Worth Fifty Thousand Words, (344 words): Sterek comedy ficlet

First: Stiles gaped after Mrs. Brooks. Derek stood beside him, eyebrow raised. Last: The Sheriff answered half a beat later.  "So, dad..."

2. Taste of Truth, (781 words): Danny/Stiles ficlet

First: Danny rubbed his temples and rose early from his meditations. Last: Stiles grinned back, cock-sure. "I'm counting on it."

3. Scent Masked at Midnight, (344 words): post-canon Sterek. Angst with a happy ending/smut.

First: Stiles cracked open the door to the tiny New York apartment he shared with Derek after another night of striking out at the club. Last: “So, Stiles says I’m a maudlin drunk…” 

4. Pie, (1,337 words): Sterek with Peter/Sheriff on the side. Pure silly fluff.

First: Derek huffed, rolling his eyes at Stiles' theatrics. Last: Peter was right. It was goddamned delicious.

5. Untitled Swan Stiles, (18,592 words): Sterek comedy/drama with two poly side pairings/heavy side pairing emphasis.

First: “Also! I don’t appreciate you entering the territory unannounced, magic tree stump be damned, and I sure as fuck don’t trust you with our territory, no matter what Derek says,” Stiles yelled, mid-rant, arms waving in not so silent fury. Last: Stiles’ laugh was like music as they climbed back in the Camaro. It filled with the scent of Stiles’ joy as they sped off towards the cafe.

6. Aubergine, (1,494 words): Sterek comedy fic

First: Derek stared down at his phone, brow furrowing. Last: Eventually, Derek, broke the silence. “…Is your offer still on the table?”

7. Ephemeral Sacrifices, (1,294 words): Sterek. Distilled a much more complex fic idea into a single angst to fluff scene.

First: Stiles stared down at his hands, complete and clean of the blood-and-black-goop slurry that should have still stained his skin. Last: Derek listened fondly, occasionally providing input as they walked out of the woods and into the gray light of a new day's dawn.

8. Naga gonna give you up, (17,146 words): Sterek comedy/drama. One major poly side pairing, two minor.

First: “Show me.” Last: Derek answered with a kiss.

9. Trading Ties, (currently 5925 words): Sterek smut with plot fic.

First: Stiles came to slowly, modulating his breathing and heart rate to hide his consciousness as best he could as while he collected his thoughts. Last: ..."Got any more of that kanima venom?"

10. Untitled fic. The chapter I have written is called Remittance. (2016 words): Sterek angstdrama/action fic.

First: Stiles trudged into the room as the Rogers pack filtered in. Last: Even so, they weren't forgotten. He'd see them in his nightmares.

[drawnfromthedead]

Update on the learning to code thing: at first I was using Mimo, for nearly the past 2 months actually, and I decided to get a second app yesterday, Sololearn, and have been working with W3schools as well (I have also been considering Codédex, just because it looks fun, and the Odin project when I get more confidence because it looks intense) So I can "study from different angles" so to speak, in my head if I study one thing multiple ways it stays for longer. And anyways, I found out that Mimo wasn't teaching a shit tone of stuff!!! With html alone there where so manny gaps between what it was teaching me and the questions it would ask me (for example it didn't tech me what a div was (I googled it) but it asked me a question about styling a div in the css section, and it didn’t show me haw to make a table or lists either, it did teach me lists but not until I was already aslo learning Java (if I remember correctly)).

I still think Mimo is good, I did some further digging on places like Reddit and several of those sites where they rate different educational apps, and Mimo still does pretty good! Unfortunately, I like knowing all the stuff about what I'm learning and implied learning (where it teaches you a thing by asking you questions about the thing) isn't for me. I need information first, then repetition to really let it sink in (and again, I need to see things in multiple ways). It's why with Duolingo, I've been moving at a snails pace, learning pretty much anything. Duo does better with its format than Mimo (in my opinion) because with it's "implied" learning your allowed to tap/click on what you don't know and read what it is (or if it's a word that has multiple meanings you can read through those and get good idea). Duo also has these little section notes things that you can read through before you start a single lesson in the section, giving you the info before it asks you questions on the things. I don't think I can continue with Mimo personally, but I still think I'll recommend it for a start at the very least! I also think imma start recommending learning python early on as well, just because what little I know of it was so simple and easy to learn I think it makes a good jumping point and it's good for a lot of stuff!!!

On another note (related), ever since learning that I need the info before I'm questioned on it (I get too frustrated if I don't and it makes it hard for me too keep learning because I feel discouraged), I've figured out how to make learning a bit easier for me and I've been moving so much faster in my various studies (I say say pretentiously). I've also managed to order some textbooks for myself, both for coding and for my SATs! I'm very excited and I'm hoping I can keep this up, learning anything is hard and can get exhausting buy I'm hoping I can get better at all of this, I like this and wanna keep going!

[tellthemeerkatsitsfine]

How's it going, everyone? Did everyone else have a normal night last night? We all had a normal night. We're all doing fine.

Okay. I'm feeling slightly more coherent today, so it's time to treat this audio clip as the important piece of information it is. A new addition to the slew of research that I'd already summarized in my spreadsheet (to which I have new things to add, but annoyingly made plans to spend New Year's Eve in a collection of hot tubs with my roommate, rather than transcribing podcast quotes and translating them into HTML table code, so I'll have to do that later).

Andy Zaltzman and John Oliver claim that they have never heard of the Chocolate Milk Gang, that this term was applied to them without their knowledge. Which means that John Oliver has never read his own Wikipedia page, since it's referenced on there. But to be fair, I can entirely believe that John Oliver has never read his own Wikipedia page.

I was sort of expecting something like this, though not such a clear-cut denial. I thought the truth might be something like, the term was only used a couple of times, David O'Doherty and Russell Howard particularly liked it so they brought it up in interviews sometimes, no one else actually used it. And I've said before that I have a theory about why those are the only two people who kept using a term years later, even though it sounds like it wasn't even used much at the time. David O'Doherty, I assume, does it because he's got a heart of gold and loves his friends; and Russell Howard, I assume, does it because connection to comedians like Kitson give him some street cred after he got too much mainstream success.

So I wasn't surprised that Zaltzman and Oliver didn't immediately have strong associations with the term. But I was surprised to hear them claim that they'd never heard it before in their entire lives. Which does open the possibility that this is all a lie and the term was not really used at all, and David O'Doherty just thought it would be funny to play a prank on us in an interview.

My spreadsheet may not yet be updated with the new information, but it can still help out here with the old information:

Number of references I have found to that group, in which they directly called it some name that was related to chocolate milk or milkshakes (not counting John Oliver and Russell Howard's Wikipedia pages, as those would just be copied from elsewhere): 7

1x "Chocolate Milk Brigade": said in 2015, by David McSavage, on a podcast with a guy who sucks almost (but not quite) as much as McSavage does, claiming it was Andrew Maxwell's name for them

1x "Chocolate Milk Kids": said in 2006, by David O'Doherty, to The Irish Times

1x "Milkshake Brigade": said in 2024, by Russell Howard, to The Telegraph

4x "Chocolate Milk Gang": said in 2008, by David O'Doherty, to some magazine; said in 2007, by Russell Howard, to Jay Richardson for The List; said in 2014, by David O'Doherty, to Stuart Goldsmith, claiming Glenn Wool coined the term; and said in 2016, by Dominic Maxwell, in an article for The Times

That's 3x that it came from David O'Doherty, 2x from Russell Howard, 1x from David McSavage, and 1x from Dominic Maxwell

I mean, I haven't made it up. The sources are out there. The most interesting one to me, in this context - of trying to work out how widely it was ever used - is Dominic Maxwell. Because he probably just got the name off Wikipedia or something.

But the context in which he referenced it was a long article that went into deep and accurate detail about John Oliver's history as a comedian - far more detailed and accurate than most profiles of John Oliver. That article includes references to several times that Dominic Maxwell interviewed/spoke to/watched John Oliver before he moved to America, suggesting that this is a rare John Oliver profile that isn't just someone who dug up his backstory after he got famous in America; Maxwell knew about his British career while it was happening.

Here's the part of his 2016 article that mentions the Chocolate Milk Gang:

Sometimes [John Oliver] would pop up in shows supporting other members of what was dubbed “the Chocolate Milk Gang”: a bunch of proudly geeky comics led by Daniel Kitson and including Alun Cochrane, David O’Doherty and a young Russell Howard. Sometimes he would perform with Andy Zaltzman, the comic with whom he would later reunite for hundreds of episodes of The Bugle podcast — launched in tandem with this newspaper in 2007 — until leaving in June after struggling to keep up his commitment to Zaltzman.

I think there's a chance that Dominic Maxwell used that term because he already knew it, having heard it used by comedians, rather than just grabbing it off Wikipedia. But I may be wrong.

The most likely possibility here is it's a term that Glenn Wool and Andrew Maxwell said one time to David O'Doherty, DO'D found it funny so he repeated it to Russell Howard once, Andrew Maxwell repeated it to David McSavage while making fun of them once, and those are the only times it ever got used outside interviews. Zaltzman and Oliver's lack of recognition of the term does support that theory.

They didn't even think of Favorit, though. Apparently John Oliver was not, in fact, ordering chocolate milk in Favorit. Where does the Favorit menu fit in?

There's an obvious answer here: find David O'Doherty after I see him in Edinburgh next year and ask him. Unless anyone happens to have Glenn Wool's phone number. (I'm joking. I think my moderate breakdown last night proved that my brain absolutely cannot handle asking any comedians about this situation.)

[kafus]

it's past 4 am but i've been fiddling with my site for hours, trying to get it to be more accessible. a huge issue with this is back when i started BMF, i had no idea about any of this stuff and made a three-column layout using table display properties, which means the right sidebar is under everything else in the HTML document of every page, which means that keyboards and screenreaders have to go through all of the main content of the page just to get to the second navigation, which is... unfortunate, to say the least. that being said, i don't want to uproot the foundation of the entire site and every page if i don't have to because that might kill me, but i'm considering hiding the normal navigation from screenreaders entirely and make a custom navigation menu that's hidden from sighted users, but able to be read out by the screenreader. as for sighted keyboard users... probably just going to add some links to jump to different sections of the page.

i'm still learning but i'm figuring it out. i wish i could figure it out more but the sleepiness is finally claiming me... i'll get back to it some other time

[powertaco]

On the subject of formatting the realationship stats on Ocean of Stars, if you can't find how you had it before, this is the first thing that came to my mind, since ao3 uses HTML for basically all formatting. Not necessarily the prettiest thing, but it's an option if you prefer not to have everything squished together.

Fun fact, it's been ages since I did any HTML and I still remember how tables work.

unlisted pastebin post for copy+paste purposes here.

Don't feel bad if you don't use it, only only took about 5 minutes from conception to this Ask. And it was just as much to see if I could remember HTML/whether AO3 supported these tags as it was me attempting to be helpful.

@trialbystory

[ehc-on-ao3]

Wednesday Addams: Hacker Extraordinaire

It was no great secret that Wednesday eschewed modern technology in most forms, principally laptops and cell phones. While she logically understood they had their uses, the average teen (i.e. her peers) typically used either for mind-numbing entertainment, soulless internet validation, or somehow both simultaneously. Her beloved typewriter served her well enough and she was far too skilled to mistype and have to redo an entire page of work, a fact she was certain none of her classmates shared. She had gone on this long without being shackled to an electronic device; she was confident she would continue to do so long after she graduated from Nevermore.

Once word spread of her writing tool of choice, she was the subject of some good-natured teasing from her Enid's friends. At least, Enid had declared it was good-natured and that they didn't mean any harm. Wednesday wasn't as sure, considering they never stopped mentioning it, but did her best to ignore the slights to her supposed ineptitude. She wasn't inept. Far from it. She simply had zero need nor desire to use any such device, and that was despite Xavier gifting her a cell phone last year.

That all changed, however, with one small comment made during lunch one autumn day.

"Hell, I bet she couldn't even understand HTML, much less a real programming language."

Wednesday couldn't remember if it was Bianca or Yoko that had said that aloud (whoever it was, Enid had immediately told them to knock it off), having been immediately distracted by one part of the sentence: programming language. Specifically, language. While she had no use for the high tech toys others wasted so much of their time with, she did possess a vast interest in foreign languages, and was something of a savant when it came to learning them. Spanish, German, Italian, French, Latin, and Catalan were all part of her personal intellectual arsenal, and she was familiar enough with several others should she ever be stranded on the European continent for a considerable length of time.

Again.

So, in the interest of expanding her already-massive repertoire of skills once more, and potentially get her Enid's friends to finally lay off their continual unnecessary commentary of a non-existent weakness, Wednesday made a decision to master the language of programming and, by extension, modern technology. And soon discovered a problem.

Turns out, like spoken and written languages, there were multiple programming languages available, far too many to learn in any one sitting, so out of necessity, Wednesday had to narrow her focus. Knowing that most of her peers were shackled to their phones, she opted to start with whatever languages those used. Thankfully, despite the myriad models and types of phones available, there were apparently only two major categories: Apple and Android. Meaning she only had to learn two languages: Apple and Android. Should be pretty simple, right?

...it may take a bit longer than a week.

...okay, a month.

...damnation.

While Wednesday would never admit it to anyone, learning programming languages was more difficult than she had anticipated, having occupied nearly all of her time throughout the entirety of winter break. Still, she could admit it was time well-invested, especially the first time she remote hacked Bianca and Yoko's phones to send each other a stream of vomit-inducing love poems via their messaging apps. Seeing their mutual horror at the lunch table was immensely satisfying.

The only question that remained was what to do next?